She Wore the Team Mascot Costume to Pay for College — Then the Star Quarterback Left His Cheerleader Girlfriend for Her
Chapter 15
Their wedding was held the following summer.
Emily’s mother cried from the front row.
Jackson’s father stood beside her.
Former teammates filled one side of the venue.
Emily’s university friends filled the other.
And on a table near the entrance sat one strange object.
The old buffalo head.
Someone had polished it.
A small card beside it read:
Where it all began.
Emily laughed when she saw it.
Jackson came up behind her.
“Thought you’d want it here.”
“I can’t believe you kept it.”
“You think I’d forget?”
She looked at him.
“You were the most popular guy on campus.”
“And you were hiding in a buffalo costume.”
“Exactly.”
He smiled.
“And somehow you still got me.”
She kissed him.
The ceremony was beautiful.
But what mattered most wasn’t the flowers.
The music.
The cameras.
Or the fact that Jackson Reed was now a professional football star.
It was the people around them.
Family.
Friends.
The people who had watched them become more than the stereotypes they had started as.
The star quarterback had learned that love wasn’t about appearances.
The poor student had learned that she never needed to become rich to deserve a beautiful life.
And the girl inside the buffalo costume had somehow become the woman standing beside the man who once seemed impossibly out of reach.
After the reception, Jackson and Emily stepped outside alone.
The night was quiet.
Emily looked at him.
“Do you ever think about that first game?”
“The one where I met Bruno?”
She laughed.
“Yes.”
“I remember.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought the mascot was weird.”
She punched his arm.
“Rude.”
He pulled her closer.
“Then I found out you were inside.”
“And?”
“I realized the weirdest thing was that I’d been looking for you without knowing it.”
Emily smiled.
He kissed her forehead.
Years earlier, she had worn a costume because she needed the money.
Now she wore a wedding ring because she had found a love she never expected.
And Jackson had once chosen a beautiful life because everyone told him it was perfect.
He finally understood that perfection had never been the point.
The point was finding someone who saw you when no one else did.
Someone who stayed when the cameras disappeared.
Someone who knew the person beneath the costume.
And for the rest of their lives, that was exactly what they chose to be for each other.
