“You look so lovely, Jade,” Jolene said.
“Thank you, Aunt Jolene. So, Mom and Aunt Diane...what have you two been doing?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Oh. I don’t know. I talked with Wyatt before the wedding. He was explaining about someone you wanted him to show around town. It wouldn’t have triggered anything except, well, we are here for Sam’s wedding. And I got thinking that Aunt Diane gave Sam Dani’s name.”
“Just a coincidence,” Diane said.
Shit, could Jade really be onto them?
“I thought so too. I mean they have nothing in common and you’ve always been in their face trying to set them up with people just like them, Aunt Diane. But then I thought of Bryce and he met Payton after you gave him a gift card.”
“Sounds like another coincidence too,” Grant said.
“I didn’t think much of it either, Uncle Grant,” Jade said. Carolyn was looking around the table at everyone hoping they weren’t flushing like she felt she was.
Jolene was cool as a cucumber and said, “What are you getting at, Jade? You couldn’t possibly think your mother had anything to do with Drake and Kara since they work together. You work there too and see how they are.”
“Very true,” Jade said. “Which is why I still wasn’t catching on.”
“And Noah met Paige when he had to call her in after Sebastian got in trouble for fighting,” Garrett said. Thank God he spoke up and started to defend her. If not, he would have gotten an earful from her later tonight.
“Again,” Jade said. “I didn’t think much of it.”
“And what is so wrong with asking Wyatt to show a coworker’s daughter around who is new to the area?” she asked her only daughter, trying to put an end to this before someone said something wrong and let the cat out of the bag.
“Nothing at all. But you know what really gave it away to me?” Jade asked. She looked at her Aunt Jolene. “You set the Five up in birth order. And all of a sudden my cousins and brothers are dropping...in order of birth.”
“You’re just like your cousin Ella,” Gavin said. “Always so paranoid. Just relax and enjoy the wedding. You’re overthinking things.”
“Says the man who got the ball rolling on the first.” Jade stood up and put her two fingers in front of her eyes and then turned her fingers and pointed them to everyone at the table. “I’m watching you all. It’s not happening to me. I might even mention it to the rest of them if you even think of trying to pull this off.”
Jade walked away and Carolyn looked around the table at her husband and the others. “That was close.”
“She really is just like Ella,” Jolene said.
“You don’t think she will say anything, do you?” Diane said. “Ryder is going to be hard enough to begin with. He can’t know what is going on.”
“She won’t,” Garrett said, “as long as she thinks she isn’t up next. This is just going to make it even harder. I’m struggling with her. There’s no one at work either. Grant and I talked about it.”
“I’ve got someone,” Jolene said. “Trust me, it’s perfect.”
“Your nose is still out of joint you didn’t pick out Travis for Ella,” Gavin said. Her brother-in-law had set it up long before the four boys got their wives, but no one had any idea.
“I am,” Jolene said. “Which is why I’m going to help Carolyn with her only daughter.”
“I’m all ears,” she said. “Lay it on us.”
9
Single One
Wyatt moved over to the two tables where his brothers and cousins were sitting. There was an empty seat where Ella had been, so he sat next to her husband, Travis. Mason and Jessica, along with their twin toddlers, and Cade and Alex were still there. Brody, Aimee, their daughter, Sidney, and son, Evan, Aiden and Nic and their son, Anthony, were with his brothers and fiancées at the next table.
It was a family affair, the kids wouldn’t be excluded, even Brody’s and Aiden’s newborns that were currently in their mothers’ arms. Anthony sleeping, Evan wide awake and kicking his legs like he wanted to get down to run if only his few-months-old body would let him.
“How’s everyone doing over here?” he asked in general.
“Not bad,” Mason said. “You always have to put your sister on the spot like that, don’t you?”
“Come on,” he said. “You guys did it to Ella all the time and you know it. Now you’re all too afraid of Travis to do it.”
Travis, ex-Navy Seal, laughed. “They aren’t afraid of me. They are afraid of their sister...just like you guys are of Jade. Those two are some tough ladies.”
He laughed. “They are. We made them that way on purpose.” Wyatt turned to Jessica. “I can’t believe how big the boys are getting.” Jacob and Jeremy were in their highchairs babbling toddler twin talk to each other. He remembered that well. When he and Jade were younger and had their own language of half words and signals to get their point across. Noah and Drake did also.
“I can’t stand when they do that,” Jessica said, laughing. “I have no idea what is going on. I feel like they are conspiring to torment me. They split up and cause trouble at the same time and I can only catch one of them.”
Cade started to laugh. “Oh man. That brings back memories. We did that too. Well, not Aiden,” he said loud enough for his brother to hear. “He always wanted to be the good kid. He hated whatever punishment Mom had in store. The rest of us didn’t care.”
“Please,” Alex, Cade’s wife, said. “I heard you got in trouble the most. You and Brody. Mason wasn’t that bad.”
“I wasn’t,” Mason said. “Not in terms of fighting. I just tended to blow shit up in the garage when I was trying to experiment more than anything. Brody and Cade were always rolling around on the floor fighting.”
“That’s because Cade always had
