Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
GRIFFIN
The doctor said James wouldn’t be ready to go home for another two weeks, which meant Sage’s funeral had to wait.
That Saturday, we stayed at the hospital until nearly midnight, which meant everyone in my immediate family slept in and missed church.
But the drive over to Granny and Gramps’s for dinner was more hushed than a Sunday service.
I sat on one of the jump seats in the back of Bowen’s Land Cruiser, an arm around Jules’ shoulders.
I smiled at her, so proud. As promised, she’d caught a flight the day after mine.
From the minute she’d arrived at the hospital—verbally destroying the ICU nurse who wouldn’t let her onto the floor—she’d won my family over.
In the front passenger seat, Maggie watched with soft eyes as Bowen flipped the blinker.
A month ago, I wouldn’t have been caught dead riding anywhere with these two.
Now, I felt a grateful peace that the three-way rift between us had been repaired, they were happy together, and Bowen had someone to help him through this tragedy.
My beautiful wife turned sideways, head angled so she could look up as we passed under the Dupree Ranch sign. “It’s like watching an episode of Yellowstone,” she said.
I smiled. “Except no one fights over inheritances, we’re a lot less violent, we obey the law, and nobody’s morally gray.”
“That last one’s debatable,” Bowen said. “Funcle Ford?”
“Fine.” I clicked my tongue. “Nobody’s morally gray anymore.”
“Darn.” Jules snapped her fingers. “Morally gray characters are my favorite. They’re so delightfully conflicted.”
I nudged her knee with mine. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
When Bowen put the car in park, I looked out at the two-story farmhouse where our dad, uncles, and Aunt Sophie grew up. Jules started to get up, and I put a hand on her knee. We watched as Bowen climbed out and opened Maggie’s door.
Once they were gone, Jules pressed a kiss to my cheek and murmured, “He’s still not as cute as you.”
She’d been saying it all week. Not to convince herself, but to make sure I didn’t forget.
“Thanks.” I kissed her quick. “And you’re still the hottest woman on the planet.”
She grinned. “I know.”
I blew out a breath and dragged my palms over my thighs.
“Why are we still sitting here?” she whispered.
“Nerves. You’re about to meet my entire well-meaning but overbearing family.
” She’d already met my immediate family.
Anna had cried all over her. But Anna cried at everything lately, her heart still tender for James.
Now, Jules would meet the rest of the gang.
All at once. “Just…don’t take anything Granny says personally. ”
She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Is she going to have an opinion about our elopement?”
“Does the sun come up every morning? She’ll have an opinion. The real gamble is which one.” I held out my hands, weighing invisible options. “We’re either getting a slice of pie… or a lecture.”
“Noted. Thick skin, starting now.” Jules nodded. “So she’s nothing like Grandma Lisa?”
“Pretty much opposites in every way.” My mom’s mom had gushed over Jules, all twinkly-eyed, as if our elopement was the best news she’d had in a year.
But that was just how she was. I could come home covered in tats, with twenty-five facial piercings, and she’d hug me and whisper in my ear that she liked her men a little dangerous.
“Don’t worry. Whatever Granny’s reaction is today, she’ll get used to it in time.
She just doesn’t always roll with change very well. ”
Jules raised her hand to show me the tremor running through it. “What if they hate me?”
I closed my fingers around hers and brought her knuckles to my mouth. “Not possible. Trust me.”
“But what if they do?” Her voice came out smaller this time.
“If they do, we turn around and leave, and we never have to talk to them again.” I pressed my forehead to hers. “It’s Team Griff and Jules from here on out. But I promise that won’t happen.”
Her fingers wound into my hair, and she stayed there, forehead to forehead, breathing. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
I climbed out of the vehicle and reached for her.
The second she was on the pavement, in plain view, a disbelieving squeal detonated inside the house.
“Sophie wasn’t pranking us!” one of my girl cousins screamed, apparently unaware the screen door offered the soundproofing power of a napkin.
“Griffin really married Juliette Serrant!”
Her excitement was so contrary to the heavy mood that had been hanging over us all week that a laugh bubbled in my chest.
Jules glanced at me, wide-eyed, like what in the world.
“That would be my cousin Jane.” I nodded to the blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty, whose face was pressed against the living room window.
“Shut! Up!” Belle shoved Jane out of the way, peering at us from over the back of the couch. “Ho-lyyyy… How’d Griff land her?” She said it like I’d won Miss America in a tractor raffle, while wearing overalls, with half my teeth rotted out.
“I heard that!” I hollered.
Jules went soft against my side, a giggle slipping out with her exhale.
“Belle! Get back from there!” Anna called from out of view. “Quit gawking. She’s a human being with feelings. How would you feel being stared at like you just landed in a spaceship the first time you meet your husband’s family? My word. Blue? What are we gonna do with her?”
“Dad shoulda let her on the football team,” Belle’s twin brother, Blaze, said unhelpfully, also out of view. “Put her through two-a-days and see how much energy she’s got left to act feral.”
“Seriously?” Blue growled. “You had to bring that up again. Right when she’s finally calmed down.”
“Oh, I haven’t calmed down,” Belle sassed. “I’ll never calm down about that.”
Jules had her hand over her mouth, shoulders going. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “They’re exactly how you described.”
I chuckled. “Told you.”
We’d reached the top of the porch stairs, but I paused, holding up a finger to hear how this ended. We watched them through the screen.
Blaze shoved his brown hair off his forehead. Looked like he’d shot up half a foot since the last time I’d seen him. His dress shirt stretched tight across his chest and arms, as if the fabric were hanging on for dear life. What were they feeding him—raw steak and protein powder intravenously?
“I’m just saying,” he drawled, loose and cocky. “You don’t see me acting like a lunatic. And I’m literally the demographic most affected by stupid-hot supermodels. I’m a red-blooded, male, teenage jock. My brain is ninety percent hormones.”
“Boy.” I pointed at him. “You might be able to throw a football better than your dad, but if I hear you talking about my wife like that again, I will kick your trash all over the football field. Don’t make me pull out my cleats.”
Jules choked on a laugh.
Blaze must’ve had a death wish because he scoffed—scoffed!—and said, “You mean those things dry-rotting in your closet? I’d like to see you try.”
I yanked the screen door open and charged in—and stopped.
Jane and Belle weren’t the only ones gawking.
The living room was bursting at the seams. Minus my parents and Sophie, who were at the hospital with James, and Cash, Charlie, Theo, and Liam, who were apparently MIA—every Dupree was crammed inside—waiting with bated breath.
Well, that was a good sign, at least.
Bowen was already seated next to Granny, who was kicked back in the recliner with Willow sleeping on her chest. Bowen ran a finger over Willow’s fist. And Maggie ran a finger over Bowen’s.
“Griff,” Blue said with the patience of a man who owns a Super Bowl ring. “Blaze absolutely does not throw better than me.”
“Bruh.” Blaze threw his hands up.
My beautiful, half-Italian sister-cousin, Anna, approached us, face flushed with embarrassment. Blue stepped in behind her, scratching his eyebrow.
“I’m so sorry,” Anna said quietly to Jules. “Our children are a work in progress. Clearly.”
“Not me,” Bronco muttered from his post beside Gramps, as far from the commotion as he could get. The two of them occupied the far end of a kitchen bench, dragged in for extra seating.
Anna sidestepped me to get to Jules, pulling her into a hug. “I hope they didn’t scare you off.”
“No way.” Jules laughed, hugging her back.
My lips pursed. “I see my wife has already replaced me as your favorite.”
Anna tilted her head. “Who said you were my favorite?”
“You did.” Pretty much every time I saw her. “Were you lying?”
She winked again. “You’re all my favorite.”
I conceded only because it was true. My siblings and cousins all said Anna told them the same thing. As the oldest of the cousin crew—by a long shot—she took it upon herself to build each of us up.
She handed Jules off to Blue and wrapped her arms around me. “Hey, you. Happy you could make it.”
I gave her a rib-crushing squeeze, lifting her off the ground. Dang, I loved this woman. “If the last sixty seconds are any indication of how this is going to go,” I whispered in her ear. “I’m thinking I should take my wife and hightail it out of here.”
“Don’t you dare,” Anna whispered back. “But seriously, what did you expect? You married a woman who’s had her face on a thirty-foot billboard in Times Square, and you thought we’d golf clap?” She thumped my shoulder. “Come on now. You know better than that.”
She stepped back and waved for us to follow her and Blue into the living room.