He smiled. He’d gotten better about sharing her with his friends. Now it gave him a surge of satisfaction to see her accepted by the people so important to him.
Things had been a wee bit awkward between Payton and Gracie the first time they all got together, but Gracie, in her usual straightforward manner, addressed the issue head-on, cleared the air, and the two had been at ease with each other ever since.
After a while, Payton made her way back to him, just as she always did. She slipped her arm around his waist and stood beside him as he talked with Luke and Jeremy. Automatically, his hand came up to stroke her hair, his need to touch her ever-present.
“Let’s eat,” Ellie said from the doorway of the dining room.
They all filed into the formal dining room, and murmurs of appreciation filled the air as everyone saw how beautifully Ellie had decorated the table.
When they were all seated, Jake cleared his throat and rose from his chair. He reached for the wineglass in front of him. He looked vaguely uncomfortable, but then he gazed down at Ellie, and a soft smile lit up his face. She reached up and squeezed his hand, returning his smile.
Jake kept her hand in his and raised his wineglass with the other.
“This past year has seen a lot of changes. All of which have been good.” He glanced down at Ellie again. “The woman I love more than anything put me out of my misery and married me, and now we’re anticipating forward to the birth of our first child.”
A tear rolled down Ellie’s cheek, and she wiped at it self-consciously. As Wes stared around at the others gathered, he saw a mixture of emotions on all their faces.
Did it get any better? His chest was about to expand to bursting. Mushy? Yeah. Did he give a fuck? No.
Jake raised his glass in Luke and Gracie’s direction. “And our good friends finally saw the light, decided they couldn’t live without each other.”
Luke folded his hand over Gracie’s on the table and leaned over to kiss her. She gave him a dazzling smile then raised her glass toward Jake and blew him a kiss.
Jake lowered the glass to his right where Jeremy and Michelle sat with Thad in Michelle’s lap. “We got to see the first baby born to our group. A precious little boy sure to grow up with many doting aunts and uncles.”
Then he raised his glass higher and stared down the length of the table to where Wes and Payton sat. “And we gained a new friend. Payton, you’re a welcome addition to our group. You make that ornery bastard happy, and that’s all we can ask.”
Payton curled her fingers into his under the table as she smiled broadly back at Jake. She and Wes raised their glasses to Jake.
“May we always be as happy as we are right here, right now,” Jake said, encompassing the entire table with a sweep of his glass.
They all raised their glasses in a toast. As silence descended, Wes released his grip on Payton, looked over at her and nodded. She smiled and let him go. He stood, holding his glass with him.
“A word if you don’t mind,” he said.
All eyes turned in his direction, and Gracie looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. Wes grinned and shook his head. The hormonal lunatic.
He glanced once more at Payton then reached down to pull her up besid
e him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly against him.
“We have something we want to tell you.” Wes took a deep breath. “I’ve asked Payton to marry me.”
An outburst of congratulations and whoops made it around the table. Beside him, Payton wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed reassuringly.
“We’re moving to Liberty County. I’m going to be taking a job with the sheriff’s department there. Payton will be close enough that she can commute to Houston, and we’ll still be within an hour’s driving distance of you guys.”
Gracie, bless her heart, promptly burst into tears. Luke did his best to console her until she informed him they were happy tears.
The entire group crowded around, hugging, shaking hands, congratulating him and Payton. His fear of leaving everything that was familiar to him slowly dissipated. He still had his friends, people who meant more than anything to him, but better yet, he had Payton.
She looked up at him as the others returned to their seats. Her blue eyes shined with such love and understanding. Unable to resist, he lowered his head to kiss her.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too.”
“And he calls us pussies,” Luke said in disgust.
Payton laughed and pulled away, but Wes kept a firm grip on her hand.
He shot Luke a cocky grin. “If having the love of a good woman makes a man a pussy, then I guess we’re all pretty much screwed.”
That earned him a smile from every woman seated.