Chapter 15 - Tyler

The phone call never came. We were a little bummed, but I had only been in the minors for a few months. The Coyotes ended up using their back up catcher. They traded some players and got a catcher from a different team not long after.

Molly and I had a long, tearful goodbye before she left to drive back to Trinity Falls. We did have a good laugh as she said this was probably going to be her last time being able to drive to one of my games until after the babies were born. Her baby belly was getting so big that she could barely touch the pedals anymore with her short legs. I raised the steering wheel as much as it would go to give her a little more room, but I didn’t think she’d be able to drive much longer. I was more bummed about not getting to spend time with her than I was about not getting called up, but I understood and just wanted the babies to be healthy.

During the next few weeks, the team was doing awesome and the Lightning moved into first place in our division. One big thing that changed was Hunter’s roommate decided to give up on baseball and went back home. I talked to the coaches and was able to move in with him. We were much happier living together.

Molly continued to work with the contractors to design our perfect home. She decided on keeping Cupcake Curveball the same downstairs. Why change what had been working? She decided on a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom layout for the upstairs and kept the kitchen similar to what had been there. She wanted a bigger master bathroom with a garden bathtub and a bigger shower with a special detachable shower head.

The babies were both going to be in one bedroom with a baseball theme.

The third bedroom would be a guest room/office. Molly said she hated having to go downstairs to do the books for the bakery, so this way, she would be able to do that upstairs as well. It made a lot more sense for her to have the babies with her in the office.

She did surprise me by making the fourth bedroom a workout room for me. She said when I was home, she wanted me as close as possible. Molly also said once she had these babies, she wanted to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight as soon as possible. She found a used treadmill, stationary bike, and a weight rack that were currently in the storage unit we rented.

To make all the upgrades and add-ons more affordable, the Tigers, Pen, and Emma said they would help paint and do as many cosmetic things as possible to lower the costs. I wished I could be there to help, but she said to keep playing my best. Molly hated to do it, but she had to take out a loan to pay the difference in all the upgrades that the insurance didn’t pay for.

Dominic and Molly got a letter from the DNA lab saying they shared 55% of the same DNA. We were all confused, but the letter went on to further explain that sibling DNA testing was not as conclusive as paternity testing, and it relies on both statistics and probability. Full biological siblings share 50% of the same genes. I was video chatting with Molly when they got the results that they were full siblings and wished I could be there for her. She and Dominic hugged and cried together.

Molly was craving pizza, so Dominic took her out to eat at the Pizza Corner and spent some time together, just the two of them. I knew she had me and her friends, but I was glad to know there was a brother close by and available to help her, if needed. They may have just found each other, but you could already see how Dominic was as protective of Molly as he was of Emma.

Emma moved to Trinity Falls about a week after Dom and Molly got the news about being biological siblings. She found a studio apartment in the same complex that Penelope lived in, and she continued to work with Stefan to design her daycare. Emma had found a daycare that was closing a few towns away from Trinity Falls and was able to get a lot of supplies for her daycare at a discounted price. The guys had helped her rent a truck and hauled everything for her. She now had cots, child-sized tables and chairs, toys, cribs, play equipment, books, games, and other items she would need, and everything was being stored in our storage unit.

Emma was very excited when she found out that Shiloh already had her CDA (child development associate certificate) and hired her to be a full time teacher. She also hired two high school girls to help with the daycare. Jordyn Reeves was actually the Tiger’s hitting coach, Mark Reeve’s daughter and loved helping with children. Her best friend, McKenna Foster, planned to go to college in a year to become a teacher and this was the perfect job for her.

Mack had decided to take the rest of the season off to spend time with Nico. Coach Snyder was going to be the interim head coach, and they hired someone to replace Snyder as the pitching coach.

Adam McAlister was working on adjusting to his and Nico’s new reality without Ashleigh and helping Nico to learn to communicate. He texted me a lot to let me know how things were going. Nico was at a school for the deaf in Cincinnati and learning quickly. Mack was taking adult sign language classes and trying to learn as much as he could. He told me he hoped to coach the Tigers again next year but had to find a nanny in order for that to happen. I was worried he would end up staying in Cincinnati and not return to the Tigers.

Penelope and Molly had lots of orders coming in for custom desserts and were kept busy. Molly did promise she was staying off her feet as much as possible. She also decided to use some of her insurance housing money to “rent” the family room from Penelope and Shiloh. Penelope used the rent money to buy the ingredients needed for their custom bakery orders and to put towards buying stuff for Cupcake Curveball. Molly loved spending time with them but couldn’t wait to have her own space again.

I missed my wife like crazy. We talked on the phone, video chatted, and texted as much as we could, but it wasn’t the same. I wasn’t sure when I would be able to see her next, but it had been a long five weeks without holding her or touching her.

“Hey! Great game today!” my wife said with a huge grin on her face as soon as I answered the video call request.

“Thanks! It felt good! Reamer pitched a great game.”

“Be sure to tell Hunter that his diving catch was amazing! If he were playing for the Coyotes, it would have been on SNC’s top plays for sure!”

“I will tell him. He’s got a nasty grass burn from the landing, but he wears it proudly,” I said with a chuckle. “How was the baby shower today? I’m bummed I had to miss it.”

“Oh, hush! Guys are never at showers. Oh my gosh, Ty, our babies are going to be so spoiled!”

“Don’t tell me guys aren’t at showers, baby. I got selfies from Cooper, Dom, Hayden and Ivan eating cake and playing baby games.”

“I was trying to make you feel better. Most guys don’t come to showers. Your friends are a different breed.”

“They’re your friends, too,” I said with a laugh. “They had a night game and were able to come. They heard about free cake, and that’s all they needed to know.”

“Cooper actually won the ‘guess the size of Molly’s belly’ competition. He, of course, gave his prize to Peyton.”

“Of course, he did. What was the prize?”

“A manicure set with nail polish, lotion, and other things like that. Cooper did promise to let her paint his toenails blue.” I laughed out loud, but that didn’t surprise me at all.

“What did the guys get you as gifts?”

“They and some of your other teammates all went in together and got us two boxes of diapers in every size, from newborn to size 5. It was an awesome gift that we will definitely use! They also got us two little Tiger jerseys with your number 7 on them. They said it doesn’t even matter that you’re not a Tiger anymore. I cried, of course.”

“I’m so glad they did that. We have some pretty amazing friends.”

“Yes we do! Oh! Guess what? Cupcake Curveball and our apartment has drywall now! Stefan and I went over paint colors and wallpaper. It’s really looking like a bakery and house. He says it”s still on track to be done by the time the babies come. As long as they don’t come early.”

“Next time you go there, do a video call. I want to see how it looks,” I said. “And tell those children of ours that they better not come too early because I want to be there when they are born. The off-season is the perfect time for them to be born.”

My wife smiled and said she hoped they stayed in as long as possible.

“So, what were some of the best gifts you got?”

“Julia and Rob got the diaper bag I wanted. It has baseball stitching on it. Your mom got me the pregnancy body pillow I have been drooling over. I am going to sleep well tonight.”

“I’m glad she got that for you. She asked what you really needed, and that’s what I told her.”

“Thank you! I love it so much! Of course, we got a lot of gender-neutral and baseball clothing, baby toys, baby accessories, and gift cards.”

“Very nice!” I said. “How about your girls? I’m sure they went above and beyond.”

“Meadow and Pen definitely did! They got the double stroller I loved. It has cup holders along with sun shield canopies and tons of storage. But it has the feature I love the most. The seats are side by side so the babies will be able to see each other!”

“That sounds great. I can’t wait to go on walks with you and our babies. Hunter said to tell you that he is going to get you the double jogging stroller. That way I can run with the babies and not get a ‘dad bod’ yet.”

Molly laughed, “Tell him I said thank you. I was sad you weren’t here, Ty, I am glad that Dom, Ivan, and Cooper were there to help me move everything from my car to the storage unit. We got so much stuff! We are ready for the babies. Now, we just need a home to put everything in.”

“As you told me, it’s coming along. I’m so glad the guys were there to help you.”