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Finn could fill in the blank for her, but he waited. I like being in control.

I don’t like feeling weak.

I’m a little bit of an independent spirit.

“I know, Edith,” he said. “You don’t have to explain it to me.”

She nodded and swallowed again. “Okay, then.”

“Kiss me good-night?”

She turned toward him, everything on her face softening. “I’d like that.”

Finn certainly would too, and he leaned across the console and let her slide her hand along his jawline. He kissed her sweetly, though he’d like to take things a little deeper.

“See you tomorrow,” he whispered, and then he told himself to get out of the car and go inside.

He did, and he lifted his hand back to Edith in a good-night wave as he ducked into the garage. He heard the laughter inside the house before he opened the door, so he entered to a raucous round of laughter that sounded like his parents were hosting every cowboy on the ranch for supper.

But supper would’ve ended an hour ago. He kicked off his boots in the mudroom and put his military defenses in place to be able to enter the large living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Then he stepped around the corner and found Daddy standing at the sliding glass door as Uncle Pete, Ethan, and Beau moved out onto the deck. Momma worked in the kitchen, putting away leftovers, and she looked toward Finn the moment he appeared.

“There you are,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron. “Did you get dinner?”

He shook his head, his stomach growling. “I can make a sandwich.”

To his surprise, Momma said, “Okay,” and she rounded the island and sat at the bar while he took her place in the kitchen.

He braced himself against the open refrigerator door while he peered inside, because the questions were sure to start at any moment. Momma waited until he pulled out the sundried tomato turkey, and then she said, “There’s muenster in the skinny drawer.”

Finn tossed the turkey on the island and turned back to the fridge. “Did Daddy tell you I’m going to be working at Coyote Pass for the next little bit?”

“He sure did,” Momma said, and that caused relief to sing through Finn. So he didn’t have to break the ice with that.

He grabbed the cheese, mayo, and mustard and faced his momma. “And?”

“And what?”

“Oh, come on,” he said and he bent to get the bread out of the drawer. “You surely have fifteen hundred questions.”

She scoffed, and Finn kept his eyes down as he started pulling out bread and slathering on mayo and then mustard.

“I like her, Momma,” he said. “We’re not in high school anymore.” He layered on turkey and cheese about the time Daddy finished saying good-bye to his men and joined them.

“I’m going to stay in Three Rivers,” Finn said. “Edith is happy here.”

“You’re going to stay?” Momma looked over to Daddy, and Finn pretended not to notice the look they exchanged.

“I feel like I’m repeating the conversation my momma had with me twenty-five years ago.” Daddy chuckled as he put his arm around Momma. “When I told her I liked you.”

She smiled warmly and snuggled into his side, and Finn put on double cheese while he envisioned a life with Edith in a house like this, on a ranch much smaller than this, with her she-shed out back.

“Yes, I heard him say he likes her,” Momma said. “And that she likes Three Rivers.”

“I’m not staying here for Edith.” Finn put the halves of his first sandwich together, and reached to do it again for the second. “I’m staying here, because I’m supposed to be in Three Rivers.” He met his daddy’s eyes and held the gaze. “I felt it in the cemetery today. It just so happens that I mentioned it to Edith, and she likes Three Rivers too and has no plans to leave.”

Daddy started nodding early in Finn’s statement. “That’s great,” he said. “So what are you thinking?”