Page 153 of Season of Gifts

The pinch of Mother’s lips and the roundness of her cheeks betrayed her amusement.“Thank you, darling.I realize that wasn’t an easy thing to say.And you may employ the nurse we spoke to.”Mother lifted her teacup.“The second one, not that awful first one.Regular visits, you understand, not round-the-clock care.”

“Of course,” he murmured, as Mother sipped.Regular visits would be daily to begin with; they could taper off as Mother’s health improved.“I assume you have thoughts on other challenges as well?”

“I do indeed.”Her no-nonsense tone yet held a hint of eagerness, the excitement of beginning a new project.“Lina will go with me to my appointments, and I shall engage a car service for anything that conflicts with the children’s schedule.I’ll increase the cleaning service to weekly and follow the medical staff’s instructions for safety features in the home.”She shrugged with a genteel shiver.“I don’t suppose that elder-proofing a home and child-proofing one are all that different.”

“Your plan sounds about as detailed as something Henry would have come up with.”Alice’s warm approval prodded him to respond, to acknowledge how little his mother needed from him.He had overestimated his importance in this portrait.

“It does.”Robert stood and pushed in his chair.He’d dressed as formally as Father, the casual joy of Christmas pajamas and a robe left in the past.“Please forgive my haste, but if that’s settled, I ought to begin loading the car.We mustn’t be late for lunch with Constance’s parents.”He glanced at Mother in short bursts as he spoke, his eyes flickering, his tongue touching his upper lip.“I had hoped we might have time—” Clearing his throat, he scanned the rest of the table, where Alice and Jay suddenly found their plates immensely fascinating.“Henry suggested a conversation I should very much like to have with you, Mother.Perhaps we could have tea next month, just the two of us.”

At least one of his encouragements would bear fruit.

“I would love that, my darling boy.”Mother stretched both arms up to Robert, wordlessly demanding a hug.

Robert awkwardly hunched in front of her, accepting her embrace around his shoulders.“Yes, well.I’ll call you to arrange a time.”

“I know you’ve a schedule to keep.”Mother rubbed his back, smiling with her eyes shut tightly as she pressed her cheek to his.“Thank you, Robert.”Her voice dipped toward a whisper, though the silence otherwise obscured nothing.“Having the eve and the day with you boys and your children every year is the only gift I need.It hasn’t been easy on you to be torn between two families’ traditions.You keeping this one is an act of love, and well do I know it.I love you, darling.”

A ripple ran through Robert’s shoulders; Mother smoothed his suit before patting him gently.“As I love you, Mother.”He drew back slowly, straightening his tie as he stood, and clasped the chairback behind Mother.“Henry.”The sharp nod was pure Father, but Robert’s soft gaze spoke of love.“My thanks.For your excellence with breakfast and with advice.”

Robert strode to the door and stepped through faster than Henry’s wits recovered to respond.Moments ago, he’d been castigating himself for his mishandling of Mother’s illness; now he held new pieces in the puzzle of forging a closer relationship for himself, his brother, and their mother.

“Henry?”Mother studied him with clear eyes.“Once the kitchen is put to rights and we’ve said our goodbyes to Robert’s family, will you walk with me?I’ve something to show you.”

“Certainly.”He cleared his throat to firm up his voice.“Anything you need.”

Chapter seventy-eight

Jay

Jaywaveduntilthesleek black SUV dropped out of sight.Couldn’t tell if Eddie and Gabe were waving back, because Henry’s brother had tinted windows on his fancy ride.Didn’t matter, though; they’d still see him waving.

“Hey, stud.”Alice reached for him from the doorway.

He clasped her hand.Tried to pull his back, because for once he was colder—standing on the porch without a coat or gloves—but she tugged him closer, over the threshold and into the house.Nobody behind her.Henry and Mom had been there in the hug line a minute ago.“Mom okay?”

“She’s good.”Alice toed the door shut, and he pushed it tight for good measure.“Wanted to show Henry something in his dad’s den.”Stepping backward down the hall, Alice led him with her.“How about you?This whole week is usually pretty family-heavy, right?”

“Usually, yeah.”Noisy and hustling from sunup to sundown and a good while after.Henry’s Christmas had a slower pace.“S’weird, because this place is way more formal than the farm, but it’s also more relaxed.”They slow-turned into the music room, almost like dancing.“Does that make sense?”

“When I was a kid—” Alice stared at the short couch, then swept the pillows off the front and sat on the floor in the pile.“C’mere, relax with me.”

She didn’t have to ask him twice.He cozied the nest and lay on his back, resting his head on her thigh.She smiled down at him with her pink-bow lips and flattened one hand on his chest.Threaded the other through his hair.Couldn’t get much better than that fully dressed.“When you were a kid?”

“It was mostly just the four of us—Ollie, me, Mom, and Dad.”

Her forehead got the notch in the center, but he rubbed her forearm slowly, and the rough thoughts smoothed out.At least, that’s how he described it to Danny when it happened to him.“No big gathering?”

“Grandparents when I was really small, and sometimes my aunt and uncle if the roads weren’t bad.But they never had kids, so no cousins.Pretty quiet.”Alice blinked, and her focus returned to his face instead of staring through him.“I’d call it relaxed.And after Dad—well,after, we didn’t have relaxation in the house anymore ever.Just tense and jumpy and waiting for the next outburst.So when you say it’s more relaxed here, that’s what I think.Is that what you mean?”

Her dad had better get with the program.If that guy disappointed Alice and Ollie and their mom again, hurt them one more time—Jay wrapped his arm around Alice and squeezed her hip.Being able to touch her, to sprawl across her and have her full attention, that was relaxation right there.“I think so.Something like it.I’m not anxious here.Especially now that we know Mom’s not gonna be alone and Henry can come home with us.”

“That was a hell of a surprise she dropped at breakfast.I hope Henry’s feeling okay about it.”She crooked her neck, trying to see over the couch behind them, and twisted her lips.“I want us to ask him today, all right?Just check in and see where he’s at.Not let it slip under the rug.”

“No rug slippage.”He nodded wholeheartedly, his shoulders pressing against her leg.“All the anxieties out in the open so we can deal.”

“That’s the assignment.”Fingers gentle, Alice combed his hair back and traced his ear.“You get to help me stay on track with it, too, because my record’s not the greatest.”

“That’s a worthwhile one.”She and Henry didn’t invent jobs for him.Their tasks came with a purpose, and if he didn’t understand thewhy,he could always ask.“That’s part of it, too.Being relaxed, I mean.I love being helpful, but here I don’t feel like I gotta run straight back to Henry for a new assignment every time I finish one.Peggy always had a million things, like annual chores just got stored up until the end of the year for me to do.”

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