"This is really good chowder," Donna said weakly to fill the silence as she stared at her bowl, not sure what to say after the men had left.

Jessica ignored the younger woman's statement and leaned forward conspiratorially, concern evident in her eyes.

"Donna, I don't care about the chowder. I need you to tell me what's really going on here. Grady has been acting strangely all day. I can tell there's something wrong, something you're both not telling me." Jessica reached over and squeeze the young woman's arm supportively. "He's been acting so strangely, is he ill? Is it serious?"

"Oh Jessica," Donna exhaled loudly knowing she couldn't keep the secret any longer. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry as she decided to help Jessica solve the mystery surrounding Grady's behavior. "Grady is fine, well mostly, he's just having a problem, I'm not sure how to help him." She blushed slightly at the thought of the direction this conversation was going to take.

"Tell me, maybe I can help." Jessica urged, intent on finding out what was going on with the nephew who had been like a son to her.

Donna laughed again, cheeks turning pink as she gulped some water. "I don't know how to say it," she was obviously nervous now as she tried to figure out how to tell Jessica about Grady's fears. Jessica always seemed to know what to do but telling Grady his aunt could be having a relationship was very different than telling her. Taking one more drink of water she braced herself. "Grady's problem is well worrying about you I guess…"

"Worrying about me? Whatever for?" Jessica looked stunned, and then confused as she tried to figure out what she could have possibly done to cause this behavior.

"It's not that you did something, well I mean he doesn't know if you have and…" Donna stammered for a moment herself before regaining her focus. "Grady would die if he knew I was telling you, but…" she paused considering her words carefully before deciding the older woman had been married for many years herself and would hardly be scandalized at the mention of sex. "Seeing the clothes in the closet, and the men you've had here today, has given him some ideas," she tried diplomatically but could tell by Jessica's face she hadn't quite caught on yet. "He couldn't let go of who's clothes those might be, so I tried to help but I think I made it worse," Donna could feel her face get warm as she continued with Jessica intently focused on her listening. "I told him that maybe there was someone in your life, and when he rejected that I started telling him how older people could still have…" she paused searching for the words as she studied the still confused look on Jessica's face…."intimate relationships", she saw the light dawn immediately at those words and hastily continued. "He didn't believe me, so I tried to make it better by telling him about my parents still having sex and that it's perfectly normal…" Donna blushed, "he just got really weird after that." She finally stopped assuming she had said enough as Jessica's expression had gone from confusion to understanding.

Jessica's looked embarrassed for only a moment before she laughed. "Sex? Is that what this is all about? So, if I understand you correctly, he was acting odd around Mort, Bennett and now Seth because he wondered if I was sleeping with them? Does Grady think I'm sleeping with half of Cabot Cove? Over a few pieces of clothing in a hall closet? And that disturbs him?" Jessica chuckled again, causing Donna to sigh in relief that the older woman was apparently not offended. "No wonder he's acting so strangely. Heaven's, he could have just asked, I would have just told him that Seth leaves a few shirts here in case he gets an emergency call when we're having dinner, so he doesn't show up with tomato sauce on his shirt or something.

"Oh, of course, that makes sense." Donna laughed feeling foolish. "That's all it is," she reassured herself relaxing as she exhaled sharply, thinking of how she could now fix everything with Grady.

"Well, no that's not all," Jessica said with a conspiratorial smile, "but that's all I would have had to tell Grady."

Donna blinked and her eyes went wide, wondering if she had understood the implications of that statement correctly but decided not to ask and Jessica didn't appear to be planning to pursue the statement further. "I told him it was none of his business and that you were certainly capable of making your own choices, but he just can't seem to accept the idea that you could be….." Donna tried to finish explaining but couldn't find the words to finish, grateful when Jessica sensing her discomfort interrupted.

"Say no more, believe me I understand," Jessica said warmly, again squeezing Donna's arm reassuringly. "Grady is so much like a son to me. Not only did we raise him after his parents died, but he also made himself the man of the house and appointed himself as my protector after Frank died. He was so sweet then, much as he is now, and I know it helped him to feel like he needed to take care of me. I'm sure it's hard for him to think that I might have let another man into my life."

"You're right, ok that makes a lot more sense," Donna kept processing the information now realizing it was much bigger for Grady than she had thought. She had initially thought it was a little bizarre that her husband was having such a reaction to the topic, not considering how protective he had always been to his aunt.

"From my experience I think it can be difficult at any age to consider a parent, or parent figure having intimate relationships." Jessica chuckled at a memory. "When I was teaching high school, I'm pretty sure the majority of my students thought their parents were virgins from the papers they wrote about their families," she laughed again as Donna joined in, the women enjoying a bonding moment as they briefly wondered how Grady and Seth were faring upstairs.