Chapter Thirty

Denise

Three weeks later . . .

“Denise!” I hear shouting from somewhere inside the house. “Denise.” I look at the pile of laundry that I need to fold and think to myself how did most of my clothes end up here?

“In the laundry room!” I shout back and hear his feet coming closer as I smile.

“Look,” he says and grabs my hand to his head. “Feel. It’s my hair.” His smile fills his whole face. I touch his head, and sure enough, you can feel little stubble coming through.

I gasp. “Your hair is growing back,” I say, gathering him up in my arms and kissing him.

Zack is coming home tonight. He’s been on the road for a week, yet I still come here every night. I keep saying that it’s because Zack isn’t home, and I’m just going to check on Jack, but it’s a lie. I come here every night because I can’t seem to be away from them.

“We need to take a picture for the book,” he says, going to grab my camera. We started a scrapbook, taking a picture of all his milestones.

On the cover of the scrapbook is a picture of Evie and him walking hand in hand. It’s something that Janet and I decided to do and later share with Melissa.

He hands me the phone, and I take a picture of his head and then send it to Janet and then to Zack. I bring the laundry to the living room, and he hops on the couch with me and helps me pair the socks. It’s a little thing, but to me, it’s bliss. When it’s time for bed, we do our routine, which is him taking a bath, my reading to him, and us saying our prayers.

Something new we started is to give thanks to everyone we are thankful for. I kiss him good night, but I don’t leave. Instead, I lie with him, cuddling him to my chest and watching the glow star stickers we put on Jack’s ceiling. I’m going to wait till he falls asleep, and then I’m going to leave, I tell myself.

“Baby.” I hear whispered next to my ear, and then I feel his lips on me. “I’m home.” I smile, turning and hugging him. He helps me up off the bed, and I walk out of the room, my lips on his.

“I missed you,” I tell him between kissing him and peeling off his jacket. “I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

He places me on the bed, taking off his jacket and kicking off his shoes. “Nothing better in the world than coming home to both of you.”

I get on my elbows, looking at him. “I have more clothes here than at my loft.”

He looks at me. “Why do you still have clothes there?”

“It’s where I live,” I tell him.

He holds out his hand to me. “Come shower with me?” he says, and I get up, and he takes me to the shower. He opens the water, setting the temperature while I undress, and he comes over, kissing me. I step under the warm water, letting it run down my back. He steps in and stands behind me. “I want you to move in with us,” he tells me while his hands roam over my hips to my breasts. “I want all your stuff here.”

“It is here,” I tell him, trying to concentrate on his words instead of his hands.

“I want it all,” he tells me, and by the end of the shower, I give it all to him and agree to move in with him.

“What time do we have to be there?” Jack asks, coming down the stairs dressed in his Stingers jersey.

“As soon as we get there,” Zack says. “We should go and look for houses.”

“I want to go,” Jack says. “Can we have a yard like Michael?” he asks, and Zack looks at me.

“What do you say, Denise?” he asks me, smiling and kissing me. “Want to move to the suburbs with us?”

“Like a family,” Jack says, grinning.

“I thought we decided that yesterday,” I say, smiling, looking down at my own Stingers jersey.

“We are going to be late if you guys start kissing again,” Jack says, and I laugh, pushing Zack away from me.

We walk out of the house and make our way over to the arena where the St. Baldrick’s will be today. They made Jack the grand marshal, whatever that means. And I don’t even care because my boy has been walking around with a smile ever since they brought him the crown to wear today.

Zack buckles him into the car, and we make our way there, and there is one more surprise he doesn’t know about. When we get there, he asks for his crown, then puts it on his head without a hat on. “Picture time,” I tell him, grabbing my phone and taking a picture of him.

“Let’s go,” Zack says, and we follow Zack in and spot Matthew, Karrie, Cooper, Vivi, and Franny.

“Hey,” I say to them, my hand in Zack’s now. “Are you guys excited?”

“Mommy said we can’t do our hair, only Cooper can,” Vivi says, frowning.

“You girls just got your hair sprayed green,” Karrie says.

I look around and spot the woman who has become a very good friend to me, more than she will ever know. “Janet,” I say to myself.

“Evie.” Jack spots her wearing her own crown and the beautiful Stingers princess gown that I had made for her for this occasion. “You have a crown.”

She runs over to us, and I see something different. I see a sparkle in her eye, and her color looks so much better. “I got a crown and a new dress,” she tells him, and I bend down to kiss her cheek.

“We need a picture,” Janet says, and they pose together with their arms around each other.

“Okay, people.” Olivier comes in. “We need the grand marshals front and center.” I watch Jack take Evie’s hand, and they walk to the front. We snap more pictures of them and the both of us have tears in our eyes.

Zack leans down from behind me and kisses my neck. “Love you,” he says, and I bask in his arms around my waist as he holds me.

We watch Jack get into a golf cart with Evie, Doug in the driver’s seat. He honks the horn, and Evie and Jack giggle. “You have to wave to your fans,” Doug tells them, and he starts driving and making his way into the arena, the ice covered with a wood floor as people all stand and cheer as he drives around. He stops in the middle of the arena, and we walk out and watch as Doug helps them down and grabs the microphone. “Hello,” he says, blowing air across it. “Okay, this is working.”

We all laugh, and I feel a hand on my shoulder and look to see Max there with Michael in his arms. I lean into him, and we both look at Doug. “Welcome to the first ever Stingers St. Baldrick.” Everyone around us cheers. “This year, we have our very own special grand marshals. These two are the bravest fighters you will ever see, Evie Wilson and Jack Morrow,” he says, and Evie and Jack wave like crazy. “The chairs have been set.” Spotlights come on, so you can see the barber chairs set up on the side. “We have the barbers ready.” The barbers come forward. “It’s time to get our shave on.”

The crowd cheers as Max, Zack, and Matthew are the first ones in the chairs. Their hair being shaved off makes Jack laugh when Zack gets out of the chair, and he rubs his head. I walk out to them and snap a picture of them together. “You look like twins,” I tell them and then Michael gets his done and so does Cooper. The three of them hold their sons, and I take a picture.

Olivier takes the same picture and puts it on Twitter. “Stingers unite,” he says, and I just shake my head. “Family pictures,” he says, turning around, waiting for Karrie and Allison to go with them. “You too,” Olivier says to me, and I walk to my boys.

Steve and Olivier are the next to sit in the chairs while they hold hands, and you see their matching wedding bands. Those two up and eloped without saying a word to anyone. I smile to myself when Olivier closes his eyes the minute the razor comes close to him.

I am brought to tears when Brock comes out with his whole team following him, and they each take turns sitting down in the chairs. What started as a little thing became a whole dream come true for these boys. They were given tickets to the game tomorrow with free accommodations for them and their family. Olivier never does anything small, and I can’t say I’m surprised by this. But I’m sure that he couldn’t have done it without Doug’s blessing. It’s a big deal to fly in seventy people for a fundraising event.

A man walks by with a little step stool and puts it up against Brock’s chair. “Evie!” Brock yells for her. “Come and shave my head,” he says, and she walks to him, getting on the stool and holding the razor with the barber as she shaves Brock’s head. Her laughter drowning out everything.

I stand next to them and look up at Zack, his eyes smiling with pride, with happiness, with love, and then to Jack whose eyes are identical to his father. He cornered me in my brother’s living room, and what was supposed to be a scripted case became something so unscripted.