By Wednesday morning, the day before the holiday, it was common knowledge that the Abernathys were hosting far more people than usual for their Thanksgiving dinner. The extended family didn't seem to mind. They simply pitched in and tried to help; and as the day progressed, there were slowly more of them there to do that.

Alan and Cindy arrived at Greg and Susan's house just before noon. Cindy went directly to the kitchen, expecting to find the rest of the women there, cooking. She wasn't disappointed. She immediately pulled out an apron and joined them, commenting how cooking together in Susan's large kitchen was for her, one of the most enjoyable parts of holidays spent at the Abernathys' home.

Julie and her family arrived about four that afternoon, which was the soonest they could get there after her boys were out of school. Julie too went directly to the kitchen and joined the women early enough to see the other ladies' efforts shift from pies and other things they could make ahead, to supper for the evening. When Greg went to check on them, he found every one of the women in the family there, with Melody roaming about the kitchen watching and keeping them company. None of them seemed to mind and he saw several of them hand her little bits of the foods they were preparing to try.

Supper was served right on time, and afterwards, most of the women returned to the kitchen. Pies prepared earlier were put into the oven to bake while the clean-up from supper was done. Ingredients and side dishes they'd prepared ahead for their feast the next day, were put in the refrigerator. The last thing they did that evening was to ensure both turkeys were set out to thaw.

Susan went to bed relatively early on Wednesday evening. That didn't surprise Greg. Nor did it surprise him when she got up extra early on Thursday morning. He himself was out of bed by seven, helping with Melody. He found Susan, Mrs. Abernathy, Julie and Ruth already in the kitchen, working. People were already coming and going through the cave, and Greg quickly learned that Jenny and Cindy were up too, using the kitchen in the cottage.

"Do you really need both kitchens?" Greg wondered while Melody cruised around the kitchen cabinets beside Susan. The kitchen in their main house was so large, he had trouble imagining why they might feel they needed to use a second kitchen too. Even with four women working and the baby moving between them, to him it looked like there was still plenty of room. Until Susan reminded him they were cooking two turkeys and needed the oven in the cottage to accommodate the second one. "Of course," Greg said. "Do you know what time Rosemary will be here?"

"Sometime just before noon. She's riding over with her parents. Neil should be here about the same time. He'll take her home tomorrow, after our excursion into the cave, or sometime over the weekend," Susan said.

Greg cocked his head. "Are we planning an excursion?"

"Aren't we? Isn't that what I heard you talking to Zack about yesterday?" Susan asked.

"We have been working to complete the ladders and the stairs," Greg said. "I think we have the ladders and the frame for the steps finished. We'll just need help taking them down."

"Maybe some of you can do that while we're cooking?" Susan suggested.

"Not on Thanksgiving, Susan. Tomorrow should be soon enough."

Susan nodded. "Okay."

One of the timers rang and Susan bent to pull a number of muffin pans out of one of the ovens. That's when Greg realized it was actually breakfast she was working on, rather than Thanksgiving dinner. She and her mother were setting up a breakfast buffet along the counter between the kitchen and their breakfast area. So far, it consisted of baskets of the fresh baked muffins, which were just coming out of the oven, a selection of cut up fruit, and loafs of bread sitting beside a toaster with jars of jams and jellies already set out. Mrs. Abernathy was preparing a platter of turkey bacon and Ruth had a bowl of grated cheese and another of prepared eggs beside her in front of the stove, ready to become either omelets or scrambled eggs.

"Do you need help?" Greg wondered.

"Could you tell anyone who's awake that we're ready when they are for breakfast?"

"Certainly," Greg said.

Greg left to carry out his errand, thinking as he did about the fact this was the fourth Thanksgiving he and Susan were celebrating with their families since their wedding and return to the United States. This particular group of people was used to being together on this holiday, making it feel ordinary in some ways. It wasn't of course. This was the year they celebrated Thanksgiving less than a week following Mr. Abernathy's death. This was the Thanksgiving when Cindy was pregnant and they'd celebrated here. And this year, they had Mr. Simms with them and Melody was learning to walk. Lastly, there were some new people invited who would be joining them for the first time. All those things were new, but Greg also knew those were the sorts of things which made up the fabric of life.

c

Breakfast for the women was followed by more cooking. Gradually as the noon hour approached, things for the table began to be carried through the cave, and more and more of the activity migrated to the cottage. Then shortly before noon, the doorbell rang. Greg went to answer it to discover Rosemary and her parents standing outside on the front walk.

"Hello." Greg looked at Rosemary in surprise. These days she was such a fixture around their house, she rarely rang the doorbell anymore, unless she forgot her key.

"Hi," Rosemary smiled at him with a sheepish grin. "Mom and Dad have never been here before, so it felt sort of funny to just walk in."

Greg smiled at them all. "Of course. Cathy, Leo, welcome to our home. I'm pleased you could join us on Thanksgiving."

"My wife was ecstatic to get your invitation," Leo told him. "Our son, Scott, is spending Thanksgiving with his girlfriend this year; so with Rosemary coming here with Neil, that would have left Cathy and I home alone. Thanksgiving for two is not our idea of a celebration."

"That certainly won't be a problem here. We have a big group this year," Greg said, inviting them in.

Rosemary and her family stepped through the threshold into the living room to discover that despite Greg's proclamation, the room was nearly empty.

"Neil isn't with you?" Greg observed.

"He should be here soon," Rosemary said. "Where is everybody? In the kitchen?"

"Some of them are. The football game is on in the family room if you're interested," Greg told Leo. "Most of the men are there. I think Susan and her mother may be in the cottage. They are planning to serve supper there this year."

"Oh?" Rosemary said as she set down her things. "Maybe I should go help?"

"If you'd like," Greg said.

"Come on, Mom. Let me introduce you to everyone," Rosemary said and she led her mother more or less immediately downstairs to the kitchen.

Leo watched his wife and daughter go in surprise. "Rosemary seems to think she lives here."

"She does, some of the time," Greg said.

Leo nodded, taking a step towards the floor to ceiling windows to take in the view. "This is quite a place you've got here," he remarked, looking out not only at the distant view of the Pacific Ocean, but also at the pool down below. "With your own security man out in front and everything."

"Mr. Ellis is a new addition. My family and I have attracted a good deal of attention since the release of our movie," Greg told him.

"That is what Rosemary was saying. Thank you sincerely for inviting us, Greg," he told the other man. "Having us here means a great deal to Rosemary."

"Of course," Greg said. "Let me show you around and introduce you to some of our other guests."

c

Cathy Zimmerman followed her daughter curiously, while Rosemary led her around the Abernathys' house. She'd heard a lot about it from her during the year Rosemary worked for Greg and his wife. Now that she was engaged to Neil, Greg's stepson, it was evident she thought of these people not just as her employers, but as family.

Rosemary introduced her mother to the Abernathys' other guests as they came to them. There were a pair of men named Bob and Reuben in the room Rosemary identified as the library. There were three more men called Alan, Stephen, and Elliot in the family room, watching a football game on television. Adjacent to the family room was the large kitchen she'd heard so much about. Just like the living room on the floor above, this room had a wonderful view. It was also very busy just now, as half-dozen women moved about, preparing dishes to go into the oven at specific times. At the moment, they were checking on the progress of the turkey, which occupied one of the double ovens.

"Hi Rosemary. Good to see you, Cathy. Welcome," Susan said, looking up from the turkey she was inspecting.

"I think it needs at least thirty more minutes, Susie," an older woman said.

"I agree," a woman Cathy recognized said. Cathy looked at her in surprise. She hadn't expected to find Greg Gaffney's ex-wife amongst those in the kitchen.

"Hello Cathy," Ruth said.

"Hello Ruth," Cathy answered, trying not to look as astonished as she felt.

Ruth smiled at the other woman, taking in her level of surprise. It had been years since they last met ... not since she and Greg were married. Back then, she and Cathy occasionally crossed paths whenever Greg and his favorite assistant worked together at one of the studios.

"It has been a while," Ruth recognized. "Have you met my husband, Reuben?"

"Yes ... wasn't he one of the gentlemen you introduced me to in the library?" Cathy asked her daughter.

"Yes, he was," Rosemary said.

"This is Julie ... she was ten I think when you first met," Ruth said.

"Of course," Cathy said. "Nice to see you again, Julie."

"You too," Julie said with a smile. "My husband and brother are around here someplace."

"They're in the family room," Rosemary said.

"Alan," Cathy remembered, thinking back to the names of Greg's children. "That Alan is your Alan?" Cathy said in astonishment looking at Ruth.

"Yes, he is," Ruth said with a hint of pride.

"He was just a little boy the last time I saw him," Cathy said.

"He isn't any more," Ruth told her.

"Of course," Cathy realized.

"This is Cindy, Alan's wife," Julie told her. "Cindy, this is Rosemary's mother, Cathy, and a longtime associate of Dad's."

"Nice to meet you," an obviously pregnant Cindy said.

Cathy looked at her, again feeling surprised. It was obvious Greg was about to become a grandfather again, and although their paths crossed several times over the past few months, he never mentioned it.

"It's a pleasure, Cindy," Cathy said.

"This is my mother, Mildred Abernathy, and my sister-in-law, Jenny," Susan said, completing the introductions. "And of course, this is Melody," she added as the baby came cruising around the corner of one of the cabinets to see who was there.

"Rosie!" Melody said.

"Hi Melody," Rosemary greeted her sometimes-charge. "This is my mom. Her name is Cathy. Can you say that?"

Melody grinned at her and said, "Thee," managing to get out the 'th' sound, if not the hard 'c'.

Cathy smiled as she knelt to Melody's level. "Hello Melody. Do you remember me?"

Melody blinked at her, but didn't say anything.

"She hasn't been to the studio since February, Mom. That's a half a lifetime ago for her," Rosemary reminded her.

"Of course," Cathy said, rising again.

"Do you need help, Mrs. Abernathy?" Rosemary asked.

"We will ... in fact, would you mind terribly doing us a favor?" Susan asked.

"Of course. What do you need?"

"We're having twenty-nine people for supper today ... so I got two turkeys. The other one is in the oven in the cottage, and I need someone to keep an eye on it. It's almost ready to come out. In fact I'm going there to check on it now, but my guess is, it will need a few minutes more, so I'll need someone to stay there and watch so it doesn't burn," Susan explained.

"We can do that," Rosemary said.

"We?" Cathy said.

"Sure. This way I get to show you the cave," Rosemary said with a grin.

Susan smiled too. "Follow me," she said and she escorted the two women through the bookcase door in the library and into the cave. Cathy looked at her surroundings in amazement as they walked through it.

"Rosemary has been telling me about this," Cathy told her hostess, during their walk through the main cavern, "but it was hard to imagine."

"I imagine it would be," Susan agreed. "You just don't see houses attached to caves very often, in my experience."

"Like never," Rosemary agreed.

They came to the base of the stairs leading to the cottage, but instead of being dark beyond them as it usually was, there were lights on behind the stairs.

"What are they doing?" Rosemary asked.

"I'm not sure. Matt said something this morning at breakfast about showing Julie's boys the top of the shaft. They may be doing that," Susan said, and she led the way up the staircase into the cottage.

The three women stepped into the tiny kitchen, where Susan proceeded to check on the turkey in the oven.

"I'd say it needs about thirty minutes more," Cathy said.

"I agree," Susan told her.

"You said we're eating up here. Is there anything we can do to help get ready while we're watching the turkey?" Rosemary asked.

"We've got the tables set up," Susan said, leading them around the wall into the great room.

Sure enough, in that room, all the sofas had been pushed to one side of the room, and two long tables had been set up, arranged end-to-end, and placed directly under the peak, in line with the fireplace, extending the entire length of the room. Tablecloths were spread across them, making them appear as one long table. Fourteen chairs were arranged along each side, with one at the far end, opposite the fireplace, leaving the view of the fireplace open to those at the table. Silverware was in place, defining where each place setting would be, although they were currently incomplete. A stack of china was on the side table Susan often used to serve, along with some glassware on a tray, however no additional preparations had been made, causing Rosemary to wonder if she intended to serve their meal as a buffet that day.

"Are you going to serve buffet-style?" Rosemary asked doubtfully.

"Not today. I know it looks that way, and we often do when we entertain in here, but we felt today should be a sit-down meal," Susan explained. "It's just that we haven't finished setting the table yet. We're only using the cottage because there are too many of us to fit comfortably in our dining room."

"So for today, this is the dining room," Rosemary acknowledged. "We'll finish setting the table. Just let me know if there is anything else we can do."

"I'll be bringing up a couple of flower arrangements for the tables in a little while," Susan told her. "Jessie and the other girls are down in the garden cutting the flowers now."

"Where are the boys?" Rosemary wondered.

"Probably down in the cave," Susan said. "I suspect, in addition to showing Jake and Aaron around, they are getting ready for our excursion tomorrow. I was actually intending to go take a look before going back to the house."

"I'm coming with you," Rosemary told her.

The two women took a break from preparing for their Thanksgiving dinner in order to check on the boys in the cave.

Cathy followed them back down the steps from the cottage, which from this end looked like they should lead into a basement instead of a cave, reentering the passageway, which brought them here from the Abernathys' main house. At the bottom of the steps, Rosemary and Susan walked around the base of the stairs, following the passageway in the opposite direction. From here, the change in the character of the cave was immediate. While surface between the cottage and the house was level, easy to walk on and well lit, beyond the cottage stairs, the surface was made of relatively rough rock. The path was improved somewhat by a series of home-made wooden steps, but the area was lit only by a handful of spotlights sitting on the ground or mounted to portable poles rather than by florescent lighting built into the walls as it was elsewhere in the cave. Cathy followed Rosemary and Susan down three sets of wooden steps before joining them at the base of the last set where they stopped.

"Oh my!" Cathy gasped when she came to the edge of a sudden drop off ... even though it was illuminated well enough by number of spotlights to make the place where the ledge stopped clearly visible. There was also the top of a ladder protruding above the edge, extending higher than necessary to make it easier to navigate.

Rosemary turned to grin at her mother. "I know. It's something, isn't it?" she commented.

"It really is," Cathy remarked.

She looked down into the darkened shaft, illuminated by a hundred points of light spiraling gracefully down into it's depths. Here and there more spotlights provided additional light to that provided by candles, but all that did was to emphasize the size and depth of the shaft.

"Is this what you and Neil have been working on during those weekends you've been here?" Cathy asked her daughter.

"Yes. This is a very special cave, Mom. We've been helping to make it safer so we can explore it," Rosemary said.

"But why?" Cathy asked her daughter. "What makes this cave so special?"

Rosemary shrugged. "I don't know exactly. What I do know is, I've had fewer nightmares since helping Neil, and Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy with this. I think that must mean, it's the right thing to do."

"It absolutely does, Rosie," Neil said as he came up behind them. "Hi Susan, hi Mrs. Zimmerman," he added after kissing his fiancée on the cheek.

"Hi Neil. Welcome and happy Thanksgiving," Susan said.

"Same to you. Who's down in the cave?" Neil asked.

"Matthew, I think. Probably Zack too. I suspect they are leading Chris and Aaron and Jake on an excursion down through the parts we've recently explored," Susan said.

Neil frowned slightly. "I hope they know better than to linger at the bottom for too long."

"I hope so," Susan said.

"How long have they been down there?" Neil asked.

"I'm not sure. I wasn't sure this was where they went until I saw the candles all lit," Susan said. "I thought Matt said they were replacing them."

"They may be," Neil told her. "Maybe I should go down to check on them?"

"Did you bring the equipment to detect the gas?" Rosemary wondered.

"Yes. It's in my car," Neil said.

"Maybe we should take it down?" Rosemary suggested. "Give it time to work before we continue exploring down there tomorrow?"

"It's probably a good idea. I'll bring it in, but I don't think we should take it down until after dinner, Rosemary," Neil said. "We're not dressed for it."

Rosemary looked down at the skirt and low heels she was wearing.

"Oh ... I suppose," she told him. "Are you still going down after the boys?"

Neil was dressed in nicer slacks and a dress shirt, but his casual shoes had better tread on the bottom than dress shoes, and so he was better prepared for a walk down into the cave than she was. Consequently, he was actively contemplating the ladder.

"I'll give them some time to come back on their own. How soon are we eating?" Neil asked Susan.

"About two. We have a couple of hours yet," Susan told him.

Neil nodded. "I'll hang out here after I bring the equipment in and wait for them to come back."

"Thank you, Neil," Susan said. "I need to get back to the kitchen."

"And we should probably check on the turkey again?" Rosemary said.

"Yes please," Susan said.

"I'll get Greg or someone to help me carry the detector in," Neil told Rosemary.

Cathy watched her daughter and her fiancé curiously. This was obviously a passion of Neil's, and it was slowly rubbing off on Rosemary ... at least in regards to this one particular cave. She followed Rosemary back up to the kitchen in the cottage, while Susan and Neil disappeared in the direction of the house, but not before they were passed by Cindy and Susan's mother, pulling a wagon through the cave. The wagon was loaded with things destined for the cottage and their dining room table. Rosemary turned around before she got to the top of the cottage stairs and began to help them unload, carrying things with her upstairs and into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Cathy found herself checking on their Thanksgiving turkey.

"Thanks Mom," Rosemary said as she came up the stairs a second time with a tray loaded with more glassware for the table in her hands. She set the tray on the counter and turned back to those coming up the stairs.

"It's no problem, Rosemary," Cathy said, just as Mrs. Abernathy came up the stairs with a large salad bowl in her hands.

"This goes into the refrigerator," Mrs. Abernathy told Rosemary.

"Got it," Rosemary assured her as she took the bowl from her hands. "I can handle things here for a while if you want to go back to the house with Mrs. Abernathy, Mom."

"I would like to check on your father," Cathy said.

"Come with me," Mrs. Abernathy told her.

She stood to the side while Cindy brought up another salad. This too went into the refrigerator and the three women left together to go back to the main house.

c

Greg looked up when he saw Cindy, Mrs. Abernathy, and Cathy return to the house through the library bookcase. Cathy wore a vaguely bewildered expression on her face.

"I hear you have been getting a crash course on our cave and the cottage," Greg remarked to his old colleague and friend.

"You could say that. This place is phenomenal, Greg ... it is so much more than a house you have here," Cathy remarked.

"That much is definitely true. I'm glad Rosemary's had the chance to show you around," Greg said.

"She hasn't really. I've just been following her everywhere," Cathy said, just as Ruth came up the stairs from the kitchen with a vase of flowers. "Do you want me to take those to the cottage?" Cathy offered.

"If you don't mind ... or ... We have one for the second table too. You could bring that one if you'd like," Ruth said.

"Sure. Where is it?" Cathy asked.

"In the kitchen," Ruth said and she disappeared through the bookcase door.

Cathy walked uncertainly down to the kitchen to find Susan finalizing the second arrangement.

Susan looked up, smiling at her. "How's the table coming?"

"Rosemary is working on it," Cathy assured her. "The turkey should be ready to come out of the oven soon."

"This one is too," Susan said. "Are you here for the flowers?"

"If they're ready," Cathy told her.

Susan inclined her chin with a smile as a buzzer went off and she turned to tend to something in one of the ovens. "I appreciate the help."

"It's no problem," Cathy said. She picked up the vase, taking a final look around the large kitchen, busy with so many women tending to things, before she left.

c

Cathy walked back through the family room carrying the vase of flowers, to find her husband and Neil with some of the other men watching the football game. Apparently, they were waiting for halftime before taking time out to move Neil's equipment.

"Where are you going?" Leo asked his wife, getting up from where he was sitting, surrounded by strangers.

"To the cottage. Come with me?" Cathy requested.

"Sure," Leo said.

He followed his wife up the stairs, through the bookcase door and into a cave. He'd heard about the Abernathy's cave before from his daughter, however he'd never pictured it as being quite this big. He didn't get a good look at the main chamber however, as he accompanied his wife through a smaller passageway, which led to a flight of wooden stairs. They climbed up them to find they led directly into a little house.

"Hi Dad. Welcome to the cottage," Rosemary said with a grin as her parents emerged from the stairwell.

"Hi," Leo said with a peculiar smile. "Is this where you live?"

Rosemary looked at him in surprise.

"No. They call this place the cottage. Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy do use it as a guesthouse now and then, but mostly they use it to entertain when they have a large group, like they have today. And Mrs. Abernathy uses it as her office," Rosemary explained. "I stay in one of their guestrooms when I'm here."

"Well, where are those?" Leo asked.

"Did you see the pool out in back when we came in through the living room?" Rosemary asked her father.

"Yes," Leo said.

"The guestrooms are all in separate wings of the house, and surround the pool on the bottom floor. I'll show you after we eat," Rosemary promised.

"I see. If you aren't staying here, then what are you doing here?" Leo asked his daughter.

"Helping to get ready," Rosemary said.

"This is where we are eating, Leo," Cathy told him.

She led the way around the massive fireplace, into the great room-turned-dining room. Ruth was there ahead of her, adjusting the position of the vase of flowers she'd just brought up. Cathy set the second one she was carrying down in the center of one of the second table, noting that the place settings were almost complete. Only the glassware still needed to be set out, and Rosemary was in the middle of doing that.

"Susan tells me the turkey is almost done," Ruth remarked.

"It will be in about fifteen minutes," Cathy said and she returned with Ruth to the kitchen to inspect the bird.

Meanwhile, Leo was surprised when the front door to the cottage opened and Greg came in with Neil, carrying some sort of equipment.

"Do you need a hand with that?" Leo asked.

"Please," Greg said as they brought it inside. "There's a flight of stairs we need to carry this down."

"What is it?" Leo asked curiously, as he lent a hand.

"A gas detection device. We're going to use it in the cave," Neil explained.

Leo nodded, helping to carry the device around the corner of the great room and down the stairs he'd just come up.

They met Susan coming from the house when they were half way to the bottom of the stairs. She waited for them to come down before going up. As they passed one another, Greg said,

"I think I saw Shelly's car at the gate while we were out at Neil's car. Does Mr. Ellis have her name?"

"I gave it to him this morning," Susan assured him. "I'll watch for them."

Greg nodded, grunting slightly as they manhandled the heavy equipment down the last few steps and around the base of the stairs, in the direction of the shaft.

"How many more people are you expecting, Susan?" Cathy asked, while Susan placed a relish tray she was carrying into the refrigerator.

"Only the Goodmans. They should be here any minute," Susan said.

"Just in time for the food to begin coming out of the oven," Rosemary said with a grin.

Just then, the doorbell to the cottage rang.

"That must be them now," Susan said and she went to answer the door.

c

"Hi Shelly, welcome," Susan said. She opened the cottage door to find Shelly, Kevin, Kelly, and Bert Goodman all standing there. "All of you."

Shelly held a pie in her hands and all of them looked slightly nervous about being there.

"Hi Susan," Shelly said with a smile. "Your cottage really does look like our set for the cottage in the woods."

Susan smiled. "I'm glad you think so. I think Greg had that cottage in mind when he had it built. He did this one from memory ... with a few modern modifications. Come on in."

She opened the door wider, welcoming the Goodmans inside.

"This really does look like that place," Bert remarked as he stepped through the threshold and looked about, noticing the stairway which led to the loft and the open beam, vaulted, wooden ceiling.

"Does it?" Shelly asked curiously.

"Yeah," Bert said, just as Greg came around the corner to greet them.

"Welcome," Greg said to their guests.

"Hi Greg," Shelly said for them all.

"Do you know this place?" Greg asked Bert. "I overheard what you said."

"Yeah I do ... or I did," Bert said looking curiously at the enormous fireplace. "It was burnt though, when I saw it ... not like it is now."

Greg arched a brow at him. "You were there ... after the fire."

"Yes," Bert said. "Mary was there ... but she was dead."

Susan shivered slightly as she realized what Bert was saying. She never thought about whether somebody might have found them, after the fire, at the end of their first life.

"How did you know her name if she was dead?" Shelly asked.

Bert shrugged. "I didn't ... but I knew it was her ... I'd seen her once at the well. I remembered about the fire afterwards. Her name was Mary then ... the second time ... it was important to her that I understood what happened."

"It would have been," Greg agreed. "Her name was Marie in that first lifetime."

"That's what she told me," Bert agreed. "Is Jessie here?"

"She's in the kitchen in our main house," Susan explained. "She should be here soon."

"Is Zack there too?" Kelly asked.

"I think he may be down in the cave," Greg said. "Neil has gone after them," he added to Susan.

"Good. We'll be ready to eat in about an hour, maybe sooner," Susan remarked.

"Did you say he's down in a cave?" Shelly asked.

"Yes," Greg told her. "This cottage is different from the original in several distinct ways. It has electricity, plumbing, a modern kitchen ... and it is built directly on top of a cave."

"Zack told me about that," Kelly said. "Are we going to get to see it?"

"Yes," Susan told her. "You can come back through it to the house with me."

"Okay," Kelly said eagerly.

"First, let me introduce you to those who are here," Greg said. He turned to survey who was in the room. "Everyone, you know Leo, Cathy, and Rosemary, of course."

"Of course," Kevin said. "We met them all on the fourth of July at Richard's house. Nice to see you again, Leo," he added. He shook the other man's hand and it occurred to Susan that the two men had more than a few things in common ... including wives who were somehow involved with show business.

"This is Ruth," Greg continued.

"Hello Ruth. I remember meeting you at the premier," Shelly said. "This is my husband, Kevin, and our children, Kelly and Bert."

"Hello," Ruth said to them all. "It's nice to meet you, Kevin."

"Thank you, you too," Shelly's husband said.

"Shelly, let me take that to the kitchen for you," Susan offered. "We're eating here in the cottage, as you can see, but almost everyone is still at the house. If you'd like, you can come with me and I can introduce you to everyone before we eat."

"Yes please," Bert said.

"Okay," Shelly agreed.

"Which way to the cave?" Kelly asked enthusiastically.

"This way," Susan told her.

"You can't be serious ... we're not really going through a cave ..." Kevin said doubtfully.

"Zack said the cave is attached to their house," Kelly told her father.

"I seriously doubt that," Kevin started to say.

Susan interrupted him as politely as she could.

"Actually it is, this way," she said.

Goodmans followed Susan down the stairs, which looked like they should lead into a basement, but instead they emerged into a tunnel-sized passageway in a cave.

Kevin looked around them in awe. He was tempted to pause to look around more thoroughly when they came to the main chamber, but he didn't want to get lost so he hurriedly followed their host.

Greg took up the rear, with Ruth. "There should be time later today to look about," he told the other man.

"I look forward to it," Kevin said.

c

Shelly's expression took on a look of amazement when Susan led them into the Abernathy's home through an odd-looking door, which turned out to be the backside of a bookcase.

"A secret passageway," she murmured.

Susan smiled. "Something like that. This isn't the usual way we invite people into our home for the first time, but here we are. This is the library," she explained.

Shelly entered the small room behind Susan, followed by her family. Several men were in the room, most of whom she didn't know.

"Allow me to make introductions," Greg offered as he came in behind them. "This is my son-in-law, Elliot; my son, Alan; and of course you know Ruth's husband, Reuben."

"Who?" Kevin asked.

"Ruth and Reuben are friends of Greg's," Shelly guessed. "They were at the premiere."

"Actually, she's my mom," Alan told her.

"Ruth was my first wife," Greg explained.

"Oh," Shelly said in surprise. "I didn't know."

"There's no reason you should," Greg told her.

"We have the football game on down in the family room, if you're interested," Susan told Kevin.

"It's half-time," Alan added.

"How long until it starts again?" Kevin asked curiously.

Alan shrugged. "Let's find out."

He led Kevin down to the family room where he proceeded to introduce him to those gathered around the TV.

Meanwhile Shelly and Reuben looked at one another. Their expressions suggested they wanted to have a conversation, but neither of them quite knew where to start. Susan smiled at them, understanding that the one person Reuben believed was missing from his life all these years was standing right in front of him. They were both married and had obligations elsewhere, but the fact was, they were both here ... both present to share a Thanksgiving dinner with Greg, Susan and their families.

"It's good to see you again, Shelly," Reuben said.

"You too," Shelly said with an odd sort of smile.

"Shall we sit down?" Ruth suggested looking between Shelly and Reuben.

"Perhaps Bobby would like to join us," Greg said.

"That's a very good idea," Susan said. "I think he's in the family room."

"I'll get him," Greg said and he disappeared down the stairs.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the kitchen," Susan said stepping around them all. "Bert, you want to come with me?" Susan offered. "I think Jessie is in the kitchen too."

"Sure," Bert said.

Kelly decided to come with them, and the two Goodman children followed Susan curiously down the stairs.

"This is the family room," Susan said, gesturing to the room where a few men, including their father, were watching the halftime show on television.

"Jessie, Bert is here," Susan announced as she rounded the corner into the eating area beside the kitchen.

"Bertie!" Jessie said, sliding off a bar stool where she'd been talking with her cousins.

"Hi Jessie," Bert said with a smile. "Happy Thanksgiving."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too," Jessie said happily. "Mama said you were coming."

"I did," Bert said.

Jessie introduced Kelly and Bert to her cousins. Not surprisingly, the four girls - Jessie, Amber, Lisa, and Kelly - all turned out to be very close in age to one another, while Bert was somewhere in the middle of the spread age-wise. The young people talked, getting to know one another while Susan went back to work on their dinner. She tried to listen as best she could, but there were things in the kitchen that needed her attention and so she only heard about half of what they said.

Meanwhile, a buzzer went off above one of the ovens and Mrs. Abernathy took her sweet potatoes out of the oven. Jenny was moving her beans from the pot where they'd been simmering to a serving dish, and Julie adjusted the oven temperature before sliding in her appetizer and Cindy's green bean casserole. The turkey was declared done, and Susan took it from the second oven to rest while preparing a platter she could put it on to carve.

"Should we do that in the cottage do you think?" Susan asked her mother.

"I would. Ask Greg or one of the other men to help you carry it up there, and carve both turkeys at the same time," Mrs. Abernathy suggested.

"Did I hear my name?" Greg asked as he looked into the kitchen.

"You did. We need to carry the turkey up to the cottage. It plus its roasting pan and the juices must weigh 25 to 30 pounds, so we need help," Susan explained.

"I should be able to manage it, if we use the wagon and if somebody holds the doors open for me," Greg said.

"I can, Greg," Mrs. Abernathy offered. "We're going to need to use those drippings to make the gravy so don't spill them."

"I won't," Greg promised.

What followed next was a steady stream of foods being carried from the kitchen in the house, up through the cave to the cottage, starting with the turkey. Those that were ready quickly followed, and the parade of delicious smelling foods captured everyone's attention.

"Is it time to eat?" Alan asked anxiously from the family room.

"It will be soon," Susan informed him when she carried her mother's sweet potatoes through the room. "It's almost time to carve the turkeys. We're doing that in the cottage. There are a few more things we're waiting for, but we are definitely getting there."

Meanwhile up in the cottage, most of the foods that were being carried up the stairs found places in the kitchen there. The rest were set on trivets directly on the table. Some of those who'd lost interest in the half-time show on TV followed them through the cave, collecting on the sofas in the great room while they waited for dinner to be served. Others lingered in the little kitchen, watching while Greg set to work, carving the meat off two enormous, golden brown birds, piling it high on three separate platters.

The word gradually spread that dinner was almost ready. By the time Julie brought her appetizers up to the cottage and announced they were being served, several more of those from the house followed her to sample them. She set them on the coffee table in the corner of the room, where they were flanked on two sides by the over-stuffed leather sofas ... the same ones, which normally sat in front of the fireplace. Someone built a small fire in the fireplace at the other end of the room, making it feel particularly cozy and more of the Abernathy's guests slowly gathered in the great room, helping themselves to the appetizers while they visited and waited for dinner to be served.

Gradually, more and more foods gradually appeared on the long table, suggesting they would soon be ready.

The cottage great room felt very spacious as everyone gathered, despite the number of people who were slowly collecting there. That is, until from the depths of the cave, five teenaged boys plus Neil suddenly appeared.

"Is supper ready, Mom?" Zack asked Susan as he eagerly sniffed the turkey.

"Not yet ... about another ten minutes," Susan told him. "But Kelly is here."

"Where?" Zack said.

"She's in the great room, Zack, where we're eating," Susan said.

Zack grinned and disappeared.

The last of the turkey was cut and laid on the platters, the last hot dish carried to the table, and the drinks were all poured into glasses already set out on the table. Finally, Susan announced their Thanksgiving supper was ready.

In very short order, the Abernathy family and their friends gathered around the table, ready for the invitation to sit down to begin their meal.

c