“I thought he ignored the invitation?”
Wheeler broke away from the crowd and crossed the green grass in Ben’s direction. This happy occasion was about to come to an abrupt end with pack drama. Wheeler’s long strides slowed as he neared Ben, and his twin took a few steps back.
We watched in silence as the two brothers faced each other—neither speaking that we could tell. My heart clenched when Wheeler suddenly pulled him into a tight embrace. In that moment, I knew Ben had returned home for good.
Austin waved and then placed the flat of his palm on my back. “Let’s go, Ladybug.”
***
I carefully removed my veil and crown, deciding everything about that day was going into a memento chest. The chain on the ring kept catching on things, so I finally took it off and hung it around my neck. I’d thought about getting Austin a ring, but he said I’d already given him Travis.
We hadn’t made it to the highway yet, and I had a blast watching my sexy husband fill up the gas tank in his snazzy tux.
“I’m going to have to change clothes in a little while,” I said, scratching my neck. “This dress is starting to itch.”
“Wait until we stop at a hotel,” he suggested, lowering his visor. “I’m going to help you out of that situation.”
The desire that dripped from his words like warm honey gave me a flurry of tingles. It was a damn good thing I wasn’t in heat, although it wouldn’t have mattered. While I hadn’t talked to Austin about it, I’d decided that someday I’d like to try to have another baby. Maybe my body wasn’t ready before, but after Travis, it certainly was now. I felt a renewed sense of strength like never before.
I flipped through a magazine, looking at celebrity pictures while the turn signal was clicking. When the car slowed to a stop, I glanced up, assuming we were at a red light.
But we weren’t.
Austin had driven me to a cemetery.
“Tell me this isn’t our final destination,” I said jokingly.
I thought he’d made a wrong turn until I saw the familiar gates I’d driven through every year on this date since I was twenty.
Austin drove up the road and eased the car to a stop. “I couldn’t let you leave without saying good-bye. You come here every year on this day.”
“Yeah, but maybe that tradition is too depressing on our wedding day.”
“Bullshit.” He popped the door open and got out, rounding the front of the vehicle and then opening my door. “Let’s go see your brother.”
Without argument, I took his hand and let him lead me across the grass toward Wes’s grave. Since I didn’t have a raised headstone to follow, I always found it by taking a left before the maple tree.
Today I didn’t have to.
“Wait a second.” I turned around, confused. “Are you sure we’re in the right place? I think you made a wrong turn.”
He led me forward until we reached the grave with Wes’s name on it. We were definitely in the right spot, but…
I gasped. “Who did that?”
At the head of Wes’s grave was a statue of a man sitting Indian style, his fingers laced together and head slightly tilted. But it was the familiar smile that kept me frozen in place. Someone had sculpted him in the likeness of Weston Loyal Knight, my brother. Not a brother by blood, but one by heart.
“I had to get permission from your mother, and then I had to pay off the owner. Turner helped me out when the man wasn’t willing to agree. We had to give him wings or it was a resounding no, but I think Wes would have liked that.” Austin turned to face me, his hands cupped around my neck. “You come here every year to talk to him, Lexi, but you don’t realize he’s everywhere you go. I wanted to surprise you with this so that coming here wouldn’t always be a negative experience, but something to look forward to. You’ll be able to look at him instead of a shitty marker in the dirt. I wasn’t sure what kind of material to use, but a guy I talked to suggested bronze instead of stone because it’ll last longer. You’ll be coming here for hundreds of years, and so will our kids. They need to know where the Weston name came from—the kind of man it came from. Someone who lived with conviction—who protected the ones he loved and was loyal until the end. I couldn’t bring him back, Lexi, but this was the best I could do.”
Tears flooded my eyes.
While the name Loyal wasn’t on the plaque, someone had inscribed it on a small patch on the front of his jacket.
“I didn’t think I had any tears left in these ducts. Damn you, Austin.”
He wiped one away with a tender sweep of his thumb. “Tell him about your special day, and then we’ll head out.”