Stealing Home (28 page)

They went out of view, but I could still hear them moving around the room.

“Wait. Maybe I’m not supposed to say that you stink. You know, in case you remember it in some strange memory one day, and it gives you a complex that your dad said you stunk.” The sound of diaper tape being ripped open was followed by a grunt from Luke. “Holy . . .” His voice was muffled from probably plugging his nose. “You are one sweet,
sweet
baby, Miss Lily Archer.” The muffled voice thing was gone, probably because he was worried the image of him pinching his nose while he changed his six-month-old baby’s diaper would give her some kind of a permanent mental scar.

After that, a couple of made-up songs about baseball, sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” were accompanied by Lily’s coo-giggle while they finished up. I got back to cleaning the last couple of tomatoes, not able to help the happiness that flooded my system.

I thought my dreams had come true the day I’d been hired on by the Shock—I never hoped to imagine there could be anything better than landing my dream job. But there had been. There’d been lots of so much better things. Like meeting Luke. Falling in love with him. Slaying a legion of demons on my journey toward doing so. Getting engaged. Being married. Having a baby.

Just when I was sure it couldn’t get any better, life did. It still came with its challenges—as was life’s nature—but navigating them with the person I loved made them feel smaller somehow, not so impossible to conquer. Our schedules were still exhausting, and having a baby going into spring training would make them that much more. But it was worth it. Anything would have been worth being with them.

Luke and Lily were dancing down the hall while Luke hummed a classic waltz melody—“Take Me Out to the Ball Game”—when the doorbell rang.

“Party face time.” Luke gave Lily a serious face as they detoured toward the door.

Lily gave him a serious face back. That lasted for all of half a second before she was grinning and flapping her chubby little arms.

“Nice party face, kiddo. That’s my girl.”

Grabbing a towel to dry my hands, I moved toward the front door with them. I knew who it was before I’d made it around the corner to see who had shown up first—from the sound of Lily’s shrieks alone.

“Sisters! Aunties! Welcome, welcome.” Luke swung the door open to let his three sisters in, trying to pull the first into a hug.

Alex swept around him with Gaby and Cameron, already pulling Lily out of his arms.

“Hey. Great to see you too.” Luke’s face flattened as he flashed a wave at the girls’ backs. “Do I have to hang Coach bags and chocolate truffles off of me to get some love again?”

If they heard him, they didn’t respond, already fawning all over Lily.

“Hey, girls,” I said as they moved into the living room.

“Hi, Allie.”

Cameron smiled and Alex gave me a quick side hug as they passed.

From the door, Luke’s mouth was hanging open, making him look all dejected. “I give them a niece and they don’t need me anymore.”

Holding out my hand for him, I tipped my head toward the kitchen. “Well, I need you. Manning the grill.”

“At least someone still needs me,” he said loudly enough to echo through the house. Still nothing.

“Oh my gosh, Luke!” Cameron’s head whipped toward her brother.

He started to smile, mollified someone had acknowledged him.

“Really? A Shock onesie? That’s cruel.”

I hadn’t noticed what Luke had changed her into after her nap, but now that I did, I smiled.

“What? I put her in one of those frilly tu-tu things and a matching bow headbandy thing too. She looks adorable.” Padding up to where the girls were falling onto the couch, Luke motioned at Lily like she was perfect in every way. Which she was. Her present outfit included.

“She’s a girl. Wearing a baseball onesie.”

Luke crossed his arms. “She’s a girl whose dad plays for the team her onesie’s pimpin’. It’s perfect.”

When he glanced at me for support, I pinched the Shock apparel of my own I was “pimpin’.”

Like she had to get her own say, Lily glanced at what her three aunts were scoffing over. Her face did that serious thing where you could tell she was thinking, staring at the Shock’s emblem stitched across it. Then she patted her stomach, grinning and pushing off against Alex’s legs like she approved.

“That’s my girl.” Luke thumped his chest a few times at Lily before heading out to the deck. “Gotta get my grill on before the rest of the guests arrive.”

“How many more people are coming?” Alex asked, not minding when Lily started yanking at the long necklace she had on.

I rushed back to the kitchen from just thinking about it. “Oh, just the entire team and their families.”

The girls followed me.

“Why everyone all at once? Wouldn’t it have been easier to do a few smaller get-togethers?” Alex handed Lily off to Cameron to help me pull food out of the fridge.

“Probably, but Luke wanted a house warming party, not a get-together.”

“Does Luke always get what he wants?” Alex started peeling Saran Wrap off of the salads I’d made to go with the burgers tonight.

I smiled at her as I set out the condiments. “Only if I can help it.”

“I hope he knows how lucky he is to have you.”

That was when he glanced inside the slider doors from where he was scrubbing the grill. That look hadn’t changed. The one that made me feel like there was only him and me and endless possibilities.

“He does,” I replied, letting my eyes linger on his for another moment. “And I know how lucky I am to have him.”

SIX HOURS LATER, we’d finally kicked out the last of the guests. A mess of empty beer bottles and soda cans were strewn around the house, dirty dishes stacked in the sink, the leftovers of a good time piled all around.

After checking on Lily, I wandered into the living room, expecting to find Luke passed out, probably still with his shoes on. Instead I found him at the kitchen sink, washing dishes.

I should have known.

“Did you enjoy the party?” I asked as I came up behind him, yawning.

“I did enjoy it.” He tipped his head back at me and gave me a kiss as he continued to scrub the plate he was working on.

“I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy even more what I have planned to end the party.” My hands come around his waist, one lowering just enough to discover he was already on the same wavelength.

The faucet turned off. “Yeah?” he said from deep in his chest, slowly turning around.

Looking up, I spun his ball cap around and stared at my husband. He was the best thing to ever happen to me. He’d shown me love and given me Lily. He was a professional baseball player, and I was an athletic trainer on the same team. We’d both been burned to the marrow in our own ways, yet risen above the ashes to find each other.

Luke Archer might have been the one who’d stolen home plate, but I’d stolen my own kind of home. Because sometimes you had to fight for the things you wanted. Sometimes you had to steal the life you wanted before fate realized you were coming. I’d stolen home too, and it was one for the record books.

“We had a one-in-a-million chance of making it, you know that, Luke Archer?” My hands curled around his neck as he pulled me tighter to him.

His dimple curved into his cheek before he threw me over his back and carried me down the hall toward our bedroom. “Never tell me the odds.”