Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,69

be a family thing.

He pulled Avery away from playing with Ethan’s triplets, then found Kate still sitting in the rocking chair. After he told them to stay put, he searched for Kade. It took a minute to wrangle him from where he was playing with Mason and Matthew. When asked about the tree, their unanimous decision was to plant it now.

“Where’re we puttin’ it?” Curtis asked Kade.

The little boy shrugged his shoulders. “Where should we put it, Pop?”

“I think I’ve got the perfect spot.”

Curtis carried Haden while Kate, Avery, and Kade trotted beside him down the steps and across the front yard. Travis grabbed Maddox while Gage helped Ethan and Beau by picking up Jack. The rest of the crew, adults and children, weren’t far behind them.

“What about right there?” Curtis suggested, pointing to an empty spot a few yards to the left of the big oak tree.

“Yay!” Kade squealed and took off running, more kids following him.

“That way Mother and I can watch over it every day.”

Travis felt his sinuses heat, eyes brimming. Because he didn’t trust his voice, he nodded his agreement.

The next hour was spent with everyone taking turns digging a hole despite the fact they had the machinery to do it in far less time. No one was in a hurry though, helping the kids scoop up dirt, toss it aside, each adult also taking a turn.

“How big is this tree?” Travis asked as he saw the hole continuing to get bigger and bigger.

“I figured we wanted somethin’ strong enough to weather anything.”

Just like Kylie, he thought to himself.

Once Gage was satisfied the hole was big enough, he disappeared, returning a few minutes later driving Pop’s tractor, a trailer hitched to the back and a good-sized magnolia tree with an enormous root ball strapped down.

It was when Travis’s brothers went to assist that Kate came over to hold Travis’s hand. He glanced down at his daughter, saw she had tears streaming down her pretty face. She was probably the only one of his kids who understood the real significance of this, and he hated that she did. He hated that they’d lost the most important person in their world.

But he hoped this would give them something to hold on to, something to remind them of her each and every day.

It took some time, but the tree was maneuvered into place, the root ball broken up some so that it would settle in like it should, then the kids were once again scooping dirt to fill the hole. Kate joined them then, a smile on her face.

“You realize there’re three more,” Gage said from Travis’s side.

He looked over at his husband. “Three? I thought there were two more.”

“I bought one for Jess. Figured we’d help her plant it at her house.”

Travis squeezed Gage’s hand. Leave it to him to think of others at a time like this.

As he stared at the tree, Travis sent up a silent note to his wife: Kylie, baby, I’m definitely going to marry him. Just like you asked.

It took the rest of the weekend for them to get the remaining three trees planted. With each one, there was a celebration and a toast, everyone coming together to celebrate the life of a woman who’d meant so much to them.

On Sunday night, after the kids went to bed, Travis moved his things back into their bedroom. He’d been sleeping in there for a week, but he hadn’t quite felt committed to it. Now it felt like where he was supposed to be.

He figured Kylie had something to do with that. Even gone, she was watching over him, ensuring he did what he was supposed to. It took a strong woman to wrangle a Walker, and he’d never known one stronger, with the exception of his own mother.

He was blessed to have had the time he did with Kylie, and it was time he lived up to her expectations.

But there was one more thing they had to take care of.

Chapter Twenty

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

“We’ve got her!”

Brantley stared at the phone sitting on his desk. Z’s words were still echoing in the room and all eyes were on Brantley.

“As in you found her?” he clarified. “Or you picked her up?”

Z exhaled, his voice calmer when he spoke again. “As in we know roughly where she is.”

Roughly? Brantley didn’t like the sound of that. He wanted that woman found.

Reese perched on the edge of the desk, glanced at Brantley, then down to the phone. “And that