EPILOGUE
Damian’s normally quiet island home was filled with guests. His parents, his sisters, their husbands and all their children, Sophie, Annabelle and Vaughn, Yank and Lola, and all Annabelle’s and Yank’s animals gathered in his house for a long weekend. And a wedding.
Lola and Yank had eloped the week before. Yank had refused to be a spectacle, walking down the aisle with his poor excuse for a Seeing Eye dog leading the way, stopping to sniff every flower and person. Lola hadn’t wanted a wedding, she only wanted Yank, and so they’d sprung the news on the girls at the first formal staff meeting of the still-unnamed merged firms of Atkins Associates and the Hot Zone. As usual, the men couldn’t agree on whose name or initial should go first on the letterhead.
With business and her uncle’s personal life settled, Micki and Damian had set their own date, one they’d decided to push up after discovering that their locker room rendezvous had actually resulted in Micki getting pregnant.
“Are you ready?” Sophie entered the room where Micki had just finished changing into her ivory dress.
She smoothed the long train behind her and nodded. “Nervous, but ready.”
Sophie, the picture of perfection in her soft pink gown and French braid, walked over and kissed Micki’s cheek. “You can’t be nervous about marrying Damian.”
“Of course not!” Micki had never been more certain of anything in her life. “But I am nervous about facing Uncle Yank for the first time since he discovered I’m pregnant and unwed.”
Sophie laughed. “Oh, Lola will keep him calm.”
“Want to bet?” Annabelle asked, joining them.
Like Sophie, she was also dressed in light pink, except hers was maternity wear and she was very pregnant. “He’s downstairs threatening to nail Damian to the backstop by his…Well, you get the drift.”
Micki cringed. “Let’s get this wedding over with before he neuters the groom.”
“Good idea, especially if you two are really looking to load the field with your own baseball team.”
Micki felt herself pale. “No way am I doing this nine times. I’m too nauseous even to contemplate a repeat performance.”
“They say you forget the bad parts of pregnancy as well as the pain of childbirth,” Sophie said helpfully. “I figure it must be true or nobody would have more than one kid.”
Micki shot Annabelle a knowing grin. “This from the only one in the room who’s still single.”
“The bleachers are filled with athletes for her to choose from right now,” Annabelle said.
Micki and Damian had decided to marry on his beloved field of dreams. The guests filled the bleachers. Completely apropos as far as Micki was concerned.
“You both know I prefer not to date athletes. They use their bodies more than their brains. Present company’s husbands and soon-to-be husbands excepted, of course.” Sophie grinned.
Micki walked over to her middle sister. “Trust me when I tell you, love finds you when you least expect it.”
“And don’t know what to do with it,” Annabelle added.
Sophie planted her hands on her hips. “Spoken like two women head over heels. Thank God I’m the sister with the most common sense.”
Micki and Annabelle rolled their eyes.
“Until your Mr. Right comes along,” Annabelle said.
“I can’t wait to be a fly on the wall when that day comes.” Micki lifted the front of her dress as she stepped forward. “Now we have a wedding to pull off.”
* * *
The New York Post
The Renegades Postseason Update
Ex-center fielder Damian Fuller married his publicist, Micki Jordan, in a private ceremony on an island off the coast of Florida. Fuller will become a permanent fixture on television as he joins the Renegades’ new cable channel as one of the official announcers for all of the team’s home games.
Fuller’s replacement, Rick Carter, agreed via arbitration to a multimillion-dollar deal rumored to be worth ten million a year plus incentives. Carter and his live-in girlfriend are expecting their first child in a few months. The baby was the subject of a paternity claim naming Damian Fuller as the baby’s father. The claim turned out to be false. According to Carter, marriage isn’t out of the question. His girlfriend denies the possibility, but the two are inseparable, though according to neighbors in their new high-rise apartment in Manhattan, they are also prone to loud bickering.
In other news, the sports agencies of the Hot Zone and Atkins Associates have merged into a new firm called Athletes Only. The Hot Zone will continue on solely as a PR firm run by the Jordan sisters.
Annabelle Jordan Vaughn is currently married to football great Brandon Vaughn and recently gave birth to their first child, a girl named Sydney. Micki Jordan Fuller is also expecting. The father, when reached for comment, said the sonogram indicates the baby is a girl. Sophie Jordan, the third partner in the highly respected firm for elite athletes, is unattached as of this publication. But with her uncle and sisters settled down, can marriage be far behind for the last Jordan sister?
Sophie Jordan couldn’t be reached for comment.