She’d never felt so cherished or so beautiful.
ChapterFifteen
Kylee stood in the stands at Subaru Park in Philadelphia. It was the Premier Lacrosse League championship game. Boston was up fourteen to seven with seconds left in the fourth quarter, and her superhero was just showing off at this point. She stood in the front row, screaming along with Papa and all of Chandler’s immediate family and in-laws or future in-laws. Everyone except Hudson.
Joseph and Holly’s family had offered to stay home and take care of everything in the valley, but more importantly protect the secret. Esther’s fiancé Reed, the sheriff, had also decided to stay back and have his department help him monitor and protect the secret as well. His men didn’t know exactly what they were patrolling for, but they willingly did whatever Reed asked.
King Frederick had escaped the night of the fateful party and seemed focused on his wars with Poland and Germany, but they all knew the man had plans for world domination and it was spooky to think the only thing stopping him from launching nuclear bombs at America was the Delta secret weapon that he didn’t want to destroy. So the Delta family was all on high alert and as soon as this game was over, she and Chandler would head for Colorado with the rest of the family.
Everyone who attended the party was under quiet investigation, but so far no leads had come from it.
Her grandmother was currently in prison awaiting trial for attempted murder. Her grandfather had never been prosecuted and was still claiming Olivet had orchestrated everything, their marriage had deteriorated, and he had no affiliation with her or any of her schemes. Their house had been repossessed by the government, and any accounts associated with Olivet had been seized.
They had discovered that Nelson Palmer, who had sent Emery’s brother Travis, his own son, and another of Travis’s friends after the secret had actually been Olivet’s secret lover. So gross, but it made sense. She’d been paid millions of dollars by Frederick to get the secret and had done everything in her power to do so. In prison, she kept screaming about Davidson Delta hiding a weapon, but everyone admired Papa Delta and believed him when he said she was insane.
It was easy to believe Olivet Seamons was insane.
“Go Chan!” Esther screamed from next to Kylee as Chandler caught the ball, spun around one defender, then pushed his backside into another, shoving the man toward the goal as he progressed that direction.
The crowd started counting down. “10, 9, 8 …”
Chandler twisted around his defender and drilled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
The crowd went insane as the buzzer sounded.
Kylee screamed herself hoarse and took turns hugging each of their family members. Chandler and his teammates gave the other team handshakes and hugs and then they took a turn around the stadium, slapping hands with fans.
All the family hung over the railing to slap their hands. Chandler approached and his family went nuts. Grinning, he slapped each of their hands until he got to Kylee.
She batted her eyelashes at him. “Can I have your jersey, number eighty-three?”
He laughed, whipped off his jersey, and handed it to her. Kylee started laughing too, pinching the sweaty thing between her fingertips. “I love you, but I’m not putting that on.”
Everybody around them laughed as Kylee draped it over a stadium chair.
“Hey, bros,” Chandler said to Aiden and Thor. “Do me a solid and lift my girl to me?”
“Of course,” Thor said.
Before Kylee could do anything, she was swept off her feet and lifted over the barrier and into Chandler’s arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and even though he was sweaty, she couldn’t resist cuddling into him.
“Belle, hermosa, bellissima, linda,” he whispered for only her to hear. He kissed her softly and then asked, “When all this craziness with the secret settles, will you go to St. Lucia with me and elope?”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know I’ve always wanted to go to St. Lucia?”
St. Lucia and Chandler?Yes please!
“I’m just that good,” he said, smiling to himself.
“You actually are,” she admitted to him. “Oui, s’il-vous-plait, bien entendu, snalla, natuurlijk, niinpa tietysti, tottakai—”
Chandler laughed. “Please say all of those mean, ‘yes, take me away and marry me, my handsome love.’”
She winked. “That is exactly what they mean.”
“Perfect.” His blue eyes captivated her, telling her she was the only woman in the world for him. Then he bowed his head, and he kissed her.
The world lit up. She couldn’t get enough of him.
Chandler Delta, the man she’d loved since she was sixteen, had helped her change her opinion about herself. He had showed her what true love really meant. He was heramor verdaderoand herel campeón. Her everything.