Merging Hearts (standard:drama, 5552 words)
Author: Hopes	Added: Mar 22 2003	Views/Reads: 3456/2421	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
It's taken long enough, but there's finally some romance coming into David's life. (Reads well alone or as the 4th in my Life Changes series)

MERGING  HEARTS (by Hopes) 

NOTE:  Stand-Alone Story or 4th in the LIFE CHANGES Series 

MERGING HEARTS 

Thanksgiving found the house full again.  This was David's scene.   To
him the most wonderful sounds came from the loving, noisy commotion 
that occurred whenever all of their blended families came together.  
Blood was not the determining factor here, but the desire of the heart 
to belong. Whether it was a small family get-together or an open 
invitation gathering, David loved it whenever family gathered. 

There were at least 20 when everyone got together.  David's parents had
five children who, fortunately, all lived nearby.  Frank, the oldest, 
was married with two children.  Justin was next and a confirmed 
bachelor.  David was next and had Jim.  Esther was the only girl and 
was married and expecting her first baby.  Pete was still in high 
school.   Alex had his two, Maggie and Andy.  His sister, Jan, and 
their parents and Ann's parents were always a part of the family.  
Often friends of Jim's dad, Roy, would come with their families.  All 
of the church was invited, but usually only those who had no local 
family came, especially the pastor and his wife.  There were several 
friends from the rehabilitation center who had become good friends to 
them all. 

There were probably about 35 here for the Thanksgiving meal.  The ladies
had prepared all the ‘fixings' and David and Jim had smoked four 
turkeys in their small smoke house.  It had been all they could do to 
keep from cutting a taste off of a turkey yesterday as the birds 
emitted a wonderful, tantalizing odor when they came to check on their 
progress.  They had been hanging for several days above the smoldering 
embers of hickory chips. 

The meal was wonderful, of course, and everyone ate their fill, and then
some.  David and Jim were elected unanimously to do the turkey again 
next year.  They were getting full and drowsy when Gramps asked 
everyone to gather in the living room.  When they were all in, some on 
the furniture and some on the floor, he began singing a few hymns of 
thankfulness.  Gramps was a firm believer in truly celebrating the day 
in question. Since it was Thanksgiving Day, you had to be thankful 
enough to let someone else know, and not just pig out on the food.  
Soon everyone was speaking up with something they were especially 
thankful for this past year There was a fair mixture of laughter and 
tears from the stories and comments. 

Most everyone came back ready for another dessert and coffee.  As usual,
Jan acted as hostess along with Gran since they knew where everything 
was or belonged.  The day had been great.  They finished cleaning up 
and putting the food away.  By then it was time to head home. The 
others got ready for bed.  As enjoyable as the day had been, a soft bed 
sounded so good right now. 

Andy and Jim gave up their rooms for Andy's two sets of grandparents. 
Maggie and Jan took David's room.  David bunked with Alex and the boys 
laid their sleeping bags down in the library.  It wasn't long before 
the big house was quiet. 

They slept in a bit the next morning.  Being a holiday weekend, no one
had to rush anywhere.  As they awoke, the wonderful aroma of fresh 
coffee and bacon cooking urged them out of bed.  Jan and Maggie had 
gotten up a little earlier and fixed a wonderful country breakfast of 
bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy and fried potatoes.  There was fresh 
butter and homemade jam from Gran.  It was another feast!  Everyone 
pitched in to clean up and the work went quickly. 

The rest of the day was spent quietly visiting and walking around the
country side.  Though fall, the weather had not turned cold yet.  It 
was what they called ‘long sleeve weather'.  There were plenty of 
leftovers so the ladies didn't have to cook. 

Saturday morning the grandparents started home.  They had driven down in
one car and planned to stop at a couple antique shops the ladies had 
noticed a few days before.  Jan and Maggie were staying until Sunday 
afternoon as was their practice.  Jan had to be back at work on Monday, 


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