Read Online One Year by Mary McDonough - Free Book Online

a moment to reflect before speaking her mind.
    Megan sighed and tapped her pen smartly against her desk. The CPEE. The twins and their after-school activities. The law firm. The house. The grandparents. Lord knew she was busy enough, too busy by most people’s standards. Still, lately she found herself wanting some new project she could sink her teeth into. Lately, she found herself ever so slightly bored . Maybe she was what Mary Bernadette called “a glutton for punishment.” Except that Megan didn’t find work a punishment at all. And she thought that if Mary Bernadette took the trouble to consider the idea, she might realize that she and her daughter-in-law were not so terribly different after all. They were both devoted to their family and to their causes. It was as simple as that.
    â€œMom?”
    Megan turned away from her desk. Danica was leaning against the doorframe wearing what amounted to her uniform—a hoodie, a pair of skinny jeans, and UGG brand boots no matter how hot the day.
    â€œWhat’s up, honey?” she asked her daughter.
    â€œGrandma called,” Danica told her.
    â€œAgain? That’s twice today.”
    â€œI know. I told her you were working.”
    Megan restrained a smile. “And what did she say to that?”
    Danica shrugged. “What she always says. ‘Oh, your mother spends too much time at work.’ How come she never says that Dad spends too much time at work?”
    â€œI guess your grandmother is just old-fashioned. She comes from a place where men work out in the big, wide world and women stay at home. Or, at least, a mental state if not an actual place.”
    â€œI don’t get it. You work but you’re at home! That should be okay, right?”
    Megan laughed. “Well, I guess I can’t really explain it after all.”
    Danica wrinkled her nose. “I like Grandma, I mean, I love her and all, but she has some weird ideas.”
    â€œDon’t let her hear you say that.”
    â€œOh, I won’t,” Danica promised. “That would be rude.”
    â€œWell, did she say what she wanted?”
    Danica shrugged again. “Not really. I think she just wanted to talk.”
    â€œAnd did you? Talk, I mean?”
    â€œShe asked me about school. That’s what she always asks me about, never my friends or soccer or debate team.”
    â€œWell, she knows the value of an education.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œWhere’s your brother?” Megan asked.
    â€œHe’s in his room.”
    â€œI wonder if he’s doing his homework or fooling around with a video game.”
    â€œIt helps his dexterity, Mom.”
    â€œWhich is all well and good, as long as he doesn’t neglect his homework.” Megan sighed. “I guess I should call Mary Bernadette back before it’s time to start dinner.”
    Danica grinned. “I bet I know what she’ll say.”
    Megan pitched her voice a bit lower than usual in an attempt to mimic her mother-in-law’s commanding voice. “ ‘So, you’re finally done with that work of yours for the day?’ ”
    â€œOr: ‘Oh, you didn’t have to call me back. It was nothing.’ And then she’ll keep you on the phone for, like, an hour!”
    Megan laughed. It was wrong to mock anyone—St. Francis would tell you that—let alone an older person, and behind her back to boot, but sometimes it just couldn’t be helped.

C HAPTER 13
    I t was another unseasonably warm day, and Alexis was taking advantage of the weather to stretch out on a chaise lounge behind the cottage. She wasn’t sure how the untiringly energetic Mary Bernadette would feel about her putting her feet up in the middle of the day—though it was a Saturday—but thought she was probably safe here, with only the beech trees as witnesses.
    Mary Bernadette! It had been like being with a celebrity the other night at The Angry Squire.