Brantley's POV:

Sinking down into one of the little chairs that had been left in the barn, I thought about everything that Nick had said. His words had not been anything that I haven't already heard from my own parents. I hadn't even been all that shocked when he called me out on that childhood crush from all those years ago. What had shocked me was the flare of want that slammed into me; not the sexual kind of want where all you wanted was to get a woman beneath you and lose yourself in her body, forgetting everything but what was going on in that moment. The kind of want that hit me was the kind where the tiniest little bit of hope that you could be happy again had crept in. And I honestly didn' know how to process that.

Amber had been the love of my life, the woman that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, whom I was going to raise my kids with and help her achieve every single dream she had with just as much passion as she had supported mine –even when my journey had led me down a dark and lonely path. I'd done things to push her away, changed my ways and developed a different focus so that one day I could have her back. And when I did have her back in my life, I thought that it would be for forever.

I knew that my life would never be the same, that I would always wonder what could have been if things hadn't happened the way they had. I knew that part of me would always feel guilty or that I could have prevented Amber's tragic death had I just listened to her and stopped for directions. But because of Nick's words, I felt as if maybe things wouldn't be like this forever, that one day, I would be able to smile and it would be genuine and not fake.

Mama liked to say that as long as you had faith in something, it didn't matter how small it was. Her favorite thing to reference in size to the amount of faith you needed was a mustard seed. And I won't lie, with everything that happened with Amber, I was struggling with my faith. How could a God that loved us and wanted us to love happy and fulfilling lives take the person that was practically your other half? And in such a tragic way? How could a God that loves us so much that he sacrificed his only child want a child to suffer the loss of one of their parents? I really just didn't understand. But Nick's words had caused the miniscule amount of faith that I still held on to grow, even if it was just a tiny bit.The fact that he was talking to me about all of this, about his own daughter and her struggles, was the kick in the ass I guess that I had been needing. Not that I was ready to dive head-first into the world of dating or anything but I was open to the idea of attempting to let someone into my inner circle that isn't family.

"I'd want you to be happy..." Hearing the words –words that sounds just like Amber had spoken them– I looked around the barn, panic and hope mixing inside my chest making it feel as if a weight had been stelled right over my heart, making me wonder if the last year had been a fucked up dream and I was just now waking up from it. But when I didn't find her, I knew that the past year had in fact been real, that my new life was indeed my real life.

But even as I felt sorrow over not finding her standing in a corner somewhere, the words I'd clearly heard kept replaying like they were on a constant loop.

I hadn't even realized that I had stood from the chair and made my way out into the backyard until I heard Braylen squeal joyfully, pulling me from my trance. And what I saw made my heart skip a beat and my steps to falter. There, in the middle of the backyard, was Delaney with my daughter lifted high above her head, as if she was giving her a plane ride. Barrett ran down being them, making gun sounds as if he was trying to shoot the plane out of the sky. I heard Chloe and Colton laughing as they gave chase as well. And behind them the puppies followed, stumbling more than they were actually running.

"She's really good with kids if you can't tell." Said Nick, moving to my side. I'd been so lost in the picture playing out in front of me that I hadn't even realized he was near me. "She worked her way up pretty fast at her last school. Going from a teacher all the way up to assistant principal. Maybe it's just me talking out my ass but I believe that daughter of mine would have been the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg county schools within the next two years had she decided to stay in Charlotte."

"She works in instruction?" I asked, an idea blossoming in my mind.

One of the positions I needed to fill at the school I was starting in honor of Amber was that of a principal. But the role wouldn't strictly be just that. Whomever I hired for that spot would ultimately be the chief administrator, handling all the big issues that came about since my career wouldn't allow me to always be available.

The importance of the position was the reason I was finding it hard to place just anyone in the role. The person who took the job would be the face of the school even though it would be named for Amber. The person who took the position would handle my late wife's legacy and make the school into what Amber had wanted it to be –with my help of course.

"She does." said Nick. "She wont brag about her accomplishments but as her daddy, it's my job to do just that."

"As parents, we have the right to brag." I said, looking over at Nick before turning my attention back to the kids and Delaney.

"You got that right." Chuckled Nick. "It's one of my favorite things to do. My Ladybug sure has given me plenty to brag on. I swear, she is my greatest accomplishment."

"Well in that case, brag away."

Nick laughed again before he began touting on his daughter.

"Her first year teaching, she had a really strong-willed bunch of third graders. The previous year, this same group of students had caused their teacher to retire early because they were that bad. Del had a rough go of it in the beginning, wondering if she had made the right choice in careers. But she finally found an in with them, a way to keep them engaged and interested in what was going on. It meant a lot of hours of searching the internet for ideas and a lot of trial and error. But by the end of the year, she had turned that group of kids into one of the best behaved and highest scoring groups in the school. The school presented her with an award for her work with the kids and even gave her the option to follow that group right though elementary school.

"Fast forward a couple of years and an assistant principal position opened up. Del had been hesitant about applying for it, thinking that she's too young and that people would resent her for taking a position that should go to someone more seasoned than her. Well, when some of the other teachers found out why she didn't want to apply, they threatened to pull their own applications because they wouldn't feel like they had earned the job unless they had one of the best teachers in their district to go up against. When word came down that Del had gotten the job, the other teachers had praised her promotion, telling her that she deserved it for her work with the kids and her love and compassion for them and their education.

"Del carried that love for education into her new position, implementing things that she had found worked into all the classrooms. The school did a complete turn around, going from a low-performing, bad-behavioral environment to a model school for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district."

"Wow." I said, at a loss for words. How Delaney couldn't walk around bragging about what she'd done for the school while raising her own kids and dealing with a husband that was on the road for work, I'll never know.

"Yeah." Said Nick, pride in his daughter floating in his tone. "She would never have left that school unless it was to be in charge of all the schools in the district had things not happened the way they did. She hasn't flat out said it but I think leaving those kids, her coworkers, and the relationships she had built with them behind had been harder than the divorce itself."

"I can see how that could be true." I replied. "So, with all those accomplishments, I'm sure she has schools battling to have her on their teams already."

"She's had a few offers." said Nick, looking me in the eye. "The problem is, she doesn't want to just work in a school system. She wants to be part of something bigger. She wants to be part of something that makes a positive change in the lives of the kids she works with. Plus, there is the fact that while Alex isn't a celeb like yourself," Nick bumped his shoulder against mine, joking with me about who I was to the world outside of Jefferson. "He is well-enough known that the schools near here don't offer the security that she needs for the kids. And I don't have to explain the lengths that a fan of someone will go to in an effort to get to the person they are obsessing over."

"No, you don't." I replied, thinking about all the people that had tried to get to my mama,my daddy, my brother, Kolby, and even my aunts and family friends thinking that if they did, they could get to me. "So what's her plan?"

"Right now, she's looking at homeschooling them just because she can keep them safe and out of the eye of the public. Because of Alex's connection to William, fans have eaten up every detail about their divorce, more than a couple of times blaming their mom for their dads actions. She knows that she can't shield them from everything bad in the world but she wants to do everything in her power to make sure that they are kept safe."

"Well, what about Arc?" I asked.

"How close is it to being opened?"

"Got a couple positions to fill but we're almost there; principal and chief administrator beign one of them."

"And I'm assuming PJ would be the head of security?"

"I can't think of anyone else that I trust with my kids more than him. He's been in their lives since they were born. He's been their protector when I wasn't there. As much as I hate to admit it, he was the shoulder they could lean on when I couldn't be what they needed."

"Am I right in understanding that security and privacy would be at the top of the list as far as priorities?"

"Absolutely." I said. "You know as well as everyone else that Amber and I wanted to keep our kids' lives as private as possible while not hiding them from my fans. When she had this dream of opening the school, it was because she wanted the kids to be able to go to school with kids their own age but kids that knew what it meant to have a parent that was a household name without sending them to some prestigious private school that would turn them into spoiled ass little shits."

"Well Brantley, I'm not telling you what to do, but I think we both know who you need to put in that position at the school." he said. "But just in case you were wondering, she's right here in your backyard playing with your kids."