Page 82 of Binding Their Hearts

She pressed into his caress with a catlike stretch as his mother divulged her parents’ love story, swatting his lapel lightly. “Since our cleanup weekend? You’ve had the rings the whole time?”

The rings used perhaps a third of the original emeralds, but his mother, quite cannily, made no mention of the larger stones. He would have to track down Lewis and take receipt of the remainder of his commission, but those pieces he would hold for other celebrations.

Laughing, Will elbowed his ribs. “If he’d had the rings the whole time, he wouldn’t have been sweating their arrival until two minutes before your entrance.”

And so story slipped into story, and they mingled and danced and ate slices of cake while managing not to smear frosting anywhere except the tip of Jay’s nose. They kissed abundantly and without prompting, ignoring any and all tapping of silverware on glassware. And when the last of the guests departed, their head ushers, Charlie and Claudia, silently delivered an extensive collection of takeout bags from The Cap & Feather and shut the doors of the salon behind them, leaving their eight-some to an early family dinner. Around a wide table they sat: Jay at his left, then Natalie, Emma, Will, Mother, Olivia, and finally Alice at his right.

A wave of peace washed over him. All of those dearest to him sat gathered, joyous and laughing, granted a reprieve from fears and insecurities. He basked in the ease of it all, allowing others to guide the conversation.

“Difficult indeed,” Mother agreed with Olivia. “Henry called to tell me about the house, and I had to bite my tongue not to ask for a tour, since I would be in town for the wedding.”

“Do you want one? We could give you the tour tonight.” Jay, bless his sweet soul, instantly offered up their wedding night as a housewarming party. “It’s still mostly boxes, though.”

“That is a wonderful thought, darling boy, but I couldn’t possibly.” His mother sectioned her artisan cheeseburger into bite-size portions with fork and knife. “You and Emma were kind enough to send that lovely young man to chauffeur me yesterday, and he is driving me back this evening. The neighbors will be in quite an uproar, I’m certain. Perhaps I’ll tell them he was my Secret Service escort. It’s fun to keep them on their toes.”

Henry laid his hand atop Jay’s thigh, kneading the thick muscle beneath the table. “We’ll plan for houseguests another weekend. Thank you, Em, for hosting.”

“I quite enjoyed it.” Emma fiddled with the stem of her glass. “I’d forgotten the sounds of a full house.” Her fingers tightened and relaxed before she smiled across the table. “Once Olivia recovered from her overnight flight, of course. I showed her straight to her room yesterday morning for a nap.”

He exchanged a look with Will. Yes, they’d both noticed the slight tension as Emma shook off the weight of memory. Unless she’d made recent adjustments, the house hadn’t changed in the years since Victor and Thomas’s untimely passing.

“That was a major surprise you pulled off.” Alice bumped shoulders with her sister. “I can’t believe you didn’t say a word to me. How did you even set this up?”

“You know; you’re the one who introduced us.” A pale pink flush crept over Olivia, her words growing softer. How interesting. “We exchanged numbers. Because of the ub-clay out est-way.”

Alice’s eyes widened at the speed of her translation skills in pig Latin. “You went to a club and I’m just hearing about it now?”

Some of Victor’s former flowers were running a club on the West Coast. He silently queried Emma with a raised brow, and she responded with a perfectly poised expression daring him to ask.

“I didn’t—you—” Olivia’s mouth transitioned rapidly through a variety of shapes. “Boy, this dinner is fantastic. I have to finish mine fast, though, because Daniel’s dropping me at the airport before he takes Mama Helen home. Slumber party was a one-night-only deal.”

In thirty-nine years, he had never once heard Mother referred to as Mama Helen. Nor of her attending a slumber party. But serendipitously, adopting stray daughters might ease the well of her long-held grief. This marriage would bring new experiences to them all, it seemed.

“Yup, great dinner.” Natalie nudged her brother. “And great planning on Jay’s part, amirite? Let’s hear it for the incredible job he did putting this event together so fast.”

“A tremendous accomplishment.” He accentuated his praise with a firm grip above Jay’s knee as the others offered their own adulations. Hopefully the success would sink in and remind Jay of his own competence—the worthiness he so needed to feel. “Jay has given us all a day to remember.”

A coy smile flitted over Jay’s face. “I know what I’ll remember most.”

Jay eyed his chest, where the new harness fit snugly but not overly tight. Truly, the most difficult part of arranging the gift had been finding a time when Alice could accompany Henry to peruse the options without Jay wondering where they’d been off to without him.

Will winked at Jay. “And what’s that?”

The vision of Alice and Jay arm in arm, their faces filled with love and excitement as they approached him to officially join their lives as one.

“How many twists the knot on this tie took!” Jay thrust both hands toward his neck. “It’s amazing, but I don’t know how the heck I’ll ever take it off.”

The table collapsed into laughter with the force of a calving glacier, tiny cracks of giggles becoming howls of amusement as Natalie pounded the table with her palm and Olivia tried to smother wheezing chortles with both hands. His mother, surveying the jovial atmosphere with bright eyes, met his gaze. Thank you, she mouthed.

He couldn’t take the credit; he’d only fallen in love. A raft of friends and family had carried them here.

Will pushed back his seat and stood. “A toast.”

Glasses lifted around the table. Alice rested her free hand on his thigh, and he fancifully imagined the weight of her ring made the familiar gesture noticeably different. Emotionally, if not physically.

“I have been fortunate to know Henry for twenty-eight years.”

A long arc of growth and change, yet their friendship had survived every one.

---