Lindsey threw herself onto the couch and bit her bottom lip in hopes of holding back her swelling tears. How had she wound up in the middle of the argument? Well, Lindsey knew how. She had opened her mouth after she’d warned herself to stay silent while Jeremy told his mother they would not be joining them this year for Thanksgiving.

Frankly, Lindsey hadn’t expect her mother-in-law to raise her voice two octaves and pitch a big fit over missing one holiday. Jeremy hadn’t yet explained why they wouldn’t be there, but Lindsey began to believe no reason would be good enough.

“Mom, let me finish.” Jeremy lowered his pitch slightly and slowed the release of his words. Lindsey had observed her husband using the same technique on their cat when Tinsel would nibble on his ear Saturday mornings, insistent he get up at six a.m. and play with her. If only this was a Saturday morning and she was waking to find this was all a bad dream, something she could explain away as an oneiric episode.

Unlike Tinsel, Lindsey’s mother-in-laws shrill voice shattered any hope of being coddled by Jeremy’s soothing charms. “Don’t use that placating tone with me. I’m still your mother and your elder and always will be.” The stubbornness in her eyes intensified along with the stiffening of her shoulders and the raise of her double chin.

The next moment Jeremy’s jaw protruded in an obstinate way. He exercised the muscles along his jaw line in preparation for a long battle. Mother and son locked eyes on one another. The heavy truth that the battle was far from over weighted the room. Lindsey sat uncomfortably and watched as mother and son geared up for round two. That’s when it happened. Lindsey blurted out her announcement in one quick breath. “The smell of poultry makes me nauseous right now.” Lindsey’s hands instantly covered her mouth. She hadn’t meant to speak. The words just fell out.

Her mother-in-law froze with her mouth opened wide and a sharp finger still pointing at Jeremy. “I never heard of anything so ridiculous. It’s never bothered you before.” Suddenly, her mother-in-law sucked in her breath and exchanged the firm set of her lips into a generous smile. “We’ll have ham this year.”

Lindsey’s stomach turned imagining the scent of a big ham gracing the table for their Thanksgiving meal. She parted her lips to speak, then closed them as mother and son embraced one another. Tears of joy slid down Lindsey’s face.