The Wedding Secret (21 page)

Two Years Later

If there was anything as perfect as baseball in October, Harper wanted to know what it was. She was in the ballpark watching the man she loved play in the biggest game of his career, and her two-year-old had captured the hearts of everyone in the luxury box. But now Anna was sound asleep, and Harper thought about what this game could mean to Kevin as she left the climate-controlled, catered environment to sit with her mother and Mrs. Rossi in the field boxes.

It was game seven of the World Series and Kevin was having not only his best series, but his best season. It was possible, if his team won, he might be MVP. She smiled to herself, knowing he’d always be her MVP. The past two years had been the best ever.

Their wedding was picture prefect, held at the house he’d renovated, the place he’d proposed, and never in her life had Harper felt such peace. Her life had taken such a turn with him in it, had become such a dream, that if she thought about it too much she’d wonder when she was going to wake up.

Her mama said she’d just gotten what she deserved. That fighting for her right to be happy had brought her the reward of a blissful life. Harper wasn’t so sure about that, she just felt incredibly lucky.

There was something special about a baseball stadium, something powerful in the energy of the fans and the movement of the players on the field. Kevin, for his size, was so graceful. Every move, from the crouch behind the plate, to the way he picked off a runner, to his form at bat was fluid. She’d never been much of a sports fan, but then again, she’d never had so much invested in a game.

When she arrived at field level, Danny, the usher in charge of the section, recognized her and her ever-growing baby bump and approached. Harper was thankful she hadn’t gone into labor yet. Her doctor said she was ready and recommended she stay home, but there was no way she was going to miss this game. Not as long as the slugger in her belly stayed put. Of course, there were points that night when she wondered if she should have followed her doctor’s orders. Her indigestion had become something for the record books, and she had a constant gas bubble rolling around in her belly. This little one was so different from Anna, but Harper guessed that’s the way it was with kids. When she thought about Kevin and his siblings, they were all different from each other.

Harper had really gotten big with this baby. Her center of gravity was thrown off, and she couldn’t walk normally—she waddled. In fact, she looked so ridiculous Kevin would quack when he’d see her. She was more and more tired and as a result, working less and less. Which wasn’t such a bad thing. She spent time with her daughter, who amazed her every day. Anna was the light of their lives, and Kevin was wrapped around his little girl’s finger.

“Let me help you down the steps, Mrs. Rossi.”

“Thank you, I—” She froze. “Ahhhhhh.”
Oh, no
.

The usher held her arm and stepped close as she grabbed a railing and bent forward. “Mrs. Rossi?”

“It’s nothing. I’ve been having a lot of gas.”

“My wife had a lot of ‘gas’ at the end of one of her pregnancies. We almost had that baby in the car on the way to the hospital.”

“It’s not—ohhh, my.”
Not now
, Harper thought.
Why was she going into labor now?

“Should I get someone? Should I have them tell your husband?”

“Are you crazy? It’s game seven and he needs to focus. This is his dream. No, have someone call the Reliance sky box. Ask my sister-in-law Meg to come down.”

“Okay, in the meantime, let’s get you into the club room here. That way you can put your feet up while we get your sister-in-law, and then I’m calling an ambulance.”

Harper nodded. “Danny? Could you get my mother and mother-in-law, too? You know the box, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Harper let him guide her into the private club behind home plate, where she was greeted with curious stares. The first two contractions had hit hard and fast, but she felt better now and wondered if it really was just indigestion. She’d had hot dogs and fries—not her best move, but she couldn’t resist it. It was a baseball game, after all.

“You sit here, Mrs. Rossi. I’ll get your family.”

“Thank you.” Harper settled in on the long couch and felt weird, unsettled, like she might jump out of her skin. It would be just like her to go into labor at the World Series. A wave of pain rolled through and tightened around her belly like a large belt. Harper tried to breathe inconspicuously, but the stares she was getting from the people nearby let her know she wasn’t being very stealthy. An older woman pulled up a chair. “Hi, I’m Cathy. I’m a physician’s assistant. Want me to sit with you?”

“Thank you. I’m Harper.” She kept up the deep breathing, hoping to diffuse whatever anxiety she was feeling about possibly being in labor in front of perfect strangers at Citi Field.

“This must be nerve-wracking for you. The baby, your husband.”

“You could say that. I just have to make sure if I am in labor they don’t tell him until the game is over.”

“You don’t think he’d want to know?”

“Oh, I know he would, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to tell him. He has to finish the game.”

Cathy laughed. “I’m sure the die-hard fans will appreciate your sacrifice.”

“He’s waited so long for this,” Harper said, trying to fight the contraction that was consuming her. “He has to finish the game.”

Right then, her mother and Kevin’s mother came into the club. “Oh boy,” Mama said. “Baby’s not gonna wait.”

“I don’t think so.” Harper was so mad, not at anyone or the baby, but at the situation. She wanted to see this through for Kevin, wanted to celebrate with him, but it looked like their child had other plans.

Meg came in the room with Caroline alongside, and it looked like she wasn’t going to see the end of the game. “Okay, an ambulance is coming and I made sure they would take you to North Shore Hospital. It’s only five minutes over the Nassau-Queens border, and they said okay. Your doctor has been called, and now all we have to do is tell Kevin . . .”

“NO!” Harper yelled, getting everyone’s attention. “He has to stay. Don’t tell him.”

“Atta girl,” she heard from somewhere in the room. Cathy was right, the fans did approve. Mostly because they knew if Kevin wasn’t on the field the chances of a win dropped drastically. No one handled the head-case lefty they had on the mound quite like her husband.

She looked around. “Where are the kids?”

“Right now they’re in the box with Jason and Josh,” her mother-in-law said. “Diane and I will get them when you go to the hospital.”

“Kevin’s going to be pissed,” Caroline said.

“He is, but we’re going to have this baby in our lives forever. He only gets this moment once. Don’t tell him.”

Everyone agreed to keep it quiet and when the ambulance came, Harper felt relieved. She was really getting hit hard with the contractions and she hoped she made it to the hospital. The paramedic examined her quickly when she was loaded into the ambulance, checked her vitals, and sat on the bench near her head. “Okay,” he said. “You seem fine and the baby hasn’t descended yet, so that’s good. No urge to push?”

“No.” Watch. Now she’d have the urge to push.

“The traffic looks good and we can get you to North Shore in about fifteen minutes. We’ll try not to make it bouncy.”

Meg climbed in and took a seat next to the paramedic.

“Hello there,” he said.

“Hi. I’m Meg. Her sister-in-law.”

“Ah, moral support?”

“You could say that.” Meg looked at Harper and continued. “Here’s the breakdown. Your mother, my mother, and Caroline have Anna, Molly, Ian, and Emma and will be meeting us at the hospital. Josh and Jason are waiting for Kevin and will get word to him as soon as the game is over.”

Kevin and Harper’s baby was the newest addition, and the first since Josh and Caroline had Emma almost two years ago. Caroline had just announced she was pregnant again, and now that Harper had been bitten by the baby bug, she knew she was going to want at least a couple more kids.

“Let him get his MVP. They have to wait.” Harper knew how much he deserved it even if he said other guys were doing a better job. What did he know?

“Your husband is Kevin Rossi?” The paramedic looked starstruck. “Oh, ah . . . wow. Okay. We’ll take good care of you, ma’am. No worries.”

Another hard contraction hit, and Harper grabbed Meg’s hand and almost twisted it off. It lasted a long time and left her spent. “Jesus. This kid is going to end me.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Meg said. “It’s going to be fine.”

But Harper worried. She worried all the way to the hospital. Worried in the elevator, worried as they helped her change on the maternity floor. There were so many things going on and all she really wanted was for Kevin to stay focused and help his team win. It would make the nights without him, the road trips, all of it worth it, because he would be so happy.

Harper wanted her man to be happy.

***

Other than his wedding, Kevin Rossi couldn’t remember a day that had been this incredible. Celebrating a World Series win with this amazing group of players was the top for him. At the top of his game, Kevin reveled in the fact that his life was pretty damn good.

He sat in the clubhouse, drenched in champagne, and was just about to text Harper when he heard his name. “Rossi, congrats!”

Congrats? Kind of a delayed reaction. The congratulations were long over and he and the guys were gearing up for postgame interviews. His teammate must have seen he was confused and clarified. “Your wife, man. She’s trending on Twitter.”

“What the hell?” He grabbed his iPad from the shelf in his locker and opened Twitter.
Son of a bitch. There it is
. When he looked at what was trending, Kevin saw the hashtags #rossibabywatch #baseballwife and #takingonefortheteam. The tweets were rocketing by faster than he could read, but one finally caught his eye.
Safe delivery, Mrs. Rossi. They won. Kevin should be there soon. #champs #rossibabywatch.

Holy shit. Harper had gone into labor and no one had told him. “Christ almighty. I gotta go.”

The communications director came over and clapped him on the shoulder. “So, Mr. MVP, how do you feel?”

“Jay, I have to go. Harper went into labor.”

“But . . .”

“But nothing! Someone get me a car, a police escort, something.” Why hadn’t someone from his family called? Right then he got a text from Josh.
“We’re outside the clubhouse. They won’t let us in. Waiting to take you to the hospital.”

He shot one back.
“Covered in champagne. Rinsing off. Give me 5.”

It was probably less than five minutes before he ran out of the clubhouse and hopped in Josh’s Range Rover. “You guys couldn’t have told me she went into labor? I should be there.”

Jason looked back as they pulled away, and what do you know? A police escort. “She didn’t want you to miss the game.”

“Are they really escorting us?” Kevin said.

“I have a feeling they’d do anything for the World Series MVP.”

He appreciated the attention, but he was still focused on what had made Harper do what she’d done.

“She confuses the hell out of me. For the longest time I thought she didn’t really like baseball, but she’s willing to sacrifice everything so I get to play in the World Series.”

“She did it for you. That was all she cared about.”

Kevin nodded, and that was the thing he loved most about his wife. She did nothing halfway, including loving someone. If she loved you, she was all in. He’d never felt more damn lucky in his life.

“Do you know she’s trending on Twitter?” He looked at his phone, and the congratulatory tweets were coming in like crazy. “She has her own hashtags and everything.”

Josh laughed, “She’s going to love that.”

Actually, she would, and as soon as he’d kissed her and helped her have their baby, he’d tell her.

Jason had let Meg know they were coming and a nurse was waiting outside Harper’s room with scrubs for Kevin. He donned them and slipped into the room to be greeted by a scream that could wake the dead. “Ahhhhhhhh! Lord have mercy! I think I’m birthing a calf.”

“Not a calf, but this is a big baby. Big head.” Harper’s doctor was sitting between her legs, ready to catch Kevin’s kid. He felt a connection to that. “Now, big push.”

“Auggghh. Big head? You do not tell that to a laboring woman!” She bore down and pushed again, and then he saw her body relax.

Kevin went to her. “Hey, baby.”

Harper met his eyes and the anger drained out of her and she burst into tears. “Oh, you made it. I didn’t know if you would.”

He stroked her forehead pushing the damp hair away from her face. “You should have had someone tell me.”

“No way. No. You needed to be there. And you made it here. That’s what matters.”

“Okay,” the doctor said. “I think one more push and you’re going to meet your baby.”

Kevin watched as the contraction rolled over her and he held her hand as she groaned and pushed. The doctor’s hands were moving and Harper, who was straining, all of a sudden let out a big breath, relaxed, and then there was a cry. “Oh, oh,” she said.

“Congratulations, guys. It’s a boy.”

An hour ago, Kevin didn’t think anything could compare with what happened at the ballpark tonight. Until now. He had a son. Now he understood everything his father had understood. His family was everything.

The baby was placed in Harper’s waiting arms, and even tired and sweaty she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. “I love you,” he whispered. “So much.” Looking down at his child, he felt his own eyes burn. He was a lucky bastard, that was certain.

“So what do you want to name him?” she asked.

“I think I like what we discussed.” They wanted to honor both their fathers with the name. Kevin could think of nothing better he could do remember his father’s legacy and what he meant to the family.

“David Michael or Michael David?” she asked.

“David Michael,” he said.

Harper smiled and nodded as their mothers came in to see the new addition. Both of them were struck speechless. Not an easy feat.