Chapter 8 - Molly

“Oh my gosh, we are so cute!” I cried as I looked at my reflection next to Ty’s in our motel room bathroom mirror.

“I have to say that you did a great job!” Ty said as he pulled the shirt down over my stomach and rubbed it gently.

Ty was wearing a white shirt with blue lettering that matched the Raptor’s uniform. I had made him a shirt with puffy fabric paint that said: “I put a cookie in my wife’s oven!”

My shirt was also white but had purple puffy lettering. Mine said: “There are two cookies in my oven!” On the belly part of the shirt were two cookies dancing. We found the dancing cookies in the iron on section, near the puffy paint. They were perfect! They would definitely get the message across at dinner tonight.

“So, who do you think is going to notice our shirts first?” Ty asked as I pulled my hair into a knot on the top of my head.

“Your mom will, hands down,” I said without a second thought.

“You seem pretty confident about that,” Ty said as he leaned against the door jam and watched me touch up my makeup. “I bet on Cooper.”

“You bet, huh?” I asked with a raised eyebrow at him in the mirror. “Interesting. Want to put a wager on it?”

Ty shook his head at me but had a huge grin on his face. “What kind of wager?”

“Hmmmm,” I said as I tapped the mascara wand on my chin in thought. “I’d like you to make me my favorite dinner, or whatever I’m craving at the time, while I relax in the bathtub. Then, you’d make chocolate-covered strawberries that you hand-feed me in the bathtub before dinner.”

“Oh, so my baby wants her dessert first?”

“Well, speaking of dessert. I’d want you to join me in the bathtub to feed me the strawberries, and then you could have your own dessert.”

Tyler chuckled as he came closer to me and wrapped his arms around me. “You like when I eat your pussy in the bathtub, don’t you?”

I shivered as he moved my hair off of my shoulder and kissed my bare neck. “It’s definitely one of my favorite things. I’m not sure which I like more, actually. That or chocolate-covered strawberries.” Tyler bit the bottom of my earlobe and made me jump and giggle. “Fine, fine. I like your tongue better.”

“That’s my girl,” he said and peppered kisses along my neck and shoulder. “Now, if I win, and Cooper notices first, I want to fuck this beautiful body on home plate.”

“On home plate?” I squeaked. Public sex was not something I’d ever been interested in.

He pulled me closer to him and gave me some reassurance with a tight hug. “I’ve always dreamed of having sex in public. This week would be perfect because there is caution tape everywhere because of the construction. No one should be around at night. And if it would make you feel better, we could station some of the guys around to make sure no one comes close to us, but they’d be far enough away that they wouldn’t hear anything.”

I nodded, swallowed hard, and looked at the ground. I was still nervous just thinking about having sex in public, but it was also exciting to think about being out in the open with my man since it was a dream of his.

“Molly, look at me,” Tyler said and pulled my chin up so my eyes met his. “If you’re uncomfortable at all, I can change my prize for when I win.”

Man, I loved this man more and more. “No, Ty, it’s your dream. I’m willing to try. I’m nervous but excited at the same time. But, that’s only if you win,” I added with a kiss to his jaw.

“Oh, I will win,” he said with a confident smirk.

“And what if neither of us win?” I asked. “I’m not sure who else would notice besides your mom or Coop, but you never know.”

“You are correct. We definitely need to have a backup plan.”

“You’re taking this awfully seriously, Mr. Stone.”

“Sex with my wife on home plate is on my bucket list, baby. This is serious shit.”

I had to laugh. “As are chocolate-covered strawberries and orgasms by your talented tongue.”

Tyler shook his head and kissed the top of my head. “Have I mentioned how perfect you are for me?”

“Only a few times. Okay, so if neither of us win, we just scale back on the prize. Like you wouldn’t make me dinner. Just the chocolate-covered strawberries and you eating me out.”

Tyler nodded and licked his lips. “I can deal with that. So, if I have to scale it back, I still want somewhere public. How about in the dugout? It’s a little more shielded than home plate but still out in the open.”

“I can get on board with that.”

I grabbed the bag of stuffed sandwich cookies I made. I was able to take different flavors of store-bought cookies and sandwich frosting mixed with sprinkles, chocolate chips, and other goodies between them. Ty told me they looked delicious, and his name was on one of the snickerdoodle cookies, which had cinnamon stirred into the whipped vanilla frosting. I knew Peyton and Camden would be excited about the sugar cookies that had chocolate frosting mixed with sprinkles.

“I’m definitely adding stuffed sandwich cookies to my bakery once it’s reopened! But, of course, the cookies and frosting will be made from scratch. I can do more flavors of frostings and fillings.”

“People will love them! They look delicious, even with what you had to work with. I can’t imagine how good they will be fresh-baked from scratch.” I adored how supportive my husband was of my bakery.

We walked the short distance to Penelope’s apartment complex from the motel. We were one of the first to arrive, so we helped set up the tables and lay out all the delicious-smelling food the diner had prepared. Soon, the room was filled with Tyler’s family, some former teammates and coaches, my co-workers from Batter Up!, and others, including Erick and Tanner.

We wondered how long it would take someone to notice our shirts. We didn’t have to wait long because soon a voice I was unfamiliar with said, “You put a cookie in your wife’s oven? Wife?!”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Carter’s best friend, Alex (or was it Alec? I think that’s his name), who was pointing a finger at Tyler’s shirt.

“So, when you called her your wife in your speech it wasn’t a publicity stunt or anything?! She’s your actual wife?” Julia asked.

I walked over to where my husband was standing and took his hand in mine. We were both silently waiting to see if anyone would react to my shirt. Our friends did not disappoint.

“Dos?! DOS?! Gemelos?” Ivan was staring at my shirt with big eyes.

“What is he saying? Why is he not speaking English? I thought you said he was learning more,” Carter asked as he came over to us. He did not look happy. “And what’s this about her being his wife? There is no fucking way my brother got married and didn’t tell me.”

I squeezed Tyler”s hand as I felt him tense a little next to me. We both knew not everyone would be happy that we were married in secret.

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Penelope said and held up her hand. “How could you not tell me? Are you really married? What? When? How?”

“You forgot to ask where,” Cooper interjected and stood next to Penelope with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

I looked up at Tyler, and he was about to say something when he was interrupted by Hayden. “No, you guys are asking the wrong question. What was Ivan yelling about ‘dos’? What does that even mean?”

“Dos means two in Spanish,” Dominic Anderson explained.

“I know that,” Hayden said with a roll of his eyes. “But why would he be saying two?”

“She has two cookies on her shirt!” Peyton squealed.

“Twins?!” Tyler’s mom’s voice rang above everyone else. “When did you find out?”

“Yesterday,” I said as tears began falling down my face once I saw his mom crying, too. “That’s why we left straight from the doctor’s office and went to Ty’s game. I had to tell him in person.” I found myself walking over to Susan, and she pulled me into her arms and held me tightly. I hugged her back, and it really made me wish my grandparents could be here for this. Even if everyone was going crazy around us, my grandparents would have jumped right in.

“That’s why you missed the tornado. I just don’t understand how you didn’t know about it at all,” Julia said, trying to put all the pieces together.

“Because I made her turn off her phone and wouldn’t let her listen to the radio because I knew she’d cave and call Tyler,” Penelope explained to everyone. She turned and shook her head at me. “I still don’t understand why you got married without telling me.”

“Same, girl!” Julia said.

“Does Meadow know? I bet you told her,” Penelope asked with a pang of hurt in her voice. I wiped a tear away because this is the reaction I didn’t want and was most afraid of.

“She better not know,” Carter said with a shake of his head at his brother. “He didn’t even tell me. Fuck, does Landon know? Did you tell him and not me?”

“No one knew,” Tyler said defensively while walking over to where I was standing with his mom. He took me in his arms and pulled me close. He wiped away my tears with his thumb and kissed the top of my head. “We had our reasons for getting married quickly and quietly. We’re sorry if we hurt anyone.”

“We didn’t mean to hurt anyone on purpose. We did it for insurance reasons,” I said through my tears. “I was an idiot and didn’t get personal insurance when I opened the bakery. So the pregnancy would be covered under Ty’s insurance, we got married right away, but we would have gotten married eventually.”

“Damn right we would have,” my husband agreed. “Molly and the babies are everything to me.”

“Why is everyone mad?” a little voice asked. I looked down and saw Camden walking over to us. He stood in front of me as if to protect me. He looked at everyone surrounding us. “Why are you making Molly cry? I thought people getting married and having two babies were happy things?!”

“I’m with this little guy here,” Ty’s dad said loudly. Everyone around us went quiet from shock as Mike walked over and patted Camden on the shoulder. He then pulled me in for a big hug. “Welcome to the family, Molly. Congratulations on getting married and giving us not one but two grandbabies.” He hugged his shocked son and congratulated him, too. While Tyler and his dad were hugging, I leaned down and gave Camden a huge hug and thanked him.

Mike turned to the rest of the group and said, “If anyone has anything negative to say about my daughter-in-law or future grandbabies, they can come talk tome. They had their reasons and were doing what was best for their little family.”

I squeezed Tyler’s hand at the mention of our little family. He looked over at me and gave me a wink. Having our own little family was a great feeling.

“Nothing negative from this Gigi over here,” Susan said and gave her husband a big hug. “I’m proud of you, Grandpa.”

Mike laughed and gave his wife a kiss. “Twins, Sue. At least, they”re not triplets. We were outnumbered!”

Susan laughed in agreement and said, “You know I’ll always be a text away with lots of tips for multiples.”

“I know that,” I said with a smile and hugged her again.

“Dude, when you do something you don’t slack off at all, do you?” Cooper asked. “Married and twins. I am happy for you guys. I was just shocked and hurt because you didn’t tell me.” He hugged us both.

Tyler looked at his brother and let go of my hand to pull Carter in for a hug. “I really am sorry I didn’t tell you. We didn’t tell anyone. We planned to just have a wedding after the season was over and the babies were born. My big mouth just ruined it all.”

Carter nodded and hugged Ty tightly. “I’m happy for you, man. Now, Landon and I won’t have to fight to be the best uncle. Baby A will love me the most, and Baby B can have Landon.”

While Tyler was talking with Carter and getting out his phone to video call Landon, I looked over at Penelope.

“I’m sorry, Pen,” I said.

“I do feel better knowing his brother didn’t even know.”

“No one did. Not even Meadow. Do you want to help me video call her and show her the shirt?”

Pen looked down at her phone in her hand and smiled at me. “Yes, let’s call her.”

During the video call with Meadow, there was yelling, tears, and finally, happiness. We ended the call but not before she mentioned that Meadow was a great baby name or even her middle name, Elizabeth.

I found Tyler and sat next to him as we ate. The trays of food were passed around, and everyone just took what they wanted. There was plenty of food, laughs, and stories being shared all around us. After dinner, we figured it was too late to try and go through the debris, so a big group of us decided to play some card games from Penelope’s apartment and just spend time together. Tyler’s parents decided to call it an early night and gave us big hugs before heading to their hotel room. They offered to take the kids with them so Shiloh could enjoy time with us, but she said she had a paper due and didn’t mind putting her niece and nephew to bed. Ivan also said his goodbyes so he could call and talk with Camila. I told him to say hi from us. The Raptor coaches all said goodbye and reminded the players they did still have practice early in the morning.

Soon, it was Tyler, Penelope, Cooper, Hayden, Julia, Rob, Dominic, Jude, Carter, Alec, and me all sitting around a big table playing Cards Against Humanity. It was a fast-paced and fun game, and we were all laughing together. The dealer put down a card with a question and everyone else had to choose the card in their hand that best answered the question. The dealer then would pick the response they liked the best.

It soon became apparent that almost every time Hayden chose a card, he would choose Alec’s response and vice versa. They were having a good laugh about it since they had just met.

I also found myself choosing a lot of Dominic’s cards, and he would choose mine. I didn’t know him very well, but it got to the point where he would read the cards and make his choice and just laugh when I would raise my hand. People accused us of cheating somehow, but it was all in good fun.

I also got to know Tyler’s brother and sister a lot better, which I liked. Julia and her husband were complete opposites. Julia chose wild and risky cards, whereas Rob chose more literal answers to the questions.

Carter and Cooper seemed to always give the most obnoxious answers, and it became a contest to see who could make the most people groan. I was laughing so hard I was crying at times.

For an hour or so, we all forgot about the tornado damage that was mere yards from where we were sitting. We forgot all about the people who were homeless, like me and many others. We forgot about Mack sitting in a hospital room with his young son fighting for his life and having to plan a funeral for his beloved wife. We were merely a group of friends hanging out until one of the Red Cross search and rescue men came into the apartment community room.

“Dr. Moseley? We found a survivor in the debris. Is there any way you could come check them out and assist while we wait for the ambulance?”

Rob lay his cards down, and without a second thought, he nodded and followed the man out the door. Julia was close behind them, ready to help in any way she could.

“That’s great that they found a survivor,” Jude remarked.

“Yeah, it is,” Penelope agreed. “Maybe we should call it a night. I don’t know about all of you, but I want to get up early and help see what we can salvage from Batter Up! I bet a few of Molly’s colorful mixers survived.”

I had to give a small laugh in agreement. “I hope they did. I only had nine of them. And I definitely want to look around, too.”

“Ok, but you have to set limits. If you get tired or anything, you have to take breaks,” Tyler told me. “You’re carrying our babies, and I don’t want you to overextend yourself.”

“I know, I know,” I said, but I did love how much he cared about our well-being.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was too much, and I didn’t even know where to start. I stood in the middle of where my bakery and home had once been. I wasn’t even open for six months, and now, it was reduced to piles around me.

We all had a nice breakfast at the church before heading out to begin going through all the debris. Tyler and the guys were going to check out the stadium and do some media clips for the MiLB tornado relief. They also planned to video call Mack and see how he was doing. He had offered to come with me, but I knew it was important for him to see the stadium and help the relief efforts there. Penelope accompanied me while her kids stayed with Tyler’s mom at the church to help make care packages for those who lost everything. Susan loved being with the kids, and I knew she was so excited to become a Gigi.

“Is this the owner?” I heard a female voice ask.

“Yes,” Penelope replied. “This was not only her business, but she lived in the apartment above.”

“I’m Becky from the Red Cross. I have a team of volunteers that have been assigned to Batter Up! Bakery and the Green residence.”

I opened my eyes and saw a woman in her late 30’s with a clipboard in her hand and a kind smile. “What do you mean a team?”

Becky smiled over at me. “We’ll sift through things and see what’s salvageable, so you won’t have to do it yourself.”

“Wow,” I said, relief flooding through me. Penelope and I didn’t have to sift through everything on our own. “Thank you so much.”

Becky patted me on the shoulder and said, “Of course, sweetheart. You’ve been through a lot, and this is the least we can do. You’ll be surprised how much of your stuff will be found in other lots and how you’ll find other people”s things in yours. You’ll also be surprised by what survives a natural disaster.”

“I take it this isn’t your first time helping after a tornado,” I said as I watched her team begin to work.

“Nope, my church organizes mission trips to help with natural disasters. I have helped after several tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes.”

“That’s really awesome,” Penelope said as she sifted through a pile in front of her. “Where are you from?”

“We are from Missouri,” Becky said as she began clearing out an area without looking through it. “If anything looks salvageable or important, we will put it in this area. You can go through this area and decide what you want to keep. If we have any questions, we will ask. They will be delivering a dumpster soon, and we’ll be able to just throw trash in there right away.”

I nodded and gasped as one of Becky”s volunteers held something out for me. I had never been happier that Mimi had me buy one of those fireproof boxes, even though I had totally forgotten about it because it had been in a box I had yet to unpack.

“This is natural disaster gold,” the woman holding the box said with a smile and handed it to me. I sat down on the ground and pulled open the box. I hadn’t even thought about losing what little I had left of my parents, and the fact that it was in my hands was unbelievable.

On the very top was a picture of my parents on either side of me. I was sitting in a highchair, covered in chocolate cake and frosting. In between two little red pigtails sat a tiara that read “First Birthday” on it. I gently traced my parents’ smiles with my finger.

“How do you have a picture of my parents?” a male voice asked behind me.