Father MacNeill's expression eased. "Then perhaps you might want to come to the hearing about the hotel Jared's father is planning to open."

Ellie had heard about the plan to turn the old place into a hotel-everybody in town had. But it hadn't occurred to her that there might be something she could do to prevent it from happening. She'd never paid much attention to politics, and Big Luke had always told her it was best to stay out of it. "All you can do is get folks mad at you," he'd explained. "So the best thing is just to keep your mouth shut, and let other people make the decisions." But now, as Father MacNeill spoke, she saw that if she was going to pry her son away from Jared Conway, she would have to take a stand.

In the years since her husband had died, she'd done a lot of things she never would have thought herself capable of doing.

She could do this, too.

When Luke finally got home from cleaning the church, Ellie was waiting for him. She was sitting in Big Luke's chair, which still dominated the living room of the little house on Court Street, and which she never sat in unless she had to lecture Luke. "I want to talk to you," she said as he started toward his room at the back of the house.

"I got homework," Luke countered. "I stayed after school to-"

"I know why you stayed after school," Ellie interrupted. "Father Bernard called me. At work," she added, her eyes fixed accusingly on her son. "How could you have done that? After everything I've done, after everything I've sacrificed-"

"Jesus Christ, Ma," Luke groaned. "All that happened was that me and Jared were a little late getting back from lunch."

"Don't take the Lord's name in vain," Ellie said, quickly crossing herself. "Your father-"

Luke's eyes flashed with anger. "Aw, come on, Ma. Dad's dead, remember? He's been dead since I was a baby! And I bet he swore!"

"He didn't!" Ellie flared. "Never!" Well, at least he didn't swear in front of me, she silently compromised. Certainly when Big Luke was working on the car, he'd used some words she didn't approve of. But never in front of her. "But that's not what I want to talk to you about."

Luke's eyes clouded suspiciously. "So what is it? If it's about being late-"

"It's more than that." Ellie hesitated, then decided to face the issue head on. "It's Jared Conway. I don't want you to see him anymore."

"Why?" Luke demanded. "What's wrong with Jared?"

Ellie rose from her dead husband's chair, trying to summon up the words Big Luke would have used. "He's a bad influence and I don't approve of him. So you won't see him anymore. Is that clear?"

Luke's jaw tightened and his eyes smoldered. "Yeah," he finally said. "That's clear. It's bullshit, but it's clear."

"And you will obey me?" Ellie pressed.

Her son eyed her, and for the first time in her life, Ellie found herself frightened by the way Luke was looking at her. It was almost as if he was taking her measure.

"Maybe I will," Luke said, "and maybe I won't."

It was nearly six when the back door opened and Jared entered the kitchen. Janet looked up from the salad she was making, wondering what he would say about his lateness. Until recently, she wouldn't have wondered about it-Jared would have told her. But recently, especially since he'd moved into the basement room, he'd been disappearing downstairs as soon as he came home from school, and staying there until supper-time. And after supper, unless he went off to meet Luke somewhere, he'd vanish back downstairs.

"What's he doing down there?" she'd asked Ted a few days ago.

"It's all right, Janet. Let him have his space," Ted told her. "He's growing up. And no matter what the politically correct view might be, boys and girls are different. You can't expect Jared to be like you." A mischievous sparkle lit his eyes. "Of course, we don't want him to be quite like me, either, do we?"

"Lord, no," Janet replied without thinking, and then old habit had brought up her defenses as she waited for him to bristle at what she'd implied. But he only smiled at her.

"Every day I thank my lucky stars that you put up with it as long as you did. And don't worry-whatever Jared's doing down there, I'm sure he's not drinking. Believe me, I've had enough experience, so I'd know. I'd see it in him even faster than you'd see it in me if I fell off the wagon."

"But why does he need a lock on his door?" she pressed. "Kim certainly doesn't seem to need one."

"Territorialism," Ted had told her. "It's like an animal marking the boundaries of its hunting grounds."

Janet sighed. "Well, I guess a lock on the door is better than that." But nothing Ted told her helped: a gulf had formed between Jared and the rest of the family, and it seemed to be widening every day.

Now, as Jared passed through the kitchen on his way to the butler's pantry and the dining room beyond, he didn't even speak to her, not even to say hello, much less offer an explanation of why he was so late coming home.

"Jared?" When her son didn't even slow down, she spoke more sharply. "Jared!"

He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Look at me, please," Janet said, her voice soft, but pitched to let him know she wasn't in a mood to put up with any nonsense.

He turned to face her.

"Father Bernard called me this afternoon," she said.

Jared shrugged. "So?"

"'So?" Janet echoed. "Is that all you can say?"

"What do you want me to say?" Jared demanded. "Sister Clarence got pissed off at me, and so did Father Bernard, so I spent the afternoon cleaning the church. That's my problem, not yours."

Janet's eyes narrowed. "Your problems are my problems. I'm your mother."

Jared's eyes flashed with sudden fury. "Jeez, Mom! I'm not a little kid! I'm almost sixteen years old!"

"And until we came here, you've never gotten in trouble at school."

"I'd think you'd be proud of that, instead of climbing all over my back," Jared snapped, turning his back to her. "I'm going down to my room."

"Jared!" Janet exclaimed. "When I'm talking to you, I-" Catching sight of Molly, whose eyes were wide with worry over the anger in the voices she was hearing, Janet scooped the little girl into her arms. "It's all right, sweetheart," she crooned. "Mommy's not mad at you, and neither is Jared. Nobody's mad at you."

Taking the little girl by the hand, she led her into the library, which served Ted as a temporary office, and turned the little girl over to her father. "How about looking after Molly for a few minutes? I have to deal with Jared."

Ted stood up from the desk. "Maybe I should take care of it-" he began, but Janet shook her head.

"This is between him and me. Besides, I'm finally going to get a look at his room."

"Okay." Ted sighed, lifting Molly into his lap. "But I warn you-teenage boys' rooms can get pretty weird."

"Whatever I find, I'm sure I'll be able to cope with it," Janet replied. Unwilling to reopen any of the slowly healing wounds in her marriage, she resisted the urge to remind him that she'd been dealing with Jared pretty much by herself almost since the day he was born. Leaving Molly and Ted in the library, she headed for the basement.

She stopped at the top of the stairs, peering down into the shadows rendered deeper by the glare of the single naked bulb screwed into a socket in the wall halfway down. Why would anyone want to live down here? she wondered as she went down the creaking stairs. She tried to imagine what it must be like in the middle of the night, and shuddered at the thought of the spiders that must be creeping around. She paused at Jared's door, staring at the gleaming brass lock that she'd first noticed a few days ago. But at least there was no KEEP OUT sign, like the one he'd put on the door to his room when he was six. She reached for the doorknob, then changed her mind and knocked softly instead.