Spencer
One Year Later
I couldn’t believe just six short months after making the most beautiful woman in the world my wife, we were celebrating my adoption of her son. Our son. Turned out I’d been right about her ex. As soon as he’d found out Hallie and Chris were moving in with me and he didn’t have a shot with her, he stopped calling. I hated that Chris seemed disappointed by yet another rejection, but I knew he was better off without that deadbeat in his life.
It had taken some persuasion to convince him to sign over his parental rights so I could adopt his son. Not that being a sperm donor should have given him any rights in my book. But his loss was my gain, and now I was sitting across the table from the two most important people in my life, wondering how the hell I got so lucky.
“I’m so glad you’re my dad now,” Chris said quietly. “Officially.”
Hallie’s eyes filled with tears as she put her arm around Chris, bringing him into her side as she kissed the top of his head. “I am too, honey. I’d say we both got pretty lucky.”
“You’re not as lucky as me.” I reached for her hand, bringing it to my lips. “I love you,” I mouthed, though Chris was used to hearing it and saying it. We couldn’t go one hour without expressing it in our house, it seemed.
She winked, bringing the water glass to her lips.
God, she was beautiful. Tonight she was wearing a blue-and-green shift dress, she’d called it, with her hair pulled back off her face. She was a more refined version of the girl who’d stolen my heart all those years ago, and I still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to be mine for the rest of our lives.
“So I have a little gift to commemorate this occasion,” Hallie said, reaching into the oversized purse at her feet. “One for each of you.”
She handed each of us a small, square box wrapped in white with a yellow ribbon.
Chris and I smiled at each other before we tore into them, each trying to be the first to reveal the surprise. His gasp matched mine as we each pulled out the tiniest pair of soccer cleats I’d ever seen in my life.
Chris gaped at his mother before his gaze drifted to her stomach. “You’re… I’m… you mean…?”
She laughed, pulling him in for a hug as she nodded, the tears slipping down her cheeks when she looked at me. “Yup, I’m gonna have a baby.”
“Oh my God!” I jumped up, rounding the table to haul my wife out of her seat. “Is this for real?” Just when I thought our lives couldn’t get any better, she found a way to prove me wrong. Another child. One we could raise together from infancy.
“It is.” She laughed when I peppered her face and neck with kisses.
I didn’t give a shit we were drawing the attention of every person in the restaurant. She’d just given me the best news of my life, and I wanted the whole fucking world to know!
“I see I got here just in time,” Linda said, rounding the corner.
“You knew about this?” I asked my mother-in-law, pointing at her. “How could you keep it a secret?”
“It wasn’t easy,” she said, hugging her grandson when he jumped up to greet her. “Believe me, I think I was as excited as you all are when Hallie told me she was gonna make me a nana again.”
“Can you believe it, Nan?” Chris asked, looking up at her. “I’m finally gonna be a big brother!”
“I know, sweetie.” Her eyes filled with tears as she brushed his hair back so she could kiss his forehead. “I’m so happy for you. For all of you.”
“You’re just in time to help us celebrate,” I said to Linda, pulling out a chair. “Sit.” Now I knew why she’d begged off when we invited her to join us for dinner. She wanted us to share this special moment in private. I’d grown to love her like my own mother, and her selflessness just gave me another reason to appreciate her.
“No, thanks, I just came to take this guy home with me.” She curled her hands around Chris’s shoulders as she stood behind him. “I thought it would be nice to give your mom and dad some time alone to celebrate. What do you think? You want to spend the night with me tonight?”
He turned around, grinning at her. “Sure.”
“Thanks, Linda,” I said, leaning in to hug her. “You’re the best.”
“My pleasure, honey,” she said, patting my back. “You two enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“Oh, we will,” I said, winking at my wife.
Chris hugged me, whispering in my ear, “Love you, Dad.”
Fuck. It was the first time he’d ever called me that, and I was so emotional I could have bawled like a baby. “Love you too, kid.” I cleared my throat, blinking back the tears. “You be good for your nan, okay? We’ll see you in the morning.”
I waited for Hallie to say her good-byes to her mom and our son before she claimed the bench seat next to me, grinning when I picked up the shoe. “Where the hell did you get one this small?”
She laughed. “I had it made. Imagine my surprise when I tried to buy one online and couldn’t. Turns out infant cleats aren’t a thing since they can’t play soccer!” She palmed her forehead. “Imagine that.”
I laughed, wrapping my arm around her. “I figure we’ll get this one started as soon as he starts walking. What do you think?”
“What if it’s a girl?”
“Have you seen some of the girls in my academy, babe? They’re kick-ass soccer players.”
“True.”
“When are you due?” The sooner, the better as far as I was concerned. I couldn’t wait.
“I’m about seven weeks,” she said, biting her lip. “I had my first doctor’s appointment last Friday.”
“I can’t believe you’ve known about this for almost a week.”
The waiter stopped by to refresh my coffee before discreetly leaving the bill on the table and smiling when he spotted the tiny shoes.
“Hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep, believe me. I almost let it slip so many times. But I wanted to wait until today to tell you. I figured what better time than the day we officially became a family?”
“I feel so lucky,” I whispered in her ear. “That Chris wanted me to adopt him and you let me.”
“We’re the lucky ones,” she said, not even trying to hold back her tears. “I still can’t believe the way you’ve stepped up for him, babe. I mean, picking him up from school, taking him to soccer practice, making him breakfast or packing his lunch when I’m running late. How did we survive without you?”
I chuckled. “What I want to know is how he passed math without me.”
“Hey!” She slapped my chest, grinning. “So math isn’t my strong suit. It’s that right brain / left brain thing. I’m the artistic one in the family.”
“Yes, you are.”
My gorgeous wife was an amazing artist, and I’d redesigned the sun-filled loft so she’d have a studio of her own. She’d cried when she saw it for the first time, and I vowed then and there I’d do whatever I could to make her cry like that again. Only happy tears. I never wanted to make her cry sad tears. Though I knew it was probably inevitable. We were only human, and we would make mistakes, but once thing was for sure… we’d never stop loving each other.
“I have to admit I’m kind of scared though.”
My heart clenched. “Of what?” If she told me her pregnancy was at risk, I’d lose it.
“Chris is really good, isn’t he? At soccer, I mean. Jake told me the other day that he reminds him of you at that age.”
“Oh yeah, he kind of does.” It had become obvious in the past year that Chris had a gift. He saw the game the way most players never would, and he had an innate understanding. Soccer intelligence, we called it.
“I don’t want to think about him having to leave home in a few years,” she whispered. “Like you did.”
Unfortunately, that was part of the sport we loved. The best kids were recruited young, and they lived in soccer complexes in Europe where they were educated and trained by their teams, living with other kids who shared their dream and passion for the sport.
“It’s not easy,” I conceded. I didn’t know how the hell I’d be able to let him go either, if it came to that, but I never would have forgiven my parents if they’d tried to hold me back when I got my shot. “But you know we have to if a team comes calling.” It was still a big if, a lot could happen over the next few years, but if he kept progressing at the rate he was, it would be a very real possibility for him.
“I know how much he wants it,” she said, biting her lip. “But how could I let my baby go and live in some foreign country all by himself?”
“We could move with him.”
She stared at me, wide-eyed. “You’re serious?”
“Why not?” My parents hadn’t had that luxury. They’d had to stay in the States and work their asses off to support my other two brothers. My career had afforded me the privilege of living anywhere in the world without ever having to consider the expense.
“But your academy.”
I shrugged. “My brother could run it for me for a few years.”
“But you love your academy,” she said, sniffling.
“I love my family more.”
More tears spilled down her cheeks. “You would really do that for us? So we wouldn’t have to be separated?”
“Baby,” I said, wiping away her tears. “Don’t you know by now that I’d do anything for you guys?”
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