Her cheeks are pink either from the kiss or the cold, maybe a bit of both? She’s smiling at me; pride and joy etched across her face. Both of our moms are grinning ear to ear. Oops. I forgot myself and forgot our parents are here. I sheepishly sneak a peek at Jim and notice he’s trying to look everywhere but me and hisdaughter at this moment.
I’m smiling so hard my face hurts I pull her in again, lifting her right off the ground, and she laughs against my shoulder.
“You kicked ass!” she giggles into my neck. I set her down and give her another quick kiss before making my way to the rest of my family.
I hug my mom first, and she just keeps saying, “I’m so proud of you, baby,” over and over until I’m laughing because she hasn’t called me baby since high school.
My dad claps me on the shoulder as he holds me. “I’m proud of you. So proud.” His voice is hoarse like he’s trying to hold back the tears.
“I owe everything to you and mom. Dad, I love you. Thank you.” I whisper against him.
He sniffs, taking a step back, allowing me a moment to hug Jim and Joyce. I spot Momma McCreary and blow her a kiss, which she catches and holds against her heart. Tyson spots the action and laughs.
Erica and her two best friends come up and shyly ask for hugs and pictures. I agree, who am I to deny Elle’s baby sister a picture.
“Say favorite future brother-in-law!” I joke, but as the words leave my mouth, I realize I mean it. I won’t be proposing for a long time, Ellie deserves to have her own time, her own space, the media would have a field day if I were to propose now and that’s not fair to her at all, but eventually. I’m putting a ring on her finger.
Elle hears my joke and rolls her eyes good-naturedly at it. Thankfully I didn’t freak her out as she slides in beside me, slipping her hand into mine, smiling at our families, like how this is how it was always meant to be.
Chapter 58
Elle
Listen, I thought I knew chaos as a kindergarten teacher, however, kindergarten chaos and Super Bowl chaos are two VERY different brands.
I find myself scrambling to get the days off that I need to be able to travel to California to watch Archer. Between making substitute teacher plans and discussing travel plans. I barely have time to process everything. Thank God for Jason, he took care of booking everything for us. He called me this morning and informed me he got me and my parents along with the Bells into the team family block of rooms at the hotel. He also got transportation arranged for us as well.
Archer owes this man a raise, an all-inclusive vacation and sainthood.
We spent the morning following the Conference Championship allocating the tickets Archer was able to purchase. Two of my siblings politely declined the tickets. Stella couldn’t justify the expense for her entire family although Archer assured her it wasn’t an issue, Easton declined even though it killed him, because Nikki is not allowed to travel being 37 weeks pregnant. Erica though, is living it up, she is attending with my parents.
Archer’s entire immediate family is coming of course, and Mari has been texting me about coordinating outfits.
Even with my family, his immediate family and grandparents, Archer still had 3 allotted tickets left, and he chose to use them for Cameron. Who we found out is one of eight children. He obviously wanted his whole family to be there so Archer gifted him his remaining tickets. Cameron tried to pay Archer for them, but Archer reminded him it was a gift. Archer is convinced that Cameron hid his face in his shoulder when he hugged him so he couldn’t see him cry.
I’m sitting on the couch, laptop in my lap as I write my final sub plan for the trip. A small box falls from above me landing on my laptop. I look up and see Archer looking at me with a nervous smile on his face.
“What’s this?” I ask, gingerly taking the box.
“Just open it please.” He says. He’s never been good at waiting for gifts.
“Fine, fine.” I fake sigh. I take the box, it’s neatly wrapped, he must have asked Steph to wrap it again for him. Taking my sweet time I slowly slide the ribbon off, Archer’s energy radiating off him in waves, prompting me to go even slower.
“Ellie” he whines, “you’re killing me here.”
Giggling and taking pity on him, I unwrap the tiny box at a normal pace. Opening the box I find a small golden charm, shaped like the state of California. “Youbought me a new charm?!”
“It’s to commemorate the Super Bowl.” He smiles. He moves next to me to help fasten the charm on my bracelet.
“There’s uh actually one more gift as well.”
“It’s not even my birthday!” I joke.
“It’s sort of a thing with the wives and girl friends, and I figured since you are going to be sitting with a lot of them, I didn’t want you missing out. Ty got Sadie one too, ya know since you two always match.” He jokes rubbing his neck. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.” He explains. “Arch. Just give me my present. Please.”
Laughing he sets another small box in front of me. This time it’s a delicate gold chain with a small diamond-encrusted pendant of Archer’s jersey number.
I gasp. “Archer.”
