"This isn’t about me."

"What?" he asked startled.

"This brooding. This...chip on your shoulder."

Rafe tried to work a kink out of his neck.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," he said.

"Of course you do. It’s not me you hate. I’m not your most favorite person in the world, I’ll grant you that. But this anger...this fear...it’s really about sharing her...Isn’t it?"

"Olivia," he sighed. "Let’s just go out to the barbeque, alright? Ma and everyone’s waiting."

"No," she said as she blocked his path in the farmhouse kitchen. "You’re leaving soon. You might be gone forever."

"You’d love that, huh?"

"See? Right there." Olivia pointed. "You think I see you as some kind of roadblock to your mom. That I can’t love her if you’re around and that’s not true. Is that how you see me? If I’m around you can’t love your mom?"

Rafe said nothing; his face a mask.

"Your mother is allowed to love more than one person in her life, Rafe."

"I know that," he said annoyed as he started to move away.

Olivia took his hand. "Do you?"

"Olivia..."

"Please listen. I do intend to marry your mother the first chance I get." Rafe tried to look away. "And I know you’ll probably never stand up to be my best man when that day comes," she says and gives his hand a tug to make him look at her again, "But there are things we need to get settled now, before you go."

"Such as?" He folded his arms across his chest, breaking the embrace.

"She’s a woman, Rafe. Not the Madonna. You were not a virgin birth and you’re not the second coming."

"I know that."

"Really? Because I don’t think you’ve ever seen your mom happy with anyone else like this – anyone except you...Tell me, how many people have you seen your mother date over the years?"

He paused. "This is dumb."

"How many, Rafe? Can you count them on one hand?"

He says nothing.

"It’s always been just the two of you, hasn’t it? So much so that you even had a problem with Gus."

"That was different," Rafe argued. "He was trying to act like a Dad and I didn’t even know the guy. Besides, I didn’t have a problem with Frank."

"Of course not. You were in jail. You needed someone to fill your shoes of being the person in your mom’s life. But I’m willing to bet if he’d still been around when you got out, you’d have issues with HIM too. You’d see him as crowding you out of your Ma’s life."

"He would have been a good guy for Ma."

"I agree. But it’s not him she wants. It’s not him that makes her happy. It’s me. You just have to face it, Rafe...your mom is human. Not a saint. She’s a woman with wants and needs like any woman."

Rafe put his hands over his ears. "Ahh, no. Stop there. I don’t want to hear about Ma’s wants and needs, okay?"

Olivia grinned at his antics.

"Fair enough," she relented. "My point is this... even if you don’t like me, I do have her best intentions at heart. I’ll take care of her...always. Because...honestly – and I know it doesn’t mean much to you now –...she’s the love of my life. And I hope someday you see that too."

Olivia went to the fridge, pulled out the potato salad, and turned when the back door opened.

"Hey," Natalia said with a grin. "Everything okay?" she asked as she looked between Olivia and Rafe. "Everyone’s wondering where you went."

"Everything’s fine, Ma," he said as he picked up the bag of dinner roles. "Olivia, can you grab the butter too?"

Natalia seemed pleased he spoke to her politely.

"Sure," Olivia said, reaching inside to pull out the dish. With the potato salad in one hand, and the butter in the other, she leaned over and kissed Natalia gently and affectionately on the lips before making her way outside.

Natalia grinned as Rafe walked over to join her.

"Olivia, huh?" was all he said as he stopped in front of her.

She grinned even wider and nodded.

"Olivia," she said with unwavering conviction.

"If she hurts you-."

"She won’t," Natalia said with great certainty. "Now go have fun with our family."

Rafe looked at the window to see the moving party eating the chicken, laughing with each other and just enjoying each other’s company overall.

When he felt his mom rub his shoulder in support while she led them both outside again, he realized maybe sharing Ma wouldn’t be that bad after all. Besides Olivia did help them win the baseball game. Perhaps she had some good qualities after all.

The End