Player Baby Daddy

by Hamel, B. B.

  “I love you, Nicole. I’m not letting you give this up for me.”

  That does it. Tears spring into her eyes. “What did you say?” she asks softly.

  I take her chin, staring into those beautiful eyes. “I love you, Nicole. That’s never going to change.”

  She nods once. “I love you too. And that’s why I had to quit.”

  “Please,” I whisper.

  “If I don’t work here, you can stay on the team and Dad will forgive us. I can find a job somewhere else. I can do anything else. I just… I can’t do this.”

  I stare at her for a long time without speaking, our hands intertwined. I hate this, hate this fucking situation. I hate myself for getting her here.

  If it weren’t for me, she’d never have to quit. She could keep her dream job, keep living this life, being happy. But I had to go and fuck all that up and ruin her life.

  “I should just go,” I whisper softly.

  “No,” she says. “Stop talking like that.”

  I reach forward and pull her toward me. I kiss her softly, wrapping my arms tight around her body.

  I hold her like that and I don’t care who sees us. It doesn’t matter anymore.

  “I love you,” I say again. “I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

  “I know you will,” she whispers, head against my chest. “It’s going to be okay. I know it is.”

  “It will be.” I’ve never been surer of anything before. “We can be together.”

  She looks up at me, a little smile on her lips. “Yeah?”

  “For real. We can be together. No more hiding or pretend or… we can just be together.”

  She grins and I kiss her again.

  It’s not perfect, but nothing’s perfect. I hate that she’s giving her job up for me, but I can see how it would be the best solution. This way, we can both stay in Wichita.

  I don’t know though. I suspect she’s going to find something new and pretty soon. She has a lot of connections in the business, after all.

  And now I have her, after all this. I finally have her and I know that means more to me than anything else. This is the love I’ve needed, the love I’ve wanted.

  It’s the love I’m finally going to settle down for. It’s the love that’s going to tame me when I never thought I could be tamed.

  I hold her tight, a smile on my lips.

  There’s some sadness, but really, my heart’s happy. It’s so full and happy I can barely breathe. I’ve never been this happy or content before in my entire life.

  I can finally be with her, no bullshit, no problems. Oh, sure, things might be weird with her dad for a while, but we’ll get over it.

  There’s a baby coming and nothing brings a family together faster.

  I’ve grown so much since meeting Nicole and I can’t wait to see what we grow into together.

  My girl, my baby, my future. This is home now for real. No more wandering.

  I have it all in my arms.

  21

  Nicole

  Two Years Later

  “Okay, ready to go see Pop?”

  Olive smiles up at me with those big blue eyes. “Pop!”

  I laugh and scoop her up into my arms. She’s so big, already eighteen months, and tottering along at a rapid pace at all times. She has zero fear, which I’m pretty sure she gets from her dad.

  “You ready?” River calls from downstairs.

  I carry Olive down the steps. River is there holding a laundry basket full of stuff to send over to my dad’s place with Olive.

  I laugh at him. “Do you really think we need all that?”

  “Can’t hurt,” River says.

  “But he has her all the time. He has all this stuff.”

  River just shrugs. “Can’t hurt,” he says again.

  I sigh and kiss him. Olive laughs and he kisses her too.

  “Come on, let’s go,” I say. “I don’t want to be late.”

  “It’s the big day,” River says, grinning at me.

  We pile out into the car and River drives us over to my dad’s. We don’t live far from him, which is good. We bought a house a few months back after we got married and we’re still settling in and basically living out of boxes, but it’s starting to feel like home. Especially since we have our little family.

  We pull up outside of my dad’s. I get Olive out of her seat while River and my dad stand at the top of the driveway, talking quietly to each other. I’m sure it’s about what they’re doing in the next game, but I don’t bother asking. They have their own thing, and besides, I have my own team to worry about.

  “Pop!” I put Olive down and she goes teetering over like mad toward my dad. He scoops her up in his arms with a laugh and hugs her tight while she squirms.

  “Come on, sweetie, you show me how good you are with the chalk,” he says to her, grabbing a bucket of the stuff from the garage. She takes it and dumps them out on the driveway before throwing pieces of it around.

  “You sure you’re good?” I ask him.

  “I’m fine,” he says. “Shouldn’t you be going?”

  “I guess,” I say.

  “She’s nervous,” River adds. “Can you blame her?”

  “Shouldn’t be nervous,” Dad says. “You’ll do great.”

  “What’s what I keep saying. I’ve seen her plans, she’s been working hard, she’s going to—”

  “Enough, enough,” I say, waving at them. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”

  River grins at my dad and he grins back.

  It’s strange. They used to hate each other. Two years ago and I think my dad would have rather punched River in the face than smile at him. I guess that’s what winning the Super Bowl can do to you.

  “Come on,” River says. “Let’s go.”

  “Bye, Dad. Thanks again.”

  We wave, kiss Olive, and get back in the car. Olive waves and Dad holds her while we back up and pull out down the street.

  “You’re gonna do fine,” River says to me softly.

  “What if I don’t?” I ask him. “This is a big deal.”

  “Trust me.”

  I sigh and decide to trust him. I mean, he knows all my plans and ideas as well as anyone else. If I were going to fail, he’d know. But I wonder if he’d tell me.

  We drive out to the stadium and park. It’s mostly empty since we’re a few hours early. River looks at me. “I’ll be in the stands screaming your name,” he says.

  “I bet you will.” I lean over and kiss him.

  He kisses me back, nice and slow. I feel that tingle and twinge of excitement.

  “Hey,” he whispers. “When are we making another baby?”

  “As soon as you retire.”

  He chuckles. “So never?”

  “Please. We have enough money.”

  “I know. I just love the game.”

  I kiss him again. “Okay then. We’ll make another one soon. How’s that?”

  “That’s great.”

  We kiss one last time before I climb out of the car.

  “I love you,” he calls out after me. “You’re brilliant. Go win.”

  “I love you too,” I say back, grinning.

  I walk over to the stadium and head inside using my credentials to get through security.

  It’s amazing how much has changed in two years. Olive is here, obviously, and I’m married to River now. Dad and River won a Super Bowl last season and they’re closer than ever, which is good, especially after that super rocky first season.

  And now I finally have what I’ve been wanting.

  It took longer than I thought. I guess being a mother is hard, but I toughed it out and now… well, here I am.

  I head into my office and sit down behind the desk. I take a deep breath.

  And have ten seconds to enjoy it before Head Coach Matthews storms into the room.

  “You ready, Nicole?” he barks at me. “You better be. We gotta get to work.”

  “I will be.�
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  “You’re my offensive coordinator. I need more fire.”

  “We’ll slaughter the motherfuckers,” I say, standing up.

  He laughs. “There you go. See you out there.”

  He storms out again. That’s just his way, always running around.

  I smile and sit back down. I have a few minutes before the guys will gather on the field.

  Right now, I just want to enjoy this moment.

  I’m finally a coach again. I’m working at a local college, it’s only D2, but we’re a good program. I’m hoping to make the hop up as soon as I can, but I’m not rushing things.

  I’m young. I’ve got a long career ahead of me.

  It’s been a long, difficult road. I wasn’t always sure of myself.

  But I always had River by my side. Through it all, I had him. And now here we are, both where we want to be. We have a little family, we have each other.

  He’s my rock. I never would’ve thought that, but it’s the truth. He’s the stable one, keeping everything going despite being a professional football player and a full-on star.

  I don’t know what I’d do without him.

  Every day, he’s the fire that keeps me warm.

  I stand up and take a deep breath.

  I have this because I have him, because I have my family. My River, my Olive.

  I’ve never been happier or more complete than I am right now in this moment.

  I step out of my office and step onto the field.

  I smile and know that I’m home.

  THE END

  * * *

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