A/N: thanks to Baroness Blixen and to Kristen3 for writing their brilliant stories, which inspired this one. I hope you all enjoy.
She smiled as she watched her plans unfold even better than planned. From where she sat, which was pretty high off the ground, it looked like her plan for her children to find love worked, maybe even better than she thought they would.
This wasn't the way she wanted it to be. She would have given anything to watch her eldest grandson, Frederick, grow up into the fine young man he was now. And to be there for the birth of her "baby" Niles' baby- well, she wouldn't have missed that if she had had the choice. Of course, that might have put a wrench in Martin's wedding plans, but if she had learned anything during her brief lifetime, it was that plans were made to be broken. Her boys were happy, healthy, and loved, and who could ask for anything more, really?
It was her youngest who worried Hester Crane the most during her lifetime. He wasn't like Frasier, who was strong and sturdy, at least with first appearances. He had his issues, but he always bounced back, through his sturdy resolve and wit and intelligence. Not that Niles was lacking in those, but he wasn't quite as sure of himself as his older brother was. He had a deep rooted need to be loved, but during Hester's lifetime, he hadn't quite found the love of his life.
Oh, how she had detested that Maris. Hester laughed, recalling the day she met Frasier's one-time fiancee Diane Chambers back in Boston. Theirs was not a meeting of the minds, to put it nicely. But she had learned not to interfere in her kids' lives, so she sat back and watched as her boys made one mistake after the other, at least where women were concerned.
But she was not a mistake. Hester smiled every time she "heard" Niles refer to Daphne as his angel, for he had no idea how true that was. Not one to brag, but this time Hester's motherly love had ensured, in a strange and unexpected way, that Niles would be loved forever, if not in her own lifetime. She had loved him dearly when she was on earth, and planting that little bug in Martin's partner's ear about a freezee was the least she could do to set her plan in motion.
Oh, how it had hurt her to witness the near death experience of her beloved husband, Martin. But she knew that somehow this would be the force that would lead her family down the paths to love that they were looking for. Not that it was her first choice. Her first choice would have been, obviously, to remain a mother, a grandmother, and most significantly of all, a wife. But it wasn't meant to be, so she did what she could to provide for her family, even if they would never realize her hand in their lives.
She knew everything. She knew all about Ronee. It didn't make her entirely happy, not at first, for her first choice would have been to stay with Martin until they were both 90 years old and holding hands at the old folks' home. But alas, that was not meant to be. Hester also knew that Frasier was moving on with his life, that helped her as much as it was good for him. Hester realized that there was a void in Martin's life that only love could fill, so with her blessing, she saw how happy Ronee made Martin, and for that she would be thankful.
With Frasier's moving to Chicago, it seemed as if it were an end to an era. And in a way, it was. Those years that Frasier had spent with Martin, to Hester, made her suffering at the end well worth it to know that her boys were loved. And they would always be loved. So she watched patiently, knowing one day, all would be revealed. And until then, she smiled, taking comfort in the fact that her boys, yes Martin was her boy, were loved, and for that, she would be eternally grateful.