Page 108 of This Feeling

“I couldn’t think of anything else. Aunt Olivia, she’s driving me mad. Declan is good at ignoring half the stuff she says, but she had the nerve to callmethis morning and insist I shouldn’t let him go to work.”

Her brows lifted. “And what did you tell her?”

“I told her I wasn’t the boss of Declan, that he was his own man, and the doctors had cleared him. She said if I loved him, I would talk him into another profession.”

“What a bitch!”

“I know!”

With a shake of her head, she asked, “What did you tell her after that?”

“I told herbecauseI love him, I won’t stand in the way of whatever he chooses to do with his life. I put emphasis onhis. Just to drive the point home to her. I honestly thought she’d be invested in Sean and Caroline’s relationship and leave us alone. I was so wrong.”

“She loves her son, so you can’t blame her for that.”

“I don’t, but she has no right to tell a thirty-five-year-old man what he can and can’t do. Thank God he stands up to her, though, unlike Sean.”

The bell above the door rang, and when I looked up, I cursed. “Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

Maddie walked in and made a beeline straight for me. “Olivia, how are you?”

“I’m doing well. How are you, Maddie?”

“Fine. I’m fine.”

Turning to me, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “May I have a word with you, Harper?”

“Sure.”

When I didn’t move, she looked at Aunt Olivia, then back to me. “In private.”

“I’m sure whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of my aunt.”

Maddie sniffed. “Fine. I’m disappointed in you, Harper.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “Really? Do tell?”

“You let Declan go off to that dangerous job this morning, and I want you to know I amnothappy about it.”

Laughing, I slowly shook my head. “First of all, I ‘let’ him, as you say, because it’s his life. Not mine. I don’t own Declan, and neither do you, regardless if you’re his mother. Second, this is Moose Village, not New York City. Yes, something terrible could happen, but I can’t control that any more than you can. Third, you have no right to come into my store and try to bullymelike you do your sons. It’s a wonder Sean even speaks to you, given how you spent years manipulating his life for your own happiness.

“Fourth…you’d better start treading water carefully, Maddie. Because I can promise you right now, if Declan and I ever get married and have kids, you will not have control of my children.Ever. Fifth, you’re obviously a great mother because you raised two amazing men…so why do you feel the need to control them? They’re adults, for crying out loud! Let them live their lives the way they want. They love you, Maddie. But if you keep acting like this, you’re going to push them both away and end up with neither of them in your life. Is that what you want?”

She lifted her head higher, and I prepared for her to unleash.

Instead, she said quietly, “No, I don’t want that. You have no idea what it’s like to be a mother.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I have a mother and three sisters, and I can tell you right now, my mother has never once tried to control our lives. She lets us live and make mistakes. Because if we didn’t make mistakes, how would we ever learn? We know she’s there for us if we ever need her, but she doesn’t force her will on us. So yeah, I may not fully understand what you’re feeling, but I do know that your relationship with your sons is not healthy.”

“You need a hobby, dear.”

Maddie and I both looked at Aunt Olivia. “I’m sorry?” Maddie said.

“You need a hobby. You need to get out of the house and do something for yourself. Your problem is you gave your entire life to raising your boys by being a stay-at-home mom—which I think that is wonderful. But when they left the nest, you kept trying to pull them back in. You need to let them go, Maddie. Why don’t you come to bunko tonight at my house.”

“What?” Maddie asked.

“Viola comes, and she loves it. I never did understand why you never came with her.”

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