Page 106 of Her Football Star Ex

It was the perfect moment.

Jaxon pulled away first and Emerson kissed me on the cheek. Then she said, “Thanks for saying yes,” before resting her head against my shoulder.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around her in an embrace.

“I love you,” I whispered and kissed her on the forehead.

“I love you too.” She slipped her arms around my torso and gave me a squeeze.

And we just stayed there on the blanket for a moment, as the feeling of peace and hope and happiness fell over us.

But of course, since four-year-olds are not the most patient beings, Jaxon looked at us and said, “Isn’t you going to put on your ring, Dad?”

I chuckled. “I guess I’d better,” I said, dropping my arms from his mother.

Emerson took the white gold wedding band out of the box and held it up. “How about we see if this thing still fits?”

So I gave her my left hand. And when she pushed it onto my ring finger, it slipped on with ease. Like it was always meant to be there.

I pulled Emerson to my side again and studied my left hand for a moment.

“How did you two get this, anyway?” I asked, loving the way it felt to have it on my finger again.

She shrugged, her expression sneaky as she looked at Jaxon. “Do you want to tell Daddy how we got it?”

A huge grin stretched across Jaxon’s cheeks. “I sneaked in your room and stole it for Mom.”

“That’s right.” Emerson nodded. “I asked him if he knew if Daddy still had his wedding ring, and he knew just where to find it.”

I guess that shouldn’t surprise me too much. He did love sneaking through my things when I wasn’t watching closely.

Evelyn, who had been sitting so happily through the past few minutes decided that now was the time to let us know that her needs needed to be met and started banging her hands on the tray in front of her.

“Think we should start this picnic now?” Emerson raised an eyebrow.

“I guess so,” I mumbled. “But not until I get a kiss.”

And when I pulled her into my arms for a quick kiss, I couldn’t help but feel like everything was finally right in my world. I also realized that even though I would never willingly choose to relive the past year and a half, going through the turmoil made this life-changing moment even sweeter.

Just like the hardest games in football made for the sweetest victories, this victory of winning Emerson back into my life for good was more than I ever could have asked for.

Epilogue

Emerson

FOUR YEARS LATER

“Does Vincentreally not have any idea?” Arianna asked me. We were waiting in the team box at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in New Orleans after one of the biggest games of my husband’s career.

I shook my head, unable to resist smiling at the secret I’d been keeping for the past few weeks.

“I don’t think he has a clue.”

But why would he? Neither of us hadeverexpected for this to happen. In fact, I probably never would have even known until my pants started getting tighter if it wasn’t for the morning sickness.

“He’s gonna freak.” Arianna laughed. “I mean, when you, Jaxon, and Evelyn showed up with those matching Dragons jerseys, I thought they were cute. But…” She looked at the back of Evelyn’s jersey again where she sat on the floor in front of us, coloring in her coloring book. “This is so amazing.”

I smiled, looking at the words “big sister” on the back of my sweet daughter’s black and gold jersey. Tears crinkled at the corners of my eyes as I thought about how amazing it really was.

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