Chapter 31. His Mother's Table

Gabriel's mother had dirt on one sleeve when she opened the door.

“I was going to change,” she said, looking down at it. “Then I remembered the beans.”

She was smaller than Diana expected, with dark hair pinned loosely at the back of her head and the same straight nose as her son. Her eyes moved over Gabriel first, checking something he seemed accustomed to having checked. Then she turned to Diana.

“I'm Juliet. I'm so glad you came.”

Diana held out the flowers she'd brought. “Gabriel said you grow everything else.”

Juliet took them with obvious pleasure. “He says that when I give him vegetables he won't collect himself.”

“I collect them.”

“Charles collects them. Then I have to give him something as well.”

Diana looked at Gabriel. His expression suggested that Charles would be answering questions about this arrangement.

The house stood forty minutes outside the city, surrounded by trees and a low stone wal