Page 40

Chapter 39

Shawn

T he screen is black, and an underwater swooshing noise takes over the room. I honestly have no idea what I’m looking at or what I’m listening to.

“And this right here is your little nugget!”

The doctor chirps, talking about the little jellybean-looking white dot on the screen.

“That?” Lee and I say at the same time.

The doctor laughs. “Yes, that is your little baby. Over the next,”

She looks down at her notes. “7 and a half months. That little bean will grow into your baby. Let’s try to hear that heartbeat, shall we?”

Lee nods, eyes never leaving the screen. I stand next to her and take her hand in mine, squeezing it three times. The doctor goes from side to side on Lee’s belly and then stops over her belly button and presses the device into her stomach a bit more as a thumping noise booms over the room.

“There it is! So strong. Congratulations, you guys!”

The doctor announces, still letting the rhythm of our baby’s heartbeat play around the room.

I look down at Lee as a tear breaks free, rolling down her face, and mine mist over. Our baby.

“Looks like you’re due May 6th, Ainsley! I will put in an order for more blood work today and start you on a prenatal. Questions for me?”

“What can I do?” I say without thinking. My eyes clock the time on my watch. There’s still plenty of time to make it.

The doctor just smiles. “Be there for her! The first trimester is when a lot of key organs are forming. So you might continue to have some nausea, feel extremely tired, and feel very hormonal with all the changes.” She says.

“You’ve got it, Doc,” I reply.

She grabs her things and hands us several pictures and a link to a video file of the baby’s heartbeat. Lee stands and collects her things.

“So, where do you want to go?”

I look at her and smile. “Toronto Pearson?”

She whips her head around. “What?”

* * *

W e walk out of the office, and I already have the car waiting for us.

“Seriously, Shawn. Where the fuck are we going?”

My smile widens.

“I told you, Toronto Pearson. We’ve got a lot to discuss, and what better way to do it than on a 4-hour flight?”

“What the actual fuck? The team is probably already in Dallas.”

“Yes, but I have connections. We’ll be there an hour before tip-off. I’ll miss warm-ups but be there in time for the game.”

She hesitates for a second, thinking it over.

“Just for the night; then I’ll bring you back home.”

“Okay, fine. But if you lose this game with me there, I’m picking the baby’s name.”

I stop in my tracks and turn around slowly.

“Ohhhhh, game on.”

We make our way to the airport but head directly for the private jet entrance. The plane and crew are ready to go and waiting for us to board. Lee stares at me, her eyebrows pulling in sternly.

“Seriously, Liam was in on this?”

She says, taking in the jet that the Blades use for away games. Luckily for us, they have several home games this week. I open the door and take out the suitcases from the trunk.

“Yep, and Millie. Hence your stuff here.”

I point to the suitcase Millie packed for her.

“You guys are crazy.” She smiles, walks away towards the plane, and gets on, saying hello to the crew as she takes a seat.

I follow behind her and look around. Shit. Liam hooked us up by letting us take the team's private jet. This thing is so nice, blue and white leather sparkling clean, charcuterie boards on all the tables.

Lee looks at me in question as she puts her bag away and finds a seat.

“How’d you convince Liam to let you have the team plane?”

I suck in a breath. This is going to be a long flight. Might as well get it all out in the open now.

“Well, when he found out he was going to be an Uncle, there isn’t a thing he wasn’t willing to give or do to help.”

Lee jumps up.

“YOU TOLD HIM!?”

“I know, I know. It just came out. I had to talk to him. I had to talk to you. Shit Lee. It’s a baby; we’re a family. He needed to know.” I say, throwing my hands up in surrender.

“Revenge, B. Revenge… it’s coming.”

She shakes her head and sits down to buckle up as we prepare for takeoff.

“I swear I didn’t plan to; it just sort of happened. If it makes you feel any better, I told him at Timmie’s.”

I use her weakness to soften my blow.

She crosses her arms.

“Slightly better, but still. I have a shit list for you and now you’re just adding to it.”

The plane takes off into the air. I grab her hand, and we stay like that until the plane is at cruising altitude. I unbuckle my seatbelt and go to my knees in front of her seat.

“Ainsley Louise Harris. Please, just hear me out.”

She pins me with an annoyed look for using her full name but waves her hand for me to go on.

“The days leading up to my Atlanta game were pure bliss. Everything in my life that had just felt like random pieces floating around finally clicked into place. You, this team, our friends, the Six. All these years leading to this moment just made sense. I have known for years that there was a reason that we clicked when we were younger, and seeing you now all these years later just proved my point even further. We’re two bowls molded together into something so deeply connected it will last far beyond our lifetime.”

I pull out the piece of pottery her and Mimi first made from underneath her chair, and she gasps, already bursting into tears.

With a shaking breath, she trembles.

“How did you get this?”

“When Mimi and I first talked that weekend at the lake, she saw the connection that we had, and she wanted me to have it. Said that the connection we share is just like the one she had with you. She mailed it to me several weeks later. I got it the day before I left for Dallas, before traveling to my Atlanta game. She called me to wish me luck before my travel day. It was my last conversation with her. Of course, she told me what a superstar I was…”

I suck in a breath as tears form in my eyes and I look at Lee.

“But I also asked her advice on when the right time is to ask someone to marry me.”

Lee bursts into sobs, covering her eyes with the palms of her hands. I slowly peel them away. Seeing her red eyes and snot leaking from her nose.

“She told me to do what felt right for us, to not worry about others, and to follow what my heart was calling me to do. I told her I was going to Dallas to pick a ring, custom-made by a friend .” I overemphasize the word friend, just to make sure that part is clear.

“You could have said something, anything. I didn’t see it coming.”

“I know that. That is a mistake I have to live with. One that I will regret for a long time. I should've known that cameras would follow me back home.”

She nods.

“This process to get here with you hasn’t been perfect. I will always have a hole in my heart for not being able to be there for you when you needed me most.”

She interrupts.

“Oh, that’s on me. I should have made more of an effort to let you explain. So many nights I wanted you, but I just felt numb. I had to figure it all out, and when I thought I could find a way to manage it all, I got the call about the baby.”

I reach behind her, pulling out a simple flower crown made of yellow dandelions, and place it on her head. Hoping that it still gives her some strength and courage all these years later.

“Oh, Sunshine! You are so strong; you are more than capable of picking yourself back up. But the way I love you, the way I need you, will never change.”

She nods, and I pepper kisses on her face as she pulls the crown off her head to examine it. A full smile breaking out on her face.

“How did you make this?”

She seems shocked, as if I didn’t watch her make a hundred of them before. Spinning it around in her hands, she stops when something shiny catches her eye. A slender white gold band with an oval diamond and small yellow sapphires surrounding it, displaying the bright sunshine she is.

I get on one knee in front of her, and she starts sobbing loudly.

“Lee, we’re not perfect, but we’re perfect for each other. You are so strong, kind, creative, compassionate, and the most giving and loving person I know. My Sunshine, my only Sunshine, will you do me the honor of not only being the mother of our child but the woman my soul is forever molded to? Will you marry me?”

She covers her mouth as tears burst from her eyes.

“Holy shit.”

I laugh. “Ummm, is that a yes?”

She wipes her face with both hands. Shaking her head, either in disbelief or she is saying no.

My heart jumps forward as she speaks.

“You’re the best man, Shawn. The only man that has consumed my heart for most of my life and will be the only man that is forever etched into the existence of who I am. Of course, I’ll marry you.”

I let out a lengthy breath that I didn’t realize I was holding and I bring my lips to hers.

Our mouths move together in a hurried frenzy, like we haven’t had water in days, finally relieving my thirst. I coax her lips open and invade every inch of her mouth. I suck and swipe, our tongues fighting each other almost in a test of who missed each other more.

She breaks the kiss to take a couple of breaths and looks up at me, smiling. I grab her ass and pull her into me. We tangle our lips together again, already grinding into each other. Every freckle, every moan, every smell of her comes rushing back. I’ve missed her more than I ever knew possible. I stand and pull her up with me, taking her hands in mine as we both stop and stare at the ring, now fixated on her hand.

“It’s absolutely perfect! You did amazing, Shawn.”

I smile and lead her back to the suite in the back of the plane because yeah, there is a whole ass bedroom and bathroom on here. We walk in and see roses covering the bed and pictures of Lee and me. Some were from when we were kids, and some over the past several months.

Lee stares at me in shock.

“What? You did all this?”

I shake my head. “Nope, I gotta give that to Liam. He really came through.”

“Liam? More like Millie!”

She corrects as she collects all the pictures from the bed and starts looking through them.

“True, this seems too organized to have been Liam.”

“Exactly.”

Lee takes off her shoes and lies back on the bed, relaxing. I go grab the flutes of sparkling cider already poured on the dresser.

Lee sits up and gasps. My head whips around to hers as I make my way over to her.

“What’s up?”

Lee’s smile grows.“Well, you know we have one last kink on my list to complete.”

I smile as we clink our glasses and toss back our bubbly juice.

“Fuck yes, fiancé, get your fine ass over here.”