Everlasting Love (Now & Forever) (4 page)

Eric dropped to his knees in front of her. “Emily Stone. You are the strongest person I know, that’s why I’m marrying you. What you are doing is the bravest thing I know. You are doing fine Baby, if o
ur parents give you a hard time,
then
you need to let me know. I will have a word with them. She is our daughter and we will raise her how we see fit.”

Emily man
aged to smile through her tears.
“Eric, it’s so tough. My mom was right, I’m wondering if we are in over our heads with her.”

Eric grabbed her hands
.
“Emily, I can’t say I understand what you are going through, believe me, I have no idea. I’m here and can do what I want and you are there with school and Emma. I wish I could do more to help you,” he said standing up and walking back towards the window. “Emily, I’m frustrated too. Not only do I feel like I’m not doing enough for you and Emma, but I’m missing out on everything. I’m going to miss all her firsts. She doesn’t know me like she knows you. I see it in her eyes when I’m home. She doesn’t know I’m her father.”

Emily stood up and walked ov
er to him and turned him around.
“Eric, she know
s. I’m always talking about you,
showing her pictures of us all the time. She’s only a year old, Sweetheart. You will have all the time in the world to get to know her better.”

Eric sighed.
“Maybe we made the wrong decision sticking with college and maybe I should be home with you.”

“No, no, no!” Emily shook her head.
“You are going to make your dreams come true. Believe me, all I hear about is how wonderful you are by every single person in town.”

Eric looked dumbfounded
.
“Really?”

“Oh yeah, I’m stopped by everyone wanting to tell me about your future career. I think your dad is starting a campaign around town because everyone seems to know all about you.”

Eric wrapped his arms around her. “Emily, I’m sorry. You are the one who deserves all the praise. Not me.”

Emily laid her head against his chest and finally felt herself relax and enjoy being with him. “You know, we are alone right now and it’s been a long time.”

Eric smirked at her
. “Yeah, it has been Gorgeous.
” He traced his fingers down her back and slowly cupped her backside. She moaned feeling his excitement as her fingers slid up his bare chest and over his shoulders. Her eyes met his as they darkened. Even though it had been awhile, she knew that look very well. As his lips approached hers, he whispered softly, “You are all mine.”

Lying in his bed later on, the sun had gone down and they were just en
joying being with each other.
“Eric, I heard your phone conversation when I came into the room earlier
. W
hat was that about?”

He didn’t say anything at first. He just kept staring at the wall.
“It was nothing, just one of my teammates.”

“I know you pretty well, and
that didn’t sound like nothing. P
lease talk to me.”

Eric got out of the bed, walked over and grabbed his sweatpants. He sat quietly in his chair and just watched Emily for
a moment before saying anything.
“Last week, after the game, all the guys went out to a house party. I decided that I would tag along because lately I’ve been getting harassed about not being a team player because I refuse to party and I’m always thinking about Emma and you. Anyway, there were a bunch of drunken girls and they were all over me.” Emily froze as she gripped the sheet tighter around herself. She hoped she wasn’t about to hear something that she couldn’t forgive him for, not with a baby at home that she rearranged her whole life for to take care of every day.

Eric saw her face
.
“Emily, I swear to God, I didn’t want to be there. I was only there to shut up my teammates. These girls just wouldn’t give up. They knew who I was and they were taking wagers on who would crack me first.”

Emily kept staring at him
.
“And?”

Eric got up and sat next to her on the bed
.
“They wouldn’t let me leave
.
I kept telling them I have a fiancée at home but it seemed to turn them on more. Like that upped the ante so they were more insistent.”

Emily played with her engagement ring as she listene
d to his story. H
er
stomach started to feel uneasy. "Eric, what happened?" S
he whispered.

He sighed as he grabbed her hand
.
"One of them kissed me and I tried to get her off of me as fast as I could but everyone was cheering her on. When I finally got her off of me, I got the hell out of there. All my teammates were screaming at me to get back in there and man up."

Emily quickly got out of bed and started to put on her shorts and t-shirt. "So, while I'm home, taking care of our baby, you are out at parties and having people bet on who can get you to bed faster?"

Eric quickly got
up and put his arms around her.
"No, I'm here missing you guys all the time, waiting for my phone to ring to hear about our daughter's day. I'm here struggling with the fact that I can't be with you every single day and every single hour."

Emily started to tear up
.
"You don't unde
rstand, do you? I gave up
this
world because we wanted to keep our child. But, I feel like you are having all the fun and I'm home changing dirty diapers and dealing with Emma's every day needs."

Eric just stared at her
.
"Emily, this is for our future, so
we can provide our daughter with
the best of everything as you always tell me. I'm not here messing around on you and believe me the opportunities are there!"

“Coming here was obviously a mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking," she said as she started to gather the rest of her things. "I think I will head home tonight."

Eric grabbed her arm.
"No way am I letting you drive home tonight, Emily. Are you kidding me? I love you more than anything in this world. I didn't cheat on you."

"But apparently you
could have any girl you wanted. Y
ou just said so yourself!" Emily said removing her arm from his grasp.

Eric sighed
.
"I didn't mean that. I only want you, Gorgeous. You have to believe that and if you don't, I will take you to some of my teammates and they will explain how much I hate going out with them."

Emily looked up at him. "Ok. I'm sorry for overreacting. But, you don't understand how much I hate being in that house sometimes. I see you fulfilling your dreams and I have to hear about Sam's sex life, while I’m living with my mom and raising a child. I'm a kid too but I can't act like one because we have a one year old at home that I have to take care of. Maybe our parents were right, this was too much to handle this early in our lives."

Eric hugged her and held her close
.
"Emma is our life. Look around my room, there are pictures of the two of you everywhere. Emily, it hurts me too that I can't be there for you. Believe me, it sucks! I don't want to be a deadbeat parent either
.
I want our daughter to know me like she knows you. I know you are sacrificing your social life right now but I'm sacrificing my connection with our daughter."

"You’re right. You are absolutely right. I'm sorry about that Eric," she said hugging him tight, while looking up at him. "Kiss me."

********************

By the time Eric made it home for Emma’s second birthday, all the talk had to do with Eric’s football career. He would be entering his senior year of college and everyone was focused on Eric and the draft.

Emily had to pick up a summer class due to a failing math grade because Emma was fighting a flu bug during the year. Her parents tried to be there to help but it was hard to focus on anything but her sick child and Emily was still struggling.

As soon as Eric came home for the summer, Emily took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on school work. She spent her days in the library while Eric got to know their daughter better. Even though she wasn’t crazy about taking summer classes, it was nice to be able to focus on one thing, knowing that Emma was getting to spend time with her
Daddy
.

Emily returned home after school on
e
day and headed upstairs to their bedroom. As she approached the door, she heard Eric talking to Emma.

“I know I’m never here
Emma
,
but I think about you and
Mommy
all the time. I’m so afraid that you don’t know who I am and that I’m missing out on so much of your life already.”

As Emily listened to their conversation her heart started to break but she couldn’t walk
away
either.

“You are my little girl and always will be. When you start dating, I’m going to do a background check on every single guy that comes knocking on our door. Oh Baby Girl, our lives are about to change, I feel it. I’m so nervous about the upcoming draft. Your
Daddy
wants to go in the first round so badly.”

“
Daddy
, I love you.”

“I love you too, Emma. I love you so much,” he said grabbing her and putting her on his lap and hugging her.

Emily dropped her book bag and leaned against the wall
. S
he knew how important this talk was and didn’t want to interrupt them.

Eric got up and put Emma on the floor with him as t
hey played with her teddy bears.
“One day in the near future, I’m going to buy your
Mommy
the biggest house and she could have a whole room just to paint and draw. She’s so talented, Emma. She has given that all up just to take care of you. I want to give her the world, Sweetie. She has sacrificed more than I have to make my dreams come true and I’m going to repay her and you one day.”

“I live in big house too?”

Eric laughed. “Of course you will! We are a family, Emma. You are going to have a room just for you and all your toys. I’m going to give you a big yard to play in too so you can have tea parties with all your friends.”

“Yay! Tea parties!” Emma exclaimed.

Emily started to cry in the hallway as she finally understood the pain he lived with being away from his family every day.

“Ok, Emma, here is my secret.”

Emily quickly got up and walked into their bedroom knowing whatever surprise he had, she didn’t want to ruin it for him.

“Hey g
uys,” she said as she entered the room.

“Hey Gorgeous, how was class?”

“It was good
.
I think I finally figured it out what’s going on in that class. What’s going on here?”

“Oh
,
nothing
. J
ust me and Emma discussing our life
’s
dreams
. W
ould you look how exc
ited she gets when she sees you?
” Eric smiled at them.

“Oh, she’s just silly
.
” Emily laughed as she picked her up
.
“I missed you, Emma.”

“Love you,
Mommy
,” she said giggling.

Emily smiled at her as she put her back on floor so she could keep playing with her toys. She turned back around and wrapped her arms around Eric.

“So, I have a surprise for you, Emily. I’ve been talking with your mom and she helped me develop it.”

“Develop what?” Emily asked smiling at him.

Eric grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway towards the back bedroom.

“Where are you taking me?” Emily asked confused.

He smiled at her
.
“Last year, you mentioned to me that you didn’t want to be forgotten. This is just something temporary and I promise you that I will make this a huge part of our future home.”

Emily smiled at him as he opened the door to the back room. She gasped as she looked around. The room had all her paint supplies, including walls decorated with all her paintings.

Eric pulled her inside as they looked around
.
“So, you have all your easels and all your supplies are sorted out and organized, thanks to your mom. I hung up
all of
the paintings I could find and I put a stereo in the corner, just in case you need to tune me out. I also put Emma’s baby monitor on the shelf, so you have no excuse not to be in here.”

Emily started to cry.
“It’s amazing. When did you do this?”

“You’ve been at the library so much lately,
which
sort of made it easy. Your mom and I have been working on getting it ready for you. You deserve this, Emily. You have given up so much for our family and this is just the beginning of repayment.”