Elizabeth stood in the living room and looked out the window in amazement. She only wanted to be sure that William had gotten safely to his car because she hadn’t heard it start after he left them. What she saw, though, was something she couldn’t have imagined. It was Nathan, standing with William. The two of them were deep in conversation. She knew, of course, that she should look away and give them their privacy. It just made no sense. What was Nathan doing there? Why were they just standing out in the dark? What on earth were they talking about?

“What are you looking at out there, dear?” her mother asked as she walked out of the kitchen, carrying a glass of water.

“Nathan and William.” Elizabeth forced herself to look away from them and face her mother. Each time she looked closely, she was shocked to see how frail her mother looked.

“Oh,” the older woman said with a shrug.

“You don’t sound surprised.” Elizabeth was shocked to see them there, but her mother was acting like it was just another Tuesday night.

“Should I be?” Diane feigned innocence with a twinkle in her eye.

“Well, it’s a little odd for Nathan to be waiting outside our house at this time of night, don’t you think?”

“Not really. The boys have a lot to process.” Diane stroked her daughter’s back as she spoke.

“Do you know something I don’t?” Elizabeth was suddenly worried that there had been some development in her mother’s condition that she and the two men were keeping from her and Kate.

“I know many things you don’t. I’m older and wiser, my love.”

“Care to enlighten me?”

“I think you might have an idea in this case,” her mother answered, smiling gently at her.

“I promise I don’t. Is something wrong that you haven’t told me about? You look pale.” She reached out to touch her mother’s skin to see if she was running a fever.

“I’m just tired, Lizzie,” Diane said with a sigh.

“Then what’s going on?”

“Don’t you see it?” Diane didn’t understand how her daughter could be so oblivious.

“See what?”

“Both of those boys love you. That complicates things,” Diane explained, amused by the look of shock on Elizabeth’s face.

“It doesn’t complicate anything because it isn’t true. Are you sure you don’t have a fever?” Elizabeth turned toward the bathroom to grab the thermometer.

Diane grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“I’m very sure.”

“Mom…” Elizabeth gasped.

“They have both always loved you. When you were all young, you loved Nathan so deeply that you couldn’t see William’s feelings. After you left, they both put what they felt for you in a box and buried it deep inside them. Now that you’re back, they have to dig it up and face it.” Diane sounded like the sage old matriarch that she truly was.

“Bill is my friend and that’s all he’s ever been. Besides, I didn’t just leave Nathan. He did this,” Elizabeth said, the old anger that she tried to keep at bay slipping into her voice.

“Yes, he did. He was young, proud and stupid, and he threw away the best thing in his life.” Diane wrapped her arm around her daughter’s waist.

“You have to say that. You’re my mom.” Tears threatened to fall as she thought of how supportive her mother had always been, no matter what the situation.

“It’s true. I’ve seen him from time to time over the years. All the light went out of him when he lost your love.” Diane remembered how, whenever they met over the years, Nathan had looked desperate for any mention of Elizabeth.

“Again, he didn’t lose it. He threw it away.”

“Yes, he did,” Diane agreed, her voice full of pity for the foolish boy who had thought that love could take a backseat to his career.

“So then we agree that he can’t possibly love me. You can’t love a person and do something like that to them?” It was the one thing Elizabeth was sure of. Nathan couldn’t love her because nobody who loved her could have shattered her heart like that.

“You’d be surprised how much you can hurt someone even if you love them.”

“That’s not Nathan.”

“He’s been lost without you. I just don’t think he realized it until you came crashing back into his life.” Diane needed her daughter to know the truth because she didn’t want her to live a life without love when it was so close to her.

“You’re overexciting yourself. It isn’t good for you. You need to rest.” Elizabeth took her mother by the arm and tried to lead her to the bedroom.

“I know love when I see it.” Diane shook off her daughter’s hand. “They’re both good men, you know,” she pointed out as she took a seat in a nearby rocking chair, suddenly overcome with weariness.

“They are,” Elizabeth agreed. She had always known that. It was why they had meant so much to her.

“And they care deeply for you,” Diane continued, needing to get the words out before exhaustion overtook her.

“They’re both my friends, mom.”

“Even Nathan?”

“He wants to try to be anyway.”

“And what do you want?” Diane asked, urging her daughter to look inside her heart and find the truth.

“I want to finally put the pain behind me. If we can really be friends then I can finally let it go.” Elizabeth looked out the window again to see that both men had gone.

“And what happens when you let it go?”

“I get to move on from all the pain,” Elizabeth answered, her tone hopeful. Perhaps it was naive, but she really thought that, if she could find peace in her relationship with Nathan, she could move past the pain that had defined her life for years, no matter how much she had tried to deny it.

“With William?” Her mother watched her intently as she waited for her to answer.

“No. He’s my friend. It’s nothing more than that and never will be,” Elizabeth assured her, unable to imagine that William really might have romantic feelings for her. It was true that she had only ever imagined a romantic future with Nathan. When they were young, she had been so sure of it that she had never even considered that anyone, especially William, might feel that way about her.

“Just promise me you’ll listen to what I’m about to say.” Diane took her daughter’s hand and held it as she waited for her to make her vow.

“I promise.” Elizabeth’s mind was swirling.

“They’re both good men who love you.” Diane stood from her chair.

“Is that it?” Elizabeth was surprised that her mother was willing to end the conversation so abruptly.

“No. You know your sister hates Nathan, right?”

“It’s pretty obvious.” Elizabeth wasn’t sure what had brought on this topic.

“It’s equally obvious, I hope, that I don’t hate him. Do you know why?”

“Because you could never hate anyone.” Elizabeth couldn’t imagine her loving mother angry enough to hate anyone, especially a man who had been like a son to her.

“No, dear, that’s not it.” Diane took her daughter’s arm for support.

“Then why?”

“Because, even though he hurt you deeply, I know it isn’t too late. It’s never too late for true love.”

“True love,” Elizabeth whispered, remembering when she had been so sure that it was real and true.

“Yes, dear,” her mother said, tears shimmering in her eyes. “William is a good man. We all love him, but he isn’t Nathan.”

“I’m not in love with either of them.”

“If you say so.”

Elizabeth knew that her mother had much more to say on the matter, but she seemed too tired to fight any longer.

“Let’s get you to bed. You look exhausted.”

“That may be a good idea. Fixing my children’s lives is a little exhausting,” the older woman confessed with a smirk.

“I love you so much.” Elizabeth looked into her mother’s gentle eyes, fighting the urge to cry.

“And I love you. That’s why I want you to be happy.” Diane went up on her tiptoes to kiss her daughter on the cheek.

“Thank you, mom.”

“It’s a mother’s job.”

“And you do it better than anyone.” Elizabeth wrapped her mother in a tight embrace before helping her back to bed.