“I’m tired, Uncle Wes.” Jessie tugged on his arm. He picked her up and swung her onto his back.
“I got you, kiddo.” He paused when Braden stepped up to them and ran a hand down Jessie’s back. When he did, she relaxed against Wes, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Ma, Dad. If we don’t pick one soon, we have to go. Jess is getting tired,” Braden called to his family.
Damned if what Braden said didn’t hit him in the chest. “Thanks. We’re good, though. I don’t want to ruin the day for everyone.”
“They can stay if they haven’t decided. If we need to go back, we need to go back. She’s more important that picking the perfect tree.”
Who the fuck was this guy? How many times had Braden said the wrong thing, but, when it counted, always said the right thing? He didn’t know if he realized that. Didn’t know if he realized that the more Wes was around him, the more he feared he wouldn’t ever want to be without him. That he made Wes think and feel shit he never thought he would again.
No, things he hadn’t felt before.
“Hey.” Wes grabbed Braden’s arm when he tried to walk away. “Thanks.”
Braden just winked at him. “I’ll put it on your ‘I owe you’ list.”
Again, it was the perfect thing to say. The asshole.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They’d picked an eight-foot tree. Braden and his brother Evan put it in the stand and watered it while their mom and sisters made dinner. They were going easy tonight because they were all pretty exhausted after a long day.
They sat around the living room, the kids on the floor around the coffee table, eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.
“’Member when Braden made us grilled cheese?” Jessie asked Wes. Braden wasn’t sure if she was too tired to remember the “R” in Remember, or if she always said it that way.
“I do,” Wes told her.
“Braden’s were better,” she replied.
“Jessie!” Wes’s eyes darted around the room, obviously embarrassed.
“Hey. Can’t blame her for speaking the truth.” Braden smiled, and everyone else laughed, including Emmy and Lizzy.
“That’s okay, because I taught him how to cook.” Emmy gave Jessie a thumbs-up. He couldn’t love his mom more. Any of his family, really. They took Jessie and Wes in without question, though he knew they all wondered what was going on between them. Braden wondered, too. And regardless of the fact that none of them ever really understood his attraction to both men and women, they never gave him a hard time about it, either.
“Can we decorate the tree now?” Billy asked. His sister had named the little boy after their father.
“We sure as hell can!” Braden and his dad both shot to their feet.
“As soon as everyone puts their dishes away,” his mom added. So they did. The kids raced to the kitchen, cleaning up without whining probably for the first time in their lives. They’d already pulled the boxes out, and his dad had added the lights, so once the dishes were gone, kids ripped into containers and started hanging decorations on the bottom half of the tree.
Jessie jumped right in as Braden knew she would, but Wes stood back a little, the way Braden knew he would do as well.
“Get your ass up here and help,” Braden told him. Jessie was too busy decorating to call him on his language. “If we don’t help we’re going to have a seriously lopsided tree. Most of the decorators are shrimps, if you didn’t notice.”
Wes shook his head with a smile on his face. It was that smile he gave when he wasn’t sure what to do with Braden, but that he enjoyed him, too. It was Braden’s favorite of his grins.
Wes beside him, they all decorated the tree. They turned out the living room lights and watched all the reds, greens, blues and whites glow. As they talked, Braden kept his eyes on Wes, who sat on the floor with Jessie’s head in his lap. Wes stroked her curls, which just popped back up as soon as his hand left them. Her little eyes kept drooping closed, but each time they did, she jerked them open again.
She was such a cool little kid. He’d never given much thought of having kids of his own. His family had enough of them if he never did, but looking at her...he couldn’t imagine his life without her. His eyes met Wes’s, who Braden hadn’t realized had been watching him.
Braden opened his mouth to say something—what, he didn’t know—when Wes said, “I’m going to put her to bed.”
“No. I don’t wanna go to bed.” Jessie started crying.
“You’re sleepy, kiddo, and it’s getting late. We need to go to bed so Santa can come.” Wes stood her up, pushed to his feet and then picked her up.