Marcie and Leo Ch. 169

(First of all, this one is late. I didn't start it until the morning of Thanksgiving and just now had it ready to be submitted. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season regardless of which ones you celebrate. There are references here in parenthesis to annotate which chapter goes with different things if one needs to catch up with the back story.)

The holidays have been better since Marcie, and I started being closer. The first year when we started dating was the first time I was able to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Marcie has two sisters (Monica and June) and two brothers (Robert and James).

Monica was the first sister I met. (Good Neighbors Ch. 16) She organized a family reunion for Marcie since there was little contact since Mitch passed. Monica was the first to interrogate me, per se. Marcie, as a way to spare her sister some grief, had me as an alias to help me deal with what was to come. We were there when she was starting to discuss her soon-to-be-ex-husband although they made up somewhat before we left. During the time since, there were some ups and downs we witnessed from when she crashed at Marcie's overnight after a fight (Good Neighbors Ch. 77) to her discovering my real name (Good Neighbors Ch. 78) to when her husband left, and they filed for divorce. She currently lives in an apartment with their sister, June.

June is Marcie's twin sister. She flew down from Calgary soon after I proposed to Marcie. (Good Neighbors Ch. 153) Just like the other siblings, she started interrogating me where we discovered that her husband was a gentleman Matt and I dealt with before. After a while, I won her over leading to us moving our wedding forward to accommodate her getting ready to move back home. (Good Neighbors Ch. 188). This led to a confrontation with her soon-to-be-ex (Marcie and Leo Ch.1) which led to her moving back to the States and becoming Monica's roommate. Over time, she helped with different things as she sorted out her life.

Robert is the eldest brother. I met him and his brother Jim watching football (Good Neighbors Ch. 56) where they attempted to interrogate me as well. Both brothers were instrumental in the company landing a major contract with a massive football fan. (Good Neighbors Ch. 101) Rob was also the one I called the morning after I proposed to Marcie (Good Neighbors Ch. 144) for the blessing. I also had the opportunity to meet his eldest daughter as Marcie watched her one morning (Good Neighbors Ch. 98). Although I haven't documented any major events with James, the fact he was there for his family has been something I appreciated.

It was getting to become part of this large family that was the motivation behind the Thanksgiving surprise I pulled this year. It started soon a week after Marcie and I arrived home from her birthday trip. We were talking about all the arrangements my team had to make to surprise her. It was during this conversation that the seed was planted. Of course, then the most difficult part started.

"Leo, why are you smiling?" she asked me.

"I'm with you."

"No, Leo. I know that smile," she said with a smile on her face. "This smile is a different one."

I looked at Marcie and kissed her before I started to tell her my idea. As I started to tell her the grand scheme that was in my mind, I watched her eyes go from scary surprise to supportive sparkle to inspired glee and landing on supportive sparkle again.

"Leo, are you sure you'd want to do this?"

I nodded my head. Yeah, maybe it was the Christmas spirit or something or perhaps the fact I drank some Cinnamon flavored eggnog in my coffee. She then nodded her head in solidarity. It was then the plan came into fruition.

The first step for Marcie was to call her sisters and brothers and explain that we have Thanksgiving covered this year. Obviously, the brothers were on board and let her know to let them know if they needed muscle. June and Mon were not as easy to persuade. It was then Marcie handed me the phone and I tried to charm them. Failing miserably, obviously, I promised to have them come over to help, which seemed to appease both.

Marcie then, with my blessing since it was my idea, proceeded to contact our friends at the catering company. They were the ones that provided some dishes the year before. They were, as expected, already booked for the holiday. However, they did agree to make us some dishes again provided we picked them up the day prior. Being that this was part of the plan, we agreed. It was then the next part.

Both Marcie and I walked next door to our neighbor/assistant's house. Before we had a chance to knock, the door was opened, and Aubrey appeared dressed in her fluffy pink robe. She took one look at us and started to smile.

"You're up to something, aren't you?" she asked.

With both Marcie and I nodding, she invited us in, and we started planning over coffee before her husband woke up. As Wes woke up and walked into the room, he saw us conspiring before Aubrey invited him over.

"Honey," she started. "Can we invite your family over for Thanksgiving?"

There was bated breath before he smiled.

"She's going to want to help," he started before we smiled.

During the next few weeks, there was table rentals, planning the motif, inviting Matt and his family as well as Janet and Deb before we had around fifty people invited. I didn't realize the scale the endeavor would reach until Wes looked at me the day before and asked me the obvious question.

"Leo, what were you thinking?"

I simply smiled at him like the dumb fool I felt like before starting to explain the rationale behind my decision. I explained to him how after Marcie's birthday, I felt empowered to thank those closest to me. He looked at me funny again before he smiled at me.

"And the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day..." he quoted before we kept setting up chairs and tables.

The next morning, we had a brigade in Aubrey's kitchen consisting of Marcie and her sisters, Wes' mother and Matt's wife, Shannon. As the dinner started coming together, it fell to us guys to finish setting up and to handle the heavy lifting between time with my godson, of course. Near dinner time, I found myself sitting in a recliner in the coffee before a certain precocious pre-teen approached.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Uncle Leo," she said before granting a hug suited for a twelve-year-old.

Dinner had its share of ups and downs, especially since the brothers were cheering too loudly during one of the football games. Overall, dinner went well. As the different families went on their merry way, the remaining four people sat around the living room, smiling at the job they did.

"Will someone tell me what Leo was thinking?" Aubrey asked.

Marcie looked at her before looking at me.

"Leo always told me how my family seemed to take him in without asking for much. After the normal harassment, they accepted him first as my guy, then fiancée, then husband. It was in his heart to thank them while also thanking you and Matt and the team for supporting him."

She then wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek before she continued.

"Leo has grown a ton since Missy passed. He's learned that life is short, and we need to take the moments to appreciate those in our lives that help us along the way. Still, I don't think he's doing another huge thing anytime soon."

My arms surrounded her as I kissed her back before we both heard Aubrey snogging her husband. Marcie and I took our leave before we went back next door to enjoy our night.