"Hey, Carl! How are you doing?" I hugged Carl as I entered his front door.

"It's going good, Georgina," he grinned. "Oh hey, is that champagne? Thank you!" He took the bottle of champagne from my hands and inspected it.

The air was knocked out of me as a little puffball rocketed from the house and smacked into me. "Hey- Hey, Cha Cha," I giggled, hugging him back.

"Hola," he said sweetly into my body.

They allowed me into the house and Carl took my brown coat. I held up a suit bag and and Carl nodded. "Bathroom's down the hall on the left," he informed me, pointing the way. As I made my way to the bathroom, Carl continued speaking.

"You'll never believe what the kid and I did this morning," he went on.

"What did you do?" I asked, turning around to listen momentarily.

"Well, we went to the parade because the kid had never seen the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the flesh before. But this kid! The nerve of this one! Cha Cha, you tell her!"

Cha Cha's face lit up eagerly. "I wore this!" Cha Cha chirped, looking positively proud as peaches. He gestured to the church dress he was wearing, which looked to be one of Carl's daughter's old ones from the 50's.

My eyes went wide. "What?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, the kid insisted that he'd be fine. 'No cop gonna get a kid,' he said. Turns out we were fine, but lord. I was nervous the whole time! But I gotta tell you, it was a rush! I gave the kid some hoop earrings, my wife's old ones, because he's so brave, you know? Plus I thought it would be a nice 'welcome home' present," Carl beamed, proud as peaches just like Cha Cha.

"They look good?" Cha Cha asked, cupping his hand behind his earlobe to show off a delicate gold hoop earring.

I burst into laughter. Oh, Cha Cha. I knew he'd be a firecracker, having the boldness to run away from home and try to join our club and all. The more I learned about him the more I loved him and was glad he was in our lives. "God, come here and hug me again," I laughed, walking to him and gathering him into a tight hug once more. His tightly curled black hair which were in pigtail puffs today swept the sides of my face in the embrace. "You be careful, though, Cha Cha," I told him seriously.

"I will, Miss," he assured.

I decided as I walked to the bathroom that today as we said Thanks around the table I'd include a thank you to God for bringing Cha Cha into our lives. Cha Cha was quickly becoming the much needed humor we needed, a break from all of this seriousness in our lives. That was definitely something to be thankful for.

Once in the bathroom, I unzipped my suit bag to reveal a gorgeous aqua blue, mermaid-style dress which had been laid on my new bed this afternoon waiting for me. I held it up in my hands, seeing it against the bright light of the bathroom. The satin-y fabric shimmered at me and made me smile wide. I hung the suit bag up on the shower curtain rod of the bathtub and took out my corset and under things from the bag. Slipping these on quickly, my brain traveled to the events of my own morning.

It had been very cold this morning, but not bone-breakingly so. I was waiting at my window with a mug of coffee in my hands. Not only were the movers supposed to come, but Paulie, too. Paulie would be helping me direct the movers, among other things. The clock on the wall of my living room said it was 7:30AM. By 8AM, the movers were due to be here. Paulie was late as usual.

By the grace of God, Paulie's fist knocked on my door five times for the last time around 7:35 and I raced to let him in. We curtsied to each other grandly in the hallway, and then he came inside.

"You need anything packed up last minute?" he asked, looking around at my plastic covered furniture. They looked like ghostly icebergs all around my apartment.

"No, I think I got it all. Do you want coffee?" I asked, gesturing to the half full pot being warmed on my coffee maker.

"Wow, is that coffee maker new? That's very fancy," Paulie breathed, going over to it and admiring it.

"Yeah, Frankie bought it last week. The old one wasn't making the coffee hot enough, you know? He thought I needed a new one," I said, smiling and sitting on the plasticed couch, making a crinkly plastic noise. It shocked me a little, so foreign.

"You're a Princess," Paulie said, his back turned to me. He began touching the coffee maker and looking around it.

"No," I chuckled. But something about Paulie's tone didn't sound like something to be chuckling about. It made me uneasy. I quickly tried to change the subject to cover it up. "How's Avi?"

"He's well, you know," Paulie sighed.

Wrong subject. I swallowed my coffee too fast, burning my throat a little bit. It caused me to cough in tiny chokes. Liquid sound met my ears as Paulie poured himself a cup of coffee into his favorite mug, a crimson one with white lines around the top and bottom.

Paulie joined me, sitting in my red chair which was also his favorite. He sighed again, his eyes looking worn out and just plain tired, but they didn't seem to be tired at me. This fact sent relief flooding down my spine.

"I'll be honest with you, Georgina," he breathed out slowly. He put his mug on my glass topped coffee table as it cooled. "Avi has been pretty distant lately, what with the wedding being planned with that Esther and all. I don't know what to make of it. I can't hide it from you, so I'll come right out and say it. I'm not mad at you, don't take it that way. But I've been a little jealous of you lately. You deserve to be happy, absolutely. With all you've been through...you deserve Frankie and then some. But me...I don't know what I did wrong to deserve this one."

"What do you mean?" I asked delicately, taking a sip of my coffee and holding the mug in my hands for its warmth.

Paulie laid back in the red chair, and looked up at the ceiling. Tears were forming in his tipped back eyes, and my heart felt a longing for him, wanting to help him. My mouth parted in wanting to say something, but there were no words forming on my tongue.

"I don't know," he sighed deeply, coming back forward and leaning over the table to take his coffee mug into his hands. "I just feel...do I deserve somebody who's sharing himself with someone else? Should he just be with his new family and just...I don't know, Georgina. I can't help but feel like the fifth wheel. I'm not needed in that family. He's hiding me. I don't know how it makes me feel, I can't make sense of it. I don't know what to do about it. And he's away from me much more now, so my strength about it is dwindling. He spends so much time with her and her family and his family. I'm not in it, I'm not a part of it. I'm not a part of his life anymore...I'm not..."

I extended my hand across the table, and Paulie took it, holding it gently.

"I'm glad you're here today," he said sincerely. "I'm glad we're gonna be in company with everybody today at Carl's house, because I don't know how I'd deal with this all alone. Avi's going to be spending Thanksgiving with her and everybody he knows. He's got a family, you know? He's got his own family and her family now, too. And what have I got? My family's out in the midwest having Thanksgiving without me and they don't care that I'm here in New York. They're probably glad I'm not there. And I don't...I don't know how to deal with that, Georgina..." Squeezing my hand, he paused and swallowed, looking down at the floor with his brown eyes full of tears. "I can see why he doesn't want me. I can see why he'd rather spend Thanksgiving with his big new family and everything. Who would choose me when the other option is all those loving people? I can't compete..."

I squeezed his hand back and he sniffled.

"I choose you," I told him, looking at him firmly. "I'd choose you any day."

A tear fell down his cheek, rolling somewhere off unknown from his chin. "Yeah, but you've got Frankie," he sniffled. "If Frankie asked you to spend Thanksgiving with him, you'd go spend it with him."

"No," I smiled a little, assuring him, "I'd want to spend Thanksgiving with you because you're my best friend. I think the idea of all of us spending Thanksgiving together is the best idea, because we're all a family. We're your family, Paulie. And I can't think of a better Thanksgiving than with our family."

His face crumpled into tears and they dripped down with abandon now. "Thank you," he squeaked. Getting up, I pulled his hand. I pulled him into an embrace and he sniffled into my hair, gasping a little bit in his new sobs. "I don't know what I would do without you, Georgina," he whispered, his voice shaking.

"I love you, Paulie," I whispered back to him and this made his body tremble. I tightened my arms around him and started to rock him back and forth in love.

After Paulie had calmed some, we drank our coffee in silence, waiting for the movers to come. The sounds of Paulie turning the pages of the holiday edition of the New York Times was comforting to me.

Fifteen minutes after 8AM, a big brown moving truck pulled up in front of my apartment building. Paulie heard the noise of it and looked behind him outside of the window. "Well, get ready to say good-bye to Greenwich Village," he said in awe. "Look at that thing! Holy cow!"

"It's not entirely good-bye," I smiled, thinking about the club.

He smiled back, gladdening my heart. "That's true," he said excitedly.

We got up from our seats, watching the movers come towards my apartment, opening the truck and everything in preparation. My excitement grew, and I took Paulie's hand again, holding it. He looked down at our held hands and then up at me like a curious puppy.

"Paulie, I just had a thought," I said quietly, still thinking.

"Women with their thoughts," he joked with a little giggle, squeezing my hand again.

"No seriously," I giggled with him. I breathed in, then looked at his face. He looked at me with wonder in his big brown puppy dog eyes. A smile came over my face. "Why don't you... Why don't you move in with me?"

His face immediately changed to one of disbelief and declining just like always when someone offered him a gift, so I quickly went on, squeezing his hand assuringly.

"No, really, why don't you? That way, you can enjoy Frankie's gifts with me like that coffee maker. We could share clothes. We could do everything together. Financially it would never be a problem, and I'm sure Frankie would love to know you're safe, too. You could have a new bed. I know how that old mattress hurts your back. I know it would be a good idea, I just know it!" The words fluttered out of my mouth like so many butterflies, circling us and filling the air with my happy flurries of excited bliss, each like little promises of a world that could be.

"...I don't know, Georgina," Paulie said quietly, slowly. The wheels were turning in his head as he mulled it over. "What about Avi, you know? My apartment is pretty much where stuff happens for us, and if you take that out of the equation..."

I took his other hand in my own and held them between us. "Think about it," I told him. I really wanted to tell him that I wanted him to move there because that's where he'd be loved. How this whole thing with Avi was coming to a close, but I couldn't tell him that. It would hurt him. Destroy him even. So I kept my mouth firmly shut.

He nodded to me, agreeing to think about it and that was good enough for me for now.

Soon after, the movers knocked on the door and Paulie answered it, greeting them and directing them. The movers decided to take my couch first and as we heard them bringing it down the winding staircase carefully, we looked at the empty floor space of my living room with an unnamed feeling. Sadness, awe, something else. A longing pain almost. "Look at that," Paulie whispered.

"Yeah," I whispered back, looking at the bare spot. The room looked so much bigger now, vacant without its center.

"That couch has been sitting there for what, six years?" Paulie asked, gaping at it still.

"Yeah, just about," I nodded. "Ever since I could legally rent."

"Time sure flies," Paulie sighed. "Well, let's move some boxes from your bedroom to help the movers. We can maybe pile them on the sidewalk. I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

"Okay," I agreed. Paulie walked to my bedroom which was off the living room, but I stood still, unable to move away for some reason, my feet planted on the floor like they were seeds taking root in dirt. My eyes stared at the spot where my couch had been, dumbly, unable to believe what was going on suddenly.

"Come on, you," Paulie laughed, pulling my arm and unrooting my legs. "You Princess. Let's get you going!"

I had to laugh with him. He patted me on the back as he loaded boxes of my blankets and clothes on top of one another, then he piled them up into his arms with his manly strength like magic was amazingly infused in them. "Gosh you're strong," I said in awe, piling a smaller box on top of his due to it being so little.

"Yeah," he chuckled, walking out of the room with so many of my things. Hearing him go down the stairs, I twirled and sat on my bare mattress, looking at all of my things in boxes. I sighed at the closing era, at all of my memories. But a smile formed on my face immediately after, knowing a new, better era was being born.

Some hours later, spent, we sat on the floor in my empty apartment. Well, all empty except for one object. An elephant in the room.

"That piano is going to be hard for the movers to get down the stairs," Paulie said with a low whistle.

I gave a small nod at this. He was still holding my hand, comfortingly. Or maybe to comfort himself. The more pieces of furniture that were removed from my apartment, the more lonely I felt and surely he did, too. We had spent so much time in this apartment, gone through so much. So many tears were shed here, but also so many smiles were made. Including a last one of mine, a sad one.

"No, it's not," I sighed, finally making a decision which I had been agonizing over all night.

"No? Are the piano movers going to come then? That makes more sense. They'd be more careful with it," Paulie nodded.

"No," I sighed again, undoing our hands and stretching big, settling against the wall, as a wave of pinching feeling spread in my gut at my releasing this information to Paulie. It became real and made me aware how unsure I was.

"Huh?" Paulie asked, looking deeply confused.

"I'm leaving it," I whispered.

"What?! Leaving it? But didn't Frankie buy you that? Why would you leave it? Its a baby grand! It's a Steinway! Worth thousands of dollars!" Paulie started blubbering in shock, and I grabbed his hand again. He immediately seemed to calm with my touch, like my hand was his lifeline.

"Paulie, it's broken," I said quickly to him, turning my face to his ear to muffle myself so no one at all but Paulie could hear. My heart began to fold in on itself to this admission, this awful secret which I had been keeping from him.

"Then have it fixed," Paulie ordered to me like a child in his shock, "you don't leave a Steinway because it's 'broken'. You have it fixed."

"That's not what I mean," I whispered now, getting closer to him. He slid closer to me, too, sensing my seriousness.

"What's wrong, Georgina?" he whispered back, his face turning to one of deep concern. He was like a loyal dog, I thought with a sigh, always with that sixth sense knowing what I was thinking.

"I didn't tell you, but..." my throat pinched as I tried to tell him, emotions coming up which I had hid and didn't know were still there.

"You can tell me anything, Georgina, you know that," he assured me quietly.

I breathed deeply and his arm extended around me, pulling me closer. I leaned on him and he kissed my forehead to show me it was okay. It felt as if my heart bloomed like a little flower, his kiss the life giving water. I was ready to tell him now, everything.

"Well, two weeks ago," I sighed, the words starting to gush out of me, "I was with Frankie at a hotel, one overlooking Central Park...but that's not important...anyway, we were there and we spent the night. I was so happy, you know? We talked about a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff, and I was so full of hope. But when I got home...oh, Paulie..."

"What is it, Georgina? Tell me," Paulie urged, his eyes full of concern.

"It...that piano..." tears started to fall from my eyes and I couldn't stop them. Paulie wiped them away with his thumb, carefully and gently. "Somebody...somebody broke into my apartment when I was with Frankie and took one of the hammers. I found the snapped off hammer on my pillow. On my pillow, Paulie! Somebody came in here and they snapped off that hammer and I don't know why and...why would they do that, Paulie? Why? Who got in here? How? Why did they do only that? They didn't take anything, nothing else was moved! That's why I'm moving, Paulie! Frankie's trying to get me away from whoever that person was and whoever else! I think he...he might...he might know who it was and I...he won't tell me anything and I don't..."

I was shaking now, it was hard to breathe. Paulie wrapped both of his arms around me and pressed me close to his body, holding me and trying to center me again.

"It's going to be okay, Georgina," Paulie whispered into my ear, rubbing my back. "He'll make you safe. You don't have to worry."

"But I am worried," I squeaked unintentionally.

"Aww, darlin'," Paulie sighed into my ear. Those words comforted something deep inside of myself. They made him feel older to me, wiser than me, like he really was. Like he really knew things that I didn't even though I knew both of us didn't know a thing in the world about this situation, matters like this.

"I'm so scared, too," I admitted, warm tears still rolling down my cheeks. "I just want to know who that person was, why they did it. The unknowing of it is driving me crazy, I don't know what to do... Why me? Why did they...I don't-"

"Darlin', shh...shh," Paulie shushed me gently, rubbing my back in circles like one would do to a child. "You're moving out of here. You're going to be in a safe place. You're going to be safe. You are. Shh."

I laid my forehead on his shoulder and he started to rub the back of my neck and this turned my entire body into jelly. A small forgotten memory began forming in my brain and I completely relaxed, remembering it: the memory of a large Italian hand, drunken but loving, rubbing the same small spot on my neck. Of my father, whispering small Italian shushings, as he comforted me as I cried.

In Carl's bathroom, I was popping my lips to blend my lipstick and checking to see if my wig was on straight. It seemed fine. My hands reached in back and I realized I'd need somebody else to zip me up. Darn it. But I couldn't ask Carl or Cha Cha to do it. I leaned over the sink, completely done up except for this one minor yet all important detail. Sighing, I wondered what the heck I was going to do.

Sounds traveled back into the bathroom to me, sounds of the front door squealing as it opened. "Merry Thanksgiving holiday!" chirped a familiar and loving voice.

"Oh, thank my stars," I squealed, too, carefully making my way to the bathroom door.

I poked my head out like a nervous ballerina peeking through the curtains of a stage. At the front door, Cha Cha was hugging Paulie and Carl was holding up a dark green bottle of wine and inspecting it just as he'd done with my champagne. "Gosh, moneybags," he laughed, "where did you get this thing?"

"I didn't, Avi did. I figured he should be in on this celebration," Paulie chirped again, but I detected a slight bitterness to his voice that no one else seemed to. I started chuckling a little to myself at Paulie's boldness. "I brought some non-alcoholic bubbly for the little one, too. Don't think I forgot you, my little honey," he cooed, mussing up Cha Cha's hair. Cha Cha seemed to be drinking up Paulie's attention like it was on tap, loving him.

Paulie looked up, searching. "Is Georgina here yet?" he asked. My heart pinched in his recognition.

"Yeah, she's in the bathroom getting ready. Why don't you check on her? She's been in there an awful long time," Carl said, taking the bottle of sparkling cider from Paulie. Cha Cha started running into the hallway towards the blaring TV and I closed the door just in time so he couldn't see me half dressed.

I heard footsteps coming towards the door and the next moment five familiar knocks rapped on the door. "Special delivery for the Princess," came Paulie's voice officially. I started giggling and opened the door carefully, making sure I was entirely behind it so no one could see me but Paulie.

"Oh honeyyy," Paulie gasped as I stepped out from behind the door. "Where did you get that dress? You really do look like a Princess now."

"Zip me," I whined, turning around and pointing at my back.

"Gladly. Did Frankie get you that? He's got good taste," Paulie said in awe. I felt his fingers guiding the zipper up carefully and slowly, pulling up the delicate tiny tear drop shaped zip like it was a holy object.

"Yeah, it was waiting on my new bed when I got to my apartment. You wouldn't believe it, Paulie, there was all new furniture waiting for me! The movers were shocked. They said, 'well what are we supposed to do with all this stuff?' but there were still empty rooms! They put all the furniture into, get this, guest rooms! Its like I'm living a house!"

Paulie's face looked surprised in the mirror. "Was that your first time seeing that apartment?" he asked.

"Yeah...it was. Frankie told me I was moving just last night," I told him, realizing he didn't know.

"Last night?!" Paulie gasped, looking shocked and a little unsure in the mirror.

"Yeah," I said, detecting his unsureness and feeling it now a bit myself.

His eyes closed and he breathed deep, steadying himself. His hand fell on my bare shoulder and I looked at it. "It sounds wonderful, really. It doesn't matter when he told you to move or what. What matters is you're there and you're happy. Don't think about that other stuff, okay?" He was trying to assure me, and I appreciated it. My hand joined him on my shoulder, covered in a white shiny satin elbow-length glove.

"You're right," I smiled at him.

He smiled back, looking relieved. "You all set? You look just gorgeous. Simply gorgeous, classic," he told me, making a square with his fingers and peering through them as if it were a camera. I let out a little giggle and he grinned at me.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I grinned back.

"So pretty," he added, taking my gloved hand. He opened the bathroom door, and started to lead me out. As he did so, my other hand grabbed onto the back of his dark blue suit jacket like a child.

Cha Cha was still looking bug eyed at my dress, at my diamond and pearl necklace, everything about me.

"Let's go around the table," Carl said, sitting at the head of the table with the giant, perfectly golden turkey in front of him. "Since Paulie wasn't here this morning to cook, I did so let's give our thanks for being alive before this dinner kills us."

"Sorry," Paulie laughed to his left. I giggled across the table from him into my hand.

"I help make potatoes and cranberry sauce," Cha Cha announced proudly across from Carl.

"They look lovely," Paulie gasped, equally as proud as Cha Cha for his effort.

"Okay, everybody hold hands," Carl smirked, lifting his hands up. I took one of his hands and one of Cha Cha's. The table seemed so small now, with all of us linked, but that's what made it grand. Carl breathed in, preparing himself. Of course he would start, as chef of this meal and homeowner. We all gave small smiles to each other as Carl's eyes were closed like sneaky children.

Cha Cha unclasped hands with Paulie and stuck his little finger in the macaroni and cheese and licked off the cheese that stuck. Paulie gave him a look and mouthed 'how dare you'. I started giggling, unable to help it and Carl opened his eyes. "What's going on here?" he barked like a father at us and Cha Cha looked at Paulie. Paulie looked at me and I burst into more giggles.

"It's just the children misbehaving," Paulie said like a proud socialite mother. We beamed at him.

Carl sighed and our faces went stony in respect. "I'll start then," he said, looking around at us. He nodded and began. "I'm thankful for my little girl getting into college, and such a respected institution. I'm thankful my wife is in Montreal, that bitch-"

Cha Cha started giggling at the word in little kitten snorts that sounded like "gesh gesh gesh" and having never heard this before both Paulie and I burst into laughter. "Is that how you laugh?" Paulie giggled, suddenly helpless and wiggling in his chair.

"Yes, is my laugh," Cha Cha continued to kitty snort.

"Hey!" Carl boomed. We went silent, staring at him, but then started laughing under our breaths. "I'm talkin' here! Giving thanks!" he shouted in fake anger at us, but true frustration.

"Sorry- Sorry, Carl," Paulie struggled, getting a hold of himself.

"Alright then. Well, I guess I'm just thankful to be surrounded by laughter, then," he said, smiling at us now. He squeezed my hand and Paulie's and we grinned at him.

"My turn, since I'm the mommy!" Paulie said, perking up, "I just want to say I'm thankful for all of us being here today, gathered here. Without you all I don't know what I'd have done. I'm so grateful for all of you. Really."

He glanced at me, sharing a private look. I felt tears in my eyes, just a shine, because I knew he was referencing our conversation earlier in the day, acknowledging what I had said.

"Me next?" Cha Cha asked cautiously.

"Yeah, kid," Carl smiled to him.

Cha Cha brightened ever more, like Carl had given him a gift. And it turns out, he had. "I full of thank for Carl," Cha Cha began, looking deeply stilled, "for let me stay here in his house. For let me have bed, let me have clothes. Let me have food. Watch his TV. Many thing. Without all of you I be out on street now, cold, hungry. I so full of thank, really." Cha Cha looked at all of us desperately, looking like he wanted to say more but maybe he couldn't find the words.

"Oh, sweetie," Paulie whispered, getting up. I got up, too, and heard Carl get up. Cha Cha's face fell into grateful tears as we gathered around him, hugging him as he sat in his chair.

I knew now I had to say what I was thankful for, I had been planning it ever since I walked through the door. It was never more appropriate. As we hugged him, I whispered to all of them full of love: "I'm thankful Cha Cha is here. I'm thankful for our club, because without it we wouldn't have been able to help Cha Cha. He found us because of The Majesty, so I'm thankful. I'm so thankful."

"Amen," Paulie said in our small circle.

"Amen, Amen," came a little chorus after him, all of us repeating this lovely thing.

After our meal, Carl was picking his teeth with a toothpick as he was sat on the couch with Cha Cha. Cha Cha looked absorbed with the black and white movie on the TV.

"What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary," George Bailey of It's a Wonderful Life was saying on the TV.

"This movie good movie," Cha Cha breathed, completely taken with it.

"You've never seen it? It's a classic," Paulie gasped, surprised, looking up at Cha Cha from his position against the couch on the floor.

"No," Cha Cha said, still staring at the TV.

"Kids," Paulie laughed, raising his arms like 'what're ya gonna do?'

I laughed with him from my position on the couch's arm.

"I saw this movie when it was in theaters," Carl chimed in.

"No way, old man?" Paulie chuckled.

"Really, way back in-"

Five loud knocks rapped on the glass of the front door and I jumped. We all did. "What in the world," I whispered, my hand over my heart.

"I'll get it," Carl said like a bull, ready for anything, getting up from his position on the couch. He tip toed over Paulie as Paulie held his arms up again to make way for him.

"That was the safety knock?" I asked, unsure. Paulie nodded to me, his eyebrows creased. "You don't think..." I continued, but I didn't have to finish my sentence because the door swung open and immediately footsteps started running down the hallway.

"Shit?" Paulie gasped quietly, getting up immediately.

"Paulie!" Avi called, appearing in the doorway, his arms open wide. Paulie looked completely shocked, his eyes appearing lost to me but Avi didn't notice. He took Paulie into an embrace and squeezed him lovingly like a bear, as always.

A second set of footsteps appeared and confusion bubbled inside of me. These weren't Carl's heavy ones, but they almost sounded like...

"Georgina? Pretty eyes, where are you?"

Oh my God lord Jesus. I was never so glad to be sitting down. "Frankie!" I squealed, my hands rocketing to my mouth.

"Hey, there you are. You look so beautiful. I knew you would," he said lovingly, appearing in the doorway. He made his way over to me, avoiding the couple hugging in front of the doorway. His arms wrapped around me smoothly like puzzle pieces finding their right match and I tried not to cry to save my make-up. I wanted to look pretty for him.

"What...what are you doing here," I breathed, trying to suck away my tears.

"I told my dad I was going to go hang out with some guys and he knew what I was talking about. Eddie and my brother were watching football with our cousins and uncles and people, so I slipped away. I passed by Avi walking here. Walking, can you believe it? So I gave him a ride." He told me this like water running full force into my ears, but I almost didn't care what he was saying, just glad to be hearing his beautiful voice. He began to kiss the side of my face eagerly and then he was kissing my lips and I forgot where I was.

Until Cha Cha spoke up.

"I wish I have fella," he sighed loudly.

We burst into laughter. "Cha Cha, you're too young, lovely," Paulie chuckled at him.

"Yeah but, what that Bailey say on TV and see you with man, I want man," Cha Cha whined at us.

"It will happen for you, honey, but just grow up first," I snickered into Frankie's shoulder.

Around 10 o' clock, Cha Cha was asleep on the couch and Paulie was drinking in the kitchen with Avi from Avi's bottle of wine. I noted how late it was on Frankie's watch attached to his wrist which was currently around my chest in a loving cuddle as we sat against the couch on the floor.

"Getting late," I purred to him.

"Yeah, it is," he said quietly, snuggling into my shoulder from behind. My heart melted.

As if on cue, we heard Carl in the kitchen talking to Paulie and Avi loudly but still in control, for Cha Cha's sleeping sake. "Time to go, kids. 'Bout that time. It's my bedtime."

"Okay," Avi acknowledged. The sound of the wine bottle slipping off the linoleum counter rang in my ears and we heard their footsteps coming towards the living room. I looked at Frankie and he nodded. He lifted me up to my feet as he got to his own and we met Paulie and Avi at the doorway.

"Bye, love," Paulie whispered to me, hugging me tightly. "Thank you so much for that early morning speech, for today."

Next, Avi hugged me and I looped my arms around him loosely. A small anger sizzled in me like the remainder flame after one blows out a matchstick. My frustration with him burned, thinking of Paulie early this morning. "Good night," he told me in his familiar accent.

"Good night, Avi," I sighed.

"You tired?" he asked, looking at me with wonder. So he had sensed my anger. Something in me felt good about it.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Get some good rest," he said, smiling again. I smiled at him fakely.

Carl peered at us from the doorway. "Time to pack it in, kids," he beamed at us. My fake smile turned into a true one.

"Good night, Carl," I told him happily now, hugging him tightly.

"Good night, sweetheart," he said to me in a fatherly way and my heart bubbled up in gorgeous love for him.

Frankie took my hand to go, and I raised my pointer finger in the air, telling him to wait. He nodded. I walked over to the couch and crouched down, the tulle of my dress crinkling like a true Princess. I kissed my hand, leaving a pale pink mark with my lipstick on my fingers. I pressed this to Cha Cha's sleeping face. He looked like a little angel, so spent and full of happy Thanksgiving food.

"Good night, Cha Cha. I'm so glad you're here," I whispered to him even though he couldn't hear me. Maybe he could hear me, in his dreams.

Frankie took my hand again as I got up and we walked down the hallway and out the door behind Paulie and Avi. Carl waved to us. As I got into Frankie's black Lincoln, holding onto Frankie's dear hand, I felt so content.

Frankie pulled out of the driveway after Paulie's car, looking back to see where he was going, his arm slung over the seats. "I've got a hotel reservation, Mrs. George," he told me officially, acting as Mr. George. I started laughing, so happy. So very happy.