"Here we are!" Ben shouted, pulling his van into his parents' driveway.
"Yaayy!!" Caitlin shouted. "Grandma's house!"
"Yep, Grandma's house!"
Ben pulled into the driveway and parked his van. He then stepped out to help all the girls' out of their car seats. Audrey immediately leaped out of the van and ran over to the front door. Makayla and Emma followed behind, holding hands. Caitlin, who was still waiting for Ben to finish unbuckling her, started to get upset.
"Wait for me!" Caitlin whined.
"Girls, wait for your sister!" Ben shouted to Audrey, Makayla, and Emma.
Of course, they didn't listen and instead all started knocking on the door. Ben rolled his eyes and set Caitlin down on the ground, who ran over to the door as fast as she possibly could. Ben severally worried that she would trip and fall. Thankfully, this didn't happen. She made it to the door the instant that Ben's mother opened it up.
"GRANDMA!!" all four girls shouted as the door opened. They all began to hop up and down excitingly.
"Girls!" Ben's mother Susan said in a cheery tone of voice. She knelt down and gave all of the girls a hug. "How are you?!"
"Good," all the girls said together.
"Oh, y'all look so pretty!"
"Thank you!"
Smiling, Ben walked up behind all the girls.
"Hi mom," Ben said, giving his mother a hug. "Happy Thanksgiving." The girls all ran inside.
"Happy Thanksgiving, my Benny Bear!" his mother said, giving Ben a kiss on his cheek. "It's great to see y'all here."
Ben chuckled to himself. He would never escape "Benny Bear." No matter how hard he tried.
"Come on in," Susan said.
Ben walked into the house. Only a few other relatives had made it before him. His Grandmother Gertrude sat on the couch watching television, his Uncle James and Aunt Carol sat at the dining room table talking, and another man whom he had never met (or at least thought he had never met) stood in the living room looking at all the framed photos on the walls.
Susan continued to smile as the girls's ran into the kitchen to greet their grandfather, Robert, who was busy getting the dinner prepared. Ben's father happily greeted the girls with a smile and a hug. The girls were all wearing beautiful matching purple and white patterned dresses and adorable black shoes. They all had their gorgeous light brown tied in ponytails with pink bows.
"They look so pretty," Susan said to Ben. "I really love their dresses."
"Thanks mom," Ben said. "I really love them, too. And you also look pretty amazing today."
"You trying to butter me up so you can get some extra pie?"
"Maybe."
"Then you got yourself some extra pie."
Ben laughed. "Great. Make it pecan."
Robert walked over to the living room with Makayla and Emma clinging to his legs. Ben and Susan both laughed.
"Yeah, I think they missed you," Ben said.
"Yeah I think so too," Robert said with a grin. "Least they didn't knock anything down this time."
Ben and Susan giggled. The dressing didn't survive the last Thanksgiving, something that the Warner family would more than likely never forget. The twins would probably keep hearing that story until they had their own children.
"If anything ends up on the floor again, I'll get started on a replacement," Ben said with a grin."I'll go to the store if I need to."
Caitlin skipped over to Susan and started to hold up her arms at her and hop up and down.
"Grandma, pick me up!" Caitlin shouted.
Susan lifted Caitlin up off the ground and held her in her arms. Caitlin wrapped her arms around Susan and lay her head on her shoulder.
"Oh, my little baby," Susan said, patting Caitlin on the back. She then gave Caitlin a kiss on her cheek. "I missed you so much."
"Grandpa, pick us up!" Makayla and Emma shouted, trying to climb up his chest. "Pick us up!"
Robert chuckled and lifted the twins up into his arms. They both wrapped their arms around him and gave him kisses on the cheek.
"Man, I've been wanting this again for a long time," Robert said as the twins lay their heads on his shoulder.
"It's like they all completely forget about me once they get here," Ben said with a smile.
"Not me," Audrey said, clutching Ben. "You still have me, Daddy.'
Ben looked down and patted Audrey on the back.
"Yeah, that's true," he said.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Ben," Robert said.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Dad," Ben said. "How've you been?"
"Pretty good. We've just been spending the past few days getting ready for today. Getting the house cleaned up, buying food, all that fun stuff. Everything around here has been fine for the most part. Well, except for our stupid neighbors across the street. Those people never seem to bother to go to sleep. Sometimes I just want take my crowbar over there and-"
"Rob, what did we agree on this morning?" Susan asked, swaying Caitlin from side to side.
"Honey, you know I have a memory worse than a bucket of rocks."
"I said no violent threats towards the neighbors when the family gets here!"
"Hey, it's just our son! Calm down! I can talk about shaving my armpit hair around him and he wouldn't care!"
"Ewwwwww!!" Audrey shouted.
"Robert!" Susan shouted.
"I really didn't need to hear that, Dad," Ben said.
"Hey, I was just messing with y'all," Robert said. "Relax."
Suddenly, the unfamiliar man who had been looking at photographs walked up to Ben. He smiled and held out his hand.
"Hello there, Ben," the man said. "Long time, no see."
"Oh, hi," Ben said, shaking the man's hand. "Do I know you?"
"Richard. Your mom's cousin. Haven't been around in a while, so I can see why you wouldn't remember me. I think you were about five feet tall the last time I saw you. And from what I remember, you wore some pretty thick glasses."
"Wow, it has been a while. I've been wearing contacts since I was about fourteen."
"Oh well. It's great seeing you again, lad. Are these all your children?"
Ben put his arms around Audrey, who lay her head against his stomach.
"Yeah, these are my daughters," Ben said.
"Nice. And where's your wife?" Richard asked.
"I...uh...don't have one. At least not anymore."
"Oh, you're divorced."
"Yeah. I've been divorced for about a year."
"Hmmm. Yeah, know how that feels. I've been through three divorces. Never easy. But you move on. It may seem rough now, but it'll get easier. Don't sweat it."
"Ummm...thanks."
"Hoo boy, my third ex-wife. What a nightmare. Let me tell you. Divorcing her was the probably the best decision of my life. I still remember the things she would shout at me right in front of the kids. And the things she would say to me in public. We would get all these weird looks People probably thought I was abusing her or something. Oh man, it was-"
"Hey Richard, you mind getting my phone off the table?" Susan asked. "I need to get a hold of Kristen."
"Oh sure," Richard said. "Got it, Sue!" He then walked over to the dining area. Susan shook her head.
"You probably don't remember Richard that well, Ben," she said. "But all I can say is that he hasn't changed since the last time he's been here."
"Is it wrong to say that I'm glad I don't remember him?" Ben asked.
"Of course not," Robert replied. "I want to act like I don't remember your Aunt Shirley sometimes. Such as...well, all the time."
"Robert..." Susan said sternly.
"Grandpa, spin us around!" Emma shouted.
"Yeah!" Makyala shouted.
"Okay, let's go!" Robert shouted. "Wheeeeeee!!!" He began to spin around in circles with Makayla and Emma, causing them both to laugh hysterically. Ben looked at them and chuckled.
It feels great to be home, Ben thought, patting Audrey's stomach. She looked up at him and smiled.
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