Page 122 of Season of Gifts

“You are a dear.”Resting her head against the pillow perched on the deep armchair, Mother described a set of sheets with way too many words forgreen, the gist being green-and-white striped sheets with a solid green blanket.“The quilt can stay; it’s one of my favorite pieces.”

“It’s beautiful.”Someone had poured hours of love into making the cheerful squares.“So I’ll get started on the bed”—please let there only be one set of sheets like it, because if she had to recognize the nuances between balsam green and Kelly green, she’d for sure bring back the wrong ones—“and you have your phone, your sketchbook, and a nap if you want it.”

Mother laid a hand on her forearm.“Thank you, Alice.I do hope I haven’t given you a terrifying impression of all in-laws.I like you a great deal.”She tapped her fingers against Alice’s sleeve; a splotchy yellow bruise lingered on the back of her hand.“I love you, of course; I love you and Jay because Henry loves you, and the two of you make him very happy.But I alsolikeyou.You and Jay are such genuine souls.It’s a delight to get to know you.Perhaps after a rest, I’ll ask the questions?”

Terrified before, no.Terrified now?Enhhh, the teeter-totter was still tipping on that one.

“Well I hope I didn’t sound like I was interrogating you.I don’t mean to be a buttinski.”She’d hardly be relaxing Henry’s mom if she repeated Henry’s overprotective pattern, only more intrusive because Mother barely knew her.“Society tells me I should hate in-laws, or fight with them or something”—a little too accurate with some of Jay’s relatives—“but that’s not how I feel about you.”

“Our relationship can become whatever we want it to be.”Smiling wide, Mother scrunched her nose.“If you called me five times a day for advice, I would be surprised, but not displeased.And if you preferred to converse a few times a year, primarily about things that concern my son, I would be disappointed, as I have a daughter-in-law in that mold already, but I would understand.”

“Five calls a day would be a lot.I don’t bug Henry and Jay half that often.”Not even in text, but maybe she should start.Not every day.Just be a little more social.A little less assuming she’d be interrupting.She didn’t have the history with them she did with Ollie, talking her sister through high school and home life from the tiny holes of a flip phone.“Hey, how often does my sister message you?”

Mother tipped her head back and studied the ceiling.“Oh, two or three times a week, I suppose.”

Holy shit.Her sister talked to her mother-in-law a hell of a lot more than she did.What did they even have to talk about?“I hope it’s not a bother.”

“Not even a little bit.”Mother rubbed Alice’s arm briskly and aligned their gazes, her eyes gentle and soft.“The residency interviews have her nervous, poor girl.”

“She hasn’t said—” Wow, okay, was that jealousy?That sharp pang in her chest?Too complicated to unravel whether it hurt because Ollie had someone else to take her fears to or because Alice could’ve been confiding in a mom-figure for a month but hadn’t thought of it.“Sorry, you know what?It’s not my business.”

Mother’s low hum and stern gaze disagreed.Henry had inherited one hundred percent of that right there.

“I believe it’s my turn to be the…” Mother quirked her lips.“Buttinski, did you say?”

She couldn’t help the laugh.Nodding, she tried to get control of it.

“From what Henry has shared, I gather you and your sister grew quite close as children.I am sorry that was necessary.”

Her laugh dried up.The phone in her back pocket still hadn’t erupted with a response to herhey, let’s chat today—you free?message yet.“We went through some stuff, yeah.”

Mother brushed Alice’s hair back, tucking it behind her ear with a mostly steady hand.“Please don’t feel that I am attempting to usurp your role as surrogate parent, Alice.She hasn’t wanted to disrupt your honeymoon phase with her anxieties.”

Freaking martyrs, all of them.Her, Henry, Ollie.Somehow the world had flipped, and Jay was the most emotionally balanced of all the important people in her life.“It’ll be…” Too many confusing things to name, too much buzzing in her chest.“Strange.Getting used to not being the only person she comes to for advice and support.I guess that’s good, though.”

That was growth, right?Building a network, like they were doing with Will and Emma and their friends from the club.Like Henry always encouraged the incoming submissives to do.The intro classes meant they knew people beyond just the person who’d introduced them to the club.And now Emma’s pre-wedding sleepover had bridged the gap between Alice’s sister and Henry’s mom, which was… “It’s sweet, actually.Thank you for listening and helping her.”

“Of course.”Mother managed a half hug across the arm of the chair.“Truth be told, we have agreed that the three of you are so ludicrously in love that you will be honeymooning for the next fifty years.”

“I mean…” That didn’t sound so bad.In between arguing with each other to knock sense into their hard heads.“I wouldn’t say no to—”

Mother’s phone blared like an airhorn in her lap.

Alice jerked back on instinct.“Does that seem loud to you?”

“It does.Thankfully I haven’t lost my hearing to age just yet.”Mother fiddled with the volume button.“Jay suggested I turn the sound up before they left for the shops.”

“Is that him?We could change that notification sound.”She peeked over the armchair at the screen, rude and snoopy as all get-out.“Sorry.”

Mother scoffed.“I’m hardly expecting lewd missives from suitors, darling.You may look—and show me how to replace the noise.The message is…” She tapped into the texts, and a photo popped into view.“Endearing as ever.I quite enjoyed the photos the two of you sent yesterday during your tree excursion.”

Henry and Jay stood hemmed in by shopping carts, a sea of veggies behind them—but they both wore grins.“What’s it say?”

Mother exited the photo and held the screen steady.

Traffic jam in the grocery store!We could be stuck here for hours, with only all of this food to survive.How’s it going there?

Shit, Henry had to be on edge.“That’s a—”

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