"Madison" Brandon called  from the bottom of the stairs. He was officially starting to get  annoyed with having to wait for her. Himself and Noah has long since  been ready and even the girls had just come downstairs dressed and ready  to go. "We are going to be late".

Noah glanced over at his dad from the living room "I hate to break it to you dad but we are already a half hour late".

"Are you serious?"  Brandon grumbled and checked his watch. His son was right; they were  running a lot later than he thought they were. "Madison come on!" he  called "this is getting to be ridiculous".

Madison leaned her head  over the staircase railing; her hair was still up in towel and a  bathrobe around her body. "I am going as fast as I can," she hissed back  at him "if somebody had helped me get the girls dressed I wouldn't be  running so late".

"I said not to bother  giving them a bath" Brandon shot back "if we just got them dressed in  their clothes like I suggested then none of this would have happened".

"If only you had  remember to give them a bath last night like I had asked I wouldn't have  had to do it this morning" Madison countered. She had been over at the  Haywood's last night helping to set up. She had left clear instructions  for Brandon to feed and bathe the girls, but when she came home late she  found them wide-awake still watching a movie. No wonder the girls  didn't want to get out of bed that morning.

Brandon let out another  groan "will you just stop fighting with me and go get ready? We are  making them wait long enough," he said.

Madison grumbled to  herself "dinner isn't until six" and it was still early in the  afternoon. The only thing they were late for was talking with his  grandparents.

She headed back to her  bedroom where she went through her closet unable to decide what to wear.  Both girls were dressed in velvet dresses and tights, Emma in red and  Ella in purple. She had taken the time to even add a large bow as a  headband. But she couldn't find anything right for herself.

She sighed as she tossed  another pair of dress pants onto the bed – nothing seemed to fit her  recently and it was starting to aggravate her. She was finally able to  settle on a navy blue cocktail dress with flowing, elegant sleeves. It  wasn't what Madison had in mind to wear that day but with the extra  weight she put on the loss fitting flowing skirt from the dress covered  her middle.

"Madison" Brandon hissed  walking into the bedroom. She was just now removing her hair from the  towel and using her curling iron. "You can be serious?" he said again.  "We have to go. We are already forty-five minutes late".

"Look" Madison spun in  her chair and pointed her curling iron at him "if I didn't have to  constantly stop to talk to you then I would be getting down a lot  faster. Now if you actually want to help and not just be a pain in my  backside then go to the kitchen and get the pie I made yesterday out of  the fridge".

"Pie?" Brandon asked, his eyes widening a little "you wouldn't mean the apple pie would you?"

"Yes of course" Madison sighed "it's thanksgiving, what other pie would I have?"

"Well..." Brandon  started to say but decided better of it. "Actually you're right. Take  all the time you need, I'll get the pie," he said rushing out the door  and downstairs. "Noah" he hissed at his son low so that Madison wouldn't  hear them talking "we ate the pie".

"What pie?" Noah asked looking up from his game controller.

"The pie we were supposed to take today" Brandon said frantically "we ate it last night".

Now Noah sat up straight, his mother would be furious if she found out "what are you going to do?"

"Me? No, this is all us" Brandon said "if I remember correctly you were the one that said 'lets just eat it. She wont care'"

Noah looked down a little sheepishly "okay yeah we got to come up with something".

"We can't make another  one" Brandon said with a sigh "there's no apples left and the store  won't be open". He groaned a little and ran his hand through his hair.  What was he going to do?

"Maybe we can make  cookies or something?" Noah suggested. The two men rushed to the kitchen  and started to take everything out. Noah looked up a recipe on his  phone as Madison finished curling her hair.

She grabbed onto her  makeup and wouldn't have noticed anything amiss in the household if it  weren't for the sound of a metal pan banging on the floor. She frowned  in confusion and just finished with her lipstick when she got curious  about all the noise.

With her shoes in head  she headed down to the kitchen. She found a cookie tray on the floor and  eggs cracked open on the counter top. Although the room was a mess  luckily the dirt remained off of Noah and Brandon. "What in the world!"  she called out. "I asked you to get the pie, not make it!"

Both of the boys jumped a  little and turned to face her. Their expressions turned from shock, to  fear, to guilt and to shame. Brandon slowly stepped forward "we ate the  pie last night" he trail off a little "we didn't mean to, if we had  known it was for today we never would have touched it".

Madison pinched her nose  between her fingers and tried to count to ten to calm her nerves, but  nothing worked. Noah saw this and quickly slipped away – leaving Brandon  to take the full heat of her anger. "Brandon Haywood, do you listen to a  single thing I tell you? Before I left I told you not to eat the pie  and to give the girls a bath. I come home to the girls wide awake not  bathed and now I find out you ate the dessert for today. Two very clear  instructions. I hadn't asked for very much but yet you couldn't even do  that little task".

Brandon's eyes sparked "no one told you to go out last night. You could have been here to give the girls their own damn bath."

"Oh then I guess you  hadn't insisted that I go and help your mom get ready. You said it would  do us good to work together" Madison said back. Their voices were now  rising.

"Well now you didn't have to listen to me," Brandon answered, "you could have said no".

"I tried! It was you who said I would look rude if I didn't go" Madison said.

"Well if someone hadn't agreed to go to thanksgiving dinner today you wouldn't have had to set up anything".

Madison's jaw dropped "are you serious? This is your family. I am only going because your family wanted us there".

"You're my family  Madison" Brandon said, his voice finally starting to come down a little  "you and the kids are my family. To be honest I would have been fine  with just staying here with the five of us".

Madison gave a little  sigh; she finally started to simmer down too "look, there's nothing we  can do about it now. We have already agreed to be there and your  grandparents are coming in to see the kids. We can't back out now".

Brandon added his sigh to the air. "I guess your right but what are we going to do about the dessert?"

She glanced around the  kitchen; they couldn't very well make another pie. But this is what  Madison did best when she was a single mom – thinking quick on her toes.  "Go to the cupboard and take out the chocolate cake mix and chocolate  pudding packages".

Brandon did as he was  told and his wife got out the slow cooker. She went to work on mixing  the chocolate cake and then poured it into the cooker. She instructed  him to open the containers and added spoonful of pudding around the  chocolate cake.

"It'll take a while to  cook but we can plug it in once we get to your parents house, it should  be done in time for dessert" Madison said with a little sigh. She was  disappointed that they wouldn't be able to go with what she had  promised, but it was better than nothing. She handed the cooker to him  and called to the kids.

"So your grandparents  are going to be there?" Noah asked once they were all settled into the  car and on their way to the Haywood's.

Brandon nodded "yeah, they're your great grandparents" he answered.

"What do we can them?" Ella asked.

Brandon frowned a little "I'm surprised you haven't met them before" he said a little confused.

Madison rested her hand  on his arm "they have, but when they were really little. There hasn't  been much time over the last few years".

"Oh" Brandon said simply, well I guess you can call great grandma, Nana and you can call your great grandpa simply grandfather."

"Sounds easy" Emma said.

"It is" Brandon chuckled  a little "and I know they'll love you". The family rode the rest of the  way in silence – or at least Brandon and Madison did. Neither of them  wanted to do much talking. They were still rigid from their  disagreement.

When they arrived the  kids climbed out and rushed to the door. Brandon followed with Madison  trudging behind him. Brandon pushed the door open and called out "hey!  We're here!"

"Baby boy" a woman came  shuffling down the hallway. She was dressed in a knitted sweater and  dress pants, and although she was a little hunched over she was still  bright and happy.

"Hi grandma" Brandon  smiled wide and hugged the older woman. He held the hug for a moment or  two longer than necessary but he loved the feeling of being in her arms  and the smell of fresh baked cookies on her clothes.

Once they pulled away the woman smiled and tugged Madison into her arms. "Oh it is so great to see you".

"It is great to see you  too Margret" Madison said. Over the last week Rebecca has given her  enough info about Margret and Larry Tate that Madison could write a book  now about their history.

"Oh Maggie please" his  grandmother corrected her "Margret is always so formal. You and I are  family sugar. We treat each other as such".

Madison smiled softly "and these are our children, Emma and Ella are seven and this is Noah, he just turned fourteen".

"Ahh" Maggie cheered.  She threw her arms around Emma and Ella and gave them a large squeeze.  "My sweet little kittens, you two are the cutest things". She turned her  sights on Noah and held her hands out. He tried to step away but her  hands grabbed his cheek. "Now look at you handsome young man" she  pinched his cheek then tugged him into a hug.

"Hey there Brand" Larry  walked over in jeans and dress shirt. He too was slumped over and little  slow, but his eyes were bright with excitement.

"Hey grandpa" he said  hugging the older man. The same process then took place all over again.  "Ya dad tells me you're a sports kind of guy" Larry said patting Noah on  the back "how about you and I got out back and toss the football  around".

Noah hesitated for a  minute but Brandon soon answered for him "you know what that sounds like  a great idea. How about we all three of us go out back, we can see if  John would like to join too". And from they're on the Haywood and Tate  men spent the afternoon in the backyard.

Madison pointed the  girls towards the living room where they could play with the few dolls  they brought with them. She then headed into the kitchen to work with  Rebecca and Maggie.

"Something sure smells  good in here" Madison said looking around. The kitchen was filled with  food. The stove couldn't fit another pot and several cutting tables were  set out to slice veggies.

"Here try this darling,"  Maggie said walking over with a small spoon in hand. Madison took a sip  and her eyes brightened with pleasure. "It's a butternut squash soup"  Maggie said, "take a seat and I can serve you some more".

Madison sat at the small kitchen table as a bowl was put in front of her "I came to help. Not eat everything".

Rebecca laughed and  placed a few carrots in front of her "here you can slice that. We are  going to added it to the turkey to roast". She got busy by the stove and  she even called the girls in to help her.

"Make sure your fingers  don't touch the grater" Madison warned her little girls as she sliced  the carrot but also spent more time actually eating the soup.

"We know mommy" Emma and Ella said together.

Maggie laughed a little "do they always talk at the same time?"

"Yes" the girls answered together again.

She laughed again "very cute" she walked over and sat next to them "how are you two liking school?"

"Good" Emma said  happily, but Ella hesitated a little before answering. Madison frowned a  little; she would have to ask her daughter about that later. Something  might be going on that Ella didn't want to mention. Madison knew he  little girl was kind of shy, but she always had Emma to bring her out of  her box. But maybe things were different this year; it was completely  new kids after all.

Madison's stomach  lurched forward. Not again, she groaned to herself. "If you'll excuse me  for a moment" she said. She tried to walk out of the room calmly but  the moment she was in the hall she ran towards the bathroom. She fell to  her knees and vomited into the toilet. She groaned and was sick again.  Finally she was able to stand and wipe her mouth clean.

She gargled with some  water from the sink and smoothed her hair back from her face. She took a  deep and walked back out to the living room. But she was surprised to  see that her girls and Rebecca were gone.

"They are helping  Rebecca set the table," Maggie said adding the soup to several bowls on a  tray. She handed a teacup to Madison. "Ginger tea, to settle your  stomach."

Madison grabbed it and  took a seat back at the table. She took small slow sips in order to not  mess with her stomach anymore than she already did. She shouldn't have  eaten so much soup so quickly. She knew she should have taken it easy,  her stomach still wasn't completely back to normal and it had be nearly a  month since she first got the flu.

"So" Maggie sat across from her, she spoke in a hush voice so no one else would hear them "how far along are you?"

Madison nearly chocked  on her tea. She coughed a little and then cleared her throat "I'm  sorry?" she asked confused. She knew what the woman was talking about...  but she just didn't understand why she would ask that question.

"Oh darling" Maggie  laughed a little "you're breasts are clearly tender, your hair is shiny  and fabulous, your skin is glowing and I know you didn't wear that lose  dress for fun".

"I'm not pregnant"  Madison said with a soft unconvincing laugh. She wasn't pregnant. It  just wasn't possible for her to be pregnant.

Maggie reached forward  and grabbed onto her hand "being pregnant is nothing to be ashamed of  dear. I know how babies are made so don't you fret about it. And anyways  Brandon is a good father to his little babies already. He will be an  even better father to a forth child".

Madison was taken back a little; didn't this woman know the truth? "Yeah but... you know".

Maggie waved her off "oh  that hullabaloo, don't you worry your pretty little head about that. I  know my little Brandy, and he is completely smitten with you. That boy  would love to have a baby around the house – no matter what his past is.  And don't you think your little girls would love a baby brother or  sister?"

"Well... I don't know about all that" Madison trailed off.

"Look here girly" Maggie  said "you are so focused on the past that your future is going to pass  you by without you even realizing it. You are missing out on what life  has to offer you. Don't you see? The good lord has placed you and  Brandon in each other's lives for a reason. Now I know that might be  difficult to understand, I mean there has been a time or two where I  haven't known what to do with my life or relationship. But listen to me  dear, you and Brandon are together for a reason. Even if that reason  isn't clear to you now. You and Brandon have been blessed to raise your  three children. And now look, you have been blessed with another bundle  of joy".

"I'm not pregnant  Maggie" Madison said again smiling a little. This sweet little old lady  really is one of a kin. Madison wasn't sure what she expected of  Brandon's grandparents, but she wasn't ready to see this. The happy go  lucky woman who treated everyone as if she was family. Madison wouldn't  put it pass the woman to pull out a peppermint candy.

"Just wait and see" Maggie said with a wink.

Rebecca's call for  dinner put an end to their baby talk. Everyone settled around the table  and Larry said a quick prayer for the food.

"What are you doing?" Brandon made a face when he noticed Madison mixing in mustard with her large serving of potatoes.

"It's really good"  Madison said taking a big bite before adding more mustard. She didn't  miss the wink that Maggie flashed her from across the table.

"I think we should go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for" Rebecca said once everyone was served their food.

"Turkey" Larry grumbled taking a big bite of his food – this earned a laugh from everyone.

"New and developing writers" Jonathan said, "keeps our business going".

"I am thankful for the warm weather" Rebecca said, "I hate the cold winds".

Maggie chuckled a little  and glanced around the table "I am thankful for our growing family".  Only Madison knew she really meant, she was still convinced there was a  baby.

The gazes turned to Emma  and Ella. The first little girl said she was thankful for toys and the  other said books – ever the opposites.

"The baseball team" Noah said around a large mouthful of turkey.

"I am thankful for"  Madison paused for a minute as she thought about it "the endless  possibilities for the future" she said softly.

Brandon smiled over at  her, his eyes twinkling. He reached over and grabbed onto his wife's  hand "I am thankful for my wife. Who always gives me her undying love.  Even when I am a pain in her butt that forgets even the smallest of  things she always has my back. She is my support system and my biggest  cheerleader. But most importantly she is my safe base. I know that no  matter what I do I can always turn to her for advice or love without any  judgment – other than the little teasing" he chuckled a little. He  raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles "she is also the  woman who gave me my three beautiful children. She is my best friend, my  greatest love. I couldn't face each day without her. And so, I am most  thankful for Madison Paige Haywood'.

"I am so thankful for you too baby" Madison sniffled and reached up to wipe her eyes "you are my greatest blessing".

"My greatest blessing" Brandon whispered. He held onto her chin and tugged her into a soft, loving kiss.