Then again, she couldn’t miss them.
She shuffled us in and there they were.I couldn’t help butsmile.Pinned precisely, framed and artfully arranged on a gallery wall,somehow looking cool rather than old-fashioned and dated, were Miss Dorothea’sdoilies.
Yes, it felt like I came home.
Danni and Gabby wandered in from the kitchen.
“Get over here, kid,” Danni said to Liam.
He loped over.
She gave him a hug.
Gabby stared blazes at me.
Uh-oh.
Liam moved for a hug from Gabby, and she wiped her faceclean when he did.
But then Danni stared blazes at me.
One could hope Darius had fallen into a perusal of thedoilies, but he was Darius.Not only had he seen them before, and probablydidn’t give a damn about them, he was Darius.
And I was me.
“Wipe that shit off your face,” he growled to Danni.
Yep.
He wasn’t in perusal of the doilies.
Dorothea came abreast of us, asking, “What?”
“Nothing, Ma,” he said, scowling at Danni.
“Yeah, nothing,” Danni said then cried a fake happy, “Malia!So good to see you!”
I endured two fake-happy hugs from Darius’s sisters, withGabby adding, “What can I get you to drink?Wine?Beer?Sweet tea?”
“Wine, if you have it,” I replied.
“I live to serve,” she said, whirling and making no bonesabout escaping my presence by going to the kitchen.
“I’ll help!”Danni called and followed her sister.
“Sit down, darlin’,” Dorothea ordered.“But first, let meget a good look at you.”She took my hands and held them out to the sides.“Youalways were such a pretty thing, with such great style.”
Considering I’d had some nerves about this dinner, like mostwomen when something important was going down, I’d worried about what to wear.
I was glad I got it right.
I’d worn a midi-dress in tiny yellow, purple and greenflowers, sleeveless with a ruffled shoulder and a v-ruffle on the full shirt.The mock turtleneck was smocked, as was the waist.I was wearing a croppedjeans jacket over it and fawn-suede, peep-toe, sandal-back, stack-heeledbooties.And I’d smoothed my hair into a fluffy-bunched topknot.
Darius, by the way, was in one of his new shirts.
Which was what Dorothea commented on next.“Son, that shirtlooks fine on you.”Her gaze coasted between us.“Such a handsome couple.”
Darius draped an arm along my shoulders.
