Текст книги "Covering Kendall"

Автор книги: Julie Brannagh

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Epilogue

One year later

DREW PULLED INTO a parking space at the Sharks’ training facility. He glanced into the rearview mirror. His passenger had no comment about visiting his workplace, at least so far. He got out of the car, opened the door behind the driver’s seat, and looped a black leather baby sling over his head. He pulled his ponytail free of the strap, reaching into a car seat to scoop up his infant daughter, Tessa.

Three months after he’d opened the damn thing at Kendall’s baby shower, he was a pro at slipping his baby into it and making sure she was comfortably (and safely) situated against his chest. He grabbed something called a “bouncy chair” out of the car as well.

Tessa gave him a gummy smile and cooed a little. His heart melted. He took her tiny hand in his. “Let’s go, gorgeous. We’ll find Mommy.”

Tessa looked pleased and glanced around as he walked through the front doors of the training facility.

He never knew it was possible to love someone else more than his own life, but now he had two of them: Kendall and Tessa. They loved him too. If he started dwelling on it, he’d be a big-ass tearful mess again. Kendall’s pregnancy had been a complete surprise to both of them, but he couldn’t remember what his life was like before he saw his daughter’s face for the first time. She had Kendall’s dark hair and his light blue eyes, a button nose, and a dimple in one cheek. He could look at her for hours. Holding Tessa while she slept on his chest was even better.

Drew paused at the reception desk so Molly could say hello to the baby. Joanna, the former receptionist, spent twenty-five years with the Sharks before being tempted away by Zach Anderson’s wife, Cameron. Joanna was now Cameron’s assistant. Molly had big shoes to fill, but she was already a team favorite. Maybe that had something to do with the huge platter of homemade chocolate chip cookies she brought in every Friday for the guys.

“She looks just like her mama.”

“She does,” Drew agreed. “I’m a lucky man.” He tenderly kissed the top of his daughter’s head. “Have you seen Kendall at all?”

“She should be finishing up with her meeting. Let me find out.” The receptionist punched a few buttons on her phone and said, “Sydney, are they out? Okay. I’ll let Drew know.” She clicked off the headpiece and said, “Kendall will meet you in the training room.”

“Great. Thank you so much.”

His wife had been hired by the new owner of the Sharks as their director of football operations five minutes after the other league franchise owners approved him. She’d managed to turn things around in San Francisco, but she wanted a change, and she wanted a lower-profile job as well. Drew, Kendall, and Tessa were now living in the big family house in Clyde Hill Drew bought before he had any idea his wife and daughter were only a year away.

Drew walked through the lobby, glancing over at the two Lombardi Trophies on display and a huge trophy case full of team memorabilia. He’d spent the past year recovering from a torn shoulder labrum and rotator cuff, and the resulting surgery to fix it. It was the greatest year of his life, but in some respects, it was the hardest. He was a happily married first-time father, but he wasn’t sure what the future held for him professionally. He was having a physical today. Shortly afterward, there would be a meeting to discuss whether or not he could play in the league again.

His teammates had practice. He had physical therapy. He missed the camaraderie of the locker room, the laughter, and the pranks. The Sharks had gone thirteen and three, but missed another trip to the championship game by a last-minute field goal. The Miners went instead. The only comfort for Sharks fans everywhere was the fact that Pittsburgh beat the Miners like a rented mule.

As Drew continued rehabbing and running, he had something else to think of besides getting back on the field: his wife and his daughter. The silver lining in his cloud was the three months he’d spent at home with Tessa. He never dreamed he’d actually find fulfillment in things like cooking dinner for his wife for the first time, or being the guy that took Tessa to doctor’s appointments and baby gym and play dates with other people’s babies. He now knew how to get baby spit-up out of anything, among other useful skills.

He still wasn’t sure about the “play date” thing. Three month olds mostly lay on a blanket and smiled at each other, but if his wife, both grandmothers, and the pediatrician assured him it was a good thing, he’d make sure it happened for Tessa.

He elbowed his way into the trainers’ room and came to a halt. The room was full of his teammates, the team doctor, and his wife, who advanced on him with arms outstretched. His teammates were applauding. He glanced around at guys who had no problem trying to remove some other guy’s lungs on a football field beaming at his little girl.

“Our little angel,” Derrick said.

“Let me hold her,” Zach called out.

“We got her a present,” one of the guys from the Sharks’ secondary said. They held up a tiny pink bedazzled T-shirt with the Sharks’ logo, pink fleece warm-up pants, and some baby-sized tricked-out football shoes. “We also got her an early admission letter to USC.”

“You do realize I graduated from UCLA,” Drew said.

“Is that so? USC? The University of Washington might have something to say about that,” one of the rookies called out. This started a loud discussion among Drew’s teammates as to where Drew and Kendall’s daughter would matriculate.

Tessa wasn’t ready to commit. She let out a big yawn and squeezed her daddy’s thumb.

“This is going to go fine,” Kendall said. “We’ll be waiting for you when it’s over.” She reached into the baby sling for Tessa. “I’ll take that,” she said as she pulled the sling over his head. She kissed him and whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Drew walked out of the room to more clapping and Kendall’s voice: “I was hoping she’d want to go to Stanford for undergrad like I did.”

Drew could hear the laughing and trash-talking all the way down the hall.

The team doctor was thorough. Drew was poked and prodded and had an MRI. When it was all over, he was asked to wait in the doctor’s office. Kendall was already there with the baby.

“How’d it go, champ?” she said.

“I had a blood draw. I wasn’t offered a cookie,” he said.

She let out a laugh. “I’ll bet we could find one on the way home.”

“I’ll bet we can too.” He reached out for his daughter. Kendall handed her over. “How’s my daddy’s girl?” he cooed to Tessa as he settled her in the crook of his arm.

Kendall moved her chair closer to his. He slung his other arm around the back. A year ago, a family wasn’t in his frame of reference, and now he had one. He pulled his wife a bit closer.

A minute or so later, the team doctor walked in and sat down in his chair behind the desk.

“Well, Drew, would you like the good news or the bad news?”

Kendall reached out for his hand. Tessa had already fallen asleep on her daddy’s chest.

Drew took a deep breath and braced himself. He hoped the news was good, but he wasn’t sure. Mostly, he knew Kendall would face whatever it was with him.

“I’ll take the bad news, Doc.”

The doctor tossed his file and the CD of information from Drew’s MRI on the desk. “Your days as a house husband are numbered, Drew.” He grinned at Drew, Kendall, and Tessa. “Everything looks great. The repair looks solid and has healed much faster than we anticipated. We’ll ask you to wear a lightweight brace for the first practices with the team, but I feel confident that you are ready to return. I’m not putting any other restrictions on your training regimen or your ability to play.”

Drew let out the breath he’d been holding. He saw tears rising in Kendall’s eyes.

“What’s the good news, doctor?” she said.

“He’s in great condition. You’re going to have him around for a long time.”

“That’s what I want most,” she said.

“One more thing,” the doctor said. “If it works for you, I’d like to hold the baby for a few minutes.”

Drew got up from his chair and transferred Tessa to the doctor’s arms. She didn’t stir.

“My daughter is due next month. It’s our first grandchild. My wife has done a lot of shopping over the past few months,” he joked.

Drew and Kendall both nodded. Their parents had done a little shopping too. Actually, more than a little. Tessa’s wardrobe was complete until she was out of preschool at least. When Drew and Kendall said Tessa was outfitted for years, the two grandmothers met up in Seattle and sewed a “baby quilt” that could comfortably fit on a queen-sized bed.

The grandfathers bought Tessa her first tricycle.

Drew thought he had a lot to be thankful for before he met Kendall and they had Tessa. He had to admit he was the luckiest guy in the world now.

“Is there anything else we need to know?” Kendall said.

“It’s all fine. I suppose I have to give the baby back now.” The doctor cuddled their daughter and was rewarded with some cooing and another gummy smile.

“Not unless you’d like to move in with us, Dr. Kinkaid.”

Nine months later

SMOKE FROM DRY ice swirled around the Sharks as they packed the tunnel to run out onto the field for the first game of the season at their home stadium. It was a perfect, blue-skies day in Seattle: sunshine, sixty degrees, a soft breeze, with the underlying bite of fall in the air. Fifty-three men ran in place, jumped up and down, and swung their arms to burn off the adrenaline and nerves as they waited to be announced.

In the alcove beside the entrance to the tunnel, a young man and his mother waited for their cue. He wore a McCoy jersey, Sharks warm-up pants, prototype shoes, and a lanyard with an all-access pass around his neck. The sound of a siren split the air, and the stadium shook with applause and shouts of “Go Sharks!” as the announcer called out, “For the first time this championship season, your Seattle Sharks!”

Drew paused to wait while the bulk of his teammates ran out onto the field. Nolan needed his grand entrance. Even more, Drew wanted to make sure every eye in the stadium would be riveted on the young man who’d won.

He reached out to grab Nolan’s hand. Derrick had his other hand. Seth took Nolan’s mom’s hand.

“Are you ready?” Drew shouted. “Let’s go!”

Derrick grabbed Nolan’s mom’s other hand as they emerged from the tunnel. The ovation from the sold-out stadium was deafening. The ground shook beneath them. His teammates had formed a line on either side of the tunnel to shout encouragement and slap Nolan on the back as they went by.

“Congratulations!”

“Good job!”

“You kicked cancer’s ass!”

“That jersey is fresh. I wonder where I could get one,” Seth Taylor joked.

The Sharks’ QB, Tom Reed, reached out his hand to grab Nolan. “You ready?”

Nolan was beaming. The team clustered around him. They all put hands into the circle and Tom said to him, “It’s all yours.”

Nolan glanced up at the men surrounding him. “We’re going to win today, because that’s what we do. We win. We always win.” He pulled in a breath. His cancer was in remission. He was still getting his strength back, but he didn’t waver.

He shouted, “We always win,” and fifty-three men shouted back, “GO SHARKS! GO SHARKS! GO SHARKS!”

Drew glanced at Nolan’s mom, who still clung to Seth’s hand. She was crying. Derrick was crying. Seth was brushing tears off of his face. The stadium rang with cheers, shouts, and stomping feet.

They won.

Author’s Note

ONE OF THE subplots of Covering Kendall is how Kendall deals with a Miners player that attacks his girlfriend. Domestic violence is present in all segments of our society, and all women deserve a relationship without fear of violence against themselves and their children by a domestic partner or spouse.

If you are in a dangerous situation, please know there are people who want to help you. You are not alone. You are important and you matter.

Here are some resources:

Your local police department is always available at 911 in the United States.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline has both a phone number and a website. There are options to make a call, have an online chat, or look up information and resources at the following.

http://www.thehotline.org/

1-800-799-7233 | 1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

LifeWire is located on Seattle’s Eastside, but there is important information on their website and they can point you toward resources in your community as well.

http://www.edvp.org/

1-425-746-1940 or 1-800-827-8840

If readers would like to help financially, the above organizations would be thrilled to get even a small donation for their very important work.

Again, if you’re reading this and you need help, I know it is so hard to make that phone call or reach out to a friend. You deserve a life free of fear and full of love that doesn’t hurt.

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About the Author

Julie Brannagh has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She lives in a small town near Seattle, where she once served as a city council member and owned a yarn shop. She shares her home with a wonderful husband, two uncivilized Maine Coons, and a rambunctious chocolate lab.

Julie hasn’t quite achieved the goal of owning a pro football team, so she created a fictional one: the Seattle Sharks. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, or armchair-quarterbacking her beloved Seattle Seahawks from the comfort of the family room couch. Julie is a Golden Heart finalist and the author of four contemporary sports romances.

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Tough and self-reliant Rio Montoya has looked after her two siblings for most of their lives. But when a gang leader makes threats against her sister Bonnie, even Rio isn’t prepared for the storm that could destroy her family. Rio seeks refuge for them all at a peaceful horse farm in the small town of Kennison Falls, Minnesota, but her budding romance with the stable’s owner, handsome British ex-pat David Pitts-Matherson, feels as dangerous as her past.

“Did I ever tell you how much I hate British arrogance?” Chase grinned and captured the ball, dribbled it to the free-throw line, turned, and sank the shot. “Nothin’ but net.”

“Did I ever tell you how much I hate Americans showing off?”

“Yup. You have.”

David laughed again and clapped Chase on the arm. Not quite a year before, Chase had married David’s good friend and colleague Jill Carpenter, and this was the second time David had overnighted with Chase at Crossroads Youth and Community Center in Minneapolis. He was grateful for the camaraderie, and for the free lodging on his supply runs to the city, but mostly for the distraction from life at the stable back home in Kennison Falls. Here there were no bills staring up at him from his desk, no finances to finagle, no colicky horses. Here he could forget he was one disaster away from . . . well, disaster.

It also boggled his mind that he and Chase had an entire converted middle school to themselves.

“All right, play to thirty,” Chase said, tossing him the ball. “Oughta take me no more’n three minutes to hang your limey ass out to dry.”

“Bring it on, Nancy-boy.”

A loud buzzer halted the game before it started.

“Isn’t that the front door?” David asked.

“Yeah.” Deep lines formed between Chase’s brows.

The center had officially closed an hour before at nine o’clock. Members with I.D. pass cards could enter until eleven—but only did so for emergencies. David followed Chase toward the gymnasium doors. Voices echoed down the hallway.

“Stop pulling, Rio, you’re worse than Hector. He’s not going to follow us in here.”

“It’s Bonnie and Rio Montoya.” Surprise colored Chase’s voice. “Rio’s one of the really good ones. Sane. Hardworking. I can’t imagine why she’s here.”

Rio? David searched his memory but could only recall ever hearing the name in the Duran Duran song.

“Don’t be an idiot.” A second voice, filled with firm, angry notes, rang out clearly as David neared the source. “Of course they’re following us. They may not come inside, but they’ll be waiting, and you cannot handle either of them no matter how much you think you can. Dr. Preston’s on duty tonight. He might be able to run interference.”

“They won’t listen to him. To them he’s just a pretty face. Let me talk to Heco. You never gave me the chance.”

“And I won’t, even if I have to lock you in juvie for a year.”

“God, Rio, you just don’t get it.”

“You’re right, Bonnie Marie. I don’t. What in God’s name possessed you to meet Hector Black after curfew? Do you know what almost went down in that parking lot? Do you know who that other dude was?”

Chase hustled through the doorway. “Rio? Bonnie? Something happen?”

David followed five feet behind him. The hallway outside the gym glowed with harsh fluorescent lighting. Chase had the attention of both girls, but when David moved into view, one of them turned. A force field slammed him out of nowhere—a force field made up of amber-red hair and blazing blue eyes.

Frozen to the spot, he stared and she stared back. Her hair shone the color of new pennies on fire, and her complexion, more olive and exotic than a typical pale redhead’s, captivated him. Her lips, parted and uncertain, were pinup-girl full. Her body, beneath a worn-to-softness plaid flannel shirt, was molded into the kind of feminine curves that got a shallow-thinking man in trouble. David normally prided himself on having left such loutishness behind in his university days, but he was rapidly reverting.

“Rio? You all right?” Chase called, and she broke the staring contest first.

David blinked.

“Fine,” she said. “I’m sorry to come in so late. I needed a safe place for this one.”