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“I’m just a little nervous I guess,” she replied.
“Why are you nervous? It’s just dinner with my family.”
She looked in his direction and whispered in her raspy voice, “Angelina and Maria are nice enough, but I don’t think Nick likes me very much.”
He offered a reassuring smile. “That’s not true. He likes you. He just has a funny way of showing it.”
The skepticism in her gaze let him know she wasn’t totally convinced.
He parked his truck in his sister’s driveway and helped Molly out of her car seat. He handed the bag of presents to Max for him to carry into the house, and he and Elizabeth carried the pies he had made from scratch.
As they entered Angelina’s house Elizabeth made a mad dash to hide behind him and the kids, but it didn’t work. His sister and Maria welcomed her with hugs, and Nick and their dad looked away from the TV just long enough to give a slight wave of the hand at them. His brother-in-law did the same.
Max immediately shed his coat and boots and joined his cousins for play. Molly ran over to her Grandpa and hopped up on his lap.
He and Elizabeth followed Angelina to the kitchen with the pies.
“Everything smells wonderful,” Elizabeth said in her raspy voice.
“How are you feeling? I hear you’ve been quite ill.”
“I feel much better today. Whatever it was, is almost gone,” Elizabeth replied as her gaze landed on the floor, giving his sister the same awkward look she flashed to him when he talked to her about her illness, or asked how she’s feeling.
“We’ll be ready to eat shortly. Can you set these on the table?” Angelina asked Elizabeth as she handed her a tray of condiments.
Maria followed with a bowl of mashed potatoes and dressing as Angelina carried the turkey and gravy. It took one more pass to place the remainder of the meal on the table before everyone else was called to dinner.
Joe slowly glanced around the long table lined with his entire family. He offered a silent ‘thank you’ to the Lord above for his good fortune. His gaze hung on Elizabeth. Though she looked better than she had the past couple of days, and acted a bit more upbeat, she still wasn’t herself. He closed his eyes in prayer, asking God to cure whatever ailed her.
––––––––
Elizabeth watched as the men and kids scattered from the table.
Maria giggled. “How does it seem to always work this way, they eat and leave. No worries about the clean-up.”
Elizabeth assisted with clearing the table and washing the dishes. The simple tasks helped to keep her mind occupied and off her troubles.
The kitchen was beastly hot, and though Angelina cracked open the window, Elizabeth still needed to shed her zip-up turtleneck sweater before she pushed up the sleeves of her shirt so they wouldn’t get wet when she dunked her hands into the dishwater.
She felt Angelina’s gaze on her, and glanced up from the dishwater. “Is something wrong?”
The woman’s puzzled gaze slowly moved in the opposite direction. “No, everything is fine. I’ll be right back.”
Elizabeth resumed washing the dishes. Only when she looked down, did she notice that she’d pushed her sleeves up so high that the handprint bruise around her forearm was exposed. She yanked her sleeve down to cover the bruise, and darted her gaze around quickly to see if anyone else saw. Had Angelina already noticed? Is that why she looked so strangely at her, moments ago? Her hands shook and she dropped the cup she was holding back into the water causing a splash. Dang it! She turned slightly at the waist and glanced at Angelina out of the corner of her eye.
The woman wasn’t looking at her, instead she leaned through the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, looking into the living room. She cleared her throat. “Nick, can I have a word with you?”
“Yeah.”
“In the other room?”
Nick groaned. Elizabeth could only assume he wasn’t happy about being interrupted from the game he was watching.
He sauntered through the kitchen, and followed Angelina down the hall. They returned to the kitchen several minutes later.
Nick picked up a dish towel and dried the dishes Elizabeth washed.
Though he hadn’t yet spoken a word, his presence was overwhelming. She hoped he wouldn’t notice her uncontrollable shaky hands. Why is he in here, helping?
