“Likewise.” Delores’s husky tone and the slightly yellow marks on her fingertips left no doubt that she was a heavy smoker. “Matty, darlin’, you didn’t tell me that your son looked like that movie star that plays on NCIS. Nick is my favorite character—next to Gibbs, of course. How did a tall blond like you ever produce such a dark-haired, sexy son like this?”

“His mother was Latina,” Matthew explained.

“I have to introduce him to my daughter Lisette.” She scanned Flynn from his black hair to his toes. “Her father was Italian. They would make us some gorgeous grandbabies.”

“Maybe they’ll meet at the wedding,” Matthew said.

“Sorry, Dad,” Flynn said. “You’re on your own with this one. I won’t be done with the quilt by then, so I’ll have to stick around here. Wish y’all all the best, though. Nessa, do you need some help?”

“We’ve got it covered,” April said from the galley kitchen area. “You just get a cup of coffee and go on out on the porch so you can visit with Uncle Matthew in private.”

Flynn shot a dirty look her way when he poured himself coffee and topped off his father’s mug. Delores held her hand over her cup and said, “I can’t have any more. Matty is the big coffee drinker in our house, not me. One cup in the morning is my limit. Course, Lisette goes with a cup in her hand all the time, especially after this last divorce. I’ve got a picture of her and her sister, Julie, that you should see since y’all are going to be shirttail kin.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and flipped through several screens before she landed on the right one. “Right here. Lisette is twenty-one, and Julie is twenty-five.”

“Good-looking ladies.” Flynn managed a smile. His last stepmother had been about Julie’s age, and the marriage hadn’t lasted a year. At least this one was a little closer to his father’s age if she had daughters in their twenties.

“Julie was born when I was sixteen,” Delores said.

Flynn did the math in his head and bit back a grin. He’d been right after all. The woman was twenty years younger than Matthew and only ten years older than Flynn. That was a little more like his father. Delores fidgeted with a case that held her cigarettes, then noticed a plaque hanging on the kitchen wall that said, “Anyone Caught Smoking in My House Will Be Shot.” She put the case back in her purse and said, “Lisette came along when I was twenty. Julie’s daddy was twenty-eight, and he died when she was a year old. Lisette’s daddy was forty, and he died when she was five years old.” Delores sighed dramatically.