Playing for Keeps

by Rhonda Laurel

  Derek scooped her up into his arms and kissed her. “Say that again.”

  “I’m pregnant. You and I are going to be parents.”

  “When did we do it?”

  “I suspect when we christened the apartment by having our first romp the weekend we moved in. And let’s face it, we’ve been kind of lax with the birth control.”

  “This is amazing news.” Derek knelt down and pressed his ear to her stomach. “Hi, little one, it’s your daddy here.”

  “So I take it you’re pleased?” She giggled and ran her hand through his hair.

  “Over the moon.” He stood and kissed her again.

  Just then a loud engine-like sound roared. It was Hank, one of the arena workers, coming to clean the ice with the Zamboni machine.

  “Hey, Hank!” Derek yelled. “We’re having a baby!”

  “Congrats, Pop! I hope he’s a hockey player!” Hank yelled back.

  “Let’s get out of here.” He led her up to the first landing so they could hear each other. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. I find myself sleepy and nauseated, but that’s normal. My boobs are getting bigger and tender.”

  He looked down at her chest and smiled. “I have no qualms about that.”

  “Of course.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been reading a book. This body will cease to exist soon, so take a good look. I have a bone to pick with Morgan and Isabelle. They glossed over some of those pregnancy symptoms. It can get gross.”

  “Not possible.”

  “But there can also be drooling and spitting. Not to mention the inevitable weight gain. I feel like I should have a memorial service for my clothes. Oh, and peeing like a racehorse. That sounds awesome. I’m not going to be sexy and chic anymore. I’m going to turn into a big fat house, and you’re not going to love me anymore.” She sniffed.

  “Charisma.” He kissed her nose. “You could turn into the Goodyear Blimp and I wouldn’t care.”

  She shot him a dirty look.

  “Not that it would ever happen.” He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “What I am trying to say is you are going to get more beautiful and breath-taking as the pregnancy progresses. I’m sure our little one already knows what a fashionista their mom is and will be mindful of that.”

  “You must have noticed I’ve put on a few pounds.”

  “I thought it was happy weight.”

  “Oh, so you did notice but didn’t say anything?” She put her hand on her hip.

  “I read somewhere that people gain weight when they’re happy. We’ve been extremely happy. I thought we were nestling into our lives.”

  “Then why haven’t you gained a pound?” She patted his abs and scowled. “You’re not happy?”

  “I just finished playing a hard season. I’ve been eating a lot too, but I had to stay trim for training. But I can assure you I will be eating like a horse in the off season.” Derek smiled to himself. Seth told him about Morgan’s wild mood swings when she was pregnant, but he thought Seth had been exaggerating. Clearly he was not. “How far along are you?”

  “I’m ten weeks. The doctor said we should be able to get an ultrasound by the next visit.”

  “Are you on a special diet?”

  “No. I just have to eat right, be mindful of my body, and don’t fight sleep if I’m tired. The baby will start communicating its needs in different ways, we just have to pick up on it. I’ve already bought a few things that are more comfortable, but I’m afraid I’ll be modifying my wardrobe. Eventually I’ll have to stop wearing the heels.” She rotated her foot.

  “This is fantastic.” He smiled. Then it hit him. This moment could only get even better if he proposed. “Marry me.”

  “What did you say?” she squeaked.

  “I said…” He tried to get down on one knee, but Charisma tugged on his arm to keep him standing.

  “So you want to marry me because you knocked me up?”

  “No, I was waiting for the perfect time to propose. I even have a ring.” He instinctively reached for his front pocket, but the ring was back at the house in the safe. “I have a ring. Grandma Reed can vouch for me. I showed it to her.”

  “No. No. No.” She shook her head vehemently. “It’s too soon. We just moved in together.”

  “And we’re having a child together. Who cares how long we’ve lived together?”

  “You wouldn’t have brought this up so soon if I weren’t pregnant. People will talk.”

  “I thought we were past all of that.” He caressed her shoulders. “All that matters is the two of us. Anyone not happy with our relationship can go take a flying leap.”

  “You don’t know how much I love you for saying that.”

  “Then say yes.” He lifted her chin with his finger. “Would you have said yes if you hadn’t run into your mother today?”

  “She has nothing to do with it.”

  “She has everything to do with it.” He sighed. “I know she doesn’t like me and I’ve learned to live with it. But her negative thoughts are infectious. Every time you talk to her, you come back with these nagging doubts about us. She’s the reason you waited so long to move in with me. It’s always about what she wants for you. And she’s made it clear she doesn’t think I’m good enough for you.”

  “I can’t blame how I feel right now on her.”

  “But she’s part of the problem. She’s always going to be that phantom in your life, convincing you that your decisions are wrong. You’ve been spot-on about the kind of life you wanted and you have it. With me.”

  “Can’t we just enjoy our good news for now? I love you and I love this baby, that’s all that matters.”

  “You do know that I love you too with all my heart, don’t you? You’ve made me the happiest man in the world today.”

  She gripped him tight. “You’ve always been patient with me and I’m asking, no begging, for that same kind of understanding now.”

  He saw the fear in her eyes. There were too many things going on at once. She didn’t want to admit it, but seeing her mom always made her doubt the good things in her life. The last thing he wanted was to upset the mother-to-be. He had no choice but to be OK with it.

  “Can we at least tell people?” he asked.

  “Well, we’ve already told Hank.” She smiled. “I think our family would like to know. What do you say we start making the rounds? But we’ll have to do it fast. Word travels like wildfire in the Reed family.”

  “My siblings will be easy enough. My parents went on a safari trip, but we can tell them as soon as they get back. Let’s start with Grandma Reed.”

  “She already knows. She figured it out on her own, but we can still drop by the house tonight with dinner. We can celebrate with her first.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Derek took Charisma’s hand and navigated her out of the arena. He listened as she rattled on about the things she’d read in the baby book and the app she’d installed that would alert her of the baby’s growth. She took his phone and loaded the app on his phone too.

  Impending motherhood suited her. Her skin glowed, and she looked happy. What more could he ask for? Marriage, for one thing. But if he’d learned anything from being involved with her this long it was that she took things slow when she was scared of moving too fast. If he pushed too hard, he would risk driving a wedge between them.

  The topic of marriage had been tabled for today. But he’d be bringing it up again soon.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Charisma shifted in her airplane seat and stole a glance at Derek. Normally, touching down in Texas put him in a good mood, but today he was brooding and quiet. He’d been that way a lot the past week. Sure he doted on her and gushed about being a father, but she could tell he was still upset about her turning down his proposal. She hated seeing him that way. The storm had returned to his eyes. But his marriage proposal had come so fast, right on the heels of her sharing that they would be parents together, that it had ca
ught her off guard. The last thing she wanted was for the man she loved to propose to her out of some sense of obligation. She knew that would eventually kill the love they had for each other if he only wanted to tie his life to hers because he’d knocked her up. She hated to have hurt him, but she wasn’t willing to take that chance.

  The quiet was driving her insane, so the minute they got into the car and left the private airport, she rambled on about decorating ideas for the nursery. He mostly just let her talk until she ran out of things to say and the quiet took over again.

  The family was delighted by the news. She knew they’d be in her corner, and it touched her heart that they volunteered to babysit and offer advice. She hadn’t told her parents yet and it felt strange not to tell the people who’d brought her into the world about her own miracle, but she knew it had to be done right now. She didn’t want any negative energy around her right now. It wasn’t good for the baby.

  After trying to reach them for two days, they video conferenced his parents. She wanted to tell them in person but that wasn’t an option right now. It took all the courage she could muster not to bolt out of the room. But to her surprise, they smiled and said a whole lot of stuff in Russian. When she asked Derek what they said, he replied that they were excited to be grandparents again but wondered why they weren’t getting married.

  She and Derek had wanted to tell the family in Texas in person. It had been a while since they’d visited, so they decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. Charisma looked forward to spending some time with Morgan and Isabelle, but she especially missed Mackenzie. They’d grown close during her visits, and she and the little girl simply adored each other.

  From the airport, they drove out to the famous Blake ranch. When the gates of the Twelve Horseshoes opened, she could see a look of peace come over Derek. She liked to kid him about his bromance with Seth, but she thought it was nice that they were such good friends. He took the familiar turns and within a few minutes they were in front of Seth and Morgan’s house. Before she could get a word out, Derek rounded the front of the car and opened the door for her.

  “Be careful,” he said as he opened the car door and extended his hand.

  “Thanks.”

  “How are your feet feeling?”

  She looked at her stylish flat sandals. “Getting used to being so close to the ground.”

  He smiled at her. “You still look fashionable and sexy.”

  “Yeah.” She got up on her tiptoes and angled her head up. “But it’s harder to get to those lips for a kiss.”

  Derek leaned down and kissed her. “No worries, we can still meet halfway.”

  “You want to go to San Antonio? That author you like who believes he’s a reincarnated soldier from the Alamo is having a book signing there this weekend.”

  “I don’t know. We’re going to be pretty busy.” He gently tugged on her hand and started in the direction of the house.

  Charisma remained firmly in place. “Since when don’t you want to go to your beloved Alamo?”

  “I promised the boys we’d get in some hockey lessons, and Seth said there was something he wanted to discuss with me. I’m sure Morgan and the ladies will want to spend time with you.”

  “All of those things are true, but I thought we’d spend some time together too.” She sighed. “Are you going to be in a bad mood forever?”

  “I’m not in a bad mood. But if I were, would you marry me to cheer me up?”

  She put her hand on his arm. “It’s not that simple and you know it.”

  “Let’s go then. I’ll put the bags in the guest house later.” Derek squeezed her hand and ambled up the walkway. He knocked twice then opened the door. “Anybody home?”

  “We’re in the kitchen,” Seth called out.

  “Are you decent?” Charisma said.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Seth fired back.

  They entered the kitchen to find Morgan on a stepladder looking for something on the top cupboard shelf while Seth held a firm grip on her waist.

  Charisma laughed. “What’s going on?”

  “My wife is looking for the cookies she hid from the kids. But apparently she hid them too well.” Seth shook his head.

  “Why do you hide cookies from the kids?”

  “Because I’d like to eat one without somebody asking for one, or worse, taking a drool-riddled chomp off one of them.”

  “You never liked to share sweets when we were kids,” Charisma mused.

  Seth gave her a knowing look. “And she wonders why Connor doesn’t like to share.”

  “Connor doesn’t share because he eats everything in sight. There’s never anything left over.”

  “Speaking of the kids, it’s so quiet.” Derek peeked out the patio door into the backyard. “Where are the little munchkins?”

  “Yeah, where’s my Kenzie?” Charisma added.

  “John Jacob took them to his friend’s dairy farm. They should be back soon.” Morgan got down off the stool and gave them both a hug.

  Charisma smiled. “We have big news.”

  “Congratulations!” Morgan reached for her hand. “Where’s the ring? I know Derek must have gone to a diamond mine and carved it out of the wall himself.”

  “Uh, that’s not our news,” Charisma stammered.

  “I asked, but she turned me down,” Derek announced rather loudly.

  “Oh.” Morgan searched both their faces.

  Charisma squeezed Derek’s hand hard and scowled at him. “We’re pregnant.”

  “Even better!” Morgan looked at Seth, then back to them. “Congratulations you two! I’m going to be an auntie again!”

  “Welcome to the club.” Seth beamed and joined the hugging.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t say anything the other day on our Blake Foundation conference call,” Morgan said.

  “I didn’t think it was the right time, and we thought this news warranted a face to face,” Charisma replied.

  “You two are responsible for bringing us together.” Derek smiled. “A phone call wouldn’t do.”

  Seth reached for his cell phone. “We are celebrating tonight. I’ll round the boys up.”

  “Before you make your calls,” Charisma interrupted. “There was something we wanted to ask you two.”

  “OK. Shoot,” Morgan said.

  “Derek and I wanted to know if you’d be the godparents.” Charisma bit her lip.

  “Of course. It would be our honor.” Morgan hugged them again. “I want details, but Izzy would kill me if I didn’t include her. I’ll give her and Michelle a call. We can pig out on junk food and non-alcoholic drinks.”

  “Good.” Charisma clapped. “I haven’t had one of your famous Shirley Temples in a while.”

  Derek’s jaw ticked. “Can you do me a favor? When you spread the news that we’re expecting, can you make sure you tell everyone she turned down my marriage proposal?”

  “I don’t think that particular disclaimer is necessary.”

  “It will save everyone from thinking I’m a non-committal jerk.”

  “Excuse me.” She glared at him. “I said no. What does that make me?”

  “Stubborn and—”

  Just then, they heard the kids running into the house.

  “Hey! There’s my gang of little Blakes!” Charisma plastered a smile on her face and opened her arms to get her hugs from the kids. They returned the sentiment, but the tightest squeeze came from Mackenzie.

  “Hi, Aunt Charisma.” Mackenzie gave her a toothy smile.

  “Hi, Cutie Pie. I missed you something terrible.” She kissed her cheek. “I’m going to take you shopping while I’m here. That is if your mom doesn’t mind.”

  “It’s fine with me.” Morgan smiled.

  “Are we going to practice at the rink?” Connor asked Derek.

  “You know it,” Derek replied.

  “Are you going to give us candy and teach us more Russian curse words?” Colby asked.

  “Bolva
n!” Mackenzie shouted out.

  Charisma swatted Derek on the arm. She knew that word, it meant jackass in English. Morgan always said the kids were like sponges, especially when it came to things they shouldn’t repeat. “Uncle Derek will not be adding to the Russian obscenities category.”

  “Remember guys and little lady, those words are only to be used when playing hockey,” Derek added.

  “And when you’re about thirty years old.” Morgan squinted at Derek.

  “Listen up everybody.” Seth whistled. “Uncle Derek and Aunt Charisma have an announcement to make.”

  Charisma stood and moved closer to Derek. She didn’t know why she felt nervous about telling the boys. Why would they care? She did worry that Mackenzie would be upset with her. Derek must have picked up on her unease, because he put his hand on the small of her back to reassure her.

  Derek spoke first. “Aunt Charisma and I are going to have a baby.”

  There was silence.

  “You’ll have another cousin to play with, and I hope you will come to love him or her,” Charisma chimed in.

  The kids looked like they were mulling it over. Finally Connor spoke.

  “Can you have a boy? We have enough girls in the family,” Connor said.

  “I don’t know, Connor, another little girl would be nice,” Seth added.

  Jake motioned his head toward Mackenzie. “One is enough.”

  “Boys are icky.” Mackenzie stuck her tongue out.

  “We need another boy to add to our soccer team,” Colby chimed in.

  “Kenzie is getting pretty good.” Seth smiled. “She scored a goal last weekend.”

  Morgan gave them all a stern look. “Whatever it is, boy or girl, we will love it just the same. Right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So the rules of conduct for pregnant ladies are in affect for Aunt Charisma. We have to take it easy around her. OK?” Seth added.

  “OK.”

  Seth turned to Derek. “Did you two have a chance unpack yet?”

  “No. The bags are still in the car,” Derek said.

  Seth turned to the kids. “Boys, go get the bags out of the car and put them in the guest house.” He clapped his hands together like he’d just concluded a huddle.