“How are you holding up?”Ms.Patti interrupted, and Nica knew maternal instincts overrode whatever hurt she was nursing.“With everything that’s happening, I mean.Your daddy and I, we’re worried sick.”
Nica’s throat tightened.As always, her mother’s first concern was for her safety.“I’m okay.Gabe’s friend, Mike, is looking into everything.The phone calls, the break-in at the clinic—”
“That’s not what I asked.”Ms.Patti’s voice was gentle but firm.“I asked how you’re holding up.My daughter.Not what the FBI is doing about some lunatic who’s threatening my new son-in-law.”
The word ‘son-in-law’ hung in the air between them, and Nica saw the quick flash of pain cross her mother’s features before she could hide it.Three months.For three months, Gabe had been her son-in-law, and Ms.Patti had been calling him ‘that sweet doctor’ instead.She knew her mother liked and respected Gabe, which had made things harder.
“I’m scared,” Nica admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.“Not just of whoever’s been watching me, I can deal with that.I am afraid of losing you.Of losing us.”
Ms.Patti’s composure cracked just slightly, her fingers reaching across the table to cover Nica’s.“Oh, honey.There’s nothing in this world you can do to lose me.”
“I know you’re hurt, and that’s my fault.You had dreams about my wedding day, about my walking down the aisle at First Baptist with Daddy, about the reception at the community center with half of Shiloh Springs in attendance.”Nica’s words tumbled out in a rush.“I know you had it all planned since I was little.We’ve looked at bridal books since I was eight years old.Talked about flowers and my favorite colors…and I robbed you of our dreams.”
“You didn’t rob me of anything.”Ms.Patti’s voice was steady, but her eyes glistened.“You made a choice.A choice you felt you needed to make without talking to your family first.”
“I was scared,” Nica repeated.“Not of marrying Gabe—never that.But of everyone’s expectations.People are going to talk when they find out.I know they’ll make a big deal of the age difference.Because I was gone so much, they’ll think we don’t know each other well enough.I didn’t want people turning our love into some kind of spectacle for the whole town to pick apart.”
Ms.Patti was quiet for a long moment, her thumb tracing circles on the back of Nica’s hand.“You think I wanted a big wedding for the town’s benefit?”
“Didn’t you?”
“I wanted it for you.”Her mother’s voice broke just slightly.“You’re my only daughter, my baby girl.I wanted you to have that moment of walking down the aisle in a dress that made you feel beautiful, surrounded by everyone who loves you.I wanted you to have that memory, that perfect day to carry with you forever.”
Nica felt tears prick at her eyelids.“Momma—”
“But mostly,” Ms.Patti continued, her grip tightening on Nica’s hand, “I wanted to be part of it.It is a special time between mother and daughter, a once in a lifetime sharing.The boys have their daddy to do their manly things.But I wanted to help you pick out flowers, argue about the guest list, and cry when you tried on wedding dresses.I wanted to be your mother during one of the most important moments of your life, instead of finding out after the fact that I’d missed it entirely.”
The honesty in her mother’s voice felt like a knife in Nica’s chest.“I’m sorry.Momma, I’m so sorry.”
“I know you are, sweetheart.”Ms.Patti pulled her hands back, reaching for her coffee cup with the practiced efficiency of a woman who’d learned to swallow her disappointments with grace.“And I know you had your reasons.I just wish you’d trusted me enough to share them.”
“I think I let my own personal demons get the better of me.Gabe wanted to tell everyone right away.I’m the one who wanted to wait.Because of those stupid phone calls, the threats, I foolishly thought we should keep everything to ourselves.Maybe figure out where they were coming from and then tell the family.I thought we could deal with all the turmoil and worry ourselves.Please don’t blame Gabe.I swear, he tried to convince me more than once to tell you, but…I was selfish.Maybe it was childish and immature, but I wanted time, time for just the two of us, before the rest of the world found out, because I knew everything would change.The looks, the whispered conversations.You and I both know this town runs on gossip, it’s the lifeblood of small towns.Honestly, I don’t care what people say or think about me, but I know it could affect Gabe and his medical practice, and I foolishly thought if we waited for a while, let people get used to seeing Gabe and I together…It was stupid, I know.In hindsight, I realized it was the wrong thing to do.But, Momma, I was scared.Scared for Gabe, because I could see how much these phone calls have worried him, no matter how much he tried to hide it.I love the people in this town, but they are going to talk.They will think we rushed into marriage, but they don’t know Gabe and I had been seeing each other.We spent time getting to know each other, finding out how we’re alike and how we’re different.There’s always been an attraction there, even before I went back to school, but I didn’t act on it.Gabe didn’t either, although he admitted he felt the same pull, the desire.They don’t know that we fell in love.”
Outside, Nica caught movement and watched Deputy Martinez shift inside his car, and she wondered what he thought about having to spend his shift watching over the sheriff’s baby sister.He was the new hire at the sheriff’s station, having moved to Shiloh Springs a couple of months earlier from Oklahoma.He, his wife, and son were living in the same apartment building as Gabe, and her momma was helping them look at houses.Yet his presence outside was a sobering reminder of why they were having this conversation in broad daylight with police protection.
“Do you think this person, whoever they are…do you think they knew?”Ms.Patti asked quietly.“About you and Gabe being married?”
Nica sighed softly and nodded.“They’ve taunted Gabe about his wife, threatening to tell you and Daddy about the marriage, to tell the local paper.The phone calls Gabe’s been getting, whoever this is, they seemed to know everything.Knew we’d eloped.That I kept a separate apartment instead of moving in with Gabe.He even knew when we went to see Rafe, telling him everything.”
“Your marriage gave this person a new way to hurt Gabe.”Ms.Patti’s face hardened with the fierce protectiveness that had made her a force of nature in Shiloh Springs for decades.“Going after his wife, making you a target, it’s actually brilliant.”
“Mike thinks it’s someone with a personal grudge.We’ve figured out it’s someone who blames Gabe for something that happened in his past, a patient he couldn’t save.”
“That boy has saved more lives than anyone in this town can count,” Ms.Patti said firmly.“Including your father’s.He’s a brilliant doctor, and anybody who thinks differently doesn’t know your husband’s dedication and commitment to the people of this town.”
“I know.”Nica managed a small smile.“He’s a good man, Momma.Other than Dad, he’s the best man I’ve ever known.”She chuckled.“My brothers probably won’t like hearing that.They all think they walk on water.”
“I know that too.”Ms.Patti’s expression softened.“I’ve watched Gabe grow since he came to this town.I knew he had shadows in his past, could see them in his eyes.But I’ve also seen how he’s helped this town, seen the kind of doctor he is, the kind of friend he’s been to your brothers.I couldn’t have picked a better husband for you if I tried.”
“Then why does it feel like there’s still this wall between us?”
Ms.Patti was quiet for a long moment, her gaze drifting to the window where Deputy Martinez sat vigil in his patrol car.“Because you’re my daughter, and for the first time in your life, you made a choice that shut me out completely.Not just from the wedding, but from the months afterward when you were carrying this secret.Every family dinner, every Sunday service, every time we talked on the phone—you were living a whole life I knew nothing about.”
The pain in her mother’s voice was carefully controlled, but Nica could hear it clearly.Patricia Boudreau had built her identity around being the heart of her family, the woman everyone turned to for advice and comfort.To be excluded from her only daughter’s most important decision had struck at the very core of who she was.
“I was trying to protect you,” Nica said weakly.
“From what?”
