Tim nods thoughtfully before wrapping me up in a hug.
“Ryan,” Abigale beams when Tim moves on to giving his daughter some attention. “About time.”
I hug the woman who I’ve spent every Tuesday afternoon Facetiming for months. “I didn’t know you two were flying in tonight.”
“We were supposed to come in a few weeks, but then Indy told us about the house and the party, so we changed our trip. The house is lovely, Ryan. Nice work.”
She signs her words for her husband as she speaks before patting my chest like we’re old friends, and honestly, I feel like we are. The Ivers all do a hell of a job at making those around them feel comfortable and welcome.
Indy’s hand slides into mine as we show her parents around our new home.
Tim has kept his signs slow and clear for me as we chat. I’m still so new that Indy and her mom translate for me when needed, but there are multiple times I’m able to communicate with him entirely on my own.
There’s a burst of pride and achievement that rattles through me when our conversation flows without help, and I look forward to the day when I’m fluent.
He signs again, but I’m not able to catch his entire question. I recognize the signs for win and game. But there’s one sign that Tim makes that I’ve never seen before.
It looks similar to the sign for protect, but on his dominant hand, his index and middle fingers are crossed like the letter “R”.
“Oh,” Indy squeaks out. She swallows thickly. “Yes, Ryan won his game.”
She signs back to her dad while speaking and again I see that same unknown sign, but recognize it used in place of the fingerspelling of my name.
Tim turns to me, points, then signs the word protect again with his fingers creating the letter “R” at the same time. He points at me again.
“I’m Ryan?” I ask, using his sign for my name.
He nods, smiling.
Abigale leans her head on Tim’s shoulder as she looks at me.
“Is that my sign name?” I ask him to the best of my ability.
“Yes.”
Words stick in my throat, so I simply nod, sign, and mouth, “Thank you.”
“No. Thank you.”
He doesn’t have to say anything else. I know what it means. Thank you for protecting my daughter, for loving my daughter. But later tonight, I’ll hopefully be the one saying thank you right after I ask for his blessing to marry his daughter.
It was the first question I learned to sign, so you could say I’ve been practicing it for a while.
Grabbing a Sharpie from my gym bag, I find Rio sitting on the back porch with my sister, Zanders, Kai, and his son Max.
“Okay, what am I signing?”
His head snaps to mine, green eyes sparkling with excitement. “For real?”
“You let my girl crash at your place, you took care of her, and got her out here. It’s the least I can do.”
Rio shrugs casually, attempting to play it cool as if he hasn’t been thinking about this moment since I first met him. “I don’t really have anything on me to sign.”
“No? All right, well, I tried.”
“Wait! I have two jerseys and a poster in the car. I also have an old Wheaties cereal box that you were on.” He quickly stands from his seat. “Do not put that pen away!”
The rest of us can’t help but laugh, watching his dark curls bounce with him as he sprints through the house, dodging my teammates to make it to the front door.
“That’s my teammate,” Zanders says with a weird sense of pride.
Stealing his chair, I take a seat in the circle of Kai, Zanders, and my sister, completely and utterly at peace.
“You’re happy.” Stevie smiles softly. “It looks good on you, Ry.”
I rest my head back, letting the sounds of Ethan’s kids playing in the backyard and my teammates having a good time fill my ears. “I am. This is everything I didn’t know I could have.”
Looking through the back door, I find Indy refilling more drinks and that girl could not look more excited to be hosting a get together in her very own home.
“Indy is happy too, yeah?” I don’t know why I feel the need to ask, I guess I just like to hear the confirmation.
“She’s been so excited, planning tonight for you. You should’ve seen her the last three days, Ryan.”
“And if we happen to have lost?”
“She was having a party regardless. There probably would’ve been a bit more booze involved though.”
Ethan and Annie join our group.
“The house looks incredible, Ryan,” Annie says.
“It was all Indy.”
“The girls love it out here.” Ethan nods towards the backyard where his three daughters haven’t stopped chasing each other since they got here.
“You guys should make the move out here. Get out of the city. This town has a great school district.”
Annie’s brow raises. “A great school district? Why have you looked at that, huh?”
I shrug.
“Ryan Shay, is Indy pregnant?”
“Not yet.”
Ethan stills. “Not yet?!”
I pop my shoulders. “We’re trying.”
I catch Stevie’s eye at that, and across the way, her lips lift in a soft smile. I don’t have to say it. Our twin brains can communicate with a simple look that I don’t want to miss out on raising a family right alongside her.
“I’m moving out of the condos too,” Kai announces. “I just bought a house.”
All eyes shoot to him as Max sleeps soundly on his chest.
“You did?”
“Max is getting bigger. He’s going to be walking soon, and with baseball season starting, I’m going to need way more help. We were outgrowing the condo.”
“Ann, we should move out here,” Ethan says. “The girls would love it.”
“How about you retire and then we can move?”
Ethan looks to me. “This one is on you, Ryan. I’m going to need you to get me that championship ring so I can hang it up for good.”
I cheers his bottle with my own. “Let’s do it.”
As the conversation continues to flow around me, I watch Indy chat with my teammates and the Morgans. She does another loop around the house. My confident girlfriend has no issue barging into the small circles of basketball players hanging out in her house to see if they need anything else.
“Ind!” I call out as she passes by the open back doors. “Come sit with me.”
She drops what she’s doing to come outside and take a seat across my lap. Bringing her knees up to her chest, I wrap her up, hoping to keep her warm in that little dress.
“Can I help you with anything?” I whisper.
She shakes her head before dropping it to my shoulder. “I’m having so much fun.”
“Me too.”
She looks up at me. “Yeah?”
I nod. “Thank you for planning this for me.”
“I’m happy that you’re happy.”
“I’m happy that we’re happy.”
Indy and I might be opposites, but we’re more alike than I initially thought. We care about those we love. She’s nurturing and I’m protective, but it all comes down to a common denominator— we love hard.
She swings her arms over my shoulders as we get back to the conversation between our family and friends.
“Kai, when do you leave for spring training?” she asks.
“We’re headed to Arizona next week.”