They were flying first class to Virginia, which she claimed was crazy, since it was a short flight, but he’d insisted. At 6’2”, there was no way he was cramming his long legs into economy when he didn’t have to.
“I’m just looking forward to you meeting my family.”
And he was. He’d spoken to his mother and both of his sisters, so they knew all about Marika. They knew it was a big deal for him to bring a woman home and they’d all vowed to do their best to make Marika feel comfortable.
They all knew about the miscarriage, but they didn’t know that Marika was the woman. He’d been so down after it happened, feeling so guilty, that it had rolled over to his winter visit with them. They’d demanded to know what the hell was going on with him, so he gave in and spilled his guts. He’d never seen them so disappointed in him, but as he’d expected, they’d had his back.
“I’m looking forward to it too.”
He and Marika had also agreed to spend a day in her hometown, so she could show him around. Norfolk was only an hour and a half from Richmond, but he’d never had cause to visit. He wanted to see the house she’d grown up in, the schools she’d gone to, the places she’d hung out. He wanted to know everything there was to know about this woman.
When he didn’t respond, she said, “Have you, uh, told them much about me?”
“They know how we met.”
Her eyes flicked to his. She looked nervous. “They do? You mean you told them…?”
“They knew I was having a tough time dealing with the whole miscarriage thing a few years back,” he said quietly. “But they don’t know you were—”
“The one you got pregnant.” Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the headrest. “Do they know it was a one-night stand?”
“Yeah.”
They’d pressed him for details, but he’d kept it clean in deference to their mother. She knew he was no angel, but he hadn’t wanted to confirm her suspicions that he slept around. He’d told them the truth—that the woman he’d spent the night with was special and he felt terrible for mistreating her.
“Ugh.” She rubbed her forehead, her eyes still closed. “What will they think of me if they find out it was me?” Before he could respond, she said, “I’ll tell you what they’ll think. That I’m one of those baseball groupies with no self-respect who’ll throw myself at any guy wearing a uniform and holding a big league contract.”
“Baby,” he said before kissing her hand, “there’s no way anyone would ever think that about you. They just have to take one look at you to know you’re too classy to stoop to that level.”
“If that’s the way you feel,” she asked, sounding hesitant, “then why have you slept with so many women like that?”
He didn’t want to talk with her about his sex life, especially since he wanted to forget everyone who came before her, but she deserved an answer. He wasn’t proud of how promiscuous he’d been, but he wasn’t going to hide the truth from her either. “It was easy. Convenient.”
“Hmm.”
“I know that’s not what you want to hear, and it doesn’t paint me in a great light, but—”
“No, it’s okay.” She forced a small smile. “I respect you for being honest with me, even when it’s not easy.”
Except he hadn’t been completely honest with her. The student loan kept creeping into his thoughts, making it difficult for him to concentrate on anything else. Had he made a huge mistake and caused irreparable damage by trying to make her life easier? She’d made it clear she wasn’t the kind of person who needed to be saved. She was strong and independent, someone who cared for others and wasn’t comfortable taking help.
“You seem really distracted today,” she said, shifting to face him. “Are you sure everything’s okay? If you think it might be too soon for me to meet your family, if you’re having second thoughts, we could always do a quick trip to Norfolk and postpone the visit to Richmond.”
“No.” He was ready to move forward with their relationship, especially now that he knew she could possibly start a practice in the States. Since he’d learned that, they’d laid in bed one night talking about her best-case scenario. A practice in a medical building shared with other practitioners. A nine-to-five job with regular vacations and weekends off so she could have a life outside of work. It sounded pretty perfect to him because it meant more time for them to spend together. She could come to all of his home games and they could go home together, to their own bed. “I definitely want to do this, Mar.”
“Then you have to talk to me. Tell me why you’re so quiet, like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
He didn’t think he’d been that withdrawn, but she was perceptive and getting to know him well. Just tell her, a little voice in his head implored. But he couldn’t. Not yet. “Um, I was just wondering what would happen to your practice if you ever decided to relocate.”
“I’d sell it,” she said, rubbing his arm. “It would probably allow me to pay off my student loans and give me a little seed money to start a new practice.”
His mouth went dry. This is the time to tell her. But damn it, he couldn’t. He was afraid they’d get to the airport and she’d buy a one-way ticket back to Toronto. He couldn’t risk that. He’d tell her when they got back, when she had nowhere to run. “It’s worth that much, huh?”
She smiled when she looked at him. “I haven’t been busting my butt building this practice for the last few years for nothing, Dec. Of course it’s worth something.”
Yet he hadn’t considered that when he’d acted impulsively and paid off her loans. “Right,” he said, wiping his damp palms on his faded jeans. “Of course it is.”
Chapter Ten
Marika loved Dec’s family, just as she knew she would. She’d heard so many wonderful things about them, she felt as though she already knew them. But she’d have to wait until dinner to meet his brothers-in-law, nieces, and nephews. Apparently the kids were busy with sports and their dads had agreed to take them so there would be a proper welcoming committee to greet her and Dec.
She was in the kitchen, helping Dec’s mom bake the desserts for dinner, while Dec was in the living room with his sisters, catching up.
“So you’re from Toronto?” his mother asked, popping a cherry pie in the oven.
“Actually, I was born here,” she said, smiling at her surprise. “In Norfolk, actually. Dec and I plan to pass by there before we leave.”
Marika was slicing a rolled pastry his mother had showed her how to make with leftover pie crust. It was filled with peanut butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and was apparently Dec’s favorite.
“You’re kidding?” She wiped her hands on a dish towel before going to the fridge to retrieve a bag of apples for her next dessert—apple crumble.
That just happened to be Marika’s favorite, but she knew making it now wasn’t a coincidence. Dec had been raving about his mother’s apple crumble since Marika ordered her favorite dessert in a restaurant one night. She thought it was sweet he’d passed that bit of intel on to his mother.
“No, ma’am. Born and bred here,” Marika said. “We didn’t move to Toronto until about thirteen years ago. My mother had to take care of my sick grandmother.”
“Your family is close?” she asked, washing apples before slicing them into a large stainless steel bowl.
“We are. There’s just me, my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law, and their kids. We don’t see too much of my extended family anymore.” She set the pastries on a cookie sheet and arranged them with an inch between them so they could spread. Her mom had taught her to bake when Marika was a little girl. It was one of the many things she hadn’t had time for since she made the decision to pursue medicine.
Dec’s mother nodded as she mixed the apples with a flour-and-sugar mixture, coating them. “Dec tells us you’re a pediatrician. That must be rewarding.”
“It is.” Marika smiled as she popped the tray in the oven alongside the pie. His
mother had told her they would only take fifteen minutes to bake, so she set the timer on her phone, since the oven timer was already in use. “I’m lucky. I get to do what I love for a living. I know not everyone can say that.”
“Dec says that all the time when someone comments on how grueling his season must be: spring training, a hundred sixty games, plus post-season if they’re lucky enough to get that far.” She swiped the back of her hand over her forehead. “I get tired just thinking about it, but he swears it’s so much fun it doesn’t even feel like work.”
“I love that he’s passionate about what he does.” Marika took a sip of water from the bottle she’d left on the table. “It says a lot about a man, the fact that he pursued his dream even though the odds were stacked against him. Most little boys want to grow up to be professional athletes, but few ever make it, right?”
“Hmmm mmm.” She continued preparing her dessert as she asked, “Have you ever dated anyone else with such a demanding career? I mean, this is the off-season, so Dec has all the time in the world to spend with you, but have you thought about what it will be like when he goes back to baseball, assuming the two of you are still seeing each other?” She smiled. “Which I sincerely hope you will be.”
“Thank you. I hope we will be too.” She appreciated his mother’s concern, but she didn’t have any answers for her. “Honestly, we’re just taking this one day a time. We enjoy each other’s company right now. If we’re at the same place in a few months, or if we’ve moved even further along in our relationship, I guess we’ll have to talk about it then.”
“I don’t mean to pry—I hope you don’t think that?”
“I don’t,” she said, claiming a seat at the table.
“It’s just that I worry about him. He’s never really put himself out there before, with a woman, as far as we know. Well, there was that woman when he played in Toronto who…” She blushed, dipping her head. “My goodness, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”
Marika got the sense his mother was referring to Marika’s miscarriage. She’d been embarrassed that Dec’s family knew they’d had a one-night stand, but now that she’d met them, she felt they wouldn’t judge her. “You’re talking about the pregnancy scare?”
“He told you about that? I wasn’t sure he would. He was pretty ashamed of the way he treated that poor girl.” Her soft features hardened. “I certainly didn’t raise my son to shirk his responsibilities. His daddy was a deadbeat and to think my own son would grow up to be like that…” She huffed indignantly. “Believe me, I let him have it when he told me. Of course by then, it was too late. The young lady had already miscarried and she wanted nothing more to do with him. Rightly so. Who could blame her?”
“Um, you should probably know that I was the woman he… I mean we… I got pre—”
“You?” She turned, letting the wooden spoon she’d been using fall to the floor. “You’re the girl he got pregnant?”
Marika felt herself blush, but she nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m not sure how it happened. We were careful…” God, she couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with her boyfriend’s mother. “But obviously not careful enough.”
She sank into the chair next to Marika. “I don’t understand how this happened… how you two reconnected. He told us you wanted nothing more to do with him. And that was four years ago.”
“He came to my brother’s annual fund-raiser this year, the one we met at. He seemed determined to prove to me that he was sorry.” She smiled. “Let’s just say he did a good job of convincing me.”
His mother’s face lit up as she took Marika’s hand. “You don’t know how happy this makes me! When he told us about her, you, I got the sense something was different about this relationship. I know he didn’t know you well then and he was obviously devastated about you losing the baby, but it was more than that. I could tell he wanted something more with you. I’d never heard him talk about anyone the way he did you.”
“Really?”
“Oh my, yes. We talked about it after he left, his sisters and I, and we all agreed. You were someone special to Dec.”
“Interesting.” Marika knew she shouldn’t press his mother for information, but she couldn’t help herself. “Do you really think he was upset about me losing the baby?”
“I know he was. You should have seen him moping around here. He was miserable. I’d never seen my son heartbroken over anything or anyone, but I have to say that’s the only way to describe him then.”
She appreciated the reassurance that reinforced what she already knew about Dec. He was a damn good man.
***
Dec’s extended family had gone home and Marika had gone to bed a little while ago, claiming she could barely keep her eyes open. That left him alone with his mother, watching some drama he’d never seen before on TV.
“So what do you think of her?” He didn’t even have to ask. It was obvious from the way his mother had treated Marika that she adored her.
“I think she’s lovely.” She paused her show before she picked up a kernel of popcorn from the bowl on her lap and tossed it at him. He let it bounce off his chest before he tossed it in his mouth. “But I’m mad at you for not telling me who she was. Here I was running my mouth about your… situation with the girl who got pregnant, only to find out it was her.”
Dec’s stomach clenched as he leaned forward. “Why the hell would you talk to her about that? How did it even come up?”
“I don’t recall exactly,” she said, looking thoughtful. “But I’m glad it did. Were you ever planning to tell me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s none of anyone’s business!” Sometimes his mother conveniently forgot he was a grown man and didn’t need her interference in his affairs. “What happened between me and Marika is our issue, no one else’s.”
“Well, you two seem to have moved past it, which is wonderful. I couldn’t have been happier to learn she was the one.”
“The one?” he repeated, thinking it had a certain ring to it. Marika was definitely the one who’d captured his heart and turned him inside out. And she was the only one who’d ever made him think about forever.
Her eyes shone when she looked at him. “You really think she could be, honey? The one for you?”
He took a minute to consider the question. He’d never felt like this before, and it wasn’t just the time they’d spent together over the past couple of weeks that had him hooked. It was the night they’d spent together four years ago and all the times he’d thought about her since. He’d been falling in love with her for years without even realizing it. “Yeah, I do.”
She clapped. “Eeee! This is so exciting! Have you told her how you feel?”
“Not in so many words.” But he hoped he’d told her a million other ways.
“Why not?” she asked, frowning. “You have to tell her, you know. She’s not a mind reader.”
“I will, when the time is right.”
“And when might that be? When it’s time for you to leave for spring training and she has to try to wrap her head around that when you already have one foot out the door? Don’t do that. Tell her now. Don’t hold back.”
Should he? Could he? “Marika’s not like most of the women I’ve dated, Mom.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re tellin’ me.” She tapped her finger against her temple. “She has something up here. More brains than all of your other girlfriends combined, and if you had any sense at all, you’d tell her that before it’s too late.”
His mother always gave him good advice, but he wasn’t sure he should take it this time. Maybe Marika needed a little more time to adjust to them being a couple before he dropped the L-bomb laid something like love on her. “I don’t know. I need to think about it.”
“What’s there to think about? You either love the girl or you don’t.”
“I do, but this whole relationship thing is new to both of us. We’v
e both been too busy with our careers to give commitment much thought. Besides, I’d be asking her to give up a hell of a lot to be with me.”
“I wondered about that,” she admitted, setting the bowl of popcorn on the table. “How would that work? Long-distance relationships aren’t viable long-term. Especially if you want to have a family someday.”
“She could work in the States if she wanted to.” He took a handful of popcorn, feeling properly chastised when his mother glared at him for dropping a few pieces on the floor.
“But does she want to?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” He shoveled more popcorn into his mouth to buy time to think. “She said she’d relocate for the right person or the right opportunity.”
“Then you have to prove to her you’re the right person.”
“Easier said than done,” he muttered.
“Dec, men have the mistaken notion that women are hard to figure out. We’re really not. I think we all want the same thing in a partner.”
“Oh yeah?” He flashed a smile. “Tell me, oh wise one.”
She slapped his thigh, clucking her tongue. “I’m serious. Listen to me, and you’ll not only get the girl but be able to make her happy for the rest of your life.”
The rest of his life. He had to admit that had a nice ring to it. “Keep talking.” He tapped his index finger against his forehead. “I’m making mental notes.” His mother was used to him teasing her, but she knew he respected her opinion. He really was open to listening to anything she had to say.
She settled back into the couch. “Well, the way I see it, a woman like your Marika is used to taking care of other people. She’s strong and independent. She’s used to doing things for herself, right?”
“Uh huh.” She’d nailed that, though that assessment didn’t take a genius, given Marika’s profession.
“But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want someone to take care of her sometimes.”
“I have a feeling I’d be offending her feminine sensibilities if I suggested that,” he said, chuckling. “You forget, she was born in a different generation than you, Ma. Women nowadays want equality, not a man who wants to take care of them.”
Wild One (Summer Rush #5) Page 11
