No Pit So Deep: The Cody Musket Story (24 page)

He and Cody had crossed paths. Their brief relationship had been strained. The mayor had suggested on more than one occasion that Cody was covering up secrets about his military service. Some of his comments had been carried earlier that week in
USA Today.

“Hello, Cody. It’s good to have you back in our city. I recognize this lady.” He addressed Brandi and offered his hand. “I saw you on TV. Hello, Ms. Barnes.”

“Hi, Mr. Mayor. Please call me Brandi.”

“Hello, hello. And please call me Mr. Mayor,” he snorted. “I’m only kidding, Brandi. At my age, I have to act like a clown sometimes to remind myself I’m alive. Just call me Leo. And you may slap me if I get too brash.”

“Howdy, Leo,” Cody said. “We like the turnout. Uh, we’re sort o’ tired and —”

“I’ll handle this crowd, Cody. Just follow my lead.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.” The mayor flashed his familiar charm. “As you know, security was tight today,” he paused and scanned the room, “so I don’t know how the heck some of you got in.”

Joviality ruled. The Saturday morning crowd was hyped — lots of coffee and the anticipation of hosting the newsiest couple in the country.

“Cody has a limp, but despite being among the walking wounded, he has agreed to make a brief statement.” Beeker stepped aside and began to applaud.

As Cody stepped to the podium, the crowd erupted. He held up his hands for quiet, but the psyched attendees would not be denied. Brandi held Knoxi close as the toddler placed her hands over her ears. Ray put his good arm around Whitney. Flashing bulbs, a million smartphones clicking, it didn’t take a genius — Cody Musket was no stranger to this city.

Finally, everyone settled down. Cody began. The audience remained hushed as he thanked them for being there, and then introduced Brandi and her family.

They left to a standing ovation. Despite correspondents calling out questions, police quickly ushered them to a bulletproof vehicle. Their small motorcade pulled away and then turned back through a security gate, trapping followers outside the perimeter. A helicopter was waiting to take them to the Astro Merry Yacht Hotel.

The group arrived at the hotel at 11:00 a.m. and were promptly treated to a dining experience in a private room similar to the one Tanner had reserved for their after-game dinner in Pittsburgh the previous Saturday. The meal featured the finest in Gulf Coast cuisine. Afterward, they retired to their rooms across the hall from each other.

*     *     *

Ray collapsed on the bed. Whitney pulled off his shoes. “Now, sugar, you need to rest this afternoon. This is gonna be quite a night,” she blurted.

Brandi overheard. “Quite a night, Mama? What do you mean?”

Ray to the rescue. “Tonight will be Knoxi’s first ball game. Quite a night, indeed.”

“You didn’t eat much, child.” Whitney breathed a sigh after Ray had bailed her out.

“It was hard to get used to so many security guys,” Brandi lamented. “So many eyes on me I wanted to hide behind something. Took away my appetite.”

“Uh, you better get accustomed to it,” Ray pointed out. “Things have changed.”

“Oh, Daddy, I love Cody more than I ever imagined I could love a man. If he doesn’t ask me to marry him soon, I know I’ll go crazy. I’ve only known him a week, but —”

“Good thing you didn’t accept Speedy’s offer to move in with him,” Whitney declared. “You would not have been at that theater. You would never have met Cody, and those killers would have caught up with you somewhere else.”

“Mama, moving in with another man was never an option. I had already made my decision about that. Now I just wish Cody would ask me…ask me to be his wife. Do you think I should just ask him? I mean sometimes he just needs a little push.”

“Like with the ‘need to know’ episode?” Whitney teased.

“Yes, but maybe if I become his wife, he’ll figure I need to know before anybody else. What do you think?”

Whitney glanced at Ray, but he turned his head. “Well,” Whitney said to Brandi, “you don’t really want to know what these men are thinking, anyway. Of course, you could try beating some sense into him with one of those Louisville Muggers.” She picked up Knoxi, held her on one hip and headed toward the bed.

“Louisville Muggers? Mama, what on earth are you talking about?”

“You know. One of those things he bats the ball with.”

Ray smacked his forehead. “Gramma, you can’t be serious. It’s Louisville
Slugger.”

At 3:00 p.m., three hours before game time, Cody stood in front of his locker at Minute Maid Park. He donned an Astros batting practice jersey and warm-up pants.

“Hey, Joey, did you get it?” Cody saw José Bustamante walk into the clubhouse.

“Si, señor. I got it, man.”

“Should we do this in English or Spanish?” Cody asked.

“We better do it in English, man, judging by your Spanish. The last time I ask in Spanish how you doin’, you thought I was asking if you had a sister named Esther.”

Cody chuckled. “Okay, ‘ta bueno, amigo. You have the ring?”

“Yeah, man, take a look. She’ll love this one. Hermoso diamante! Mia find it in Bolivia. It is just the one you ask for.”

“Yeah, I figured since Mia’s family owned the largest jewelry business in South America she would be able to find it.”

José grinned. “Well…maybe not the biggest, but maybe the best.”

He handed Cody a small box that contained a halo engagement ring with a heart-shaped bluish-pink center-mounted diamond.

“Way cool! You’re right, amigo. She’ll go crazy when she sees this.”

“Oh, is you she crazy about, man. Everyone can see. Whatever you get her, she like.”

“Well, this is exactly like the photograph. No one in the US could get one in less than three weeks. Is this number the total for everything? I’ll ask the bank to wire it. Dawg co-signed a note for me.”

“Das it man — signed, sealed and deleted.”

“You mean
delivered,
man. Signed, sealed and delivered. I’m gonna take some swings in the cage.”

José was from the Dominican Republic, and Mia was from Venezuela. He had never spoken English before coming to the United States as a minor-league player three years earlier. Mia had taught him to speak the language. During the past couple of weeks on the road trip, the two men had become good friends.

Hitting in the batting cage was on the doctor’s list of approved activities. After the short workout, Cody lay down near his locker on a bench and went to sleep. He was awakened thirty minutes later when the rest of the team showed up to dress for the game. 

*     *     *

The first pitch was delivered at 6:10 p.m.

Minute Maid Park was built on the site of the old Union Station alongside Highway 59 near downtown. The beautiful modern stadium, built to replicate one-hundred-year-old architecture, retains the flavor of the old train hub, complete with grand arches and even a steam locomotive atop the left field bleachers that travels along a track and blows its horn after one of the Houston players hits a home run.

The Astros’ home dugout sits along the first base line. Cody had positioned himself at the farthest end away from home plate. He wasn’t used to riding the bench, and it made his bullet wound throb. He stood during most of the game.

In less than two weeks, he had become a media magnet. Brandi and the Babe, the iconic pair, had not existed before he had left town. Now the VIP boxes were overflowing, and extra security personnel were posted throughout the stadium. Thousands gazed into the seats behind home plate with binoculars, hoping to see Brandi.

The game crept slowly along. For Cody, tonight was all about the seventh inning, and the longer the game dragged on, the more time he had to think. Would he remember what to say? Was he rushing it too much? What if she said no or hesitated? Would the entire crowd be listening? What if the ring didn’t fit?
This was a bad idea!

Too late. His plan was already in motion. He clutched the small leather case in his palm and never set it down. He checked it repeatedly to make sure the ring was still inside.

As the Astros came off the field before the bottom of the seventh inning, Whitney and Ray could hardly contain themselves while they awaited the arrival of their future son-in-law in the box seats behind home plate. 

Security police accompanied Cody as he made his way toward Brandi. All had been arranged. As he approached her, a special welcome came from the public address announcer.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, turn your eyes to the screen in right field. The Houston Astros are proud to welcome Ms. Brandi Barnes, her daughter Knoxi, and her parents, Captain Ray and Whitney Barnes.”

Brandi’s cheeks flashed hot when she suddenly saw herself on the huge screen, and she began waving to the crowd which had risen to its feet. She turned and threw kisses in every direction. When Cody neared, fans erupted with deafening screams and applause as both he and Brandi were now in full view.

“And you may recognize the gentleman wearing the Astros uniform approaching Ms. Barnes. That’s number 12, Astros third baseman, Cooooodyyyy Musket!”

Brandi was still waving to the crowd when she gazed up once more at the screen to notice Knoxi reaching toward someone wearing an Astros uniform. Brandi had not heard the introduction of Cody because the crowd noise around her had risen, drowning out the public address. Ray and Whitney tried desperately to get her to look to her right so she would notice Cody.

Finally, she turned. “Cody? What are you doing?” She planted her hands on both sides of her face when she saw the box he was holding. Cody’s skittish grin would otherwise have made her smile, but now she could only cover her mouth and try to contain herself. Could this be real? When he knelt, it removed all doubt.

The women in the crowd were quick to catch on.
“Awwwww.”

Melanie Spence of the television broadcast team arrived with a microphone, but many, particularly the women, seemed disappointed when Cody’s proposal was drowned out by the clapping and whistling of the men.

However, all fans caught a thrill when Brandi responded to Cody. “Oh. Yes! Yes! Yes!” With each
yes
, she leaped higher into the air, stretching her arms outward and upward. Ray reached out with his good arm to steady her so she would not lose her balance. The crowd caught the fever.

Her
yes
had been years in the making, and once she started, she could not stop. Finally, she covered her face again, realizing how many people had just shared the moment she had dreamed of for a lifetime.

Knoxi reached up, pulled Cody’s hat off, and placed it on her head. Fans watching the jumbo video screen above the right field bleachers saw the hatless Cody slip the ring onto Brandi’s finger and kiss her. Knoxi peered out from beneath the oversized cap and began wildly clapping her hands. The already ecstatic crowd became delirious.

Astros principle owner, Dale Scott presented a bouquet of bright red Tyler Roses to the gushing bride-to-be. Brandi was now officially a Houstonian and the twenty-month-old Knoxi an instant heartthrob. Brandi and the Babe had won the heart and soul of Space City and Minute Maid Park was in liftoff mode.

As Cody headed back to the dugout, country artist Andy Jayne added the seventh-inning tradition — the singing of “God Bless America.”

*     *     *

Post-game, Brandi called Cody. “After I get Knoxi to sleep, I need to see you.” 

The Barnes family had been placed in the Presidential Suite on the ninth floor of the hotel. Cody was across the hall in the Admiral Suite from which one could see much of the southern half of the city. Brandi told Cody she would knock on his door when she was free to talk.

The knock came at ten thirty-five. Brandi could not contain her exhilaration. She launched herself, squeezed him with all her strength and would not let go.

She finally loosened her grip and looked him in the eye. “No other man has ever asked me to marry him and make my home with him forever.” 

“I’m glad it was a hit. I was purdy nervous.”

“Nervous? Why? Did you think I would turn you down?”

“Well, in front of forty thousand people, that wudda been hard to —”

“I will marry you, Cody. But, when?”

“When? I’m leaving that to you. You attend a big church in Altoona and have a lot of friends and family. I assumed you’d wanna get married there. ‘Bout the only friends I have are military buddies and ballplayers. You make the call.”

“Now.”

“Uhh, now? Right now? You mean like tonight?”

“Cody, I have waited for you all my life. I don’t wanna wait any longer. We may not have tomorrow. You gave me a huge surprise earlier. I’ve prepared one for you.”

They heard a knock. Brandi giggled while Cody went to the door.

He was shocked to see a crowd standing in the hallway. Leading the way was Rev. Ron Summers, pastor of Church On the Meadow, a small community church in South Houston where Cody was involved on Sundays. Mark and Sandy followed, along with José, Mia, and several others.

Whitney and Ray brought Knoxi. “We figured Knoxi could stay up late tonight.”

Ray had a sling on his right arm and was walking as though his shoes weighed fifty pounds each. Brandi motioned for him to sit on the bed. She leaned two pillows against the headboard and made him recline against them. “Don’t argue with me, Daddy. This is my party.”

Then, she turned to Cody. “I hope this impromptu gathering is okay with you.”

“Just one question — how did you get these people here this fast? And who’s this guy setting up the camera with all the wires and a screen?”

“That’s more than one question.” She giggled again and backhanded his shoulder.

“She called me during the eighth inning,” Sandy said. “Mark and I got it done with the help of Mia and José. The camera is so you can video the ceremony on a live feed to Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Your friends want to watch. The Pirates played the Dodgers today in LA, and Julia stayed home in Pittsburgh.”

“Unfortunately, Dawg and Silver left for Spain yesterday,” Brandi said, “but they can see the replay after we let them know.”

The most conspicuous guests were from the umpiring crew. José had managed to recruit them. “I figured you might need groomsmans, amigo!”

“Groomsmen,” Brandi said. “Thank you, José. That was thoughtful.”

Bellevue Connors, who had called the balls and strikes that night, had somehow managed to obtain a chocolate cake with pink icing. “Hope this’ll do,” he said, baiting Cody.

“You know I don’t ever argue with you, Bell. Not since that call you made in Seattle, that is. I still say that pitch was away.”

“Oh, Cody!” Brandi scolded.

The umpire fired back, “That pitch was down the middle, and you know it, Babe. I might just have to toss you outta here!” This brought cackles from the others.

“Guess I’m gonna have to learn how to be a ballplayer’s wife, huh?” Brandi looked at Cody.

He took her hand. “Let’s do this.” He raised his hands for quiet, and then gave her the floor.

“Each of you has made this night even more meaningful than I could have imagined,” she said. “I love you all.” Then looking at Cody, “
We
love you all.”

They managed to clear a spot near the window to say their vows. No rehearsal, so Pastor Summers made it a “repeat after me” affair for simplicity.

After the ceremony and rationing of the cake, Brandi, never at a loss, concluded. “I have known Cody for barely eight days. Marrying him is the scariest and most wonderful thing I’ve ever done. I now have a new place to live, and it’s with my husband. Tonight, that place is in this room. So everybody out!”

More laughter, handshakes and kisses for the Bride as everyone filed out.  Before Whitney and Ray left, Cody had some special words for his new in-laws.

He embraced Whitney. “Thank you for my wife,” he said. “The courageous decision you made twenty-four years ago has changed my life forever.”

“And Ray, without you, none of this — What I mean is….”

The two men nodded.

Just then, Cody’s cell rang. “Hey, flyboy! I heard she cornered you at the ballpark. Hahaha! Uh, say, do you got a few minutes to hang out on the phone?” Everyone heard the crowing voice at the other end of the connection.

Brandi wrenched Cody’s phone from his hand. “Sly, I’m definitely gonna have a talk with Julia about your adolescent behavior!”

“Whoops! I shudda known the lady of the house would be home!” The line went dead. 

Brandi glared at Cody. “You’ll get this back when I say you can have it, and not a minute sooner!”

“Aye aye, ma’am.” None of them had ever seen his grin so large.

The grandparents slipped out with Knoxi. After Ray had closed the door behind them, he and Whitney heard unbridled laughter drifting into the hallway.

“Good enough,” Ray said. “She’ll have him tamed before morning.”

“Tame that boy? No way.”

They entered their room, closed the door, and sat down. The curious girl looked up. “Is Cody my daddy now?”

Ray’s eyes fogged. “Yes, but it’s a good thing.”

“But, will you still be my grampa? Can I still love you?”

“Of course.” He pulled her close with his left arm. “You’ll always be my granddaughter.”

“But Mama told me you should love just one man.”

“But…but that’s different. What your mother meant was, uh —” He looked to Whitney for help.