Be My Baby Tonight (35 page)

While she stood balanced on the top step, Tim
put out his arm and, in one quick motion, swept stacks of his
clothing to the floor.

“Tim! I ironed some of those things.”

“I’ll send them out to be pressed,” he said,
pulling down the bedspread.

She half turned, to sit on the bed, and he
helped her raise her legs onto the mattress. She was half sitting,
propped against some of the many pillows that had become part of
her bedroom ensemble.

He was stripping off his slacks as he rounded
the bed to climb in the other side. He knelt on the mattress,
pulled his shirt and crew neck sweater off in one quick motion,
then grinned at her. “I don’t believe this.”

She looked down at her Phillies shirt and
sweatpants. “It’s not quite how I pictured this moment either,” she
admitted, putting both hands on her swollen belly.

Tim reached down and pulled up the sheet and
one blanket, covering both of them to the waist, then leaned on one
bent arm and grinned at her. “How are we going to do this?”

“I have no idea,” Suzanna said, feeling
herself blush. But then he touched her breast, her swollen breast,
and she closed her eyes, sighed. He lowered his hand, slipped
beneath the T-shirt, then claimed her again, rubbed a thumb across
her super-sensitive nipple. “Oh, that’s good. That’s so good.”

“If this is baby fat, Suze, I’m all for it,”
he said, pushing up the T-shirt, then lowering his face to her
breast, taking her nipple in his mouth.

She held him, one hand on his back, the other
cupping his cheek, as he kissed her, whispered to her, went on a
gentle investigation of her changed body. As he roused her, as he
made her feel beautiful, and cherished, and oh, so very
loved....

* * *

Keely put her elbows on the kitchen table and
dropped her chin into her hands as she looked at Suzanna. One of
those people who seemed to do two things effortlessly at the same
time, she was also jiggling Johnny’s infant seat with her foot,
keeping the baby happy. “I don’t get it. Tim’s gone, and you’ve
been looking, better, happier, than you have in months. I mean it.
These past three or four weeks you’ve been positively
glowing.
Have I been wrong all this time, and you don’t love
him?”

“Oh, I love him,” Suzanna said, knowing her
smile bordered on the dreamy side of lunacy. “He calls me five
times a day, I swear it, sometimes to moan and groan about being
away, having to deal with the press, the owners, but mostly to tell
me he loves me. He loves me, Keel. He really does. And I love him.
It’s real. For him, for me.”

“I told you you’d know when it was real,
didn’t I? So, when was your moment?”

Suzanna lowered her head as she sipped tea,
sure Keely would be able to read her expression. She’d kept this
secret to herself and didn’t plan to be more than vague now. “Oh, I
don’t know. The day of the christening?”

“Really. That long ago? We were all pretty
busy that day, and then Tim was gone the next morning. What did I
miss?”

“Nothing you’re going to learn from me,”
Suzanna said, toasting Keely with her teacup. “Now, do you want to
hear my other news? I’ve been keeping it secret for a while now,
thank goodness, or Tim wouldn’t have been able to help Sam, but I
have to tell someone or I’m going to burst. Well, I’m definitely
going to burst; that much is pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

“I know I didn’t get that big, but you told
me Dr. Phillips said you’re going to have a big baby.”

“Or two small ones,” Suzanna said, then
giggled as Keely’s mouth dropped open. “Okay, definitely two small
ones.”

Keely jumped up so quickly that Johnny began
to cry, but she ignored him as she raced around the table to hug
Suzanna. “Twins! I don’t believe it! And you’ve been keeping it a
secret? From us, right. Not from Tim.”

Suzanna waited until Keely had picked up her
son before she spoke again. “I haven’t told Tim.”

“You haven’t—well, we know his cell phone
number. Let’s call him. This news is too good to—wait a minute.
How
long have you known this?”

“Over a month,” Suzanna said, playing with
her teaspoon so she could avoid Keely’s eyes. “I swore Dr. Phillips
to secrecy.”

“Why? I don’t get it. You’re telling me you
and Tim are in love—not that everyone didn’t know that. You’re
telling me everything’s hunky-dory between the two of you. So why
didn’t you tell him?”

“I... I didn’t want to worry him,” Suzanna
said, then winced. “Oh, okay, so that’s only partially true. Keely,
he’s got all these pregnancy symptoms. He even gets backaches
now.”

“He’d get them anyway,” Keely pointed out
reasonably.

Suzanna sighed. That was the problem with
talking to people. They were always so reasonable.

“And Dr. Phillips says twins are often early.
Even a month early, although for some reason they’re very
developed, their lungs and everything, so they’re just fine. I’ve
been reading about it.”

“Nope,” Keely said, sitting back in her
chair, Johnny snuggled into her shoulder. “I still don’t get
it.”

“Keely, think. The baby’s due the second week
in April. Tim will be on a ten day home stand then, so that’s all
right. He’s only an hour away from home and has already planned to
drive back here every night. But if I go into labor in March? He’ll
still be in Florida.”

“The hell he would,” Keely said, making a
face. “He’d be right here, waiting for you to pop, and nobody’d
stop him. Oh, I get it. He’d go AWOL, right?”

“Exactly. It was bad enough thinking about
that before Sam’s heart surgery. But now? Sam is rejoining the club
next week, the first of March, but he’s still relying on Tim. He
talks to the press, he’s been keeping Sam up to date on everything,
evaluating the pitching staff—who better to do that than the
catcher, who’s going to tell the whole truth, when the pitching
coach just might not? To put it bluntly, Sam isn’t a very trusting
soul. Besides, spring training gets under way tomorrow for
everyone.”

“So you
were
going to tell him?”

“Yes,” Suzanna said, nodding. “Yes, I was. I
had to get used to the idea first, but I was going to tell him. The
day of the christening, as a matter of fact. It seemed like a good
day for it.”

“The same day you both knew for sure that
you’re in love with each other. The same day he learned about Sam.
Busy day, Suze.”

“Exactly. Still, I wanted to tell him. I was
going to tell him. But then we got... distracted.” Suzanna quickly
took another sip of her now tepid tea.

“Okay. I understand. No, damn it, I don’t
understand. He has to know, Suzanna. He deserves to know.”

“And I agree. I almost told him last weekend,
when he got home, but he was so exhausted he slept most of the
weekend. I’ll tell him this weekend.”

“Wrong,” Keely said, going over to pick up
the cordless phone. “You’ll tell him now. You were at the doctor’s
today. He’s expecting a report. Tell him today. Don’t let him know
you’ve known yourself until today. I mean it, Suzanna. I know
you’re pregnant, I know you’re scared, and I know you and Tim love
each other. But we’ve already been around this park, and I know you
don’t want to go there again. Don’t screw this up.”

Suzanna looked at the telephone, then took
it. “Man, you’re bossy.”

“It’s what I do. My Aunt Mary always tells me
that a person should go with her strengths,” Keely said, hefting
Johnny higher in her arms. “Now,
dial.”

* * *

Dusty Johnson sat down on the bench outside
the open lockers in the clubhouse and looked at Tim. “Hey, you
feelin’ all right?”

Tim looked at him, blinked, tried to remember
his name. He knew him. He had carroty hair, just like Suzanna. “Oh.
Dusty. Hi.”

“Yeah, hi. What’s wrong? Too much Florida
sunshine today?”

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m fine.” Tim
slipped his cell phone back into his pocket, stood up, looked
around as if trying to orient himself to exactly where he was.
“I’ve... Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Go? Go where? We still have one more
practice today. And then we’re all gettin’ together to plan Sam’s
welcome back party, remember? We elected you to be in charge.”

Tim sat back down again. “Oh, yeah, I
forgot.” He swallowed hard, then stabbed his fingers through his
hair. “Look, if you don’t mind, I’d sort of like to be alone for a
few minutes.”

“Sure, no problem,” Dusty said, standing up.
“We can talk later, if you want to.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Tim said, already forgetting
that he’d even spoken to his teammate.

Twins. He was going to have twins. He and
Suzanna were going to have twins.

He reached back and absently rubbed at the
backache that had been nagging him on and off for weeks, then
closed his eyes, tried to picture what it would be like having
twins.

His mom and dad had survived it, survived him
and Jack and those wild years when his mom had called them Double
Trouble. Jack was Double, and he was Trouble.

Always had been.

“Twins,” he said trying the word out loud.
Two cribs, two high chairs, two car seats, two of everything.

Double the love.

His stomach did a small flip, and he knew
he’d be heading for the bathroom any time now to toss his cookies.
That hadn’t happened in a while, but it didn’t surprise him.

The other night, on the phone, Suzanna had
teased him that he’d probably go into labor with her. He’d laughed,
but it wasn’t funny.

He couldn’t fall apart. He was her coach. And
now she’d need him twice as much. He couldn’t fail her.

Taking a deep breath, he willed his stomach
to stop roiling, then headed back out onto the field. It was a good
thing he was building up all these good deeds with Sam, because the
moment he thought Suzanna needed him, he was outta here.

“
Watch that baby... Outta here!”

— Phillies announcer Harry Kalas,

calling a home run.

One thing about winter in Pennsylvania, it
was never predictable. Tim could remember years he’d played golf on
New Year’s Day; it was that warm. Then there were occasional
winters like, this one, where eastern Pennsylvania had more snow
than Buffalo, and colder temperatures than Nome.

Years like this one, you could almost count
on a late March snowfall. A big one.

He hadn’t been able to come home in two
weeks, because of all that snow. It would have taken him longer to
wait out airport closings and rerouted flights than it was worth,
and he might not get back to Florida on time, and Sam would have
another heart attack. Besides, Suzanna worried about him, and he
didn’t want her worried about him.

But Joey was there. He’d taken the semester
off from community college, just so he could be there.

He owed Joey, big time. And Bruno, too, who
drove up on weekends and cooked, then filled the freezer for
Suzanna with meals for every night until he came back again, whisk
and measuring cup in hand.

Tim had tracked down Dr. Phillips long
distance, and when the doctor had returned his call, he’d bombarded
her with questions about Suzanna, about the babies.

So he knew. He knew that the April date was
just a target now, but might be nowhere near the bull’s-eye.

He phoned Suzanna every chance he got,
sometimes five or six times a day. Then he’d chew a couple more
antacids and get back to work.

One good thing, the weather in Pennsylvania
had finally turned warm. The snow, mountains of it, was melting at
a good clip. Suzanna also thought it was a good thing, because she
was pretty sure that one of these days, Joey was going to kill
himself with the snowplow as he zipped up and down the long drive.
He’d already taken out part of the railing on the little bridge
over the Coplay Creek.

So March had come and gone, and then Tim was
gone, off to Saint Louis, to open the season. March went, and the
April rains came, so that the home opener was rained out. Shades of
the lousy way the last season had ended. It was a good thing Tim
had decided not to be superstitious anymore... although he did
carry a copy of the latest sonogram with him wherever he went.

Tim stood at the window overlooking the
drive, shaking his head. Rain, rain, rain. Sure, it was melting the
snow; even little Coplay Creek was high and rushing fast, trying to
pretend it was a river. When would it stop raining?

It was dusk, not that the day could get much
grayer, and he watched as Joey’s headlights flashed as he turned
into the drive. He’d just driven Aunt Sadie home, and both he and
Bruno would be here for the rest of the weekend, even if the rain
did stop and they could get in at least one of their games against
the Mets. Nothing like playing in Philadelphia in April. Rain,
damp, usually cold. Did the words “retractable roof” mean nothing
to people?

Tim remained at the window, cursing the
never-ending downpour, then noticed that Joey’s huge four-by-four
was still at the bottom of the drive, the headlights pointing in a
pretty strange direction.

Next thing he knew, Joey was running up the
drive, holding both hands over his head—as if that might keep him
dry.

He met his cousin at the front door. “What’s
going on?”

“It’s... It’s the freaking bridge. It
freaking
broke.
I got one wheel stuck straight through it,
and I can’t get it out. I guess I need to rock it, ya know? Come
help me.”

“I’ll get my coat,” Tim said, heading for the
hall closet.

And then he saw her. She was standing in the
doorway leading to the kitchen, and she had the strangest look on
her face.

“Suze? What’s the matter?”

“My... I think my water just broke.”

Tim pressed a hand over his mouth, to keep
down the five-alarm chili Bruno had fed him for lunch, and looked
at the floor. “I... I don’t see anything,” he said, then winced.
Stupid! What a
stupid
thing to say.