Love at the 20-Yard Line (32 page)
Read Love at the 20-Yard Line Online
Authors: Shanna Hatfield
Chapter Twenty-Five
“How can autumn be here already?” Allie asked as she and Haven looked through a rack of sweaters at the mall. Although it was still warm, the October air carried a crisp tartness that signaled fall had arrived.
“I don’t know, but here it is. Have you noticed how the trees are already turning color?”
“I did. We should totally plan a bonfire at the farm. It’s so fun this time of year.”
“Sure.” Haven turned away, not wanting her cousin to see the look on her face at the mention of a bonfire. All she could think of was the bonfire at the farm when Angelina and Brody were there.
Haven hadn’t heard a word from Brody since he left. She wondered if he liked the digital frame she’d sent with him or if he ever looked at the photos and missed her.
It took every ounce of courage she had to let Allie do her hair and makeup and ask Adam to take photos in the dress that Brody had liked so well. She did it because she hoped it would make him smile and remember her.
A month ago, a package arrived in the mail from Brody’s mother. Inside, she found photos of him as a little boy, wearing his first football uniform, and more photos and newspaper clippings from his teen and college years.
She sat on her living room floor and cried for three hours after seeing the photos.
Now that Brody played with an NFL team, she watched every televised game of his team, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She kept track of his stats and combed through Hale’s sports magazines searching for the mention of his name.
Her mother continued to assure her the pain in her heart would eventually lessen and then stop. So far, it hurt every bit as much as it did the day Brody left. She’d just learned to hide it better.
Haven was no longer an innocent girl with stars in her eyes. She’d experienced real heartbreak, true love, and devastating loss.
If someone were to offer her the option of taking away the pain by turning back time and erasing the months spent with Brody, Haven knew she’d go through it all again.
Some of the most wonderful moments she’d ever known were spent with him and she wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
What she needed to do, however, was get on with her life.
After taking a deep breath, she turned back to Allie and looped their arms together. “Hey, want to go see that new comedy movie that’s out? I heard it’s really funny.”
Hours later, after she and Allie had dinner with Rick and they’d gone to a corn maze, Haven returned to her apartment and got ready for bed.
She propped herself against a pile of pillows and scrolled through photos of Brody on her phone. Haven kissed the tip of her finger, touched the screen, and wished him good night before turning out her light and sliding down in the covers. As she had every night since he left, she cried herself to sleep.
Hours later, Haven dreamed Brody was with her again, holding her close. She breathed deeply, inhaling his unique scent.
When she rolled onto her side, she felt his arms around her and snuggled back against him.
The dream was as vivid as life when his lips, warm and moist, pressed a kiss to her cheek then trailed down her neck.
“Haven?” His gravelly, deep voice whispered in her ear. “Haven, I love you, doll. Please wake up.”
Slowly opening her eyes, Haven prepared for the feel of Brody to linger for a moment before disappearing, as it always did.
Tonight, though, she still felt his warmth. His scent was strong and she heard him say her name again in the husky voice she loved.
Tears spilled down her cheeks and she started to roll over, bumping into something solid.
Rapidly blinking her eyes, she reached up and turned on the light beside her bed. As a pair of dark eyes stared at her, she held back a scream.
Brody was there beside her, not just in her dreams. She threw her arms around his neck and held him close.
“Brody! What are you doing here?” she asked, between the kisses she lavished over his face. “How long can you stay? How did you get in?”
“Slow down.” Brody wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. She rested her head against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. “I still have the key you gave me, so I hope you don’t mind me using it.”
“Not at all,” she said, giving him a little squeeze. “Why are you here?”
“If you’ll have me, Haven, I’m back to stay.” Brody gazed into her sweet face - the face that haunted his every waking moment and invaded all his dreams.
He thought once he left town, cut off all ties to Haven, he’d be able to get her out of his system and focus on his football career.
Instead, he missed her more and more with each passing day. He missed her laughter and her smile, her innocent way of looking at life, her innate goodness, and sense of humor.
He sniffed the note she sent with the digital frame so many times, the paper was nearly worn out and he’d sat every night watching her face scroll across the screen of the frame, remembering every moment he enjoyed in her company.
The months spent with Haven were the happiest he’d ever known. She not only filled his heart with joy, she gave him a place to belong. In every sense of the word, she was his safe haven against the world.
A few weeks ago, he reached the point when he realized his love for her was greater than his love for football.
His knee could end his football career at any moment. He finally accepted the inevitable and arrived at the conclusion there were other things he could do to make a living, but there was only one girl who could make his life complete.
Officially retiring from football, Brody packed his belongings and drove to his mom’s place, telling her of his plans before driving back to Haven.
Now, he was where he belonged, right by her side.
“What are you saying, Brody? What do you mean you’re back to stay?” Haven tried to process Brody’s words.
“I mean I’m done with football. I’m so sorry, Haven. I should never have left. It took me all this time to finally admit the only thing I can’t live without is you.” Brody framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes. “My place is right here, beside you, holding you in my arms.”
“But that’s your dream, Brody. You can’t just give it up. Not for me.” Haven worried that Brody would resent her if he quit football now.
“I didn’t give it up for you. I gave it up for me. You see, I discovered something more important than football. Something I want far more than to play in the Super Bowl. Something that I love more than anything in this world… you.” Brody claimed her lips in a possessive, passionate kiss that cleared Haven’s mind of any thoughts except Brody.
“I can’t let you do it,” Haven whispered, clinging to him. “You have to go back. You have to try.”
“I’m done trying, Haven. My knee isn’t going to last and I might as well face that fact now before I end up permanently crippled.” Brody gently rubbed his hands up and down her back. “I've been in touch with a couple of the schools in the area. One of the coaches is retiring at the beginning of the year and they offered me a job. If you think you could spend your life with a high school teacher and football coach, I’m asking you to marry me. Will you?”
Haven sat up and stared at him, at the face of her beloved. A smile tipped the corners of her mouth upward. “Of course I’ll marry you!”
Brody kissed her dimples then her mouth again as he held her close. “I love you so much, Haven. More than you could possibly know.”
“I love you, too, Brody. Since the day you looked up at me from the twenty-yard line.”
Epilogue
Six Years Later
“Coach? Coach, there’s someone here to see you.”
Brody looked up from the papers he graded at his desk as one of his senior football players hustled inside his office.
“What’s up, Brandon?” Brody smiled at the boy as he stood in the doorway, dressed for practice.
Brandon grinned. “There’s a very important person here to see you.”
Brody stood and walked around the desk. “And who is this very important person?”
A giggle erupted behind Brandon and an angelic face peeped around his legs.
“It’s me, Daddy!”
Brody knelt and held out his arms to his daughter.
“Hi, Jamie. How’s my girl?” Brody kissed her rosy cheek. “What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the afternoon with Uncle Hale.” He stood with Jamie in his arms.
She squeezed him around the neck and pressed a sloppy kiss on his chin before squirming to get down. He set her on top of his desk and rubbed a hand over her head. Although she had his dark hair color, her bouncy curls came from Haven. He smiled into her big blue eyes, so like her mother’s.
“Where is your mama?” Brody glanced toward the door.
“She’s coming, coach.” Brandon stepped over to the desk and picked up Jamie, tossing her in the air.
“Do it again, Brandon. Please, do it again!” Jamie giggled, when he tossed her up another time. At the tender age of four, she had every one of the players on the high school football team her father coached wrapped around her finger.
Brody walked to the door and watched Haven slowly waddle down the hall. Nine months pregnant, she didn’t move anywhere in a hurry.
“Hey, doll. What’s up?” Brody gently wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. Despite her advanced pregnancy, he thought she looked radiant and beautiful.
“Hale got called in to work, so I thought Jamie might enjoy watching the boys practice today. I hope it’s okay.” Haven leaned against Brody as she caught her breath from the long walk across the parking lot and through the school to his office near the back of the athletic wing.
“Why didn’t you call? I would have run over to pick you up. You didn’t drive over here, did you?” Brody escorted her inside his office and hurried to wheel the chair from behind his desk. He helped her ease down to the seat.
Haven sighed, exasperated and exhausted. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid. Besides, it’s far too nice a day to be stuck inside the house. Jamie and I want to see how these boys are doing. They’ve got their first big game this weekend.” Haven smiled at Brandon as he held Jamie. “Are you ready to win?”
“You bet Mrs. Jackson. Come out to the field and we’ll show you.”
Haven nodded. “Why don’t you take Jamie with you? I’ll be there in a minute - or ten.”
Brandon smiled and set Jamie on her feet, taking her hand in his. “Come on, little Miss Coach. Let’s see if you think we’re good enough to win.”
They started out the door, but Jamie stopped before they disappeared down the hall. “Bye, Mommy. I’m gonna show these boys how to get the job done.”
Brody barely managed to swallow back a laugh, but he couldn’t hide his smirk from Haven.
She shook her head. “That sassy, independent streak of hers comes entirely from you.”
“You wound me, doll, even if it is true.” Brody tugged on his ball cap, draped a whistle around his neck, and gathered a clipboard with papers. Before Haven could protest, he handed her the clipboard and started pushing the chair she occupied toward the door.
“Brody!” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “You will not roll me down the hall and out to the field in this chair. Brody!”
He chuckled and wheeled the chair out of his office and down the hall toward the back door. “Just sit tight and enjoy the ride.”
Indignant, Haven huffed, unwilling to admit how much she’d dreaded the long walk out to the football field. She wanted to watch the boys practice today because from the ache in her back and the twinges she’d felt all afternoon it might be the last opportunity she had for a while.
Recalling how excited, nervous, and completely wonderful Brody had been when Jamie was born, Haven laughed.
At the sound of her laughter, Brody stopped the chair and stepped around it so he could see her face. “What’s funny?”
“You.”
Brody hunkered down in front of her and placed his hands on her rounded belly, rubbing it gently. “What did I do now to make you laugh?”
“I was remembering the day Jamie arrived. You were unusually comical that day.”
Brody narrowed his gaze. “I don’t remember anything that funny.”
Haven laughed again. “You had on two different shoes, you forgot how to get to the hospital, and then when we did arrive, you almost strangled yourself with the seatbelt in your haste to get me inside.”
“I still don’t see what’s so funny,” he grumbled before placing a kiss on her tummy. He rubbed his hand over it again as he spoke to their soon-to-arrive baby. “Do you hear your mama laughing at me? What do you think of that?”
The baby moved and Brody grinned. “See, he agrees that you’re picking on me.”
Haven rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to stop referring to the baby as ‘he.’ It could very well be another she. After all, you were convinced Jamie would be a boy. Remember, you spent the months leading up to her birth referring to her as your ‘little quarterback.’ It’s no wonder she’s such a tomboy.”
Brody took Haven’s hands in his and squeezed them, losing himself in her eyes. “We’ll find out soon enough if this one is a boy or a girl. Besides, you know I don’t care as long as the baby is healthy. Although, if we have another girl, I hope she loves football as much as Jamie.”
“How could a child of yours not love football?” Haven leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Her teasing smile slowly melted and she sighed.
“What is it, doll? Are you feeling okay?” Brody’s anxiety carried through his voice.
Haven placed a hand to his cheek. “I’m well, Brody. I was just thinking about your football career. Are you ever sorry you chose me…” Haven waved her hand around them. “Chose this, instead of playing in the NFL?”
“Not for a single moment, Haven. If I had to do it all over again, the only thing I’d change is the months I spent away from you getting my head on straight.” Brody kissed Haven, long and deep. “Falling for you at the twenty-yard line was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the day our happy ending began.”