Page 111 of Zone Protection

Archie is carrying Lainey as we walk to her headstone. Lainey fell asleep in the car and has barely stirred since he took her out of her seat.

When we reach her stone, I kneel on the grass, set the sunflowers against her headstone, and run my fingers across her name. “I brought someone to meet you today. Well, two someones.” I turn and look at Archie, who is now sitting on the grass behind me.

He smiles and places a hand on my shoulder.

“This is my baby girl, Lainey, and the love of my life, Archie.I’m sorry we haven’t been by sooner, but I think about you and feel you every day. I wish you could have been here to meet them. You would love them. They both have the same happy nature you had.” I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I wanted you to know that I’m not scared anymore because I know you’re watching over her and I have faith that everything will be okay.” My tears are coming faster now, and I need a minute to breathe.

Archie gives my shoulder a squeeze and clears his throat. “Hey, Sunny. I wish I could have met you, but your sister talks about you a lot, so I feel like I know you.” He pauses. “I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to take care of your sister and our baby girl. They are my entire world. But I know you’ll have our backs too.” He squeezes my shoulder again, then lets go. “I’m gonna give you a minute alone with her.”

I nod and wipe the tears from my face. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” I set my hand on top of the stone. “We have to get going, but the next time we’re here, I’ll come back. I miss you and love you so much.” I sniffle. “I’ll see you in the sunflowers.”

EPILOGUE

ARCHIE

My first seasonin the NFL is in the books. It was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait to go back to training camp in the summer. But right now, it’s all about my girl. It’s finally our wedding day.

Emma wanted to get married on my parents’ ranch, which, of course, thrilled my mama. It took some time for Emma to decide on exactly the right spot for the ceremony to fit her rustic ranch wedding theme, but she did, and I gotta say, it’s perfect.

The location is a little far from the main house, so we have tractors with trailers to bring guests to the wedding site. Then the reception is closer to the house, under a tent. My brothers, friends, my dad, daughter, and I jumped on the trailer and are all heading over now. Some of the guests are starting to arrive, so we figured it was time to make our way out there too.

I have Lainey in my arms, but she’s reaching for my brother Aiden. She’s obsessed with him. And my dad too.

“You want to see Uncle Aiden, Sunshine?”

“Gimme my girl.” He reaches for her and takes her from me.

She’s dressed in a pale yellow dress, and a headband isholding her wild, curly locks from her face. She’s almost a year old now and getting so big.

Lainey puts both of her hands on his face and squeezes his cheeks together for a very drooly kiss.

“Lucky you.” I laugh because he now has drool on his face, but he just smiles and wipes it away.

“A little drool never hurt anyone—right, princess?” He kisses her cheek, then turns her so she’s facing everyone. “So, brother, you ready for this?”

“You know it. It feels like forever since I asked her to marry me. It seems like we’ve been married though, so it’s just a formality at this point. But I wanted her to have the wedding she wanted, and it was impossible to try to make it work with me in season.”

“No doubt. I’m just glad it worked out for me to be here, too, with my bye week.” He hands Lainey off to my dad because she’s getting squirmy again.

“Me too. I wouldn’t have wanted to get married without you here.”

The tractor starts to slow as we climb up a small hill and approach the wedding site. I haven’t been out here since the wedding planners and florists were out here earlier, so I’m a little surprised when I see it. My mama is already there to welcome guests and direct any last-minute details.

There’s an aisle between bales of hay in rows for seating with blankets lying on top of the bales, and at the end of each row is a bouquet of sunflowers in what looks like glass mason jars. The altar is formed by an arbor, woven with sunflowers and other white and yellow flowers. A small acoustic band is sitting along the side of one of the rows, playing music as guests take their seats. It’s exactly what Emma wanted, and I can’t wait for her to see it.

Casey, Beck, and Liam step off the trailer first, followed by my brothers. My dad stands and steps toward me, and Lainey reaches out for me to take her. God, I love this little girl. She’severything good. I kiss her on the cheek before she wraps her little arms around my neck.

“You ready for this, son?”

“Hell yeah. I can’t wait to see her coming down that aisle. For me, this is just a formality, but I wanted her to have everything she wanted. I would have married her the day I asked her—actually before then—but my baby girl here had a different plan for us, and I couldn’t be happier.” I pull Lainey back a little to look at her face. “I have everything a man could want.”

“That you do. Take care of them, protect them, put their needs before yours. Always.” He reaches out to run his hand over Lainey’s head. “You’re a good son and an amazing father, and we’re so proud of the man you are. Love you.” He leans in and wraps an arm around my shoulders and the other around Lainey and me.

“Thanks, Dad. I learned from the best. Love you too.”

I step away and grab Lainey’s tiny cowboy boots off the bench. I bought my girls matching white cowboy boots for the wedding. Emma squealed, but I think she was more excited about the baby’s than her own.

“All right, old man. Let’s do this.”

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