“What? I love you, Baylor,” Lucy said quickly, but her sister-in-law was right. They weren’t close like she and Avery were, but that was mostly because Baylor was so driven to succeed and Lucy was a bitch. She was too busy trying to not hate life that she had never had time for anyone else.
Baylor waved her off. “No, I know you do. But I mean, we aren’t really close, close, and I want to change that,” she said, looking up as Jayden threw his hands in the air after scoring a goal. “I want you to know that I’ve always loved you, but I really love who you are now. When I first met you, I was honestly scared of you. Jayden and the boys all talked so roughly about you, how you hated everyone. But all I saw was someone who needed to be loved, and Benji is that for you. We are all so happy for you. All Jayden ever wanted was someone to love his sister. You know how he worries like an old lady.”
Lucy smirked, nodding her head. “Yeah.”
“We’re just so happy for you, and I feel like now that I’m retiring and stuff, I want to have a closer relationship with you. I’ve always considered you a sister, Lucy,” she said awkwardly, her lips curving as she sighed. “I’m not good at girls.”
Lucy laughed. Baylor was right; she had been playing and growing up with guys her whole life. She didn’t have many female relationships, and while Lucy really didn’t bother with them either, she would for Baylor. It was easy to see that she needed a friend. “No, it’s fine. And, yeah, I would love to be closer to you. I just adore you.”
“Thanks,” she said, leaning into her. “Can I tell you something? No one knows.”
Lucy’s brow quirked. “Oh, so we are doing this now. Yeah,” she teased and Baylor smiled as Lucy chuckled. “Tell away.”
Looking down, Baylor bit into her lip. “The reason why I’m retiring and everything is not only because I have a bum leg—let’s be honest, I could rehab that and figure out a way to be okay with being just okay—but I found out yesterday that I’m pregnant.”
Lucy’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“I know, crazy, right?”
“But you just had surgery!”
“I know, and I told them I wasn’t pregnant. The chick said she did a pee test and it came up not pregnant. But when they got back my full blood work, they called me in and told me I was.”
“Oh my God, is the baby okay?” Lucy asked, her heart pounding and Baylor shrugged.
“They said they think I’m good. I didn’t actually take any of the meds, ’cause I’m that asshole who doesn’t think they need pain medication. So that’s good. We saw its heartbeat. I haven’t told Jayden yet. I don’t want to disappoint him if I lose it.”
Lucy could only blink. “So this is real life?”
She smiled. “I’m eight weeks.”
“What the fuck? You never knew?”
“My periods have always been wonky, and I thought I was sick from the pain. And even though I only had the surgery meds, it still scares me that they could have affected the baby. But the doctors are going to monitor everything, and they don’t seem too worried. Crazy, right?”
“Um, yeah,” Lucy said, her eyes wide.
“And the thing is, I wasn’t upset when I found out. I always thought I would be mad because it wasn’t something I wanted. But then I love seeing Jayden with Angie and Ashlyn, and I love Angie and Ashlyn. I don’t know, I kinda want this baby no matter what it means for my career. And if for some reason I lose it, I think I want to try again.”
Lucy was completely speechless, but then she was bursting with excitement. “This is happening?”
Baylor smiled. “It is.”
“Then, hell yeah, let’s do it!” Lucy gushed before wrapping her arms around her sister-in-law and hugging her tightly. It was crazy and Lucy prayed that the baby would be healthy, but she knew Baylor and Jayden would be wonderful parents.
“What are you two hugging about?” Jayden asked as he came up against the boards.
Pulling back, Lucy grinned and shook her head. “Nothing.”
Baylor smiled as she looked up at Jayden. “Girl stuff.”
His face contorted in horror. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
As he skated off, they laughed, and Lucy was convinced that life couldn’t get better. Especially when Angie had Benji acting as if they were figure skaters, frolicking around the ice. When he lifted her and she kicked her toes, Lucy shook her head.
Her big and little dorks.
Her family.
“What if he proposes? Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
Lucy leaned into the closest person, Avery, and groaned at her overzealous mother. “Mom, Benji isn’t proposing!”
“But y’all didn’t exchange gifts,” she pointed out as Claire did her makeup. Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Because we are doing it at home tonight with Angie, since you insisted that Santa came to your house,” she said, holding Ashlyn close to her. They had done their Christmas morning celebration that morning and it was wonderful. She loved being with her family, but what made it ten times better was that everyone loved Benji. They treated him just like family, and she couldn’t have been happier. While, yeah, she and Benji hadn’t exchanged gifts, and they were waiting to go home for Angie to open hers from them, she knew he wasn’t proposing.