“I’m going to take you to one of my favorite places now,” Darren said. “I think it’s about time you meet Jacob.”
He smiled at Kelly and they drove for about half an hour until they made it to a lush green park. She looked around, and then followed Darren out of the car.
“Hey, buddy!” Darren exclaimed. She turned and saw a small boy, probably about six years old, running up to embrace Darren.
“I didn’t know if you were going to come today or not. They said that if you weren’t here by six, we were going to have to go home.”
“You know it’s not that big of a deal, buddy, you guys live right across the street from the park here.”
Jacob giggled. “Yeah, I know. But I wanted to stay here and wait for you.”
Darren grinned at him. “You want to meet somebody special?” he asked.
“Yeah! Is it that lady over there?”
Darren chuckled, and Kelly smiled. He was cute.
“This is Kelly,” Darren said. “She’s staying with me for a while. I thought she might want to meet you, because you’re a pretty cool guy.”
“You’re a pretty cool guy!” Jacob said.
Darren grinned. “See, this is why I like the kid. He has good taste.”
He bent down to Jacob and lifted him up for a tickle attack.
Kelly couldn’t help but laugh. The whole site was adorable. He hadn’t known that Darren was capable of this kind of gentleness. Sure, he seemed to be tender with her, but there was still the rough edge about him that made her wary. But around this child, he seemed to be a completely different person, and she couldn’t help but feel very warm about the whole experience.
“Kelly, you stay with Darren? What’s his house like? I bet it’s fun!”
Kelly laughed. “I guess it can be fun sometimes,” she said, smiling at Darren.
Darren gave her a private little wink and turned back to Jacob. “You want to show her what we’ve been working on?”
Kelly’s heart constricted tightly. Jacob looked so excited and Darren acted so natural with him. It did her heart good to see the two of them. They had each other, and that was what really counted. It seemed like they needed it.
“Yeah, let’s show Kelly what we’ve been working on! I’m really excited to try again.”
“Kelly, do you want to come over here and watch us?”
Kelly nodded and followed the boys out into the baseball diamond. Once they were out there, Jacob retrieved a baseball and a catcher’s mitt and tossed it at Darren. Darren caught it easily without them it in one hand and pitched it to the young boy. He caught it on the first try and let out a victorious cry. He ran toward Darren and Darren gave him an enthusiastic high-five. He turned toward Kelly, holding the ball up over his head, a big smile pasted across his face.
“That was very impressive,” Kelly exclaimed.
Jacob widened his smile. “Next time, we’re going to switch to the bat. I’m really excited!”
“Oh yeah, batting is really fun. I bet Darren will show you how to hit the ball.”
“Actually, it would be really helpful for us to have a third person to play with. Sometimes, things can get a little hectic. We always have to chase those dang balls around. Sometimes, it helps to have a third person,” Darren said.
“Yeah, come and play! All I ever get to play with is Darren and he’s just one person. It’s always more fun to play with two people!”
Darren and Jacob exchanged looks, and then Darren smiled conspiratorially at the child. “Ready? You know the drill. On three. One, two, three.”
Both Darren and Jacob gazed at Kelly, smiling sycophantically. “Please?” they said simultaneously.
Kelly couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll think about it, you guys. I don’t want to cramp your style or anything.”
“You won’t cramp anything!” Jacob exclaimed. “I want you to come. Darren, let her know she should come. You guys are having a slumber party. You should make sure she knows when you’re coming next time. Then she’ll come with you like she did today and we can play together. We should play together now too!”
“I didn’t bring the bat,” Darren said gently. “You remember the deal we made. Practice makes perfect, and if you don’t do it right the first time, you give it another try and before long, things start to feel very easy compared to when we first started. Right?”
“Right!” Jacob exclaimed.
“All right, buddy. I’m really glad I got to see you today. I wasn’t sure if we would have time or not. But it was great to talk to you again. I have to go, though, we didn’t have anything to eat yet.”
“It was nice to meet you, Jacob.” Kelly smiled at the child, a tenderness filling her gaze. Jacob smiled back and waved with his giant catcher’s mitt still on his hand.
“It was nice to meet you, too, Kelly. Please come and play next time. It’ll be a lot of fun. I know you and Darren have a good time. It’s really fun here.”
“We will talk about it and maybe I will see you next time,” Kelly said, smiling at the young boy.
Darren gave him a high-five and then a handshake, and led Kelly toward the car. When they had reached the car, he waved at Jacob before getting inside. When they drove away, he honked, and they waved enthusiastically at the little boy as he watched them leave.
“He’s adorable,” Kelly said, sighing heavily against her seat. “I would love a child like that one day.”
Darren glanced at her meaningfully. He had always thought the same thing about Jacob. And it was nice to hear that she might want to have a family one day.
“I really like him.”
“How did you guys meet?” Kelly asked.
“It was kind of an accident really. He was in a bad way. His parents were killed, kind of like my work. I guess they just thought I should talk to him and tell him things were going to be okay. But he really started liking me. So, they told me I can visit him at his foster homes sometimes. He asks for me. And if he is misbehaving, sometimes I’m the only one who can talk sense into him. He just needs that stability in his life, and I couldn’t say no. I really care about the kid.”
“I can see that,” Kelly said, smiling privately out the window. The truth was, it was probably one of the sweetest things she had ever seen in her life. But she didn’t want to gush. She just wanted to relish in the new side of Darren that she had seen.
“Yeah, I guess it’s probably pretty obvious,” Darren said, shrugging. “Well, anyway. I wanted to take you somewhere else. You want to eat first?”
“No, I think it will be okay,” Kelly said.
Darren smiled. “Okay. I just want to make sure you’re okay. This next spot will be quite a drive from here.”
“That’s going to be fine with me,” Kelly said, smiling gently.
And she meant it. She was actually really enjoying spending time with Darren, and she was excited to see what the rest of the day might bring.