Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
The first time Charlie peed on my face while I was slowly changing his diaper was the last. Since then, I’d cut my diapering time in half. My siblings were never going to let me forget it. I wasn’t sure why I’d even told them about it in our group chat.
“Got to keep the family jewels clean,” I said as I cleaned Charlie with a wipe. “I know it’s cold, little dude, but I’ll try to go fast.”
Dalton had a son. He was only two years old, and now his father was gone. I remembered the picture Dalton sent out to the entire team of his baby boy in the tiny Coyotes sweater we’d sent as a gift right after he was born.
“Life is too short sometimes,” I told Charlie. “And sometimes it’s not fair. Sometimes we get a raw deal. That’s why we have to laugh as often as we can and love as hard as we can. Let’s promise each other that, okay?”
After fastening his diaper, I gently folded his little fingers into a fist for a fist bump. I couldn’t believe how much I already loved my son. I was so damn lucky Shelby felt the same connection between us that I did. Our little family of three had quickly become my world.
“Obviously, we’re putting you in this one,” I said, picking up a hockey-stick-covered onesie from the folded stack on the shelf of the changing table. “We’ll have you in your first pair of skates in no time.”
Once he was dressed, I picked him up, holding him against my chest as I left the room. He was starting to fuss, so I opened the door to the bathroom and spoke through the crack.
“Hey babe, you think he might be hungry?”
“Probably,” Shelby said from the shower. “And a ridiculous amount of milk is leaking out of me right now. Just use some formula. I can’t pump enough to keep up with him and I really need this shower.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, buddy, it’s all good,” I told Charlie. “We’re going to do something really fun and then you get a bottle, okay?”
My pulse raced as I walked into the kitchen and opened the second can of powdered baby formula I’d asked Fiona to sneak over to me. The only one Shelby knew about was hidden in a cabinet.
Rocking Charlie with one arm, I used my free hand to drop something into the powder, then I pushed it beneath the surface an inch or so with my finger.
“It’s like a treasure hunt,” I told Charlie. “Those are fun, little man.”
I put Charlie in his swing and turned on the lights and music of his mobile, which always held his attention. He immediately quieted, transfixed by the spinning light above him. Then I went back to the bathroom and opened the door, speaking into the crack again.
“Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“Um, we might have a problem.”
Immediately, I heard her turn off the shower. “What?”
“You should come look at the powdered formula you ordered. I found a rock in it.”
“What? Oh my god, what!?”
She ran from the bathroom, clutching a towel to her front and trailing water everywhere. I was taking advantage of her Type A nature, but it was for a good reason.
“If there’s a rock in there, I will sue the shit out of that company,” she ranted, ripping the lid off the can and digging through it. “Like it’s not hard enough for new mothers to trust what they’re putting into their babies’ bodies, that is completely unacc”
She pulled out the two-carat solitaire set in a platinum band I’d bought when she was thirty-four weeks along. I knew for sure I wanted her to be my wife, and I wanted the proposal to be spontaneous.
Today felt right. When Shelby accompanied me to the funerals for my teammates, the Coyotes staff, and fans who had died in the explosions, I wanted her to have this ring on her finger. It was my promise to her, and to Charlie.
When she looked from the ring back to me, I was down on one knee.
“Shelby Grant, I love you more deeply than words can convey. You and Charlie are everything to me. Will you be my wife?”
She smiled through the tears running down her cheeks. “Beau! Oh my god, Beau. I’m naked and soaking wet and…wow. I didn’t expect this. I’m just…”
“Babe? Are you not sure?”
Had I fucked it up? Should I have gone with a rose-covered rooftop garden and a thousand candles?
“Yes! I mean, yes! Of course I’ll marry you.”
I stood and swept her into my arms, her wet hair soaking through my shirt when I kissed her.
“You just made me the happiest man in the world,” I said.
“We’re getting married!” She put her palms on my cheeks, glowing with happiness. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”