Beyond the Bases

“To play catch with me?” she asks shyly.

“Yeah, princess, to play catch with you. I promise to love you, my daughter, all the days of my life.”

She launches her little body at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I love you so, so much,” she whispers.

“I love you, too, P.” Standing with her still in my arms, I reach out for Larissa with my free hand.

“I do. For as long as I live, I do,” she blurts. “You love us, unconditionally. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Easton Monroe, but I thank God every day for bringing you into our lives. I do,” she says again.

“Easton?” the minister asks.

“I do,” I say past the lump of emotion lodged in the back of my throat.

“A little out of order, but the same result,” the minister chuckles. “By the power vested in me by the state of Tennessee, I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Snaking my free arm around her waist, I pull Larissa in and kiss her at the same time Paisley lifts her head from my shoulder and kisses my cheek.

Closing my eyes, I hold my entire world in my arms. I want to memorize this moment, this feeling of being complete. This feeling of knowing that as of today, not just in my heart but in the eyes of the law, we’re a family.

Me and my girls.