Dawn in Eclipse Bay

conversation. I haven’t heard those two go at it like that in years. Sullivan says that you’ve closed Private Arrangements for good. Is that true?”
    “Yes.”
    “But, darling, why?” Elaine’s voice rose in that practiced wail of dismay that is unique to mothers around the world. “You were doing so well.”
    Elaine did not actually add at last but it was there, silently tacked on to the end of the sentence.
    “You know why, Mom.”
    There was a short silence, then Elaine sighed.
    “Your painting,” she said.
    The whining tone had vanished from her voice as if by magic, Lillian noticed. Smart moms also knew when to abandon a tactic that no longer worked.
    “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, Mom. I need to see if I can make it happen.”
    “Can’t you keep Private Arrangements going while you find out if you can make a living with art? You’ve always painted in the evenings and on weekends.”
    Lillian flopped down on the sofa and stacked her heels on the coffee table. “I feel that the time has come to put my art at the top of my agenda. I need to concentrate on it. The fact is, after a full day at Private Arrangements, I’m tired, Mom. I don’t have a lot of energy left for my work.”
    My work . She was using the word, herself, she realized, mildly astonished. The same way Gabe used it, to describe the important thing that she did. Painting wasn’t a hobby. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t entertainment. It was her passion.
    “And if the painting doesn’t go well?” Elaine said. “Will you reopen Private Arrangements? You still have your program and your client list, don’t you?”
    “I can’t think about that now, Mom. I have to stay focused.”
    “You sound just like your father and your grandfather when you say things like that.” Elaine hesitated and then probed further. “Sullivan told your father something else. He said that you and Gabe Madison are seeing each other…socially.”
    Lillian laughed in spite of tension. “I’ll bet he said a lot more than that.”
    Elaine cleared her throat. “I believe he used the phrase ‘shacking up together.’”
    “I knew it.” Lillian took her heels off the table and sat up on the edge of the sofa. “Mitchell Madison did squeal to Granddad. Interesting that he went straight to Sullivan with the news, isn’t it? I wonder why he did that.”
    There was another brief pause.
    “So it’s true?” Elaine asked, her voice grim.
    “Afraid so.” Lillian hunched around the phone in her hand. “But I prefer the phrase ‘seeing each other socially’ to ‘shacking up together.’”
    “Men of Mitchell’s and Sullivan’s age have a different view of these matters. And a different vocabulary to describe them.”
    “Guess so.”
    “If you don’t mind my asking, how does Gabe describe your, uh, relationship?”
    We’re all adults here .
    “I haven’t actually asked him that question. Not in so many words. Look, Mom, I know you mean well, but this conversation is getting a bit personal. I’m perfectly capable of handling my own private life.”
    “When Hartes and Madisons get together in Eclipse Bay, there is no such thing as a private life,” Elaine said.
    “Okay, I’ll give you that. But I’m still capable of dealing with things here.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Of course, I’m sure. Mom, I’m not in high school anymore. Or even college, for that matter. I’ve been getting by out there in the big bad world all on my own for quite a while now.”
    “You haven’t had to deal with the complications of having a Madison in your life.”
    “Gabe is a different kind of Madison, remember? He’s the one who made it through college and built a very successful business. When I was a kid, I recall Dad saying that Gabe was the one Madison who proved the exception to the rule that all Madisons were bound to come to a bad end.”
    “Yes, dear, I know.” Another short silence hummed on the line. “But between you and me, Gabe was the one I worried about the most.”
    That stopped Lillian cold. “You did?”
    Elaine was quiet for a moment. Lillian could almost hear her thinking about the past.
    “I wasn’t the only one who was concerned about him,” Elaine said eventually. “Isabel and I discussed him often. Even as a little boy, Gabe always seemed too self-contained, too controlled. He never lost his temper, never got in trouble at school. Always got good grades. It just wasn’t natural.”
    “You mean for a