Page 51 of Safe at Home

“Holy shit,” Tyler said and grabbed the controller to turn on the TV. He scrolled until he got to the Sports Network Corporation channel. “Man, you really should be an agent.”

“If I were your agent, I’d be calling Schroeder and making a play for you. You’re better than Kraig Johnston is on Triple-A’s Storm. Even if they call Johnston up and not you, then you would move up to Triple-A. It wouldn’t hurt to get some playtime there.”

“Ty's only been playing in the minors for six months! Do you really think he’d be called up so fast?” I asked with a huge grin on my face.

“Sis, your man is fucking awesome. With the way he studies every player and trains, he’s every coach’s dream,” Dom said and then let out a chuckle. “Damn, I like calling you that.”

I had to laugh. “I love it, too, bro!”

“Charge your damn phone, Stone. I bet your agent, Henderson, or even Jim Berger, the manager of the Storm, will be calling you soon.”

The phone call never came. We were a little bummed, but I had only been in the minors for a few months. The Coyotes ended up using their back up catcher. They traded some players and got a catcher from a different team not long after.

Molly and I had a long, tearful goodbye before she left to drive back to Riverbend. We did have a good laugh as she said this was probably going to be her last time being able to drive to one of my games until after the babies were born. Her baby belly was getting so big that she could barely touch the pedals anymore with her short legs. I raised the steering wheel as much as it would go to give her a little more room, but I didn’t think she’d be able to drive much longer. I was more bummed about not getting to spend time with her than I was about not getting called up, but I understood and just wanted the babies to be healthy.

During the next few weeks, the Lightning were in first place in our division, and the team was doing awesome. One big thing that changed was Hunter’s roommate decided to give up on baseball and went back home. I talked to the coaches and was able to move in with him. We were much happier living together.

Molly continued to work with the contractors to design our perfect home. She decided on keeping Batter Up! the same downstairs. Why change what had been working? She decided on a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom layout for the upstairs and kept the kitchen similar to what had been there. She wanted a bigger master bathroom with a garden bathtub and a bigger shower with a special detachable shower head.

The babies were both going to be in one bedroom with a baseball theme.

The third bedroom would be a guest room/office. Molly said she hated having to go downstairs to do the books for the bakery, so this way, she would be able do that upstairs as well. It made a lot more sense for her to have the babies with her in the office.

She did surprise me by making the fourth bedroom a workout room for me. She said when I was home, she wanted me as close as possible. Molly also said once she had these babies, she wanted to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight as soon as possible. She found a used treadmill, stationary bike, and a weight rack that were currently in the storage unit we rented.

To make all the upgrades and add-ons more affordable, the Raptors, Pen, and Emma said they would help paint and do as many cosmetic things as possible to lower the costs. I wished I could be there to help, but she said to keep playing my best. Molly hated to do it, but she had to take out a loan to pay the difference in all the upgrades that the insurance didn’t pay for.

Dominic and Molly got a letter from the DNA lab saying they shared 55% of the same DNA. We were all confused, but the letter went on to further explain that sibling DNA testing was not as conclusive as paternity testing, and it relies on both statistics and probability. Full biological siblings share 50% of the same genes. I was video chatting with Molly when they got the results that they were full siblings and wished I could be there for her. She and Dominic hugged and cried together.

Molly was craving pizza, so Dominic took her out to eat at the Pizza Corner and spent some time together, just the two of them. I knew she had me and her friends, but I was glad to know there was a brother close by and available to help her, if needed. They may have just found each other, but you could already see how Dominic was as protective of Molly as he was of Emma.

Emma moved to Riverbend about a week after Dom and Molly got the news about being biological siblings. She found a studio apartment in the same complex that Penelope lived in, and she continued to work with Stefan to design her daycare. Emma had found a daycare that was closing not too far away and was able to get a lot of supplies for her daycare at a great price. The guys had helped her rent a truck and hauled everything for her. She now had cots, child-sized tables and chairs, toys, cribs, play equipment, books, games, and other items she would need, and everything was being stored in our storage unit.

Emma was very excited when she found out that Shiloh already had her CDA (child development associate certificate) and hired her to be a full-time teacher. She also hired two high school girls to help with the daycare. Jordyn Reeves was actually the Raptor's hitting coach, Mark Reeve’s daughter and loved helping with children. Her best friend, McKenna Foster, planned to go to college in a year to become a teacher and this was the perfect job for her. She would see if she would have to hire more employees later, based on demand.

Mack had decided to take the rest of the season off to spend time with Nico. Coach Snyder was going to be the interim head coach, and they hired someone to replace Snyder as the pitching coach.

Adam McAlister was working on adjusting to his and Nico’s new reality without Ashleigh and helping Nico to learn to communicate. He texted me a lot to let me know how things were going. Nico was at a school for the deaf in Cincinnati and learning quickly. Mack was taking adult sign language classes and trying to learn as much as he could. He told me he hoped to coach the Raptors again next year but had to find a nanny in order for that to happen. I was worried he would end up staying in Cincinnati and not return to the Raptors.

Penelope and Molly had lots of orders coming in for custom desserts and were kept busy. Molly did promise she was staying off her feet as much as possible. She also decided to use some of her insurance housing money to “rent” the family room from Penelope and Shiloh and lived with them. Penelope used the rent money to buy the ingredients needed for their custom bakery orders and to put towards buying stuff for Batter Up!. Molly loved spending time with them but couldn’t wait to have her own space again.

I missed my wife like crazy. We talked on the phone, video chatted, and texted as much as we could, but it wasn’t the same. I wasn’t sure when I would be able to see her next, but it had been a long five weeks without holding her or touching her.

“Hey! Great game today!” my wife said with a huge grin on her face as soon as I answered the video call request.

“Thanks! I felt good! Johnson pitched a great game.”

“Be sure to tell Hunter that his diving catch was amazing! If he were playing for the Coyotes, it would have been on SNC’s top plays for sure!”

“I will tell him. He’s got a nasty grass burn from the landing, but he wears it proudly,” I said with a chuckle. “How was the baby shower today? I’m bummed I had to miss it.”

“Oh, hush! Guys are never at showers. Oh my gosh, Ty, our babies are going to be so spoiled!”

“Don’t tell me guys aren’t at showers, baby. I got selfies from Cooper, Hayden, Dom, and Ivan eating cake and playing baby games.”

“I was trying to make you feel better. Most guys don’t come to showers. Your friends are a different breed.”

“They’re your friends, too,” I said with a laugh. “They had a night game and were able to come. They heard about free cake, and that’s all they needed to know.”

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