“Love you, buddy.” In return, I get one of his sloppy kisses planted on the side of my face.
Again. I love it.
***
“If I walk funny down the aisle today, its all your fault,” Deidre rasps out, pressing her finger into my chest. “Whatever. Get out of here. Have fun. Diesel and I will see the two of you at the church.” I then kiss her, breathlessly, I might add. Then bend down and kiss my son, who’s still baking away inside his mother’s womb. We found out it was a boy a little over a month ago. I’ve given her shit about it ever since. Told her I may start up a second professional Detroit baseball team.
That shit didn’t go over well. We ended up compromising finally on this baseball feud right after that. She caved, like I knew she would. Took a little longer for her stubborn ass to give in, but she did. Diesel has a Yankee bedroom now. I loved the Harley room, told her we could keep it. But she wouldn’t listen, she made our feud over baseball into a feud I know will surely start with our boys. Wicked woman that she is. Her response when I told her that was. “Maybe will be living in Pennsylvania by then. Our kids will have to love the Pittsburgh Pirates. They can’t go to school wearing Yankees and Tigers.” God, I love her.
Our soon to be born son Harley will have the Detroit Tigers room. Little does she know once we get around to decorating his room, there will be a television on the wall. Right along with three chairs for me and my boys. Hell, I may even put one of those No Girls Allowed stickers on his door just to rile her ass.
Again. I love it.
Which leads me to now. I watch her walk out the door and head straight to her car in the driveway of our new home. No more apartment-living for my family. My kids need a yard, a place where I can toss the ball around with them. Where they can run around, do whatever they want. Be kids. And know without a shadow of a doubt that both of their parents love them and will make their childhood one they will happily remember.
I shut the door to my new home. My son is lying in the middle of the kitchen floor, his head across the back of our dog, Princess. I roll my eyes at the name. We adopted her a few months ago. She’s a two-year-old yellow lab, and Diesel’s best friend. He’ll forget about everyone else, including me, whenever she’s by him. Not today, though. I need to get us both ready. But first, I need to make a phone call.
“Come on, Princess,” I call out to her after I pick Diesel up off the floor. He grunts. Says his famous word, “Damnit.” Then his arms are out, his body twisting at whatever angle he can get to make sure Princess is following behind us.
Of course she is. I lay him down on the floor. He crawls right to her and plops himself back on her body the minute she lies down. She licks him, and his sweet joyous giggles have me smiling.
“Hey, man. How you holding up?” I tease Roan the minute he answers. “Ready to make her my wife,” he boosts. “Any word?” I hate to bring this up on his wedding day, but hell, we’ve all been worried about Dilan since he left. He calls whenever he wants to, is living life on the road, in Colorado somewhere.
“Nothing.” I hear the disappointment in his voice. Dilan promised he would show up for this wedding. I will personally kick his ass if he doesn’t.
“Sorry, man. I’ll be at the church soon.” I hang up, shaking my head at the damn fool Dilan is becoming in my mind. He needs to pull his head out of his ass and be here for his cousin’s wedding. It’s a small wedding. Family and close friends only. Deidre and Cain are standing up for the two of them, along with Deidre’s college friend Joelle and myself.
Gathering my big boy off the floor and his dog, I make my way out to my truck as I nod at my neighbor, who’s loading his three kids into a goddamn minivan. Fucking vans. I ought to blow that bitch up.
Once he’s all buckled in, I strap myself in the front seat, crank on the engine, and crank up the stereo. “Ready to jam, buddy?” I place my hand on the passenger seat, twisting my head to look at him and back out of the drive.
And we jam to The Black Moods, some AC/DC, and my boy’s new favorite Michigan native Kid Rock. It’s a wonderful motherfucking day.
“Let’s go find mommy.” I tell Diesel, tugging all of his winter garb off of him the minute we step into the church. I stop. My eyes scan her from head to toe. Mine is the only word I can think of.
“Let me take him.” I stride to her. He goes into her arms for all of ten seconds before her mom and dad load up next to us and steal him away.
“You’re beautiful, baby.” My god. She’s radiant. And all mine. Her dark green dress clings to her belly. Her breasts have my mouth watering. But it’s her face that has me captivated the most. Those eyes are sparkling. She’s glowing.