Just then I hear what sounds like a marching band drum cadence begin before they begin playing the Liberty High fight song.
I look up at Grady with wide eyes. He pinches the bridge of his nose and yells, “Mom! I told you NO marching band!”
“Hey, you’re the one who started it with the orchestra and choir!”
They’re shouting over each other as a small group of band members march around us playing a song I used to cheer to before they shift from the fight song directly into The Wedding March.
Barrett has his phone raised, recording the entire thing, and the rest of the family is laughing while taking turns to give us congratulatory hugs.
Hazel wedges herself between Grady and me, and he immediately reaches down to lift her up.
“You’re my brother now?” she asks, scrunching her nose up.
I giggle, knowing exactly why she’s asking.
“Well, soon I’ll be your brother-in-law, kiddo.”
“But that still means I can’t marry you, right?” Her eyes are pleading with me, but I’m still going to break her heart.
“Nope. He’s all mine. You gotta get your own Grady,” I tell her, tickling her side.
She pokes out her bottom lip in a pout but quickly gets distracted by the non-family members on the field.
When I see Coach Mac walk around the corner carrying a bouquet of roses, I feel like the night is complete. Throughout Grady’s entire football career at Liberty High, and even after, when Grady was playing for Southern Michigan State, he was in the stands every chance he could get.
I know this because whenever they had home games, the cameras would zoom in on him in the stands.
He hands the beautiful flowers to me, and I break out of Grady’s hold to give him a hug. “Missed you, old man,” I murmur, careful to keep the roses off to the side so I don’t smoosh them between us. “You’re looking well.”
“I work out,” he teases, flexing his bicep.
“Thank you, for everything,” I say, my arm sweeping out all around us.
“Eh, he did it all. I just provided the location.”
“Nah, you did far more and you know it.”
“An honor,” he murmurs, a slight blush creeping up his neck. “Now, let me see this rock.” He lifts my hand and inspects my ring. “Woo-wee! Wish I could take credit for this, too!” He winks and drops my hand.
“Moving in on my fiancée?” Grady asks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close, and kisses my temple.
“Mmm,” I hum.
“Like hearing that, yeah?”
“Yeah, fiancé, I do.”
I watch in fascination as his eyes darken and he inhales sharply.
“Easy, brother. You’ve got an audience,” Cole says.
“Time to go home, then.” Grady winks and tells everyone he needs to get back to Lanphier. Which isn’t a lie, there’s a home game this weekend, which is why I was so naïve about the reason Grady wanted me to meet him here. Him taking the time out of his busy schedule right now to propose to me was the last thing I expected.
But that’s the thing about Grady, no matter how busy he is or what his schedule looks like, he always makes time for me. He tells me he would have waited for me forever, and I finally believe it.
Grady
“Blake leans back, left hand pointing far down the field. Grady’s in his sights! The ball sails through the air… what the…” Blake’s eleven-year-old announcer voice trails off as I see a streak of dark hair dart in front of me, snagging the ball from the air and running in the other direction.
The girl… Bri, I think her name is, does a weird touchdown dance in the other end zone on our make shift field on the school playground.
Blake jogs in my direction, and we both watch in amusement as the tiny girl spikes the ball then has to quickly jump out of the way so it doesn’t bounce back into her.
“Who the heck is that?” he asks me, his nose crinkles up like he smelled something bad in the cafeteria at lunch.
I shrug, acting like I don’t care. “I think her name starts with a B or something.”
She turns around, smiles at me, and something weird turns in my stomach. Definitely something we ate at lunch.
I watch her as she bends down and picks up our football, her dark ponytail swishing behind her as she walks back to us.
“You probably need this, huh?” she asks, handing Blake the football.
“Thanks,” he murmurs and then turns to look at me with wide eyes.
She messes with her ponytail, yanking out the rubber band that was holding it up. Her hair swishes around her before she pulls it back up again. I watch, fascinated. I can’t stop staring at this girl’s long dark hair. “I’m Bri. Sorry about taking over your game. I’ve been wanting to play with you guys for forever, and I just couldn’t help myself. I kept waiting for you to invite me. I’ve been watching from over there forever!” She points to a spot behind us.
Now my eyes widen. “Huh? You want to play with us? You’ve been watching us?”
She nods excitedly. “I love football. Like love, love it. Especially SMS. They’re the best ever.”
Bri rattles off a bunch of stats about the team that, of course, I already know because I’m their biggest fan—but I feel like I’m going to choke on my own tongue when I hear her say them. How does this girl know as much as I do?
“Can I like, play with you guys tomorrow?” Bri asks.
I look at Blake who nods slightly, looking a little taken aback by everything. I am, too. “Uh, yeah. I guess it’s okay. But… um… we aren’t going to go easy on you,” I tell her, puffing out my chest a little bit. I don’t know why I do it, it just feels like the right thing.
She scoffs and giggles. “Duh.”
“Alright then. This is Blake. I’m Grady.”
“I know.”
We smile at each other and I notice her eyes are so green, they’re like the grass. Luckily, the bell rings for us to go back inside and we all take off running to the door. As soon as Blake and I get to our lockers right outside our classroom, we shove our coats and boots inside. “That was weird, right?”
I shrug again. “A little, I guess.”
Bri walks by us, nudging me in the shoulder as she goes past into her classroom. She turns around and smiles again. She’s got two dimples in her cheeks. I kind of like dimples.
“Come on, we gotta get to class,” Blake says to me, making me jump. I hope he didn’t see I was staring at the girl who intercepted the football right in front of me.
Something inside tells me what happened today was a big deal, but I can’t figure out why.
A hand to my shoulder breaks me out of my thoughts. Blake jostles me around, causing me to lose my footing a little bit. “Ready for this?”
“Since we were in the fourth grade.”
He grins, shaking his head. “She had you even then, didn’t she? I remember going home and telling my mom that you were looking at a girl funny.”
We both laugh. I think a part of me always knew, even before I started seeing her differently. It makes sense, though. She’s my other half.
“You’ve been there with us from the beginning, man. I couldn’t ask for a better man to be standing up there with me.”
“But not next to you,” he grumbles teasingly.
“Yeah, yeah. You know you’re my best bud.”
He’s been giving me grief ever since I told him Cole was going to be my best man, but it’s all in good fun.
“I can’t believe you two are actually getting married.”
“Really?”
“Well, no. But it sounded like the right thing to say.”
I snicker.
“Five minutes,” my dad says, coming back into the room we’ve been sitting in while waiting for the ceremony to begin.
“Still?” I groan. “I’m ready now.”
He chuckles. “I wasn’t even going to ask if you were ready. Been waiting on this day for a long t
ime, son. I’m proud of you. The man you’ve become, taken life and all its hiccups in stride…” he trails off, his voice cracking a little bit as his eyes become shiny.
Dad looks away quickly then reaches for Anderson, looking like a little man in his tiny gray dress pants and white shirt, not to mention the itty bitty gray vest Mia found somewhere to complete the look. Dad cradles Anderson close while he sucks on a pacifier, I reach over and let him grip my finger. “Your old man’s getting emotional in his wise years, it seems.”
“It’s the Grandpa in you,” I tell him.
He nods but looks at me deeply, eyes bore into mine letting me know what he’s about to say is something I want to hear and commit to memory. “I meant it, son. Always knew you two were meant for each other but life—time—well, it had plans of its own. And never, not once in all those years, did I believe your life would turn out any other way than her walking down the aisle to you. I know what it’s like to fall in love with your soulmate before you really understand what love is. And I know what it’s like to not have your plan work out exactly how you intended.
“But Grady, the true character of a man is shown when he’s thrown for a loop. You handled those loops with honor and respect, never acting like you were given a raw deal. I said it once, and it’s not really enough, but I’m proud of you. And I’m so damn honored to get to finally call Bri my daughter.”
“Dad,” I murmur, feeling choked up myself.
“I love you, Grady. And I expect cousins for this little guy soon,” he jokes, trying to lighten up the mood.
I bark out a laugh. “Oh okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
He winks. “I’ll see you out there.”
The preacher pokes his head in to let us know it’s time and to follow him. My groomsmen, Jack, Cole, and Blake, file out in front of me, Cole stopping me to give me a hug and offer a few final words of encouragement.
After seating the moms, I move to stand at the front of the church. I clasp my hands in front of me and roll my neck, ready to get the show on the road. When the pianist begins to play the music Bri and Christine picked out for her bridesmaids to walk down the aisle to, everything in my body stills. Before a jumble of nervous energy, I’m now calm, ready to get through the wedding so I can finally call Bri my wife.
Harper and Maggie both walk down the aisle followed closely by Mia. Hazel, dressed in a poofy white dress, comes next, throwing out petals from a satchel around her waist in one hand while pulling a wagon behind her where Anderson is sitting. Everyone oohs and aahs and, as much as I agree it’s adorable and I love it, I’m watching those doors for one person, and one person only.
Aidan and Reece, our ushers, shut the doors to the back as the pianist trails off the song she’s playing. She looks at me and I’m sure the look I give back to her is full of annoyance, wanting to finally see my bride. She doesn’t seem to care, though. She just smiles.
Our preacher raises his hands, and everyone stands, the music changes, the doors open and there she is. Flanked by Andy on one side and my dad on the other, Bri’s smile is so bright I can feel it from where I stand.
My leg bounces and Cole reaches out a hand to my forearm. “Steady, man. She’s coming.”
I can’t take my eyes off her.
There’s not a single word in the English vocabulary that could match the beauty I see walking toward me.
“Why is she moving so slowly?” I grumble out the side of my mouth, causing Cole to snicker. My leg jerks and this time Cole places his hand on my chest, halting my movements.
“Let her come to you. This is her moment.”
I rub the tattoo on my wrist to bring a small amount of comfort. I got mine matching hers right after we got engaged. I blow out a breath, feeling my throat tighten. I always wondered what I would think when I saw Bri walking down the aisle to me. If she had been here for Mia and Cole’s wedding, this moment right here would be the second time I saw her walking down an aisle at a wedding.
Once again, I’m grateful life stepped in, allowed the twists and turns to come, because this moment right now… I’ll never in my entire life forget it.
My dad sees me jittery and shakes his head slightly, silently telling me to relax.
I was a little surprised she didn’t have her mom walk her down the aisle. When she asked Andy and my dad if they’d do her the honor of giving her away, I’m pretty sure they both teared up. She told my dad she wouldn’t be who she was today without his support, and since Andy was there for her during some of the hardest times in her life, treating her as his own, she felt there were no two better men for the job.
Bri’s smile is breathtaking, her green eyes shimmering.
When they (finally) reach the end of the aisle, I take a step but am stopped (once again) when the preacher asks, “Who gives this woman to this man?”
Christine and Andy along with my dad all say at once, “We do.”
My mom raises her hand. “I do, too! In case y’all wondered.”
The audience chuckles, but it does nothing to distract me from who’s standing before me.
My dad leans down, kissing Bri on the cheek. “Welcome to the family, officially.”
Andy walks her the rest of the way, reaching out a hand to shake mine. “I got her here as quick as I could,” he jokes.
I smile in his direction before locking eyes once again with the one who I always knew would standing beside me at the altar.
And then…
“We are gathered here today…”
I squeeze Bri’s hands, listening, but not really listening. Doing my best not to miss a thing but it’s like I have tunnel vision, and all I see and hear is her.
Head to toe, I look her over and over, cataloging everything I see so I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. Her off-the-shoulder white dress fits so perfectly it looks like it was made just for her. There’s lace covering every inch of fabric, all the way down to the short train behind her. It’s simplicity at its finest.
I look behind my bride to a beaming Maggie who winks, and it hits me that it was made for her. My little sister made my wife’s wedding dress.
And then something catches my eye. A really pale green Warrior logo is embroidered into the satin sash around her waist.
I almost laugh at the perfectness of it. The twinkle in Bri’s eyes tells me she feels the same.
When it’s time to say our vows, I begin speaking off the cuff. We went back and forth about writing our own—part of me said no, because those thoughts were for us and us alone, but in the end, we wanted the ceremony to be personal. The only thing was we decided not to pressure ourselves with writing them ahead of time.
“B, you were mine before we knew each other. I know this deep in my heart. There’s no one on this earth who is more right for me than you. You know by now how I feel about you, so right now I’m going to promise you something. Forever. You have my forever. The ugly days, the good ones, and everything in between. Until I take my last breath and even after, I promise you that you’ll feel my love for you. Always.”
I take a deep breath as Cole hands me the ring. “This ring, just like the tattoos on our skin, is a symbol of my promise.”
I slide her wedding ring on her finger and stare at it for a few moments before the preacher gains my attention again to let us know it’s Bri’s turn.
“Grady, I know you’ll be mad I’m saying this in our wedding vows, but I don’t deserve you. And it’s not because of why you think. It’s because there is no one better than you. That day I intercepted the football from you, you intercepted my heart. I took one look at you, and knew everything was about to change. You said you promise me your forever. Ditto,” she giggles. “I’m never letting you go again, and no matter what life throws at us, I’ll be by your side. Until I take my last breath and even after, I promise you that you’ll feel my love for you. Always.”
She smiles and bites her lip. “You stole my line,” I tease.
She shrugs. “It was
a good line.”
Mia clears her throat and hands Bri my ring. As she slides it onto my finger, she says, “This is a symbol of my promise to you. I’ll love you forever and never leave your side.”
When I finally hear I can kiss my bride, I snap back to full attention. I bend her over backward, not giving one single thought to everyone around us.
Everyone claps and cheers, a few catcalls are thrown out—probably from my players.
I hear Hazel giggle and tug on my gray suit jacket. “Alright, enough, Grady!”
I look down at her and cup her sweet cheek. “Never, sweet girl, never.”
Still smiling, she turns to her big sister. “It’s okay if we share, Bri. That’s what sisters do.”
Bri laughs, and I tuck her in close, kissing my wife on top of the head once again.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s my honor to finally introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Grady Ryan.”
First and always, all praise and thanks be to God for loving me endlessly and blessing me with the life I’ve been given. He waited patiently for me to recognize His love for me doesn’t come with restrictions or conditions.
Travis, for the past six months I haven’t been the easiest to live with and you kept me in check. You’re the best kind of book boyfriend to me. Thank you for continuing to love me through the good and bad but mostly for being mine. I love you beyond words.
Joey, this year wasn’t easy for you. You showed so much strength and integrity through some of the hardest times and man, I had no idea how brave you are until I witnessed it. Keep leading. I am SO proud of who you are - I love you beyond words.
Jake, your enthusiasm and gentle spirit just continues to shine in everything you do. Our family is so lucky to have your incredible hugs and happiness surrounding us. Thank you for being you – there’s no other way to describe it! I love you beyond words.
Riley, you, too, had a hard year. We learned a lot about ourselves and what I love most is that you displayed perseverance through all the challenges you were faced with. I am honored to be your mama. Thank you for being amazing. I love you beyond words.
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