Stella had clammed up and Jace had purposely hit a pothole, causing Porter to curse as it jarred his ribs. It wasn’t even that far a drive, but Jace was never so glad to turn onto his grandparents’ driveway.
“This isn’t where you grew up, is it?” Stella asked as the farmhouse came into view with more cars, trucks, and SUVs than you could count parked out front.
“No. It’s where our dads grew up. Porter and I grew up close to each other, though. Both of our dads have farms,” Jace explained as he pulled up close to the front steps and blocked in Parker’s truck. He wasn’t going to let Parker leave without taking Porter.
“We spent a lot of time running wild here. All of us cousins did,” Porter told her. Jace could hear the smile in his voice, and the happy memories brought a smile to Jace’s lips before the front door opened and his entire family rushed out.
Jace couldn’t even get around to open the door for Stella before his mom and Aunt Gemma had it open and were practically carrying Stella off.
“Oh, you sweet thing!” Gemma hugged Stella tight as Uncle Cy and Parker moved to help Porter from the backseat. “Thank you so much for saving my knucklehead of a son’s head during his fall. We met briefly before, but I’m Gemma Davies and that’s my husband, Cy. Then you’ve met Porter and Parker, but have you met my daughters, Reagan and Riley?”
Jace looked up to see Matt holding his wife, Riley, in his arms and Cy giving him a death glare as he helped Porter up the stairs.
“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.
Jace tried to get Stella’s attention, but Stella had her eyes glued to her plate.
Finally Tandy made it to the seat next to Jace and sat down. She smiled at him, but before she could say anything, his mother started talking.
“Tandy just moved back from New York. Tandy dear, wasn’t Jace in your high school class?” Tammy asked.
“I think he was a year or two ahead of me,” Tandy replied. “Colton, I think you were in my class.”
“I think you’re right.” Colton leaned forward and sent her a sexy grin. Good. Let Colton take her off his hands.
“Landon, Porter, and I were just a year after you,” Parker cut in. “Do you remember us?”
“Of course! I cheered at all your football games. You were great players.”
“That’s so nice of you, Tandy. Have you met Stella? She’s new to town.” Jace was going to kill his mother. Not that he could ever physically harm her, but he’d lie and tell her he’d gotten a vasectomy to pay her back for this stunt. That might be worse revenge than any physical harm.
Jace watched in horror as the perfect Tandy smiled and leaned across the table with her hand outstretched. Stella looked up from her plate, notched her chin up, and plastered the fakest smile he’d ever seen onto her face.
“Bless my stars, I’m so glad to meet another young woman who is new to town. Even if you’re from here, I’ve gathered it’s changed quite a bit since y’all were in high school,” Stella said, letting her Southern accent out to play as she shook Tandy’s hand.
“Even being out of state hasn’t stopped me hearing about the talk of the town,” Tandy laughed with perfect pitch. Every single man at the table sighed. Jace cringed.
“The talk of the town because of me?” Jace asked with a little too much tension in his voice as he heard Stella choke on her drink.
Tandy’s eyes widened slightly but only for a second. Her composure never slipped. “No, because of Stella’s garden center. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews of it. What do you mean, because of you?”
Tammy thumped Stella’s back until Stella dragged in a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“Well, you said you wanted to talk to my son,” Tammy urged Tandy.
“Here?” Tandy said, glancing around.
“Mom,” Jace warned. “I know what you’re up to and it isn’t going to work.”
His mother batted her eyes innocently. “Up to? I’m not up to anything.”
“The hell you aren’t. You know I want Stella to be my girlfriend. I don’t need you trying to set me up to prove it.” Jace moved his eyes to Stella. “I’m sorry for my mother’s behavior. I had thought the fact I was spending every night with you would make my intentions clear. Apparently since I haven’t spelled it out, the betting app hasn’t been updated so everyone thinks we’re still single. In my mind and heart I’m all yours. If you want me, that is.”
Stella looked ready to die of embarrassment, yet she had a goofy little grin on her face that made him think he had a chance. “Of course I want you as my boyfriend,” she said softly and Jace could finally breathe.
The motion of Tandy putting her hand on her heart made Jace turn back to her. “I’m sorry my mom brought you here under false pretenses.”
Tandy shook her head with a smile on her face and a glint to her eyes. “That was so sweet. You two are so cute together. But your mom brought me here to look at a mole I have to make sure it’s not cancerous,” she said, rolling up her sleeve to show a mole on her arm.
In Jace’s peripheral vision he saw his mom and grandmother high-five. He’d been played. Stella burst out laughing as if coming to the same conclusion.
“I thought everything was clear to begin with,” Pierce shrugged.
Tammy groaned and buried her face in her hands and began to rant. Jace couldn’t hear much but the name “Demetri.” His father paused with the fork halfway to his mouth and let it clatter to the plate. He shoved back his chair and wedged his way behind Tandy and Jace. He patted his dad on the shoulder, then kissed his mother.
“Thanks for dinner, Ma. Tammy and I have to go.”
Jace looked across the table at his mom’s wide eyes. His father pulled out the chair with his mom still sitting in it and scooped her up in his arms. “Demetri can still go to hell. You’re mine.”
Jace and everyone else watched as Pierce carried Tammy into the kitchen toward the side door. “Cassidy, watch your little sister tonight.”
Then the door slammed and all they heard was, “Oh, Pierce that was so romantic.”
Piper, Jace, and Cassidy shared a cringe.
“I mean, if Cassidy is babysitting . . .” Ryan shoved the chair back, grabbed his and Sienna’s son, Ash, and shoved him in the high chair toward Cassidy.
“His diaper bag is in the living room!” Sienna called out as the two ran out the front door.
Jace blinked as Sophie and Nash put their daughter, Emersyn, in Cassidy’s arms with the diaper bag beside her chair. Then they were gone, too.
“Hey! How did you do that?” Cassidy called out to the empty space where Sophie and Nash had been just a moment ago.
“I’ve heard after three it’s all the same,” Sydney said casually as she folded her napkin. Her husband, Deacon, stood up and pulled out Sydney’s chair. The two parents leaned over and kissed their son, Donovan, and their daughter, Brynn. “Mommy and Daddy love you. Auntie Cassidy is watching you tonight. Cousin sleepover! They’re the best,” Sydney said serenely.
“We’ll pick them up at ten. Thanks, Cass,” Deacon poured on the old Southern Georgia charm as he calmly escorted his wife out the door, but then everyone heard them running for their SUV.
“What the hell just happened?” Cassidy asked slowly as Emersyn chose that moment to open her mouth and scream.
* * *
Stella was laughing so hard all she could do was cling to Jace. The second Emersyn opened her mouth, the table cleared out. Miles and Morgan ran out the side door with Cy and Gemma, Cade and Annie, and Marshall and Katelyn. Matt carried Riley out in is arms. Layne and her husband, Walker, went out a window. Carter and Reagan snuck out as Cassidy was begging Piper to help, but Aiden ended the sisterly guilt trip by picking up Piper and tossing her over his shoulder and making a run for it.
“Porter! Parker! Get back here!” Cassidy yelled from where she stood blocking the front door.
“The babies will hurt my concussion. Sorry, doctor’s orders!” Porter called as his brother helped him hobble from the house as quickly as possible.
Jace helped Stella into the front seat. As she waited for him to run to the driver’s side, she saw Wyatt and Camila crawling on the ground through the shadows to get to their car.
Jace started the SUV, locked the doors, and backed up as Landon picked Cassidy up from behind, set her down inside the door, and then made a break for it as he ran out the door. Tires spun, dirt flew, and a steady line of cars sped from family dinner.
“I am so sorry for tonight,” Jace finally said as they pulled out onto the road.
“I’m not. At first I was horrified, but then I saw the lengths your mom went through to make me your girlfriend. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so wanted before.”
Jace was silent for a moment and Stella cast
him a glance that seemed to spur him into speaking. “It shouldn’t be my mom who made you feel wanted. It should have been me. I didn’t want to pressure you. I was trying to give you space while assuming you felt what was between us.”
Stella slid her hand over the center console and rested her hand on his thigh as he drove. “I feel it too, Jace. I might not have said it enough, but thank you. Thank you for staying with me after the fire. I was worried it was just out of some sense of duty.”
“I’m doing it because I care about you, Stella. I want to be with you.”
Stella’s heart beat faster as they pulled in front of her house. And then her heart stopped.
16
“Jace,” Stella gasped. The window to the left of the front door was broken.
“Call the sheriff’s department. Get behind the wheel and lock the door. If you see anyone other than me come out of the door, drive away as fast as you can.”
“Jace!” Stella reached for him, but he was already out of the SUV. “What are you doing?”
“I’m seeing if he’s still here. Get behind the wheel now.” Jace didn’t sound like a small town doctor anymore, he sounded a lot like his uncles. Stella gasped when Jace pulled a gun from the small of his back and began to head toward the front door.
Stella vaulted over the center console and got behind the wheel. She locked the door and called the sheriff’s office to report the break-in. She didn’t even remember what she said to them, because at that moment Jace disappeared from view and her whole world stopped.
* * *
Jace heard the crunch of the broken glass under the soles of his shoes as he crept into the darkness. The door had been unlocked, but he hadn’t seen any kind of transportation when he’d scanned the area.
Jace froze in the darkness and closed his eyes. He took slow breaths and listened. Nothing. No footsteps or heavy breathing so Jace ventured deeper into the house. He crept quietly around the living room before heading to the kitchen.
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