Fair Game: A Football Romance (114 page)

“You like it?” he asks.

“I love it. But Liam, what about . . . I mean, you can’t really ask me to marry you—”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. Amira signed the divorce papers this afternoon.”

And there’s that megawatt smile again.

“She did? But how, why? What if the baby’s yours?” I’m stuttering and stammering all over the place, but I never thought I’d see the day when that woman would make me happy.

“Remember how I told you she was calling home while they did her episiotomy?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what I didn’t tell you was that she got through to them and she got it all. Everything he had was left to her. She’s not going to be a problem for us anymore, baby. I’m finally getting my life back.”

It’s not the life he had before, though. “Are you sure you want to give up the carefree, jet setting, playboy life you had before Amira?” I ask, fiddling with my necklace.

“It’s dark out here, LK, but I want you to know in case you can’t see me that I am rolling my eyes again so hard that it hurts. I wouldn’t trade you and Toby and the butterball for that life or for anything. I had no idea what I was missing out on. This is what makes me happy.” He places his hands on my belly. “This is what makes me want to wake up every morning and go out and kick some ass.” He moves one hand over my heart that is beating wildly in my chest. “This is why my heart beats. It’s why my soul has life. You gave me purpose and hope and faith.
I am in love and out of it I will not go.”

This beautiful man who loves me bows his head and kisses my hand while I mentally rummage around in my brain for something equally meaningful and beautiful to say, but I have nothing. It’s like someone took a file full of every romantic thought I’ve ever had and threw it up in the air. All the papers in the file are fluttering and floating around aimlessly until they fall to the ground in an unorganized, mountainous mess.

I show him how much I love him instead of telling him when I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him close to kiss him senseless. He stands with me clinging to his body and carries me to our bed, in our house, where our family will live happily ever after.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Liam

So much has happened in the past six weeks that it makes my head spin. It’s almost Christmas. Lourdes completed her second chemotherapy treatment a week ago, and the doctors are very optimistic that she will make a full recovery by the time she delivers in March. We brought the newest member of our family home from the NICU on November tenth, James Dylan Wild. He isn’t my biological son, but he’s known no one but Lourdes and me since birth. We visited him every day, and Lourdes even spent many nights sleeping on a pull-out bed in his room so she could hold and feed him and love him. Amira abandoned him in the hospital when he was only a week old. She informed me that her personal trainer is James’s biological father and that he wants nothing to do with having a kid. As far as we know, he went to Nigeria with her to collect her inheritance. They both signed away their rights to James before they left. Good riddance.

I couldn’t wait to get married. Funny how something that used to bring me such bitterness now causes me nothing but joy. Lourdes agreed to a Christmas wedding because she loves me, of course, but she also wanted to have her own hair when she walked down the aisle. She’s halfway through her treatments, and her hair is beginning to thin, but she’s still drop-dead gorgeous to me.

December twenty-fifth, when Lourdes is almost twenty-nine weeks pregnant with our baby girl, we will walk down the beach behind our house, me holding our two-and-a-half-year-old son and her carrying our nine-week-old baby boy to promise in front of our friends and family that we will love and cherish each other forever. Finally, my DJ name will have more meaning than it’s ever had before. Freedom. Sometimes, being tethered to something beautiful and miraculous gives you more freedom than floating aimlessly through life trying only to please yourself. When Lourdes came along and unlocked my heart, she taught me that love knows no boundaries. The more love we give, the more love there is.

Wedding Day

“Have you seen the beach?” Kit says, peeking out my bedroom window.

“No, is it everything?” I ask.

“Yes, yes! I thought you said you didn’t look,” he says.

“Just a lucky guess,” I say with a smile. I have totally adapted to his slang. I can hang out with Kit and Devin all day now and never miss a beat.

Kit turns around to watch me struggle with my shoes. I can’t see my feet anymore, and I’m starting to think maybe I should have waited until next summer to get married. Wearing a wig sounds a lot easier than getting all dressed up when you have a watermelon protruding from your middle. My bump has officially become a very plump lump, and yes, Dr. Seuss had a good time with that one. My dress is actually pretty comfortable. All I asked for was a white muumuu, but Kit wasn’t about to let me be married in anything less than a custom designed
Vera Wang
maternity wedding gown made especially for a beach wedding. Now that’s a mouthful. He made Devin pay for it, but I asked Devin about it later, and he waved it off like it was a t-shirt from
Wal- Mart
. “It’s nothing, darling. I was happy to help,” he said.

“Where’s that juicy sister of yours, anyway? I need her to adjust my tie.”

Kit has taken a special liking to my sister. I don’t know what it is about her, but he thinks she’s just everything.

“I think she’s helping Liam with the baby. I can help you. What am I, chopped liver?”

“Oh no, Lovey. You can’t tie a tie for shit, no offense,” he says, waving a limp hand at me.

“None taken.” I laugh. I’m good at a lot of things, but fashion is not one of them, and Kit knows it.

Kit inhales a dramatic gasp when I stand up straight.

“You’re so living that dress, Lovey. I can’t. I just can’t.” He shakes his head back and forth and wraps his arms around his waist.

“Thanks, Kit, I love you too.”

“Oh stop, now. I’m gonna smudge my mascara crying,” he says, snapping a fancy handkerchief from his pocket to dab at his eyes.

I narrow my eyes and lean in to look closer. “Did you use my mascara?” I ask.

“No, of course not. That stuff is so old it would give me pink eye. I have my own,” he says, patting the breast pocket of his shirt.

The door opens a crack, and my mother sticks her head in to check on me for the hundredth time today.

“Everything all right in here? Are you all ready, honey? Can I help you with anything?” she asks.

“No, Mom. I think I’m all ready. How are the boys?”

“Oh, fine. Toby’s running around with Ivy, and Rachel has the baby.”

“What about my other boy?” I ask, referring to Liam.

“Not sure, dear. He won’t come out of his office. He has music playing very loudly. Do you think he’s all right?”

That loud music is Liam meditating. He says he centers himself when he puts on his headphones and blasts his music loud enough to wake the dead. I can’t believe he doesn’t have hearing loss. Actually, he probably does. It’s sort of funny that my mom thinks his music is loud when I know Liam has headphones on. If he didn’t, all the glass in the house would vibrate and explode into a million pieces.

“He’s fine, Mom. Music is his thing, remember?”

“I’ll never understand, Lourdes. You know that. I’ll go check on the guests. We should be starting in a few minutes. I’ll come get you.”

Mom can’t understand why Liam is so famous. She says he doesn’t sing or play an instrument or write music, so how could he make millions of dollars just playing it for people? I’ve tried to explain the process of mixing music and how it’s more than just putting a song on and playing it, but I had to give up. Liam wants me to bring her to a show and let her watch him in action. That might be fun. Maybe then she’d understand why the world loves my DJ Freedom.

I open the bedroom door a crack to see if I should be making my way outside yet, just in time to see Liam breezing through the living room with his headphones still on. Blake grabs him by the arm going by and takes the headphones off his head for him. Liam looks at him and laughs a nervous laugh. He’s nervous. That’s so sweet. Am I nervous? I haven’t had time to think about being nervous with all the planning and babies and doctor appointments. Now that I think of it, I am a little wobbly. This is it. Today, I make Liam mine forever. I honestly never thought this day would come.

The music starts outside, and Kit is suddenly behind me, pushing me out the door. I wanted Rachel to be my matron of honor, but she insisted that she take care of the herd of kids that we now have together, so Kit is my whatever of honor. I don’t even know what they put on the programs. Liam has Blake standing up as his best man. He doesn’t have any family left that he would claim as his own. He found out a week ago that his father died of a heart attack a couple of months ago, and his mother has been MIA for years. He seemed rather at peace when he learned his father was dead, and knowing what he did to his baby brother, I can’t blame him.

Toby and Ivy are walking down the aisle when I get to the gate that opens to the beach. Toby and Kit and Blake are all dressed in kakis and lapis blue linen shirts with casual loafers, and Ivy’s dress is a miniature copy of mine with an empire waist and a satin crisscrossed top. Ivy is dropping white rose petals as she walks down the runner toward the canopy, but my sweet Toby is following behind, picking them up and putting them in his pockets as they go. Like mother, like son. I love that boy so much.

When the kids reach the end of the aisle, my sister hands the baby to Kira and hustles them into their seats.

“Look at her—such authority,” Kit whispers in my ear with such reverence that I can’t help but giggle. He thinks she is so cool, and she is
so
not that it’s hilarious.

“You ready, honey?” My dad says, taking my arm. Kit hands me my bouquet of lapis colored orchids and white roses. I used the colors of Liam and Toby’s eyes as the center of my color pallet for the wedding. I couldn’t think of a better way to show homage to them.

“Daddy, I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

His eyes fill with tears of joy and pride and relief. He’s a good dad. He’s always loved and supported me in anything I’ve done. Both of my parents have, in fact. I’m a lucky girl. Maybe my initials do mean I’m lucky, because I’ve never felt luckier than I do today.

The wind picks up when the music changes, and the sheer white material wrapped around the wooden beams of the temporary structure at the end of the aisle blows almost horizontally for a moment. When the gust is over, chains of flowers hang vertically again from the roof of the structure and the material settles around the beams. Kit steps out onto the runner, tall and proud, and begins his pace down the aisle until he is standing across from my beautiful husband to be. Liam’s shirt is a few shades lighter than Blake and Kit’s. It compliments his tanned skin and his sparkling eyes. He, however, is not wearing the same lovely casual loafers that the other men are wearing. Liam has on a brand new pair of all-white Adidas tennis shoes, as always, but he looks perfect.

I’d like to think I stopped his crazy compulsion, but I’ve probably only curbed it. I gently reminded Liam that there are a lot of low-income kids out there, like he was, who need shoes. So instead of wearing a new pair everyday, Liam has been stretching it out to a week or two, and he started a charity that provided underprivileged kids with shoes that fit.

My dad steps in next to me and takes my arm. We carefully walk down the beach as the wedding march music flows in and out of the wind. I’ve been dreaming that I would fall and twist my ankle in the sand on my way down the aisle all week, so I’m gripping my dad’s arm tight.

He’s smiling when he tips his head in my direction and says, “Ease up, honey. I’m gonna need that arm later to lift my beer to my mouth.”

I giggle and relax. Leave it to him to lighten the moment.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, little girl.”

At the end of the aisle, I hand my bouquet to Kit, who looks positively overjoyed to be standing on an altar while holding a bouquet of flowers. I wonder if I’ll be his best man at his wedding someday?

Daddy and I turn around, and Liam is waiting to take my hand. Daddy holds my hand out for Liam and says, “Liam, I’ve watched you stand by my daughter and support her when all she wanted to do is crumble. I’ve seen you give her love and understanding and new life.” He pauses to look down at my belly and then back at the boys before continuing.

A wave crashes onto shore, and we’re hit with a fine mist of water that makes us gasp and laugh. But my father continues, “I want you to know that I’m not giving my baby away today, because she is not mine to give. I will continue to love her the same way I have for twenty-two years. The only difference will be that I will be loving you too, Liam. Thank you for being her rock, and welcome to the family.”

There isn’t a dry eye on the beach, including mine. I had no idea he was going to make that speech. It’s not how we practiced it last night at rehearsal, but I’m glad.

Liam takes my hand and wraps his other arm around my father’s shoulders, burying his face in my dad’s neck for a moment. My father nods. Liam must have said something to him, but I can’t be sure. When he pulls away, they clap one another on the back and Liam leads me to the minister. His eyes are brimming with tears, but not one breaks free.

Janet Rose is a friend of my mother, who is also a minister. She married my sister and Blake, and she’s always been like a part of our family, so it only seemed natural to have her here today performing our ceremony.

When it’s time to say our vows, Janet begins with the traditional script, but Liam holds up his hand and asks her quietly if he may interject.

“Sorry, Babe, I couldn’t resist,” he says, taking my hands in his.

“I, Liam James Wild, take you, Lourdes Unity Kennedy, to be my wife, not just today, but for my life. To love if you’re rich, to love if you’re poor, to love and adore even when you may snore. I promise to love you when you come home at three, I promise, I promise, just come home to me. If you wait until four, I will worry and fret, but come home to me always, and I’ll never forget. I promise to love, for better or worse, but I will not promise to carry your purse. For richer or poorer, I love you no regrets. I will love you forever, even in sweats. Before God and before friends, I promise to you, that my love will always be truer than true. I’ll be faithful to you if you’re pink or you’re blue. I will love you, because love you I do. In sickness and health, ‘til death do us part. There is nothing and no one who can tear us apart.”

I started sobbing and laughing the second he began his Dr. Seuss vows, but it took our family and friends a few lines before they understood what was going on, and a ripple of chuckles went through the crowd.

“Ah, okay. I think those are the first Dr. Seuss vows I’ve ever heard before,” Janet says with a laugh. “Do you have anything special planned, Lourdes?”

“Yes, nothing as clever as Seuss here, but I have something to say.” I push against Liam with our joined hands, and he laughs.

“How about a game of love quotes?” I ask, and he drops his head back to look at the sky.

“You’re gonna embarrass me in front of all of our friends and family?” he asks with a mock pained expression on his face when he looks back at me.

“Yep. And I’m going first.
All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”

“If I get it wrong, will you still marry me?” he asks.

“Maybe.” I say with a mischievous smile.

“Leo Tolstoy,” he answers smugly.

“Very good. You might just have a chance at me yet. Your turn.”

“Ah, you’ve caught me off guard. Just a second,” he says, looking down at our hands to think. A second later, his head pops up.

“
To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.
”

“You really want to win this game?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says with a frown.

“Then you’d better pick harder quotes than that. Mark Twain. My turn,” I sing.

“
If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I would never have to live a day without you
.”

“Winnie the Pooh,” he says, smiling coyly.

“All right, let’s call it a draw and get married already,” I say.

“Sounds good to me. Oh wait, just one more, and it’s not for the game. It’s just for you.”

Liam lifts his hand to cradle my cheek, and I lean into it when he says, “
I am in love, and out of it I will not go.
”

I nod as tears flow down my cheeks and little hiccups of resistance rack my body. Janet asks us to take each other to be lawfully wedded whatsit’s and to have and hold stuff or whatever. The rest of the ceremony is just that, a ceremony. We put on rings and kiss, which is great, but the important words have already been spoken, and our quirky ways of expressing our undying love have been shown. Now, all that’s left to do is carry our kids down the aisle and party, and live, and laugh, and be free, and sometimes suffer, and cry, and fight, but most of all, it’s time to love.