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“Enough,” April said. “I’m fine, Madeline. Why don’t you say grace?”
“No, thank you,” Maddy said as she folded her arms. Kyle looked at her, true surprise moving through him. He would never deny his mother when she asked him to pray.
“Maddy,” her daddy said.
“I told you all this was not a big deal,” she said, glaring past him to everyone else at the table. “You’ve made more food than we normally have on Christmas Day, for crying out loud!” Pure fire shot from those eyes, and Kyle wanted to partly shy away from her and partly get directly in her path so he could feel her energy.
“Some of it is for the church potluck tomorrow night,” April said smoothly.
“Which part?” Maddy challenged. “The leftovers we don’t eat?” She shook her head. “I have half a mind to walk out right now.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” April shot back at her. “I’ve been cooking since six o’clock this morning.”
“Which is exactly what I told younotto do!”
Kyle looked back and forth between them, at a total loss as to what to do or say. Still no one had moved to serve themselves, and he knew now that grace had to be said first. Dave hung his head, and Harvey shook his. Tammy seemed almost bored, like she’d known this fight was coming, and she didn’t care one whit.
He reached for Maddy’s hand and took it in his. Then he did the same to April. “I’ll say grace,” he said quietly. “If no one else wants to.” He looked around the table, and Dave raised his dark eyes to Kyle’s but said nothing.
Tammy nodded, and Maddy’s chin shook like she was trying very hard not to cry.
“Go ahead, son,” Harvey said, but Kyle looked at April. She too gave a sharp nod, and he drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and bowed his head.
“Dear Lord,” he said. “We thank Thee for Thy bounty here on earth. We’re grateful for this food and for the hands that prepared it. Bless April with swift healing. Bless us all with forgiving hearts. Bless this food that it’ll strengthen us and help us do Thy work here on earth.” His mind blanked. Everything went white. “Amen,” he managed to say, and Maddy’s family chorused it back to him.
The tension eased as Dave lifted a huge piece of baked chicken from the platter in the middle of the table. “I like him,” he said right out loud, as if Maddy or anyone else needed his stamp of approval. “Thanks, Kyle.”
“Sure.” Kyle almost put a question mark at the end of the word, but he managed not to.
“Dave,” Maddy said with a measure of disgust in her voice.
“What?” her brother asked. “He handled both you and Momma in ten seconds flat.” He grinned around the table, which held them a bit lopsidedly. Maddy, Kyle, and her momma sat on one side. Her dad at the head, with Dave and Tammy on the other side. “Who else could do that?” He chuckled and shook his head as he reached for the bottle of barbecue sauce. “Not even Daddy.”
“Thanks, Dave,” Kyle said. “I like you too.” They grinned at one another, slapped a high-five, and Kyle started dishing as much food onto his plate as it would hold. That would make her momma happy, and he determined to eat every bite, even if he was beyond stuffed.
* * *
A couple of hours later,he had to practically roll himself out the door and to Maddy’s car. “Thank you,” he called again, waving as he stood half-in and half-out of the sedan.
“Get in already,” Maddy griped at him, and he sank into the passenger seat.
“They’re great,” he said as he closed the door and she started the car.
Maddy said nothing, and Kyle wished she’d release the suppressed irritation already. He could feel it, and she wasn’t hiding anything from anyone.
“Lunch was good,” he tried again.
Maddy hummed at him, and Kyle turned his head to look straight at her. She didn’t look at him for a second, then longer. He refused to look away, and she finally turned toward him a block down the road. “What?”
“Why do you let her get under your skin like that?” The moment he asked the question, he knew he shouldn’t have. “I mean, I get it. My mother does the same thing to me. But I thought lunch was great, and she obviously just wanted to have something really nice for me.”
Maddy blinked in much the same way her mother had, and he realized they were two peas from the same pod. No wonder they fought like cats and dogs. “She had hip surgery three weeks ago,” she said, as if Kyle didn’t know.
Kyle didn’t want to argue with her too. He wouldn’t win again, he knew that. “I thought it was great. They’re great. Nothing too weird, except for your daddy’s questions before lunch started.”
“Oh, no,” Maddy moaned. “What did he ask you?”
“Just a bunch of weird stuff about how much I make and if I’m happy at the ranch. If I live there.” Kyle frowned. “Why was he askin’ that stuff?”
