“Jack,” I said sternly, “that was a different time and place. You were doing the right thing. Even then, you were trying to do the right thing. None of that matters now.”
“I promise I’ll never leave you again. I promise.”
“I know. Okay? I know.” I patted his head, longing to bring him peace.
“Except for work,” he said, his words muffled against my stomach. “Shit. I’ll be gone all the f**king time for baseball.”
I sucked in a long breath. “I know that too. I knew that when I chose to marry you as well. Stop worrying about all these things, Jack. We’ll make it through.”
Jack lifted his head, pinning me with a resolute gaze. “I don’t ever want to let either of you down.”
“You won’t. Stop being so hard on yourself. Look at our baby. He’s amazing. He’s going to worship you and look up to you and want to be a baseball player just like his daddy.”
“I can’t believe I’m someone’s dad,” he breathed out, his eyes wide.
“I can.” I smiled at Jack with love and longing, wanting nothing more than to be in our new home with our baby. It felt like our lives together, as a family, were just beginning.
And I couldn’t wait to get started.
Hard to Have a Family on the Road
Being a mom was hands down the best thing I’ve done in my life so far. I loved being home with Chance, but it was hard trying to travel with Jack’s team the way I used to when it was just me. It wasn’t easy to pick up and leave for a weekend when you had a baby or a toddler to pack for. So Chance and I pretty much stopped traveling with Jack on his road trips altogether. It was too much for me to have to book our separate travel, rent a car, find the hotel, and then figure out how to get to the ball field, all with a screaming kid in my arms.
Jack and I began to argue more, until I realized that it was all the traveling that stressed me and made me lash out. Once I stopped trying to be everywhere at once, I felt myself calm down. I realized that I couldn’t be everything to everybody all the time.
Jack, on the other hand, started to flip out more. He hated that we weren’t on the road with him, but he claimed to understand. I knew, though, that it bothered him more than he let on, he just didn’t want me to feel guilty. It wasn’t that Chance and I weren’t at the games with him that bothered Jack, but the fact that our not going meant that Jack wasn’t around Chance as much as he wanted.
Being an absentee father was Jack’s worst nightmare. He really struggled with being gone so much, and said on more than one occasion that he felt like he abandoned me during the season. I reminded him that it wasn’t true, but it still ate at him.
In the meantime, Chance and I tried to make every home game. Thankfully the team provided a day care for the players’ kids during the games, which made attending Jack’s games a lot easier for a few of those years. I could watch him pitch and not be concerned that Chance was bored or hot or not having a good time. He usually didn’t want to leave when the game was over, not until he saw his dad’s face waiting for him at the door. Then our little boy’s eyes, which had turned chocolate-brown just like his father’s, would light up as he sprinted toward his dad’s open arms.
It was in those moments that I felt my heart melt into a ball of goo. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of watching Jack interact with our son.
Dean and Melissa got married a few years ago. He proposed to her exactly one year after that night I took her to Gran’s and they finally worked it all out. I secretly worried that Melissa might have doubts and think it was too soon, but she had been smitten with Dean since the second she let him into her heart. Once she had fully committed to him, there was no going back for her. She knew he was the one.
They got married in December the next year with a lavish ceremony at the Four Seasons. Between her career and Dean’s, it was a celebrity-filled affair, with guests ranging from professional athletes to A-list movie stars. It could not have been more opposite from my wedding with Jack, which is why it took so long to plan. Of course, they planned the ceremony during the off-season so Jack could be in the wedding. In fact, all three of us were in it.
Chance was the cutest ring bearer I’d ever seen, not to mention a little naughty, but he was a little young for the job. At almost two years old, he toddled over to Gran instead of walking down the aisle. He plopped the pillow onto Gramps’ lap before hopping straight into Gran’s arms and burying his face. When she tried to point at me or Jack and tell him to bring us the pillow, he refused and wrapped his tiny arms around her instead. Gramps met me at the front of the church and handed me the rings.
I knew my face had turned beet red by that point as I glared at Jack and mouthed, “He’s your son.”
Jack mouthed back, “I know,” as I handed the minister the rings.
Melissa got pregnant almost immediately following their honeymoon, and when they had a little boy they named Coby, another Carter boy had joined the world. I feared for the girls who would have the pleasure of knowing them in the future. Since Chance and Coby were only two and a half years apart, the chances of them going to school together were high. I braced myself for those teenage years and tried not to think about it too hard or I’d never sleep again.
I thought I would miss working a lot more than I have. We’ve been so blessed to be in the position where I not only don’t have to work, but I could most likely pick right back up from where I left off when I did decide to restart my business.