Page 182 of Restricted List

“Well,” my dad says, pulling our attention back to the screen. “It seems to me like congratulations are in order.”

“Yes!” my mom agrees. “We’re so happy to see you two together. How does Harlow feel?”

“She’s been our biggest supporter,” my wife says, laying her head on my shoulder.

“Plus,” I smirk, “she’s dating my best friend. She can’t really say anything about me marrying hers.”

“Oh, I just love this! Tell us everything! I want to hear all about the night you got married.”

“Is everything ready to go?” Tim asks.

Tim Bartosz is my agent, and he was none too pleased when he heard what happened. He flew out to Vegas this morning, and Paul and I smoothed everything over with him. He’s calmer now, but I’ve got a feeling he’ll be using this as fodder to get me a better contract extension in the offseason.

Paul peers out into the media room of the Raptors’ stadium to confirm that everything is set up. “Yeah, everything looks good.” He takes a deep breath. “Ready, Pierce?”

“Ready,” I say nervously.

I’m not nervous about being out in the open with Rory. Iamworried about how all of this is going to reflect on my father-in-law. It was far from his finest moment, but I don’t want to see his legacy ruined over this.

I’m also nervous because I like my privacy. Sure, I haven’t had as much of that as I used to since Knox and my sister announced their relationship last spring, but I still had some. Now, I’m married to the daughter of a hall-of-fame player and one of the best managers in the league. Any shred of privacy I still had left is now completely gone.

But Rory is worth every bit of increased fame that will come from this.

I spread my palms out over my jersey, ensuring any wrinkles are gone from my uniform, and then Paul and I walk out toward the waiting audience.

We take our seats at the front of the room, sitting at a table with two microphones. I scan the crowd and find my wife hanging out on the back wall, and my breathing steadies. I can’t help but be calm when I see the woman I love smiling at me.

I do keep my left hand under the table for the moment, though, so we don’t create speculation before we can even announce it.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming today,” Paul says, starting us off. “I know you all have a lot of questions, but Cole and I would like to give the full story before we answer any of those.”

Since Paul and I went over everything earlier this afternoon, I know it’s my time to keep the conversation moving. “We want to start by saying that, as you can see, I’m in my uniform rightnow, so yes, I will be back on the field today. I’m no longer on the restricted list.”

“Placing Cole on the restricted list was a mistake,” Paul sighs. “I don’t mean that he was placed there in error—it was intentional. But it’s something I never should have done. I’m a stubborn old man, though, and a bit overprotective when it comes to my family. See, I have a daughter, Rory—many of you probably know who she is. She’s hanging out on the back wall right now, but she might have my head if I point her out.” The audience laughs lightly, and some of the tension is removed. “One thing I always stressed to my players was to stay away from Rory. I didn’t want her tangled up with a baseball player, but I also didn’t want to mix my personal and professional lives. But life doesn’t always work out how you want.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I chuckle. “But in my defense, I did try.”

Paul sighs and shakes his head. “I’m sure you can guess where this is heading at this point. Friday night, I found out that Cole had been seeing my daughter, and I had an awful reaction. I’ll take the fine for swearing here, but I was a jackass, and I treated him terribly.”

“I want to make it clear, though,” I say, taking the attention off him, “that Paul came to talk to us last night, and he apologized.”

“I’m still Skip when you’re in uniform, Cole,” he laughs.

“Anyway,” I smile, “he gave us his reasoning and gave a better explanation for why he reacted the way he did. We had a long discussion, and I don’t hold anything against him. It obviously isn’t how Rory and I wanted everything to happen, but we’ve accepted it, and we’re ready to move forward without hiding.”

“I do want to make sure I apologize,” Paul says now. “Not just to Rory and Cole but to the team, the Stars organization, and all of our fans. I let my anger get the better of me and let everyone down in the process. I’m ashamed of acting the way I did, but I can promise all of you that it won’t happen again going forward.My emotions are mine alone, and I won’t let them impact any part of the team again.”

“Which is great,” I say lightly, “because things really have changed, haven’t they?”

Paul rolls his eyes and huffs out a laugh. “I guess that’s one way to say it. Cole isn’t just one of my players now.”

I finally bring my left hand up from under the table, letting the gold of my wedding ring catch the fluorescent lights overhead. “Nope, I’m his son-in-law, too.” I see Rory biting down the biggest smile, and my heart swells. “Rory and I actually got married over the weekend, so Paul here will be seeing a lot of me going forward.”

“Skip,” he says, leveling me with a look before he shakes his head and laughs. “I know my reaction would tell you differently, but Cole is a great guy, and he makes my daughter happy. That’s all a father could ever really want. I’m proud to be able to call him my son-in-law.”

“Aww, Paul…” I say, holding my hand to my heart.

“Skip.” His voice is more stern this time, but there’s no actual bite to his tone. “Let’s open this up to questions now.”

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