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And then I decided.
Whichever team I got signed on with, I knew that I would be asking to make sure those people never stepped foot in the stadium when my family was there.
And judging by the look in Marcus’s eyes, he thought the same thing.
Chapter 24
Aliyah
Do you know how hard it is to buy a wedding dress while being ready to pop?
However, it was divine intervention that Braydon’s wife.. yeah.. you read that correctly, his wife was a kickass seamstress and she made my dress fit me perfectly.
We both wanted to be married before our daughter was born, however, with things changing and the fact that he had entered the draft, we hadn’t found the time.
Except on a beautiful mid-March day.
We had gotten married in William and Melanie’s backyard.
That was before they planned to rent it out to Culpepper so they could move with us to wherever Daemon got drafted.
And yes, Crew stood up with Daemon as his best man, but on my side, my big brother Marcus stood up with me.
And if you want to know how Daemon had allowed a few tears to slip from his eyes, that was the first time he saw me walking to him in my dress. And the second time, that was when the preacher stopped the ceremony right before he said, “Allow me to introduce…” He had handed Daemon adoption papers.
The big man that was all mine, dropped to one knee, pulled Crew into his body, and hugged him for all he was worth, and before he could open his mouth to ask for a pen, Melanie had rushed out of her seat and handed him one.
He signed the papers immediately, and then Crew smiled wide, “Love you, Dad.”
I watched as Daemon looked down at our boy and smiled, “Love you too, son.”
***
Sitting there in the green room with all of the players that were up for the draft, I grinned when I felt Keely kick.
Crew’s hand moved over to it as did Daemon’s.
And wouldn’t you know that she knew to cheer for her daddy before the call that had just come in?
My man. My whole world went as the number one draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams.
And yes, thankfully, because of a lot of inside trading that had taken place, they had also picked Marcus right after Daemon.
But that wasn’t the only thing that had taken place.
While Daemon and Marcus were on the stage taking pictures with their new jerseys, Culpepper had to run out there, and again on national television, he blurted out that my water had broken.
Wasn’t it something, flying in the Commissioner of the NFL’s helicopter to the nearest hospital?
Keeley Rae Campbell was born at six pounds and eight ounces, and she was every bit as perfect as one could imagine. And I freaking hoped that her hair color didn’t change, neither her eyes. Because if you put Crew and her side by side, they looked almost identical.
And that… well… I wanted that for Daemon and for Crew.
I never could’ve imagined that a chance encounter of Daemon sitting in another seat that day so long ago could have brought everything that has happened to life. But it did.
I had turned my head
And we sat there in the hospital as we watched Culpepper get picked up by the Panthers. Davis was picked up by the Giants. Braydon was picked up by the Titans. And Finch was picked up by the Cowboys.
