Rags 2 Pitches: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (10 page)

Epilogue

Nicola

Ryan was true to his word. Not only did he go from rags to pitches but he turned it into riches as they signed him up for a contract with Manchester Club. He played and sweated like a pig. I stayed with my aunt for a few weeks when I first had our baby boy, and Ryan made a point of buying him the Manchester Club baby grow as his first outfit.

Then as the proud father, he’d posted our son’s picture on his Facebook account. An enlarged picture was on the inside of his locker and safely on the bedside table, which he kisses every night.

We have a full house, which can be a bit distracting whilst studying medicine. My aunt even got transferred up to Manchester so that she could be near her family. She said that she only stayed in London to be near me and Mum and, seeing as Mum never returned to London, she just didn’t see the point anymore. Dad spent too much time trying to divorce her. I tried calling him a couple of times, when I was having Lenny and after he was born, but he wasn’t interested and I decided that even though he was my Dad and I had put the pain of when he had kicked me out of the house behind me, he didn’t deserve my love and he certainly didn't deserve Lenny’s.

As for Ryan’s Mum, who knows? His Nan comes to visit once in a while, but she never talks about her either. She’s one of those bad apples in the family, the one that no one talks about or acknowledges. Once in a while, I used to tell Ryan to get in touch with her and then he would remind me that Stephanie is lucky to have the smiling face that she has right now, no thanks to his Mum, and I think twice about it.

He's right; our parents were crap and we had to learn from them so that we did a better job. I know that I’m trying and Ryan was doing the same.

“So, I have two weeks before I start my second year. Arrh, I just hope that it’s not going to be as tough as last year.”

She laughed as we sat on the couch watching Rodney, Stephanie and Michael play together. “Don’t do that, Lenny’s still young.”

My aunt laughed, “He thinks that he can walk.”

He took after his father. They have the same dark features, and I love them both the same.

The day Ryan got his contract, we started to petition for his siblings. They were older and being taken care of, and the only thing that we needed to help our case was getting married, which wasn’t the most romantic setting. But we went down to the Registry Office, luckily they had a cancellation and all we needed was a couple of witnesses.

So, we called Claire and Tony and they came down and that was it. I was just wearing my jeans and shirt and Ryan was pretty much the same. We have a photo of the day, but he promised that one day we would officially get married and I would be in my white dress and it would be a romantic setting.

He doesn’t realize that every day with him is the most romantic setting that I’ve ever needed.

“So, do you think Tony will come round today?”

Aunt Marie raised an eyebrow. She was trying to be casual about it, but Ryan had already let it slip that my Aunt was dating a younger man.

“I don’t know. Do you want him to come around?”

She smiled, “Maybe,” and I thought about how much she had changed since she had been in Manchester. She no longer wore glasses, but wore contacts and her once brunette hair had blond highlights and was cut into a sexy short style. She had even joined the gym and worked out regularly.

“Maybe you should call him and find out?” I teased and, as usual, Michael was listening to our conversation.

“Yes, Auntie, call him. Like you did last week.”

That let the rabbit out of the box. There were never any secrets when it came to Michael; he was always one step ahead of the game.

“Call him. Maybe then he would come around, Auntieeee,” Ryan teased as he kissed me from behind the sofa.

“I thought you were in the shower.” He had just finished training in the gym, he always said that he preferred the one at home and never took a shower there.

“I did, but then I hated being in there alone.”

The kids cried, “Errh!” And then he kissed me again.

“Why do you want to pretend that you’re not seeing each other? It’s not like we all don’t know already.” Ryan said as he wrapped his arms around me, and then I thought about this summer and the fact that we had spent more time together since it was off-season. I hated the idea of us going back to the way things had been when I’d ignored him, whilst I was taking my exams and thinking about having an abortion.

“I don’t know, because I’m old.”

Ryan laughed, “Ten years, so what? It’s no one’s business but your own. Anyway, if anyone is good at keeping secrets, it’s Nicola.”

I turned to face him, because I didn’t know what he meant. I hadn’t kept any secrets from him since he’d showed up at the clinic and made me realize that I would have more to lose by getting rid of Lenny than keeping him. I felt like such a fool when I thought about those times. I’d been young and naive and thought that anything that wasn’t the norm was hard work and, looking back at it, I wouldn’t trade anything for my life.

“The test. I saw it in the bin.”

That was when Aunt Marie got up and said, “Sorry, that’s mine.”

Ryan and I looked at each other and I said, “It seems like not only eighteen-year-olds get carried away.”

Then, Auntie quickly left the room. I couldn’t believe she was pregnant. I wanted to congratulate her, but it was clear that she wasn’t ready for that yet.

“I wish the kids weren’t around right now. I would take you right here,” Ryan whispered in my ear.

Like a flash we moved out of the living room, and Stephanie grabbed Lenny and moaned about that his parents weren't able to keep their hands off each other. He pressed his lips so hard against mine. I knew that we wouldn’t have sex right now, we would save that ‘til later, but a little tease now and then didn’t do any harm.

“You better call Tony!” Ryan yelled out.

He stroked my hair and said, “I love you, Nicola Thompson.”

I replied and said, thinking about the fact that we were married and had a baby, “I love you Ryan Thompson. Just remember when those young girls start to make a play for you that you’re all mine.”

He laughed, “You have my heart. It only stops beating if I’m not with you.”

“Let it beat forever.”

That was a promise I made to him. That I would never leave him again.

“I can’t wait for the kids to go to bed,” he growled as he started to hold on to my ass.

I closed the door and purred “That never stopped you before.”

He grabbed me and said, “I need another shower. This time, not alone!”

I followed him into the shower, making sure that we locked the door. My Aunt was probably on the phone trying to think of ways to tell Tony that she was carrying his baby. He wouldn’t dump her, not like the other jerk she would get her happy ever after. Just like I was about to get mine now in the shower with Ryan.

###THE END###

***Bonus Sports Romance Book***

Saving Kayla

I’m being stalked by a dead man. I’ve been living in the shadows for years, running from a past I didn’t choose, running towards a future that can never exist.

My only means of survival?

My fists.

I try to flee, but I am captured by Chase's sultry lips. He says he can protect me, but I know that’s not true.

And, after one night of passion, I have to make a choice: do I bring him into my nightmare, or do I push him away and save his life?

I can’t stop running.

I can’t escape the past.

I can’t stop giving myself to the one man that I never should have touched.

I don’t deserve him.

It’s better that I keep running, because if I don’t, his life will be in danger too.

And that's a risk that I'm not willing to take.

Kayla

Mom said that no one would come looking for us. She had it all planned. The main thing we needed to do was get out of the house.

I was only eight when I started to learn karate, right after the first time he ever hit me. I said to myself that if I could get a black belt, then I would have the strength to fight him off.

The more I trained, and the further I got along with my karate, the more sure I was that I could give him a run for his money and surprise him when he used his fists on me.

But the moment he was about to hit me, the nerves settled in. I forgot everything that I had ever learned as fear took over not only my body, but my mind too.

Most days I was bruised, but he’d developed a habit of beating up Mom and then, when he got bored, he would race into my room and continue what he’d started. I’d tried running away a few times, but when your dad is on the force, you don’t get very far. He’d always managed to find me. I even hated Mom for marrying and having a baby with a monster.

The day had arrived, and it was time for us to leave. “Mom, are you sure about this? There must be someone who can help us,” I said as she prepared Dad’s favorite meatloaf - and poisoned it to the core. I sat on the kitchen stool and watched her.

“Yes, darling. I told you, it's all planned.”

I shook my head. “But, that is too much of the stuff. Besides, when they find him dead and us not here, they’ll come looking for us.”

She nodded as she moved her bangs from her eyes. “It’s too much. We only need a little bit more than normal. Otherwise, it will show that there’s too much in his system.”

That was when he walked through the door. As Mom heard it open, she smiled and put away the poison; it was in a salt shaker. We never ate salt with our food. He loved the stuff. As he put his hand gently on my back, he smiled. “Evening. My two favorite ladies are here, and I can smell my favorite dish.”

He was right about that last part. It was his favorite dish. I nervously tried to smile as he held on to me and expected a warm smile. I knew one thing: we were far from being his favorite ladies. We hated him so much, and we couldn’t wait for the nightmare to end. Which would mean the end of him.

“We have to wait a little while,” Mom calmly repeated as she had so many times before when she told me the plan for the meal. We had to wait until the poison took effect. Neither of us would have any meatloaf. Mom had made sure that it was all for him. She had planned tonight well. She made up some story that we were fasting for the church, that we could only eat fish for the whole month. He would be too selfish to ask us why there was only meatloaf on the table. He never questioned us about church. I never went with Mom; I had always gone alone. I never asked where she went. I always assumed it was to help with the plan or something. Dad didn’t care that there was only meatloaf on the table for him, and no fish.

“Good girl, Sadie, you put on the dress that I bought you last week,” Dad said to me as I sat down at the dinner table. I didn’t know that that would be the last time someone would call me by my real name. I smiled at him and pretended I was in one of my drama classes. I was putting my acting skills to use.

I hated wearing that dress he bought me; it was for a little girl. I was sixteen years old, and he had bought me a long pink dress with a big bow across my small breasts. No doubt to hide them. The dress was one size too big for me and it looked horrible. I had tied my hair in a bun just so that I could look innocent. Like my age, as he politely put it. Not like the girls in my class who, according to him, looked like they were working the streets. That was an exaggeration. No one was wearing hot pants or miniskirts to school. Our principal would never allow it.

Yet Dad had a way of making everything that he didn’t approve of seem as if it was wrong. The dress was so old-fashioned, with ruffles and mini-bows at the hem of the dress. I looked as if I was going to a costume party with an ’80s theme, rather than having dinner in my own home with a monster, aka my dad.

“You look so pretty.” Mom smiled, avoiding looking at me.

The dinner was so false. Unnerving. I was never made to have dinner with them. It was always supposed to be their alone time when he walked through the door. Mom would be expected to wait until he decided to come back, and then they would sit down and have dinner together.

That suited me fine.

I didn’t feel like eating, especially because he had a personality like Jekyll and Hyde. He would get angry at the slightest thing and start throwing punches. That part of the night was always predictable. What wasn’t known was what would set him off.

“The two prettiest girls in the state of Ohio are having dinner with me tonight,” he proudly said as he closed his eyes and started to pray. The words were always the same. Blessing his family, thanking God for keeping him in a job and getting the bad guys off the street and, last but not least, for the meal that we were about to have. I joined in the prayer, in my mind begging God to make sure that he didn’t get angry until he finished his meal, begging for this to be the last time I had to sit and hear his voice and smell his cheap cologne, that after tonight I would no longer be abused by this monster.

My dad.

“Right. Grace, serve us the delicious meatloaf. You did good, kid.” He winked at Mom. Anyone that watched us at the table, seeing Mom in her blue chiffon dress, would have thought that we were a lovely family. The quiet, well-respected police officer with his wife and daughter, serving him his favorite meal on his fortieth birthday.

Never mind the fact that, the night before, he’d smashed a bottle near my face and I'd had shards of glass removed from it, and the cuts were still visible. Mom had been beaten many times. The scars and bruises were everywhere on her body, including her face. He used to do the same to me. His excuse was that I was a teenager - and a clumsy one too. He could get away with punching me when he felt like it, because no one would believe me. And he was right.

No one did, on the two times I’d tried to tell people that it was my dad. They laughed. Dad was the quiet cop, the one that stayed out of any type of trouble. The problem was, he was quiet because he had us to take his frustration out on.

“Grace, you forgot to put on my favorite song.” Mom headed to the iStation and put on his favorite song, “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green.

I hated that song so much. The words used to stick in my mind.

He sung along with Al Green, and Mom whisked around the table, serving us our meal as he had said women who were housewives should do. Dad didn’t hesitate in taking a few mouthfuls of his meatloaf. It didn’t take long before he sipped his brandy, the Remy Martin that Mom had made sure was in front of him before he sat down. He collapsed, and we watched as he slumped out of his chair and on to the floor. My stomach started to turn knots because it had all felt so perfect and easy. I’d thought that he would whine and scream or even stand up and try to hurt us as he had done so many times before.

He didn’t care.

And, as I watched him struggle to breathe, neither did I.

***

“Mom, what are you doing?”

She was walking around the house as if she had just stepped in here for the first time, confused and bewildered, like something in her mind had triggered.

“Okay, we’re really doing this. We’re really doing this?” I didn’t know who she was talking to, but she ran and got the phone. Then she rang the missed call, or so I assumed she had rang it.

“It’s done,” were the only words that came out of her mouth, and then she hung up.

“Mom, who was that?” I chased after her like a lost sheep. She’d told me that she had a plan. I could see that she either didn’t have one, or was too scared to play it out. Either way, I was feeling really nervous. I avoided looking at Dad, thinking that any moment he would get off the floor and beat us to death. He probably knew what we were up to, like the last time I’d tried to run away.

He'd sat at the Kentucky train station, waiting for me to arrive. I never had understood how he got there faster than the train. Later, I found out, when he purposely left the plane ticket in my room, that he had booked his ticket the day after I had booked my train ticket.

Dad left it in my room to make a point.

That I could run.

But never hide.

Now he was lying on the floor like a lump of wood. Not moving. Not shouting. Part of me didn’t think it was real. I expected him to get up, laughing, bragging about how much he would make us suffer for what we had done.

But he didn’t, and that was when the door was flung open.

It was Kane, one of the guys on the force, saying, “Grace, get Sadie and let’s go.”