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both the suspense and contusions and say yes now.”
    I sat down on the floor next to him and kissed him. “Yes.”
    “Yes?” He looked as elated as he had the first time I’d accepted his proposal. “You’ll run away with me and commit all manner of lewd, lascivious acts on the beach?”
    “I will. But you better bring enough cash to make bail when we get arrested for public indecency.”
    “Done.”
    I kissed him again. “I’ll talk to Dr. Lowell tomorrow; if he’ll give me the time off, we’ll go.”
    He pressed my hand between both of his. “This is gonna be great. We’ll get some time to ourselves before Mom moves in.”
    I froze midkiss. “Before what, now?”
    His smile faltered. “Before my mom moves in.”
    I snatched my hand away. “I know I didn’t hear you correctly. Because if you just said what I thought you just said, then I…then we…”
    “It’s just for a few weeks, nothing major. She’s remodeling her house and—”
    “Since when?”
    “She got depressed after the wedding—”
    “Our wedding? Why?”
    “—and called a contractor and they’re ripping out her kitchen and all the bathrooms. Pretty soon she’ll have no hot water and no place to cook.”
    “Then she can stay at a hotel,” I said flatly.
    “Erin!”
    “No, David. No. I have been more than accommodating when it comes to your mother’s…”
    He narrowed his eyes. “My mother’s what?”
    I made myself count to five. “Your mother’s whims. I agreed to have the wedding at her country club, with her pastor, right before I gave up a great job and moved to her town. I am a reasonable woman. But this is beyond the beyond.”
    His tone changed from accusatory to cajoling. “You’re right. I know. She gets a little carried away sometimes, but she’s my mother and she’s all alone…”
    There it was: the widow card. Renée’s ace in the hole,brought out every time anyone didn’t fall over themselves to cater to her every need.
    “Listen. Honey.” I paused, trying to find the most diplomatic way to word this. “I know she’s your mother and I know she’s come to rely on you since your father passed away. But we’re newlyweds. We need our space.”
    “Agreed, but—”
    I threw up a hand. “She cannot move in with us. Full stop.”
    “Okay, well maybe ‘move in’ was the wrong way to put it. She’ll just be visiting for a few weeks while—”
    “While they gut her entire house? Do you honestly think that’s going to be a nice, neat, monthlong project? It’s going to take months, David. Possibly years. What about all her bridge friends? Can’t she stay with one of them?”
    “She wants to be with family,” he said plaintively. “She doesn’t want to impose on her friends.”
    “Then she better get used to cold showers and takeout, ’cause she’s not moving in with us.”
    He looked at me like I’d grown fangs and talons. “Erin!”
    “What? David, try to see my side of this. Did I say anything when she cried at the rehearsal dinner because she was, quote, losing her only child forever?”
    “No.”
    “Did I say anything when she interrupted our first dance to ask when we were going to start trying to conceive?”
    “No.”
    “Did I say anything when she tried to kill me last Thanksgiving?”
    His face turned crimson. “Would you get over that already? It was an accident!”
    “An accident? I must have told her fifty times that I was allergic to peanuts. I tell everyone I meet. It’s practically tattooed on my forehead!”
    “She’s getting older,” he countered. “She forgets things sometimes.”
    “Yeah, whenever it’s convenient for her.”
    He shot up into a standing position. “What exactly are you saying?”
    “I’m saying she’s not moving in with us! Not now, not ever.”
    He set his jaw. “Just because you have the MD after your name doesn’t mean you get to make all the decisions.”
    This took me completely off guard. “Wait. What?”
    “Every time we