by Ella Jackson
Tanya shook her head. "No, the guys down at the station are all resolute football fans. Besides, they might start asking questions about what Will and I are planning to do in the next three months and," she patted her belly, "I'm not sure I really want them to do that right now."
Jessie's eyes widened. "You mean…"
Tanya just smiled, and held up one finger to her lips. "Nothing is certain yet. But we're hopeful."
I thought back over the last 48 hours, over Tanya's quiet strength when dealing with Dale during the disappearance of his daughter, and decided she would make a great mother. "That's fantastic news, Tanya. I'm so happy for you."
A vision flashed into my mind; a vision of Dale and I together, with a child of our own. Could he want that?
Looking at Tanya's happy, contented face, I thought maybe he could.
Five minutes to kick off. Thoughts of marriage and children were pushed to the back of my mind as the roaring crowd swelled, and rolled over us. Even inside the coaches box, the noise was almost deafening, wobbling the glass in front of us.
"Okay, here we go." The tempo of Jessie's hands on her keyboard increased. "This isn't going to be an easy game, but I think we might have a good chance. We're trying some new defensive strategies, so Dale will be busy right from the whistle."
Down below me, another roar from the crowd indicated that the players are running out onto the pitch. I peered forward, trying to see Dale, and eventually caught sight of his broad shoulders and mane of dark hair, jogging easily towards the back. Will lead the team out, blond hair, reflecting the searchlights, breath visible in the cold. On cue, both teams fanned out and took positions in the middle of the field, and the captains came together with the black clad referee in the middle. A few words were exchanged, and the captains shook hands. I could feel my heart beating faster, lifted up by the excitement of the crowd.
Next to me, Tanya's hands were shoved in the pockets of her jacket, and although she looked serene and confident, I could tell by the lines around her mouth, she was nervous to. She caught my eye, and smiled. "I thought this was completely stupid when I started, but, somehow, it grows on you." A wry smile. "Of course, having a boyfriend who is out there trying to win. It probably helps to."
Yeah. It sure does.
The whistle blew, and the game was on. Will took control easily, and started moving the ball down the field. Jessie was looking intently out of the window onto the pitch, stopping occasionally to dwell her pen and punch numbers into the keypad of her laptop without looking. "Come on, come on…"
As I watched, I started to see Dale moving about constantly at the back, pointing, shouting orders, organising people. Every time the opposition got the ball and swept forward, he was there, either moving in powerfully himself to deprive them of the ball and punting it down field, or ordering one of his teammates into the gap to stop them. Even when a high ball flew over everyone's heads to land almost at the back of the field, Dale was 1st to it, trapping it with his foot pivoting and clearing it down field. He was a long way from will at the front of the field, but I could tell from the way they looked at each other and from their hand gestures that they were in constant communication.
The first half was hard for both teams. Shots on the goal kept missing, going wide, or hitting the crossbar. At the end of the first 45 minutes, neither team had scored.
Jessie shut the lid of her laptop, and stood up. "Well, that could have a lot worse. We were trying a lot of new stuff tonight, and Dale and the defensive unit had a lot of adaptation to do." She gestured to the opposition side of the field. "They led the league in goals scored last year, so keeping them to nil at half-time in our second game is quite an achievement."
"What happens now?" I looked at her in wonder.
"Now," she made for the door, "we go down and talk to the boys." She looked at me. "Do you want to come?"
Downstairs in the tunnel as the players filed back, it was hot, steamy, and sweaty. Will and Jessie were deep in conversation, wills heavy breathing audible from here.
"Hey, you." Dale stood behind me, still breathing hard. "I'm so glad you're here." He lifted me off my feet in a hug, squeezed me, and then put me lightly back down. "Whoops. I hope you didn't get you to wet."
I turned around in his embrace. I don't care. You can get me as damp and sweaty as you want."
"Hey, time for that later. We're meant to be a family friendly team, remember?" He grinned. I saw the light in his eyes, and I knew he was doing what he loved. I felt privileged just to be able to watch, and I understood that for him this was more than sport; it was a means to secure his family's future.
"Williams! Over this way." The rest of the team gestured to him and Dale reluctantly let me go. "I have to go, babe. I'll be back soon, I promise."
I kissed him as hard as I could. "Go out there and do what you have to do, Dale. I love you."
Back in the coaches box at the beginning of the second half, all three of us girls were leaning with our noses practically pressed us against the glass. The second half started as frantically as the first, and the opposition had the best of it.
Time after time, Dale, and the defensive unit had to repel attacks; cutting off opposition players, leaving them nowhere to go, or just straight up taking the ball off them. Through it all Dale never seem to get tired, never seemed to run down. He was resistant to provocation; the opposition team did everything to try to get him to give away a penalty, and I saw a number of elbows thrown, along with some pushing and shoving.
Dale just grinned, and ran on. There seemed to be nothing anyone could do to distract him from his task.
Finally, in the closing minutes of the game, the Thunderbirds had another opportunity; a long ball from Will made its way up the chain of players, and found the feet of Ricky, who been quiet all game. This time he exploded into action, evading two players and kicking the ball through the legs of a third he and will surged up the field, defenders trailing in their wake.
Even from this distance, I could see Dale acting as their eyes and ears, and I saw Ricky glanced back to where Dale was and swerve to avoid a player Dale was pointing out. The ball went from Ricky to Will and the remaining defenders headed straight for him.
So intent were they on cutting off Will's path, that they had forgotten Ricky was still there. At the last moment, Will lined up to shoot, and pretended to do so, but pulled and tapped the ball gently sideways to Ricky, who was sprinting in from a short distance.
He stabbed the ball forward…and it bounced off the crossbar again.
The whistle blew. Thunderbirds had their first nil all draw.
Jessie exhaled a breath. "Well, it's not the result we wanted. But I'll take it."
Downstairs in the tunnel, the post game interviews were already beginning, and I could look down and see a group of reporters clustered around Dale.
"Hold on, I'll get the converage on the monitor." Jessie pressed a button on the remote control, and Dale's face filled the screen.
"We're here now with Dale Williams, MVP for this game. Dale, how do you feel about the result?"
There was still breathing hard, and it took him a few seconds before he was able to reply. "I think we're happy with some aspects, less so with others. Of course we would have liked to win; but for the defensive unit, stopping them from scoring was a big plus. So I think we've got a lot to work on, and we'll go away and try to come back stronger next week."
"Dale, your defensive display out there tonight was little short of amazing. We haven't run the stats yet, but I'm pretty sure that will be a season record, only two games in, for most yards run by a defender. How do you feel about your defensive performance?"
He smiled. "Well, you have to do the best you can. I wouldn't be able to do it without my support team."
"Also your support team, Dale."
He looked up towards where we were in the box. "Well, there's Jessie Phillips, our analyst; her insights give us the raw material we need to get a job to. But,
as well as her, there's my little daughter, Daisy. And my family. Without them, I wouldn't be able to do any of this."
"That's great, really great. Thanks for your comments, Dale. Good luck for next week."
My family. Those words gave me a warm feeling in my chest. Now, Dale and I and Daisy and Cyrus, we were a family.
Twenty-One
Keisha
One month later
"Hey, is this okay?" Dale reaches for another color swatch and waves it under my nose. "I mean, it's not like I know anything about colors, but this blue seems nice. With a grey carpet or something."
I come back to myself. "Yes, that sounds lovely." We're sitting together on the sofa, paging through a book of redecoration options. Now I'm here permanently, Dale said it was time to do something with the place, and so I've been drafted into being Chief Interior Decorator - a job about which I know precisely nothing. I'm learning, though, and when Dale is away for games, Daisy and I make secret plans about how we're going to build a castle tower, and a dungeon, and all kinds of things.
I'd better not tell Dale, otherwise those things might actually happen. At our feet, Daisy plays happily with Cyrus.
My story was finally published: 'A Community and a Team: Thunderbirds Soccer Makes a Home in Cheyenne'. It was rating well locally, and I'd just heard from a syndication service about picking it up to be published nationally. Maybe it wasn't going to win a Pulitzer, but people liked it, and I was happy enough with that for the moment.
I settle back into Dale's arms, and sighed contentedly. "Everything is lovely here."
He smiles. "That's the idea. Hey, I had one other thought about redecoration." He turns the big book to a section we hadn't looked at before. "Wallpaper." Flicking through the pages, he comes to one with bright animals; lions, tigers, monkeys, elephants. "What do you think of this one?"
I study it, and look up at him, confused. "It's nice, I guess, but isn't Daisy," I lower my voice, "a little bit old for it? To me, this looks like it would be suitable for a very young child, or in a nursery-"
His face is open and guileless, and the meaning of his words suddenly dawned on me. All the breath rushed out of my body, and I could only be quiet for a minute. "Do you-do you mean that?"
"Keisha Gilmore, I have never been more serious about anything in my life." From nowhere, he produces another book. "Of course, we're going to need this one as well."
I look down. It's a book of wedding photographs, a big thick one, although it feels light. "Open it and see what you think."
"Now?"
His face is insistent. "Yeah, now. No time like the present."
I open it - and inside, the book is hollowed out, and resting in a little crushed-velvet nest, is a diamond ring.
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