Page 56 of Batter Up!

“Yeah, it is. Let’s do this!” I found myself saying.

“Do you want to invite any of the guys or anything? I’d want to include Penelope, but she’s downstairs running the shop. Oh, man. Meadow should be here. And your brothers, sister, and parents.” I could tell she was starting to get nervous since she was rambling.

“All I need is you,” I said as I pulled on my jeans and gave her a wink. “We can have a big wedding in the off-season once the baby is here and include all our family and friends.”

“The baby can be part of the ceremony!” Molly cried with a far off look in her eyes as she rubbed her stomach.

“Definitely.” I said with a huge grin, “Now, get dressed, babe. Let’s go get married!”

Fifty-three minutes later, we stood hand-in-hand as we waited on the judge. We had been lucky, and only one other couple was there to get married before us. I held the marriage certificate in my hand, and Molly fiddled with the small, white gold bands we purchased at the jewelry shop on our way to the courthouse. They were basically costume jewelry, but I knew I would save money to buy her a proper wedding band that she deserved.

Molly couldn’t find a white dress in her closet, so she was wearing the next best thing, my home jersey in white with blue accents. It looked like a dress on her and hung down to her knees. She also wore white leggings underneath and blue flip flops. Her hair was in what she described as an Elsa braid, all on one side hanging over her shoulder. She couldn’t have looked more perfect to me. I stood in my jeans and also wore my jersey, but I chose to wear the dark blue jersey with white accents. I am sure we looked like cheesy baseball fans, but it was perfect for us.

The doors opened, and the couple in front of us came out. He was in a nice suit and even had on a top hat, and she was wearing a very frilly wedding dress with a lace veil. They had several witnesses with them, including a woman openly bawling.

“Congrats.” Molly and I both told them, and they nodded their thanks.

“Mr. Tyler Elliott Stone and Ms. Molly Nicole Green?” a clerk asked.

“That’s us,” Molly said with a smile and squeezed my hand.

“Right this way.”

The judge took our certificate and asked if we wanted standard vows, or if we had written our own. We chose to do the standard vows. I held her hand and couldn’t look away from her eyes as we went through the very simple ceremony.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride,” the judge announced and then turned to me. “My best marriage advice is that May seventh will be a day you don’t ever want to forget, son.”

I leaned down, Molly stood up on her tiptoes, and I kissed my wife. I couldn’t believe I had a wife. “I love you, Mrs. Stone.” I dropped down on my knees and kissed her belly, “And I love you, Baby Stone.”

“We love you!” Molly said and pulled me back up for another kiss. “I can’t believe I’m Mrs. Stone.”

“Here is your paperwork that you will need to mail if you plan on changing your name for the DMV, social security card, insurance.” The clerk said as she handed us a manilla envelope. She then handed us a small white envelope that said “Newlyweds” on it. Inside were several coupons for local places such as a massage, getting nails done, family pictures, a hotel room, and for a romantic dinner.

“Could you take our picture?” Molly asked the clerk.

The clerk smiled and took Molly’s phone and snapped several pictures. We did different classic wedding poses and had huge grins on our faces. “I have to say I’m glad you guys chose to wear jerseys with your wedding date on them.”

“Oh my gosh! I didn’t even realize that!” Molly shouted with a laugh as she rubbed her hand on the number seven on my chest. “Today really was perfect!”

“And to put your last name on them, too. So creative.” The clerk said as she took a few more pictures of our backs as we held hands. The clerk didn’t have to know that they were my game-worn jerseys.

“I am so happy I’m your wife,” Molly said as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

“I really am happy it's you, too,” I leaned my head over on top of her head and said. “I’m the luckiest man to be your husband!”

As we walked hand-in-hand out of the courthouse, I asked her, “So, are we going to tell people or keep this a secret?”

Molly bit her bottom lip and shrugged, “I don’t know. I think Pen and Meadow will be pissed that they weren’t invited.”

“Same for the guys and my brothers. And oh my gosh, Mom will be devastated,” I said. “Maybe we better keep it a secret.”

Molly nodded, “How about we tell people we got engaged?”

“I like that idea. It would also mean you could still wear your mom’s ring,” I said with a kiss. “I’m going to have to tell HR and probably my coaches, but I know they will keep things quiet.”

The biggest trending video in the 2022 Major League Baseball season doesn’t feature a home run, an amazing pitch or a great defensive play. It features a player getting hit in the butt by a pitch.

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