Page 105 of Her Football Star Ex

As I put Evelyn into the booster seat and buckled her in, Emerson set a big picnic basket in the middle of the blanket.

I got myself to my spot and watched Emerson as she lowered herself to her knees. And I couldn’t be sure, but as she started pulling out containers of food, it almost looked like she was nervous about something.

She was a fabulous cook and I’d always devoured everything she ever cooked, so she shouldn’t be nervous about me not liking what she’d prepared. But what else was there to be nervous about?

Was it the thing she wanted to discuss with me?

She pulled out two plastic plates for the kids, and then two from the china set we’d received as a wedding gift.

“We really are being fancy today, aren’t we?” I commented when she pulled out cloth napkins and champagne flutes as well.

Emerson’s cheeks turned pink and Jaxon let out a loud giggle before covering his mouth, like he was just dying to say something.

I furrowed my brow and looked at Emerson and my son. “Is something going on that I don’t know about?” Had I missed something? Jaxon had been talking a lot about what he wanted to do for his birthday party, but that still wasn’t for a few weeks.

“I was waiting to do this next part after we’d filled our bellies.” Emerson sighed and put her hands on her knees, sitting back on her feet. “But since Jaxon is just alittleexcited…” She turned and raised an eyebrow at Jaxon who was now bouncing up and down on his little bum. “Should we do it now?”

“Uh huh.” He nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay,” Emerson said. “You better get daddy’s surprise then.”

My surprise?

But before I could ask what kind of surprise they were talking about, Jaxon ran into the house and disappeared.

Emerson looked at me anxiously. “I promise we really did have this whole thing planned out and it was going to be really awesome, but—”

Jaxon burst through the back door again, this time hiding something behind his back.

I pressed my lips together and waited for him to approach, my chest tight with anticipation over what he would have there for me that required china and champagne.

He stepped onto the blanket again and knelt down next to Emerson so they were both facing me. And then, Emerson knelt up again—this time though, putting one foot out so she was kneeling on one knee with the skirt of her dress falling around her.

Our gazes met, and when I saw moisture around the edges of her eyes, my heart swelled so big in my chest I thought it might burst.

Was she…?

I didn’t dare think the words.

She licked her soft pink lips. “I know it’s traditional for a man to be the one down on one knee,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “But I thought that since our love story has been a little unconventional, I might as well keep that going for us.” She cleared her throat. “I know I’ve been all over the place this past year with where I wanted to go with you, but when I think about the future and what I want it to look like, you’re in it. You, Jaxon, and Evelyn are all there.”

“I know neither of us is perfect,” she continued. “And we will always have our ups and downs as we go through life. But there isn’t anyone else in the entire world that I want to do this thing called life with. So…” She turned to Jaxon and held her hand out for whatever was behind his back.

He looked at her hand for a moment, but instead of handing his mom the present, his eyes got real big, his chest puffed out, and he blurted, “Will you marry us!?”

Yep, my four-year-old son completely stole Emerson’s thunder.

This kid of ours was kind of amazing sometimes.

Emerson shook her head and smiled, eternally patient with our cute kid. “What Jaxon means is…” She looked at me again, her eyes shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. “Will you marrymeagain, Vincent?” She reached behind Jaxon since he still wasn’t handing over what she wanted. And a moment later, she was holding a familiar-looking ring box and gazing at me with so much hope and love in her eyes I felt lightheaded. “Will you be a family with us again? You and Evelyn and Jaxon and me?”

And when she opened the box, it revealed the wedding band she’d given me all those years before. The ring that, I guess until very recently, had been in the top drawer of my nightstand at my apartment.

I looked at Emerson again, knowing full well I had tears in my eyes. And it took me a moment to find my words, because I had suddenly gotten all choked up.

But I managed to say, “Yes,” my voice coming out all gravelly. “Yes, I would love to marry you again.” I got to my own knees and held my arms out for Emerson and Jaxon. “I want nothing more than to be a family with you again.”

When they both found their way into my arms, I hugged them close and held them tight. And I couldn’t keep the tears I’d been holding back for the past minute from falling as I realized this was the first time in over a year we had had a family hug like this, with the three of us together.

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