Page 33 of The Final Game

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell our friends?” I ask her. The only people we’ve told is our family, and even that was hard. No one else knows how hard it’s been for us to have kids, or how we’ve decided to adopt, or how we haven’t heard back from anyone yet. “It might be easier to talk to the girls about it,” I suggest.

Madi shakes her head, ripping her eyes away from the babies to look up at me with glassy eyes. “No,” she says, determined. “I don’t want to give them false hope in case we…” She presses her lips together, unable to voice the possibility of us never getting the call. “This will never be us,” she says, gesturing to the glass. “You’ll never get to stand here and look out there and see your baby.”

My brows dip, my chest aching at the sight of tears in her eyes. “You never know,” I tell her. “It could happen, Madeline. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean we can never have a family.” I clutch her face in my hand, smoothing my thumb over her soft cheek. “We’ll get that call, Madi. You’ll be a mom. I’ll be a dad.”

She drops her eyes, the subtle shake of her head breaking my heart, but not as much as her next words do. “You can always leave, you know?”

My brows furrow, and I lift her chin with my thumb, making her look at me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Her lips part, and her glassy eyes look right at me when she says, “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave. I know how much you want a baby. You could find another woman that can give you what I can’t and—”

“Stop,” I blurt out, anger building inside me. “Don’t you ever say those words again.” My heart drops to my stomach at the reminder. “I want a baby, of course I do. But not more than I want you.” Her eyes well up with tears. “There is nothing in this world that could ever make me walk away from you. Madeline, I haven’t even spared a glance at another woman since the second you walked into my life. How could you ever think I would ever walk away from you?” I ask, bewildered at the fact she ever uttered those words. “This doesn’t change anything about the way I feel about you. I loveyou, princesa. I want a family withyou. No one else. You.”

“Lucas,” she whispers, her voice wobbly and unstable.

“You can tell me you don’t want kids, and it wouldn’t change anything for me. All I’ve ever wanted was you, and that will never change. But if you tell me you want kids, then we can keep trying, or look into a surrogate, or wait for the adoption agency to call. But all I want is a family with you. With kids, or without kids. I’ll be the happiest fucking guy as long as I’m with you.”

“You really mean that?” she asks, glancing up at me with hope swimming in her eyes.

“I really do,” I say, pressing my forehead against hers. “It kills me that I haven’t been able to give you a baby yet, but we can keep trying,” I tell her, pulling back with a grin. “It’s pretty fun.”

She lets out a laugh, shoving me in the chest, and I know, everything will be okay.

Her smile settles, and her eyes lock with mine. “Iwantto adopt,” she breathes out, making my shoulders drop in relief.

These past few years, Madi hasn’t let herself speak about what she wants. I think that’s a big part of why she hasn’t told the girls yet. She doesn’t want to put the idea out there in case it gets snatched up from her.

But even when we were first discussing adoption, she wouldn’t let herself say what she wanted. So finally hearing her admit she wants this, that she wants to adopt a baby feels like a weight off my chest.

“Then we’ll adopt,” I tell her, loving the idea. “I can’t wait to give a child a loving home. Just like your parents did with you,” I say, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Look how great you turned out.” I flash her a smile which she returns.

“It might not happen for a while, though,” she says, her smile slipping. “Are you okay with that?”

I nod, reaching for her hand, before I lift it and press my lips against her knuckles. “I’ll wait for as long as it takes,princesa.”

Her eyes soften, lovingly, and I lean down ready to kiss my stunning wife, but our attention is snagged by the sound of Gabi’s voice.

“Come on,” she says, making Madi and I turn out heads, seeing Gabi and Chris running toward a storage closet, the door closing behind them a second later.

I arch a brow. “Are they going to fuck in a hospital?” I ask with a laugh, already knowing the answer.

“It’s Gabi and Chris,” Madi replies with a chuckle. “Of course they are.”

Chapter 14

When the phone dings with a new text for the hundredth time today, Lucas lets out a deep groan, rolling over to face me. “Please don’t tell me that’s who I think it is,” he says, arching a brow as he buries his head in the pillow.

Today has been a long ass day. From rushing Leila to the hospital last night, to staying at the hospital with the rest of the guys the whole day, I’m exhausted, and so is Lucas by the look on his face.

Fixing the silk wrap on my head, I flash him a smirk, shuffling down on the bed to lie on my side, facing him. “It’s the twenty-first text I’ve gotten from her today alone,” I say with a chuckle.

He lets out another groan, and reaches an arm around my waist, tugging until I’m plastered against him. His lips land on my collarbone, pressing featherlight kisses on my skin. “I don’t know what you expected when you agreed to be Gabi’s maid of honor,” he gruffs out, between kisses.

When he lifts his head, and his eyes meet mine, my chest starts knocking against my chest in a pattern I’m all too familiar with. I’m still so in love with this man, and he’s as handsome as ever, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world to be able to cuddle up to him at night, and wake up to him in the morning.

Which is why the quick blip in my chest makes my smile slip. He’s so amazing. So kind, and gracious and treats me like a queen. I know he’d be an amazing dad, and I hate that I can’t give him that. I try really fucking hard not to let it eat me alive, but today was just one of those days where the overthinking got the better of me.

Seeing Leila have her second baby, and seeing the look on Aiden’s face made my stomach drop. I’m so happy for them, they deserve the best in this world. But I couldn’t help but imagine how Lucas must have been feeling while seeing one of his best friends have another baby, while we’d been trying for years, and… nothing.

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