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MILLIE

FIVE MONTHS LATER

“Woo. Come on, Daddy. Let’s go.”

“It still sounds so weird when you call him that. I stand by what I said last year, it’s like you’re about to spank him.”

“Oh gross.” Grumbled Holiday, her hands shooting up to her ears.

I’d have done the same for Brady if his ears weren’t already muffled with a little fluffy hat inside the bunny onesie Tanner had picked out this morning. Though peering down at my son strapped to my chest it seemed it didn’t matter how noisy the environment was, he slept like his dad .

“Seriously, Rad,” I hissed, “You can’t say shit like that as godmother. At least not in front of Brady.”

“Or me, if you don’t mind.” Added Holiday.

“Hey, I call it as I see it.” Radley laughed, though it was drowned out by the cheers of fans as Tanner snatched up the ball and threw it over to Sawyer James, catching the Marlins batter right as he skidded along the diamond.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yelled, “Come on, Lions. Let’s go. ”

“That was close.” Holiday muttered, as the batter trundled off the field, “And now we have a changeover. Let’s see what our boys can bring.”

We were only a couple of weeks into the regular season but the Lions had started strong, even stronger than last year according to most of the sports commentators. It was too early to predict anything, but I couldn’t help but cross my fingers we’d go all the way again.

I still felt guilty about robbing Tanner of his opportunity to play in the final game last season.

“Do you think they can get a back-to-back World Series?”

“I think Penn Shepherd can make anything happen.” Radley replied, her eyes trained on Lux heading to the dugout from center field swinging his arms around and around. “He turned the team around in three seasons, anything’s possible.”

“I wonder what shirt my mom would make this year.” Holiday laughed.

My head dropped on her shoulder, “Ah Hol, you’re going to miss this aren’t you?”

Whatever she was about to say died on her lips and her entire expression softened when she glanced at her nephew, “Maybe I could stay another month…”

“No. You’re going to England.” Said Radley, “and we’re going to come and visit before Millie and I start back at school in the fall.”

Holiday groaned in response.

“I don’t know why you’re so reluctant. Don’t go if you don’t want to.” I told her.

“I do want to go. I need the break, I’m exhausted. But I didn’t think I’d miss this little one so much. He’s only just arrived.”

“All Brady will do for the next few months is sleep, eat and cry. You won’t miss anything.” I nudged her trying to raise a smile.

It’s what I’d been telling Tanner every day when he complained about the travel for the season. Leaving Brady and me had been a hard adjustment for him, so we’d be flying out to support him whenever we were able – Tanner’s mom had already volunteered to come with us for help.

“C’mon, show us a picture of the cottage again.”

With a tut, Holiday pulled her phone out, scrolled through her pictures until she found what she was looking for, and passed it over.

“It’s so cute.” Radley sighed, zooming into the photo of the place Holiday had rented for six months in England. “Look at the pretty flowers growing up the side of the house, and the thatched roof. I didn’t even know roofs came like that in real life, I thought it was only in Shakespearean tales.”

She tilted the phone so I could see it again.

Cute was the perfect word to describe it. English was another.

With its ramshackle white windows and pale blue front door, and a path lined with rose bushes it was the prettiest place of all the places Holiday’s assistant had found for her to live, while she spent some time away from the grind of Hollywood.

She totally deserved it and more.

The offseason hadn’t just been eventful for Tanner and me.

Holiday was fresh off a very successful awards season and now the proud recipient of an OSCAR, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe all in the category of best supporting actress for her movie, New York: Part One.

She’d been working her butt off since the second movie had wrapped, and for a couple of months her face had been everywhere.

You only had to open a magazine, switch on the TV or walk out into the city to see Holiday on a movie billboard, or fronting the new Gucci campaign.

As she said a few weeks ago, “I’m ready to hide for a little while, and be incognito. ”

The English countryside seemed like the perfect place to do that.”

But then Brady had come along and she’d all but moved into our apartment.

I didn’t want to admit it but I was just as reluctant for Holiday to leave as she seemed to be.

Between her and Radley I’d had the most incredible support group the past few weeks after Tanner’s paternity leave ended at the start of the season and that wasn’t including my mom, Tanner’s mom, The SIMPSON FAMILY CHAT group, plus – and I can’t believe I was saying it – my brothers.

Unlike his father, who was nearly always late, Brady Peter Robinson Simpson had arrived bang on time at 11.

58 p.m. on March 20 th , during spring training just as Tanner had predicted.

He’d flown back from Arizona at the first sign of labor, and arrived at the hospital at virtually the same time as me.

It was love at first sight – eyes the same intense blue as Tanner’s, but with a mop of dark hair just like mine. And while I was still getting used to the constant feeding, total lack of sleep and forgetting to get dressed / brush my teeth most days, I’d never been happier.

“That roof’s probably going to leak every time it rains.”

“No, it won’t. They’re not going to rent you a leaky cottage.” I replied. “What the town called again?”

“It’s a village called Valentine Nook in Oxfordshire, though I’m not even quite sure where Oxfordshire is.” She added.

“Omigod, that sounds so romantic. It doesn’t matter where it is.” Added Radley.

“You’re going to have the best time.” I said, glancing down at Brady when he snuffled. “England, here we come.”

As I gently patted his back, my ring glinted in the sunlight.

I still hadn’t gotten over it.

My proposal might have been a surprise to Tanner, but he’d eclipsed it when Christmas Day rolled around, and he dropped down on one knee to present me with my ring.

Not just any ring, but one my dad had given to my mom – a pale sapphire which Tanner had reset in a band of diamonds. And because we were the most unconventional people we knew, we decided we didn’t need a long engagement.

A week later, on New Year’s Eve, we’d were married in the freezing cold of my parents backyard surrounded by our family and closest friends - Lux and Radley, Parker and Scout, Ace and Payton - who are planning their own wedding for when the season’s over.

It couldn’t have been more magical. The girls had spent the day decorating the trees around the pool with twinkle lights, candles and paper chains.

We said our vows in front of Josh and Matty who’d gotten ordained on the internet (though we followed up at the courthouse a couple of days later, just in case), and Brinkley was our ring bearer.

Afterwards we headed to dinner in the penthouse suite at the Four Seasons which Tanner had rented. We’d spent the evening eating, drinking and dancing our asses off while we watched the fireworks from the National Mall light up the sky to ring in the New Year, and the rest of our lives.

Miraculously, I’d managed to stay awake for the whole evening, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

A loud cheer rippled through the crowd and I looked up to see Jupiter Reeves passing first base, while the Marlins fielders scrambled for the ball. We still had a couple more innings to go, but if this game continued as it had started the Lions would be winning their fourth game in a row.

“Brady,” I whispered, “Daddy’s up at bat now. Let’s see what he can do today.”

Tanner got into position, shoulders back and bat raised.

The crack of the ball echoed around the stadium, and the crowds went wild. Fans in the bleachers all shuffled in place with their hands in the air, desperate for the ball to come down within their grasp. Marlins fielders sprinted to the edges of the field, but they wouldn’t reach it.

It finally dropped as Tanner past third base. He was safe.

Home run.

“Magic.” He mouthed before disappearing into the dugout with a wink.

Once again, I decided the best decision I’d ever made was getting out of the rain and into Tanner’s car.

I glanced back at our sleeping son, my heart filling with so much love I could burst.

Brady Simpson.

Our home run.

The End