She nodded.
“Yeah, Baby. I’m sure. I’m happy for both you and Graham, and I’m glad this ended with a good shot from Cupid. It was touch and go last night.”
He relaxed, and linked his fingers with Graham’s. It appeared he was being discharged from duty. Had anyone told him that would be happening a week ago, he would have wept. Now, he wanted to thank her for giving him a chance at a bright, new life.
“If you need me, I’ll come. All you need to do is call me,” Michael admitted. “Once a Marine, always a Marine. I’ll come protect my family in a heartbeat.”
From where Graham sat, he couldn’t help but be moved by the relationship that Michael had with the woman he considered his mother.
So, Graham didn’t hold back.
“I’d come too. I’m not a Marine, but I’m Black Watch. I can hold my own. It would be my honor and pleasure to protect my mother-in-law.”
Elizabeth appreciated that.
He was the equivalent to the MRR, and she knew what Graham could do. After all, she’d researched him when she found out about Michael and his relationship.
“I’ll keep that in mind. I likely won’t because you’re going to be busy with that horrible, drafty, old mausoleum,” she said, testing her hypothesis.
And it happened.
When the lights blinked again, she gasped.
“Graham! You lied! That’s not construction workers! Rats my ass! That place is lousy with ghosts!” she admitted, trying not to laugh. “I swear to God, they flicker the lights on cue! My husbands are grounded! I’m taking all of their money away!”
Michael just laughed.
Honestly, he didn’t buy it. Elizabeth wasn’t bright red. This was a faux rant if he ever saw it. Someone had let the beans spill.
Definitely.
“Who gives someone a haunted castle?” she asked. “What kind of cuckoo is that?”
Because he could, Michael egged her on.
“Not a husband who wants to get laid,” Michael said, laughing. “You should tell them no more trips to that den of iniquity,” he offered.
She gasped.
“I mean, don’t go that far,” she stated. “Who am I punishing then?ME.”
Yeah, he’d been right.
“Me thinks you doth protest too much, Mom,” he admitted, making her laugh.
Oh, he got her there.
So, she changed the subject.
“Anyway, I want you to stay there. You’re safe, and someone has to be my eyes and ears. I bet Callen and Chrisdidn’t see that one coming,” she stated. “I’m going to put my spies in the middle of the mayhem!”
He laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
“Well, I am your favorite, so…I’ll report back. Call me, Mom, and I’ll give you all the details—pictures too.”
