Chapter 9: The Dock

Daniel's POV

My mother's glass lay in pieces on the church hall floor when I stood up.

Lydia had already gone out the side door with the baby and Kate.

Ben and his husband had left the lemon cake behind them.

Every head in the hall was turned toward my mother.

"It was an accident," she said brightly. "My hand slipped. Daniel, would you help me in the kitchen?"

She walked out through the swinging door.

I followed her.

The church kitchen smelled of coffee and bleach.

She turned on the tap and held both hands under it, with her back to me.

"Your aunt is seventy years old," she said. "She doesn't know what day it is."

"Who is Rory Maddox?"

"A boy I dated. For a few weeks. At twenty-one."

"Two summers. That's what she said."

"Half the county had red hair in those days, Daniel. It means nothing."

"Then why did you answer so fast?"

She turned off the water.

"What?"

"In the delivery room. The nurse said red hair skips generations."

"So?"

"You said nobody in our family had it before I even opened my mouth."

"Because it's true."

"You said it before I could think."

Her hands were shaking. She dried them on a dish towel for a long time.

"Mom. How early was I?"

She went very still.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Dad always told it as a joke. 'Born seven months after the wedding, and nine pounds, and ate my hat.'"

I heard how steady my voice was.

"Everybody laughed. I was nine pounds, Mom."