Page 323 of Under Her Skin

“Sure, that makes me feel better,” she says with a frown as we lead the way to the diningroom.

Taking our seats at the table for four, I take Delaney’s hand. “Tell you what, let me say grace over thefood.”

Her eyebrows arch in surprise. “Do you know how to dothat?”

Kent laughs as he takes her other hand. “Sure, he does. He’s not a heathen,Delaney.”

Kate takes my other hand and Kent’s, and the four of us form a circle. “Bow your heads and close your eyes,” I say and make sure they all done as I’ve said to. “Lord, we want to thank you for this food. We also want to thank you for everything you’ve done for us and will do for us. I hope you see fit to let my mother come through the little girl and give me a sign that you are real.Amen.”

When I open my eyes, I see Delaney looking at me with that frown still on her face. “Blaine, that is not how faith works. Faith is believing in something you can’t see or hear. If it was supposed to be shown to you no one would call itfaith.”

“You can’t understand, Delaney,” I say as I pass the salad dressing to her after drowning my salad in it. “If you’ve never doubted, like I have, then you don’t understand how I feel atall.”

“I guess so,” she says as she puts a tablespoon-sized dollop of the dressing on her salad, then passes it to Kent. “You know, there are things you do have faith in. You have faith all those toys are going to fly off your shelves at yourstores.”

“That’s only because I’ve seen it happen,” I tell her. “By the way, Kent, how’s that all going? I can’t believe I’ve been so involved with getting Delaney all settled in that I haven’t checked our sales even once since the new toys started filling ourshelves.”

“I can’t believe that either,” he says. “And sales have doubled since last year. With the advertisement about the toys being of improved quality, we’ve done better than any of your past year’s Christmassales.”

“Seems you guys were right about things,” I say and find myself pleasantlysurprised.

I had a bad feeling the sales wouldn’t increase and we’d make less money than previous years. Seems I was wrong. I wonder what else I might be wrongabout.

“Tell me about her, Blaine,” Kent says as he stabs a piece of lettuce with his fork. “Kate can’t recall much about ourmother.”

“She was pretty and nice. She smelled like honey most of the time. I’m not sure why that was, but she did. Honey and lemons. I think that might have been from cleaning the house, though. Pops ended up smelling like lemons, too, after she left us,” I say and find Delaney’s hand on myleg.

“She didn’t leave you. You shouldn’t think about her like that. She had finished her job here and was sent on,” she tellsme.

“Her job was not finished,” I say with a huff. “And I suppose you’re right. I shouldn’t say she left us. I should say she was taken away fromus.”

“Well, now I’m sorry I said anything at all about it. I don’t want you to think that way either,” she says, and that frown is still on her prettyface.

I kiss her cheek. “I’ll try to speak in a positive manner. How aboutthat?”

She nods. “Did she do anything special that you remember?” she asks. “My mother used to cut up my meat for me. She did it until I was about fifteen. Dad’s the one who made herstop.”

“Mom did tons of stuff for me. She always made macaroni and cheese for dinner because it was the only food I would eat every time it was on my plate. I was a picky eater,” I tell her, then look at Kent, who never got anything from her. “I made sure we got macaroni after that. I would remind pops when we went grocery shopping that we neededit.”

“I wish I would’ve been able to know her,” Kent says with a sigh. “It’s hard never knowing your mother. I wonder how people who don’t even know who their mother and father are make it in thisworld.”

“Life seems unfair at times,” Delaney says. “I see it all the time. But there are plenty of times when life is more than fair. No one has it all bad. And no one has it all good. Look at you guys. You lost your mother, but you had a great father. And Blaine’s managed to make a hell of a lot out of himself, and with his help, you two are doing the same thing. I’m sure your mother looks down and feels nothing but pride in herfamily.”

Kate wipes a tear away, then takes a drink of her wine. I know Kate missed mom far more than we boys did. She was the lone female in the house. There was no one for her to talk to about female things. Orboys.

We were hard on her where boys were concerned. If she brought one up, pops, me, and Kent would tell her to stay away from all boys. They were out for one thing and one thing only. And now I look at my sister, who is twenty-eight and has never had a real relationship and I think we were too protective. Mom would’ve made sure she had a normal life as a teenagegirl.

“You know, thinking about Mom has me thinking about you, Kate,” I say, making her look atme.

“About me?Why?”

“Well, it’s brought to mind that you have yet to have a real boyfriend. I have noticed a man at the office who watches you a lot. He’s not a bad guy. You might think about checking him out sometime. His name isRandy.”

“Randy Holdings,” she says with a smile. “He’s talked to me a few times. I didn’t realize he likedme.”

“I did,” Kent says. “I didn’t tell you anything because I’m so used to keeping men away from you. But I’ve seen his attention to you as well. He is a niceguy.”

Kate gives us both a look that tells me she’s a bit on the shy side when it comes to men. “You guys have kind of impaired any skills I might’ve formed to understand how to act withmen.”