The Bennett boys would not get to see the Browns, or Faith, for the next few days. This was a relief for Faith. Eli was beginning to attract her more than she liked.

The reason for the Bennett's preoccupation was the sudden arrival of a guest in their house, who they had never met. Their father received an unexpected call from an old college friend of his who lived in the U.S., who said his daughter would be coming to Toronto on a business trip for a week, and asked if she could stay with them. Before Mr Bennett knew what to say, he had agreed, and now they were stuck.

"How old is this chick, anyway?" asked Michael, on the day she was to arrive.

"Twenty-five," answered James.

"I hope she's hot."

"She'd better be," said Kevin. "If we have to sleep on the floor of Eli and Jacob's room because of her."

Half an hour later, there was a ring at the doorbell, and the Bennett brothers and their parents rushed to the door to catch the first glimpse of their guest. Their father answered the door. Behind it stood a tall, round woman with a mass of curly bleached hair. On the door opening, her face broke into an enormous smile, exposing a mouth of very large teeth behind her bright red-painted lips. She wore a rather low-cut blouse and skirt, matching with an oversized bejewelled cross around her neck.

"Oh well," muttered Kevin.

"Well, hell-ooo!" she said, stepping through the open door, the smile still frozen on her face, her head turning to take in everything in the room. "Isn't this wonderful? It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm Lillian Collins. Well, you probably already guessed that, huh? What a beautiful house! Oh, I love it. Oh, my bags are still in the cab, can one of you nice big men get them for me?"

Jacob and Kevin went out to fetch her two pieces of luggage, and stopped at the front door.

"Great. You can just go leave those in my room, thanks!" While they went, she continued. "Thank you so much for providing me with a room. I would gladly have slept on your couch, but my chiropractor strongly advised me against it. And obviously it would be inappropriate for me to sleep in the same room with members of the opposite sex. Especially ones as cute as all of you." She giggled at her comment. When the boys returned, she said,

"Okay, now I already know all of your names, but, I don't know the faces they belong to! Come on everyone, introductions, let's go!"

She then approached each Bennett one by one, holding out her hand, and waiting for the person to tell his name before shaking it. "Well, I'm sure I'll remember it all."

"Why don't you sit down in the living room while dinner is getting ready?" said Mrs Bennett. She did, and joined with the five brothers and their father.

"I have to say, I really appreciate you allowing me to stay."

"Oh, it was nothing," said Mr Bennett.

"But no, I really, truly appreciate it. It was generous of you."

"Really, I –"

"It's obviously an inconvenience to you. It was very sudden and unannounced, and you don't even know me. Just as a favour to an old friend you hadn't seen in years. I mean, I can imagine."

"Well –"

"I mean, I would feel totally put out if I had to do the same. But really, thank you so much. I wouldn't have come, but I had important work to do for my boss, Mr. Caleb Anderson. Yes, the Caleb Anderson." When nobody should reaction to the name, she went on. "Mr. Anderson is quite a successful entrepreneur. He was this close to making it on last year's Forbes 400 richest peoples list. It's quite an honour for me to be hired as his assistant, especially at my age. He says I'm a real natural. That I'm bound for greatness."

"If you're so successful, why didn't you stay in a hotel?" Michael said quietly.

"Of course," she went on, uninterrupted, "I was thrilled when he asked me to come here to meet with his clients. It'll only take three days to sort out that business, but I figured as long as I was here, I could ask to have the full week. So I have four days just to myself. Again, thanks for letting me stay here!"

"Dinner's ready," called out Mrs. Bennett from the kitchen. The men got up to the table.

"Oh, so the mother just makes all the food and does all the work by herself while the rest of you sit around? Well, isn't that traditional. In my house, my dad is always making sure he's a help in the kitchen, but I guess everyone can't be so progressive…"

"All of us pull our share of housework around here," said Jacob.

"Except Michael," Eli added quietly.

"Dinner was already made, she really didn't need any help except to set the table, and she probably didn't want to call us away from your conversation."

"Oh yes, of course." As they were all sitting down, Lillian looked around surprised. "Don't you say grace before eating a meal?"

"Well, not usually, I must admit," began Mrs Bennett.

"Oh." Some on the boys began picking up their forks. "I see. Well. It's just that I always make a point of it. I guess we're all different. I was just a bit taken aback."

"Would you like to say grace, Ms. Collins?" asked Mr. Bennett.

"Oh, no, I couldn't impose on you, if that's not how you live your life." Everyone began to start eating again. "Well, if you insist, I guess I can. Bow your heads, everyone. That's good." Eli bowed his along with everyone else, but darted his eyes up across the table. Lillian did not have her head bowed. Instead, she was observing the family carefully.

"Precious JESUS!" she began. On and on her prayer went, using every hackneyed Christian expression her mind could muster, circulating from one subject to another, repeating the petitions and restating the same things again and again. Always, however, the focus was on herself. There was hardly a note of sincerity, of humbleness, of thankfulness, as she listed off all the blessings she was thankful for. She seemed more interested in listing her blessings than thanking the Almighty for them. Whenever she saw anyone fidget or lose attention, her voice grew louder, sterner. There was simply no grace in her grace, thought Eli.

For more than five minutes she rambled on, not pausing for a second. Finally, she was for a few seconds, no doubt trying to think of a clever way to begin her conclusion. Michael took this as a sign it was finally over, and so said, "Hey Kevin, Sofia wants us to meet her and her friends again at Square One mall. Are you working that night?"

"Michael, hush," said Jacob.

"No, no, really," said Lillian. "I can take a hint. I won't bother you anymore. I guess I went on quite enough." Lillian began to eat, though this only slightly hindered her talking.

"See, I'm a member of the youth ministry at my parish. I'm really great at it. The kids say they wouldn't know what they'd do without me. This is really such a beautiful home you have here. I love it so much. The dinner is incredible. So delicious Really. And you have such a lovely family. Five such lovely young men. It's heart-warming. So heart-warming. Really. Very, very handsome, all of them. I mean really. It's like a family of supermodels. So adorable. I really liked that little hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. It's so much better than some homes where the kitchen just opens up. It gives a nice flowing feel to the house, you know? And the lighting fixture in here is just placed so perfectly, really, it lights the room in just the right way. No shadows where you want them. It's amazing. And it's a good table. Nice and high. You don't want a table that's too low, I find. You end up just resting your elbows in your plate by accident. Hahaha, can you imagine? There chairs are so comfortable too. I have to get chairs like these, oh my goodness! What is this material? Oh, it feels nice. And what are those lovely little figurines behind the glass there? Oh, I'm taking a look at those after dinner, I can tell you. They look so cute! Really! I bet you picked them out Mrs. Bennett, didn't you? Huh? Yeah, I can tell a lady with good taste, let me tell you! Ahh!"

Lillian accidently knocked over her glass, spilling her drink on the tablecloth. "I'm so sorry! So, so, so sorry! Really! Forgive me!"

"It's nothing, really…"

"Oh, but I was so clumsy. It's so embarrassing. How can I make it up to you? Please, I hope you won't think the worse of me for this. I'll make extra sure to be careful next time. Really! I'm so sorry…"

"So, Lillian," said Jacob. "You must be really fortunate to have a boss like Mr. Anderson."

"Oh, you don't even know," said Lillian, he eyes lighting up, her smile looking more genuine than ever. "I mean, it was lucky that he was friends with my mother, but still, I really had to work hard to get that job. I earn a nice paycheck too. I mean, I don't want to earn that much my whole life, but I'd say I'm making enough to keep my comfortable for a while. He's such an excellent boss. He really teaches as much as he employs, you know? Really. He's all class. And intelligent and cunning like you wouldn't believe. You can really see how he worked his way to the top, let me tell you. But he's not stuck-up or anything. He's so an everyday kind of guy, friendly and humble. He personally goes over every little thing I do for him, and if I make a mistake, he lets me know exactly how to fix it next time. I mean, how much better does it get than that? I mean, he's even invited me over to parties at his house, and just the other day he invited me to come along to an important business lunch with him. I was so honoured. I mean, I know some people in the office don't like him. They say he's too strict you know, they make all those really rude jokes about him having a stick shoved you-know-where, which is so unfair to him. I mean, he even let me have two days off work for myself! Really. He's so helpful. He even gives me hints when he doesn't really like the clothes I wear, and how I should style my hair around him and such. An amazing man."

"I bet," said Jacob.

"Yeah. And he has a beach home right by where my parents' summer cabin is. That's how we first met. It's also where I met his lovely son, Andrew Anderson. Oh, what an adorable boy he is. He has a few, er, issues, that don't let him out of the house much, but for the close circle of people who know him, which I am one of course, he really shines. I see him driving down the street all the time. He also waves to me if he sees me. He's so sweet. And I always let Mr. Anderson know. You can't say too few nice things to your boss, after all."

"I should keep that in mind for my manager," said Eli. "Do you try to think up compliments to pay him ahead of time?"

"Well, sometimes, you know, if I think of something nice to say and he's not around. But I always make it sound like I just came up with it. I don't want to seem like a suck-up."

When dinner was (finally, thought Eli) over, the family sat back down in the living room, and Kevin turned on the television to watch the latest episode of his favourite show on HBO. Lillian seemed a bit upset, and said,

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I really don't care for this program at all. I find it offensive in many ways. Can we watch something else?"

"Why, it's a new episode? What do you want to watch?"

"Oh, I don't know what's on at this time, but I really will watch anything besides this."

"Sorry, I can't miss it."

"Oh, very well. That's no problem at all. Really. But I'm so tired right now. I think I'll just go straight to bed. It's the jetlag, you know?"

Eli wondered at this, considering they lived in the same time zone as her. Still, Lillian got up and marched to her acquired bedroom. Five minutes later, she reappeared at the living room door. "So sorry to be a bother again, but do you mind turning down the television just a tad. The noise is really bothering me."

They complied with their guest's request. The television was low enough that Lillian's snoring was audible to all.