A small smile curled her lips. “That’s sweet. Can you tell me about your mother before we get there so I don’t say something stupid?”

“Don’t ask her about my biological father, because she doesn’t know who he is.”

Shiori turned and looked at him. “Can I ask you how that’s possible?”

Few people knew the truth about his parentage. It wasn’t something he was ashamed of; he just figured it wasn’t anyone’s business. “Freshman year in college my mom went to a Halloween party. Alcohol was involved and she slept with a guy dressed up like Mr. Universe. Free love and all that crap in the seventies meant she didn’t get his name. Hell, she had no idea what he looked like without a costume and the party hadn’t been on her campus. Anyway, she wound up pregnant. Her family cut her off, and she moved away from Washington and raised me alone. We lived in government housing and we were on public assistance until she earned her teaching degree when I was eight. But I never felt like I went without because I had her. She might’ve been young, but she was always a great mom.”

She squeezed his hand. “She sounds wonderful.”

“She is. She married Rick Christensen when I was sixteen. The year I graduated from high school they had Vivie. Then Zara a year and a half later. It would’ve been easy for them to be their own little family since I’d joined the army, but Mom and Rick have made sure I’m part of their lives.”

“Vivie and Zara are lucky to have you.”

Knox parked in front of the two-story Colonial that’d been the only home his sisters had ever known. He climbed out of his truck and came around to help Shiori out just as the two wild girls barreled out of the house.

Vivie threw herself at him, nearly knocking him down. “God, how slow did you drive? We thought you’d never get here.”

He pecked her on the forehead. “Nice to see you too.” He watched as his sisters tried to maintain decorum with Shiori rather than bowling her over.

That lasted like fifteen seconds.

Then Zara gave him a one-armed hug. “We’re starving, so get the introductions over with so we can go eat.”

His mom and Rick came down the sidewalk. He kept his hand in the small of Shiori’s back, hoping to relax her tense posture, even as he leaned forward and kissed his mom’s cheek. “Mom, this is Shiori.”

Shiori offered her hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Christensen.”

“Please call me Lisa. The girls have been talking nonstop about you.”

Rick set his hands on his wife’s shoulders. “I’m Rick, Lisa’s husband. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same here.”

Zara moved in and addressed Shiori. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Shiori lifted a brow. “Really? What?”

“That when we’re all together we look like a band of Vikings. I heard you say something like that to Knox. We can’t help it that we’re all tall, blond haired, and blue eyed.”

She laughed. “I’d never complain about that.” She looked up at Knox. “I’m rather fond of my Viking.”

Knox couldn’t help but kiss her. When he raised his head, he saw his mom smiling at him. And why were there tears in her eyes?

Rick squeezed Lisa’s shoulders. Then he said, “Girls, didn’t you have something to show Shiori before we head to the restaurant?”

Vivie tugged on Shiori’s free hand. “Remember that dress I tried on? Knox bought it for me! Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever?”

“The absolute sweetest,” Shiori agreed.

He fidgeted under Vivie’s look of adoration.

“Anyway, Mom found the perfect shoes for it. They’re like glass slippers! You’ve gotta check them out. I totally look like a princess.”

His sisters led her away, chattering a mile a minute.

Rick grinned at him. “Way to go, Knox. She is a beautiful woman.”

“That she is.”

“I’ll make sure the girls don’t get sidetracked. They’ll riot if we don’t feed them soon.” Rick kissed his wife on the back of the head before he walked away.

While Knox appreciated Rick giving him time alone with his mother, he wasn’t sure he wanted it. He studied her as thoroughly as she’d studied Shiori.

Tall and thin, Lisa Lofgren Christensen was a striking woman. Her shoulder-length blond hair framed her angular face. He’d inherited her big blue eyes, and if anyone’s eyes could smile, it would be hers. Happiness radiated from her, and he could hardly remember her as the overworked single parent she’d been to him. She’d aged well, looking more like forty-four than her current age of fifty-four. “Am I in trouble?”