Page 128 of Home Run

“I’ve been in surgery.” She whispered, her hand darting to her bump. “Oh god, I thought it was all a dream.”

“Not a dream, babe. All real.”

“And we’re having a baby?”

My hand slipped over hers still cradling her belly, and I laced our fingers together. “We are.”

A fat tear appeared out of nowhere and rolled down her cheek before her face dropped, and a loud garbled sob burst from her throat.

“Hey, don’t cry. It’s okay.” Moving to sit on the bed and taking care not to jolt her, or cause her further pain, I held her as tightly but as gently as I could. “Mills, everything’s fine and the baby’s great.Strong, the doctor said. We have a strong baby, just like you, and in a couple of days we can all go home together.”

“I thought it was a dream,” she repeated through a wail. “I thought I’d woken up and imagined everything we’d done together, and for a terrifying second it was all gone. I didn’t know what to do. My life flashed before me.”

“Hey,” I wiped away her tears and refrained from telling her I knew how that felt. “Don’t cry, it’s all real. I’m here, the baby’s here. In fact, I have some news that will make you happy, if you wanna hear it.”

“You do?” she sniffed, “Good news?”

“Yes, the doctor told me what we’re having.”

Her eyes immediately dried as she gasped. “You know the sex?

I nodded.

“What did he say?”

“A boy.” I grinned, though Millie started crying again, harder still when I said, “Brady.”

“Brady Simpson.”

“Sounds good, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “It sounds amazing. We’re having a boy.”

“We are. Need to get some blue added to the nursery now.” I laughed. “What was that color we vetoed?”

“Corduroy. We could add some baseballs… Oh! Thegame.Last night, who won?”

“We did.”

“Oh babe, that’s amazing.” She smiled, but then her expression fell in a wince. “Shit, did I puke on Josh and Matty.”

“You did. But they were here earlier, I’d say they’ve forgiven you.” I nodded to the bouquet of flowers and giant box of jellybeans they’d left on the table, at which Millie rolled her eyes.

“They probably just want to stay on your good side for tickets to game five…” she stopped speaking and her mouth dropped open. “Tanner! Game five. What time is it? You have to go.”

“Nope, I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here.”

“Tanner, you should be there. I’m fine.”

“I should behere.I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Baseball is my job, but you’re my priority, there’ll be other world series games and who knows,” I shrugged, “maybe they’ll lose tonight. Doesn’t matter anyway, I’ve already told Coach and Shepherd.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“Were they mad?”

I shook my head. I’d expected the conversation to be way harder than it had been, but by the time Holiday had retrieved my phone from Lux and brought it back, I’d been too focused on Millie’s surgery to care. In the end both ofthem had told me to take all the time I needed, a gesture that rooted my unwavering loyalty in the Lions for life.

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