Love to Love You Baby
* * *
Keely sat on the floor of Candy’s room, watching as the baby, lying on her belly, tried her best to lift her rear end in the air and move forward toward her favorite rattle.
Candy tried, she really did, but then she got frustrated as her nose hit the carpet one time too many, and she began to cry. Keely scooped her up, held her close. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” she said, giving her the rattle, “you’ll grow up soon enough, and be crawling, and walking, and running....”
“And driving a car,” Jack said as he leaned against the doorjamb. “And if that isn’t enough to turn both our heads gray, I don’t know what is. Let’s just keep her little forever, okay?”
Keely smiled up at him, looking closely to see if he was all right, if he had survived the afternoon without harm. “Are they gone now? All of them? I’m sorry I bailed on you, but when Lester ran out and Cecily started screaming at Joey, and Joey started screaming back at her—well, I had to get out of there.”
“You aren’t used to family fights, are you?” Jack asked, sitting down cross-legged beside her. “We had some doozies over the years. I’d sort of forgotten Uncle Guido’s temper but sure remembered it today when Joey and Cecily started going at it. I’m just sorry you had to see all of that.”
“She wasn’t anything like I’d imagined.”
“She wasn’t anything like anything I’d imagined. Silly, dizzy, airheaded Cecily. I think I liked her better that way. But it was all an act, all of it. All those years. It probably explains why Aunt Flo was always making excuses for her. Cecily, the poor little girl without a brain in her head. We all were always making allowances for her, giving her anything she wanted. Kind of blows your mind, doesn’t it?”
“Kind of makes me like Joey better. I guess he had to get a little nuts himself, just to get your aunt’s attention,” Keely said, shrugging. “But they’re both gone now?”
Jack nodded his head. “But not before both of them gave up custody. Joey’s custody of Sweetness—his contract, you know—and Cecily’s custody of Candy. Ms. Peters had all the papers for Cecily to sign, and then doctored one of them for Sweetness. Great lady, Ms. Peters. Petra says she’d get it framed for him, but Sweetness headed back to Bayonne with Joey. Petra thinks she’s talked him into going to trade school. Seems Sweetness wants to be a chef.”
“That’s nice,” Keely said, wiping at her moist eyes, for she’d noticed that Jack might be talking to her, but he was looking at Candy. Staring at Candy. “I can’t believe it’s over. Did you talk to Jimmy?”
“I did. We have to apply for permanent custody, still jump through a bunch of legal hoops, but both Jimmy and Ms. Peters say we’re in good shape. With any luck, we can officially adopt Candy in about six months. Have her name changed to Mary Margaret Trehan, the whole nine yards.”
He lay back on the floor, his knees bent, put his hands on his head. “God. It’s over. What a day. Was there ever another one like it? We had it all—the good, the bad, the really ugly. I can’t believe it’s over.”
“Da! Da-da-da!” Candy chirped, and Keely lifted her onto Jack’s stomach, so that the baby could lean forward and play I-I by pressing her head against his chest.
“Oh, God,” Jack said, wrapping his arms around Candy’s chubby little body. His eyes closed as his bottom lip trembled, and he suddenly jackknifed to a sitting position and buried his face against Candy’s curls.
Keely put her arms around both of them and began to rock, crying with Jack, then laughing with him as Candy squirmed and squealed, trying to break free of these two blubbering fools who were holding her too tight.
Jack leaned over, kissed Keely, then helped her to her feet. “You know, I can remember crying four times in my life. When my parents died, the day I announced my retirement from the Yankees, and now today. Except, today, I’m feeling wonderful. I’ve got you, we’ve got Candy, and we have a whole long, wonderful life in front of us. Two months ago, I thought my life was as good as over.”
With Jack holding Candy high against his chest, they walked toward the back stairs and went down to the kitchen, where Aunt Sadie, Petra, and Tim were sitting at the table, munching on take-out pizza.
“Let me rephrase what I said upstairs,” Jack said, shaking his head. “I’ve got you, Candy, Sadie, Tim, and one wise-mouthed teenager. My world is complete.”
“Except for Mort,” Tim said around a mouthful of pizza. “He left right after you gave your conditional okay to the deal. I think he’s going to be able to fly back to New York without a plane, he’s that jazzed.”
“Deal?” Keely asked. “What deal? Why’s Mort jazzed? Do we like it when Mort’s jazzed? Talk to me, Jack. Jack—you really have to learn to talk to me.”
“Here, I’ve got to go talk to the woman. I’m not making that mistake anymore.” Jack handed Candy to Petra, then took Keely’s hand and led her toward the back door. “I’m not giving a final yes to anything until I talk to you, but, well, darling, just like I said upstairs, all in all, it’s been a rather full day around here....”
Epilogue
Ya gotta believe.
— Tug McGraw
Keely was standing at the living-room window, watching for Jack’s Corvette to pull into the drive in front of the house.
She would have gone to New York with him, as she’d done ever since their marriage, but Candy’d had another baby shot that afternoon and Keely wanted to stay home with her. The baby had been fussy for a little while, but she’d been asleep now for hours, and Keely had gotten to watch all of the game on television.
She pulled back the floor-length white sheers as headlights flashed in the darkness, breathed a sigh of relief because she was still the worrywart Jack called her, then walked into the foyer to meet the conquering hero as he came in the door.
“You were wonderful,” she told Jack, slipping her arms around his neck, lifting her face for his kiss.
Jack grinned at her, put his arm around her waist as, together, they walked into the kitchen. “I was good, wasn’t I? And they liked the baseball quote I used tonight. You heard it? The Drysdale quote? They want me to use as many of them as I want. Tim and I have been collecting them for years.”
“That’s what the color man does, isn’t it?” Keely asked, taking two cans of soda from the refrigerator and putting them on the table. “Chris does the play-by-play and you add the color—the human interest, the explanations of how it feels to be staring down the league’s leading hitter in the top of the ninth, the count three and two, the tying run on third with two out.”
Jack grinned at her. “That’s exactly what I do,” he agreed, hooking his foot under the chair leg, pulling it out so that she sat down at the table with him. “Three months of this, and I still can’t believe it. Me, Jack Trehan, television color man for the Yankees. You know,” he said, propping his chin on his hand as he leaned his elbow on the table, “I think Mort was right—I was born to do this. I really was. What bugged me about retiring was being away from the game, not knowing what to do with the rest of my life. Except that we go out to the coast next week. I’m going to miss you and Candy. Are you sure you can’t come along? I know you’re busy with the shop, but maybe Jean can cover for you? You said she’s a great assistant.”
“Well...” Keely said, tracing a small pattern with her fingertips on Jack’s forearm. “I did ask the pediatrician today about the idea of taking Candy on such a long flight, and he said it would be fine. Although I guess we couldn’t travel on the team plane.”
Jack stood up, took her hands as he pulled her to her feet. “We’ll travel in a commercial jet. Hell, we’ll take one of those small jets if we have to, if you promise to hold my hand and keep telling me air flight in small planes is possible.”
“Ah-ah, don’t say hell, Jack. You know how Candy’s beginning to pick up new words.”
“And you think saying heck is better? My wife, the new queen of darn and heck and gee-whiz. Motherhood has changed you, Keely. And I l
ike it.”
“You love it,” Keely all but purred, going up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. It’s been a long day, driving back and forth from New York.”
“If you’re trying to find out just how sleepy I am, sweetheart, all you’ve got to do is ask,” Jack told her as he followed her up the stairs.
She stopped on the top step, turned, put her hands on his shoulders. How she loved this man. “Okay. How tired are you, Mr. Sportscaster?”
And then she buried her face against his chest, hoping her delighted squeals wouldn’t wake their daughter, as Jack gathered her in his arms and headed toward their bedroom.
The End
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Kasey Michaels
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Find out how Jack’s twin brother, Tim Trehan, finds his own true love in
BE MY BABY TONIGHT by Kasey Michaels.
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BE MY BABY TONIGHT
Book Two in The Brothers Trehan Series
Excerpt