Stay(68)

Chapter Twenty-Eight


Braden’s sister relaxed most of the day. She wasn’t really having contractions, she said, but she just didn’t feel right, whatever that meant. The family spent the day around the house, laughing and talking.

Did Wes realize how well he fit with them? he wondered as he looked over and saw Wes sitting with his brother Evan, talking at the table. And Jessie obviously blended right in with the kids and the rest of his family. He hadn’t expected anything less, but still it was good to see.

Especially since he’d almost told the man he loved him today. Braden would have been the first one to give a guy shit for saying he loved someone after sex, but things were different now. Wes made them different though he probably didn’t even know it.

They all watched A Christmas Story after dinner and then they put the kids to bed. Jessie went easily, the trip having worn her out.

Braden went into the kitchen and grabbed himself and Wes a beer before going into the living room where his family all sat. Wes was in a chair, and Braden walked over to him, handed him a beer, and then sat on the floor between his legs.

“I still can’t believe you don’t know what you’re having,” he said to his sister Yvonne, who lay on the loveseat.

“You didn’t want to know?” Wes asked her.

“We found out before but decided we wanted it to be a surprise this time,” she told him.

“Not me. I couldn’t handle that. I’m thinking it’s a boy, though. You said you were naming him, Braden, right?” he teased Yvonne, who threw a pillow at him.

“I’m thinking one Braden is enough in this family.”

“You can say that again!” Evan added.

“Hey. What’d I do?” Braden hung one of his arms over Wes’s leg, surprised when the man laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, more than all your brother or sisters combined,” his mom said. “We never knew what you were going to do or say.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” he asked.

“I didn’t say that.” His mom looked at Wes, then back at Braden. “You may have always been surprising us, but we were always proud of you, too. You’ve never been one to back down to anything. You’ve always been a strong, honorable man.”

Wes squeezed his shoulder and Braden looked up and winked at him.

“I took him to a basketball game when he was...oh, I don’t know, about eight,” his dad said.

“No, nine,” Mom confirmed.

“Close enough.” He rolled his eyes at her with a smile. “So we’re at this game and the cheerleaders come out. Braden says, ‘Wow dad, they’re pretty.’”

Braden dropped his head back on Wes’s lap, unable to believe they were going there.

His dad continued. “I told him yes and agreed. A minute later the team comes out, and this time Braden looks at me, dead in the eyes at nine years old, and says, ‘Number twenty-one...he’s cute, too.’”

Wes’s hold on his shoulder loosened and Braden held his hand up, latching their fingers together. “Wow. They’re trying to impress you for me. They’re giving you my coming-out story,” he teased, and Wes’s grip tightened again.

“What did you do?” Wes asked his dad.

“Well, I about swallowed my tongue first. I wasn’t sure what to say, but as I looked at him, I saw it, saw that he was testing me in a way. He was being honest, but he wanted to know it was okay, wanted to make sure I was okay. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t confused, but he’s my son, so I wasn’t going to let him down, either. I told him yeah, that I could see how someone could think that. I told him it was okay for him to think that.”

“Then he tells his dad, ‘I know.’ Can you believe that?” his mom added, and everyone in the room laughed.

“Then he grew up and dated every girl in our high school, including all my friends.” Lizzy raised a brow at him.

“Hey... Not all your friends.”

She rolled her eyes but it was Wes who spoke. “All women?”

Braden looked up at him again and nodded. “It wasn’t as if we had a bunch of guys who were out at my high school.”

“It had been so long since that basketball game and he’d never mentioned anything again.” His mom set her hand on his dad’s leg. “It didn’t matter to us either way, but we just assumed the comment had been, I don’t know, confusion, maybe? As I’m sure you know, Braden had more surprises for us, though.”

Wes laughed, still holding his hand. “Why am I not surprised about that? What he do then?”