Chapter 18 #2
Adelaide’s eyes sparkled as she took in Carmen’s warmth. She squatted down to the little girl’s level. “Hola, soy Adelaide. ?Cómo te llamas?”
The girl beamed at Adelaide, stepping toward her. “Me llamo Maya.” Maya fingered one of Adelaide’s bracelets, her eyes trailing up toward her earrings.
Adelaide fell into soft conversation with the girl, showing her the jewelry and letting her try on one of the bangles.
Carmen came around to my side. “And this is Valeria,” she said, pinching the baby’s rosy cheeks. “I was going to have the girls stay home with our nanny tonight, but then Maya heard that her pápi’s friends would be here. The child can never resist meeting new people.”
“Ah, so just like her dad, then.” I chuckled, thinking of the years in prep school when Anton had begged Knox and me to join him at parties, which he somehow managed to attend without disrupting his grades or his training schedule.
Carmen smirked. “Sí, just like him. Sofía will come by later to take them home so I can enjoy the second half of the game without being on mamá duty.” She shifted the baby on her hip.
“Actually, Anton and I would like to invite you both to stay with us tonight,” she said.
“Our housekeeper will have a light meal prepared when we get home, and Anton has a bottle of sherry he’s been looking for an excuse to open.
” She nodded toward Faxon at his place by the suite’s door.
“We have an extensive security system set up on the property; we can get your team in touch with ours if they’d like to review our security measures.
I’m sure you’re tired of hotel rooms, and we’d love to get to know Adelaide better. ”
Adelaide placed a hand on Carmen’s arm. “That is a lovely invitation, thank you so much. We certainly wouldn’t want to put you out, though.”
“Not at all, it would be our pleasure,” Carmen assured.
Adelaide’s eyes met mine. I could tell that we were both thinking that staying in a home after days of hotels would be a welcome change. “Then count us in,” I said. “I’ll let Faxon know and he can liaise with your team.”
Carmen’s eyes lit up. “Wonderful! If you’d like, you can ride with me after the game. Anton will have to stay to shower and do some quick press stuff and will meet us back at the house.”
After communicating the plan to Faxon, we settled into our seats, Adelaide beside me with Maya in her lap, just as the teams’ starting lineups were introduced.
Adelaide reached over to help Carmen juggle her drink as she got Valeria adjusted on her lap. “How old is she?” Adelaide asked, inclining her head toward Valeria.
“Ten months,” Carmen answered, taking her glass back from Adelaide with a grateful smile.
Adelaide’s eyes narrowed, a sign she was doing some quick calculating in her head. “She’s probably starting to pull herself up, right? Has she said her first words yet?”
Carmen nodded, handing Valeria a baby biscuit to teeth on. “Yes, I think she’ll likely be walking soon. And she said ‘Mámi’ for the first time just a couple of weeks ago! Do you have nieces and nephews?”
Adelaide shook her head. “No, but I am a kindergarten teacher and took several child development classes in university.”
The cheers of the fans erupted into a deafening roar as Anton, Madrid’s midfielder, was announced.
“That’s my pápi,” Maya stated proudly, pointing down at the field. “People say he’s the king of the field.”
“He sure is,” Adelaide answered. She gestured toward me. “Did you know Oliver is the king of Wexstone?”
Maya surveyed me. “Does he get his name on a shirt?”
I hummed thoughtfully. “No, I don’t believe anyone has put my name on the back of a team shirt yet.”
“My pápi sounds cooler, then,” the little girl replied with a shrug.
“Maya!” Carmen scolded, her face flushing with embarrassment.
Adelaide grinned. “Don’t think anything of it. Honestly, it’s good to see someone keeping him humble.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Tough crowd.”
The first half of the game started slow but heated up as Bayern Munich scored in the twenty-ninth minute. The Bayern supporters in the stadium cheered as many of the Madrid fans surged to our feet in outrage.
“He was clearly offside!” I yelled at the referee who could not hear me.
Adelaide leaned to me as I sat back down. “Time for another embarrassing admission: I’ve never really understood what offsides means,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
I laughed and put my arm around her, pulling her in close.
“Offside, singular. Basically, it means that there needs to be a defending player other than the goalkeeper between the goal and the attacking player when the pass is made. But you see that Bayern player who scored the goal, number twelve? He was clearly closer to the goal than Madrid’s players were; only the keeper was closer to the goal. ”
Adelaide nodded with a low hum. “Makes sense.”
I raised an eyebrow. The offside rule was one of the trickiest aspects of football to understand. “Does it?”
“Eh.” She shrugged.
I snorted. “Do you see now how the play has paused and the ref is looking at that screen and talking on his headset?” I pointed, showing her where I was looking.
“The footage is being reviewed. And—” I paused as the ref made the call and the Madrid fans all cheered in unison.
“Ahh, see! They determined it was offside, so no goal.”
“They can just look at the footage after and change the call?”
I shook my head. “Don’t get me started on VAR technology. It’s so complicated that I’m not sure anyone really understands it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if things get a bit heated from here on out.”
“I’ll admit that I underestimated the sport. I have pretty studiously avoided all things related to athletics up until now, but there’s a lot more nuance than I thought.”
I laughed. “Just wait until I teach you about rugby scrums.”
Carmen rose, shifting Valeria back to her hip. “Mámi is going to use the restroom, I’ll be right back. You stay here with Adelaide and Oliver,” she said to Maya, who barely spared her a glance as she admired Adelaide’s manicure.
“I can hold the baby for you while you go,” I said, standing and holding out my hands.
“Are you sure?” she asked. I didn’t miss the hopeful edge in her voice.
“Positive.” She passed Valeria to me, who gave me a skeptical look but did not protest me holding her. I sat back down, positioning the baby sideways onto my lap so she could still see her sister.
Valeria babbled happily at Maya and Adelaide but continued to side-eye me. This dynamic soon had Adelaide in a fit of giggles.
“She really isn’t sure about you at all, is she?”
“I am obviously a very suspicious individual.” I tried bouncing my knee, hoping that would placate her. Instead, she turned to fully face me, opened her mouth, and spit up all over my shirt.
“Oh, all right then!” I exclaimed in surprise as Adelaide’s giggles devolved into full-on hysterics, Maya joining in with her own high-pitched laughter.
“I suppose she told you, huh?” Adelaide managed to calm down enough to say. We both looked at the baby, who was now grinning widely at Adelaide again, a single bottom tooth breaking up her gummy smile.
“?Dios mío, qué pasó?” Carmen asked as she returned and took in the scene before her: Adelaide, Maya, and Valeria giggling, and me covered in baby spit up.
I lifted Valeria back to her mother. “I guess she took umbrage with my shirt, though I tried to explain that it has her dad’s number on the back,” I answered matter-of-factly.
Carmen blushed furiously. “Oliver, I am so sorry!” She started digging in her bag and passed me a pack of baby wipes. “I’ll go speak to one of the staff and have them bring you a new shirt.”
I shook my head as I used a wipe to clean up. “Don’t fret over it. She’s a baby, it happens.”
As I changed into a new shirt, my prediction about the game proved correct as it became more and more heated leading up to halftime.
During the break, the girls’ nanny appeared and scooped them up to take them home, with Maya promising to show Adelaide her favorite toys in the morning.
The rest of the game passed quickly. Madrid was able to come back to win by one point, resulting in thunderous cheers and a resounding celebratory chorus of “?Hala Madrid!…y nada más” as the home crowd poured out of the stadium.
Carmen led us through a private exit to their car, Faxon following in our wake as he communicated via his headset with the rest of our security team.
Adelaide smiled at me, her expression a bit drowsy, slipping her hand into mine and leaning her head against my shoulder as we wove through the streets of Madrid to my friends’ home.
“Did you enjoy your first football match?” I asked, my lips brushing the top of her head.
She nodded, squeezing my hand. “I did, very much. Maybe I can be a Sporty Spice after all.”
I chuckled, moving my arm around her shoulders and tucking her against my side. “I guess miracles do happen, then.”