All week Karen has tried to get me to spill on what I was discussing with the kids last week, but not one word has been leaked and the entire league is in on it. Lucky for us the weather is going to be beautiful today, so we’re having everyone over after the game to celebrate. This is going to be such a great surprise for her. I hope she loves it.
We pull up to the field and, I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous. This is very risky to do in front of the entire stadium. She could say no and that would leave me completely devastated, but deep down in my heart I know that won’t happen.
Mom pulls into a spot beside me with Grace. The boys climb out of Karen’s car and go straight to the trunk. My next mission is getting us an SUV we can all fit in. I hate we have to take two cars. The boys slip their pads on over their shirts and tuck their jerseys in. Mom hurries Grace across the street to get her ready for her game. The cheer coaches hurry her onto the field because the game is about to start, but with all we have going on, we were running late this morning.
As usual, Mom, Karen, and I stand on the sidelines watching her do her thing. They look so cute out there, and I’m so proud of her. She’s taken cheer very seriously, and she works hard. She’s managed to not only get her cartwheel down, but now she can do a roundoff too. Of course, this has led to her asking to do gymnastics in the off season, and I couldn’t say no. If all she does is cheer and gymnastics, I can handle that. I told her I would get her signed up as soon as football is over. Now if we make the playoffs, that won’t be until early November, but she is fine with that.
The game is going by incredibly quick. Karen and I take turns watching Grace now that the team is starting to show up. “Will you stay with Grace?”
“Of course.” I walk over to gather the team up. My coaches are all here, and the kids are excited for game time.
Mike comes over. “You really doing this?”
I look at Gabe and Jason. “We doing this?”
“We’re doing it, “they agree in unison.
“Good luck, man. You have some big ones.” He pats me on the back and walks away.
“Dude, she is either going to kill you, or love you for life and for your sake, I hope it’s the latter.” Trystan nudges me.
“Me too, man. I’ve worked hard to get this all squared away. The last thing I need is for her to freak out on me.”
“Nah, I know my mom, she’s going to love it.”
“Good, because it’s time to weigh-in.” I hurry the boys down to the locker room for weigh-in. Both teams have no problems this week. We’re down a player because Aiden didn’t show, but that’s fine because he doesn’t want to be here anyway.
My palms start to sweat; it’s almost time and I don’t mean game time. Well, it’s almost time for that too, but I don’t get nervous over games so much anymore. I’m more nervous over how this is going to go. I look up at the sky and say a quick silent prayer that it goes well. We make our way up to the field to prepare for our pre-game introductions. The cheer squad has lined up a little different this week and, as planned, Grace is asking Karen to be on the field with them. She stands exactly where Grace tells her to and then she runs over to us. The music begins, and the banner is stretched out. The team is announced and they runs through breaking the banner.
What Karen isn’t expecting is the three kids to run from behind the group with another banner of their own. Jason and Gabe are each on an end and Grace is holding a bouquet of flowers. In big letters it says, ‘Will you marry me, Karen?’ Karen instantly begins to tremble, and her hands go to her mouth. The entire stadium begins to chant, “Do it, do it, do it.” She looks around with tears running down her face, and when she turns back to me I have a diamond in my hand. “Please, Karen, will you marry me? Make us one big happy family.”
She nods and whispers, “Yes, I would love to marry you.”
I put the ring on her finger then scoop her up and spin her in a circle as the kids jump up and down around us. The team parents are holding up letters that spell out ‘Congrats Jesse and Karen.’ She bursts into laughter through her tears. “I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“All for you. I love you so much and wanted this to be a day you’ll remember forever.”
“It’s certainly not one I can forget.”
I give her a quick kiss, and Mike comes over the loudspeaker. “Okay, you two, we have a game to play.” The crowd erupts into laughter, and the five of us run off the field.
All the boys gather around Karen when we get to the sideline. They each hand her a flower and congratulate her. That part wasn’t my doing. That was all Trystan, Stella, Misty, and Briggs. I think it was really sweet of them. She waves up to the crowd, thanking her friends, and the refs start the game.
At halftime, we’re losing seven to nothing, but I’m not stressing it. We’ve had an awesome season so far, and this is the toughest team in the league. I’m glad we’ve held them to just seven. “Hey, just so you know, the celebration is not over. Everyone is coming to our house after the game.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “I knew you were up to no good.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The ref blows the whistle starting the second half, and our kids take the field. Karen walks up and down the sidelines as she usually does, cheering for the boys and giving them water. The smile on her face could light up this entire stadium, and knowing I put that smile there has me feeling like a million bucks.
There’s less than a minute and a half left on the clock and we’re on the five-yard line. We don’t have much time, but this is our chance to score and potentially tie the game. I pull the team together for a quick pep talk and give them the play. Gabe is in as quarterback, Jason is a running back, DJ is a wide receiver, and Mason and Jacoby are on the line. “Mason and Jacoby, I need you two to make a hole for Jason, can you do that?” They nod. “Everyone else, you know your job, just do it.” I look at Jason. “He’s going to hand you that ball; you run with all you got.”
“I got this.”
We break the huddle, and the boys line up. Gabe calls hike and steps back handing Jason the ball. As he runs forward a big kid comes at him, but one of the lineman holds him off. Jason stiff arms another player and runs through the hole and into the end-zone.
“Touchdown,” the ref shouts as the clock runs down to forty seconds.
I pull the boys together one more time. “We’re going to run that special play we’ve been working on.”
Gabe smiles. “I got this.”
“Green offense two! Green offense two on the field,” I shout to the team. The appropriate players run onto the field, and Gabe fills them in.
They all line up the way they’re supposed to. Gabe does his thing calling out the appropriate numbers and then he yells, “Hike.” He pretends to hand it off to Jason who runs toward the hole that Mason and Jacoby have made. The entire defense has run to Jason, leaving DJ wide open. Gabe throws the ball and DJ catches it in the back corner of the end zone. The refs blow the whistle, and we’ve tied the game with less than thirty seconds on the clock. The boys jump up and down with so much excitement, you’d think they won the game. Their excitement doesn’t come from scoring though, it comes from pulling off a great play. You see, these boys don’t care if they win or lose, they care about each play and if they manage to successfully execute what they set out to do. That’s what learning the game of football is all about, being successful one down at a time.
The other team gets the ball back at the twenty-five-yard line. The first down doesn’t go anywhere, and they fumble on the second down with our team recovering it. We take a knee and call the game done. The boys are thrilled, and now we have two reasons to celebrate.
I can’t believe how much Jesse and the kids have pulled off. Now we’re pulling up to the house and there’s another banner outside that says ‘Congrats’. I’m so glad that we are blessed with a beautiful day. We have so much to celebrate.
As soon as the car is in park, Jesse ushers me to the backyard where he has a fire pit ready to go with chairs and tables around the yard. “I still can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“The kids helped.”
I look at all three kids. “Are you three sure you’re ready for this?”
“We’re ready, Mom. We’re excited to be brothers and sister.” They each put an arm around little Grace who is sandwiched in the middle of them.
“I’m glad, this makes me so happy.”
The kids wrap me in a hug and that’s when we hear, “Say cheese.” Josephine snaps a picture capturing the moment.
I break from their embrace and hurry over to hug her. “Thank you for all of this.”
“Thank you for making my boy the happiest man on earth.” She hugs me tight, my eyes welling with tears. We pull apart and she says, “Now go enjoy your day.”
“Let’s get this party started!” Misty shouts as she and her crew stroll into the backyard with Stella, Trystan, and DJ. That crew is always together, and I love them dearly.
“Thanks, Mama.” I wink at her and run over to the girls who wrap me in a hug and congratulate me. “Jesse told me the flowers from the boys was your idea. Thank you, Briggs.” The poor man instantly blushes.
“Ah, it was nothing. I just know what a woman likes.” He and Trystan hurry off before I can embarrass him further.
“Ha, you just made my man blush.” Misty laughs.
I shrug. “He’ll get over it.”
“How are things going with the ex?” Stella lowers her voice.
I pull the girls to the side as Lori walks into the yard. She joins us. “He sent us two proposals. I’m incredibly sad that one of them allowed Brian to completely walk away, but we all know he hasn’t been coming around for a while now. I spoke with Jason about it, and he was fine with me choosing either proposal.”
“What did you decide?” Lori asks, shocked.
I sigh. “Seeing how Jesse wants to adopt Jason and I adopt his kids, I allowed Brian to walk away. My gut says I made the right decision, but I’m not going to lie—I’m nervous. We’ve taken some big steps in a really short period of time.”
“That’s you worrying about what others think. Don’t waste your time. Are you happy?” Misty asks.
“Incredibly. I know Jesse wants to do this before his mom gets too much older. It will ease her mind. He wants her to see that he is taken care of before she goes, and I’m happy to oblige. I love him, and I know he loves me.”
“Then don’t worry about Brian or anything else. Do what makes you happy,” Stella encourages.
“I agree,” Lori adds.
“We can’t do anything for a little bit. We just signed the papers, and they were submitted to the court this week. I received the signed docs back, so it will be official soon enough.”
“Are you four going to stay over there all day, or are you going to join us?” Jesse asks.
“We should join them, or they’re going to think we’re up to no good.”
Jesse has a fire pit going, his eyes focused on the flames dancing in front of him as a small smile plays at the corner of his lips. He’s lost in thought when I wrap my arms around him. The ladies take a seat next to their men. “You made me a very happy man today.” He kisses me on the head.
“You made me a very happy woman.” I look up at him. “What are you thinking about?”
His smile grows. He knows I busted him lost in his own head. “How stubborn my mom is; I wanted to grill, but she kicked me out. Said it was our day and we needed to enjoy.”
I start laughing as I glance up at the deck to see Josephine cooking away. She’s putting food onto platters and placing them on the table. “Did you really think she was going to let you cook?”
He shrugs. “No, I guess not, but I worry she’ll overdo it. That said, I’m glad she’s back to her sassy self too.” He smiles looking into my eyes.
“Me too.”
“Nice game today, Coach.” Blake slaps his arm, ending our conversation. His wife, Emma, is setting up chairs in our circle around the pit.
“Thanks. It’s a team effort.” He shakes his hand and they start talking animatedly about the game.
Emma wraps me in a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. It was a total surprise.” We take a seat next to the ladies who have all gathered around the fire pit with plates of veggies and dip.
“Was it really? I mean, were you that shocked that he asked you? It’s pretty clear you two are head over heels,” Emma says.
“Yeah, we had discussed it, but I had no idea he had planned how he was going to ask me. Not to mention it was a bit over the top.” The girls all erupt into a fit of giggles.
“I thought it was sweet,” Lori adds.
“Hey, I heard a rumor that the guy who was caught cheating last week is no longer the team coach,” Derek says.
“Good, I can’t believe he did that,” Briggs says with frustration.
The guys continue to talk sports, but us women shift our conversation and that’s when I make note that Stella is really starting to show. She’s sitting in the chair rubbing her belly while Trystan delivers her more food. “How are you feeling?” I ask Stella as she shoves a chip into her mouth. Josephine is probably almost done cooking, but Jessie made sure to have some snacks set up because our games tend to fall at an odd time, so we’re always starved when we leave.
“Good. I’m ready to find out what we’re having, though.”
“You’ve only got two weeks, so the countdown is on.” Misty rubs her hands together. “This is so exciting. We have two friends getting married, and one is having a baby.”
“Heads!” DJ shouts as the ball comes in our direction. Jesse stands up to catch it.
“Boys, keep it down there.” He throws it back. The yard is huge, so there’s plenty of room.
“Sorry, Coach.” DJ runs backward and catches the ball.
“Nice catch, DJ.” He turns back with a smile on his face. “I can’t believe the season is almost over. We only have a few games left.”
“I know, and then it’s onto basketball.” Stella shakes her head.
“Seriously?” I ask, sipping my water.
“DJ plays a sport a season, plus he wants to start Taekwondo.”
“How the heck do you do it?” Misty asks.
Stella’s head whips around. “Are you kidding me? You have three, and you’re asking how I manage my one? I have it easy. Besides, I’m a believer that if they stay active and involved in sports then they have less time to get in trouble.”
“I agree,” Lori announces. “Josh will be playing, and I know Noah is playing too.”
“Too bad the boys could end up on different teams.” Stella pops another chip into her mouth.
Jesse and Briggs come over with food.
“Thanks, babe.” I turn back to Stella. “That sucks, but you’re right. They take all the kids from the schools, hold one local tryout, and the kids are divided up into teams. Because our town is so small, we play under Dartmouth like we do for football, but they travel between Dartmouth and Stonehill,” I inform her. “It could be worse, but it would be nice if the boys got to play together.”
It’s been a really fun evening, but it’s getting late and the boys all have school tomorrow. After hours of just hanging out and chatting about everything from sports to everyday life, we decide to call it a day. Josephine has already cleaned up the majority of the mess, despite my pressing her to go relax, so all we have left to do is get the kids cleaned up and ready for school tomorrow. Once that is done and the kids are settled, we make our way to our room. I get changed into my nightshirt and shorts, slip into bed and begin to read, but I’m distracted. My mind is racing because all I keep seeing is Jesse’s smile as he stood before me on the field holding my ring with a hopeful look on his face.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks.
“Your amazingly sweet proposal.” I glance up at him.
“I love you so much, and you deserve nothing but the best.” He kisses me on the head. “Now get to reading or you’ll have some angry authors hunting you down.” I laugh but he’s right, I have to focus.