“Was it before or after you found out you were pregnant?” Her eyes were kind, not judging.
“After.”
“That was brave. Deciding to get married—to keep him.”
“Tim proposed, and he made it sound easy.”
“Nothing’s easy.”
“Sometimes I’ve wondered if he would have been better off if I’d given him up, but we’ve managed. I had just graduated so at least I was out of high school.”
“Can we leave Noah for just a second? I want to show you something.”
“Sure.” I laid Noah down on the couch and followed Mary into her bedroom.
She pulled a packet of pictures out from the top of her closet.
She handed them to me. They were all of a little girl—starting as a baby, until she was grown up and holding a baby of her own.
“I got pregnant young too, but I was still a junior in high school.”
“This is your daughter?”
“Yes. We had an open adoption, so I was able to watch her grow up from a distance.”
“Have you met her? I mean since she was born.”
“No. I didn’t think I could handle it. She lives in Florida and has her own family now.” Silent tears flowed down Mary’s face. “Nothing about having children is easy. Don’t doubt yourself.”
Without thinking, I hugged her. I had no doubt where Jake’s compassion and giant heart came from.
“You’ve been so good for Jake.” Her face was full of warmth.
“He’s been good for us.”
“I’m glad.”
Loud voices announced everyone else’s return, and we hurried out to quiet them down before they woke Noah up.
Jake put an arm around my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“It looks like you’ve been crying.” He touched my cheek and wiped away a tear I didn’t notice I’d shed.
“Oh. It’s fine. I was just talking to your mom about stuff.”
“Good stuff?”
“Life stuff, but it was good.”
He gave me a funny look and kissed my cheek. “Then I’m glad you two talked.”
***
“Are you guys ready to head home, or do you want to come back to my house for a little while?” Jake finished strapping Noah into his car seat and got into the passenger seat.
“We’ll come over.”
“Okay, great.” Jake didn’t complain about spending our weekends in Wilmington, but he loved when Noah and I came over.
I drove the short distance to his house and parked in the driveway. Jake was out of the car unbuckling Noah before I’d even opened my door.
“Hey, I’ll get him. Can you get my stuff from the trunk?”
“What do you have in there?”
“I didn’t give you your gift yet.”
“Okay…” He caught the keys I tossed to him.
I pulled Noah out and set him on the driveway.
“Why do you guys have suitcases? Are you staying? I thought we were doing our little party at your place.”
“We’re not moving in for good until December but I thought—”
Jake picked me up and swung me around.
Noah giggled, and Jake swung him next. “Are you staying the weekend?”
I nodded. “Uh huh. I thought it would be a good trial run.”
“We don’t need a trial period, but I’m glad. I missed you like crazy last night.”
“Me too.”
Jake moved Noah into one arm and picked up one of the suitcases with his other. “I’ll come back for that one.”
“I’ve got it.” I picked it up, trying to hide that it was actually heavy. I figured it would make more of an impression if we actually had clothes to put in the drawers.
Jake had a few more gifts for Noah. I think he’d had a little too much fun in the toy store. Noah didn’t mind at all. I had to pull his attention away from a plastic toy train set so we could give Jake his gifts.
“I love it.” Jake stared at the frame for a few minutes, grinning, before getting up from the couch to pull out his tool box. Noah watched, transfixed while Jake hung up the frame above the mantel.
“Mine.” Noah nudged Jake’s leg and held out a couple of pictures he’d made for him.
Jake picked up Noah and stared at the drawings. He turned to me. “I think we have a little artist on our hands.”
I laughed. “If we can get him to sit still long enough to do it.”
We played with Noah for a little while, but he fell asleep right there on the floor. Jake helped me put him to bed before we decided to head to bed ourselves.
Jake closed the door most of the way. “This has to have been the best birthday ever.” He wrapped his arms around my waist.
I leaned into him. “I’m glad. Thanks for making it special for Noah too.”
“It’s pretty cool to share a birthday with him. It makes them fun again.”
I smiled. “I have an important question for you.”
“What?”
“Are you going to make room for my stuff?”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s not a problem. I’m excited to see your stuff in here.”
Jake quickly cleared out two drawers for me, and promised I’d have more soon. His closet was half empty already so there’d be plenty of space for my hanging stuff. “This is crazy, huh?”
“Crazy? Nope. Cool? Yes.”
“I bet a few months ago, you never dreamed you’d have two people moving in with you.”
He put his arms around me from behind and pulled me down on the bed with him. “Nope, I didn’t, but it’s the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
“Do you believe in fate?”
“Fate?” He shifted us so our heads were on the pillows.
“Yeah. Like we were fated to meet each other.”
“I didn’t before, but now maybe I do. Maybe everything happened for a reason. My accident sucked, but I didn’t hurt anyone, and I lived to meet you and Noah. I’ve stopped drinking and now have an amazing girlfriend, little man, and a job I actually like.”
“Do you think you’ll coach next year?”
A slow smile spread across his face. “I accepted their offer after the game last night.”
I sat up on an elbow. “You did! That’s awesome.”
He laughed. “I know. They’ll actually pay me then too.”
“Details, details.”