by Tracey Lund

Created on: November 06, 2009   Last Updated: November 08, 2009

Clarissa was in the kitchen stooping over the oven to baste the turkey when seven year old Austin ran in backwards, warding off his four year old sister, Sierra. He clutched a noisy fake cell phone up to his ear with one hand, the other jutted out in front of him to stave Sierra off.

"State your mission, spy!" Austin yelled into the phone, still running backwards to keep an eye on Sierra. She was following him, crying, reaching for the phone. Austin didn't turn to look behind him until he had already bumped into his Mommy with a force so hard that he practically fell forward. Clarissa was lucky that she caught herself on the corners of the stove or she would have toppled head first into the scalding turkey! Austin was momentarily baffled by the collision. That moment was all it took for Sierra to seize the lucky opportunity to snatch the phone out of his hand and run like mad! A suddenly alert Austin chased after a very giggly girl.

No sooner had Clarissa finished basting the turkey and closing the oven behind it when the doorbell rang. She ran through the living room, briefly stopping in front of a mirror to scope out her condition. She groaned as she realized that her hair was disshevelled and her clothes were food-ridden. Oh well, she thought. No time to worry about that now! She opened the door and invited her guests in. First to enter were Mama and Papa, followed by Aunt Eva and Uncle Roy, and her little sister, Camille. Last but not least was the hazel eyed, chestnut hair Kevin, that she had fallen in love with over the last nine months. She greeted everyone and took their coats, all the while remembering how they had come to be together.

She never thought she would fall in love again after she had finally escaped the grip of her abusive ex-husband. She had moved far away from home to get away from him. If not for Kevin most of her family would not be here today. They had met just three months after the divorce was finalized. Kevin had seemed to sense without words that Clarissa needed time to build trust. It was difficult for her to let someone else make her vulnerable, but with Kevin's patience she had eventually realized that she could trust him with anything. When she finally had told him about her past he held her tight to him. He had let her cry into his chest for hours.

Now Clarissa smiled as she recalled the romantic scene that had occurred after that, for the first time letting their feelings lead the way. She had never felt so safe and cared

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