Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
The road trip took three days, and by the time they got back to Sam’s place, he thought both Sam and Hillary might be on the edge of a total meltdown.
Neither of them had slept well, despite them all taking shifts with the baby, and Evan figured that was where eight years of away games came in handy. Sam was used to traveling, but he usually had his trailer.
Evan could sleep anydamnwhere as long there were no bed bugs, including on the floor at the airport cuddled up with another stinky, sore, exhausted hockey player.
He drove the last leg, and as he coasted up the little ranch road leading to Sam’s house, he sucked in a surprised breath.
“That is a hella lot of cars, baby.”
Sam opened his eyes and nodded. “It’s Mama and Daddy in the red Chevy.
Gray one’s Sebastian’s GMC. Susan has the Subaru.
The little bug car is Samantha’s. Stephanie and her man have the conversion van.
Sarah has got the smart car deal. I don’t know about that.
Seraphina’s got the big, big SUV. That truck there, that’s Kacey’s, the Kia belongs to Valerie, and the other ones are likely aunties and uncles.
” Sam sighed and shook his head. “There’s a wheelchair on the porch, and two old men playing checkers with the portable heater going.
Looks like my abuela and poppy are here with Tio Juan. ”
Hillary started to cry. “Papa, I don’t think I can do this.”
Sam snorted. “Natasha is almost six days old. Your mama hasn’t met her yet. Your abue hasn’t seen her yet. She’s absolutely frantic. This is going to happen. There’s nothing you can do. You can just accept it—”
“But, Papa—”
“No, don’t ‘papa’ me. I’m not going to fight with all of these people. You’re going to go in there, smile, and nod, and—” Sam tilted his head. “Somebody put Christmas lights up.”
Sure enough, there were a ton of Christmas lights on Sam’s house that weren’t there the last time Evan had seen it. “That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, it’s those big, fancy ones. That’s nice. You want me to carry her, Hillary?”
“You want to? You can do it, Papa.”
“Sure, mi’ja.” Sam rolled his eyes over to Evan who chuckled.
But he was also girding his loins and wishing he had a goaltender-level jock to wear in the house, just in case. Christ, this family was huge.
He parked, dogs bouncing around, barking, and Sam shushed them. “Don’t you scare this baby.”
“Come on, Hils,” Evan encouraged. “You can do this.”
“You’re home!” Valerie came running out. “Is that my grandbaby?”
Sam shot Evan a look. “Nope, I traded her out for a stranger’s baby. I threw her back. She was too small.”
“I will bite you, you asshole.” Valerie took the carrier from Sam, hauling Natasha inside.
Sam hooked an arm around his waist, and they waited for Hillary, who scooped up her little fuzzball pup before heading inside. This was her show to begin with.
Evan was willing to step in and help both Sam and Hillary get some rest if need be.
The scene inside devolved into pure chaos within seconds of Valerie carrying the baby into the front room.
The house was jam-packed. There were Christmas decorations—up to and including a huge tree—and people and baby presents and noise and children, and Hillary began to sob—honest, hard sounds that Evan couldn’t bear.
“Hey.” He stepped up while Sam was whisked away by his mom. “You go on and rest, okay? When it’s time to feed her, we’ll get you up, but you just did that in the car, so we’re good for a few.”
She heaved for breath, but nodded, hugging her dog as she staggered off to the bedroom.
“Where is she going?” One of Sam’s sisters marched up, arms crossed. “She has presents and—”
“She’s exhausted,” Evan pointed out evenly.
“So is Sam. She has a whole trailer of presents out there she hasn’t had the energy to open, too.
” He glanced around, finding two teenaged boys.
“Luke. Dylan. I need you two to go unload the car. The trailer too, because I have to turn it in tomorrow. The presents can all go with the ones in here, and the suitcases can go in the laundry room. Anything else can go in the third bedroom until I have time to sort it.”
“Yessir!” The boys scrambled, so pleased to be able to get away.
“Aww…it’s hard, no? All the hormones inside. I’ll make hermanito a cup of coffee with chocolate milk in. You?”
“Me what?”
“How do you take your coffee?” She winked at him. “I’m Susan, by the way.”
Susan. Susan. “You teach weaving.”
“I do. I made a blanket for the baby. She’s going to love it.”
“I bet. Can you make Sam something without caffeine? He still hasn’t slept much. I’d like to send him to bed too.”
“Supuesto.” She grinned. “I’ll make a pot of decaf.”
“Then I’ll take some of that too.”
She disappeared into the kitchen, and he found Sam sitting in a pile of family all asking questions and trying to hold the baby.
She was frowning and wiggling, and Sam was starting to rumble a bit. They’d done the high-altitude simulation test before coming home, but still, this had to be hard for her little body.
“Evan.” Joe, Sam’s dad, waved to him.
“Joe. Do we have a humidifier? The baby’s going to need one. She’s going from wet sea-level to here.”
Joe nodded. “Me and Betty looked that up. We got one for the nursery, one for Sam’s room, one for Hillary’s room, and one for in here.”
“Good deal. Can we get that going now? If you’ll show me, I’ll do it.
Sam, let your mom hold her. I’ll keep an eye on things so you can go shower and get some sleep.
” He gave Sam a pleading glare, appealing to his good sense.
When everyone else left, Sam and Hils would need to take a shift with the baby.
“Yeah? You got her?” Valerie and Betty both shot him a glare, and Sam rolled his eyes. “You sure, guapo? This is a lot.”
“I got this.” He needed his trial by fire, didn’t he? And he was this baby’s vovo. He was going to do his part. “We’ll get her settled and quiet things down.”
Shit, this was what he did. If he could handle a group of twenty late-teen to early thirties athletes on a road trip, he could do this. Sam’s people were way less drunk and fueled by testosterone and dares.
Sam yawned and headed off without another argument, trusting in him to manage.
Betty glanced at him sideways. “He trusts you. I’ve never seen him trust anyone but Kacey that much, and they’re like brothers.”
He looked over to where Kacey was cooing at Natasha, his own infant sleeping while the twins played with any one of ten thousand nieces and nephews. “Well, I’m not feeling brotherly to him, but I’m glad he feels safe with me around. I want him to.”
“Sí. Sí, me too. There’s lots of food—casseroles and tamales, cookies and pies, and…everything.” She held her hands open. “I made some without chile for you, too.”
“You are a queen among women. I’ll work my way up to not-gringo food.” He pulled her into a hug, gently, because she was tiny.
“You’ll learn. I know. Thank you for taking care of them for me. They’re my babies.”
“They’re important to me too. I love Sam, and Hillary has really stolen my heart and that baby, oh my God.” He made a face at himself, but Betty got it, he could tell.
She laughed softly. “She’s everything, right?”
“They all are.” He shook his head and grinned. “Do you think it’s cool that she’s seeing all these people?”
She was only tiny, and this was a lot.
Betty nodded. “She’s healthy, even if she’s pequena. This is how it works. Todos somos familia.”
He didn’t have to speak Spanish to get that one. “We are all family. Miss Betty, I’m gonna need your help arranging all this stuff so I can—”
She waved one hand. “Call me Mama. Don’t worry; go rest with your man for a minute. We’ll take care of all of this.” Betty grinned at him, winking as Valerie squealed softly as Natasha did…something. “Her granny’s got her, and me, all of us. That little girl is safe as houses.”
He kissed her cheek, loving how she smelled like cinnamon. “Great, Mama, thank you.”
Evan didn’t ask again. He headed off to the bedroom, finding Sam there, curled in the bed.
He yawned; he didn’t need much, just a second to close his eyes. He kicked off his shoes, took off his jeans, and crawled in, still wearing a sweatshirt.
Sam immediately pulled him in, took a deep kiss— Evan wasn’t even sure the man was awake.
“So glad to be in our own bed, guapo. Love you, no?”
“I love you, too.”
They lay there, forehead to forehead, breathing each other’s air, and Evan was overwhelmed.
He had a lover. A grandbaby. A daughter. A home here in the mountains. He hadn’t asked for it, but he’d received it, like a gift.
And he was going to hold on with both hands.