Page 66 of Make Your Play

I stare down at his perfect little face before looking back at Nash. “What are your plans? You know, after we get out of here.”

He looks at me, his eyes burning holes into my soul. “You are my plan, Riley. You and this little guy,” he says, his hand reaching for the baby’s. “I want both of you.”

“Does that mean you’ll stay?”

“I’ll sell my fucking house if you want me to.” He slides his hand to mine. “When I said I love you, I meant that in a ‘I want you forever’ kind of way.” A soft smile drifts across his lips.

“Forever with you sounds nice.”

“Good,” he says with a smile as he gives my hand the gentlest squeeze. “Because we can’t get this marriage annulled since we’ve had sex.”

It never once occurred to me, the stipulations to getting a marriage annulled. Once a marriage is consummated, an annulment is no longer an option. No one would actually know that we’ve had sex, especially considering the fact that the baby isn’t Nash’s, but the thought of lying about something like that just feels wrong.

This marriage isn’t what it was originally supposed to be. We were never supposed to fall in love, but here we are.

“It’s okay,” he tells me with a wink as he leans toward me, his lips pressing against my temple. “No one has to know about it at our real wedding.”

“Real wedding?” Tears blur my vision yet again.

“This isn’t my official proposal. I have better plans for that,” he explains, pressing his forehead to mine. “I want all of you. I want all of him. I want all of us,” he says with a soft breath. “Will you be mine?”

“Can I tell you a secret?” I ask him, my eyes searching his.

He pulls back slightly, a touch of worry flashing in his irises. “Of course.”

“I’ve always been yours.”

“Thank God,” he murmurs, letting out a breath as a smile breaks out across his lips before he presses them to mine. He kisses me with a tenderness that has my soul melting inside of my body. It’s a closed-mouth kiss, but there’s still such an intensity that rocks me to my core.

My god, I love this man.

Nash pulls away from me, his fingers dancing across the baby’s face as he looks down at his features. “Have you decided on a name for him?” he asks me, his voice quiet before his eyes meet mine again.

“I think I have,” I tell him, my voice equally quiet. “I think he looks like a Theodore.” My eyes search his, looking for any type of aversion from him. The past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about using his middle name as the baby’s name, but I wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. Now that we’ve met the little guy, I think it just fits. “Don’t you think so too?”

The softest smile dances across his lips, his eyes shining brightly back at me. “I think it’s a perfect name for him,” he concurs, the emotion thick in his voice as he looks back down at the baby. “Little Theo.” The smile doesn’t leave his lips as he looks back at me. “I love you, Riley.”

“I love you.”

***

The next week flies by in a rush. Between broken sleep, probably a thousand diapers, and countless bottles, I don’t even know what day it is when I’m finally discharged from the hospital. My blood pressure ended up stabilizing within two days after my surgery and my kidneys rebounded relatively quickly.

They’ll still be monitoring me closely to make sure that everything continues to get better, but as of now, my health is stable enough for me to go home. There’s no need for Theo or me to be here any longer, and I am honestly so fucking thrilled.

This entire experience has been a roller coaster and I’ve already set up therapy appointments, so I can try and work through the trauma before it ends up compounding. All things considered, I feel like I’ve been managing it pretty well so far.

Then again, I have very little time to actually stop and think about everything that happened.

“Are you ready to go, mama?” Nash asks me as he pokes his head back through the door. He left fifteen minutes ago so he could pull up out front and the nurse could check the car seat.

As I finish adjusting the hat on Theo’s head, I look up at him, a smile pulling on my lips. “Let’s go home.”

The nurse wheels me out to the car and helps us in, me sitting in the back with the baby before they send us on our way. Nash drives probably ten miles per hour under the speed limit the entire way back to my house. As we pull into the driveway, I see a string of blue balloons creating an archway around the front door.

Nova has been dying to come see us and thankfully Nash kept everyone out of the hospital for my sake. I ended up FaceTiming her while we were in there, but it was nice to just have it be the three of us, except for when Nash had to leave for work. He’ll be leaving tomorrow night for another away game, but he’s already asked Nonna to come stay with me while he’s not here.

Nash helps me out of the car before going over to lift the baby out and we begin our walk up to the house. He stands to the side, letting me in, and relief wraps around me as I step into the comfort of my own home. It feels like it’s been an eternity since I’ve been here. I can’t wait to get a real shower, change into fresh clothes, and snuggle up on the couch with my boys.

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