Page 66 of Property of Bones

“Mama,” I groan, picking at my food. “You can’t just come out and ask questions like that.”

“Well, why on earth not?” she says, completely unbothered. “Remember what your father used to say? If you don’t ask questions in life, you’ll never know the answers. Now, Jack?”

“There are some questions you don’tneedthe answers to, Mama.”

“It’s alright, baby,” Jack says, his voice calm, eyes filled with amusement. “I got these when I was a young boy, ma’am.”

“Angel,” she corrects smoothly. “And when you marry my daughter…Mama.”

“Mama!” I groan again, my face practically on fire. “You cannot just…”

Jack chuckles, and I swear the man looks more pleased than embarrassed.

“Yes, ma’am. Angel. Noted.”

“Now, what happened?”

Okay, it’s not like I don’t want to know the answer too, but… it’s not my place to ask. And it sure as heck ain’t Mama’s. But still…

Jack doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t frown. He just… goes still.

Quiet.

Then, after a long pause, he sets his chopsticks down, wipes his hands on his napkin, and meets my mother’s eyes with a calm that doesn’t match the weight of his words.

“My father gave them to me,” he says.

My breath catches. I feel it like a punch to my already broken ribs. Which Mama has known about since I got my phone back because I can’t lie to her.

“I was ten,” he continues, voice low but steady. “He believed pain built strength. Thought I needed to ‘toughen up.’ So he… did what he did.”

“Oh,” Mama whispers, a hand fluttering to her chest.

“He was wrong,” Jack adds, and his gaze flicks to me like he’s anchoring himself there. “Pain doesn’t make you strong. Surviving it does. And choosing to protect people instead of becoming like him?That’swhat makes a man.”

Silence blankets the table for a beat.

Then Mama blinks, tears shining in her eyes. She reaches across the table and lays her hand over his.

“Well, I’m damn glad you survived, Jack,” she says softly. “Because my daughter doesn’t need perfect. She just needsgood.And I can see plain as day that you’re good where it counts.”

Jack swallows hard and clears his throat. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Angel,” she corrects again, smiling. “Or…”

“Mama… when I marry your daughter,” he finishes, glancing over at me with a look so steady, so confident, it nearly sends my soul into orbit. “Which won’t be as far off as one might think.”

“What is happening?” I whisper to myself, eyes wide, food frozen halfway to my mouth.

Mama beams like she just got handed front-row tickets to a gospel concertanda grandbaby in the same breath. “Well, I certainly approve. And you’ll make a fine son-in-law.”

“Mama,” I hiss, cheeks burning. “We’ve been dating for a week.”

Jack shrugs like it’s irrelevant. “Doesn’t take long to know when it’s right, baby.”

Mama nods in total agreement, completely unfazed by my internal spiral.

“Exactly. Your daddy proposed after two dates and a bar fight. We were married three months later and stayed that way for forty years…right up until his heart attack took him home.”

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