As Aidan grabbed his duffel and a big bag of gifts from the bed of the pickup, the front door flew open and Colleen ran out to greet him wearing a long bathrobe over her nightgown.

“Aidan O’Malley, get over here, and give your Mum some love,” she said, throwing her arms around him.

He dropped his bags, lifted her off the ground, and swung her around.

She swatted at him. “Put me down, you fool! You’ll throw your back out!”

“Whatever you say, Mum. You’re a real load. What’re you? One-ten these days?”

She hooked a hand into the crook of his elbow to lead him inside. “Oh, hush. I haven’t been one-ten since before you were born. Da just gave up on you and went to bed. He said he’ll see you in the morning.”

The house smelled like mothballs, evergreen, and spice. “What’ve you been cooking?”

“What haven’t I been cooking? Your sister and I were at it all day.”

“Fighting or cooking?”

She snorted. “A little of both.” The light over the stove lit her still-pretty face. She would be sixty at her next birthday but didn’t look a day over fifty to Aidan. Her brilliant red hair had faded with age to an equally attractive auburn that was mixed now with traces of gray. “Come in here and let me feed you.”

He sat down at the kitchen table. “I’m good. I ate on the road.”

“Junk, no doubt.”

“No, a friend of mine made me some sandwiches.”

Her eyes widened with interest. “A girlfriend?”

“Mum,” he said, the warning clear in his tone. “How about you get me a beer before you start grilling me?”

She brushed the hair back from his forehead and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I don’t know why you have to hold out on me, Aidan O’Malley. You know I worry about you.”

“You don’t need to. I’m fine.”

She got a Sam Adams from the fridge, opened it for him, and sat with him at the table. “Da and I drove into the city to go to the cemetery yesterday,” she said, taking his hand.

He looked down at their joined hands as a pain cut through him. After all these years, that it still could take his breath away… “Thanks.”

“You should go, too, you know.”

He shook his head. “I appreciate that you go.”

“Mrs. Gough down the street has had some heart troubles lately. Maybe you could go by to see her while you’re home.”

“What for?”

“Don’t be obtuse, Aidan. You could make sure her doctor’s doing the right things.”

“I’m sure she’s getting very good care.”

“You’re squandering your God-given talents up there in those mountains.”

“That’s not true. I’m using some of the other ones. So what’s going on tomorrow?”