Magnolia
The party is in full swing. Snacks have been made, punch has been poured, and the living room is filled with everyone I love. Candi and Rick arrived with Ivy a couple hours ago, and she screamed with delight when she saw the giant gorilla sitting in the corner.
Ivy isn’t quite walking on her own yet, but she’s strong enough to pull herself up to stand and uses the furniture, walls, and whoever is near to guide herself around the room.
Since she learned to do that, she hasn’t wanted to sit still, and it isn’t long before she beelined for the pile of presents in the corner, grabby hands wanting to tear into the paper to see what’s inside.
Nana arrived with my parents, and Lukas made sure to park himself next to her, waiting on her every need.
She’s been doing well since her surgery, and she’s moving around without a walker.
Lukas knows as well as I do that she doesn’t truly need him to wait on her hand and foot, but we both also know how much he loves it.
With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, I lean against the doorframe, taking in the people who came to celebrate such a sweet girl.
Holly waves her hand in the air to catch my attention, and when I look over, she scoots to the side of the couch, ushering for me to come sit next to her.
With soft steps, I carefully maneuver around the mound of presents, careful not to step on any fingers or toes as I make my way to the couch. Curling my feet underneath me, I relax next to Holly, her own cup of coffee in hand.
“How are you holding up?” she asks, gesturing to my third refill.
“I think the excitement is helping keep me awake, but once the party dies down and the sugar rush from the cake disappears, I’m going to need to sneak away for a nap.”
She nods in agreement before glancing across the room, her eyes following Grayson.
He’s already watching her, his normally unreadable expression a little softer this time. And when he thinks no one is watching, he winks at her, her corresponding smile almost making me blush as well.
“How is wedding planning going?”
Her eyes dart to face me. “Going well. We’re getting married here at the farm, actually, this coming fall. We hope you can make it.”
A wedding in the backyard would be incredible. Grayson’s mom and grandma have perfected their flower gardens. With the lush fields serving as a backdrop and the green grass at their feet, it’d be the most picturesque setting.
“I’d love to.” And I mean it, but the season starts mid-September, and once we are in full swing, I’m back to the distance.
Back to a lonely life. Back to missing most family holidays and birthdays.
There’s a stinging behind my eyes, but I brush it off, telling myself it’s the sleep deprivation mixed with the overwhelming emotions at seeing Lukas and our families.
“Should we let her start tearing into presents?” Lukas asks Candi, who nods in response.
She crosses the room, reaching for Ivy just as she was about to pull a candy bowl off the table. Ivy starts to protest as she’s lifted, but then Candi peppers her cheek with kisses, and Ivy squeals, squirming with delight.
Candi sits on the floor next to Lukas with Ivy atop her legs. Pops brings some of the presents closer to them, piling them up beside Lukas.
Rick has his phone out, camera ready to take pictures. A smile on all their collective faces as they stare down at their little girl.
She reaches for the first present from the pile—a medium-sized box wrapped in glittery pink paper.
“That’s mine,” Harper says as Ivy tears into the paper.
Lukas helps her with the harder parts, pulling out his pocketknife to cut open the taped sides.
The flaps fall open, and Ivy glances inside.
Her little hands dart in, and after a few seconds of fumbling, she pulls out the softest gray and black goat, immediately bringing it to her face and hugging it tightly.
“Aww, Harper, that’s adorable,” Candi says, and the room murmurs their agreement.
“I figured she needed to start her goat obsession early.”
“I think one goat lover in the family is enough, don’t you think?” Theo teases. Harper reaches a hand out to playfully slap his side, but he twists, and her hand barely misses him.
“One of her dads is a rancher, and the other is a vet. I think there are going to be a lot of goats in her future, Theo.” Harper sticks her tongue out at him, but my eyes fall to Lukas, seeing if her comment upset him at all.
I know he’s grateful for the relationship he has with Candi and Rick.
They rely on each other to raise Ivy while still working to keep some of their routine and sanity.
But I can also tell how sad it makes him that he doesn’t get to have her with him every night.
And eventually, when she’s older, he might have to go a few nights in a row without having her at his place, depending on her schedule.
That tingling is back again, and I inhale sharply through my nose to pull it together.
“This one’s nice,” Pops says, pulling another package from the top of the pile and handing it to Ivy.
Lukas holds it out for her, letting her tear open the smaller box on top first. He flips the present to the other side, looking for a name.
“That one is from me,” I whisper, and he smiles. The look in his eyes is so heated it almost seems inappropriate for a child’s birthday party.
“It’s a two-parter, both things that I hope you and Ivy can share.”
His brow furrows at that, and I run my thumb along my mug of coffee, suddenly nervous that there are nearly two dozen people witnessing this.
One of the presents was something I had started working on long ago, long before Lukas and I broke up.
It was something I wanted to give to him one day but never got the chance to.
The pieces of it sat in my closet for months and months.
Sometimes, I’d take them out and look them over, tossing around the idea of just throwing it away.
But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and I wonder if some part deep inside knew that I’d get my chance.
Ivy opens the first small box, ripping out the tissue and finding a pink baseball glove with white lacing along the sides. A foam ball rolls out of it, and she reaches for the ball with her left hand, immediately tossing it over to Theo.
“Looks like you got a lefty, Lukas,” Theo says, leaning down. He playfully throws the ball underhand back to Ivy, and she picks it up with both hands, bringing it to her mouth for a slobbery taste.
“I can work with that.” He smiles, and then his gaze falls to the longer present.
He and Ivy open that one together, and when she tears the paper off the front and he gets a good look at what’s inside, he falls quiet.
The soft smile that had been on his face before falls, and his brows twist together ever so softly.
Aaaand this is why I should have done this one in private.
“What is it, Lukas?” his mom asks, and he doesn’t answer.
He pushes the rest of the paper off so he can see, and when Pops leans over his shoulder, he smiles, a hand coming up to squeeze Lukas’s shoulder.
“It’s me,” he whispers.
Candi leans over to look at it, and a soft gasp leaves her lips. “That’s incredible.”
“I had been collecting news articles of Lukas’s baseball career when he was with the Blackwater Crows,” I share with the room.
“There are some newspaper clippings, photos of him on the mound, stats I found on the website.” I had a custom frame made that commemorates his time with the team.
Lukas doesn’t talk about his baseball career anymore.
After his injury, he shut out that part of his life.
His family knows it upsets him, so they don’t bring it up.
He hasn’t so much as tossed around a ball with his brothers, and I worry that if Ivy doesn’t grow up learning about that side of him, she’ll miss out on learning how cool her dad is.
“I want Ivy to know about that part of your life,” I tell Lukas and everyone around. His eyes finally flick up to mine, and I can see the unshed tears fighting for control.
“You did something amazing, Lukas. You got to live out a dream that not many people get to do, even if it wasn’t for as long as you wanted.
So, this present is for both her and for you.
For both of you to talk about some day. You can tell her about your games, about taking your team to the championship for the first time in years.
And maybe you can throw the ball around with her, see if she inherited some of your baseball genes.
” The last few words come out shaky, but Lukas smiles with his watery gaze locked on mine.
“Thanks, Mags.”
Candi reaches for the frame, and he hands it over. Rick leans over her shoulder to glance at it just as Lukas pushes himself to stand.
He takes two long strides to reach me, and the expression on his face is nearly unreadable. But when he reaches me, he leans down with a fist pressed to the back of the couch for balance, and he kisses me. Hard.
My hands come up to grip his cheeks—PDA be damned.
I hear a low whistle, and while one would think it’s Theo whistling, the feminine undertone tells me it’s Nana hooting at us.
“Thank you, baby,” he rasps, and he leans his forehead against mine, both to steady himself and to halt the tears threatening to fall. “Thank you.”