Read Online Skinbound by Anna Kittrell - Free Book Online Page A

carafe.
    “My parents lived at Chickasha Lake their whole married life. When they relocated to Florida five years ago, I moved into their house.” Darcy explained.
    “Florida, huh? They must favor hurricanes over tornadoes.”
    “Hmm. Seems the name would ring a bell,” his wife said, as if Darcy had conjured her own parents up. “What did they do ?”
    “My father was an insurance agent, and my mother was a stay at home mom,” she abridged, not wanting to say her mother was a “stay in bed and cry all day depressive.”
    Rebecca shrugged, “Well, can’t know everyone, it seems.” She handed the overloaded tray to Cabin. “Let’s take our coffee in the living room.” She ran a hand over her gray up-do, then straightened her fuchsia dress before leading the way. After motioning for everyone to sit, she stiffly sat down on the sofa and poured a cup of coffee. “Sugar and cream?” she asked Darcy.
    “Just cream, please,” she answered.
    Rebecca dribbled a few drops from the cream pitcher, then passed the cup to Darcy. She served Lorne and Cabin before pouring a cup for herself.
    “Apple fritter?” she asked, offering a fried pastry with silver tongs.
    “Thank you.” Darcy took the fritter, cringing as greasy crumbs rolled down her lavender top and onto the sofa. “May I have a napkin, please?” she asked.
    Rebecca sighed as she rose, then strode with heavy steps to the kitchen. She returned with a linen napkin practically the size of a tablecloth. “Will this do, dear?” she asked.
    Blood rushed to Darcy’s ears. She imagined them turning red as she thanked Rebecca and draped the huge napkin over her lap.
    Cabin frowned at his mother, prompting her to smile sweetly.
    “If you don’t mind my asking, how is it a woman as pretty as yourself never married?” Lorne asked Darcy from his recliner.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Vaughan. That’s your folks’ name, and it’s still your name too.”
    Darcy nodded. “Yes. Shortly after graduating college, I was married. It lasted for five months. I returned to my maiden name after the divorce. I thought getting my name back might renew my perspective, or return me to a happier time somehow.” She shifted, feeling she’d shared too much, too soon. “My sister, Scarlett, has the name Vaughan also. She kept her maiden name through all four of her...through all of her married years.”
    “I see, makes sense now.” Lorne leaned forward and set his cup on the table. “As I was saying earlier, I knew your parents pretty well for a while, especially your mother.”
    Rebecca’s gaze darted to her husband.
    Curiosity zipped through Darcy like an electric current. Could there really be a connection between her parents and Cabin’s father?
    Lorne leaned back and crossed his arms, his blue Cabin-like eyes sparkling as if he knew a secret. “Well, back in the winter of...I’m going to say, nineteen eighty-one, if I remember right, a little beauty queen of about twenty years old came into my office. She thought she might be expecting, and she was right. She and your daddy were newly married, and more than a little scared. She started showing right away, and within a couple of months it looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon, which she wasn’t too happy about. You should’ve seen that little gal waddling around.”
    Rebecca rolled her eyes, wiping crumbs from the table into her hand.
    “In her fourth month, I told her it was likely she had two babies in the oven instead of just one. She couldn’t believe it, told me it was impossible. I assured her it wasn’t.” He shook his head and grinned. “As time went on, it got harder and harder for her to haul those babies around in that little body of hers. At seven months I had to put her on full bed rest, so she wouldn’t deliver prematurely.”
    Darcy tried to imagine her melodramatic mother in the throes of a miserable, double pregnancy. She wondered how her father survived.
    “I examined her a couple of