21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one

Grady

One Month Later

“So, now that the season is over, how do you feel about your first coaching experience?” Parker asks me as he nurses his drink.

“It was harder than I expected in some ways, and exactly what I needed in others.”

I know the season only ended two weeks ago, but I’m already excited for the next one. I signed a contract with the high school to return next spring, and since then, my mind has already been making notes of things we can improve on and tweak as the boys get older.

It feels so fucking good to have baseball in my life again.

Parker nods. “And this? How do you feel about this?” He gestures to the crowd of people around us.

I look around the white tent full of people we know and love, gathered here to celebrate our daughter’s impending arrival. Astrid and Willow went all out throwing this baby shower, creating a beautiful theme of an apple orchard to pay tribute to Scottie’s craving that hasn’t dwindled at all, and Scottie looks absolutely breathtaking.

“I’m happier than I ever thought I could be, man,” I tell him, searching the crowd for Scottie, only to find her just a few feet away, smoothing her pink dress over her bump, smiling and talking with Dolly, who runs the Carrington Cove Inn.

When Astrid and Willow told me they wanted to throw a coed baby shower, I was a little apprehensive about the idea. From what I’ve heard, baby showers are a sacred female-only event where discussions of childbirth and nipple creams take place.

However, now that the woman who owns me has finally let me in, I figured it would be more of an opportunity to celebrate Scottie and me moving in together officially this coming weekend, especially since any details of childbirth don’t scare me anymore. I’ve read the books, and I’ve asked so many questions that I think Scottie has considered smothering me with her pillow multiple times by now. But in a few months, we’re going to be parents, a family of four—and I can’t fucking wait.

I just have one more thing I need to take care of before our daughter arrives, and hopefully that goes off without a hitch later.

“I can’t believe I’m the only one still single now,” Parker grumbles under his breath.

“I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“I mean, it is,” he says, a tad too defensively. “I came so close to getting married, but now that I dodged that bullet, I can’t believe I ever considered it.” He shakes his head before turning his gaze to mine. “Aren’t you going to miss your freedom?”

I glance over at the woman who woke me up with her mouth around my cock this morning. “Nah. Freedom is overrated.”

“Well, I won’t be giving mine up ever again. ”

I hide my grin behind the rim of my glass. “Okay, Parker. Whatever you say.”

“I’m serious. Casual hookups only.”

“Sure.”

“I met a smoking-hot woman in New York last month, actually. We met on the plane after I talked her down from a panic attack.” He waggles his eyebrows. “And then we had a great night together.”

“You didn’t tell her the story of how you tried on breast pumps, did you?”

He glares at me before flipping me off and walking away. Part of me feels bad, but the other part knows that all it’s going to take is the right woman to show up in his life and make him see the error in his thinking.

The right woman changes everything.

“You pissed him off already?” Penn asks, striding up to me.

“Of course. Doesn’t take much these days.”

“True story.” He clasps his hand on my shoulder. “So, how are you feeling, dad-to-be?”

My lips curl up of their own accord. “Really fucking good, man.”

“You look happy.”

“Happy isn’t strong enough of a word. The only thing missing is Scottie having my last name,” I say, which surprises him.

“Are you two ready for that?”

“I am. But is Scottie?” I think out loud. “I want to believe she is.”

“Then what’s holding you back?”

“What are you two talking about?” Dallas comes up to us now, inserting himself into our conversation.

“Grady is thinking about proposing,” Penn tells him .

Dallas turns his eyes back to me. “No shit. Well, I guess that makes sense. It’s not like you guys aren’t already having a baby together or anything.”

“Exactly. And I want her to be my wife.”

Dallas blows out a breath. “I know that feeling. If Willow didn’t want to plan a wedding, I would have married her the minute after she said yes to my proposal.”

Penn nods. “Astrid wanted to wait a year before we talked about it, but I bought a ring two months ago. The second that day comes, I’m sliding it on her finger.”

I shake my head at my friend. “God, you sound the way I feel.”

“And how’s that?” Penn asks.

I look back over at Scottie, fighting the urge to growl as I look at her, swollen with my child. “Possessive.”

Dallas and Penn nod in unison. “Yeah, welcome to the club,” Dallas says, patting me on the back.

“All right, everyone. It’s time to open presents!” My sister claps her hands, gathering everyone’s attention. “If you could move into the tent, grab a cupcake as you sit down, and get ready to see just how spoiled this little girl is already, that would be great!” She says something to Willow, and then heads straight in my direction. “Hey, big brother.”

I lean down and press a kiss to her cheek. “Thank you again for this.”

“My pleasure.” She lowers her voice and continues. “By the way, I have Chase and his friends on duty for later.” She flashes me a wink and I feel a slight relief in my chest.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure how we were going to coordinate all of that, but luckily, teenage boys can be pretty eager to help with the right bribe. ”

“What did you offer them?”

“A pool party at your house next weekend.” She pats me on the shoulder and then begins to walk away. “You’re welcome!”

Grumbling under my breath, even though I can’t deny that my sister has been the biggest source of support for me throughout the past few months, I remind myself that all of this will be worth it once Scottie says the one word I need to hear from her later tonight.

As if my heart conjured her, Scottie waddles over to me, rubbing her stomach. “You ready to help me open gifts?”

I lower my head and press my lips to hers. “Of course, baby. How are you feeling?”

“Big as a house,” she says, glancing down at our daughter.

I line my lips up to her ear. “You look so fucking gorgeous, Scottie. God, I want to defile you so badly.”

She giggles. “You have issues.”

“No, baby. You’re carrying my child. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that is sexier.”

When she pulls her head back, she smiles up at me. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Scottie.” Taking her hand in mine, I lead her over to the chairs Astrid has positioned in front of the backdrop of an apple orchard. A sign that says She’s the Apple of Our Eye hangs above the two chairs, and wooden buckets full of apples are scattered around the scene. As soon as Scottie takes a seat and I sit right next to her, we begin opening the gifts our family and friends have brought for us, only confirming for me how I’m right where I’m supposed to be in my life—with Scottie by my side, and hopefully soon, as my wife.

** *

“What a day.”

I lift Scottie’s hand and press my lips to the top of it as I drive us back to my house. “You doing okay?”

She lets out a yawn, the fifth one that’s left her lips since we left the baby shower. “Yeah, just tired. Who knew opening presents would be so exhausting?”

“Well, we were at it for almost three hours, so I agree…didn’t know it could be that tiring.”

The sun has set on the day, and even though the shower was over two hours ago, I had to keep Scottie at the house until night fell. According to Astrid, everything is in place, and as soon as we pull into the driveway, I’ll be prepared to give Scottie one last gift for the day—which, in my opinion, is the most important one.

Scottie lets out another yawn. “I might even just skip a shower and go straight to bed.”

“Aw, I was looking forward to scrubbing you clean.”

She eyes me knowingly from her side of the truck. “Scrub me clean, or make me dirty first, Grady?”

I wink over at her. “Both, baby.”

“Men. They only have one thing on their mind…always.”

“Actually, I currently have two things on my mind, Scottie.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the other one?”

I don’t have to reply because as soon as I pull into the driveway, the light from the electric candles in my front yard comes into view.

“Grady…what is that?” Scottie leans forward in her seat as I cruise toward my house, inching closer to our home and hopefully the beginning of our forever.

When I shift the truck in park, Scottie looks over at me with tears in her eyes. “What’s going on? ”

“Let me help you down,” I say, exiting the truck and walking over to her side, taking in a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. I’m fairly certain this woman wants the same things I do, but it still doesn’t diminish the nerves that I feel racing through me.

“Grady…” Scottie holds on to my hand intensely as I lead her over to the giant tree in my front yard, the one that currently has a tire swing and a baby swing hanging from two of the branches.

When we get to the baby swing, I spin her around to face me and prepare to deliver the most important speech of my life. “Scottie…the first time we sat together under a tree, all I wanted to do was kiss you. The second time I got you under a tree—this tree to be exact—I finally did. But now, I want to push our baby girl in this swing under this tree and watch her grow into the tire swing when she’s old enough for that too.” Scottie’s eyes are filled with tears, but I keep going. “I want to marry you under this tree if you want that too, but all I care about is not wasting anymore time, baby. We found each other again on purpose, and our daughter is going to experience love and family better than you could ever imagine. That’s what I want for my life, for our life, Scottie. So, I guess the question is, are you going to let me give it to you? Are you going to trust me enough to fall? Because I fell for you a long time ago and I don’t ever want to stop falling in love with you. I want you in my life forever—as my wife.”

“Oh my God.”

I drop to one knee and pull the ring from my pocket that I’ve had in there all day. “Scottie Daniels…” She laughs at my use of her maiden name. “Will you marry me?”

With a trembling lip, she nods before whispering, “Yes.”

That familiar intensity lifts from my chest as I slide the three-carat emerald cut solitaire diamond ring on her finger. Standing back up to my full height, I frame her face in my hands. “I love you. ”

“I love you more,” she says, her voice thick with emotion. And there, under the tree, we seal our future with a kiss—a future we never imagined could be ours.

***

A Few Months Later

“All right. This is it. This is where we beat Dallas and bring the Carrington Cove Cup to Smells Like Sugar,” Penn says as we huddle around in preparation for the last game.

Scottie is a few days past her due date, but she insisted I still play in the games and take Penn up on his offer to play on his team to try to dethrone Dallas. And we are so fucking close. One more competition and it’s over.

Astrid jumps up and down. “Oh my God! I can’t believe we’re so close!” She looks past me and sticks her tongue out at Dallas and Willow, who are glaring in our direction.

“Isn’t Willow your best friend?” I ask her before taking a sip of my water.

“Not today, she’s not, Grady. Not today.”

Chuckling, I glance over at my fiancée, making sure she’s okay. Scottie is sitting in a chair under a big beach umbrella, trying to keep cool, even though it’s hotter than Satan’s asshole out here.

The past few months have been intense, and not just because of the heat wave rolling through the East Coast. As soon as Scottie hit her third trimester, she’s been miserable. School is out for the summer, and she’s officially on maternity leave now, thank God. But that means that she’s been more than eager to give me a mile-long to-do list of things that need to be done before our daughter arrives .

Having her move in with me has been incredible because I get to go to sleep and wake up next to her, but when people warned me about the hormones and mood swings that were waiting for me as my fiancée approached her due date, I had no idea just how powerful they could get.

“Scottie is okay, Grady,” Astrid says, catching me looking over at her for the hundredth time since the games started.

“I know, I’m just worried about her swelling. She’s been complaining about it all morning and she said that her back has been killing her.”

“All normal things at the end.” My sister puts her hand on my shoulder. “She’s in the shade, Chase is over there right now, and in a few minutes, we will be one step closer to winning this thing and then you can take her home, okay?”

I nod and glance down at my watch, noting that we have less than five minutes until they announce the next event. “You’re right.”

“Citizens of Carrington Cove!” Timothy shouts over the microphone as the crowd turns to face him and quiets down. “It is time for the final competition of the games!” Applause rings out among everyone.

“Grady!” Chase yells, racing over to us.

“The final competition will crown this year’s winner from our final two teams: Catch & Release and Smells Like Sugar!”

“Grady!” Chase shouts again as he stumbles to a stop in front of me.

“What’s up?”

“It’s Mom. I think…I think the baby is coming!”

“Our final game is an egg and spoon race,” Timothy continues, but my mind doesn’t even process what he’s saying anymore as Chase stands in front of me and his words sink in .

“Shit.” I spin to my sister. “Astrid, I have to go.”

“What? Now?” she whines. “But we only have one more game…”

“Scottie is in labor.”

Her eyes bug out. “Oh my God! I’m going to be an aunt!”

“Yeah.” I lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. “Good luck, sis! Beat Dallas’s ass and I’ll call you from the hospital!” I yell over my shoulder as I run after Chase, back over to my fiancée.

“Grady,” Scottie says as she winces, pushing herself up from her chair. “I think this is it. This pain in my back…it won’t let up.”

Grabbing her hand, I help her stand and then lead her out to the parking lot behind the boardwalk, hoping the traffic isn’t a nightmare to get through. People come into town from all over to watch the games, and normally, I’m all for it. But right now? I wish we lived somewhere else so I could get this woman to a hospital as quickly as possible.

“How far apart are the contractions?”

“A few minutes,” she says, groaning as we keep walking, Chase trailing behind us. “Ow, shit. It hurts!”

“Fuck. Chase, go start the truck and get the AC going.” I toss him my keys as he nods and races to my truck. “It’s okay, baby. We’re gonna get to the hospital as soon as we can.”

“I’m sorry you had to leave the games,” she cries as I hear my truck start in the distance.

“This is way more fucking important, baby. We’re about to meet our daughter.”

Scottie freezes in her steps. “Oh my God. Grady, I think she’s coming right now.”

“Fuck, really?”

“It hurts! Everything fucking burns down there.” She squeezes my hand so hard that I’m afraid she might break my fingers.

“Okay, hold on!” I bend down and pick Scottie up, walking as fast as I can to the truck. “Chase! Call 9-1-1! The baby is coming now!”

“Holy shit! Really?”

“Don’t cuss, Chase!” Scottie screams at her son as I open the back door to my truck and lay Scottie down on the back seat.

I have no towels, no gloves, nothing that would help with what’s about to happen. So, I strip my shirt from my body, ask Chase to do the same, and lie one under Scottie’s butt as I lift her dress and see blood already staining her underwear.

“Yes, we need an ambulance,” Chase says as he stands on the other side of the door, talking in the phone and giving the operator as much information as he can.

“God, Grady! She’s coming!”

I strip Scottie’s underwear from her body and toss them to the floorboard of the truck, peeking between her legs to see my daughter’s head beginning to crown. “Do you need to push, Scottie? I see her head.”

“Yes!”

“Okay, push baby. Do what feels right.”

Scottie screams as I watch her body do one of the most miraculous things I’ve ever witnessed.

I’ve pitched games in front of thousands of people, played a sport professionally for twelve years, and won a fucking World Series—but nothing will ever compare to the experience of watching my daughter come into the world.

With sirens wailing in the background, Scottie gives me one more push and I catch my daughter in my hands, bringing her up from the seat and right onto my chest as she cries and Scottie joins her.

“Oh my God,” Scottie breathes out before pushing up on her elbows to see her .

“She’s here, baby. She’s here.” I smooth my hand over our daughter’s back and then reach for Chase’s shirt to wrap around her as I hear the ambulance pull into the parking lot. “You did so fucking good, Scottie. Holy shit, she’s perfect.” Tears cloud my vision as I hold this little miracle in my arms.

“Let me hold her, Grady,” she says through her own tears as I press a kiss to the top of my daughter’s head and then hand her over to her.

Chase peeks his head around the corner, and when he sees the blood and details of childbirth, his face goes white. Luckily, I catch him before he faints and hits the ground. “Easy there, son.”

“Is he okay?” Scottie shouts before looking down at our daughter. “Hello, baby girl. My goodness, you were in a hurry to get here, weren’t you?”

“Excuse me, sir?” A paramedic gets my attention from behind me. “Is this where the mother is?”

“Yes! The baby is here. They are both doing good,” I say, trying to keep my emotions in check.

I just delivered my daughter in the back of my truck, in a parking lot, with no preparation whatsoever.

And suddenly, I’m sliding to the ground to sit next to Chase so neither one of us passes out or throws up, because that would just make Scottie so fucking happy and put the cherry on top of this perfect yet crazy day.