“Hello. I’m Stella Winters. I know I’ve met many of you. I guess I need name tags.”
“Bless your heart! Come in, come in. I have the couch all ready for you,” a sweet-looking old lady said as she shooed people out of the door.
“Grandma,” Jace said stopping his grandma from running back inside. “This is Stella Winters. Stella, this is my Grandma Marcy.”
“It’s such a pleasure to meet you. All of you. Thank you for inviting me.” Grandma and his mom smiled with pleasure and practically shoved Jace away as they fawned over Stella.
“You’ve never put me through hell like Dylan,” Jace’s brother-in-law Aiden whispered. “So, I’ll give you a heads up. They’re up to something. Count the plates at the table.”
“Why isn’t Walker carrying you?” Miles’s deep and demanding voice boomed. Jace turned around to see Miles’s only child, Layne, walking hand-in-hand with her husband. “Matt is carrying Riley and you can’t tell me Matt’s stronger than you,” Miles said to his son-in-law. “I know Layne’s pregnant, but she can’t weigh that much yet. It’s not like she’s in her third trimester.”
“I told you my son-in-law is the bigger badass,” Cy said arrogantly as he helped Porter up the stairs.
“Dad!” Layne’s face was red in anger and she’d inherited the Miles stare that made grown men shake in their boots. “I’m only eighteen weeks pregnant and I’m telling Mom what you said.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I heard it.”
Morgan was standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. “Husband. Here. Now.”
“I guess we know who the real badass is in the family,” Cy called back over his shoulder.
“Cyland Davies!” Gemma snapped from the living room and Cy suddenly hurried inside.
Jace followed to find everyone crammed into the living room, talking to Stella. He took the moment to look at the table. It had started as a regular dining room table and then over the decades, they added additional tables as the family grew. Now there was the original table with four added folding tables that stretched into the living room.
Grandma Marcy had her fine china out. Usually, they just used these fancy plastic plates to help with cleanup since there were so many of them now. Jace tried to play it cool as he counted the plates. Sure enough there was one extra.
“Let’s get dinner on the table!” Grandma Marcy called out and his mom helped Stella stand.
Several of the aunts and cousins hurried to the kitchen to help carry out the food as everyone else made their way to their spots.
“Come sit by me. We haven’t talked in a while,” Jace’s grandfather invited.
“Of course, Grandpa.” Jace smiled at his grandfather and waited as Jake slowly made his way around the long line of chairs to the head of the table by the kitchen door. He and Grandma Marcy sat side-by-side at the head of the table.
Jace took the seat next to his grandfather and saw his mom help Stella into the seat directly across from him. His mom pulled out the chair next to Stella and sat down. Jace looked over as his father came up next to Jace and then moved one down.
“You can sit next to me, Dad.” Jace pointed to the empty plate to his right.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” his mom said from across the table. “I’m expecting another guest. She’ll be here a little later.”
Then his mom smiled and Jace felt a shiver run down his back as warning bells sounded in his head. The table filled and food was passed before Jace could ask more questions. But his sister, bless her heart, didn’t miss the opportunity.
“Ma, who’s coming later?” Piper asked from down the table.
Tammy smiled sweetly at her eldest daughter and Jace shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “This nice girl I met on the street. She’s from Keeneston but hasn’t lived here for about ten years. She went to high school with y’all. She was a cheerleader and everything. Now that she’s back, she’s going to be a Belle.”
“But why is she coming tonight?” Piper asked as she glanced at Stella.
“There’s never a poor time to fall in love.” Oh crap. Tammy was definitely cooking up something besides dinner.
His mother turned to him and smiled. Jace’s eyes shot to Stella who looked as if she wanted to die on the spot.
“See, Stella. It’s a good time for us to fall in love,” Porter called out from where he sat in the living room. Jace could hear the pain in his voice even as he tried to cover it with that smirk he liked to give.
Now Stella was bright red and eyeing the door. Jace had to remind himself that he loved his family or he was about to stop being a gentleman. “Mom, I’m thinking of taking Stella to the lake on the farm for a picnic date. Won’t that be nice?” Jace asked as casually as he could while spreading butter on his roll.
“That’s nice, dear. Have you asked Stella?”
“I’ll ask her if Jace won’t.”
“Porter!” Jace snapped and then took a deep breath. He loved his family. He loved his family.
“So, Stella,” Cassidy said, leaning forward from her seat at the end of the third table. “Porter or Jace? I take it only one of them has asked to be your boyfriend . . . and it wasn’t Jace.”
“If this is up for discussion, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring,” Parker called out from next to Porter. “I’m going places with my career. I won’t be a rodeo rider forever.”
“I’m a chef,” Landon said with a kind smile. Colton’s younger brother had inherited his mom, Annie’s, dark red hair that mixed in with his brown hair to give him hair that he’d bragged women loved to run their fingers through. “I’d bring you breakfast in bed every morning.”
Stella’s mouth was open in shock, her face was red with embarrassment, and Jace hurled a dinner roll down the table that hit Landon in the face.
“Jace Davies, don’t make me take you out back and tan your hide. We use good manners at this table,” Grandma Marcy said, slamming her drink on the table.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
The doorbell rang and Jace cursed. His grandmother reached across his grandfather and smacked his head as Parker rushed to get the door.
Parker appeared first with a wide grin aimed right at Jace. Behind him was a blonde bombshell. She had smooth porcelain skin and hair that had a perfect bounce to it as it brushed against her shoulders. She had red lipstick, sky-blue eyes, and large, firm breasts under the tailored lines of the black suit jacket she wore. The tight skirt on the suit showed off a well-shaped bottom that left Porter blinking as she stopped slightly in front of him.
Jace looked over at Stella and saw her trying to shrink in her chair as his mother stood up and clapped with a happy smile on her face. “You made it!”
“Wow, when you said just the family, I thought you meant just you and Mr. Davies. Hey, y’all.” She smiled professionally and kindly at everyone around the table.
“Everyone, this is Tandy Rawlings, Kandi and Bill’s daughter. Tandy, I saved a seat up here by my son the doctor.”
“Excellent. I’ve been meaning to come see you but have just been so busy with moving back into town,” Tandy said as everyone began to move out of her way so she could squeeze her way to the head of the table.