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uncomfortable. After all, this most perplexing situation was no fault of his. But then again, it was no fault of hers either. She thought the man who had sent for her wanted her—otherwise she would have never come.
    He broke eye contact, rose and came to where she stood. He pulled the chair out and held it as she sat.
    Haydon went back, sat in his chair and became engrossed in his untouched food.
    Katherine grabbed a covered plate from the oven. She lifted the towel, revealing a mountain of thick bacon slices, scrambled eggs and biscuits and set them on the table, along with an empty cup. She filled Rainee’s cup with steaming coffee and sat in the chair next to her. “Go ahead and eat before it gets cold.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Rainee nodded, then bowed her head and said a silent prayer. When she opened her eyes, Haydon was staring at her as was Katherine.
    “You’re a Christian?” Katherine’s blue eyes beamed,and wrinkles gathered around her eyes and mouth when she smiled.
    “Yes, ma’am. I am.”
    “Perfect.” Katherine clasped her hands.
    Perfect for what? Instead of inquiring, she picked up a piece of bacon with her fingers and bit off a piece.
    Realizing her gaffe, her gaze flew to Katherine, who appeared as if nothing was amiss. Her mother would have noticed her blunder immediately and given her a lecture on fine table manners. She stopped chewing the piece in her mouth and stared at her plate, missing her mother until her heart bled tears.
    “Are you okay?”
    Rainee looked over at Haydon. She started to nod her head but then thought better of it when she noticed his genuine concern. “No. Not really. I was thinking about my mother.”
    “What about your mother?” His gaze never left his plate.
    “When I was five, my mother scolded me for eating bacon with my fingers. She insisted I cut it into pieces instead. It took me forever to saw through one of those thick slices. When I had finally managed to do so, my fork slipped across the plate and the bacon went flying. It landed in the flower arrangement in the center of the table.”
    Haydon and Katherine chuckled. When Rainee looked over at him, his smile dropped with his gaze. Perplexed by his sudden aloofness, Rainee fought to fill the ensuing silence, but she did not know if she should continue. The decision was made for her when Katherine said, “And then what happened?”
    “I waited for my mother’s rebuke, but it never came. I could tell by her look she wanted to laugh, but withFather in the room, she dared not. Formality was everything to my father, and such things were not acceptable. That was why Mother was such a strict disciplinarian and followed the rules of etiquette. Father demanded it.
    “So, Mother showed me how the British use their butter knives to cut their food and gather it onto their fork. After about four or five tries, I finally succeeded in properly cutting the bacon, and my mother’s praise was most generous.”
    Although that precious memory of her mother brought a smile to Rainee’s face, it also quenched her appetite.
    “How long have your parents been gone?” Katherine asked.
    Rainee glanced at her. “Two years.” She looked away and stared at nothing in particular. “I now understand what my mother meant.”
    “What do you mean, what she meant?” Haydon still did not look at her, but instead drank his coffee.
    Surprised by his interest, she decided to continue. “Shortly after my grandmother died, I saw my mother sitting in her chair. I knelt beside her and noticed tears in her eyes. I could not imagine what was wrong, so I asked if she was unwell. She assured me she was not ill, but she had been thinking about her mother, and how much she missed her.”
    The image of her mother dabbing at her eyes with her hanky distressed Rainee further. Perhaps because she knew only too well the cruel pain her mother had suffered.
    She could not look at anyone in the room as she relayed the heartfelt words her mother had