Home Run (18 page)

He let out a steady breath. He was going to be someone’s father. Not their uncle or cousin or brother—their father.

His head began to spin as though he’d actually drank the bottle of Jack he’d bought, but the seal was still intact—he’d known better.

And then the thought in his head went full circle. He’d gone to her house that night when he’d found out she was pregnant, but it wasn’t the reason. The reason he went back was because he loved her. The pregnancy was just a reason to get her to let him in. With or without the baby he’d always loved her. Nothing was going to take that away.

There’d been a little ring at the store that he’d remembered seeing. That ring belonged to Ali, he’d stop and pick it up. Sam needed a new baseball and Christian had the very one. He’d kept it for years—it was signed by his father.

He’d looked into coaching T-ball and maybe that would make the day of the young boy who was probably lost in all the talk about marriage and babies.

And of course the baby—oh he knew the perfect thing to buy the baby. He hoped Victoria would appreciate it too.

He’d go to her tomorrow as he did every night after work—and he wouldn’t go back home. Never again.

~*~

When Christian walked into his brother’s office the next morning he didn’t look amused when Christian told him he needed another afternoon off.

“It’s all for a good cause and everything is up to date,” he promised.

“First you mope around all year and now you’re gone all the time. What gives?”

Christian sat down in the chair in front of his brother’s desk. “Well, I have to go buy a ring.”

“Mom and Darcy said you did that already.”

“Oh, I bought one for Tori. Now I have to buy one for Ali.” Ed’s look of confusion was priceless. “I just signed on to coach T-ball too.”

“You did not.”

“I did.”

Ed laughed. “I think this is your calling.”

“Well it looks like I have a baby on the way so…”

Ed came out of his chair and was on his feet. “No. Really?”

“Your wedding was a lucky night.”

“You’re kidding. Really?”

Christian stood and met his brother. “Really. So I need to get over there with rings and gifts and get this all solidified. I want her to marry me before the baby gets here. This is how it should have always been.”

“Go. Take tomorrow too. But then, damnit, you’d better not miss another day.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He made his stops around town. The baseball was in his house, in the room he’d made a shrine to his successes. It was all worthless now. Nothing could compare to what was about to come. A trophy was plastic. A wife and a family—that was forever.

The ring was small and the stone was pink. The man assured him that they could resize it if it didn’t fit Ali. He’d thought buying a ring for Tori—twice—was hard. This had been harder.

His final stop before heading home to his
family
, was to buy a baby outfit that looked like a baseball uniform. On the back he had printed KELLER 15 to match the jerseys he’d once worn.

Now it was time to make amends and become a family.

It was nearly four-thirty when he pulled up in front of the house, but the minivan wasn’t parked in the driveway. That was even better. He would go inside and be waiting.

When he walked into the kitchen the flowers were still on the table where he’d arranged them with the sparkling cider and the glasses. Still there was the ring he’d planned to give her. But there was a new addition to the items.

Christian moistened his lips as he sat down in the chair. Next to the ring was a small framed picture. The frame said OUR BABY and inside was a sonogram picture of just a little bubble—his bubble.

He could feel tears well in his eyes. That made it all very real.

The front door opened and Christian’s heart rate kicked up. It was time. She was there and she wasn’t going to kick him out—not ever again.

When he looked up Sonia was walking toward him. Her eyes were dark and her cheeks flushed.

“I thought I’d find you here. Your brother said you’d taken the day off.”

His heart raced faster now, but now with a pain that he couldn’t quite explain.

“You went to my office?”

She nodded as she looked at the table. “I have the kids at home with Craig.” She moved closer to him and he now could see that her eyes were red and moist. “Tori’s at the hospital.”

His uncomfortable heart rate became nearly so painful that he had to put his hand on his chest to ease the discomfort.

“Is she okay? Is everything okay?”

Sonia shook her head. “She’ll be fine. They are just keeping an eye on her. But, Chris, she lost the baby.”

He’d never in his life burst into tears, but at that moment he did. The pain of her words was so incredibly sharp, that he felt like he might die in that chair. He felt as he did when he couldn’t get to Dave to save his life in the crash. Christian Keller was helpless.

Sonia moved to him and he pulled her into his arms.

“I can give you a ride.”

“I can get there,” he said into her hair as she held him tight.

“Your uncle left the clinic and went up to the hospital to be with her. He’s there now.”

Of course he was. There was always a Keller man ready to help someone who needed them. He’d been the only one not to take that path the first time.

“I’m going to go to her,” he said pulling away.

“She loves you. She’s very distraught about the baby and not telling you.”

He wiped his eyes. “None of this matters. She’s what matters and she is what always mattered.” He picked up the picture on the table. “There will be other babies.”

She gazed up at him and smiled. “What are you going to do?”

“Be there like I should have always been.”

He kissed Sonia on the cheek, picked up the ring, and headed out the door to the hospital to help Tori mourn what was lost and prepare to move on.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Curtis Keller was waiting just outside the elevator when Christian stepped off. He was in blue scrubs and had at least a day’s worth of beard growth.

“Is she okay? Tell me
she’s
okay.”

Curtis moved to him and placed his hands on his nephew’s shoulders. “Tori will be fine. Miscarriages at this stage aren’t uncommon. She can go home in a little while. We’re just getting her some fluids, because she’s very dehydrated and some pain meds.”

Christian nodded. “What? How?”

His uncle dropped his hands. “She began to have bleeding and pain. When that happened, she had Sonia bring her into the clinic. It happens, Chris. You have to understand that, it just happens. She didn’t do anything wrong. There just was a reason that this baby didn’t make it full term. It doesn’t mean it’ll affect her having more babies.”

Christian nodded again. “I just want to see her.”

“C’mon.”

He walked him down the hall to a room where the door was open just slightly. He could hear her sobbing and that pained him.

“She’s going to be okay,” his uncle said, resting his hand on his shoulder again. “Just let her know you’re here.”

“Forever.”

His uncle gave him a smile and walked away leaving him to be with her and heal her emotionally after having caused her so much grief.

Reaching for the door had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Walking away from things like this had always been easier and too often the road he’d taken.

Her back was turned to him when he walked in and shut the door, but she didn’t turn to look.

“Tori.” His voice was unsteady as he called to her.

She rolled toward him. Her eyes were swollen from all the tears she’d cried and her cheeks were wet. An IV line was taped to her wrist.

“You can go. You don’t have to be here,” she said on a sob.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not pregnant anymore. You don’t have any responsibilities to me.”

Christian swallowed hard. He could argue with her, but he wasn’t going to. This was the moment he needed to know what it was to be a man and accept life in all of its ugliest forms.

He moved to the edge of the bed and looked down at her. Her blonde hair was matted to the side of her face and her skin was red from all the crying.

Without invitation he sat at the edge of the bed. “I’m heartbroken over the baby.”

“So am I,” she said softly.

“I saw the picture on the table.”

That seemed to upset her as the tears came harder. “Just-yesterday,” she sobbed. “How-can it go-so bad?”

“Curtis said this just happens, but doesn’t mean it’ll happen with your next pregnancy.”

She shook her head. “I won’t do this again. No.”

Christian reached up and placed his hand on her cheek. “We will.”

“We? You think you’re going to keep me after this? After I didn’t trust you? After I didn’t tell you?”

“Tori, I’m never going anywhere. Don’t you understand? I love you. I’ve been a lousy fiancée this year. But the vows are through sickness and health until death do us part. Well, all of that got thrown at us in one year. And I didn’t handle it well.”

“Right. So why are you here?”

“Like I said, I love you.”

He scooted up further on the bed and Tori adjusted until he was lying next to her, facing her, and holding her hand.

“Does this hurt you?” he asked as he rested his hand on her hip.

“No.”

“Good.” With his other hand he brushed back her hair and then rested his head on his hand and looked down at her. “I did this all wrong. You paid for it.”

Her tears seemed to be drying. That, he thought, was a good sign.

“Tori, I don’t want to live my life without you or Ali or Sam. I love those kids. And I love you. This year taught me something. I’m very selfish and I’m horrible at facing things I don’t want to face.”

She chuckled and she wiped away her tears. “I never pegged you to be that guy.”

“Me either. Though Ed was always the stronger one. I remember when mom had cancer and dad shaved her head.” He smiled at the memory. “When they were done, dad stepped in and told her to shave his head. And then Ed did the same.”

The vision was as clear in his mind as the day it had happened. “I’ll never forget Dad looking at me and Clara in the bathroom door asking us which one was next.”

He looked back at her. “I ran away that day too. I was never good at this.”

“You’ve done okay the past few weeks.”

“Yeah, well I would like to keep trying. I’m going to stumble and I’m going to fall—a lot.”

“I missed you when you weren’t with me,” she said softly the tears now dry. “It was as if a part of me had been torn away with my sister.”

“I know.”

“And this baby—it was my chance to have that part of you I was always supposed to have.”

“We’ll have that again,” he promised her as he rubbed her exposed arm. “Will you keep me?”

“I come with a lot of baggage.”

“Yeah, well I like your baggage. I’m a T-ball coach now, you know?”

She smiled wide. “You are?”

He nodded. “Some great kid wants to be a ball player like his dad.”

Her eyes began to moisten again, but the tears weren’t sad. “He is a great kid.”

Christian reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the little ring he’d bought for Ali. “There’s a sweet little girl who said I could marry you too if I bought her a ring.”

Those happy tears began to fall. “You bought her a ring?”

“Looks like something she’d love, doesn’t it?”

Tori nodded and then looked up at him. “I saw the ring on the table.”

“Yeah, I was setting up a romantic night that you’d find it hard to turn down a marriage proposal.”

Her body began to shake and Christian pulled the blanket up over her. IVs always made him cold too.

She licked her lips. “I was going to propose to you,” she said looking up at him through tear soaked lashes.

“Me?” He pulled back and looked at her. “Why?”

Tori chuckled. “I wanted to have our baby together and I thought if I asked you then you’d know you were wanted.”

“I knew I was wanted when I came to your house and you were wearing my clothes.”

“They are my favorite.”

“You can have them. I brought a suitcase of others with me. It’s just the first load. I’ll bring the rest of my stuff over the next few weeks.”

Tori reached up and touched his cheek, the IV line following. “You’re going to move in with us?”

“We’re a family right?”

She nodded. “I think we are.”

“Well, I’ll move in, but you have to do me a favor.”

“What’s that?”

“When they pull all this crap off of you, you have to wear this.” He reached into his pocket again and pulled out the ring he’d picked out for her.

“Oh, Chris.”

“My mother picked it out. One stone for Ali, one for Sam, and she said the other was for me, but I figured it was for the baby.”

Her tears came back and he brushed them away.

“Don’t be sad. That baby will always be our first and he or she will be waiting for us on the other side.”

That seemed to resonate with her and she nodded as she wiped away the new tears.

Chris handed her the ring and she looked at it and then back at him.

“Be my wife. Take my name. Let me be there to raise Ali and Sam and keep the spirit of their parents alive. Have another baby with me. And another, and another…”

“Okay. Okay,” she laughed as she took the ring and fisted it in her hand.

“T-ball coach, really?”

“Yeah. I just landed the biggest home run ever, now it’s time to teach that little man how to hit one too.”

Epilogue

There was a pep-band in the stands and twenty suited T-ball players on the field. It had taken some arm twisting, but Christian had somehow worked his charm so that the first game played in the new stadium was his team.

Sam had on his jersey which read HORTON 3, in honor of his father.