I opened the box because I thought maybe Khiley had forgotten about it, and I took out the ring Edie had helped me pick out. The band was a twisted braid of silver, gold, and platinum with a diamond surrounded by stones the color of the sea.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. I placed it on her finger before raising her hand to my mouth and kissing it gently.
“Can we please get to the rest of the presents now?” Khiley’s cousin, Dalton, said, which caused everyone to laugh, lightening the mood like Dalton was so good at doing.
“Well. There’s just one more thing,” I said, looking into Khiley’s eyes and making sure she was ready. She gave me a nod.
“Khiley and I had one more gift come our way this year.” I kept my eyes on her and not the other people in the room. She moved her hand to her stomach, and my own followed, hugging her, pulling her to me. “It seems we’re going to be parents.”
Silence. I risked looking up. My parents were frowning, Blake’s grin had slid off, and Cam looked like she was going to throw something at me.
“Try that again?” Dad asked.
“You’re going to be a granddad twice in a year,” I told him, and this time I couldn’t keep the smile away from my face.
“Holy shit,” Ginny said.
“Goddamn,” Mayson uttered.
“Don’t cuss,” Marina responded.
“Kitchen. Now,” Cam said, standing and leaving the room, expecting we would follow. And we did, but Khiley was still smiling, which was all that mattered to me.
Blake and my parents joined us. Both of our parents stared at us, but it was Cam who spoke first. “What were you thinking?!”
“Mama. It just happened,” Khiley responded.
“No, it doesn’t just happen. You have to…God…” Cam put a hand to her eyes. Not surprisingly, it was Blake who calmed her down. He pulled her to him, chin on her head.
“Cam, it happened to us,” he said with a wry smile.
“Wait, what?” Khiley asked.
“Mayson wasn’t exactly planned. You had to have known that,” Blake answered.
“But we weren’t still in college,” Cam protested.
“You were barely finished.”
Cam brushed a hand over her face.
My dad came over and wrapped an arm around my neck. “Did you not listen to a damn word I said?” he asked.
“I did. We did. It just…happened.”
“I’m going to be a grandma. Twice,” Mom said. She kissed Khiley on the cheek and hugged her. Then, she hugged me. “This is what you’ve both been so stressed about? Telling us about a baby? Babies are beautiful things. They bring joy.”
“How the hell am I old enough to be a grandma?” Cam said, panic in her eyes. “This is not right.”
Wynn laughed. “Cam, hug your daughter before she gets the idea you aren’t happy for her.”
Cam came over and pulled Khiley from me. “You, I have words for later,” she said to me, then to Khiley, “Is this what you want?”
“It’s a piece of Stephen and me. It’s us. It’s our future.”
She hugged Khiley to her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mama.”
“Presents!” Mayson yelled, coming around the corner. He punched me in the shoulder. “You’re an ass who’s going to have to be beaten into a pulp later.”
Khiley punched him back. “No one is beating anyone unless it’s me beating you at pool.”
“Smart-ass, he got you knocked up. I’m your brother. I need to defend your honor.”
Cam flicked his nose. “Not going to happen, Mayson. We need him around to put that ring on her finger, marry her, and make her legal.”
My mama laughed. “Wait. How long was it before you and Blake got married? Mayson and Khiley were both born before you let him make it official.”
Cam stuck her tongue out at Mom, and I was grateful because it meant everything was going to be all right. Khiley and I had both worried ourselves to death over nothing. Like always, our family circled around us to hold us up instead of letting us fall. We both should have had more faith in them.
Family was their world, and it would be ours, too.
Cover Images: © iStock | Bedya | Antonel
Ty Waters and Maleena Crandall
You may remember Mia and Derek’s story in My Life as a Pop Album about a bookworm of a girl who carried around guilt over her brother’s death and a rock star who couldn’t walk away from her once he’d met her. You might remember that they were the first of the entire Album series couples to get married, but they were the last to have a child. When they did, they had twins, a boy and a girl, who became their whole world and were followed by a sister a couple of years later. The family they built was just part of a much bigger family that surrounded Derek’s band, Watery Reflection. Here’s the first of the stories about their children. This one is about their son, Tiras—or Ty, as he prefers—and how he got everything he desired…
Still confused? Check out the “My Life as an Album Series Who’s Who.”
Ty
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
“I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know.”
Performed by Mariah Carey
Written by Carey / Afanasieff
While everyone was in an uproar over Khiley and Stephen’s pregnancy, I escaped to the quiet of Uncle Blake’s office to call Maleena. To see if, this time, she’d actually pick up. She didn’t, so I left a Merry Christmas message I was sure sounded too curt and wouldn’t win me any points in her playbook.
When she’d called off our secret relationship before the break, she’d had a whole series of choice words to say about me. Curt being the least of them. She’d said I was arrogant―which was pretty much true. She’d said I had a chip on my shoulder―which was definitely true. And she’d said if I didn’t change, it would impact my acceptance to the pros―which was also true—but pissed me off enough to walk out on her even though I really wanted to beg her to take me back.
The entire drive home from Knoxville, I’d stewed on her words. By the time I’d reached our house, I knew I wasn’t ready to let her go without a fight. Since then, I’d been hounding her with calls and texts. The few times she did pick up, she’d bounced between being irritated and sad, as if she kept hoping I’d be a different person each time I called. As if she was still hoping I’d become a better man. Like Stephen said he wanted to be for Khiley.
His words were haunting me. I wanted to be a better man, but I was failing. And in the last couple of days, Maleena had stopped picking up at all. Every unanswered call pushed me closer to dickhood. Closer to an edge I wasn’t sure I’d survive if I fell off. It hurt more than any fucking hit I’d ever taken on the football field. Not even the one that had broken my fingers my freshman year at UTK and worried everyone, including me, about whether I’d still be able to play.