This is your home.â
Really? It doesnât feel that way anymore. âI donât like it that youâre working.â He sighed. âOr dating.â
Doreen shrugged into her coat. âI can tell. But Iâve earned the right to make my own decisions.â
âAm I supposed to stand aside even if I think youâre making a mistake, several of them?â
Doreen settled the strap of her bag on her shoulder. âOver the years, I havenât agreed with all of your choices, either. I didnât think you should have accepted the job with the law firm in New York, but I knew it was what you wanted.â
âBut Iââ
âAnd it may surprise you to know that Ramona isnât my first choice for you or my second. Or my tenth. But I respected your right to make your own decision. Are you going to deny me the same respect?â
Ean dragged a hand over his hair. âMy situation was different. Your grief over losing Dad could be affecting your decision making.â
There was concern in Doreenâs eyes as she searched Eanâs features. âHas your grief affected your decision making?â
âNo.â
âNeither has mine.â
âBut you were his wife.â
Doreen sighed. Her gaze dropped to the tiled floor. âAnd we were together for more than forty years. Still, I considered my options before I made my decisions. These arenât whims. Theyâre choices. Mine.â
Ean had run out of arguments. He was at a loss. âAll right, Mom. Iâll respect that.â
Doreen stepped forward, cupped the right side of Eanâs face with one hand and kissed his left cheek. âYou donât have a choice. Have a nice day.â With those words, she left for work.
Ean stared at the closed front door. This homecoming wasnât going at all the way heâd imagined. Had he made a mistake coming back to Trinity Falls?
Â
Â
Megan looked up from her grandparentsâ headstones Thursday afternoon. In the distance, a couple of rows away, she saw a solitary mourner standing with his head bowed before a grave site. Ean.
He was so still. Megan hesitated. She didnât want to intrude on his private time, but she sensed his thoughts were troubled. She lowered her gaze to her grandparentsâ headstones again and silently said good-bye.
She wanted to leave. She actually started to leave. But her steps drew her closer to Ean. âWould you rather be alone?â
He looked up, startled. âI didnât hear you.â
Megan nodded over her shoulder toward the headstones that were imprinted on her heart. âToday would have been my grandparentsâ fiftieth wedding anniversary.â
Ean returned her smile. âIâm sure theyâre celebrating together.â
The warmth of his smile and the sincerity of his words stole her breath. Megan swallowed to dislodge the lump in her throat.
âI think so, too.â She was uncomfortable with the emotion he may have heard in her voice. âIs today a special occasion for your father?â
She read again his fatherâs headstone: Paul Fever, 1948 to 2013, Loving Husband and Father.
His expression grew somber. âIâm just paying my respects.â
It was more than that. Megan heard it in his taut tone. He sounded lost. She fisted her hands deeper into her navy blue winter coat to keep from touching him. That was Ramonaâs prerogative.
âYour father was well liked and well respected in the community.â
Ean returned his attention to his fatherâs headstone. âEverything seems different with him gone.â
âEverything changed for me when my grandparents died, too.â
âI didnât expect my mother to change as well. I barely recognize her anymore.â He caught her gaze. âYou hired her to run the bakery in your bookstore.â
Megan heard the accusation in his words. âYour parents had been high school