How Sweet It Is by Bonnie Blythe Page A

Brad said in reverent
tones.
    She pinned her mother with a
steady look. “You force me to point out, Maman , that your diet forbids you from
having so much sugar.”
    “Once in a while is not a crime, I
think.”
    “I find candy wrappers in your room almost
every night when I come home!”
    Clarice paled. “It is your father’s…”
    Delphine scrunched her hands
into balls. “How dare you, Maman! You know as well as I Papa doesn’t enjoy sweets. Please put
down your fork!”
    The clatter of a fork hitting china startled
Delphine. She looked over to see that Brad had dropped his fork, a
guilty flush on his face and chocolate smudges around his mouth.
He’d managed to demolish his entire piece of cake in mere
seconds.
    “I didn’t mean you,” she said, striving to
reign in her mounting temper.
    “You refine upon it too much, Delphine,” her
mother said in a chastising tone. “A slice of cake will not kill
me.”
    “But what if it does?”
Delphine cried. “Don’t you care? ” Tears welled up in her eyes and
spilled down her cheeks in hot rivers. She pressed her hands
against her mouth to stop more harsh words from being
spoken.
    Brad jumped from his seat and knelt down next
to her, touching her on the back and murmuring comforting words.
Once the tears started, Delphine found she couldn’t control them.
Brad’s presence only made things worse. She knew she’d behaved
badly in front of him, but added to concern for her parents, the
loss of her job, and worry over the business sent her over the
edge.
    Clarice pushed her plate away. “I’m afraid I
am a sore trial to my dutiful daughter. She needs someone to care
for her the way my Leone cares for me.”
    Delphine looked up, seeing
only a blurred vision of her mother. “How can you say that? I care for you, Maman! I pay the
bills!”
    She pushed back from the table and rushed
into her room. Collapsing onto the edge of her bed, she wept,
pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes in an attempt to
stanch the flood. It was several minutes before she could quell the
shuddering sobs.
    Delphine felt rather than saw Brad enter her
room. He hovered just inside the door.
    “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said with
obvious discomfort.
    “You’re not bothering me,” she said when she
could catch her breath. She gazed up at him, amazed at how her
feelings for him had gone from one extreme to another.
    He sat down beside her and took one of her
hands in his. His grip was strong and warm. “Are you okay? Is there
anything I can do to help?”
    She shook her head, reveling in his touch,
swallowing back the overwhelming urge to confess all. She needed to
present him with something more than problems for once.
    “Do you want to scrub plans to go to the
shop tonight? I understand if you’d like to stay home and
rest.”
    Despite a crashing desire to go straight to
bed, her unemployment status had changed her plans. “I need to go,”
she said between hiccups. “I’m sorry for my behavior—”
    “Shh. Don’t worry. That was nothing compared
to some of the fights my sisters and brother got in. Pretty tame,
in fact.”
    She managed a small smile. “I’ll be out in a
minute.” After Brad left, she tried to repair her appearance. The
redness around her eyes persisted despite her attempts. Delphine
dusted fresh blush on her cheeks, deciding that was the best she
could do.
    Before meeting him in the living room, she
went to her parents’ room and found her father propped up in bed
watching TV. He smiled as she entered.
    “Ah, here is my devoted daughter come to
check on me,” he said in French.
    She sat on the edge of the
bed and looked at him with worried eyes. “ Maman said you weren’t feeling
well.”
    He waved his hand in a dismissive manner.
“You both worry too much. My stomach is a bit upset, that is
all.”
    Delphine knew how much he loved his wife’s
cooking. He must feel rather bad to miss one of her special meals.
“Have you been taking your