Radio Waves (manxman)[Match Maker Series]

Chapter Twenty-One

Gabe's POV

Lunch was overwhelming for me so I could only imagine how Jake must be feeling.

My mother had hired a private room at one of her favorite restaurants and had invited my entire family to lunch to meet Jake. A big banner was hanging on one wall above a buffet table and said in bold blue letters, welcome to our family!

I was waiting for Jake to bolt and never speak to me again because a lot of guys would do that when faced with this situation. I was dating Jake, I loved him and I wanted to see where this relationship would go from here but my family was acting like this was an engagement party. 

Lunch had ended half an hour ago and the tables and chairs had been cleared away to make a dance floor where several of my family members were dancing to a slow song. My sister Jessie was in her husband's, Mark's, arms swaying to the music while their two-year-old daughter rested in my arms. Little Kimberly had fallen asleep before lunch had even ended.

"Do you want me to take her for you so you and Jake can dance?" Lara held out her arms in offering and slipped Kimberly from my hold on her. Lara was growing broody, I could see it in the way she looked at Kimberly and held her that she wanted a baby of her own. She was engaged Daren, a mechanical engineer, for the past eighteen months and they had been planning to get married next year. I knew she was taking it hard that our father wouldn't be there to walk her down the aisle and she'd decided to put off the wedding for another six months.

"Thank you, sis." I kissed her forehead and took Jake's hand to lead him onto the dance floor and into my arms. "I'm sorry that my family are coming on so strong right now. I'm so embarrassed." 

Jake chuckled and lay his head on my shoulder. "I think it's endearing how they're trying to make me feel welcome. Yes, they're coming on really strong but they mean well and I can see that." He raised his head and looked to our left before looking back at me. "When I say coming on strong I mean your aunt Ida. She's pinched my butt so many times that I can feel a bruise starting develop."

"Oh God." I cringed and looked over at the sixty-eight-year-old woman in question. Ida had been a widow for the past fifteen years after her husband Norman commit suicide. Norman had suffered with depression and it seemed no one realized just how bad it had gotten until the unthinkable happened.

"I think it was her way of saying she likes me." Jake cuddled close again we just held each other as we danced. He felt so right in my arms and I cherished this moment in time with him. It was a crazy situation but somehow it was perfect. "Would it totally creep out your family if we kissed right now? I really want to kiss you."

I smiled happily and tipped his head back before kissing him. I teased and tasted him for a minute, maybe more and then eased back. "I doubt it would creep them out but I'd kiss you regardless." I kissed him again and even though my eyes were shut I could make out the flash of a camera. I looked up and saw my baby sister Sandra smiling at me from behind the offending camera. I'd been very surprised when she'd arrived to lunch with a girl named Violet who she was now dating. I'd never known that she was bisexual.

"Can I cut in?" My mother asked appearing beside us.

"Of course," Jake said and started to move away but my mother pulled him back.

"No dear I meant I wanted to dance with you." My mother clarified. 

I winked at Jake over my mother's head and wrapped an arm around my mother. "Take care of him, he has two left feet."

Jake gasped and looked horrified. "I do not!" I laughed and started walking backwards away from the dancing couples. My mother placed one hand on Jake's shoulder and took his hand in a tight grasp with her other which seemed to pull him back to what was happening.  

I found Sandra and Violet talking to Lara and joined them. Kimberly was now in her father's arms, awake and giggling at her father who was dancing with her. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. I watched Jake with my mother and frowned when they seemed to miss a couple of steps. they stopped in the middle of the floor and then Jake seemed to be helping my mother to a seat. I took off across the floor to see what was wrong.

Jake's POV

Mrs. Somersby, or Laura as she'd asked me to call her, was leading me around the floor instead of me leading her. She happily chatted about Gabe and her other children and granddaughter until her step seemed to falter and I noticed she'd gotten very pale. "Laura, are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry I'm just getting tired." She tried to brush it off.

"Do you want to sit down?" I followed her movements as she kept on dancing.

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Really." I didn't argue any more but I watched her face for signs of anything being wrong.

She stumbled again and I stopped moving. I was supporting most of her weight now and I knew that something was very wrong. "I'm going to get you into a seat." I kept my arm around her and led her to a seat. Once she was sitting down I crouched down to see her face. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I'm sorry dear I just got a sudden and very painful headache, all of this excitement must be getting to me. Don't say anything to Gabe he'll just worry and it will ruin this party for him, just like I've probably ruined it for you. I'm sorry dear." She gave me a lopsided grin and relaxed back into the eat. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Is everything alright?" I hadn't heard Gabe approaching and started at the sound of his voice. 

I really didn't want to lie to him about how his mother was feeling and I was saved from doing so when she spoke up. "Everything is fine Gabe I'm just a little tired from dancing."

"Do you want me to take you home?" He asked.

"No. Go and have fun, I'm going to have a chat with your young man." She smiled. "Jake pull up another seat and talk to me," she told me. I felt relief at her ordering me around, surely she wouldn't be doing that if something was wrong.

 Gabe studied her for a moment before nodding. He bent at the waist and kissed the tip of my nose. "If you need to be rescued from my mother just yell." He smiled at his mother when she huffed and then he left us alone.

"I thought he'd never leave." Laura raised a shaking hand to her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

"You're not alright, I'll get someone." I went to stand but she stopped me with a hand on my arm.

"I'm fine, it'll go away soon. I've been getting these headaches for a while now off and on. I think it's just from stress since my husband died. I'll be just fine in a few minutes once I've had a chance to rest."

I was skeptical but said nothing. I watched her for a few minutes until all signs of pain evaporated from her face and she seemed to be able to open her eyes again. "Are you suffering from migraines? My mother suffered from them when I was younger and I remember her taking some prescription pills for them, maybe your doctor can prescribe you something."

"I'll make an appointment with him tomorrow and see what he says." She promised me. "I'm much better now why don't you go and find my son. We'll be getting kicked out of here soon I only booked the room for two and a half hours, I never realized that everyone would want to stay and dance." 

"I'll tell him and then we can start letting everyone know that we need to leave." I patted her hand and went in search of Gabe. I found him in the bathroom running cold water over his face. "Hi." I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around him.

"Hi yourself." He turned and kissed me.

"We need to start telling people that it's time to leave. Your mother said our time is almost up for the booking."

"Okay. One more kiss and then we'll leave." 

We were both exhausted when we got to bed that night. After lunch Gabe's mother insisted that she was well enough to take us to a bar. We'd been joined by some other members of the family. Though Jessie had gone home with her husband and little girl Sandra and Lara had joined us with their partners.

The few beers I'd had were making me sleepy and I curled up to Gabe's side and waited for sleep to come. Gabe stroked my hair and murmured, "I love you."

"Love you too," I managed to say sleepily.