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tilted her head, as if surprised by the question.
    “My father. What was there about him that attracted you? What was so special about him that you fell in love with him instead of someone else?”
    “Well.” Jude cleared her throat. “He was . . . smart. And . . . good-looking. And . . . fun. He had a great sense of fun. And of course, we’d been friends for a long time.”
    Dina moved her iced tea glass to permit the waitress to serve her sandwich. “If you add to that, that he had short legs and a slightly swayed back, I’d think you were talking about Waylon.”
    Waylon was Jude’s basset hound.
    Jude stole a French fry from Dina’s plate.
    “Your father was just a very special man, Dina,” Jude said, avoiding Dina’s eyes. “Certainly he was a man of honor. He served his country proudly—in the end, he gave his life for his country. Everyone said he was a hero.”
    “Do you ever regret not marrying again?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “Mom, don’t say it like it’s something disgraceful. Your husband died before I was born. You’ve been alone for thirty years.”
    “I’ve never been alone. I had you.”
    “But weren’t you lonely?”
    “Truthfully, honey, Frank and I hadn’t been married very long. I grieved for him, but I was never really lonely.” Jude smiled and repeated, “I had you.”
    “Yes, but I was a kid.” Dina wrinkled her nose.
    “You were all that I needed.”
    “Didn’t you ever want, you know, a relationship with a man?”
    “I never had much time to think about it. I was so busy raising you and working that I never missed having a social life, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    “But, Mom, now that I’m older and on my own, don’t you wish that maybe you’d met someone to share your golden years with?”
    “I loved raising you. Loved being your mother. More than anything else I’ve ever done, Dina, I’ve loved being your mother. I have no regrets. None at all.” Jude grinned. “And I always figured I could count on you to pay a visit, now and then, when I finally hit those ‘golden years.’ ”
    “You can count on it, Mom.” Dina smiled back, all the while swatting away the sting of nostalgia. Jude had never missed a school play or a parents meeting. She’d been Brownie leader and Halloween costume maker. She’d stood on the sidelines for every tennis match, every field hockey game, through high school, had even tried her hand at coaching a club softball team just so that the team would let Dina play. Jude had been the best of mothers, the best of friends. If she felt she’d sacrificed for Dina’s sake, she’d never let on. Still . . .
    “I wish you’d take some of the money from my trust and treat yourself. Maybe buy new furniture. A new car. A fabulous trip.” Dina sipped at her tea. “To France. Italy. Spain. Russia. Who knows who you might meet? You’re still young, attractive—”
    “That money was intended for you and you alone, sweetie, as we have discussed a thousand times.”
    “I’ll never understand why Dad’s parents didn’t provide for you, too. It would have saved me the trouble of nagging you to let me do things for you.”
    “Dina, we’ve been over this so many times before. Your grandparents never really knew me, but you were their only grandchild.”
    “Well, they didn’t know me any more than they knew you.”
    Jude stole another fry. “Frank died before his parents and I could make much of a connection.”
    “Their loss.”
    “Water under the bridge, honey. Besides, keep in mind that they’d never really had time to deal with the death of their son before they themselves were killed in that plane crash. Don’t judge them so harshly.”
    “Still, I wish they’d set things up differently, so that it could have been easier for you while I was growing up.”
    “We never had things so very hard, if you recall. We had our sweet little house in our wonderful neighborhood in a wonderful town. And let’s face it,