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“I know. It’s just a promise that we’re giving this a try. I know it’ll take time for you to trust me again.” I flash my hand at her. “I never took mine off. I’m committed to this. To you. To making this work.”

She presses her lips to mine, and we leave the jewelry store a short while later with the ring on her finger.

We arrive a little later to the restaurant than her siblings, who are already seated when we show up.

“Wow!” Ainsley yells when she spots the shiny new hardware on my wife’s ring finger. “Did he? Did you?” She’s not finishing her sentences as she grabs Ivy’s hand to stare at the ring. “And the halo. Oh my God, Cash, good work!”

I laugh.

“Welcome to the family, bro,” Dex says to me, and he stands and gives me a bro-hug. I slap him on the back and greet the rest of my in-laws.

That is definitely not something I ever expected to say to the Bradley family, but here we are.

We place our orders, and this feels like family. Despite the heaviness of learning their father is off to prison for the next decade, there’s still laugher and joy around the table. Maybe because he wronged each of these people in different ways, or maybe because the very man behind their own family legacy is behind bars now and can no longer threaten or intimidate them.

They’ve leaned on each other, sometimes leaning away from each other, but in the end, they’re family.

And now I’m a part of that, too.

And nothing screams that more than when Dex thumbs in my direction and yells to the rest of the family, “Did you hear what this douchebag did to me at a charity event?”

I grin and shrug as he tells the story. Archer laughs so hard that Sprite comes out of his nose, and Ford actually snorts.

Yeah, I think that I’m going to fit in just fine with this family.

CHAPTER 49: Ivy Maddox

Worth the Risk

I can’t stop staring at the ring.

The little halo of diamonds under the oval diamond is so gorgeous. I can’t get over it. I can’t believe this is mine. I can’t believe any of this is real.

It doesn’t excuse what he did, but he did show up for me. He’s here fighting.

It’s an incredible first step.

The more I sit here beside him at brunch with my whole family, the more I see how well he fits into this picture.

Dex teases him mercilessly, but Cash dishes it right back. Madden’s happy to have someone to team up with against Dex, and Ainsley is getting such a kick out of all of it.

The brunch is over far too quickly when it feels like I could sit here forever with the people I love most in the world all gathered together. We’ll all scatter back home, wherever that may be, and we won’t get together for a while again.

“Hey, while everyone’s here,” Madden says as if he can read my thoughts. “I think I told you all this separately, but Kennedy and I are finally doing this thing on February nineteenth. Save the date.” He glances at Kennedy as if to ask if that was okay, and she rolls her eyes.

“We’d love for you all to be there,” she amends.

Cash leans in. “I think we’ll be on Olympic break then, and I’m not playing, so I should be good to go.”

I turn to look at him, and I can’t help a smile. “You think I’m going to ask you to be my date?”

He chuckles, and we raise our glasses in congratulations to them.

For just the briefest moment, I feel a little jealous that I didn’t get the big wedding. I didn’t really even get a proposal unless we’re counting earlier today outside the courthouse.

I glance at the ring again.

Yeah, it counts.