His Playboy Ways

Secrets out of the Turkey

Dedicated to writereadaholic

For her sweet comment

I parked along the side of the road and grabbed the bunch of Dark Night roses off the front seat -for which I had to drive almost fifty miles to a florist that only had them in stock.

I opened the car door and jumped off, letting the refreshing breeze and warm sun greet me. It was nearly noon and I had to leave the house early if I wanted to get these flowers; it was thanksgiving morning after all.

I passed the many tombs until I reached my grandfathers. I placed the flowers - which were my favourite- in the marble vase right below my grandfather's name and kneeled down.

"Happy thanksgiving Gramps." I said thickly, already feeling a tear streak down my cheek.

I remembered the last thanksgiving I spent with my Gramps, it was at his place and the two of us prepared turkey, my grandma's traditional cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and of course the traditional pumpkin pie. We slogged all morning in the kitchen and by lunch everything was done. I was excited spending thanksgiving with the whole family because my parents promised to spend it with us that year but they eventually cancelled last minute because my dad was invited to his boss's thanksgiving lunch. I was disheartened but my Gramps told me to appreciate what I have with me and make the best of it. I should be happy that I had my brother and grandfather with me to spend a special holiday with. I easily gave in and the three of us had lunch and spent the entire day playing board games, watching movies and then gramps brought out the old family albums telling us about each thanksgiving he spent with us, he then started laughing at the embarrassing pictures of when Liam and I were younger. Since then Liam and I made it tradition to look at old photo albums, no matter how embarrassing some pictures were.

I swallowed thinking how good those days were, I had not a worry in the world other than the problems my parents were having but I overlooked them by spending time with my Gramps. If I look back from then to now I realized how much things have changed, it would be the first thanksgiving I'd be spending with my dad and Liam in four years but my parents were too busy preparing to even wish me this morning and Liam doesn't speak two words to me. So much has changed in such a short span of time, I thought.

I wiped away a tear with the back of my hand before gently rubbing over my grandfather's engraved name on his tomb. "I wish you didn't leave so soon Gramps, I wish you were here with me." I whispered.

I sat there for a few minutes, just silently looking at my gramps tomb, thinking over the many happy memories I had with him. I smiled to myself as I recalled all those happy times, which were mainly with me, my Gramps and Liam.

When I felt content enough to go I stood up and looked at the tomb one last time. I blew a kiss towards it and turned on my heel to leave before whispering a "bye."

I let out a little whimper as I saw a smiling, standing figure behind me. "Damien," I held onto my chest, "you frightened me. Don't sneak up on someone in a cemetery...or anywhere for that matter."

His smile turned into a chuckle. "Sorry, I was on my way out but I saw you so I thought I'd say hi and well, happy thanksgiving."

"Happy thanksgiving to you too." I smiled. "But next time make yourself known, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry again." he said.

"It's alright." I waved. "Anyway what are you doing here?" I asked and as soon as the words left my mouth I regretted it; I, for a moment, forgot about Damien's mom.

"I always visit my mom's grave on holidays. Bring her favourite flowers, dark night roses." He replied.

I smiled widely with a little fascination. "Wow, those are my favourite flowers too." then added seriously and rather awkwardly, "And um, sorry for asking...you know I sometimes speak without thinking."