Honor

me off. You need someone to talk to and it might as well be me. Who knows these Halloran men better than you and I do? I’ll be there in an hour.”
She hung up before Lacey could think of a single thing to say to keep her away. Besides, maybe Dana was right. She did need to sort things out, and Dana knew as much as anyone what these Halloran men were like once they started with their bulldozer tactics.
Brandon’s warning, combined with Kevin’s plea for another chance had taken their toll. Lacey was already dreading going back to the hospital, fearing that she would succumb to the combined pressure without giving the decision nearly enough thought. Maybe Dana could help her to stiffen her resolve.
A shower did its part to revive her. By the time the doorbell rang, she’d swept her hair back in a French braid and pulled on gray wool slacks and the cheerfully bright, blue sweater Dana had given her last Christmas.
At the door Dana shrugged out of her coat, then looked Lacey over from head to toe and nodded in satisfaction. “Everyone should have a mother-in-law who looks like you. You’re a walking advertisement for my designs.”
Lacey grinned. “You look pretty snappy yourself. How much longer do you figure you’ll be able to wear that outfit?”
“About another hour, if I skip lunch,” Dana complained as she headed for the kitchen with her armload of carryout food. “I couldn’t get the waistband snapped as it is. Fortunately the sweater covers the gap. If I’m this bad with three months to go, what will I look like by the time I deliver? Jason will have to roll me to the hospital on one of those carts they use for moving heavy crates.”
“Believe me, he’ll be too excited to worry about how you look.” She studied Dana’s sweater, a bold swirl of hot pink on a neon green background. “A new design? Just looking at you cheers me up.”
“That’s the idea. It’s for the mass market line. What do you think?”
“I think you’re going to make a fortune for that designer who’s added them to his collection and for Halloran Industries. Brandon must be ecstatic.”
Dana rolled her eyes as she spread a selection of deli salads on the kitchen table. “Actually Brandon is more interested in the timetable for producing his great grandchild. I swear he would take Lemaze classes with me if Jason would let him. Jason has already had to stop him from checking the references of the instructors.”
“That man needs to find a woman of his own. Maybe then he’d stop meddling in all our lives,” Lacey said as she put plastic plates, mismatched stainless flatware and paper napkins on the table.
Dana’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “Still roughing it?”
“It is a far cry from the Halloran china and silver, isn’t it? You should have seen Kevin’s expression when he saw it.”
“He’s been here, then?”
“Yes, when I first moved in. He left convinced that I’d lost my mind. Brandon agreed. Jason, also, probably, though he’s too polite to say it to my face.”
“Well, we know why Kevin would hate it. As for Brandon, he can’t imagine anyone not being madly in love with his son or grandson. He also thinks the Halloran life-style is the primary selling point. I agree with you that he needs to find some woman and fall in love again. Better yet, he should have to fight to win her over. I told him exactly that just the other day.”
“What did he say?”
“That a girl my age shouldn’t be meddling in the love life of her elders. I don’t think he saw the irony.”
“He wouldn’t,” Lacey agreed. “Brandon thinks his interference is a God-given right as patriarch of the Halloran clan.”
Dana’s expression turned quizzical. “Do I detect a note of bitterness?”
“Bitterness, resignation, maybe a little frustration.”
“He’s been cross-examining you about the separation again, hasn’t he?”
“Brandon, Jason, even Kevin from his hospital bed. None of them seem to get it, even after all this time.”
“I do,” Dana said with such quiet compassion that it brought tears to Lacey’s eyes.
She blamed the rare display of emotion on stress and gave her daughter-in-law a watery, grateful smile. “I think maybe you do. I didn’t leave out of spite. I don’t hate Kevin.”
“Quite the contrary would be my guess,” Dana said. “It hurts, doesn’t it? It hurts to see someone you love changing before your eyes and feeling totally helpless to stop it.”
Not for the first time, Lacey was astounded by Dana’s insightfulness. “For a young woman, you sound very wise.”
Dana shrugged off the compliment. “I watched my mother fade and then die after my father walked out on us. Then I saw Sammy turn from a wonderful kid into a teenager destined for real trouble. No matter what I said or did, it never made a difference. In the end all I could do was love them, anyway. Thank God Jason came along when he did. He’s the one who finally got through to Sammy.”
Lacey patted her hand. “I’m sorry I never knew your mother. She must have been something for you to turn out to be so special.”
Lacey caught the unexpected tears shimmering in Dana’s eyes before she turned away. The rare show of emotion surprised Lacey. Her daughter-in-law always seemed so composed.
“Thanks for saying that,” Dana murmured. “Sometimes I forget what she was like before she changed. It’s good to be reminded that she wasn’t always so defeated, that there was a time when she was terrific and fun to be around.”
Finally she faced Lacey again, the tearful, faraway look in her eyes gone. “You never met my mother and yet you have an instinctive understanding of her. At the same time, I wonder if you see the side of Kevin that I see at work.”
“Meaning?” Lacey questioned cautiously.
“Did you know that he personally went to the hospital to visit the child of one of the Halloran workers, when the boy was diagnosed