Jacob
I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder. I took a moment to look around before I realized that Lucia’s anxious face was peering down at me. Instantly I bolted up to a sitting position in our bed, gently grabbing the flesh of her bare arms to steady her. “What?” I asked hesitantly, a thousand thoughts running through my mind at what could be wrong. “What is it?”
She bit her lip, and I felt a wave of panic hit me. “I-I think my water broke.”
It took one second for me to process what she was saying. “Right now? The baby? Fuck, the baby!”
She nodded and I released her carefully, pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead to show that I wasn’t worried, at least externally. “Don’t worry, we will be fine.”
“I know,” she sighed, climbing off of the bed, her swollen belly pale and tight in the moonlight. For the last month she had struggled to find a way to get a good night’s sleep, trying everything from body pillows to sleeping naked. I had tried to help her as much as I could, even sleeping on the couch in the living room a few nights to give her all the space she needed. The funny thing was that we both ended up down there, unable to sleep apart. Thank God for an oversized sectional.
I climbed out of bed as I went through the checklist in my head. Bag. Check. Clothes on. Check. Wallet. Check. Charged camera. Check.
“Did you send out the text?” she asked as she struggled into a pair of loose pants on the other side of the room. “Doing it right now,” I replied. With a little apprehension, I utilized the group text Lucia had set up in my phone a month earlier, updating the progress before shoving it into my pocket. Lucia slid a tank top over her head and then looked at me, tears in her eyes. “What if I can’t do this, Jacob?”
I was at her side in a few steps, gathering her in my arms, her stomach between us. “You are the bravest person I know,” I said softly, feeling my own heart break at the worry in her voice. I was a nervous wreck inside, scared to death that this day was finally here, and we would be seeing Nora in a few hours if everything went well. It was a terrifying feeling, but simultaneously exhilarating. But first, I had a pregnant wife to console. “Remember, you were brave enough to date a football player, putting everything on the line. That was far scarier, am I right?”
“Yeah, totally compares,” she giggled, then hissed in pain. “I think the contractions are starting.”
I immediately went into full-on boss mode, hiding my own anxiety as best I could. “Come on,” I said. “As much as I want to see my daughter, I’d rather a doctor deliver her.”
Fourteen Hours Later
I cringed as Lucia’s dad barked into his phone for the hundredth time, his aide pacing with him as he walked the length of the waiting room. Merry and Cara were with Lucia now; we’d taken it in shifts to be in there with her. I had to do it this way—as much as I wanted to be in the delivery room all the time, I couldn’t take the fact that Lucia was in so much pain and there was nothing I could do about it. I could see it on her face, hear it in her voice, and even with the epidural, she looked as if she were being ripped apart. It was tearing me up inside.
“I don’t care what it takes! He’s not getting the money, and that’s final!” David hung up his phone and put it in his pocket, stopping abruptly. The aide sidestepped at the last moment to avoid running into his back and ended up falling into a chair as the new mayor of Jupiter turned back towards me, anxiety in his eyes, as well.
He’d only been in the mayor’s office for a month, but I could tell he loved it, just like he loved owning the team. Me, I was just happy being his quarterback. Oh, and his son-in-law. Turns out it wasn’t so bad being both. They had accepted me as part of the family with very little resistance, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged somewhere, with people who cared about my existence.
“Why is it taking so long?” he growled again, his eyes swinging to his aide, who seemed to be with him wherever he went. The young guy shrugged and I bit back a laugh, wondering if David would push him hard for an answer. Instead his eyes swung in my direction, and I found myself shrugging, as well.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. I had the same question. As each hour ticked by my blood pressure rose. During our classes, I’d learned that the birthing process could take fucking forever, so I was prepared. Kind of… just not for the torturous looks she kept giving me, like it was all my fault that she was in so much pain.
The door opened and Cara burst in, her eyes shining with tears. She had gone back about ten minutes ago, wanting to get an update and to get away from the growling men who were pacing the floors helplessly. I couldn’t blame her.
“She’s here!”
A weight that I didn’t even know was there lifted off my shoulders, and I swallowed hard. “Sh-she’s here? Lucia’s okay?”
Cara nodded and then clapped me on the back. “Come on. Lucia wants you in that room pronto, Benchwarmer—you’re up.”
I gave her a look but didn’t have time or thought process to throw her a retort. Instead I grinned and walked down the hall to the room, meeting Merry in the doorway, her eyes red but a happy expression on her face. “She’s beautiful,” she whispered, giving me a hug. “Congratulations, Jacob. You did a good job with this one.”
I awkwardly patted her on the back and then entered the room, cautiously approaching the bed where Lucia lay. In her arms was a tiny bundle, wrapped tightly in a striped pink blanket. Our baby girl. Wow. I still couldn’t believe it.
“Come here,” she smiled, looking tired but gorgeous all at the same time. My heart filled with even more love for her then. “Meet your daughter.”
My throat grew thick as I reached her side and took the bundle. My eyes filled with tears as I gazed down at the perfectly rose-colored face of my daughter for the first time. “Hello there, my little lovebug. She’s gorgeous, absolutely perfect,” I whispered. I was a father.
“That she is,” Lucia answered as I carefully sat next to her, our shoulders brushing up against each other. “We did it, Jacob. Can you believe it? She’s finally here, after all that waiting.”
I looked over at her, and she wiped my wet cheeks with her hand, her own eyes shining with tears. “You did it. God, I love you so damn much.”
“I know,” she smiled, resting her head against my shoulder. “I love you too, Jacob.”
I grinned then and looked back down to the wide-eyed baby in my arms, the daughter whom I was going to protect with my very life for as long as I was on this earth. “Do you think they make baby jerseys?”
Lucia laughed and ran her finger over the downy cheek of our beautiful little girl. “I think they do. Heck, I think we got some as gifts at the baby shower. But maybe we could get a championship jersey made?”
I nodded, unable to take my eyes off my daughter. My year had been fucking awesome. We had won the championship, and I was named MVP. Lucia and I had become engaged, then married, and I now was a proud daddy. I couldn’t ask for much more. Leaning over, I pressed a kiss to Lucia’s forehead, breathing in her scent as I did multiple times during the day whenever we were together.
Words couldn’t describe the emotions I was feeling. She made me feel so proud to be by her side, so grateful that she had taken a chance on me—several in fact. And now we had a daughter between us and a future that was going to be so damn perfect that when I was old and crippled, I would still have this feeling in my chest that my life couldn’t be any better. I had gone from a cocky football player who thought he had it all to a man who now knew that this was all he needed. And that was just fine by me.