The Bridge to a Better Life (42 page)

“Of course,” Danny said as Blake lifted him into his arms. “But what’s ‘vows?’”

He laughed. “How about I tell you in the backyard? We can grab a football from the garage, and you can show me how far you can throw it.”

Andy’s shoulders were rigid with tension, but he managed a smile. “I’m glad to hear you’re renewing your vows. We’ll be there.”

“With bells on,” Matt added, his mouth grim.

“Good.” Blake nodded at Natalie. “Danny and I will go find the football and play some catch.”

Once they were outside, Danny chattered away, asking him question after question as he attempted to divide his attention between the boy and the scene inside. The windows revealed the group to him, the bowed heads and then the lingering embraces.

When Andy finally stepped outside and walked over to him, Blake’s gut clenched at the grief ravaging the man’s face. Like he would have done with one of his guys, he stepped forward and gave Andy a hug. The man gripped him and then pounded him on the back.

When they broke apart, Andy knuckled away the tears in his eyes. “Thanks.”

“You looked like you needed it.”

“You have no idea.”

“Dad. Why are you hugging Uncle Blake and crying?”

Andy took off in a perfect thirty degree angle, and Blake threw him the pass. He caught it perfectly over his shoulder and turned around. “I was telling him I missed him and welcoming him back to the family.”

Blake understood brotherly love. He’d felt it for his Once Upon A Dare guys and his teammates. He’d felt it for Adam. And he’d felt it from the first moment he’d met the Hale boys.

“I missed you guys too.” There was a catch in his voice.

Andy nodded. “Danny! Watch Daddy catch this one.”

This time he ran a slant route, and Blake hit him on the fly so he could snag it before he ended up in April’s bushes.

Matt came out with Jane and joined in. His fiancée didn’t know how to catch a football, least of all throw one, so they clustered around her, insisting she had to learn. When Natalie emerged with April, she gave him a brave smile.

He tipped up his chin in greeting, feeling the love between them grow, the one made stronger by her family—and possibly the baby they’d made already growing cell by cell in her belly.

Time would tell.

But he finally knew what the future held, and he savored it. They would have a baby soon, and someday not too far off, he’d be playing in the backyard with their own kids as the Hale clan surrounded them.

“Blake,” Natalie called out. “Hit me.”

And he threw the ball as she ran a beautiful post pattern like he’d taught her, with her brothers on her heels, eager to bat the ball down. When she spiked the ball and did a victory dance, he spun her around and kissed her smack on the lips.

The Hale family clustered around them, and they all did a victory dance together this time, pumping their fists at the sky, knowing every victory was to be savored in this game called life.

When Andy carried a sleeping Danny into their house, he took every step with care, feeling the fragility of life all over again. He treasured getting his son ready for bed, watching him rub his eyes and roll over and curl up like a baby porcupine under the covers.

Then he sat there and watched him sleep.

Everything was precious. Every moment was precious.

His mother’s close call had reminded him of it once again, and as he kissed his son’s forehead, he vowed not to take her for granted. They would have dinner with her at least once a week. He and Matt had shaken on it, both trembling with the knowledge of what might have been.

He bypassed his bedroom, not wanting to go to bed yet. His body was too wired from adrenaline, the kind that came when bad news was expected and good news was received instead. The relief was like parachuting off a cliff. He was still screaming on the inside.

His mom should have told him. He could have talked to her doctor.
Something.
The knowledge that she’d only told Natalie, and only then because Nat had stumbled along at a weak moment, angered him. Both his parents were too damn tough if you asked him. He wasn’t going to raise Danny that way.

He was glad Blake and Natalie were back together, and he planned to invite Blake on the runs he and Matt regularly took, although he expected his past and future brother-in-law would smoke them both. But still…it was a gesture.

Blake was part of the Hale clan again.

After popping open a beer in the kitchen, he headed to his office. With a touch of the mouse, his computer purred to life. He clicked open his email and was relieved to see a message from Lucy. She hadn’t touched base since their last chat, and while he knew her trips in the bush could be protracted, something hadn’t felt right.

He clicked on it.

Hey Andy,

Wanted to let you know I’m heading your way. Decided to take a trip home. Decompress a while. See you soon.

Luce

He stared at the message. She was flying home? From the Congo? He clicked Google open to find out how many miles separated them.
Eight thousand four hundred and fifty?
He tried to wrap his head around that. She’d been home a subtotal of twice in the last couple of years, and now she was flying over eight thousand miles to get to Dare Valley, without a specific holiday or event to bring her there.

Something was wrong. He could feel it. First, she hadn’t called him Andy Cakes—which he pretended annoyed him, but he actually kind of liked—and second, she hadn’t told him a joke or sent him a picture of her trip like she usually did.

He glanced at the clock, wishing he could call Mrs. O’Brien to ask her what she knew, but it was after eleven, and he didn’t want to alarm her. She was probably as shaken as the rest of them after his mother’s scare. And maybe he was reading too much into Lucy’s email.

He settled back into his chair, his skin crawling with the same fear he’d felt with Kim’s illness. God.

He scrubbed his eyes and reached for the picture of them sitting in the corner of his desk. Kim was already glowing in the photo. He’d dragged her to the nearest photographer the day they’d found out she was pregnant to capture the newness of the miracle growing inside her. His hands were caressing her belly, like he was the only other person in the universe who knew the secret. He’d never imagined he could love her more, but he’d felt his heart grow bigger that day, like a kid growing out of a shirt size.

Pressing the photo to his chest, he closed his eyes.

Oh, babe. God, babe. It was so close with Mom.

He wasn’t sure he could have taken it, and from the look in her eyes, he could tell his mother had thought it too.

Now he was worried about Lucy, and he slumped in his seat.

Would he ever stop fearing he was going to lose someone else he loved?

The party Natalie had thrown for Blake’s new career was going strong—even if Blake hadn’t made the announcement yet. As she wound around clusters of the Hale clan, the old and the adopted, she spotted her sisters talking to Uncle Arthur.

Slipping her hands around their waists, she nudged her way between them. “Hey, there. You girls need a refill?”

The rims of their margaritas were mostly devoid of salt now.

“Yes, please. These margaritas are incredible.” Moira thrust out her glass, signaling she was already a bit tipsy. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a better one.”

“Me either,” Caroline said, extending her glass too. “What’s the secret?”

Blake appeared next to Uncle Arthur and put his arm around the old man, who elbowed him.

“Don’t put your giant mitts around me, you big lug,” he told Blake. “You might crush my bones. I have osteoporosis.”

She and her sisters snickered at his indignant tone.

“Big lug?” Natalie said. “Oh, Uncle Arthur, you have such a way with words. I’ll have to remember that one.”

“When are you planning on making your announcement?” Uncle Arthur asked, tapping his cane on the floor. “I go to bed early since I’m an old man.”

She kissed him on the cheek and gave Blake a wink. “He’s probably hoping he can get the story in before the Sunday paper is printed.”

Her uncle winked at her. “Are you sure you don’t have black ink in your veins, my dear? That’s a canny reporter talking.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m doing what I love, Uncle Arthur, but I’ll let you know if that ever changes.”

Blake whistled shrilly beside her. “Everyone. Can I have your attention for a moment? Uncle Arthur needs to get to bed early, so I’m going to share my big news now.”

“You didn’t have to pierce an old man’s ear drum,” her uncle muttered. “I’m charging you if my doctor prescribes me a new hearing aid on my next visit.”

The crowd laughed. Blake reached for her hand, rubbing her wedding ring.

“As you probably know, Natalie and I will be renewing our vows soon, so this isn’t the end of the partying. However, the love of my life has insisted that we celebrate my new career. And yes, Uncle Arthur, you can consider this an exclusive story since you’re family.”

“Take heed, Meredith and Tanner,” her uncle boomed out. “You’ll be coming back to the office with me tonight.”

They both gave him a thumbs up.

“When I came back to Dare Valley after retiring, I knew only two things for certain: I wanted Natalie back, and I wanted to run a football camp for kids with intellectual disabilities as a tribute to my brother, who—as all of you know—passed away recently.”

She clenched his hand and scooted closer to his side as the emotion welled up in his eyes.

“A good friend told me never to settle when it came to my next career, and after some serious scheming, I’m happy to report that I’ll be serving as a special football coach for kids with intellectual disabilities who want to compete in Special Olympics at the Adam Cunningham Training Center at Emmits Merriam. Some of you know the athletic director, Tom Hudson, and he agreed to match my contribution to make such a center possible. According to Special Olympics, who will also be a contributor, this is the first center of its kind. The kids will have the option to stay in our assigned university dorm for anywhere from a few weeks to a month to train with me and our staff during the year.”

Natalie knew she was beaming. It had been one of the greatest joys of her life to watch Blake’s dream come together.

“I’ve been beyond lucky to have my long-time football friends also donate to this center. Right now, they have contributed financially, but they will also be contributing their time. I expect other players from the league will do the same.”

Sure enough, all of his Once Upon A Dare friends had given sizeable contributions, but so had his former teammates and assistant coaches. Everyone had been waiting for Blake’s announcement tonight so they could broadcast their affiliation with the new center on social media.

“The president and board of trustees for Emmits Merriam met this morning and approved our interim plans. We’re going to break ground on this new facility next spring, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Someone whistled, and she looked over to see Andy grinning from ear to ear.

“The best news about this center is that I won’t have to travel for games and I won’t have to stay up late watching game film when I could be spending it with my loving wife and the family we plan to have. So…expect more parties like tonight, and thanks again for coming to share our good news.”

She wrapped her arms around him just as he reached for her, and she simply basked in his new radiance. He planned to change the world with his center, and she had no doubt that he would.

Everyone finally clustered around them to give them their best wishes.

Uncle Arthur shook Blake’s hand first. “Heck of an announcement, son. I wish you all the best. I feel a moving Sunday editorial coming on. You’ll have to excuse me.”

Her family kissed Blake and hugged him, and it was chaotic and wonderful in all the best of ways. This was something to celebrate. In two weeks, he’d be flying to Atlanta for a guys’ weekend to celebrate the news with his Once Upon A Dare guys, and part of her wished she could come along. But it was boys only. They’d just have to host another weekend soon so she could thank the guys herself for everything they’d done for Blake.

When everything finally settled back down, she realized she and Blake hadn’t moved from their spot for the last hour.

“We were talking about getting more margaritas earlier,” she told him with a playful nudge to his ribs.

“Right. Your uncle is one demanding guy.”

“That’s why we love him.”

They found her sisters in the corner, giggling like crazy, more than a little tipsy.

“I believe we were going to get you ladies a drink before your uncle asked for his exclusive,” Blake said. “Do you still want one?”

Moira and Caroline shared a conspiratorial look.

“We…ah…finished off the margaritas during the well wishes,” Moira confessed, which explained the red flush on her cheeks.