Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Mia twists on my lap, so I turn her and help her stand. She holds on to my fingers. Her tiny feet are pressing into my thighs as her legs bounce up and down. Her smile grows, and a giggle escapes her lips.
“Aren’t you the sweetest thing?” I tell her with a laugh.
“Daddy!” Coral exclaims as she takes off running as fast as those tiny legs can carry her, crashing into her dad. Reid swoops down, lifts her up, and tosses her over his shoulder. She cackles with laughter, and Mia laughs, too.
“She’s funny, huh?” I ask the baby.
“Thank you again,” Amanda says, coming back into the room. “I’ll take her.” She reaches her arms out, but Mia turns her head and snuggles into my chest.
I chuckle and wrap my arms around her. “She’s fine, Amanda. Take a break.”
Reid and Bellamy have clued me in to what’s been going on in her life. Her now-ex-husband was cheating on her with his secretary, something we all suspected because he was never around, and got her pregnant. They were in the process of adopting Mia, and Amanda went through with the adoption on her own.
She’s now a single mom, doing it all on her own, so she needs to take advantage of moments like this when someone else is around to help lighten the load.
To hear my daughter and son-in-law tell it, she’s notorious for not asking for help and trying to do it all. It’s as if she feels like she has something to prove, which isn’t true. All parents need help. The old saying that it takes a village is true.
“Are you sure?”
“If you don’t let him, he’s just going to try and steal the birthday girl away from me,” Reid tells her, sliding Coral from his shoulder to rest on his hip.
“I still could,” I tell him, and he chuckles.
“Dat’s Mommy,” Coral says, pointing over Reid’s shoulder.
“That’s right, baby girl. That’s your mommy.” Reid kisses his daughter’s cheek, while pulling my daughter into his arms and kissing her.
Bellamy’s smile is radiant, which is why I don’t look away, even though I should.
“Hey, Manda,” Bellamy greets her friend. She glances around the room, and her eyes land on me. “Hi, Dad.”
“Hello, sweetheart.” My heart swells at being included. We’ve come a long way in the last year or so.
“Thanks for watching Coral for a little while.” She nods to Mia, who is still bouncing on her legs, with a tight grip on my fingers for balance. “Looks like you found another one.”
I shrug. “What can I say? The ladies love me.”
Reid snorts. “Sure thing, Grandpa,” Reid teases.
“That’s a title I wear proudly, thank you very much.”
Mia plops down on my lap and shrieks with laughter, smiling up at me. “Look at you,” I coo at her.
“She really likes you,” Amanda says.
“Of course, she does.” I wink, and her cheeks turn pink.
I quickly avert my eyes back to her daughter, not wanting to embarrass her further. That wasn’t my intention.
Another knock on the door and the place starts filling up as everyone arrives. Baker’s son, Camden, brings a bag full of trucks, and Coral sits with him on the floor to play, copying everything he does.
Alexander, who just turned one, is asleep on his dad’s shoulder, and the noise around him doesn’t seem to faze him as he snoozes away. Mia, well, this sweet little angel refuses to go to anyone but me. Not even when it’s time for her bottle. She reaches for it and settles on my lap, staring up at me with her wide, curious eyes.
“I can take her,” Amanda says.
“Nah, she’s perfectly content, right, Mia?”
She grins around her bottle and goes right back to eating.
“Coach is the baby whisperer,” Landry says. “Stay away from my daughter.” He points an index finger at me. “I had my own because these a—annoying people”—he grins—“wouldn’t share theirs with me. I’m not sharing either.”
“Give me my niece,” Corie says, and Landry turns his back to his sister. “Landry,” she whines.
“Fine. You get five minutes.”
“Bro, you know better than that,” Knox tells his brother-in-law.
“Is my husband not sharing again?” Rowan asks, coming from the kitchen. She snuggles up to Landry and wraps her arms around his waist. “They’re her family,” she says softly.
“She’s our little girl.”
“And they love her just as much as we do.”
Landry relents, drops a kiss to his wife’s lips, and pulls her into his chest. “I’m watching you, little sister,” he says to Corie, but she doesn’t pay him a bit of attention as she settles on one of the recliners and snuggles with Ella.
With my back against the couch, I hold Mia while she finishes her bottle. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have been on the guest list. Now, here I am, with my daughter, my granddaughter, five of my players, their families, my daughters-in-law, my ex-wife, and her new husband. I’m included. I’m a part of their story. One I’ve craved to be a part of, instead of being on the outside looking in.