Homecourt Advantage (42 page)

The tension and excitement was so thick in the Mecca, it made the hairs on Casey’s neck rise. Michael Brown inbounded the ball, passing it to Paul, who guarded it as he was double-teamed with intense full-court pressure. He dribbled down the court as if his life depended on it; the seconds took an eternity to pass.

Brent was open and waved his hands in the air for Paul to pass him the ball. Casey could see the burning desire to win in Brent’s eyes. She could not recall seeing such a fervent expression on his face except on one previous occasion—when he had asked her to marry him.

Casey felt a sudden surge of forgiveness toward her husband. For the first time in three years she felt a freeness in her love for him. She was not encumbered by the weight of his past wrongs. Instead, she felt a receptiveness to his love descend upon her.

As Brent caught the pass\ from Paul with four seconds remaining in the game, he went up for a ten-foot jumper. Just as the ball was released from Brent’s hands, Casey tightly shut her eyes and hoped for the best outcome of the game and their marriage.

“Come on, Mommy! Daddy said they gonna have a merry-go-round!”

“Yeah, Casey. What are you doing in there? You drown in the tub or something?” Brent said as he banged on the bathroom door.

“Can a woman get a moment’s peace around here?”

“Hurry up, Mommy,” Nikki begged.

Listening to Nikki on the other side of the door, Casey knew without a doubt that she’d created a wonderful little monster despite her initial apprehension. She’d indulged her to the point that she could coo and whine and not irritate Casey in the least bit (unless she was waking her up at six o’clock on a Saturday morning). That night on her doorstep several months before, it had not occurred to Casey that Nikki would turn into a surprise package that she could never fathom returning.

“Five minutes, I’ll be out in five minutes. You two act like you haven’t seen me in years.” She laughed thinking about the father-daughter duo.

The directions written in bold letters on the back of the box stated that it should only take a couple of minutes for the results, but itseemed as if hours had passed. Casey’s two big babies impatiently hovering at the door didn’t help matters. They seemed to have forgotten that she’d spent the whole morning romping around Central Park with them. Sometimes Brent acted like more of a kid than Nikki, but Casey suppose’d she was the one to blame for that since she’d been incessantly spoiling both of them over the last five months.

After the final game of the play-offs, a welcome calm had begun to descend upon their lives. A calm that Casey allowed to enter into her marriage. She had been fighting it for so long—to the point of mental exhaustion. The seesawing had not done either of them any good, especially their marriage. The truth of the matter was that she loved Brent and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Although he had made a huge mistake, Casey felt he was trying to rectify his wrong. He was genuinely trying to make amends. She wanted to give him another chance—really give him another chance this time, not just pay lip service to trying to make their marriage work. Casey knew the infidelity was inexcusable but it was time to move on. She not only believed, but she knew in her gut that Brent had totally re-committed himself to their marriage. It had become her turn to decide whether or not she wanted to be committed again. And she had decided—for better or for worse, Brent was her man. Finally, she truly believed the worst had passed for them.

In July, they’d gone on a vacation with Nikki and Brent, Jr., to a family resort in Hawaii. In August Brent and Casey had driven around the coast of the Italian Riviera. She could not quite pinpoint when the transition occurred, but everything had begun to fall into place for them as a couple and as parents about the same time they got settled back in their Virginia home. Casey was actually a parent—not only a stepmother to Brent, Jr., but a mommy to Nikki. She’d officially adopted her two months ago.

Apparently, ever since Nikki was born, her mother had been shuffling her between various relatives’ homes until they got tired of caring for her or the money she gave them ran out. She’d never had any interest in being a mother in the first place and had readily relinquished all of her parental rights, claiming that Nikki cramped her style. The child support she’d been receiving from Brent had beensquandered on exotic vacations for her and her string of boyfriends. Brent’s money fit into her plans, but Nikki did not.

Brent had been worried about Casey’s reaction to Nikki moving in with them permanently; he’d assumed that Casey wanted more than anything for Nikki’s mother to change her mind somewhere down the line and take her back. When Casey had not only agreed but suggested adopting her, Brent had been floored. With Trina’s voice in her head, she’d known she wanted her marriage to work above all else. The picture for them was almost complete, personally and professionally. Casey wanted Nikki in their lives as much as Brent wanted her, and she knew he understood her final forgiveness.

Oddly enough, the Flyers beating the Lakers in the last game had been almost anticlimactic for Brent with all the controversy surrounding the whole series. Which was not to say that he wasn’t excited to finally win an NBA championship. He strutted around wearing his championship ring, flashing it like a woman with a new huge diamond engagement ring. But still, the fallout after the win cast a shadow over the Flyers’ success for him.

When Hal, along with Commissioner McDeavitt, had told the entire Flyers/Coach/Hightower saga, the fans had been great—though the vote wasn’t in on whether Stillman would coach. New York was glad to have their team, swept clean.

Soon the NBA investigation had exposed Mitchell’s and Jake’s activities and they were both banned from working with the league. Jake’s agency license had been revoked and he’d been disbarred by the State of New York from practicing law. The last Casey had heard, Jake had tried to negotiate a deal with a publishing house for the rights to his story, portraying him as a victim in the entire debacle. Jake claimed to have been framed as the fall guy by the good ol’ powers that be. Who are these powers, anyhow? Casey wondered. As far as she knew, Jake’s proposed story had not been bought by a publishing house (even publishers like basketball) or the public, so he’d decided to publish and distribute the book himself.

Mitchell had had better luck than Jake. He’d signed a contract to coach a basketball team in Turkey, and reportedly he would be the highest-paid person associated with basketball in all of Europe and the Mideast. From what Casey understood, Alexis and their daughters had chosen to remain in the United States and had relocated to Palm Beach, which was probably a wise decision on Alexis’s part. With the language barriers and all, teaching the wives of Turkish players about proper etiquette would probably have proved too challenging a task even for her.

Now, in the aftermath of the scandal that had rocked the Flyers, the threat of the team being relocated to Albany was gone. Just last month the city had made good on its promise to absorb a substantial amount of the operating costs for the team and the necessary financial bonds were issued, enabling Hal and his family to keep the Flyers in their rightful home.

Casey was happy that everything had worked out for Brent and the team, but she couldn’t help but be saddened that Trina and Remy weren’t going to be back when the season began. Even though Rick had contributed to the Flyers reaching and winning the championship, management still decided that he was too old to re-sign. From what Trina had told Casey, Rick wasn’t very disappointed. Actually she said he’d spent the summer going to Gambler’s Anonymous meetings every week, and so far it was helping. Since Trina had given birth to their little boy last month in North Carolina, Rick had taken over the parenting responsibilities of all three kids and had become a regular Mr. Mom. His new domesticated role gave Trina free reign to concentrate on her growing baking business. She’d just landed a national distribution contract for her miniature peach pound cakes, with plans to open her own bakery in order to accommodate the growing demand for her culinary delights.

Even though Remy and Collin had committed to being friends forever, the hounding paparazzi constantly trying to figure out the status of their relationship had taken their toll on her. She’d just signed on a yearlong concert tour of Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.

True to public speculation, Collin had not re-signed with the Flyers. Instead, he’d inked a lucrative four-year deal with the Golden State Warriors. Phil had also signed a contract with an ABC affiliate in San Francisco as a sports commentator. The two men had moved in together and bought a Great Dane puppy, and Collin was now the firstopenly gay player in the NBA. Ironically, according to the latest media accounts, Collin was quickly becoming the darling of the Warriors’ fans.

As for the hot young rookie Michael Brown, he was only getting hotter. He’d ended up winning Rookie of the Year, had landed a starring role as an action hero opposite Will Smith, and had been named one of
People
magazine’s “Fifty Most Beautiful People.” But all this had come at a steep price. He’d lost Dawn. In a recent interview, he swore to remain a bachelor until he retired from the NBA unless he could win back his college sweetheart. Judging from Casey’s most recent lunch with Dawn, it seemed that Michael was going to remain a bachelor for a while. She was dating a gorgeous young resident who treated her as if
she
were a star.

Dawn wasn’t the only one being treated well by her man. When Brent and Casey had attended Alonzo Mourning’s celebrity basketball tournament over the summer, they’d bumped into Kelly. She’d obviously recovered from her very public, very scandalous breakup with Steve and had managed to hook another young NBA player. Her latest victim was a rookie with the New Jersey Nets who barely looked legal. When Casey had seen them together at the Hotel Nikko in Seattle, he’d been carrying Diamond around and following behind Kelly as if he were her personal valet. But Kelly, thank goodness, was staying sober. Steve was just relieved that he had been able to work things out with her so he and Stephanie could pursue their relationship … undisturbed. Casey kind of felt bad for the new young buck, but he was bound to learn the hard way; they all did, most later rather than sooner.

“Mommy. Daddy said five minutes is up. Come on.”

“Yeah, Casey. We’re gonna miss the groundbreaking ceremony, and I promised Paul we’d be there.”

Casey tuned them out as she looked down at the faint blue line appearing on the rectangular stick and was determined not to get excited, yet. As she glanced at her watch, she knew Brent was right. They had to hurry if they planned on making it in time for the groundbreaking for the Crissy Jackson Community Center. Paul and Lorraine, in conjunction with the city of New York, were opening a youth center, devoted to keeping the children of Harlem safe, in memory of the little girl whose gang-related murder Lorraine had witnessed in high school. Lorraine had finally contacted Crissy’s mother. It had taken a lot of talk, more than one conversation, but finally Lorraine had told Mrs. Jackson the whole story of that night. And Crissy’s mom, though not ready to forgive, at least had stopped wanting to do damage. Casey would meet Mrs. Jackson that day at the center’s opening.

When Lorraine had reported the identity of the murderer and his accomplices to the police, they’d discovered that he had been killed two years before in a prison fight while serving a double life sentence. The two others were serving time, but both were about to be tried for Crissy’s murder.

“You promised, Mommy,” Nikki cried into the door.

“You’re right. I did promise and I’m coming out now,” Casey said, taking one last look at the unmistakably solid blue line.

Holding the stick behind her back, she pulled the door open, and Nikki and Brent almost fell into the bathroom. She was so excited, she could scarcely suppress a scream from escaping her mouth. The result of the pregnancy test defied her doctor’s prognosis and confirmed a dream she’d no longer dared to think possible.

“Well, it’s about time,” Brent began as he kissed her on the forehead. “If you were trying to make yourself look beautiful in there, you did a good job.”

“You look pretty, Mommy,” Nikki cooed as Brent picked her up with one arm and led Casey out of the bathroom with the other.

“So it’s me and my two girls today. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” Brent beamed looking at Casey and then Nikki.

“Brent …” Casey glanced at Nikki. Yeah, she was old enough. Casey tried to keep a lid on her emotions. “I have to tell you something and I can’t wait.” She pulled the stick from behind her back and held it up for them both. Clearly they were clueless.

“What’s that?” Nikki asked, scrunching up her face.

A light dawned in Brent’s head, “Is that what I think it is?” he asked, a grin developing on his handsome face.

“Yup,” Casey answered quickly.

“And does it mean what I think it means?”

“Yup.”

“What is it, Mommy?”

Brent lifted Nikki above his head and spun her around in a circle. “What it means is that you are going to have your very own little brother or sister and that I am beyond the luckiest guy in the world. I’m the luckiest guy in the galaxy!”

“Yaaaay,” Nikki screamed as Brent and Casey joined her, all of them hollering at the top of their lungs as if there were no tomorrow.

Biggup’ to my husband, Patrick Ewing. Without you, I’d just be an innocent bystander.

A huge “thanks” to all my NBA partners—current and ex-wives, fiancées, and girlfriends. Stay strong!

For all my friends (and you know who you are)—thank you for all the insight and support.

Thanks go out to my family (Mommy, Daddy, and Kelly)—without your support I still would have done this, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun.

To our editor, Carrie Feron, and our agent, Denise Stinson: I thank you both for believing in our story and making it happen. Sandi Gelles-Cole, a huge thanks for helping us tighten this up.