by Mj Fields
The Millers were a family of eight. A very Christian family. One of their biological daughters was the same age as Ellis. They both ended up getting into gymnastics, both made a national team, traveled a lot, and Ellis stepped away from it when she received a full scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill.
They visited her once when she was in the hospital after her accident and kept in contact with her for a bit. Since she started graduate school, not so much, and Ellis gives the excuse that they were just been too busy with the girl who went to the Olympics. She also mentions that it cost a lot of money, and that her hope is to one day pay them back for all the opportunities they gave her.
Without her saying anything, because she doesn’t have to, —the evidence is in the ink—I can safely assume that she took the scholarship because she didn’t want to be any more of a burden on the family financially.
When I ask if Georgie is close with them, she shakes her head and stares out the window.
“Their loss, Ellis.”
“They’re nice people, just”—she shrugs—“the whole baby out of wedlock thing was a disappointment to them.”
“Like I said, their loss.” I pull her hand up and kiss it.
Again, silence.
Walking into Black Tap, I spot Georgie and Lily.
“Right there.” I nod toward them.
Lily looks up, and when her jaw about hits the tabletop, I look down at Ellis.
“She didn’t know I was bringing—”
“It’s cool,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “I’m not sure if she would have said anything, but if she did, I didn’t want it to be in front of Georgie.”
“Understood.” But I am a bit confused as to why she didn’t say anything to me. Not that I need a heads-up or anything. I don’t.
I look up as Georgie looks back at us.
She grins as she screeches, “Amias is here?” Then she slides off her stool and heads toward us, her face covered in ketchup, making her look a little like the Georgie who I’ve known for the past few days, but also is dressed way above her age, wearing a fitted sweater dress and thigh-high boots.
Ellis intercepts her. “Let’s go clean up your face, okay?”
“Can we take the braids out, Mommy? They’re too tight.”
“We can wait till we leave, okay?” Ellis says sweetly.
“Fine.” Georgie frowns and looks at me. “You coming with us?”
“Wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else.”
Ellis looks between me and Lily. “Should I—”
“Go. Lily and I will be chill.”
I walk over and extend my hand. “I’m Amias—”
“I know who you are.”
“So, not a fan then.” I smirk as I sit down.
“No, I’m not a fan of Ellis getting knocked up and bullied into a relationship by someone who can’t keep their dick in their pants.”
“Right.” I chuckle as I sit back and cross my arms, ready for my ass reaming.
“Right?” she spits.
“You don’t know dick about me. Not sure I give a shit if you ever do, but I’ll make this quick, for Ellis—”
“You don’t know shit about her either,” she snaps.
“I know the moment I saw her, she stood out from the rest of you, in the best way possible. I know that she was the first girl I’ve ever wanted to go down on or gave my number to.”
“Oh my God, my best friend got knocked up by a fuck boy who—”
“By a man who knew immediately she was the one.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“What’s ridiculous is ignoring that feeling because it may not be ideal. What’s ridiculous is that girls like your sister marry for reasons other than love and end up fucking around—”
“You don’t know her situation.”
“Don’t much give a shit either, but to save Ellis from having to tell you the facts, let me fill you in. The girl that I walked out of the bar with, after your married sister said some fucked-up shit about your best friend while her married ass was at a bar and all over a friend of mine, I walked away. I did so because I’ve never wanted to hit a girl before in my life, and I wanted to slap that bitch for what she said about the woman carrying my kid, the woman I’m in love with, and the woman who will now and forever be my partner and best friend.”
“Pfft.”
I ignore her shit and continue, “The girl I walked out with, Sophia, was with the last ball player that your married sister hooked up with. Sophia was hanging out with her internet bestie, who she cat-fished and already knew fucked her man, to make him pay. Regardless of all that drama, and I knew nothing about their situation, I knew if I left her there, your sister would tear her up, too. So, I called her a car to get her the fuck out of there, and that’s when the bitch who took a picture of me sent it to you and Sophia’s ex. Your sister doesn’t get access to Ellis ever again. She’s a cunt.”
“You are a vile—”
“I am not finished.” I lean forward. “Ellis is mine. I will protect what is mine, so if you wanna start shit where it doesn’t need to be started, I’m gonna assume you are a couple years away from being just like your big sis. Ellis has had enough shit in her life; she doesn’t need to be surrounded by people who want to drag her down.”
“You don’t know anything about Ellis.”
“Not true. I know she’s been through hell and managed to come out of all that, and she’s not going back on my watch. I know she’s busted her ass to get to where she’s at, and I respect the hell out of her. I know that you may see her as damaged, and I’m hoping like hell you don’t enjoy feeling like she’s less than you, because heads-up, you may have been raised to believe you’re a princess, but she’s going to be a huge step above princess status. She’s going to be treated like a queen, for fucking real.”
“And what are you going to do when she pushes you away? She needs to be alone a lot more than normal people.”
Fucking normal people? I think, but I let her continue.
“She will. She has pushed away everyone she’s dated since Georgie. She’s done that because she clearly has some sort of PTSD from the accident. Can your ego handle that? I’m thinking—”
“She can have all the alone time she needs. She just won’t feel like she has to be by herself ever again. She’ll know I’m here.”
“I have always been there for her.” She pokes herself in the chest. “Me.”
“You have a choice then—be there when she’s happy and do nothing to compromise that, or step the fuck away, because relationships take a lot of hard work in order to be solid and the forever kind I’m gonna give her. I catch a whiff of you shitting on her happy, you’re out.” I see Ellis and Georgie walking out of the bathroom.
“You can’t do that—”
“Ask yourself why you need her, and if it’s not because you see how awesome she is, then check the mirror. And Georgie is mine, too. And she’s four, not fourteen. And even when she’s fourteen, she won’t be wearing thigh-high boots.” I push back my stool and stand as Georgie comes flying toward me. I scoop her up and give her a hug.
She leans back and grabs my face. “Mommy said our apartment got solded?”
I nod.
“She said you had a surprise?”
“Your mom has a surprise for you.”
“Is she your girlfriend still ’cause Aunt Lily said you were a bad boyfriend, and I told her you weren’t. I crossed my heart and promised you were like Flynn Eugene Fitzherbert, but not my Flynn Eugene Fitzherbert.”
I smile and try not to laugh. “I think Aunt Lily made a mistake, yeah?”
She grins and nods.
“How about you tell her thank you, and then me, you, and your mom get to that surprise, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“This is your house!” Georgie squeals as we pull up the driveway.
“This is our house, G.” I laugh.
“But I thought we had to wait to save m
oney to get a castle, Mom!” She laughs.
“Your mom and I put our saved money together and got this place. Hard work, Georgie girl, all the good stuff in life comes after you put the work in.”
“I’m gonna work hard, but I am never leaving this house.” She laughs as I hit the garage door opener and pull in. “Oh my goodness, we have a house for the car, too!”
“We do.” I laugh.
“Mommy, get me out of this thing. I need to see all of my castle house!”
We don’t walk in the house; we fucking run, and once inside, we’re sprinting from room to room.
I don’t have to give a tour; we just have to follow the Georgie show.
“Where is the furniture, Mom? Did they sell our new couch, too? My new bed?” She cups her hands on the sides of her mouth. “Hello, furniture? Where are you?” Then she laughs as she runs into the kitchen.
“Can we have a restaurant?”
Two seconds later … “There’s a pool. Can we swim now?”
“A little too cold for that, but in a month or so, yeah.”
“Can we get a slide for it?”
Ellis says, “No,” at the same time I say, “Yes.”
Georgie looks between us, and I see her little wheels turning, and then she looks back at me. “So, we can?”
“Your mom and I will have to save money to do that, but we probably can sometime in the future.”
She jumps, claps, squeals, and then runs to the stairs. “Do I have my own room, or do I have to share?”
I look at Ellis, who is looking at Georgie a bit shocked. “What do you think, Ellis?”
“Wow.” She shakes her head.
Georgie hurries up the stairs and takes Ellis’s hand. “Come on, Mommy!”
I’m cleaning up the kitchen from baking cookies and eating pizza, trying to fight the urge to run up the stairs and pick Ellis out of Georgie’s bed, where she fell asleep on the bottom of the princess castle bunk bed.
The thing has towers. It’s pretty badass. And Ellis, well, she seemed to need that time with Georgie, and she got it. She gets as much as she needs, and then, when she needs more, she’ll get that, too.
I’ve always been quiet compared to most everyone around me, so I get it. I get the need to be alone at times, and I’m going to just make sure she gets exactly what I told Lily I’d give her, but fuck the being alone without people. I’m ninety-nine point nine percent sure she’s had a lifetime of that so far. It won’t happen on my watch.
“Need any help?” I hear from behind me and look over my shoulder.
“Just finishing up.” I put the last plate in the dishwasher and close it. “Georgie asleep?”
“Yeah. Guess I fell asleep, too.”
I turn around and lean against the counter. “We’ve had a busy week. Hell, I’m tired, and I’m not the one carrying little slugger.”
“Is it okay if I grab some water?”
“Have a seat. I’ll grab you some.” I walk to the fridge and pull out two bottles. Then I walk around the island and sit next to her, opening her bottle and handing it to her. “Do me a favor?”
“Of course,” she says then drinks about a quarter of the bottle down.
“Don’t ask if you can have anything at all, Ellis. This is your home.”
She nods.
“What’s on your mind?”
She shakes her head and takes another drink.
“Communication is—”
“Lily,” she cuts in. “Lily is my friend, and she’s hurt.”
“I’m sorry I overstepped, but—”
“She probably feels betrayed because she doesn’t know all everything about my past, just the bullet points. I only told you because …” She stops, looks down, and then shakes her head.
“Because you love and trust me.”
“I do, yes. But you can’t do—”
“I didn’t tell her anything about your past. I just said you’ve dealt with enough shit, and if she wants to piss on your happiness, she needs to step back.”
She turns and looks up at me. “She’s my friend. She was trying to protect me.”
“I’m your man, and there will be no trying, I will protect you.” I take her hand. “I love you, Ellis. I’m gonna overstep, and you’ll eventually love that about me, or at very least accept it. And if protecting you from someone who’s trying to ruin a good thing pisses you off a little bit, I’ll throw on a sweatshirt when you give me the cold shoulder, but I won’t stop—”
“I told her that. And I told her that she had no business telling Georgie you were a bad boyfriend. And now she’s pissed, and she’s my only friend.”
“Was. You have true ones now. Tris and Brisa are team us. The rest of my family, too. And before you get it in your head about it being my family, you’re already a part of that.”
“I’ve accepted that, but I …” she sighs. “Georgie said Lily and JR were fighting about kids. He told her he didn’t want any.”
“In front of Georgie?”
“I’m guessing Lily thought she was asleep.”
“Okay, so tell me where you’re heading with this. And you get this is me trying not to overstep, yeah?”
She smiles. She freaking smiles.
Smiling myself … finally, I lean in and kiss her forehead.
“Lily and I are fighting, but I want to be there for her. I can’t if we’re fighting.”
“Okay, so you need to set some boundaries.”
“Meaning?” She turns fully toward me.
“Gimme a minute. I’m new to this shit and don’t wanna fuck it up.”
She laughs. She thinks I’m joking. I am not, but it’s cool.
“You spit truth. Tell her it’s a privilege to be in your life, that you aren’t afraid to be alone, and you’d be happy being single if you didn’t meet someone you knew damn well wasn’t afraid to work at a relationship forever like it was his job, because he knows damn well it is. Tell her you know he’ll do what’s necessary to work to keep it together. Tell her basic relationships are too fucking lazy, and that you have never been, and never will be, a basic bitch.”
“Wow.”
“And yeah, throw fuck in there a lot. Makes you sound like a badass.”
“I mean, wow, as in, I believe you truly mean that.”
“Mean it, Sweets? I expect it. And when I met you, I knew damn well you were something special. Straight up, I’m thankful for that accident, because I don’t think you’d have ever called.”
She doesn’t have to agree. I know she knows it’s true.
“When I saw you at the stadium, it was my second chance, and fuck if I was gonna waste it. And then seeing you with Georgie, and all that I’ve learned about you since, it showed me the blue badge, the verification that you were supposed to be mine, and I was supposed to be yours.”
“Not your basic bitch?”
Laughing, I grab her face, and before I have a chance to say it, she does. “I love us. I love you.”
“The forever kind.”
“Forever mine.”
Epilogue
Labor Day Weekend
We played the Yankees today and lost, but Amias crushed it, as usual.
Rick “The Rocket” Brantley is a good guy. Well, he’s a manwhore, but a good guy, and an even better father. He’s also a mess. I work on his shoulder all the time, and now his knees are giving him grief. At thirty-seven, he’s played hard his entire career and doesn’t want to be benched his last season; therefore, Amias refuses to take his position, which makes me love ‘MY’ even more.
Henry, the lead physical therapist, is a worthless asshole who Buck, God love him, allows to do jack shit, and it’s hurt his players.
I was offered a full-time position and was not too proud to accept it, even though I’m sure Amias had a lot to do with it, just like he had a lot to do with me, a paid intern, getting health insurance after I refused to marry him for me to be on his policy, on his now fifth baseball card proposal.
Speaking of sex, dear Lord, it’s insane, it’s daily, sometimes twice. A few times, it’s even three or four times a day.
I get hot decaffeinated tea with ginger in the morning, even though I haven’t had morning sickness since I moved in with him. I get to rub him down and touch his muscles whenever I feel like it, and I feel like it a lot.
He rubs me, too —I kick the water—, and I love it.
I love. I do. I love, and he says no one does love better than me, and I tell him no one does better than him. Then we end up agreeing that no one does love better than us.
Is it juvenile? Who cares?
I also love that right now he’s chilling with Georgie until she falls asleep in Jase and Carly’s basement with all the other ‘big littles’, her cousins, her ‘crew’.
The ‘big littles’ consist of Luna, Georgie, Archer, and Cooper. They’re pooped out from the game and then the cookout here. When we’re not on the road, we make cookies and have pool parties and sleepovers in our own basement.
The littlest little, Cyrus and Tara’s son, Creed, was born early, in June. He’s the biggest preemie I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot, having spent weeks in the hospital when Georgie came early and I was all broken.
Tags and Bella have another boy, too, Apollo, who looks just like his siblings—beautiful.
Luna was out of her mind when Sutton and Patrick had two babies and one was a girl, which made Georgie as crazy excited, because Luna is her very best friend and she feeds off of her energy. Lennon and Journey are amazing. Journey is the Steel family’s newest princess. They’re both so sweet, so quiet, and so content.
I imagine it is because they were born with their person.
My people? One I gave birth to and the other took me twenty-six years to find. Then I ran.