Page 111 of More, Daddy
“I want to spend my life doting on you, making you feel like the special woman you are. I love you, Briar, and I’m gonna be the best husband and daddy to you, babygirl, I promise.”
She blinks slowly, taking me in, and her hesitance has my stomach roiling. But I calm the moment a smile stretches her lips. “A lot of epiphanies tonight?”
I nod. “Yes. All the important ones. But don’t answer my question with a question. Marry me. Briar, tell me yes or no.”
She smirks. “Already bossy, Daddy, and I haven’t even said yes.” She kisses me, and the world rights itself around me. The anxiety immediately deflates and my heart returns to normal. She brings me peace, and if that’s not the sign that she’s the one, I can’t imagine there being another. “Yes.”
Then, we go into the bathroom and take the test.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
“This trip sets the tone for the season. If you allow anything to take place this weekend, you’re allowing them to walk all over you, lie to you, and deceive you for the rest of the year. Realize that now, and act accordingly.” I pass my phone to Denae and point to her so that all the junior coaches and team captains can see. “Denae is going to go down the line and get everyone’s phone number. That is my phone she has. If anyone hears a word about anything—someone sneaking booze, someone planning to leave the hotel, whatever it is, if you hear, you put anend to it and call me.” I let my arms hang at my sides as I survey their faces. They’re excited for this game—it’s the only away game where the athletes get to spend the night. And this is the first year that Dean McAllister isn’t personally footing the bill.
Warriorville County finally started paying. “This is a serious gift the county has given us, allowing us to stay in a hotel instead of taking that dangerous drive home at night. Let’s show them we can still handle this responsibility, and show them we’re grateful.” I nod, and they nod in agreement.
Riley approaches me, in her track suit and cowboy boots. “Skipping the big away game yet again, eh?” She rocks on her boots, wearing a huge grin as she blinks up at me.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I glance around me to make sure the coast is actually clear, then let out a warbled sigh. “I see you spoke with Jake.”
She nearly bounces in front of me, bringing her hands together beneath her chin. “I’m really trying not to freak out right now since I know that she could be around but oh my god yes, of course Jake told me.” Riley steps closer, close enough for me to know she just drank a Diet Coke and ate a bag of peanut butter M&M’s, and her eyes go scary wide. “Like he’s not gonna tell me that you’re doing a secret vow renewal.”
My eyes veer around the gym at the antsy junior coaches and anxious team captains. I cup my hands around my mouth. “Meet at the buses at noon tomorrow. Everyone, as long as there are no questions, you are dismissed.” I clap my hands. “Mrs. Rivers Turner will be in charge in my place, and she will see everyone tomorrow.”
I face Riley. “Do not say it out loud again. There are too many ears around.”
Riley glances over her shoulder conspiratorially. “She’s inher room right now. I told her I’d come get the scoop on your big speech.”
In her room.Those three words are ones she’s been vying to hear ever since she became a teaching assistant and junior coach two years ago. At the beginning of the school year, Leah Mitchell offered Briar the opportunity to take over freshman language arts now that she’s enrolled in undergrad courses at the local college.
She’s thriving, and Leah has promised that in three years when she gets her degree and is enrolled in the credentialing program, Briar will have the permanent full-time job. And her junior coaching status? She’ll take over for JV. In fact, she’s already in that role as the interim head JV coach since Cadence Caine decided to transfer to Oakcreek High at the end of the school year. She finally snagged a Varsity coaching position, just not at Bluebell.
Things are going so well.
I proposed last year, and we went down to the courthouse with our friends and tied the knot shortly after. In fact, our one year anniversary is coming up, just a few short weeks away. Tonight, though, is our only real opportunity to be truly alone.
Briar always said she only wanted me, that a big wedding and a big party after made little sense because she didn’t have a big family, and for that matter, neither did I. Something small, just us, just our friends, that’s what made sense.
We did it a month after that night.
Dolly, Riley, Clara June and Maven stood as bridesmaids. Hudson, Jake, Dean and Leah stood up for me as my best men, all four of them. It was nice.
I’m lying.
It was goddamn perfect, and in the truck afterward, I held my wife and cried like a goddamn baby.
But the last year has been more than nice. The first year of marriage is usually filled with a lot of figuring out how to co-exist with another person, learning that they don’t shut the drawer after getting a fork, and that they’re fine with letting dishes sit in the sink for a day or two. Stuff like that.
With Briar, there was a very little learning curve, and the easier things were between us as each day ticked by, the more we were allowed to play, laugh, travel, fuck, discover—everything.
The last year of being married to Briar has been the best year of my entire life.
We took that test, too.
Turns out, Briar wasn’t pregnant. She was just stressed and tired, and after a doctor’s appointment with labwork, we also discovered that she is anemic. Even now, a year on, I can’t shake the disappointment in her eyes when she saw that singular, negative line on that pregnancy test.
If I had doubts about her readiness, they were squashed at that moment. And that night, despite the fact that we’d worked all our issues out and were finally coming together, resolute and happy, she cried in my arms until she found sleep.
