Page 53 of Welker

“Gramps—my mother’s father—was a great guy,” he reminisced. “The best. He’s the one who taught me about cars, and carpentry… When my father passed from an aneurysm when I was twenty, he stepped in and took care of us all. He was so proud when I became a SEAL…”

Welker grew quiet. Clearly his mind had gone back to the man he admired so much. When he spoke again, his voice held the roughness of tears. “Gramps died three years ago, and there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t miss him.”

“I get that,” Moira responded, laying a hand on Welker’s forearm. “We were both lucky though, to have them when we did.”

“Amen to that,” Welker agreed.

The drive, after that, was quiet, each staying in their own heads. But there was nothing somber about the mood. It was simply…contemplative.

When Welker finally pulled up in front of Harper’s and parked, he turned with a question on his face. “Do you still feel like doing this?”

“Do you?” Moira countered.

The corners of his mouth lifted. “I think it might be a good idea. At least for a short while.”

Moira gave him the brightest smile she could conjure. She’d dared get dressed up, after all.

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Welker kept hold of Moira’s hand as he pushed through the door. Cisco called him from across the room.

“Hey, Welk. Glad you could make it.” A smirk appeared on his face. “Who’s the arm-ca—” Cisco’s eyes got very wide and the whole room went quiet.

“Bliss?” Cisco finally squeaked out.

Welker tamped down his growl. He knew his friend hadn’t meant anything by his near-mention of arm-candy, so he wouldn’t entirely rip his head off. It was actually the fact that it had taken Cisco a few seconds to recognize Moira that had Welk ticked.

Hilly, Cisco’s girlfriend, immediately elbowed the man to shut him up.

“You have a problem, Cisco?” Welker didn’t normally get combative, but he was ready to stand up for Moira.

“Leave him alone, Welker,” Moira cut in, scowling. “Look at everyone’s faces. They’re all thinking the same thing. You can’t blame them for being shocked. This is the first time…” She stopped and regrouped. “I’m sure most of them had no clue there was a woman under my uniform.”

Welker didn’t like it, but he honored Moira’s wishes, and muttering to himself, bit his tongue.

A few of his teammates grinned.

“You look fantastic, Moira.” Everlee spoke up first, designating herself as spokesperson. She was the team’s shrink, and always knew how to keep the peace. “You just knocked us all back for a second. I’m also certain that a lot of our male teammates are jealous you came in on Welker’s arm. They’re pissed they didn’t open their eyes soon enough to see who was directly in front of them all these months.”

“Right,” Moira scoffed, but Welker could tell she was secretly pleased, due to the slight coloring up of her cheeks. She hadn’t worn any make-up, so he was up close and personal to her natural reaction, and he liked it a lot.

“You okay with this?” he whispered anyway, wanting nothing more than to bury his nose in her neck as he leaned close.

“Of course.”

She threw back her shoulders, accentuating her already stellar chest, and Welker had all he could do not to pop a boner that all his friends would surely notice.

He cleared his throat and spoke to the table at large. “Okay, you morons. Show’s over. Who’s paying for beers?”

“You,” Kyle grinned from his leaned-back chair. “And you can forget about worming your way out of it. We’ve already started a tab in your name.”

Welker rolled his eyes. Amongst his core group of five, it was his turn to buy, but there were at least… Geeze. Were there thirty or more SWAT members scattered about the room? He tried not to look distressed, but there went the money he had earmarked for his insulation.

“Nope,” Moira announced loudly to the laughter that had broken out at Kyle’s pronouncement. “The drinks are actually on me, in honor of me coming out of the closet tonight.”

The ambient noise died abruptly, with bewildered looks being exchanged all around.

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