Page 34 of Baller's Surprise Baby

“Never better,” I quip.

“Your mother and I watched your game against the Clippers.” He lobs a shot and hits it off the backboard and straight in.

“Yeah? Rachel and Everly were there, courtside. Would have been great to have you and Mom come out too. I’ve got your new jerseys in the car.” I lob the ball back at him, and he moves positions before making the next shot as easily as the first. There’s never been any doubt about where my basketball talent comes from. My dad shakes his head as he lines up for the next shot.

“That was one hell of a game, Ryder.”

I huff a laugh and kick at the pavement with my toe. “Tell me about it. That one stretched me.” We chat on for several minutes. I catch him up on the players. Bills and Daryl are out of quarantine and halfway back to normal thanks to early detection and treatment.

“Your mom wants to host another Fourth of July celebration for any of the guys who are stateside this summer.” I grin as I think back to my confessions to Everly on the plane ride to Phoenix.

“Yeah, Dad, that sounds great.”

He tosses the ball my way, and now it’s my turn to walk the periphery and take some shots. He stands center, close to the basket and ready to catch the ball and pass it my way. We continue running through our shots in silence for a bit, and finally I decide to get down to the whole reason I came here. My dad’s a massively successful lawyer, and I’ve watched him and Mom make life look so easy for years, so I suck in a breath hoping to hear some kind of magic trick, a solution to all my fears.

“Did you ever worry that maybe Mom wasn’t gonna say yes?” I keep my eyes on the basket and follow through on the shot, but I can feel my dad’s eyes on me, studying me. He always knows what’s going on, but he also knows what to say and when. So, I wait.

“You mean, when I asked her out?” He tosses the ball my way again, and I line up the shot.

“When you were ready to propose.” My words seem to just hang there in the air. Part of me feels like a dummy with my heart on my sleeve, but Dad just nods his head and takes a moment to think.

“You know, your mom and I always kind of knew. We hit a few bumps in the road, but once we started dating, there wasn’t any doubt in our minds.” I grimace as I take this in. It’s not the easy fix I was hoping to hear, but he continues talking. “I mean, I was nervous as hell, but it was way harder asking her out for the first time than it was proposing. By then we’d formed a connection, and it was a natural step I think. We’d built a level of trust and intimacy that made these bigger steps so much easier.”

I blow out a long breath, and he chuckles. Instead of passing me the ball, he steps in for a layup.

“I can see that’s the good news you were hoping to hear.” I give a half-hearted laugh and then he asks, “Were you planning to introduce us to your special someone anytime soon?” I glance up in surprise.

“Rachel didn’t tell you?” I can see by his expression he doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about. “Dad, it’s Everly.”

“No kidding?!” His raised brows and the shocked expression on his face indicate equal amounts of surprise and pleasure. “Huh! Little Everly.” He shakes his head. “I guess she’s not so little anymore though, is she?” And that’s when I see the knowing look in his eyes. He knows. I don’t say anything because we don’t talk about what happens behind closed doors, but another glance his way confirms it. He knows.

The lights come on in the yard as the last of the sun’s rays spread across the sky, and I remember it’s not a short drive back to downtown, but Dad reads my mind once again and claps a hand on my shoulder for the second time tonight.

“Why don’t you come in and join us for dinner? Your mom would never let me live it down if I didn’t make you stay, and Becca and Philip are coming over with the kids.”

“No kidding? How is she?” My older sister Rebecca lives just twenty minutes from Mom and Dad, but my nieces are two and four, so I only see them when I make it to this side of town. Something about my bedtime being around midnight most evenings and Becca’s being around 8:00 p.m. means that our schedules never quite match up.

“She’s still in her first trimester, and we end up going over to babysit sometimes just so she can get a nap.” Dad shakes his head and strides through the back entrance, not bothering to hold the door open for me. I prop it open as I step through and close it quietly behind me.

“I almost forgot, baby number three! It’s time for baby jerseys again!” I love my nieces and can’t wait to have another newborn in the family. I shake my head, remembering last time Becca was expecting. Something niggles in the back of my head at the thought.

Dad chuckles as we head through the back sitting rooms toward the kitchen where I can hear voices. Just before we get there, he turns and stops me.

“Just remember, she’s not showing yet, but she’s pretty much sick all day long. So, take it easy with the joking and don’t be surprised if between the fatigue and the tummy troubles, we only get to see her for ten minutes and then end up playing with the kids all evening.”

I smile at the worry on his face and give him a “yes, sir” before watching him walk into the kitchen ahead of me. There’s no doubt Becca and Rachel are both Daddy’s girls. The man’s a brilliant servant of the law, but put him in a room with his girls, or better yet his grandkids, and he’s just a big teddy bear. Then my thoughts shift to my older sister. Something about that little miracle of life sure does take a lot of energy.

I make my way into the kitchen and give hugs and greetings before settling in for the meal. Surprisingly, Becca seems happy and well, and we spend the meal catching up while simultaneously working to keep Hailey, the toddler, from throwing all of her meal on the floor. It isn’t until Mom goes to make the girls a snack that everything takes a turn. I can hear popping from the kitchen, and I see the exact moment when Becca’s nostrils flare and her eyes widen.

“Is that popcorn?” She covers her nose as she tries to breathe through her mouth, but it’s no use. She makes a dash for the hallway, leaving Philip, Dad and I staring after her with various degrees of concern etched on our faces.

Popcorn. I frown as I parse out the memory of Everly with this same reaction. That’s weird.

Three hours later I’ve made my way back home, and I lay in bed halfway asleep when my thoughts suddenly sort themselves on their own. I feel my body jolt even before the thoughts fully land, and by the time my eyes open, I’m already sitting straight up in bed. I jerk mechanically toward the light above my nightstand and then stare at my hands as I count on my fingers the time between Phoenix and the night we got locked into the American Airlines Center together.

Six weeks. That would be right in the middle of the first trimester.

Oh shit! She’s pregnant!

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