by A. Aubry
“I got an offer to play for the Texas Rangers. It’s an amazin’ deal with more money for us. But we’d have to uproot you and Lydia and move to Texas. We’d also have to sell the penthouse in Florida because the spring trainin’ would be in Arizona.”
To be honest, that was not the answer that I was expecting him to give me. We had been to Texas plenty of times to visit his family there, so it wasn’t like it was a terrible place that I would never want to live.
“Putting the money idea aside, do you want to play for the Texas Rangers?”
He nodded his head as he swallowed a drink of his hot chocolate, “Yeah, I really do. It was always my dream when I was growin’ up. When my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I was older, I told her I wanted to play for the Texas Rangers. That was when I was five. Now I have the opportunity to play for them and bring in even more money for our family.”
I pushed my empty cup away and took his hand into both of mine, “Well, then I guess we will have to call the realtor in Florida and sell the penthouse and find a realtor in both Arizona and Texas.”
“Wait, are you serious?”
Yes, there were times when I was very sarcastic, and it was difficult to tell if I was being serious at the time or not. This was not one of those times.
“Jackson, I’m being very serious. I work from home, so I’m not forced to leave a job here. You helped me follow my dreams to be a published author by inspiring me and supporting me. Now it’s my turn to be supportive of your dreams. If you want to play for the Texas Rangers, then we will pack up and move to Texas. My parents and both of our friends can hop on planes and come visit us whenever they want to. The only important thing to me in this whole equation is you and your happiness. Lydia and I will go wherever you go.”
“Holy shit,” Jackson answered as he tugged on my hands and I ended up on his lap.
His face nuzzled into the scarf around my neck as his arms held me tightly against him. I knew that Jackson only wanted support in anything that he did, it was something that he never got from Josie. It made me happy to know that I could make him happy just because I supported him.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You know that, right?” Jackson said quietly as he leaned back in his chair.
“I know that now. Maybe when we get home, we can start doing a little research on homes in—wait, I’m terrible with locations. Where would we be living?”
Jackson chuckled, “The Rangers play in Arlington which is part of Dallas-Fort Worth. So, we could choose to live in Arlington, Dallas, anywhere around there.”
I nodded, “Got it. Maybe we can look at homes in one of those areas while we still have a little us time?”
“Maybe we could do somethin’ other than researchin’ homes with our us time?” Jackson quipped.
“Baby, you know I still have two weeks left until the doctor clears me for that.”
“Damn it. Okay, explorin’ houses in Texas sounds like a great way to spend our us time.”
My smile matched Jackson’s, “Perfect.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
A month had flown by and luckily Lydia had decided that sleep wasn’t so bad after all. She was down to waking up to at least once a night for her nightly feeding, but other than that it was rare to hear a peep out of her. Maybe she finally felt bad for the lack of sleep that she forced myself and Jackson through for the first month of her life. But that didn’t matter now, because today was the day that Jackson was officially signing with the Texas Rangers.
We had flown down the night before, Lydia being a complete angel the entire flight. Staying in a hotel was a completely different story for her though. She hadn’t slept too well in the pack and play that we had brought along with us, and the strange surroundings didn’t soothe her the way that our home did. So, being the adoring wife that I was, I spent the night in the guest bedroom with Lydia so that Jackson could get enough sleep for today. After the signing was complete, and whatever press Jackson would have to do afterwards, we were going to check out the one house that we had narrowed our choices down to.
Choosing an apartment in Arizona wasn’t that hard because Jackson was friends with someone on the Rangers who was more than happy to give him a recommendation. With one place to live for spring training, the only thing left to do was find our own home. The one that we were going to look at was similar to our White Bear Lake home being that it was on an actual lake. It was one of the requirements because Jackson was dead set on bringing his boats down with us. Since the house in Minnesota was already paid off, thanks to Jackson owning it prior to meeting and marrying Josie and his rather large paychecks from playing baseball, we decided that we would keep it. We knew that we would be visiting our friends in Minnesota, and a place to stay was perfect. That also meant that we would have the opportunity to furnish our new house together and I was more than excited to put an extra female touch into our new living space.
“Are my girls all set?” Jackson asked as he peeked his head into the guest room of our suite.
I adjusted Lydia’s dress once more after her diaper change, “Yep, you remembered to pack extra wipes and formula in the diaper bag, right?”
Jackson tapped the diaper bag that was slung over his shoulder, “Got everythin’ we need and probably more.”
“Good, you never know how much she’s going to need anymore,” I replied as I lifted Lydia off the guest bed and placed her into her car seat.
Buckling her in, I adjusted the canopy and picked up the car seat, holding it on my forearm. Jackson moved from the doorway so that I could walk into the main living area of the suite. When I finally caught a glimpse of him, my stomach swarmed with butterflies. He was dressed in a simple dark blue suit with matching blue tie. I had spent five minutes the night before talking him out of wearing a red tie with his suit because the suit was blue, and he was already wearing a white button up shirt underneath. If he had gone with the red tie, he would have looked like the damn Fourth of July. I set down Lydia’s car seat and tugged Jackson closer to me by his tie before straightening the knot.
“Are you ready for this, Jack?” I asked softly.
“I’m more than ready for this. But, I wanted to say thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for now?”
“For lettin’ me do this. For not questionin’ my dreams and just bein’ so damn supportive.”
I smiled and smoothed out his tie on his chest, “You’re welcome, Jackson. We have always been supportive of one another and that’s what makes us work so well. Besides, I wasn’t going to tell you to sign with the Rangers because it’s something you wanted to do and then force myself to raise Lydia alone in Minnesota while you were here working.”
“If that would’ve been the case, I wouldn’t have agreed to play for them. You and Lydia are my family and wherever you two are, I will always be right there. There will be no separate homes and single parentin’ when it comes to us and our family.” He gave me his most serious expression, telling me that he was being one-hundred percent honest.
“I know that. Except, I will be single parenting when you are traveling because we don’t really want Lydia being exposed to too much before she has all her vaccinations,” I pointed out.
Jackson shook his head, a smirk playing on his lips, “Even then, Madeline, I will FaceTime you two every evenin’ and I will call you throughout the day to check in. If any emergencies arise, my family will just be a few hours away and we both know that Shelby would hop on a plane in a heartbeat for you two to get here in half the time.”
I giggled and put my arms around his neck, “I can’t help it that she likes me more than she likes her brother.”
“It’s all that female bondin’ that you two have done since the day y’all met.”
“Fair enough.”
After a quick kiss, I picked up Lydia’s car seat once more and our little family made its way out to the rental car. The Texas heat was something that I was going to h
ave to get used to. By now, Minnesota had had several snow storms take place and the landscapes were a sheet of white. In Texas, on the other hand, the grass was still green, and the heat put the negative twenty windchills of the north to shame. As Jackson drove us to the contract signing, he held onto my hand. Well, clutched to my hand was a more honest opinion of what was taking place. Over the last week, there were many instances of him saying that there was still time to change our minds and stay in Minnesota. But playing for this team was literally his dream, there was no way that I was going to tell him to stay away from that.
We pulled into a parking space just as Shelby, Chase, and Janette all stepped out of their car a few spots away. They had made the three-and-a-half-hour trek up from Houston to support Jackson in his signing. Shelby was about two seconds away from throwing a celebration party when Jackson told her the news about signing with the Texas Rangers. Everyone in Jackson’s family knew that this was what he had wanted to do since he started playing T-ball, so it was a big thing for not only Jackson, but his family as well.
Lydia was fast asleep in her car seat, as per usual whenever we took her in the car for more then fifteen minutes. I unlocked the seat from the base and lifted it out of the car before closing the door. There was no point in trying to unbuckle her from the car seat to carry her inside. It would just wake her up and we learned fairly quickly that she was not a happy girl if you did that. Jackson, in true dad fashion, sported the diaper bag on one shoulder as he hugged his family with his free arm. After they moved onto me for my hugs, and quietly cooed over our sleeping daughter, Jackson offered me an arm and we all walked inside the large building in front of us.
Almost as soon as we stepped inside, Jackson was whisked off by a man that I had never met before. Someone else was waiting for the family members to escort them to where the public signing would take place. The amount of press that were squeezed into the room that we were led to was overwhelming. No matter how long I had been with Jackson, it was always hard to believe that he was technically a celebrity in the sports world. Everyone else saw Jackson Ryder, professional baseball player, while I saw Jackson Ryder, my husband and Lydia’s father.
We took our spots that we were directed to while a few photographers began to take our pictures. All I could do was thank Lydia for sleeping just a little bit the night before, and the magic of makeup, because I didn’t look like I hadn’t slept as well last night as I had been the last month. The attention of the press quickly changed over to the front when a side door opened, and a group of people stepped into the room. A large smile pulled at my lips when I saw Jackson climb up onto the small stage that was set in front of us. Of course, Lydia chose that moment to wake up, and I was grateful that she didn’t immediately start crying. The sounds of her coos were barely heard over the clicking of camera shutters.
I reached down into her car seat and unbuckled her before easing her out and onto my lap. I sat her onto my legs, her back resting against my front so that she could see Jackson. Ever since she was born, Lydia was definitely a daddy’s girl through and through, so letting her face Jackson was obviously a good choice to keep her from crying. Jackson took a seat in the middle of the long table that was on the stage and smiled at Lydia and myself. He did his own little wave to our daughter who immediately started to flap her arms, her immediate reaction whenever she saw Jackson after she woke up.
A few men took seats on either side of Jackson and the crowd seemed to quiet down a fraction as some of the press pulled out recording devices. The man who Jackson had told me was the coach of the Rangers leaned close to his microphone and cleared his throat.
“Good afternoon, everybody. I’m glad y’all could make it out today for the official trade and contract signin’. We are very happy that we will be welcomin’ Jackson Ryder into the Rangers family.”
Jackson gave me a wink and I couldn’t help the blush that crept over my cheeks. The signing continued as Jackson gave his signature onto his official contract and then the opportunity for the press to ask questions came around. Many had asked about how it felt to sign with the Rangers and what his plans for the future would be. It wasn’t until the final question was asked that really caught my attention.
“Are your wife and daughter going to be joining you in Dallas?” A female reporter asked as she held out her phone as a recorder.
Jackson gave her a look that said, ‘are you kidding me’, “Of course they are goin’ to join me down here. I can’t imagine livin’ away from them. Those two girls are my life and I only have my wife, Madeline, to thank for encouragin’ me to pursue my dream of playin’ for the Rangers. It is because of her that I’m here at all.”
The reporter nodded her head and Jackson smiled over at me as I now cradled Lydia in my arms and fed her a bottle. I grinned at his answer, even though I didn’t want to take credit for pushing him to actually do this, I was happy that he gave it to me. Jackson would never dream of telling me not to pursue my dreams, and I would never tell him not to follow his. A reporter asked if they could get pictures of me, Lydia, and Jackson, and he happily accepted after taking pictures with his new Rangers jersey and the coaches. I was led up onto the stage with Lydia, who was quickly taken into her father’s arms. Her wide toothless smile made my heart skip a beat as she looked up at Jackson. I had never met two more perfect people in my entire life.
As we stood there as our own little family, I couldn’t help the wide smile that was permanently on my face. Jackson was getting to follow his dream, my book was officially on its way to being printed and published, and our little Lydia was doing amazing and growing more and more every day. The only thing left on our agenda was to find a house, officially move, and settle down into our new routine. So much for taking everything one day at a time.
“Yes, Shelby, the pale pink goes in Lydia’s nursery. No, the cream goes in the master bedroom and please do not use that light blue in the bathroom…” I instructed as I was putting the final few items into a cardboard box.
Shelby, Chase, and Janette were finishing the painting on our new house while Jackson and I were packing up the last few things that were coming with us. We were scheduled to fly back to Dallas tonight and would be staying with Jackson’s parents at their hotel for a few days until all of our furniture would be delivered. Owen and Alex would drive down the truck with everything that we were currently shoving into the back of it.
During our trip to Dallas, we went and saw the house that we both picked off of a realtor website as one that we would be interested in. Almost as soon as we stepped foot in the door, we knew that it was our home. We put an offer in right then and there and two weeks later, the house was ours. Immediately, we put Shelby to work on recruiting people and painting the house for us while we shopped around for furniture. This house would finally have the womanly touch that I had been trying to force into our Minnesota home, which ultimately made it more family-friendly than Jackson’s original bachelor pad.
“Okay, okay. Are you sure you don’t want the cream in your office as well?” Shelby questioned, a clanging ringing out around her.
“No, the blue goes in my office. Blue is supposed to be calming and soothing, it helps me focus when I’m writing.”
“Got it, boss. Dad and Janette wanted me to remind you that they will be pickin’ you three up at the airport tonight and not myself. If you want to be moved in by the end of the week, I need to keep my work flow goin’.”
I chuckled, “Yes, I remember. Now I have to go, the final box needs to be taped up and put into the truck. Then we will be on our way to the airport.”
We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. Every waking moment had been spent packing up all of our clothes and knickknacks that were going to be moved to the new house. The only thing staying behind was the furniture and some other minor things. When we were not going to be living in Minnesota, our friends would keep an eye on the house, but family would also be allowed to stay there like it was when Jackson was ma
rried to Josie. I sealed up the last box, wrote in a fat sharpie what the box contained, and pushed it towards the door just as Jackson strode on through.
“Everythin’ downstairs is officially packed away and put in the truck. Is this the last box for upstairs?” He pointed to the box that almost got in his way.
“Yep, that’s it. I hope that unpacking everything is much more fun than packing everything was,” I sighed as I held up my hands to Jackson.
He took my hands and helped me off the floor, “We won’t be on a time constraint in unpackin’, so it won’t be as hectic as these last two weeks have been.”
As soon as I was standing, I immediately went into Jackson’s arms. Spring training with the Rangers was going to be starting after next week, and we had agreed that I would spend the first week in Dallas getting the house all set up for our return. After the final boxes would be unpacked, or at least, the necessary ones, Lydia and I would fly to Arizona to be with Jackson until after spring training would end. I could have put the unloading of the boxes on Shelby so that Lydia, Jackson, and I could all travel to Arizona together, but unlike her…I liked to know where things in my house were.
Jackson circled his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, “You ready for a fresh start, darlin’?”
“Do you mean another fresh start? Minneapolis was my fresh start from Iowa, remember?” I mumbled into his chest.
How many fresh starts was one person allowed to have in their lifetime?
“But this time is on a good note. You aren’t runnin’ from anythin’ or anybody. We are just pickin’ up our lives in a new settin’,” Jackson rationalized for me.
He had gotten quite good at doing that ever since he met me. Whereas before he would fly off the handle and didn’t think rationally in most situations, now he was rationalizing almost everything.
“It feels strange…” I said honestly.