Four months later, Tracy sat in the living room with Lucy as they watched the basket ball game playing on the Television screen. Her heart was in her throat as she kept glancing at the timer and a particular blonde haired player whose body was dripping wet and looking smoking hot. His team was winning the game with a few points but the opponent team seemed like they don’t want them to take the win as they kept attacking and trying to score a few points for themselves. The blonde haired guy’s team wasn’t bothering to score more points as they were bent on preventing the opponent team from achieving their aim. Finally, he took the ball and went for his signature ending, playing along with the remaining seconds and was able to score two points with a jump-shot. Declaring them the winner as the commentator proudly announced, sending their fans into riot as they kept screaming and jubilating on yet another win of the Phoenix Suns.
Tracy and Lucy were not exceptional as they both stood on their feet screaming as well in joy and hugging each other. Nathan’s face was shown on the screen as he smiled while panting and then did a curt bow for his fans before the camera moved from him. Tracy and Lucy couldn’t express their joy for the win. The game had started kind of tensed with the opponent team coming out in full force but at the end, it ended in their favor.
Tracy was lost in her joy until she noticed something wet dripping between her legs and she looked down immediately. Guessing what could have happened, she glanced at Lucy who had noticed her expression and she smiled, “I think my water just broke.”
“Oh my God,” Lucy shouted, “would you like to go to the hospital already?”
“Nope, I’m good. I want to finish the game.”
“It has ended already, we won.”
“Well, they haven’t gone for our cup,” she smiled.
Lucy rolled her eyes but with a light chuckle. “Well, you enjoy that while I go prepare what we would be leaving with.”
“Alright,” she smiled and sat back down on the couch. She knew she should clean up but she wasn’t feeling like at the moment. Her hand instinctively reached to caress her tummy as she watched her man in the television jubilating with his team. She knew there was no escaping her giving birth tonight or early in the morning and there was no way he would be able to rush home and fulfill his promise. Watching as he was smiling brightly, she knew telling him about what was about to happen would only make him restless so she made a mental not to tell Lucy to skip telling him on them going to the hospital until the deed would be done. She smiled and whispered to herself and to him, “don’t worry, we can do it on our own. We will just wait for you to come home and see us.”
***
Nathan groaned at the sound of his phone’s ringtone, he tried to open his eyes but he just couldn’t. He had had pretty much to drink last night after the game and he had slept off waiting for Tracy to return his call. The phone stopped ringing and started again and he knew it must be her calling; she must have fallen asleep last night which was why she didn’t pick when he called. He yawned and forced himself to open his eyes and reached for the phone on the vanity. He picked up without checking who was calling and yawned once more before saying, “hey babe.”
“Good morning to you too,” Lucy said.
Nathan furrowed his brows, “mom?”
“Yep,” Lucy replied.
“Sorry, I thought it was Tracy. Good morning.”
“I don’t even think she knows where her phone is, she is sleeping.”
“Oh,” Nathan chuckled, “that’s okay, we would talk when she wakes up. How are you?”
“I’m okay, in fact, I am perfect.”
“Wow, you sound happy this morning,” Nathan laughed softly. “What’s the good news?”
“I am happy and the good news is that you are now a father, congratulations.”
Nathan didn’t reply for the next five seconds. “I beg your pardon?”
Lucy laughed, “Natalie is in my arms right now Nathan, you are a father.”
Nathan sat up on the bed in the speed of light, both the hangover and the tiredness completely forgotten. “When, where, how?”
“Calm down,” Lucy chuckled. “Her water broke right after you took your last shot last night and later on in the night we went to the hospital and she gave birth at four this morning.”
“What? Mom why didn’t anyone tell me?” he asked, shuffling out of the bed immediately to get dressed.
“You just finished your game and she didn’t want you to worry nor make you tense when you should be partying with your friends. Plus she also added that there was no way you can come home immediately to be with her and I saw the reason with her so I agreed.”
Nathan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he wanted to complain but he knew they were right. If he had known about it, he wouldn’t have been able to go home and he would have been restless all through the night. He heaved another sigh and then smiled and as he finally let himself to accept the news. “How is she?”
“Oh she is beautiful. She has your eyes.”
“No,” he chuckled. “How is Tracy?” He specified.
“Like I said, she is sleeping and she really needs that rest. Natalie really gave her a hard time,” she chuckled.
Nathan sighed, “I’m coming, I will be there by noon.”
“We will be waiting for you.”
He nodded and sighed. “Mom, thank you.”
“Anytime son, anytime,” she replied, her voice laced with love.
***
Tracy woke up to the smell of flowers, she had woken up about two hours ago to feed Natalie and greet some friends that had come to see her and she knew there was no flowers in her room then so how come she could smell roses and tulips? She opened her eyes softly to witness a room decorated with love shaped balloons and red roses clustered everywhere with purple tulips resting beside her on the bed. She tried to move and a hand held her down and that was when she noticed that someone was sitting on the chair beside her. She glanced up and the first thing she saw was his ocean blue eyes and then his platinum blonde hair which their daughter had taken from him. “Nathan?”
Nathan leaned immediately and kissed her on the lips and then she heard “congratulations,” and moved away from him to see that Nathan’s teammates were in the room with her.
“What-what are you guys doing here?” she asked.
“I wanted to come see you and they insisted they would come with me so we came with the team’s private jet. Calvin sent his greetings; he wished he could join but…” Nathan shrugged, “he is having his transplant in two days and doesn’t think it would be right to move around.”
Tracy chuckled, she was looking a little pale but the brightness in her eyes showed how happy she was. “Lucy called you?”
Nathan nodded, “this morning. I can’t believe you hid it from me.”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to worry and, it’s not like you can just show up at that time.”
Nathan nodded and kissed her palm, “she is so beautiful. Just like you.”
“What? You must be blind right? She took your hair and eye color. I won’t be surprised if she grew up to have your smile as well,” Tracy rolled her eyes.
Nathan chuckled, “at least she has your nose, and your lips.”
“Um…you guys still remember that we are here right?” Noah asked and the guys nodded.
Tracy chuckled and glanced at them, “thank you, thank you all so much. I really appreciate you guys coming over just to see me.”
“Of course we have to, you are practically family now,” they replied.
“Coach Janis asked me to give you this and he promised to see you whenever he could,” Nathan said, handing her a box.
Tracy took it but she kept it beside her on the bed. “When did you get here?”
“An hour ago, it took us thirty minutes to set this up.”
“And you should know that it was painstakingly difficult because Nathan made it clear we are not supposed to wake you up,” Jonathan said and the rest all started voicing out their grievances.
“I’m so sorry, I wish I have my strength, I would have loved to make something for you guys,” Tracy said.
“Oh don’t worry, Lucy is way ahead of you. She left soon after we finished the decoration but we just wanted to see you first before going home. Guess we would do that now,” Noah said.
“Alright then, thank you all once again.”
“We will come back.”
“I will be expecting you.”
“Sure, see you soon Nathan and congratulations once more.”
“Thanks,” Nathan replied and they left the room. Now alone, he turned to Tracy and kissed her some more, longer this time. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?” she asked with a smile.
“For giving me the most beautiful daughter in the world,” he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I promise I will be there for the both of you for the rest of my life.”
“I know you would, you don’t need to keep promising.”
He smiled and kissed her lips chastely, “just one more thing.”
“What?”
“Marry me.”