Free One Year by Mary McDonough

of welcome on her face.

C HAPTER 14
    A lexis came into the kitchen of the big house to find her husband and his grandfather seated at the table. Paddy was in a jacket and tie, and PJ was wearing a jacket over an open-necked dress shirt. The sight of them all gussied up for church made Alexis smile.
    â€œIt’s a puzzle,” Paddy was saying. “And you did a soil test, you say?”
    â€œYup. No disease that I can see. I think I’m going to have to call in a plant pathologist.”
    Paddy whistled. “And that’ll cost a pretty penny. Is there no other way?”
    Each man now tapped his right cheek with his forefinger, a habit they shared. Alexis often wondered if PJ had consciously adopted his grandfather’s habitual gesture, or if somehow it had seeped across to his unconscious. Or maybe the gesture had actually been inherited. Was such a thing possible?
    Whatever the case with PJ and his grandfather, Alexis found it endearing. As far as she could tell, PJ and his father didn’t share any physical habits. In fact, they didn’t seem to share much of anything. Between PJ and Pat there was often a sense of competition or suspicion, as if neither one really knew what to expect from the other. She was sure she wasn’t imagining it. She had seen Megan look with annoyance from her son to her husband when the two men were purposely misunderstanding each other.
    â€œI can’t understand why it’s taking the lawyers so long to draw up the contract for the Stoker job,” her husband said now. “They’ve written contracts for the OWHA before. It can’t be so difficult.”
    â€œMaybe they’re just really busy,” Alexis suggested.
    â€œI want everything to be squared away so that work can begin . Maybe I should call Leonard DeWitt and ask him to hurry the lawyers along.”
    â€œBe patient, PJ,” Paddy said. “The course of business never runs smoothly. You don’t want to give yourself a heart attack, worrying all the time.”
    PJ laughed. “You’re right. I should learn how to be patient. I will. Someday.”
    â€œHe’s impossible, Paddy,” Alexis said, putting her hands on her husband’s shoulders. “You should see how agitated he gets when we’re on a slow line at the grocery store.”
    â€œJust like his father,” Paddy noted.
    PJ frowned. “I’d like to think I’m a bit more patient than Dad!”
    Mary Bernadette came into the kitchen then. She was wearing a skirt suit in a soft gray, with a pearl-colored silk blouse. Alexis suddenly felt underdressed in her white jeans and lightweight motorcycle style jacket.
    â€œIs everyone ready?” Mary Bernadette asked. “We don’t want to be late.”
    â€œOf course not,” Paddy said, rising from his seat at the table.
    â€œThere’s nothing more insulting to the priest and distracting to the congregation than people coming in late to mass.”
    â€œWe’ve never been late to church, Mary, have we?”
    Mary Bernadette frowned. “Only that once when Pat was about six and we couldn’t find him when we were ready to leave the house. Do you remember, Paddy?”
    Paddy nodded but said nothing.
    â€œWhere was he?” Alexis asked. “Was he okay?”
    Before Mary Bernadette could reply, Paddy spoke. “That’s an episode best left forgotten. Let’s just say the poor lad was upset about something. He got over it soon enough.”
    Alexis shot a look to her husband, who shrugged and shook his head.
    â€œPJ and I are taking our own car,” Alexis said as the four Fitzgibbons made their way through the living room to the front door. “We want to see a movie in Westminster after church.”
    Mary Bernadette came to a sudden halt just inside the door. “Oh.”
    â€œAnything wrong, Grandmother?” PJ asked.
    â€œIt’s just that I thought we might all have