Page 25 of Catching Dreams

“I’m with this little guy here,” Ty’s dad said loudly. Everyone around us went quiet from shock as Mike walked over and patted Camden on the shoulder. He then pulled me in for a big hug. “Welcome to the family, Molly. Congratulations on getting married and giving us not one but two grandbabies.” He hugged his shocked son and congratulated him, too. While Tyler and his dad were hugging, I leaned down and gave Camden a huge hug and thanked him.

Mike turned to the rest of the group and said, “If anyone has anything negative to say about my daughter-in-law or future grandbabies, they can come talk to me. They had their reasons and were doing what was best for their little family.”

I squeezed Tyler’s hand at the mention of our little family. He looked over at me and gave me a wink. Having our own little family was a great feeling.

“Nothing negative from this Gigi over here,” Susan said and gave her husband a big hug. “I’m proud of you, Grandpa.”

Mike laughed and gave his wife a kiss. “Twins, Sue. At least, they're not triplets. We were outnumbered!”

Susan laughed in agreement and said, “You know I’ll always be a text away with lots of tips for multiples.”

“I know that,” I said with a smile and hugged her again.

“Dude, when you do something you don’t slack off at all, do you?” Cooper asked. “Married and twins. I am happy for you guys. I was just shocked and hurt because you didn’t tell me.” He hugged us both.

Tyler looked at his brother and let go of my hand to pull Carter in for a hug. “I really am sorry I didn’t tell you. We didn’t tell anyone. We planned to just have a wedding after the season was over and the babies were born. My big mouth just ruined it all.”

Carter nodded and hugged Ty tightly. “I’m happy for you, man. Now, Landon and I won’t have to fight to be the best uncle. Baby A will love me the most, and Baby B can have Landon.”

While Tyler was talking with Carter and getting out his phone to video call Landon, I looked over at Penelope.

“I’m sorry, Pen,” I said.

“I do feel better knowing his brother didn’t even know.”

“No one did. Not even Meadow. Do you want to help me video call her and show her the shirt?”

Pen looked down at her phone in her hand and smiled at me. “Yes, let’s call her.”

During the video call with Meadow, there was yelling, tears, and finally, happiness. We ended the call but not before she mentioned that Meadow was a great baby name or even her middle name, Elizabeth.

I found Tyler and sat next to him as we ate. The trays of food were passed around, and everyone just took what they wanted. There was plenty of food, laughs, and stories being shared all around us. After dinner, we figured it was too late to try and go through the debris, so a big group of us decided to play some card games from Penelope’s apartment and just spend time together. Tyler’s parents decided to call it an early night and gave us big hugs before heading to their hotel room. They offered to take the kids with them so Shiloh could enjoy time with us, but she said she had a paper due and didn’t mind putting her niece and nephew to bed. Ivan also said his goodbyes so he could call and talk with Camila and talk. The Tiger coaches all said goodbye and reminded the players they did still have practice early in the morning.

Soon, it was Tyler, Penelope, Cooper, Hayden, Julia, Rob, Dominic, Jude, Carter, Alec, and me all sitting around a big table playing Apples to Apples. It was a fast-paced and fun game, and we were all laughing together. The dealer put down a card with a question and everyone else had to choose the card in their hand that best answered the question. The dealer then would pick the response they liked the best.

It soon became apparent that every time Hayden chose a card, he would choose Alec’s response and vice versa. They were having a good laugh about it since they had just met.

I also found myself choosing a lot of Dominic’s cards, and he would choose mine. I didn’t know him very well, but it got to the point where he would read the cards and make his choice and just laugh when I would raise my hand. People accused us of cheating somehow, but it was all in good fun.

I also got to know Tyler’s brother and sister a lot better, which I liked. Julia and her husband were complete opposites. Julia chose wild and risky cards, whereas Rob chose more literal answers to the questions.

Carter and Cooper seemed to always give the most obnoxious answers, and it became a contest to see who could make the most people groan. I was laughing so hard I was crying at times.

For an hour or so, we all forgot about the tornado damage that was mere yards from where we were sitting. We forgot all about the people who were homeless, like me and many others. We forgot about Mack sitting in a hospital room with his young son fighting for his life and having to plan a funeral for his beloved wife. We were merely a group of friends hanging out until one of the Red Cross search and rescue men came into the apartment community room.

“Dr. Moseley? We found a survivor in the debris. Is there any way you could come check them out and assist while we wait for the ambulance?”

Rob lay his cards down, and without a second thought, he nodded and followed the man out the door. Julia was close behind them, ready to help in any way she could.

“That’s great that they found a survivor,” Jude remarked.

“Yeah, it is,” Penelope agreed. “Maybe we should call it a night. I don’t know about all of you, but I want to get up early and help see what we can salvage from Cupcake Curveball. I bet a few of Molly’s colorful mixers survived.”

I had to give a small laugh in agreement. “I hope they did. I only had nine of them. And I definitely want to look around, too.”

“Ok, but you have to set limits. If you get tired or anything, you have to take breaks,” Tyler told me. “You’re carrying our babies, and I don’t want you to overextend yourself.”

“I know, I know,” I said, but I did love how much he cared about our well-being.

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