AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Upsetting this man was the last thing I ever wanted to do, but on this day, it was unavoidable. I was sure that was why Mom had chosen such a sexy dress, to distract him as much as possible. If he was being all growly and possessive over her, he didn’t have time to think about what was about to happen.
He had to walk me down the aisle, hand me over into Braxton’s safekeeping for the rest of eternity. My dad loved Brax like a son, that had never been in question, but even though he approved of my choice in husband, actually letting me go was destroying him.
“You look beautiful,” Daddy murmured as the others started down the aisle as they were supposed to. “I told Braxton how amazing you looked earlier, and he nearly climbed out a window to sneak a peek. Barrick and Howler had to basically bear-hug the poor bastard until it was time for them to take their places.”
My soft giggle filled the corridor outside the gallery. “I can definitely picture how that played out.”
“He’s a good man. I wish I’d been more like him at his age. More deserving.”
I tightened my hand around his arm. As far as I was aware, I was the only one he’d told about what had happened before he’d married Mom. When he’d shared a few details about his past with me, it had bonded us even more than we’d always been. “Daddy, whether you realize it or not, you were a good person all your life. Mom didn’t change you, she just brought out the best part of you. Because people don’t change that dramatically, no matter how much they want to think they can. You made mistakes, that’s true, but you were always the amazing man in front of me.”
His throat worked hard, and he opened his mouth to speak but quickly snapped it shut. After clearing his throat, he gave me a smile that trembled around the edges. “If it were anyone else who tried to say that to me, I wouldn’t have believed them, Nevi. But you’re the smartest person I know, so I have to believe you… Right?”
“Absolutely.”
Jaw clenched, he glanced along the aisle we were supposed to walk down in a matter of minutes. I followed his gaze and saw Mom take her seat beside my grandfather. “Does that mean I’m still a good man even if I end up killing a bunch of motherfuckers for eyeballing your mom in that dress?”
“She’s technically an angel,” I reminded him. “I don’t think it’s frowned upon to murder in the name of protecting angels.”
He popped his jaw left and right, causing his long hair to fall over his shoulders. “I’ll keep that in mind for the reception.”
I was still giggling when the music started. I watched as his throat worked roughly again. “I guess we should do this thing, huh?”
My gaze flickered to the aisle then back to him. “Yeah, I think it’s time.”
“Fuck,” he rasped. “Are you one hundred percent sure?”
“Closer to a thousand percent,” I teased, before growing serious. “It’s okay, Daddy. I know this is difficult. Just remember, you were the first man I loved, and you’ll be the last one too.”
His sharp inhale made my eyes sting, but he bravely gave me a nod, and we finally took that first step.
The one that carried me straight to the man who held my heart.
Directly to my future that was so perfect, I couldn’t imagine it was possible to get any better.
Epilogue
Drake
Braxton repositioned a sleeping Carver in his arms so he could open the door, while I lifted Conrad onto my shoulders and grabbed the packed diaper bag.
“G-Pop are we goin’a your house?” my eldest grandchild asked excitedly. There was nothing Conrad liked more than spending the night with G-Pop and G-Mom.
With nothing left but my teenagers, who were gone with their friends more often than home, I enjoyed my time with the grandbabies just as much as they seemed to like being with us. But after seeing the way Angel was dressed for her girls’ night out with my sisters-in-law and Nevaeh, I wouldn’t be able to indulge my grandson.
“Sorry, bud,” I said as we followed his dad out the door for the short walk down the block to where Braxton’s mom had bought a house.
At first, I hadn’t been all that pleased that Belinda Collins had moved so close. After that first meeting with her and her now ex-husband, the woman calling my baby a home-wrecking whore, I’d wanted to throw a few punches her way, too. Angel had taken care of her and ended up with a bruised hand for weeks. But after Nevaeh cleared everything up and we’d gotten to know our daughter’s new mother-in-law, we’d come to appreciate her.
Especially on nights like this.
With the boys wanting to hang out with me so much, Belinda didn’t get as much one-on-one time with the grandkids as I did, so she jumped at any chance to babysit. Something I was extremely thankful for because I needed to go find my wife and daughter before my son-in-law and I had to bury a fucking body.
“But I like your house bettah,” Conrad complained as we walked up the front steps to his grandmother’s home.
“Tell ya what,” I bargained. “Tomorrow, G-Mom and I will come over and pick you up. We’ll eat breakfast at my house, and then we’ll work on a new song together.”
“Yay!” he cheered. “And then we can take the car apart and put it back togethah?”
