"I bought a welcome mat today." Eva's voice sounded raw in the muffled quiet of the rectory sitting room. A fire crackled behind a small grate, a blanket laid across the lap of Father Patrick Michelson who sat across from her in an armchair while they both kept warm with cups of hot tea. She shifted the tea cup in her hands, the china light and delicate in her cold, narrow fingers. "We have beige carpet... and with the season, you know, thought we'd track less dirt inside."

The priest watched a specter of steam haunt her cup in faint wisps. A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. "Did you go with the traditional greeting, or find something more witty to suit you?"

Eva smirked. "I was tempted by the one that said 'Go Away,' but, yeah, I went with a blank one. Just a mat, you know." She looked down into her cup. "None of that 'welcome to our home' bs."

Patrick quirked a brow. "'Welcome to our home' is bull?"

"Well no, that's not what I meant, I just meant like... cliche or... super sweet or something. Anyhow it's not... you know... it's not us."

"Hrm." Patrick lifted his cup for a sip, then returned it to his lap, leaning back in the worn, stuffed chair.

Eva watched him suspiciously. "Hrm, what?"

"You are building a home, Eva. Whether you care to admit it or not."

"I know that."

"Do you? Every time we speak, you seem to be resisting some new form of domestic arrangement while allowing it to happen all the same. The purchasing of your new couch, the joint savings account, the Christmas Tree, the curtains... shall I continue?"

Eva said nothing, examining the tea cup in her hands while turning it in circles.

Patrick sighed. "You are allowed to nest, Eva."

"Well, what's the purpose of, you know, building a nest if you're not really going to use it? I mean..." Eva moved to set her tea cup down on the side table, the cup rattling in its saucer. "I mean, Mason keeps... keeps saying that we're a family, but we're not, are we? We're just a couple. That's not the same thing. I mean who would look at us and think that we're a family?"

"Do you feel that you're a family? It really shouldn't matter so much what other people think."

Eva's hands rubbed back and forth on the thighs of her pants. "We're a couple. A family is... you know... bigger."

"A family has children?"

"Yes. A family has children. Mason said... well - "

"You could have children, Eva, I imagine there's still time."

" - He said the new couch was also for him, for when Lirssa comes over, so she has a place to stay if she wants - "

"Lirssa, the young lady who assisted your arrangements for the orphans' Christmas dinner?"

"Yeah, her."

"Quite impressive, it's no wonder he's fond of her."

"Yeah, well, she's not, you know, our charge, or..." Eva cursed and shook her head. "She's not our daughter. She doesn't even stay with us. And we can't, you know, magically force her to just cause we like her, just cause... cause we think she'd be better off with us, and I mean, would she? Really?"

Patrick chuckled. "Eva, this is becoming a one sided conversation as I have no idea who - was it Lirssa? - who Lirssa is in fact boarding with. A comparison is quite impossible."

"Ali and Fio."

"Are they parishioners? Should I know those names?"

"No." Eva rubbed her fists on her thighs. "It doesn't matter... really, it doesn't. She's not... you know... she's not a member of our family is the point. But Mason wants it, you know? I can tell. And so I keep thinking that... that no matter what he says, our family, or whatever we are, isn't actually enough for him."

"As I said before, there is still time for you to have a family, Eva. You can't be as old as all that."

"No... no, I'm not that old..."

"Well then... be fruitful and multiply." Patrick smiled, shooing Eva playfully, as if she should leave to follow his suggestion immediately.

Eva responded with a strained smile that faded almost immediately. "He thinks he's smothering me."

"Is he?"

"I hate it when you do that."

"What?"

"Turn questions around on me like that."

"Eva, I'm not sure what you expect my role here to be. We're not in a confessional, but I am a priest."

She pointed at him with her finger, wiggling it around. "Not when you're not wearing the collar thingy."

Patrick looked up towards the ceiling and muttered. "Lord grant me strength."

Eva laughed softly and reached for her tea cup once more.

"Do you like her?" Patrick watched her closely across the small space.

"Who?"

"The young lady. Lirssa?"

"Yes. I like her a lot. She's... she's special. And... I'd like her to stay... with us... I wanted to get the couch too."

"Then what does it matter that Mason enjoys her as well? That he wants her to feel welcome in your home? Let him claim that you're a family, just the two of you, if that's what he likes. And let me call your home a nest, because that's what I like. In the end, all that matters is the love that you fill it with, the love between you. Correct?"

Eva looked down at her tea, turned the cup once in her hands, and nodded. Then she looked up at him, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "So... you're saying I should've gotten the welcome mat that actually says 'welcome' on it?"

Patrick sighed and rolled his eyes. "Really, Eva. There is a special circle in hell for smart asses."