Chapter 26

Grandpa stared at the house for a good five minutes. I couldn’t gauge what he was thinking at all. He tilted his head from one side to the other, clucking his tongue. Jax stood at my side, holding my hand. It seemed we were both holding our breath.

“What the hell?” he finally spoke. “What is all this?”

“I —” Jax poked me and I coughed. “We thought it would be best to have the old house here. You know, since that one night you took off looking for Grandma.”

“We?” Grandpa turned to look at us. “Is Jax moving in?”

“Um,” Jax spoke up at my side. “I mean, if that’s okay with you?”

“Okay with me?” Grandpa grinned. “I couldn’t be happier! Now get married and adopt some gay children.”

“Grandpa!” I groaned.

“What? You saw those kids! They need a good home and you are swimming in money.” He pointed at me.

“Swimming?”

“You forgot about the trust fund, did ya? How much money you think you made in interest?” He winked.

I’d forgotten all about the trust. It occurred to me it could be going to good use. I turned to see Jax smiling at me. It was almost as if he’d been reading my mind. Did I want kids? I met Jax’s eyes and he squeezed my hand. I could see myself raising a couple kids with him. I shook my head clear and began walking, pulling Jax along.

“Let’s take a look inside. I want to hear all about Greece, Grandpa.”

“You should have seen the ladies at the market.” He fanned himself.

Grandpa walked ahead of us and I slapped Jax’s ass, giving it a little pinch, too.

“Dirty boy,” he whispered.

“Yes, I have a dirty mind and right now you’re running through it naked.”

Jax cracked up.

I had to admit, all the guys had done a fantastic job adding the old house to mine. There were French doors separating the old house from the new and Grandpa wandered around. I stood with Jax at the entryway and watched him. I’d taken all the old furniture and positioned it right where it used to be. Watching the DVDs had helped me do that. My grandmother’s portrait hung above the fireplace in the living room and Grandpa stopped in front of it, just staring.

“Hey, Grandpa? Why don’t we invite all the guys over for dinner? You can tell them all about your trip?”

“Sounds good,” he replied.

I walked with Jax back into the kitchen and he picked up the phone. I stilled his hand and pulled him into my arms.

“Thanks for everything you’ve done.”

“I haven’t done that much—”

“Stop. Just take a compliment, please? You are no longer Stan Jackson, Jax. You are a wonderful, caring man who managed to do something no one else could.”

“And that is…?”

“You made me fall in love.”

Jax glanced away and I gently eased his face back to mine. I ran my thumb over his lips and leaned in, kissing him. I broke from the kiss holding him close.

Grandpa sauntered by us with a smirk. “I hope you christened the whole place while I was gone.”

“Oh, Lord.” Jax sighed.

“Like I said, hours of entertainment.”

The guys filed in a half hour later, gathering around the table and grabbing the numerous pizza boxes that were out. The laughter around the table was infectious and Grandpa’s tales of his trip reduced us all to choking. I watched Jax through it all. He was laughing and at one point, leaned on Gareth as they broke out into hysterical laughter. He belonged with us — with me — and I was never letting him go.

We cleaned up and got Grandpa off to bed. I sat on the edge of his bed and watched him sleep. We’d had it rough for a few years, but Jax joining our family made us whole. I closed the door behind me as I left and tilted my head to the side. Piano music was coming from downstairs.

I grinned.

Jax had found his gift.

I headed down and found him sitting on a beanbag chair watching the video of my grandmother playing.

“Oh, I thought you were playing,” I said as I came to sit next to him.

“It’s beautiful.” He nodded over to the grand piano.

“It was my grandmother’s. I thought someone should play it again instead of sitting in the dust. So, now it’s yours.”

“It was your grandmother’s. How about you play?”

“Oh, Jax, I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“Please? For me? If you play, I’ll accept it.”

I gazed into his eyes and smiled. He had a look that could make me do anything he asked of me. I took his hand and pulled him up. We both sat at the bench and I glanced over at him.

“What am I playing?”

“We are playing ‘Heart and Soul’.” He grinned. “Because you have mine.”

“And you have mine.”

And I finally knew what it felt like.

The End.