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Reeve sat beside his mother on a small foot bench. He had thought it might not hold his weight, and so he sat down on it with apprehension, but it held. He reached out to take his mother’s hand, draped over the arm of her chair.
She took strong hold of it, as if she needed an anchor to hold her firm.
“You have a good woman. Don’t lose her,” Mara said.
“It’s not long that I’ve known her,” Reeve said.
“That doesn’t matter. It’s how you feel about her that counts.”
“I’m learning how I feel.”
“That is the exciting part about love,” Mara said. “You learn as you go, and yet love has already grabbed hold. It’s keeping that hold that matters.”
“You and Da have kept hold of love.”
“I sometimes wonder how,” Mara said, shaking her head. “I can be difficult at times.”
“Truly?” Reeve asked with a grin.
Mara slapped his arm with her free hand while clinging tightly with her other. “Go on with you now, teasing your poor mum like that.”
“Da always looks at you with love, even when you’re angry,” Reeve said earnestly.
“His love is what often stills my anger,” Mara admitted.
“You make a good pair.”
“We always have. I knew when I was young that he would be mine, and I laid claim to him,” Mara said proudly.
“Never let anyone stand in your way, did you?”
“Not a one,” Mara said proudly. “You do whatever it takes.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“See that you do, my son,” Mara said with a smile.
Reeve suddenly felt guilty about keeping the truth about Tara from his mother. He wondered if it would have been better to tell her. He believed that she would fight to help Tara rather than condemn her. His mum was a good ally and a formidable enemy. She fought for not only what she believed, but for whom she loved. She would fight the devil himself for those she loved, and he had no doubt she would win.
“You should go get some rest,” Mara said. “You may be needed later.”
“I’ll sit with you a while yet,” he said, not wanting to leave her alone.
“You must be tired. You returned home early this morning.”
“How did you know when I arrived?”
She smiled, and he was glad to see it. “There isn’t much that goes on around here that I don’t know about.”
“I should have remembered that,” Reeve said. “There wasn’t much that my brothers and I could do that you weren’t aware of.”
“There still isn’t,” Mara said with a grin.
Trey groaned, grabbing their attention, and Mara let go of Reeve’s hand and sprang out of the chair.
“No! No!” Trey groaned and began thrashing around in the bed.
“We need to hold him down or he may break open his stitching,” Mara said, her hands trying to avoid her son’s flaying hands as she sought to help him.
