“Good morning, Aunt Marge,” she said, smiling as she walked into the kitchen, carefully avoiding the cats strewn around the warm stove.
“Good morning, Melly.” Aunt Marge peered at her and then nodded. “You look good this morning. Hell of a lot better than when you came moping in here yesterday, anyway.”
“I feel a lot better,” Melanie said, smiling. She wanted to say she felt healed—both physically and emotionally—but she wasn’t sure if her practical aunt would quite understand that.
Aunt Marge nodded again.
“Might have something to do with those two young men, I think,” she remarked, with a sly smile.
“Maybe,” Melanie admitted, feeling her cheeks get hot. She had the urge to tell her aunt that the three of them hadn’t actually done anything the night before except sleep in each other’s arms. But she and Aunt Marge had never had the kind of relationship where they talked about any kind of sex, so she kept her mouth shut.
Aunt Marge frowned at her.
“They’re nice enough young men, but what are you planning to do with ‘em, Melly?” she demanded. “Marry ‘em both?”
“I…I don’t know,” Melanie admitted, her cheeks getting even hotter. “We haven’t really decided anything like that yet.”
“Well, you’ll figure it out, I’m sure,” her aunt said, after one more piercing look. “Come on and help me with this turkey—it’s a monster and it’s gotta go in now if we’re gonna eat it before midnight.”
Melanie spent the morning and early afternoon helping her aunt cook and bake. More than any other year she could remember, Aunt Marge seemed determined to make the most impressive Christmas meal possible, with all the fixings. Besides the turkey there was a honey-glazed ham, homemade cranberry sauce, dressing, both green bean and sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade yeast rolls, and of course pumpkin pie.
By the time they all sat down to eat, it was well past noon and everyone’s stomachs were growling. Strong and Clear had both been shooed out of the kitchen several times, when they asked if they could help. So instead, they had spent the day doing yard work and decorating the Christmas tree which Aunt Marge hadn’t had time to see to earlier.
Melanie felt a warm glow as she looked at all the old, familiar ornaments the guys had hung on the tree. And Aunt Marge puffed up with pride when the twins praised everything on the table and asked for seconds and then thirds of all the dishes.
“They certainly do have nice manners,” she said to Melanie, nodding approvingly after Clear had asked for her recipe for turkey gravy which he called “delicious Earth bird sauce.”
“Yes, they do.” Melanie smiled at her aunt.
“Much nicer than that Steve.” Aunt Marge sniffed. “Did I tell you he’s been coming around again?”
“I don’t think you have to worry about him anymore,” Melanie said, smothering a smile. “He came over here last night and Strong, er, explained to him that he was no longer welcome.”
“He’s gone for good then?” Aunt Marge demanded.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Strong nodded at her.
“And he won’t be back,” Clear added.
“That’s good.” She gave them both a smile of approval. “He never did treat Melly right. She ought to be treated like a queen.”
“She will be,” Strong assured her. He gave Melanie a significant look. “If she wants to be, she’ll be treated like a queen the rest of her life.”
Melanie wasn’t sure what to say to that, especially when she saw that Clear was giving her the same look. She took another bite of green bean casserole and the conversation moved on, though her heart kept pounding.
After the Christmas feast, the twins helped clean up and then they all gathered around the Christmas tree.
“We hope you don’t mind, but we have some presents for you both,” Clear said, nodding at Aunt Marge and Melanie. He picked up a brightly wrapped package and handed it to Aunt Marge. “For you, kin of our female.”
“For me?” Aunt Marge’s wrinkled face broke into a wide smile that showed every one of her false teeth. “You shouldn’t have!” But she was already tearing into the wrapping as she spoke.
Inside was what looked like a stack of multicolored bowls in red, yellow, green, orange, pink, and blue. The bowls were small and held together by thin, silver, mechanical arms.
“Eh?” Aunt Marge frowned at the stack. “What’s this, then?”
“Put it down on the floor and see.” Strong’s dark blue eyes were sparkling and Clear was smiling widely.
Aunt Marge did as they said, placing the stack of bowls down on the floor in front of her.
At once, the bowls began unstacking themselves lengthwise, until at last there were fifteen of them laid out neatly in a long row among the wrapping paper. Then, to Melanie’s surprise, a tiny opening appeared at the top rim of each bowl and about half a teaspoonful of tiny, hard brown specks tinkled down into the bottom of each one.