Chapter 51
LOGAN
After we make breakfast, I look at the messages that have accumulated on my phone. Three separate text chains from my agent and both of my parents. Then a group chat with my siblings that is still going.
Tom
You all right?
Per the CBA, you don’t need to tell the team jack fucking shit
I’ll run interference but some direction would help here
Dad
I’m getting questions about a family emergency? Did something happen overnight?
Mom
Logan, please update us about where you are and what is going on
We love you
Emery
Have you been kidnapped by a car thief? Am I an accessory to a crime? Mom and Dad are pacing
Camden
What did we miss?
Emery
Do you not get news alerts for your brothers?
Camden
No
Wyatt
It’s still early here, what the fuck is going on?
Forrest
What crime?
Emery drops a link to a Scoreboard article that I don’t bother to read. I imagine it says something like, Logan Granger didn’t travel to Boston with the team. Citing a family emergency, the team asks for privacy at this time and won’t be answering any further questions.
I scroll down to the bottom of the texts to figure out where we’re at right now.
Emery
Do you think my water breaking is a sufficient distraction?
Yeah, gotta go, I’m having a baby
Logan, send proof of life when you stop kissing your mystery girl
Forrest
This is too much news at once
“Holy shit,” I say out loud as I stab the screen, getting back to my dad’s messages. “My sister is in labour.”
Frankie holds my hand as I call my father.
“Hey Dad,” I say as soon as he picks up. “I’m fine, everything is fine, sorry for the drama. Just checking in real quick so Mom doesn’t worry.”
“Logan, what the hell is going on?”
“Don’t really have enough time now to fully—”
“SparkNotes edition, then.”
“I met a woman on New Year’s Eve. She’s incredible. You’ll meet her soon. But there are a few inconvenient layers that have required it be a secret, and she had some startling news yesterday, so I had to fly to see her.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No. Thank you.” Frankie squeezes my hand as I look at her. “I have everything I need here already.”
“All right, then. I’ll tell the people messaging me that you’re taking care of family business.”
That’s the truth, after all. “Go to the hospital with Emery and don’t worry about me.”
When I hang up, Frankie and I just stare at each other.
“Getting closer to people finding out. How are you doing?”
She makes jazz hands at me. “Hanging in there.”
“That’s my girl.” I kiss her again before I call my agent.
That call is even shorter. I know my rights, I’ll make my absence from the team as short as possible.
And then I take a deep breath. “Tom, what I’m about to tell you is an absolute secret, but I don’t want you to be blindsided.
My parents don’t even know yet. Two months ago, I married Frank Wilson’s daughter.
They are estranged, and for personal reasons, we would prefer that he not find out until the end of the season. ”
There’s a long silence.
Then… “Got it.”
I pause a beat. He doesn’t add anything else, for which I’m grateful. “I expect to return for the game in New Jersey.”
“You let me know if he’s a dick to you.”
“He’s always a dick to me,” I say lightly.
When I hang up, Frankie wraps her arms around my shoulders, pressing her warm body against mine.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“Nothing to do with you,” I promise her.
“If and when he makes that an issue, it’ll just be piled on top of the terrible coaching he’s done over the last year.
I’m not worried about him at all. In fact…
” I take a deep breath and shift her back so she can see my face.
“I want to wear my ring. On my hand, where it belongs.”
“Okay.” She nods vigorously, surprising me. “Yes. And I want to wear mine, too.”
My heart might just explode out of my chest. “Yeah?”
I get down on one knee and pull it from my pocket.
She laughs. “No you didn’t have it in your pocket this whole time.”
“I sure did. I’m a patient man, Francesca Wilson.” I take her hand in mine and rest her ring at the tip of her finger. “I love you.”
She presses her hand against mine, holding on as I slide her ring onto her finger.
“I love you, too. And I was thinking…” She takes my ring and turns our hands so she can put it on me.
“Since I haven’t graduated yet, this might be the time to change my name.
How does Francesca Granger sound to you? ”
“Like I’m the luckiest man in the world.” I swing her around, then dip her into a searing kiss.
The supposed threat of her father being a jackass to me—or her—doesn’t fucking matter anymore.
There was a time when I thought the shitty coaching we were dealt was part of the curse. A burden I had to deal with. But I’m not cursed anymore. Only blessed. A wife and a baby on the way. A future brighter than I ever could have imagined.
And whatever comes next, I know exactly how to protect my family.