180 - Thanksgiving

180 - Thanksgiving
This ham came from the pigs that ate Leo? We’re going to need pork chops, bacon, roast, sausage, everything. We’re having a cookout when we get back to DC. - Porthos

Ever since Nessie’s first Thanksgiving, she and her ‘girls’ as she called her kitchen employees, always overcooked and no one complained. Although Molly had the pen of pigs that had eaten Leo’s body set aside and processed, there was no way that he was going to tell her that. He simply told her that he had some pork for her.

There were a few people who did know who had also requested some meat. Trigg requested bacon, as much bacon as Molly would give him. He always said that if he ever pissed Molly off, he wanted to become bacon.

“Fry me up, baby,” he told his wife, Sid, “let me be in you one more time.”

“I’ll have my new boy toy cook you for me. I’ll be too devastated to do it myself.”

Their banter always had Molly laughing at them. They had been together for nearly forty years at this point, and they were both approaching their sixth decade. Watching them, he missed his Becks.

When any of his other pretties saw that sad look on his face, they would hug him close and remind him that they were still there. There had been so much that had happened in the eleven months since they lost her. This was the first holiday season without her and the air of the Shack seemed heavier somehow.

He was sitting in the bar when Priscilla approached him. She was just starting to get a baby bump, and her men had become even more protective of her. He completely understood this and when she approached him, he pulled her into a tight hug.

After standing to kiss the top of her head, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. Hungry. Mainly tired.”

Chuckling, he moved from the bar to a couch in the main area and pulled her into his lap. “Any strange cravings yet?”

“Yes,” she admitted as she turned a bright red.

“Tammy gets horny as fuck when she’s pregnant.”

She smirked, “Trust me, I know. That’s not what it is.”

“But it has you blushing?”

“Tilly, she’s Geo’s mom.”

“I know who Tilly is,” he said keeping his voice even so that he did not give away what he knew.

“Oh, she makes what she calls Florida Cannoli’s. They’re made with regular cannoli recipe but rolled in cinnamon filled with cannoli cream and caramel.”

“That sounds really good.”

She smiled as she closed her eyes thinking about them, “They are wonderful. She’s been making them for me and then overnighting them to me. I’m out of them and was hoping to get some in yesterday’s mail. Now it will probably be Monday before she can get any in the mail.”

Molly smiled at the woman in question as she walked out of the hallway that led to Nessie’s Kitchen. “Maybe you’ll have a Thanksgiving miracle, and some will magically appear.”

“Don’t tease me like that.”

“Are all your handsome men here?”

“No,” she sighed, “Porthos and Geo are driving up. Denver had to go to the mother house to do something for Scrapper.”

“But they’ll all be here today?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’m thinking about the Florida Cannoli’s so much that I swear that I can smell them.”

Molly waved at the woman who was standing just a few feet away from them. As she approached, he started to smell the sweet treats that were on the plate that she held. She sat the plate on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Do you know where my mother has wandered off to?”

Priscilla’s eyes flew open at the harsh but drawn-out Miami accent of her mother-in-law. Turning her head, she saw Tilly looking around for Memaw. She hopped up and wrapped the other woman in a tight hug.

“Geo didn’t tell me that you were coming up!”

Tilly laughed as she hugged the younger woman back, “I don’t think that he knew. It was supposed to be a surprise for all of you.”

“Oh, my God, are those your Florida Cannoli’s?”

“Yes,” she said as she released the mother-to-be and picked up the plate. “They were supposed to be for my mother; we won’t tell her that you got them.”

Molly stood up and took a bite of the cannoli that his daughter offered him. He gave a nod and grunt of approval, “Damn. That’s good. I think Eliza took Memaw to see Camille’s reading nook.”

“That woman does not need any more books. She can’t see what she has.” Tilly said in exasperation. “Can you show me where the reading nook is?”

“I think you need to wait just a minute,” Molly said as he saw Porthos and Geo enter the building. Raising his hand, he called out, “Geo! Porthos!”

Priscilla turned and saw the two men smile at her and then the surprise on Geo’s face when he saw his mom. He rushed over and hugged his mom while Porthos kissed Priscilla, being careful not to get between her and her pregnancy craving. After releasing her son, Tilly pulled Porthos into a hug.

“I’m just missing one of my boys now,” she said kissing his cheek. “Where’s my mother’s mountain man?”

The three of them laughed and Molly did not hide his confusion.

“My grandmother swears that if my angel would give Denver a hall pass, she would climb that man like a mountain and plant a flag that Priss could never remove.”

“He made me promise to never give him a hall pass, no matter what she offers,” Priscilla laughed.

“And that woman has offered a lot,” Porthos added.

Molly was laughing at the descriptions of what all Memaw said that she was going to do to Denver when the man himself joined them. He smiled at Tilly and gave her a hug and then fear crossed his face. Looking at his wife, he pleaded, “You didn’t give me a hall pass, did you?”

Priscilla laughed as she shook her head, “No. You’re safe from Memaw a little longer.”

“She found a guy with no shirt and nipple rings,” Tilly said. “Rip? Rap? Ripple?”

“Riffraff?” Molly offered with a smile.

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Tilly shook her head, “My father was a church deacon. My mother was the sweetest woman, volunteered at almost every church event.”

“She was miserable,” Geo told his mom who looked at him in shock. “They had an arranged marriage because she was a wild child and her parents thought that would settle her down. It just made her miserable.” He shrugged, “Why do you think she was the first person I came out to?”

“Because she saw how miserable you were,” Tilly said softly.

He held her to his chest much like she did when he was little. “Molly, did Porthos tell you that we wanted some meat to take back with us?”

Molly nodded as Priscilla explained to Tilly, “Dad ordered a pen of pigs and got to control their feed for the last several months.”