Chapter 19 #2
“We’ve been together for a little while.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” I wasn’t sure if it was hurt, surprise, or a simple statement. Hell, this kid of mine would make a killer poker player.
“Well,” I responded, appreciating Pearce’s encouraging squeeze, “I know our relationship affects you, but we wanted to be sure we were making the right decision by getting together. And that’s something only we could navigate through.”
“So you’re what, boyfriends?”
My heart crashed against my rib cage so hard, I could barely hear myself think, let alone the words coming out of my mouth.
“We were,” Pearce cut in. My gaze whipped to his, and his focus was already on me, a brilliant smile directed my way. “Last night I asked your dad to marry me.”
Our eyes stayed connected. Only the sound of Lottie’s fork hitting the tabletop broke the eye contact. I focused on Lottie. Her cheeks were pink, and tears swam in her eyes.
“Baby,” I whispered, standing and moving over to her. Kneeling before her, I stroked strands of hair out of her face. “You know how much I love you, right?”
She bobbed her head while I quietly started to freak out. My girl was rarely this quiet. She had an opinion about everything.
“Me too,” Pearce added, shifting to my side. “I love you so damn much, kiddo.”
And holy shit, she smiled. This headstrong, whirlwind child of mine smiled so damn big that my heart exploded for the second time in twelve hours.
“And you did say yes, right?” she asked with a sniff.
“As if your dad could say no to me.” Pearce chuckled and squeezed Lottie’s leg. “Do you not see how irresistible my face is?”
Rubbing at her nose, Lottie sniffed again. “So you’re really getting married and we’re all going to be together?”
Fuck. Emotion beat at me as I tugged her into my arms, only remembering at the last moment to go easy on her.
But there was no holding back my tears. I held her tightly, Pearce’s comforting hand pressing against my back.
“Yes, we are.” I didn’t get into explaining how that would look, but she didn’t need to worry about any of that for now.
I eased away, looking at my girl’s sparkling eyes. “You’re happy about this? Pearce and me getting married?”
“It’s amazing. I’ll be able to go to all of Pearce’s games now.” She grinned.
“Uhm…” I winced. “Remember your job at the moment is school. That means no missing it.”
“Urgh.” She sighed dramatically, exactly the way I expected her to.
“You need all that schooling to make a kick-ass agent, right?” Pearce supplied diplomatically. My heart warmed. He totally had this parenting gig sorted. “Nobody will pay a dumbass the big bucks.”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish before snorting and shaking my head. Not what I would have said, but maybe Pearce spoke Lottie’s language better than I did, since she nodded solemnly and finally responded, “True.”
The force of nature in Pearce was strong. Like crazily so. I liked a little too much how caught up he got in getting us matching engagement rings. There was little doubt he used his name to get us an appointment with a designer in the city who had a range of men’s rings in stock.
I’d suggested we just wait for our bands, but I wasn’t joking about Pearce being a force of nature.
Who knew him insisting on getting a ring on my finger could be so hot?
It was also ridiculously sweet. Lottie didn’t help calm him down either.
Nope. Between the two of them, I was railroaded into jumping in the car and being their chauffeur.
Admittedly, as I looked down at the ring, nothing but happiness floated inside me.
A quick glance at Lottie, and my heart filled further.
She hadn’t stopped playing with her necklace since Pearce had gifted it to her.
It was a simple gold chain, but a diamond, the same cut as the ones in our matching ring, hung from it.
It had been the sweetest of gestures, and if it were possible, I would have loved Pearce even more for the tender moment between him and my girl. We’d flown into Minneapolis late this morning to attend Pearce’s end-of-season meal.
Each club tended to run these events differently.
In the past I’d attended anything from black tie to red carpet, to family-focused fun, and more low-key events.
Pearce reassured me the Eagles were hosting the dinner for immediate families, and that all the players with partners and kids would be attending too.
That didn’t stop me from being nervous.
We were stepping out officially to his friends, and inevitably, the public too.
Thankfully, we’d already spoken to our parents before we left my place this morning. To say they were surprised was grossly underplaying it. I swore Pearce’s mom nearly burst our eardrums. But at least she was excited.
My parents were a little more reserved in their enthusiasm, but once Lottie took over the call, effectively bigging up the news with the excitement only a ten-year-old could manage, by the end of the call, my parents warmed up, asking for us to all make sure we got together at some point over the summer.
But I needed to call Moira before the news broke all over social media. Pearce was ranked in the top ten in the country. The game from two nights ago was still a popular talking point too. There wasn’t a chance this would stay under the radar.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving it till now to make the call.” Amusement filled Pearce’s voice.
We had ten minutes before we had to leave for this evening’s event.
It was officially a wussy move, but this way, I wouldn’t have to get into anything with my ex-wife.
I could drop the news and run. That I spoke to her yesterday to tell her about Lottie and maybe, unashamedly, made Lottie promise not to tell her mom about my news didn’t strengthen my case for bravery.
“I told you she’s terrifying.” Pearce straightened his tie. “You need me to step in and do it for you?”
My hesitation as I legit considered it made him laugh too loudly.
“Just make the damn call. What’s she gonna say or do?”
The truth was, there wasn’t much she could say about anything.
While Pearce would be Lottie’s stepdad, Moira wouldn’t truly be concerned about that.
I prided myself on being the best dad possible.
While I wanted to ignore the blip of Wayne and what a mistake he was, I deliberately didn’t spend much time at all with my daughter and Wayne together.
Even if I hadn’t admitted it aloud, I’d known he wasn’t stepdad material, and I hadn’t wanted to expose Lottie to him unnecessarily.
That didn’t stop me from feeling like an idiot for not breaking it off with him sooner, but shit happened. And it was one decision I had to live with and was happy to bury deep in the back of my mind alongside all of my stupid decisions.
“I know. I just don’t like talking to her at the best of times.”
Pearce chuckled and stepped behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I know Moira can be super self-centered and… difficult.” I huffed out a humorless breath.
That was one word for it. “But you two both try hard to remain civil for Lottie, and honestly, it’s impressive as hell.
” He dotted a kiss on the back of my neck above my collar. “Just get it over and done with.”
I sighed. “I will.”
When he stepped away, I eyed him appreciatively. “You look hot.”
“Yeah? You’d do me?” He bounced his brows up and down.
“Every chance I can get. We could do that now if you want.”
“Ha.” He stepped out of reach. “No using me to put off the inevitable.”
“I could just text her.” At his raised brow, my shoulders sagged. “I know she does shit like that to me all the time and I hate it.”
“You’re better than that.”
“Maybe I don’t have to be.”
He stalked toward me, intensity in his gaze that had my breath catching. “You are the best man I know. You’re honest and loyal and have so much integrity it gets me rock-hard.”
My laugh burst free at his sweet words being followed up with his usual horny self. “Thank you.”
With a swat of my ass, he backed away. “I’ll go and make sure Lottie is ready to head out.”
Once alone, I stared at my cell before finally pressing on Moira’s contact details.
“What’s wrong?” she greeted.
“Why would there be anything wrong?”
“It’s not even seven in the morning.”
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t think.”
Silence filled the line.
“Moira, you there?”
“Yes, of course I am, but you always call knowing what time it is here.” I could imagine her pursing her lips, a frown between her eyes. “So,” she drew out, her tone on the cusp of exasperation, “I’ll ask again. What’s wrong?”
There was little point beating around the bush.
“I’m getting married.”
One, two, three beats she remained quiet. I waited her out.
“I can’t say I saw it coming. I didn’t think you and Wayne were heading down that path.”
“Ah, actually,” I interrupted, realizing I hadn’t told her about splitting with Wayne.
In my defense, why would I have? Our communication was always centered around our daughter.
The only time we shared or discussed anything else was when it was significant.
It was another clarifying moment—the knowledge that me ending things with Wayne hadn’t been significant enough to mention.
I winced. Not sure I liked at all what that said about me.
Fuck, Moira was going to think I was fickle as fuck and that this was rushed.
“Actually what?” she prompted when I got lost in my thoughts.
“Wayne and I called things off months ago.” “Months” sounded better than seven weeks or whatever it was, right?
“Right,” she said slowly. “Oh please God, don’t tell me you knocked someone up.”
I barked out a laugh, not even feeling indignant or telling her it was none of her business if that had happened. “No chance of that happening.”
“So, a man. Don’t keep me in suspense, Eddie. You know I was never one for guessing games.”