To Everything, There Is A Season

Chapter 64

Things were pretty much ready to go for the family Thanksgiving. Meryl was upstairs getting ready, as Don got ready earlier, while he was trying to get Henry ready chasing him downstairs. "Henry Wolfe, come here."

"No cwomb, Daddy." Henry wrestled against his father once he was caught down in the den. "I wike hawr."

Don laughed as he ran the comb through Henry's hair. "There, done, see it was painless."

"Pway now?" Henry asked his father. "Pway, Soo?"

Don laughed as he went into the bathroom downstairs and put the comb in the drawer, then walking back out to his son in the corner of the den. "You can play in your play corner here, but keep the toys here, and when I say you need to pick them up. Mommy has worked VERY hard to get this place cleaned, and we don't want to mess that up do we?"

"No lay, Jose'." Henry said making his father laugh. "I wild."

Don laughed as his son was into building lately. "That's a good idea, buddy." Don said looking around the room making sure everything was put up. He went over to the mirror in the den and ran his fingers through his hair. He was as ready as he was going to get. He and Henry were dressed pretty similarly. Don was wearing jeans with a blue and gray plaid shirt with a blue sweater pulled over it, while Henry was wearing jeans with a blue and black plaid shirt with a black sweater vest over it. He knew they weren't exactly Thanksgiving colors, but he also knew how his wife liked blue on him and Henry due to their blue eyes. Don began to go check on things in the kitchen, even though he knew his wife had everything warming and under control when the phone rang. He smiled at Henry as he went to answer the cordless phone in the room. "Hello? Gummers!"

"Don!" Jane Gummer said on the other end of the line. "I'm so glad I caught you."

Don took a deep breath, as he tried to decide whether or not to hang up on his mother. On the one hand, he really didn't want anything to do with her. However, on the other hand, he hadn't had a chance to tell her just what he thought about what she did to his wife. "We are getting ready to have a houseful, mother, what do you want?"

"I should have known." Jane huffed on the other end of the phone. "I wasn't invited."

Don walked to the corner of the room, hoping to shield Henry but not wanting to leave him alone, and decided this was his chance. "Holy shit, mother! Why on earth would you think you would be invited? I have wanted my opportunity to say these things to you, I guess now is my opportunity, especially with Meryl busy, so this won't upset her."

"Meryl?" Jane should have known. "What does Meryl have to do with anything?"

"She has everything to do with me and OUR son." Don hissed. "Meryl didn't want me to say anything, but it has been eating at me for over a week. Because of your impromptu visit, and the things you said to my wife, she thought she needed to leave OUR home, HER home, while you were here. She thought that was best for me and Hen, that is NEVER best for us. How dare you come into her home and tear her down brick by brick. I don't care how the fuck my shirts are ironed. Or how Henry's fucking closet is organized. Or even what WE decide to serve at OUR son's birthday party. What I care about more than anything is the safety and well-being of my wife and son. When you walked into this house, you immediately made my wife feel unsafe and uncomfortable in her own home. That is NOT okay with me. I will NOT allow that to happen first of all. I never should have allowed you to stay."

It became clear to Jane that her daughter-in-law had told Don everything. "Why did you? I mean if you thought your precious Meryl was in danger."

"I did it for her, I did it for Henry, I did it for myself; and because you are my mother I did it for you!" Don exploded. "If I had known the things you said to her when I wasn't around then, believe me, I would have taken you to the airport much sooner. I had to basically pull it out of my wife, and because she was trying so desperately to protect me and Henry she didn't want to say anything to me about it. She wanted you here, she wanted you here for me and Hen; because us having a relationship with you was much more important to her than how she was made to feel."