AllFreeNovel
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Nolan’s mother is a tall woman, taller than me by a couple inches. She’s wearing a simple silk blouse, black jeans, and basic jewelry. No makeup, her hair down and somewhat frizzy, black sneakers on her feet. She looks like a middle-class woman heading to the grocery store, not the wife of the former boss of the most powerful crime syndicate in the city.
I like her immediately.
“It’s so good to meet you,” she says, giving me a surprisingly warm hug. “I never thought Nolan would find the right woman for him, but here you are.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Crowley.” I grin at her awkwardly. “I was happy when Nolan said you were coming over for dinner.”
“Please call me Molly.” She smiles happily as Nolan pours her a drink. He offers me a glass of wine, but I turn him down. “It’s nice to have another girl in the family.”
“Another?” I ask, tilting my head.
“Finn’s wife Dara was first. Then Carson married your friend, Ash. And now it’s you.”
I turn red. “Right, I forgot about them.”
“It’s okay, dear. Come sit down. I want to tell you all about the embarrassing things my son did growing up.”
I laugh, trying to force myself to feel less awkward. I’m distinctly aware of her sipping wine while staring at my empty hands. I feel rude, but I can’t think up a good excuse for why I’m not drinking, so I don’t say anything.
“I was a model son and a paragon of virtue,” Nolan says, raising his chin up. “You have no stories at all, Mother.”
“What about the time you and Carson flooded the back pond by breaking the little dam we’d built upstream? Or when you drew mustaches on half the paintings in the house?”
“Only the ugly ones. And we used washable markers.”
“You ruined a three-million-dollar portrait.”
I let out a shocked laugh. “Did he really?”
“It was more like ten million,” Nolan says with a shrug. “Father beat me senseless for that one. He didn’t even care about the money.”
“It was the principle,” Molly says. She sighs. “I didn’t always agree with your father’s discipline strategies, but I have to admit, all four of you turned out okay.”
“Mostly thank to you,” he says. “Now, please come over here and taste this so I know I haven’t messed it up.”
Molly gives me a knowing grin. “No matter how old they get, they can’t do anything on their own.”
I watch her go around and take small spoonfuls of the sauce. She compliments him, and the way his face lights up tells me everything I need to know about their relationship.
I figured things were bad between them. That’s how it always happens in movies and on TV. But this relationship isn’t strained or difficult or painful. Nolan seems to genuinely love his mother, and she seems to genuinely love him back.
It’s shockingly normal.
And I’m jealous. I wish I had half that relationship with my own parents. Except if I had flooded a pond or ruined a priceless painting, I’d be dead. And I wouldn’t be mourned.
Molly pulls me over to the table and we chat about her boys. She talks about all the mischief they got into, especially Nolan and Carson. “Those two were inseparable,” she says with a sigh. “Really, they were more like best friends than brothers. It’s a shame.”
“What do you mean, a shame?” I ask, glancing over at Nolan where he studiously ignores us.
“They’re drifting.” She takes a long sip of wine. “It happens, I suppose. Carson is a little too invested in his new wife, no offense, darling, and he’s got the weight of the family on his shoulders now. Meanwhile, Nolan’s not exactly good at trying to make things right.”
“I shouldn’t have to,” he mutters as he begins to plate the meal. It’s a light summer meal, the sauce more pink than red, with fresh vegetables and a beautiful mixture of veal and chicken.
“Italian,” Molly says, rolling her eyes. “You’d think he’d learn to make some Irish dishes.”
“And scare the girl away?” Nolan sits down beside me once everything’s served. “I plan on staying married for a long time, Mother.”
They laugh together and I find myself squirming again, turning pink. I feel even worse, not saying anything to her about the five-month time limit now. Things between them seem so nice and easy, and there’s a real warmth emanating from his mother. I thought she’d be cold and harsh, the wife of a crime lord, a difficult and demanding woman. Instead, she’s funny, kind, and easy to talk with.
