Epilogue

Dear Lord,

Thank you for baseball pants.

Amen

-Ruthie’s secret thoughts

Sterling

Seven months and fifteen days later

“You’re up, Waters,” Coach said, slapping me hard on the right shoulder.

I shrugged off the pain and jogged to the bats, picking up my favorite.

Each player had their own bat, and it’d been a real eye opener to me when I’d been “presented with all the equipment options available to me.

I tucked the bat under my arm as I walked up the steps, multitasking by slipping my hands into my batting gloves as I did.

“You ready?” The batting coach, Lou Jacobs, asked.

I nodded.

I was ready.

This would be my thirty third major league baseball game.

I’d started out in the minor leagues, proving myself to all those involved.

Once I’d done that, I was called up to the majors, where I rode the bench for two months before I was ever put in.

But once I was, I’d proven myself.

My first at bat, I’d hit a line drive to center field.

It’d bounced off the wall and given me my first ever double as a professional baseball player.

That’d been the day that everything became ‘real.’

Every day I missed the life I used to have.

But I still had my family.

My friends.

My Teams.

Yes, I said teams.

I was still a member of SEAL Team 11, as well as the first baseman for The Shreveport Spark’s.

Not that I did any more missions.

Things had taken a drastic turn for SEAL Team 11 when the rest of the world learned the full details of the mission to recover the Speaker’s pregnant ex-wife. It turns out that most Americans didn’t much like that their boys were sent into a hostile country on the fool’s errand to intended only assuage a powerful man’s pride.

Apparently, the Speaker’s pregnant ex-wife actually wanted to be there with the other man. Having eventually had enough, she herself contacted the media when she realized he wasn’t going to leave her alone. She was the one who broke the story, letting the media know that he wasn’t taking no for an answer from her as evidenced by the mission that was in no way a “rescue” mission, but just another flexing of the muscle that her powerful ex-husband, the Speaker, had at his disposal.

The second mission we’d been sent on to bring the senator’s ex-wife home had been eye opening, and the team had learned from the ex-wife and the new lover that the speaker wouldn’t leave them alone, which was why they’d moved out of the country in the first place.

Once this information came to light, our captain immediately pulled us out, much to the Speaker’s frustration.

In an attempt to cover his own ass, the Speaker then attempted to throw Team 11 under the bus. But with the help of Silas and a few other government officials, that backfired on him in a big way.

He was screwed, and SEAL Team 11 was now America’s team.

Since all of our identities had been revealed as a result of the media frenzy, our ability to conduct further covert operations became severely compromised. There wouldn’t be any more missions for us.

Which was also why I hadn’t worried about being a public ‘face.’

America thought it was awesome that a SEAL was playing for the Shreveport Sparks.

They thought it was so cool, in fact, that the newest team in the MLB had an instant fan base overnight.

“Get your head in the game, boy.”

I winced at my coach’s apt words.

My head wasn’t in the game.

It was in my other life.

The one I had when I wasn’t playing baseball.

“Yes, sir,” I said, taking a few practice swings and testing the weight of the bat.

It was the first base coach that had the adrenaline really shooting through my body, though.

“Your wife called, she’s in labor,” Coach Dennis said.

“Fuuuuck,” I said, not knowing what to do.

My eyes moved up to the stands to where all of my ‘family’ had permanent seats, and I could tell right off the bat that Ruthie wasn’t lying.

I could see her hunched over her round belly with her teeth gritted.

But she managed a small wave that let me know she was staying till the end.

“Shit,” I said, turning back around.

“Just bring it in, and you can go,” the coach said from my back.

I took a few lead off steps, resisting the urge that practically screamed for me to go to Ruthie, and watched the batter.

We’d discussed the possibilities of this happening.

When I’d made the suggestion that she stay home today after hearing she was experiencing contractions, she’d looked at me like I was nuts.

But I couldn’t really refuse Ruthie anything.

She could talk me into just about anything without much of an effort.

Luckily, Sebastian sat on one side of her, Kettle on the other, and Cleo was directly behind them.

I knew she was in good hands.

That still didn’t make the next two at bat’s any less painful.

The ball hit the catcher’s mitt, making me wince.

“Get your head in the game!” Coach yelled.

And I did just that not even a second later, hitting a ball down the third base line, and making it to first just in the knick of time.

The next hitter, Consuelo, knocked the ball down the third base line.

I moved to second with my heart in my throat, resisting the urge to run for third.

Years and years of patience had me viciously locking that desire down until the next batter, Gonzales, came up.

Gonzales bunted, and while they were busy trying to get him out, I not only rounded third, but I hit home base as well, surprising not just the opposite team’s players, but the whole stadium as well.

The coach just gave me a roll of the eyes as I ran up to the dugout and started tugging off my helmet.

“I gotta go,” I said urgently.

He nodded. “That’s fine. You just won the game, anyway.”

I probably did, but it was up to my team to shut it down completely in the next three innings.

“Thanks,” I said, hurrying down the field.

I jumped the fence that sat directly in front of my family, and dropped down to one knee in front of my wife.

“Ready?” I asked.

I could see that her water had broken.

But she just sat there, as patient as could be, waiting for me to arrive.

“Yep. Let’s do this.”

Then, to the fan’s delight, I carried my woman out of the stadium.