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Brielle laughs at my side and shoves me forward.
My eyes meet hers, and she shakes her head, nudging me again. “Go on, Uncle Bro. I don’t see Maddoc playing in the water. I’d say there are some serious uncle points to be scored right now.”
“I fuckin’ love you,” I growl and run forward.
My brothers do a double take, spotting me coming and first, it’s confusion, then grins that take over.
I reach my niece, toss her in the air, and when she lands in my hands with a laugh, her tiny hands wrap around my neck. We run into the open ocean with matching screams of excitement.
“It’s coldies!” she shouts with a smile, and I plant a wet kiss on her cheek.
“It is, huh?” I grin, hugging her tight.
Her eyes shoot wide and she kicks her legs. “Papa, oh no!”
I spin to find Maddoc and Captain running this way, my dad now hanging between their arms.
They’re laughing and shouting, and they don’t stop, going down with him.
When they pop up, they make their way toward me with wide smiles.
They shift, standing silently beside me.
My dad shakes his hair out with a smile, a heavy dose of pride clouding his eyes when his hand clamps onto my shoulder. He gives me a good squeeze, steals his granddaughter and off they go in search of seashells.
My brothers and I, we share a look, but nobody says a thing, all of us breathing a little lighter now that we’re together.
I knew they were feeling it too, the heavy of the last few weeks.
These are times we need each other most.
It’s always like this and always will be.
We don’t like to be separated, and we have no reason to be.
We’re brothers. Best friends.
Our girls may be our other, better, more than necessary halves to our souls, but in order to be completely whole, this is what we need.
Each other, if for no other reason than to simply stand here, like this.
The three of us by each other’s sides.
The kings to our queens.
The boys of Brayshaw.
I look to Brielle, standing on Raven’s left, Victoria smiling up at them from her seat in the sand.
My girl lifts my nephew in her arms and hugs him tight to her chest, her eyes finding mine from across the water.
It’s then I make a silent promise, one she understands if her smile tells me anything.
She knows and trusts that if her sight grows dark, I’ll light her fucking soul on fire.
The flame will grow so wide, so bright, everything inside her will burn brighter than the sun could ever glow, then the stars could ever guide.
I will be her light.
And she will be my everything.
She doesn’t know it yet, but her cousin, Ciara, is on her way to town.
Come to find out, when Brielle left, her aunt went a bit wild as her paydays stopped coming, and Ciara was forced to deal with the fallout.
She didn’t call me, but I could sense my baby girl loved her cousin, even if she was an asshole to her most of the time, so I made sure someone was looking out for her.
Sensing my thoughts, Captain asks, “Maybell get the room ready for the cousin?”
I nod, not taking my eyes off our girls. “Yeah, she’ll share with the crazy, Valine, chick. Maybe they’ll both learn to chill the fuck out.”
We laugh, knowing it’s not likely.
Brielle says something to the girls, and then she lowers herself into a seat as Raven and Victoria make their way to us, warm smiles on their faces.
They felt the same loss my brothers did without me here, without us here, and they’re happy we’re whole once again.
I see everything so much clearer now, our purpose. And not just the three of us, but all of us as a unit.
Our girls and their roles alongside us, the power they hold on their own, it’s unmatched.
And Brielle, she was the missing link.
She is the pull, the venom others can’t wait to drown in.
Victoria, she’s the preface, the discoverer. She sees what others can’t.
Raven, she’s the endgame. The heavy push to the edge.
Together they can stand as a team with unbreakable strengths and equal roles, and that’s without us.
With us?
Now that’s an entirely different story.
Our family has never been stronger.
And that strength will only grow with time.
Speaking of growing...
“So.” I clap my hands and turn toward Maddoc and Captain, to Raven and Victoria. “How many times I gotta come inside her to put a mini-me in there?”
They gape at me, and all at once, the three of us start laughing and my body eases.
This is it.
This is where it’s at.BriellePhoenix and Zoey have been sleeping for the last hour, his little bassinet set up directly beside her bed—she wouldn’t lay down without him by her side—and Rolland’s just announced he’s done for the day as well, so it’s just the six of us. The boys are sitting around the mini bonfire at the end of the deck, waiting for us to return with drinks and snacks in hand.
