After everyone finished eating and dispersed to different activities, Ma pushed him over to a separate, somewhat secluded area of the patio, partially shaded by a pergola and magnolia trees at three corners. With a fireplace and the privacy the surrounding raised planters gave it from the terrace, he could almost pretend they were at a park instead of an assisted-living facility for the psychologically challenged.

Ma sat at one of the two small tables and fanned herself with a lace hankie. He flashed back to his childhood. For as long as he could remember, she’d always carried a handkerchief instead of disposable tissues. It was more ladylike to use a hankie than a piece of flimsy paper, she’d explained to him when he’d asked about it at age eleven.

“How did you do it all those years?” He manipulated the wheels of the chair until he faced her squarely.

“Do what, Danny?”

“Raise me. Put up with me. Support us. Hold yourself together until I was old enough to take care of both of us.” Emotion shredded his voice into hoarse shards.

She shrugged. “I just had to. You were a little boy.” She patted her forehead with her fingertips. “I had to think about things because you couldn’t do it and because I knew they’d take you away from me. That was the worst time, when they took you away from me.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t mean to set the fire, Danny. I didn’t mean to.”

He stroked her arm until she started to calm down. “I know you didn’t. You couldn’t help it. Flame has always fascinated you. Like a moth.” He grinned. “You can’t stay away from it.”

“But I was supposed to because you could be hurt in a fire, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Of course not. You’ve always protected me, Ma. And I’ve never told you how much that means to me. How much I love you for that.”

“Fssh.” She waved her hand. “You tell me you love me all the time.”

“I may say the words, but I don’t always show it. I’m sorry I left you on your own when I went to New York, that I didn’t make more of an effort to get back down here and see you.”

She pushed wisps of white hair back from her cheek. “You were doing important work. That’s what I told all my friends at my jobs I had while you were gone. You were in New York becoming a famous chef. They were all jealous of me because my son was a famous chef in Manhattan and none of their children ever did anything important like that.”

“I wasn’t famous, Ma. I worked long hours in menial positions so that I could try to get better hours in less menial positions.”

Her eyes clearer than he’d seen them in a long time, she patted his hand where it still rested on her arm. “I didn’t want you to have to come back here. I wanted you to get out of this town, out of this state. I wanted you to have a better life than what you could have here. I wanted you to go away so you didn’t have to watch me become this crazy old lady who drools and doesn’t know what she’s saying half the time.”

He swallowed hard. “You don’t drool.”

“That’s how little you know.” She smiled vaguely.

They sat like that for a while, touching but not speaking, the warm spring breeze bringing the scents of early blooming flowers. Major used the time to compose his emotions. If there was one thing that sent his mother over the edge faster than anything, it was to see him in anything but a completely cool and collected state.

“This is a romantic spot, don’t you think?” Ma asked.

“It is.”

“You should bring her here sometime.”

“Who?”

“Mary Kate.”

He frowned, digging deep into the recesses of his mind for anyone by that name. “Ma, I don’t know anyone called Mary Kate.”

“Mary Kate—you know her. Mary Kate.” She frowned, her confusion and consternation clear. “Mary Kate — The Quiet Man, like the poster.”

He shook his head. She must have decided that if he wasn’t going to bring a real woman here, she’d set him up with someone from one of the Duke’s movies. “I don’t think that’s possible, Ma.”

She shrugged. “She’d come if you asked her.”

“I don’t think I can ask her.”

She patted his hand. “Never mind. I’ll ask her.”

* * *

“...which leads me to my final point.”

Meredith took Pastor Kinnard’s words as her cue and slipped out of the back row of folding chairs. The Easter Sunday worship service had gone off without a hitch—she again sent up a prayer of thanks that the forecast rain never materialized. Now for the hard part of her day.

She checked in with Pam to make sure the senior event planner had everything under control to start the Easter egg–related activities immediately after the worship service ended. Mrs. McCord hadn’t been too happy when she’d learned Meredith would have to be gone for the beginning of the event, but had changed her tune when Meredith told her of Major’s accident and her need to be at Lafitte’s to make sure that Easter brunch ran smoothly.

Meredith drove as fast as she dared over to the property just off the college campus but slowed when she reached the drive up to Lafitte’s Landing. The azalea bushes lining the road exploded with color—mostly deep fuchsia, but some white and some pale pink—which made springtime in Louisiana her favorite season of all. Though when the crepe myrtle trees that shared the sides of the road with the azaleas were in bloom in the late summer and early fall, they were pretty spectacular, too.

Under the tachometer, the SUV’s clock showed 10:30a.m. when Meredith pulled into a space in the shade of one of the heavy-limbed oak trees surrounding the parking lot. Half an hour until they would begin seating guests. Hopefully by eleven thirty, she’d be able to leave and go back to the park to check on activities there. With Major unable to work and Lori on vacation for the holiday weekend, Meredith’s supervisory responsibilities had increased tenfold, but she thrived on it. She just needed to keep telling herself that.

The porters and facilities staff greeted her when she walked into the cool interior of the converted and expanded antebellum mansion.

“Everything looks wonderful, y’all. Keep up the good work,” she called, crossing the ballroom to the kitchen in the back.

As she’d hoped, she was greeted by a dull roar of activity in the large room.

“Civilian in the kitchen.” The line cook greeted her even as he announced her presence.

“Oh, good. You’re here.” For the first time since he’d worked for B-G, Steven’s appearance betrayed his stress—his cheeks red, his jacket damp with sweat, his usually spiked hair limp and lifeless.

“What’s wrong?” Meredith dropped her keys and phone into her suit coat pocket, then stripped the jacket off and stepped into the staff room to lay it over the back of a chair.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to go over everything with you to make sure it meets with your approval.” He brushed past her into the room to where several large sheets of paper were spread out on a battered table. “Here’s my diagram of where I want to put everything on the steam tables and buffet tables.”

Meredith ducked her head down to look at the sketches to hide her amusement from the overeager young chef. And just so she didn’t appear to be humoring him, she asked him questions about his decision to place the trays of sausage patties and bacon before the eggs, and if he had made labels for the two different types of quiche listed.

“I asked someone to do that. I’ll check to make sure it got done.”

“Great. Everything looks fine to me. You’ve done a good job taking over and making sure this stayed organized and on schedule. I’ll be writing an official commendation for your personnel file.”

He grinned at her. “Thanks!” He swept up his diagrams and swaggered out of the room.

Though still sticky and hot from the early spring heat wave outside, Meredith put her jacket back on before guests began arriving. Even though the sleeveless sheath dress looked fine, there was something about bare arms that didn’t feel professional to her.

By eleven thirty, everyone who’d RSVP’d and prepaid for the first seating had arrived, been greeted, and were now happily filling their plates at the tables lining the long back wall of the ballroom. Jana handled checking names off the reservations list while Meredith assumed the role of hostess, greeting guests before passing them off to a server to be shown to their tables.

Jana confirmed every name checked off.

Meredith came out of her jacket again. “Let Steven known that I’ve gone back over to the park and that I’ll be back before the one o’clock seating begins. But y’all can call me if you need me before then.”

By the time Meredith got back out to the park, Pam had already handled getting the hamburger and hotdog grilling under way, and more than half the crowd looked as if they were almost finished eating.

“Cooking’s going a little slower than we expected,” Pam said, breathless after scurrying over to greet Meredith as soon as she got out of her car. “But everyone seems to be understanding about it, so long as we keep the activities for the kids going.”

Meredith couldn’t find anything to do at the park but walk around and talk to VIPs, former clients, and family friends she’d known her whole life. Before she left, she reviewed everything about cleanup with Pam who, as Meredith had with Steven earlier, humored her.

“Enjoy your day off tomorrow,” Meredith told Pam and waved at the rest of the staff on her way to the car.

Back at Lafitte’s, she went through almost the same routine as before, but this time powwowing with Jana and Steven to see how first service had gone and agreeing to their suggestions for how to make second service run more smoothly.