by Piper Rayne
My heart squeezes when I hear her compare herself to Britani. Why can’t she see what I see? My fingers run along her shoulder and upper arm. “Yer so beautiful. Never think yer not the hottest woman in the room.”
She grins and points at me. “See, that’s why the minute you pushed her away and stood, I knew you wouldn’t do that to Palmer and me. I mean, you’ve come this far. You wouldn’t just cheat on me. Something inside told me whatever was happening with Britani was innocent. That my insecurities around her are my problem, not yours.”
“Really?” I hate the surprise in my tone over the fact that she believes me.
“Don’t get me wrong, for a quick second, I did want to take her by her bleach-blonde hair and throw her in the bay, but I saw it in your eyes. The fear that you’d lose Palmer and me.”
“I really want to kiss you,” I say, bending forward and putting my hand on her cheek to pull her toward me.
“Okay.”
I press my lips to hers, my pulse igniting when our tongues touch. Our kiss grows a little too sexual for daytime at a park.
“Here’s your daughter. Get a room. And my sister might believe you, but I do not,” Phoenix says and walks away.
I close the kiss and my forehead falls to hers. “How on Earth did I get so lucky to get you?”
“Twice, at that,” she says.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
“And never forget it.”
The next day, I tell Britani I can’t be her sponsor. Although I want to help people, I can’t risk my own life and sobriety when I just got them back.
“Here they are,” Kingston says. “Our first team. I hate to sound like the proud uncle, but Calista’s the best we got.”
“Let’s teach them how to kick a ball first, I suppose.”
We watch the ten girls try to kick a soccer ball around the pitch. We’re outside right now, but once the building is ready, we’ll move indoors when the colder weather hits. Although Kingston’s specialty will be baseball, we’re mid-season and he’ll never get enough people until the fall at the earliest. Since Calista said she wanted to learn soccer and had some friends that did too, we’re going to start a camp that might play a few local teams.
We spend the next half hour trying to show the girls the right way to kick a ball.
Midway through practice, I spot Calista signing to a girl in Kingston’s group. I saw her hearing aids when she arrived but figured she could hear well enough since her parents didn’t mention anything to us.
I pull Calista to the side. “Nicole’s deaf?”
“She can read lips pretty well, but she’s hard of hearing. She sometimes has an interpreter with her in class.” Calista’s feet keep moving on the ball and I wonder what Rome will think about his daughter being a soccer player instead of a softball one.
“That’s why you’ve been so interested in signing?”
She laughs. “Yeah, but also for Palmer. I can’t imagine what it’s like to not know what people are talking about.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her temple. “Yer a good person, you know that?”
“Tell my mom and dad that, will you?” She smiles and runs off to join the group of girls.
After practice, I sit down in the middle of the pitch.
Kingston falls to his back beside me. “I think I saw some improvement today.”
“Yeah.” A part of me wonders what it would be like to coach professionals. To be teaching strategy instead of showing kids how to kick a ball between passes and how to score a goal.
“You miss it?” he asks.
“Why do you ask?”
He points at my face. “It’s all over your face. Maybe you need to stay away from the sport totally. What if it sends you spiraling?”
“I wouldn’t let it come to that.” I shrug. “Don’t you miss baseball?”
“No. That was never my calling. I love teaching the kids though. Last year, Rome put Dion in tee-ball, and it was a thrill to see those little guys find the love of the game. The joy in their eyes when they hit the ball.”
Sadly, I don’t relate. I didn’t feel that today, but maybe I’m just feeling sorry for myself. Professional coaching announcements are due in a few weeks, and before I knew settling here with Sedona and Palmer would be an option, I’d hoped my name would be on the list. I regret nothing though. I’d pick them each and every time.
“Here comes trouble.” Kingston points at Sedona and Palmer walking with Stella.
Palmer runs into me, knocking me back to the ground. Yeah, I wouldn’t change a damn thing.
“How about some pizza?” Stella suggests, cozying up with Kingston on the grass.
He rolls them over so he’s on top of her, and I cover Palmer’s eyes.
“Get a room,” I say.
“You’re just jealous because you have little eyes on you all the time,” Kingston says with a grin.
I lean forward and kiss Sedona. Palmer places one hand on the backs of our heads to keep us kissing.
“He’s right,” I mumble against her lips.
“Yeah, I’m slightly jealous, but I still wouldn’t be humping on the soccer field,” Sedona says.
“I can’t help it. She’s just so damn edible.” Kingston pretends to attack Stella’s neck like a vampire.
I sign to Palmer. Climb Uncle. On his back.
She smiles and takes my advice, catapulting herself on top of him. He easily climbs off of Stella and swings Palmer around, throwing her up in the air. Sedona cuddles up next to me as Stella laughs.
Who would’ve thought we’d all end up here? Although there’s one Bailey I haven’t won over yet, I couldn’t be happier. That is, until Sedona leans closer and puts her hand on my stomach.
“It’s time to call your mom,” she whispers.
Yeah, there’s still that boulder to roll over.
Thirty
Sedona
I sit next to Jamison as his shaking hands dial his mom’s number. He puts it on speaker. Palmer is sleeping, so we have plenty of time.
She answers on the first ring. “Jamie?”
“Hey, Mum,” he says.
“Where’re you at, lad? New York?”
This shows how much they haven’t stayed in contact. There was a time he called home every Sunday.
“I’m actually in Lake Starlight.” He looks at me, and I grab his hand.
“Oh, okay. And Sedona?”
“She’s here too. I actually have you on speaker with her.”
“Nice.” I hear her sewing machine in the background. She’s always busy doing something. “Ye two together?”
Again he looks at me. “Yeah, we are. But there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?” Her voice becomes alarmed. “Trouble again?”
“No. Not that.”
“Oh good. Your father would not be happy.”
“I know. It’s something else. Something I didn’t tell you but should have.”
“What’s this?” Her voice comes across gruff. It even scares me a little.
“Um.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, spit it out, Jamie. Nothing good comes from secrets. I’ve told ye that since ye were a little one, but you were always keeping secrets.”
Jamison blows out a breath and I squeeze his hand harder. “I have a daughter.”
“What?” His mom’s voice lowers, and it’s laced with weariness.
“Sedona was pregnant when I got injured. You have a granddaughter. Her name is—”
Click. The line goes dead.
Jamison drops the phone. “See. I told you. Why did I even try?”
My phone rings from across the room on the charger. I leave Jamison and grab it, seeing his mom’s name. I hold it up to him.
“She must be really pissed with me if she’s calling you for details,” he says.
I shrug but slide over the screen with my thumb. “Hello?” I answer with as much calm as I can.
“Sedona?”
“Yes?”
“Is it true?”
I put the phone on speaker so Jamison can hear her. “It is.”
“How old is the lass?”
“She’s twenty months.”
“Oh God. And she doesn’t even know her grannie or granda.”
Jamison puts his head in his hands as I sit next to him. “She’d love to get to know you. She’s very sweet and loving. Her name is Palmer.”
“Palmer Ferguson. A good solid name.”
Then it dawns on me—I didn’t give her Jamison’s last name. All this time he’s been back in our lives and I didn’t even think about it. As though it had never occurred to Jamison either, he looks at me, clearly questioning if his mom is correct.
“Um… technically she’s Palmer Bailey, but…”
Jamison stands, hurt in his eyes, and goes into my bedroom, quietly shutting the door.
“Oh, so you and Jamie weren’t together?”
“No, not at the time, but we are now. We’re happy. Very happy.”
“That’s good. Will you send me pictures?”
“Of course. Give me a moment.” I go to my photos and open up a text exchange. I send her a few of Palmer alone by the ducks and one of Palmer and Jamison together.
“Hold on. I’m getting yer message.” There’s nothing for a moment until I hear sniffles. “She’s beautiful.”
My heart aches to be with Jamison right now. To fix Palmer’s legal name now that he’s a part of her life. “There’s something else you need to know as well.”
“Oh Lord, I’m bracing myself.”
“She’s deaf.”
“Oh, I can sign,” she says with more excitement in her tone. “My brother was deaf. He’s passed now, but I’m sure I still know my signs. I’ll practice.”
I chuckle, then silence falls over the phone. “That’s great. Jamison is much more fluent in signing than me. He’s done amazing things for her. You’d be really proud.”
More silence. The strain between them is deeper than I thought.
“He’s good. Healthy? Staying away from the drink?”
“Yep. He’s really good. Doing all the work he needs to in order to stay sober.”
“Ye know, I blame meself. My family likes the drink. I shoulda watched him better.”
Oh, how familiar I am with the mom guilt. “He’s good. I promise.”
“He looks good in the picture you sent me. Strong again. He was so frail and thin.”
Jamison comes out of the bedroom and sits beside me, having gathered himself.
“Would you like to talk to him?”
“Only if he wants to talk to me.”
I hand Jamison the phone.
“Hey, Mum,” he says.
I pat his leg and grab my laptop before going into the bedroom to give him the privacy he needs. Opening my computer, I search for how to get Palmer’s last name changed to Ferguson. After printing the forms I need, I return to my bedroom and fill them out.
Jamison comes in twenty minutes later. “She’s going to come for a visit now, you know.”
“I know, or maybe we go there.”
He sits down on the bed. “She sounds happy. I thought maybe we’d FaceTime her with Palmer after she wakes up.”
I push away the papers. “Definitely. Palmer will love her. Other than Dori, she doesn’t have a grandma or a grandpa in her life.”
He nods. “Give me time on the grandpa thing.”
“Okay.”
I move to straddle him and wrap my legs around his waist. He sits quietly. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks. When she hung up on me…” He shakes his head.
I laugh then say with my best Scottish accent—which is pretty lame—“I love your mum.”
He flips me over on my back. “Are you mocking me?”
“No way. But how about you grab your kilt?”
I remember how much Phoenix once annoyed him with that stereotype. He tickles me but I squirm, and his lips end up on mine, his knee nudging apart my thighs. As he devours my neck and I grab the hem of his T-shirt, he picks up one of the papers crinkling under my back.
“What’s this?”
I sit up and stack them in a pile before putting them on my nightstand. “It’s a petition to change Palmer’s last name to Ferguson.”
His shoulders sink and he glances at me through his long dark eyelashes. “You don’t have to.”
I crawl up his lap and put my finger to his lips. “At the time, I just couldn’t imagine always explaining to everyone why we had different last names. I didn’t want to remember you every time I told someone her name or filled out a form. It was too painful. But you are her father and if I wasn’t in so much pain, I would’ve put your last name down regardless of whether we were together or not.”
His arms wind around my back. “I’m never leaving you.”
“I know, and that’s why I want to do this for you.”
“Thank you.” He kisses me. “Now I just need to get you to be a Ferguson too.” He lays me down on the bed.
“Slow down there.” I laugh, allowing him to slide my shirt up my stomach.
“Want to work on baby number two?”
I clear my throat. “You really don’t know the meaning of slow, do you?”
He pulls my shirt off me. “When it comes to you? No. Well, other than trying to savor you until I combust.”
The weight of his body falls over me and he situates himself between my legs, grinding his long length into my core. “I love you, Sedona Bailey Ferguson.”
I slap his shoulder.
“One day. One day we’ll be the Fergusons and I’ll be talking to your swollen belly because we’re going to be a family.”
I shake my head, but he’s right. One day. I just don’t know how he’s so sure he wants us to jump in so deep so fast. Then again, it’s one of the reasons I love him. He left soccer in Scotland to come to the MLS just to be with me. The first thing he did after getting sober was seek me out.
Finally, it dawns on me that he’s been preparing for this moment for months. While I was waiting for him to desert me again, he was planning our resurrection. He always had faith. I could learn a little something from him.
Thirty-One
Jamison
Three weeks pass, and we’re seeing progress in our young soccer team.
Calista runs down the field and passes to Kaylee, who passes to Ava up by the net. She kicks the ball and it goes right in past Kingston. A legit goal. Calista and the girls all run and hug one another, jumping up and down.
I smile and Kingston looks over them at me, his expression showing he’s impressed.
It is impressive that after only three weeks, we’ve seen this much progress.
“Great job, girls.” I clap. “We’ve got five minutes left but you worked hard so why don’t you hang out until yer parents get here.”
Calista weaves to look around me, then signs hello, I’m happy you’re here.
I turn, expecting to find Nicole, but it’s Palmer. She’s kicking her own ball toward me. Yep, she’ll be a soccer star. I’ll make sure of it.
Nicole runs down the field toward my daughter. I think she feels a bond with Palmer—probably because they’re different in similar ways.
All of the girls sit down with Palmer, fawning over her. They all sign a little bit to her because Calista and Nicole have been teaching them some basics.
Palmer signs back. Play.
I glance behind me, and I’m disappointed not to find Sedona, but Harley. Dion runs from her and takes the ball we were using down the field and scores on Kingston—although in King’s defense, he was on his phone.
“You’re a natural,” Kingston says.
Harley comes over with Linus in her arms and a pouting Phoebe by her side.
&nb
sp; Kingston walks past the girls huddled together over to us. “What’s up with her?”
“She wanted Stella to be here,” Harley says.
She lets down Linus and he joins Palmer. The two of them have something like a sibling bond, I think, because they were born close to each other.
“What’s up, LJ?” Kingston puts his hand up for a high five.
“Will you please stop calling him that?” Harley says.
“Believe me, you want this nickname to stick. You’re just asking for his ass to end up in a locker with the name Linus.”
“It’s a great name,” Harley says.
Kingston sighs and his gaze zeroes in on her belly. My attention fell there too, but I didn’t want to say anything. The worst thing you can do is ask a woman whether she’s pregnant or not.
But Kingston points. “What’s going on there?”
Harley looks down to where her shirt has ridden up a little since it’s stretched out. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You cannot be pregnant again,” King says. “Seriously, I’m going to pick up Rome and drive him to get fixed myself.”
She shoots him a glare. “This is none of your business. And you shouldn’t be making me feel ashamed that I’m pregnant, okay? You came from a family of nine.” Harley yanks her shirt down.
I step forward and kiss her cheek. “Congratulations.”
“See.” She points at Kingston. “That’s how you should be. Not so judgy.”
Kingston wraps his arms around her and exaggerates a kiss on her cheek. “Congrats, sis, another baby. Do you think the spark will ever die?”
“Is your spark dead? Stella isn’t pregnant yet?” Harley raises an eyebrow.
“No, because we use protection.”
She throws her hands in the air, obviously exasperated.
Kingston laughs since we all know Harley and Rome use protection too. It just never works. “Were you hoping to keep this one quiet?”