Page 33 of Sweet Surrender

“I want to say grace,” Cal said suddenly. His voice was low, but the whole table went quiet right away.

“That would be lovely, Calvin,” Maggie said approvingly.

Becca bowed her head.

“Thank you for keeping our family safe, and for beef stew and bread and butter,” Cal said solemnly. “And thank you for sending Miss Hawthorne. I hope she likes our farm.”

“Amen,” Daniel said, and the others followed suit.

The next thing Becca knew, Daniel was expertly ladling out bowls of stew for the family to pass around. In no time, everyone had a beautiful bowl in front of them.

“Wow,” she said.

“What is it?” Nick asked.

“Your family is so organized,” she said.

“We’re like a well-oiled machine,” Daniel said fondly.

West smiled and shook his head.

“I’mnota machine, Daddy,” Elizabeth said firmly.

“Of course not,” West told her. “It’s just a nice way to say that we work well together, like all the little pieces of a clock.”

“That’s okay,” she decided, bending down to sniff her stew.

Her father barely managed to grab her ponytails and keep them out of the broth in time. Becca suddenly realized that no one had mentioned where the little girl’s mother was tonight.

“Please pass the breadbasket,” Tripp said enthusiastically.

“Oh,” Becca said. “Of course, sorry.”

The basket and butter had been beside her the whole time. She wasn’t being a very good cog in this machine. She grabbed a piece of bread for herself, and then passed everything to Tripp.

“Don’t you like butter, Miss Hawthorne?” Nick asked.

“She’s just trying to be polite,” Tripp said, grinning at her wickedly and passing the butter back to her. “But of course she likes butter. She’s only human.”

“Thank you,” Becca said, feeling a little embarrassed.

She buttered her bread quickly and handed him back the dish, stealing a glance up at Zane for reassurance. But he was scowling at his brother.

“So, Miss Hawthorne, do you have a big family back home?” Daniel asked.

“It’s Becca,” she told him, turning to the boys. “As long as we’re not at school.”

They looked at each other with twinkling eyes, like they were being let in on a juicy secret. It warmed her heart.

“And yes,” she told him. “Or, at least, I thought so.”

“We’re anexceptionallybig family,” Daniel told her, chuckling appreciatively. “That doesn’t take anything away from yours.”

“I’m one of five kids,” she told him.

“Oh, how nice,” Maggie said.

“There are only six of us,” West put in. “It’s just that the grandkids make it feel like a lot more.”

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