“I love you, Ian. I loved you with all of my heart when you were here, and I will love you until the day I take my last breath. And I know you would want me and our kids to be happy. I’ve met someone who loves me and loves our children like they are his own. He protects us and watches over us. He’s already put his life on the line once to save our kids and once to save me. He’s a good man, and I hope you will give me your blessing to bring him into our family, not as a replacement, but as an extension.”
Chills ran up my spine and my skin broke out into goosebumps when I heard the sound of a police siren in the distance followed by a strong gust of wind. I smiled toward the sky. “I’ll take that as your blessing.”
I gasped when I looked back down. A cardinal was sitting on top of his headstone no more than a foot from where I sat. “Thank you, Ian.”
I pushed to my feet and turned to find Kellan walking toward me at a slow pace. “Do you need more time?”
“No, we just finished,” I said with a soft smile. I reached for his hand and pulled him closer. “Ian, this is Kellan Ward. Um, I think you two have already met.”
Kellan’s cheeks flushed as he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’ve been here a few times before.”
A female cardinal landed on Ian’s headstone beside the male who was still sitting there quietly watching us. “Look,” Kellan whispered.
“I know. The male showed up right after I asked Ian for his blessing,” I said softly. “There’s another pair over there, too.” Kellan turned to where I pointed and slapped his hand over his mouth. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing,” he croaked. “Those are my parents’ graves.”
Once again, my skin broke out into goosebumps. I turned backed to Ian’s headstone. “Message received.”
“Avery,” Kellan called. When I turned to face him, it was my turn to slap my hand over my mouth. Kellan was down on one knee with a sparkling diamond ring pinched between his fingers.
“I wasn’t going to do this here, but I think they want me to,” he said and paused for a moment. “I love you, Avery, with every breath of my being. And not because of our past. Because of our future. We were brought together by a power much greater than us. I love you, Riley, Braxton, and Sienna, and I want us to be a family. Forever. Marry me, sweetness.”
“Yes! A hundred times yes!”
Epilogue
Savior
One Month Later
“Kellan,” Riley whispered—which wasn’t anything close to a whisper. “We need your help.”
“With what? We’re supposed to be leaving in just a few minutes,” I reminded her and started making my way up the stairs to see what she needed.
“We made a present for Sienna and we want to hang it in her room before she comes home,” Riley explained.
“Okay,” I said and glanced around. “Where’s the present?”
She giggled. “In her room.”
I followed her to the nursery and came to a complete stop when my eyes landed on a piece of poster board in the middle of the floor. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Riley proudly asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I blurted. “Has your mother seen this?”
“No! It’s a surprise for her, too.”
I cleared my throat and lied to a child for the first time in my life. “Well, I don’t know if I have the right tools to hang it on the wall before we bring Sienna home. But, let’s go ahead and show your mom before we leave. I don’t want it to get messed up if we leave it on the floor.”
“Okay,” Riley agreed. “Mommy! Mommy! We got a surprise for you!”
I quickly filled the doorway to intercept Avery. “Sweetness, we’ll deal with it later, but they’re extremely proud of themselves.”
“What did they do?” she whispered.
I knew I couldn’t explain and keep a straight face, so I stepped to the side and revealed the picture Riley and Braxton made for Sienna.
“Surprise!” Riley and Braxton shouted.
