Love Undefeated (Unexpected #5) (11 page)

John, his mouth now filled with Cheetos, got in on the discussion. “You guys aren’t getting the point. The reason Sofia likes hair is because she’s a girl.”

“Okay?” Zander still sounding unconvinced, his free hand now fed Sofia fish-shaped cheese snacks. He’d opened his luggage earlier and when he showed me the contents of the big-ass suitcase, I had to howl in laughter. NFA’s top quarterback, the guy who directs the #1 offense, the man who threw footballs like it was nobody’s business, carried all sorts of baby food, clothes, and children’s toys in his checked baggage. How he’d managed to get the children to behave during the three hour plane ride was a mystery I didn’t want to know about.

John raised his brows and explained, “Well, girls are fastidious about their hair. Maybe even when she was in her mommy’s womb, she’d already known that hair was important. It’s kind of like an inborn talent…Women know how to fix hair because even as a little girl, they’re obsessed with it.” He was now chomping on chicken nuggets. He had an endless appetite. He was a defensive back for the Minnesota Fox and even if he ate a lot, he was one hell of an athlete in fit and form.

“Wow. You’re Einstein in disguise,” Dom sputtered out. “What a crock of S-H-I-T. You have one F-U-C-C-E-D up explanation.”

Chuckling, I said, “Dude, it’s F-U-C-K-E-D, no double C’s.” We’d gotten to spelling cuss words because we had a tiny lady in the house. I’d heard John slip a “damn” in earlier and Sofia quickly imitated the word.

John smirked. “I love double C’s.”

Zander sniggered, “You’re all messed up.”

“Hey, Daddy-O, you gotta admit, this is the most fun you’ve had since your bachelor party,” I said, my gaze landing on Nalee’s petite figure wrapped in a summer dress. The iPad was still on and the girls may have completely forgotten about us, because they were now seated on what looked like the bar. I heard low voices and when Nalee started wiping her eyes, I had to say something.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“Sweetheart?” It was possible a nugget got stuck in John’s throat when he croaked on the words.

“What the f…U-C-K?” Dom finally spelled it right.

“No shooshee!” Zander’s voice was loud. What the hell was shooshee?

Sofia made some gurgling, bubbling noises.
I’m glad you think this is amusing, little lady.

Nalee’s hazel eyes penetrated the screen, and while I’d love to explain everything to my friends, the tears streaming down her face was more than enough reason for me to fly to wherever she was.

“Where are you?” I asked, uncaring if the guys were watching. Nothing was more important than Nalee.

Tanya hugged her and Sedona massaged Nalee’s back.

Nalee’s lips quivered, “I told them, Xavier. I finally told them about our baby…”

This time, no sound came out of the guys. I pressed a hand over my heart and touched the screen, “I love you, Nales.”

Tanya’s eyes leaked with tears and Sedona was sniffling, her shoulders wracked in sobs. Nalee’s been friends with them longer than I’d known her. I wanted to tell all of our friends after what happened between us, but I held on to our secret because I waited for her to say something to them. But she never did.

Tanya, with her voice breaking, said, “We’ll take care of her…”

Sedona shook her head in the affirmative, “I don’t know what to say, just that we’ll get through this together.”

Before signing off, Nalee said steadily, “I’m gonna get some rest. I’ll talk to you in a bit.”

All I could do was nod and think that maybe now we could truly heal from this.

Pressing the off button, I sighed and looked up from the blank screen. Three pairs of eyes focused on me, shock reflected in their gazes.

I breathed out and said, “Yeah. We had a baby…”

Luckily, Sofia was tired from running around my house, playing with her toys, and engaging all of us in the wisdom of a barely four-year-old’s logic that she’d zonked out in her father’s arms.

Zander excused himself momentarily to put Sofia in bed, but asked me to hold off telling the story until he came back.

Once he was back, we settled in the backyard by the pool area. Somehow being outside helped me release all the emotions I had locked up during the past year.

Zander was holding a digital video baby monitor so he’d be able to see how the kids were doing from the guestroom.

Tilting the bottle of beer to my mouth, the cold liquid hitting the back of my throat, I swallowed a big gulp as I begun to say, “It happened over a year ago. Remember when Nalee and I went to Turks and Caicos?”

“Before playoffs?” John questioned, his hands swung on the side of the white metal chair that looked puny compared to his size.

“Yeah, before playoffs,” I nodded. “It was the only time we could take a break from work so we’d gone on a week long vacation. While there, she’d gotten bit by something and it become infected so she had to take antibiotics. Three months later we found out she was pregnant. I guess the antibiotics she took lessened the effectiveness of her pills.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Dom asked, his black eyes piercing through me. “We’re your friends, man. The fuck this is? I mean, your girl’s pregnant and we didn’t even know? If she’d had the baby, were we just gonna get a text from you with the baby’s picture or some shit?”

In a way, I was expecting this. We’d been through so much. Endless college pranks, drinking parties, and issues with women. We’d also gone through early pregnancies, issues with paparazzi, and almost-meeting-the-Maker experiences. Through good times and bad times we had each other’s backs.

“I was waiting for her to give me the go-signal,” I explained, my left hand tapping rhythmically against my left leg. I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. These guys were my brothers. Being an only child, I’d never formed a kinship with anyone as I had with them. Sure, I had other friends, but John, Zander, and Dom – our bond transcended blood.

“What happened?” Zander asked, removing his eyes from the baby monitor for a few seconds.

“My dad was just getting out of the hospital after his aneurysm. My mom was a mess. The senior associates at his firm were demanding updates about his health. It was a crazy time… Then Nalee tells me she’s pregnant.” I paused, my chest constricting at the painful memory, “I…I asked her if it was mine.”

“Sonuvabitch,” John hissed, balling his fists tightly, his jaw crunching. “Nalee? Out of all the women, Xavier? You asked her if she was cheating on you?”

“It was messed up…” I swallowed the burning sensation in my throat, slowly simmering down my chest. “What was even more messed up is that I kinda hoped she was. The following weeks after she told me about the pregnancy, I embroiled myself in my dad’s firm. We were fighting a lot. I came home as late as possible and worked even on weekends. I’d find her crying in the house, but I didn’t have the energy to soothe her or be with her. I kept thinking it was her fault she was pregnant. I wasn’t ready to be a dad. I was just starting my life. I didn’t even know what I wanted to be yet. One night she called me while I was at my office – I think it was around 8:30, asking me what time I’d be home. We got to talking and she kept asking what time I’d be home. I told her I’d be home when work was done, that she should stop being so naggy because she wasn’t even my wife. When I finally came home, I found a cake in the fridge, “Happy Anniversary” spelled out in big green and pink letters, and a caricature of Peter Pan and Hello Kitty meeting in the middle. I’d looked for her in the house, but she’d emptied out her closet. It was the first night I’d slept without her in our bed.”

I looked away, my head turning toward the setting sky, a smattering of clouds in the distance, and forged on, “I tried calling but her phone was turned off. The days that followed, I felt like I missed her and then I didn’t. I left messages but she didn’t answer. Every time I called and visited her work, they told me she wasn’t there. I was trying for the sake of trying, but my heart wasn’t in on it. I think it was the same person who answered my call every single time I called her office. Days turned into weeks and one day, our firm had a big party and we’d invited all the other big firms in the city. Myma, a lawyer from Young and Sawyer, kept flirting with me. I was lonely. I hadn’t had anyone since Nalee had left. Anyways things got heated up and I brought her home.”

Zander said loudly, “Fuck, you gotta be kidding me, dude.”

Shaking my head, I said. “I wish I was. I slept with her. It was nothing but a one night stand. I felt sick to my stomach when I’d realized what had happened. I kept telling myself that Nalee and I were on a break, but it still didn’t compute in my head. As soon as Myma left, I’d called Nalee. Can you believe it? After all this time, she finally answers my call. I’d told her what had happened and she just hung up on me. The next day, when I came home, I found a key, her key, on top of the granite island in the kitchen. She knew that’s where I opened my mail. Two weeks later, a nurse calls me from UCSF, saying that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.”

This time, water leaked from my eyes, there was no stopping it. “When I saw her in that hospital bed, unconscious, her belly protruding slightly with our child, I knew without a doubt that I couldn’t live without her. It’s ironic how life shows us how much we care about someone when we’re about to lose them. When the nurse came in the room, she’d asked if I was Xavier Lockheed. I’d nodded and she said she was sorry for our loss. I guess Nalee had put me as an emergency contact, as the father of our baby. I was confused because Nalee had looked like she was sleeping. When she said that the baby didn’t make it, that Nalee had a difficult pregnancy because of some clotting disorder, I knew then she wouldn’t be able to forgive me.”

My shoulders shook, my hands tingled with the surge of pain, “I lost her…them. My two girls. I’d never be able to get that time back with her. I’m a sorry excuse for a person. I blamed myself day and night. I stayed with Nalee until she was discharged from the hospital. She never said a word to me. She’d look at me, but her eyes were blank from emotions, as if she wasn’t seeing me. I’d done that to her. My sweet sweet Nalee, the woman who laughed at the silliest things, who’d gone with me to every lacrosse competition even when she knew nothing about the sport. I’d vowed that I would spend my life making amends with her, trying to win her back, and one day, hoping she’ll love me again.”

Zander formed a fist with his left hand and bumped my shoulder with it, saying, without any judgment in his voice, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Dom took a long swig of his beer and said, “We’re here for you.”

John, finally unclamping his tightly balled fists, uttered, “You fucked up big time, bro. But I’m glad you’re owning up to it, trying to fix things. Nalee’s a good woman. Women like her are hard to find nowadays.”

“I know that now.” It was late in the game, but at least I knew.

“Is she moving back in?” Zander asked, his eyes flickered to the video monitor screen where we could see Nicholas sleeping quietly in the wooden crib I’d asked Claire to buy and deliver the same day. Claire was probably thinking I’d adopted a new baby or two today. The good thing about her was that she never asked why, she’d just bought the stuff without question, using my personal credit card account.

“I don’t know yet,” I replied, feeling slightly relieved that all of them knew about what happened. “She’s been sleeping over for the past two weeks. I’m hoping eventually she will. At least before I propose.”

Dom’s eyes bulged out of the sockets. “Does she know that you’re going to propose?”

John slapped the back of Dom’s head, the loud thud indicating that Dom’s shiny head would have a big handprint by tomorrow.

“What the fuck was that for?” Dom glowered at John.

“You gotta stop being punched in the head. It decreases your IQ by 100% each time.” John shook his head, reasoning out, “If Nalee knew that Xavier was going to propose, don’t you think my woman would have ‘shared’ that secret with me by now?” He’d even used air quotes to emphasize a good point – that his woman, Tanya, couldn’t keep a secret.

“Fuck off,” Dom said as he raised his middle finger John’s way.

Zander intervened, “Children...”

“Oh shut up, Daddy-O!” John muttered. “If your children weren’t cute, I’d be pissed off at you right now for ruining our guys’ weekend.”

“Are you serious?” Zander questioned, looking slightly offended. “I’m ruining our weekend?”