I sat down at the kitchen table and looked at all of them. Ten faces were staring back at my beautiful bride and me.

“So?” Ari said as she wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“So…what?” I flashed them all a smile. I knew why they had come over. “You’re all kid-free tonight, and you’re sitting here with two old people.”

“Speak for yourself. You’re as old as you feel, and honestly, I feel like I’m only fifty,” Emma said as she sat down next to me but not before she kissed me softly on the cheek.

“Oh, don’t play innocent with us. I think we’ve all waited long enough to hear the ultimate love story. Come on, Gramps, you once told me that your and Grams’s love is a forever love. Spill it,” Gunner said as he glanced at Ellie and then back at me.

“Now, why do y’all want to hear our story?” I raised my eyebrow at them.

Ari let out a laugh. “Please. I know you two still keep a quilt in the back of your truck, old man. There’s a reason you have a sixth sense when it comes to sex.”

“Ari!” Ellie, Heather, and Amanda said at the same time.

I chuckled as Emma reached over and grabbed my hand. I peeked over at her, and when she smiled at me, my heart skipped a beat. It took me back over fifty years to that moment when I’d realized I would do whatever it took to see that smile every day for the rest of my life.

“Well, I can tell ya one thing. This woman sitting here put up one hell of a fight,” I said as I winked at Emma.

“I was just playing hard to get, that’s all,” Emma said as she looked at the kids.

“Gramps, tell us what it felt like the first time you saw Grams,” Gunner said with a slight smile.

I let out a chuckle. “Y’all want a story, huh?”

“Yes!” they all said at once.

Emma and I both started laughing. I glanced over at her, and she nodded her head.

“Well, if we’re going to tell this story, I need a beer and a sweet tea,” I said.

Ellie and Ari both jumped up and scrambled to get the drinks. My sweet Ellie handed me a beer and flashed her beautiful smile at me.

Oh, how she reminds me of my Emma.

Ari placed a sweet tea down in front of me and another one in front of Emma.

I took a drink and looked around at each of them. I loved them all like they were my own, and my dream was for them to have the kind of love that Emma and I had been blessed with.

“I’ll never forget the first time I ever laid eyes on Emma Rose Birk. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating, and I fought like hell to catch my breath.” I closed my eyes and could still see her piercing gray eyes staring back into mine, like it had happened just moments ago. “It was 1956, and I was seventeen…”

Mason, Texas

Summer 1956

I jumped out of Billy’s truck and made my way over toward the drugstore. It was another hot summer day in Mason, and I was exhausted from burning thorns off the prickly pears.

“Garrett, are you sure you want to take over your dad’s ranch someday? I mean, we could move to Austin and have completely different lives than what our dads had growing up in this little town.”

I smiled as I shook my head. Billy was like a brother to me, but he and I had very different ideas on where we saw our lives going.

“I want to be a cattle rancher. It’s my dream.”

“All right, but don’t be jealous while I’m in Austin getting laid by different girls every other day.”

I let out a laugh and hit him on the back. “Keep dreaming.”

We walked into the drugstore, and I couldn’t wait to get something cold down my throat. I glanced around, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the blonde girl sitting at the counter. She was in between Margie and Anna, and I couldn’t help but notice Wayne standing there.

Anna glanced up and smiled.

Shit. I was hoping that Wayne would have made Anna forget her crush on me, but it looked like that wasn’t happening.

All Anna ever did was tell everyone how I was on the stick, and we would make great babies with her blue eyes and mine. We were both smart, organized, and good-looking.

“Why, if it isn’t Garrett Mathews,” Anna purred.

The blonde spun around, and that was when her eyes met mine. I was pretty sure my heart had just dropped to the floor, and I was having a hard time breathing for a few seconds.

“Mathews? What in the heck is wrong with you?” Billy asked as he slapped me on the back.

As she slowly smiled, I shook my head and about dropped down to my knees. No girl had ever had such an effect on me.

None.

I had already had my fair share of girls. None of them had meant anything to me though, and the fact that they had all been easy turned me off.

“Wow…check out the new girl,” Billy said.

I smiled back at her, and I was positive her reaction toward me was the same one I’d just had. She quickly looked down and then back up at me. She gently bit on her lower lip and turned back to face Margie, who whispered something into her ear. The blonde snapped her head up and gave me a funny look before glancing over at Billy.

“I think I just got a woody,” Billy said with a chuckle.

I quickly looked at him. Jerk.

“Come on, Mathews. Let’s go say hi.”

I drew in a deep breath and started to make my way toward everyone. When I saw Anna jump up, I gave Wayne a look, and he grabbed her and started talking to her. Just the fact that a guy had his hands on her caused her to forget about me. She just wanted to suck in all the attention. Everyone talked about how Anna had slept with half the school. She and I had hooked up earlier this year, and then she’d quickly moved on to my three best friends—Raymond, Billy, and Wayne. Now, she was back to me, trying for a repeat, but one of the biggest mistakes of my life had been screwing Anna King in her bedroom when her parents were in Fredericksburg.

Margie stood up and smiled at me. “Garrett, Billy…I’d like you to meet my cousin, Emma Birk. Emma, these are some good friends of mine, Garrett Mathews and Billy Bauer. We’ve known each other since…what? First grade?”

Billy let out a loud laugh. “Something like that.”

He reached out his hand, and Emma shook it as she smiled. When she glanced over at me, I momentarily forgot how to talk. Finally, I tilted my head and tipped my cowboy hat. I held out my hand, and she stood up.

“It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Miss Birk.” I gave her the smile that I knew drove the girls crazy.