Author's Website: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8741/jmgarden.htm

Disclaimer: Alliance owns these characters but I'm the one who takes a whip to them occasionally.

Author's Notes: It looks like my Muse has come back for a brief moment. Whether she'll stay for a longer time, only the Goddess knows. In the meantime, enjoy this short piece. :)

Story Notes: Pairings: Benny/Ray V., Renny/Ray K., Frannie/Elaine, Maria/Tony
Categories: Sap. Sugar. Spice.
Rating: G.

Happy Mother's Day!

Rosa Vecchio surveyed her family around the long, dining room table with satisfaction. It was typically boisterous, as a Vecchio family dinner should be. They had all pitched in and made dinner, not allowing her to step foot in her kitchen, which was probably a good thing, judging from the noises she had heard coming from there.

There were numerous grandchildren, all beautiful and delightful. And there was her Maria, a strong woman and a good mother, who was married to Tony, often lazy and unable to hold a job but a father who did not beat his children or belittle them or Maria. He loved them. It was enough.

She often did not agree with her other daughter Francesca's methods but admired her perseverance in going after what she wanted. Boldness sometimes won out. She watched as Francesca's eyes roamed over two men at the end of the table, neither one of them Benton, and then her daughter clasped the hand of the woman next to her and smiled.

Then there was her Raymondo, her son, who had been a child full of goodness and compassion, and had bravely suffered his father's abuse and protected his mother and sisters. He grew a hard shell, fearful of getting hurt again, but then Benton had come along and had broken through that shell, coaxing out the goodness and compassion again.

Benton was so polite and respectful. She had learned from her Raymondo that he had lost his mother at the age of six. It hurt even now to think of such a thing. He was such a good and gentle man.

The woman next to Francesca was Elaine, a good friend and a bright, sparkling woman with patience and compassion. She was estranged from her mother and father, poor dear.

Then there was Ray Kowalski, her son's occasional partner at work. Occasional, as Benton was his primary partner at work and at home. Raymondo had brought home the spiky-haired blond who often looked like an unmade bed officially one night to a Vecchio family dinner. She guessed that he could be 'rude and crude', as her grandchildren might have put it, with the 'boys' but was always unfailingly polite and respectful to her and her family. She suspected unknown depths beneath the surface. And his mother was in Arizona with his father, a long way from Chicago.

Then there was Renfield. He was stumbling and bumbling and yet more polite than Benton, if that were possible. He had been more overwhelmed than even Benton when he had attended his first Vecchio family dinner, and was always anxious and a little worried. She had learned that he had lost his mother at the age of eight. He was eagerly learning recipes from her. It hurt her to sense the great, gaping wounds in this child.

She had much love to give, and was happy to give it.

There were her two daughters and son by blood, and her son by marriage. Two sons by marriage, she amended, as the glint of sunlight through the dining room window glowed golden on Benton's ring. And there were her two adopted sons, who were slightly younger versions of her Raymondo and Benton, and her adopted daughter (Who might be a future daughter-in-law? Oh, what would Grandma Vecchio had thought of all this?).

Rosa was very happy on this Mother's Day, indeed.