Love like yours doesn’t come around often, so continue to cherish it for the treasure that it is.
To you both,
You make me proud just by living your lives, and I know I can only wait until we’re reunited, and you can meet my wee lass, Margaret.
All my love,
Archie
I wipe the tears away with the back of my hand, not bothering to do anything about Letty snatching the letter from Elijah to pass it around. I slide the three photos out, each one squeezing my heart tighter.
The first is a photo of Archie and me that he’d insisted Nurse Jenna take at one of our last infusions together. Followed by a blurry, candid image of Elijah on his knees, looking up at me like I hung the moon while he helped me into those horrendous cold socks. And the last just about shatters my heart. It’s an image of Archie and someone I can only imagine is his wife, holding hands with their butts in the sand as she looks over at the sunset, but Archie’s gaze remains fully focused on her, entranced by the woman he loves.
His expression is exactly the same as the one Elijah wears so often.
“He knew before we did,” Elijah whispers, peppering kisses on my head, smoothing a hand down my spine.
“This is so beautiful.” Chelsea sobs somewhere ahead of us, and Nakoa tries to get her to calm down.
As the family we chose chatter around us, I decide to get a little lost in the man I love, turning into his arms for a kiss that drowns out the world around us.
EPILOGUE PART TWO
FIVE YEARS LATER
“I’m so proud of our little Lijah. The Thick Thighs Save Lives Foundation is going to change the future of sports,” Nakoa says, slapping a hand to my shoulder and squeezing.
I shake my head at him. “That isnotthe name, and you know it, Nakoa. We’ve been over this.”
“Ignore him. I do,” Adhira says with a roll of those pretty cinnamon eyes.
I suck on a cinnamon lolly, slipping a hand in her hair, and press my lips to hers, catching her off-guard. She gasps into my mouth, lips parting just enough for me to slip the sweet under her tongue.
“Dude, get a room,” Nakoa grumbles.
“Let the lovebirds be,” Jelani jokes, patting me on the back as I release my wife despite my body pleading with me to keep her close forever. The massive purple butterfly tattooed over my heart for her doesn’t tide me over the same way as the butterflies on my arm always did for Mum and my sisters.
It’s been five and a half years together, and I’m still every bit as desperate to spend every waking moment with this woman.
“Elijah, are you about ready? The kids are all very excited to meet the players,” Evelyn, my publicist and one of the most ingenious people I know in marketing, says.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say with a nervous chuckle, following her out through the locker room and onto the pitch, where hundreds of people have come to support me and my not-so-little dream.
Adhira takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze as she follows me onto the small platform we’d set up for this purpose. Press snap photos all around us, my hands shaking and blood pumping with my old friend, anxiety.
“Ready on three, okay?” Evelyn whispers, switching the microphone on before handing it to me.
I drag in a deep breath as the crowd quiets down, my teammates and families of strangers gathered with their eyes on me.
“I’ll keep this short, not because I don’t have a lot to say, but because of a pesky fear of public speaking,” I say, releasing shaky laughter. The crowd eats it up, their laughter and Adhira’s constant presence easing me. “When I was picked up by the Wyvern Warriors, my only goals in life had been to play the sport I loved and make enough money to keep my sisters happy while doing it.”
Mum stands off to the side with Ellie and Lyla, two teenage girls who have grown into such lovely young ladies. My chest swells with pride, their wide smiles acting as a silent cheer.
“And over time, I met the most incredible woman who was battling something only those who’ve lived it can truly understand. I hate to say she fought cancer, because that feels a little like it diminishes the true weight of what she—and so many like her—have gone through to make it out the other side. Cancer isn’t a known entity, not a person with strengths that can be beaten through sheer determination. It’s an unknown beast that tries to pull the rug out from under you at every turn. The truth is, you can’t prepare for it. Nothing will ever truly prepare you for the unknown, the waiting, the treatments, the pain, the endless blood work, scans, andfear. And after experiencing the caretaker side of this truly terrifying illness, I wanted to find a way to show you all the strength you have—and allow you to feel even a fraction of the strength we each see in you every day.”
I crouch on the stage, Adhira following me without hesitation, as I get on eye level with the fifty or so children standing before me.
“You’re all here because you love sports, right?”
