River’s End

her opinion about everything from the plight of the northern pocket gopher—where did she get this stuff—to the mating habits of osprey.
    He decided either Olivia was as skilled an actress as her mother had been, or she was enjoying herself.
    Val lifted a bowl of herbed potatoes and passed them to Frank. “Have some more.”
    “I’m going to have to make serious use of your health club tomorrow.” But he accepted the bowl and helped himself to another serving. “This is a fantastic meal, Val.”
    “Frank tolerates my cooking,” Celia put in.
    “Cooking?” Frank winked at Noah and handed off the bowl. “When did you start cooking?”
    “Listen to that,” she said as she gave him a playful punch. “All the years I’ve slaved over a hot stove for my men.”
    “All the tofu that gave their lives,” Noah murmured, and earned a punch of his own.
    “But you sure are pretty, Mom. Isn’t she pretty?” He grabbed her hand and kissed it.
    “You think that gets around me?”
    He scooped up potatoes. “Yeah.”
    And that’s what did it for Val. How could she hold back against a boy who so clearly loved his mother? She lifted a basket, offered it. “Have another roll, Noah.”
    “Thanks.” This time when he smiled at her, she smiled back.
    They lingered over coffee. Under different circumstances, Noah mused, the MacBrides and the Bradys would have slipped into an easy friendship, without complications, with no shadows.
    But the shadows were flickering back. He could see them in the way Olivia would glance at the windows, quick glimpses at the dark. The way his father studied the house, a cop’s assessment of security.
    And he saw the strain on Val MacBride’s face when his parents got ready to leave.
    “I’ll be at your naturalist talk at the Center tomorrow.” Celia slipped on a light jacket on. “And I’m hoping there’s still room for one more on your guided hike.”
    “We’ll make room.”
    Celia ignored Olivia’s extended hand and caught her up in a hard hug. “I’ll see you in the morning, then. Val, Rob, thanks for a wonderful meal.” And when she embraced Val, she murmured in her ear. “Stay strong. We’re right here.”
    She gave Val’s back a bolstering pat, then took Noah’s arm. “Walk your mother to the car.” It would, they both knew, give Frank a chance to reassure the MacBrides. Celia breathed deep of the night and wondered how Frank would feel about buying a little holiday cabin in the area. They were used to having their chick close by, after all.
    It was a good place for roots, she thought, drawing in the scent of growing things. A good place for her son.
    She turned to him, took his face in her hands. “You’re smart and you’re clever and you’ve always been a joy to me. If you let that girl get away, I’ll kick your butt.”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “Do you know everything?”
    “About you. I do. Have you asked her to marry you?”
    “Sort of. She’s work. Yeah, just as you said she would be,” he added when Celia rolled her eyes. “But she’s not going to get away from me. And I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”
    “I always wondered who you’d fall in love with and bring into our lives. And I always promised myself that whoever it was, no matter how irritated I might be by her, I’d be a quiet, noninterfering mother-in-law. And you can wipe that smirk off your face right now. young man.”
    “Sorry. I thought I heard you say something about you being quiet.”
    “I’ll ignore that, and tell you how much I appreciate you choosing a woman I can admire, respect and love.”
    “I didn’t choose her. I think I ran out of choices the minute I saw her.”
    “Oh.” Celia stepped back, sniffling. “That’s going to make me cry. I want grandbabies, Noah.”
    “Is that from the quiet, noninterfering part of you?”
    “Shut up.” Then she hugged him, held on fierce and tight. “Be careful. Please, be very careful.”
    “I will. With her. With all of it.” He stared over his mother’s shoulder, into the shadows. “He’s not going to harm us.”

Thirty-one
    He waited until the house was quiet to go to her. He knocked softly but didn’t wait for her answer. And saw the moment she turned from the window that she hadn’t expected him.
    “Did you really think I’d leave you alone tonight?”
    “I don’t think it’s appropriate that we sleep together in my grandparents’ house.”
    He had to give himself a minute. “Are you