Perilous Assurance

  Chapter IX

  "Well, Clay, any more arrests since we last saw you?"

  "No, Mom," Clay rolled his eyes at Mattie as he leaned down and hugged his mother, who was obviously having a good laugh over her query. His father chuckled softly as they stood in the foyer of his childhood home in Plattsburgh. Mattie felt Clay's arm go around her shoulder, and she smiled at his surprisingly youthful-looking parents, seemingly enjoying a good laugh at his expense. Clay's father was a bit shorter than his son, she noticed, but with the same lean muscular build and dark good looks save for a few strands of gray at his temples, "Mom, dad, this is Mattie...Mattie O'Keeffe Shaw."

  "It's wonderful to meet you, Mattie. Please...call me Ava." Clay's mother, a tall slender woman with chin-length light blonde hair and brown eyes hugged her warmly. "Here, let me take your coat." Mattie shrugged out of her long black coat and Ava took it from her and hung it in the closet.

  "It's wonderful to meet both of you," Mattie looked into their welcoming eyes, and knew she liked them already. "Clay's told me quite a few stories from his childhood."

  "And you're still dating the guy?" his father's brown eyes twinkled as he chuckled again and gently disengaged Clay's arm, despite his amused protests, and put his own arm around her shoulder, giving her a hug and guiding her out of the foyer. "And I'm Noah."

  "Oh, Clay, could you bring in the apple pie? I left it on the back seat with the bottle of wine." She turned back and smiled at Clay over her shoulder as his father led her into the living room.

  Shaking his head, Clay left to retrieve the apple pie. Ava joined Mattie and Noah in the living room, sitting on the sofa next to her husband, as Mattie sat in the floral-print slip-covered loveseat across from them, resting her cane against the cushion.

  "We're so pleased that you're joining us for Thanksgiving." Ava tucked her legs under her and brushed off her black slacks. "The rest of the crew should be here within the hour, we hope."

  "Well, Mattie, I'm sorry you two won't be staying with us tonight." Noah put his arm around his wife's shoulder as they sat close together on the sofa, and Mattie gazed at them, seeing immediately what a perfect match they were. And to think they'd been together since they were teenagers, running off to elope. It was obvious that they were still in love with each other.

  "I'm back," Clay returned with the apple pie and wine.

  "That's nice, dear. Could you put them in the kitchen?" Ava smiled up at him.

  Clay laughed at his mother and shook his head again as he headed into the kitchen.

  "We've brought the camper with us since we're driving halfway to my parents' house later this evening. They live in Alexandria, Virginia." Mattie explained, smoothing her jeans over the corset where they'd bunched up. "We're eating with them tomorrow. They've just returned from a three-month trip to Europe."

  "Oh, I envy them. What a wonderful time we had that summer over there, remember, Noah?" He nodded amiably as she continued. "I know you must be anxious to see them." Ava smiled as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "By the way, Mattie, Clay hates it when I tease him about his arrest, but we're sympathizers as well, just not into protests at our age. We lost our grandson in the war, but want it to end now, and the rest of our troops to come home safely."

  "Yes, enough is enough." Noah added. "I'm very disappointed in Nixon going back on his word."

  Mattie nodded, and glanced over to see that Clay had re-entered the room and was removing his jacket and hanging it up in the closet. He peered out the side window.

  "Cal and Tricia and the kids are here." Clay opened the front door, yelling out to him. "Hey, brother."

  "Well, that just leaves Christina and Bob, eh?" Noah smiled as he watched his youngest son enter the foyer and hug Clay, a broad smile on both their faces.

  Mattie turned to watch the rambunctious family spill into the foyer and was astounded at the brothers' resemblance to each other. Save for the fact that Clay was somewhat taller, and Caleb had short hair and was clean shaven, they could be twins, with the same dark good looks as their father. She could tell that Caleb was the more outgoing of the two of them.

  Mattie stood up to meet Cal and his family, and saw that Clay was making his way over to her.

  "It will only get worse, believe me," he laughed down at her as it seemed that everyone was talking and hugging at the same time. They stood together by the loveseat, as Caleb and his wife removed their coats and walked over to them. Caleb hugged Mattie, his hazel eyes sparkling mischieviously as he and his wife smiled warmly.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mattie." Caleb grinned at her, then eyed his brother and Mattie laughed as she saw his quick raised eyebrow of approval. "This is my wife, Sheila." Mattie hugged the young woman, and the two children ran over and grabbed their mother around her legs, and she laughed, smoothing down her short blonde hair as she tried to keep her balance.

  "These two ragamuffins are Scott, who's five..." she patted the head of the dark-haired boy tugging at her blue, pullover sweater. "...and this is Sabrina, who just turned four." She smiled down at her blonde haired daughter as she rubbed their heads. "They're a handful, as you can see." She directed their attention to Mattie. "Kids, say hello to Mattie, Clay's girlfriend."

  "Hello."

  "Hello."

  The two became shy as they eyed her from behind their mother's back, and she laughed and pulled them around to the front.

  "Hi, Scott. Hi Sabrina." Mattie smiled down at them.

  "Why do you have that stick?" Scott demanded as he eyed her cane.

  "Oh..." Mattie held it out for them to see the carved and painted design, and they both reached out tentatively to touch the flowers. "Well, it's called a cane, and I need it to help me walk at times." Mattie smiled down at him, and he squinted his eyes up at her. "I lost part of my leg below the knee when I was younger, and I have a replacement leg, but it makes it a little harder to walk." Mattie rubbed her prosthetic, and he and Sabrina looked at her jeaned leg, then back up into her eyes, and seemed satisfied. They let go of their mother and ran off to follow their grandmother into the kitchen.

  "Kids!" Sheila tilted her head at Mattie and winced. "...sorry about that."

  "I don't mind at all. They're adorable." Mattie smiled at her, and Clay wrapped his arm around her waist as the four stood by the loveseat. "They can ask me anything they like."

  "And they more than likely will do just that." Caleb put his arm around his wife's shoulder and laughed good-naturedly. He turned his head toward the kitchen. "I think I hear Christina and Bob." He nodded toward the kitchen and the four of them headed across the living room, and entered the dining room as sounds of their voices floated from the room, along with the enticing aromas of turkey, ham, and all the Thanksgiving fixings, warming in the oven or on the stovetop.

  Mattie saw when they entered the kitchen that Ava was hugging Christina, who had obviously become very distraught, her dark hair spilling over her mother's shoulder as she wept.

  "She gets very emotional during family get-togethers." Clay whispered in her ear as he stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. Sheila moved aside to try to corral the two children, and Caleb went over to greet Bob, who had his hand on his wife's back as she continued to hug her mother. Mattie frowned in sympathy as Clay's sister lifted her head, and was nodding to her mother and Bob that she was all right. She wiped her eyes and looked over at the group crowded in the kitchen, making eye contact with Mattie.

  "Well, Clay," she sniffed as she walked toward them. "I see you did something right, for once." They all laughed at that, and she hugged Mattie, then she eyed her soberly. "I'm Christina and that's my husband, Bob. It's good to meet you, Mattie." She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Don't pay any attention to me."

  "Christina, I'm so very sorry you lost your son." Mattie took her hand in hers. "Clay's told me what an outstanding young man Henry was."

  "Yes, he was," she tilted her head and nodded, squinting her eyes
at her. "Thank you for saying that, Mattie. It means the world to me." She squeezed her hand warmly, then reached over and hugged Clay, and gave Mattie another solemn smile as she turned to greet Caleb and Sheila.

  The rest of the day was spent in easy conversation around the dining room table, with coffee and dessert in the living room a couple of hours later. The day wound down, and as Mattie sat with Christina and Ava on the sofa, poring over Henry's baby pictures, the children practiced walking up and down the living room with her cane. She glanced up and saw Clay, who'd been discussing the business with Caleb, catch her eye and give her a chin up and a look, which she knew meant that he was ready to head out.

  After hugs all around, Mattie eyed the group as Clay held her coat and she shrugged into it.

  "I hate to leave. This has been so wonderful," Mattie smiled warmly at each one. "Thank you all for being so welcoming."

  "Mattie...I want to say, and I'm speaking for all of us, that it's been a pleasure getting to know you." Noah gave her another hug, and held her out from him, his hands on her shoulders, and his dark eyes twinkled. "I hope we get to spend time with you two again soon."

  "I'd like that very much, Noah."

  "I'm so fond of you already, Mattie." Ava whispered to her as she hugged her again.

  Mattie beamed at Clay's family as she turned to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

  "Bye, all..."

  "Bye."

  They waved to the jovial group as they headed out the door, hurrying to the Jeep to get a head start on their trip to Virginia.