Cadence of Cranberries - Valerie Comer Page 0,8

the mid-fifties had come for him, whether he thought he was a young buck or not.

And he was alone. He’d been alone most of his life, even when he had a wife. He’d kind of welcomed it.

Not anymore. Since moving to Spokane, he’d begun to realize that while he wasn’t exactly young, he wasn’t old, either. There was a long future stretching ahead of him, unless he died young like Mr. Winnie.

There was very little chance the woman from the market and Dominic’s mother were one and the same, although he’d learned from Katri today that Dom’s father had passed away. So, for at least another fifteen hours, he could dream Winnie Santoro was, well, Winnie. After that, he’d have to figure out if he were going to try to find his favorite customer.

Chapter Four

There was a light tap on her bedroom door.

Winnie snapped her light out, burrowed her face deeper into her fluffy pillow, and scrunched her eyes even tighter. She was bone weary, but too late. Which kid had seen the sliver of light where it shone beneath the door?

“Mom? You awake?”

Dominic. She couldn’t turn her firstborn away. Not when he’d grown up far too quickly and didn’t live under her roof anymore. Not when he sounded like he needed her as much as young Michael.

She pushed herself to sitting and glanced at the clock. Twelve-thirty. Honestly, Dominic... “What is it?”

“May I come in for a minute?”

“Sure.” She was awake now. Who needed sleep, anyway? She could rest when she was dead. Ouch. Sorry, Al.

Dominic came into the room, still in the black slacks and white button-down he’d worn to Peter and Sadie’s wedding. The tie and suit jacket were gone, though, and his hair was tousled.

Probably Katri’s doing.

He looked good, her son. So much like Al when she’d first met him that the sight of him in the semi-darkness clenched her heart. “Come sit down. What’s on your mind?”

Dominic settled at the foot of the bed. “I’m in love with Katri, Mom.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I can see it all over your face. All over hers.”

“Alex created this whole big public proposal for Marley. Is that what girls want?”

“Maybe some do. It depends. Why?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Honestly. It’s not just because of being at Peter’s wedding and then helping stage Alex’s proposal. Or, you know, the fact that half my cousins have gotten married in the past couple of years.” He let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

Winnie smiled. It did seem like a lot of that generation was finding love these days. It was the way of life.

“I want to marry Katri. And tonight, I realized I want to ask her now, and that’s all kinds of dumb, because I haven’t bought a ring, and I haven’t talked to her dad — just met the man yesterday — and I still have nearly six months of med school to go and then two years of residency, but does all that matter?”

“Oh, Dominic. Sometimes... sometimes, if we wait until the right moment, the perfect moment, it never comes. Are you sure about her?”

“Absolutely certain. She’s good, and kind, and gentle, and sweet. Even with her crazy shift work, she volunteers at the homeless shelter when she can. She goes to church whenever she’s not working — that’s where we met the first time, then ran into each other at the hospital the next day when we were both on shift.”

“And the rest, as they say, is history.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He chuckled. “I mean... life is uncertain. You know that better than many. And working in the medical field, both Katri and I know that, too. We’ve both lost patients who should’ve made it. I don’t want to waste a bunch of time when I know she’s the one for me. We’re not kids.”

No, they sure weren’t. Still... “It hurts when someone you love dies.”

Dominic reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know. But do you regret having those years with Dad, even though they were cut short?”

Winnie shook her head. “No regrets, other than I wish he were still here. And that your little brother hadn’t seen the wreck of his truck.”

He sighed. “That was super rough for him. I’m sorry it still is.”

“Me, too.” Every time Winnie thought about moving on, whatever that might look like, the thought of Michael’s sorrow held her back. She couldn’t do that to him.

“The thing is, I know Katri is the woman for me. We