Promise Me

“Is she your wife?” Nickolas asked. Dom smacked him in the back of the head.

“Skylar and I are having a baby in a few months.” I glanced down at her. I had things I wanted to talk to her about. I wasn’t sure what her response would be.

“She’s your girlfriend then,” Nickolas declared.

I chuckled when he got whacked in the back of the head again by Dom. “I’m sorry Coach Moore.” He shook his head at his younger brother, embarrassed by his forwardness.

“It’s fine,” I said but it wasn’t. I could see the hurt in Skylar’s face. She held out her hand to Maddie and the little girl took it trusting her completely but Sky had that way about her.

“Come on Maddie. Let’s start with the horses. They are beautiful.”

“I like horses,” Maddie told her. Maddie hadn’t talked to me yet but she opened up to Skylar right away.

I followed behind carrying Gracie who was being shy. She kept hiding her face in my neck. “This is Gracie, our niece,” I explained to Nickolas and Dom when they kept looking at me and the kid. No, I hadn’t knocked her up twice, I wanted to tell the two boys. “Grace’s Mom is Sky’s sister and her Dad is my brother.”

“You’re Fionn Moore’s brother, aren’t you?” Dom asked pointing at me with a look of sudden recognition on his face.

I laughed. Everyone who played football for Pointe Royal high school knew Fionn. “I am. This is his daughter Gracie Lou.”

“Man, he was an amazing player. Coach Gatlin shows us tapes of him playing in high school sometimes. Your brother Ciaran was QB then.”

“He was,” I said.

“What position did you play?” Dom asked.

I was crushed. I was pretty damn good too. If he saw the tapes he most likely saw me play in them. Skylar glanced over her shoulder at me knowing my ego had taken a hit. She smiled at me. I winked at her. “I played wide receiver.”

The

little girl was in awe of the horses. Dom picked her up and let her touch their noses. She was small like the O’Halloran girls were. Nickolas stood back and looked at them from a distance. I gave Maddie a carrot to feed one of them and she laughed at the tickle their big tongue gave her palm.

We fed the chickens at the side of the barn. Maddie and Skylar collected eggs that we were going to let Maddie take home.

We were walking out the chicken coup when she asked Skylar, “I can eat these?” Skylar smiled at her while Nickolas laughed out loud calling her stupid. Dom was ready to wallop him again.

“Yes, you can. We eat them all the time,” Skylar reassured the little girl.

We headed down the lane to the pasture where the cows were. A few were walking along the fence where Dom and Maddie could touch their noses and sides. Nickolas seemed to always hang back. Walking back Maddie took Skylar’s hand. She was telling her about her third grade class. Skylar brushed her hand across her face to get the hair out of her eyes. She nodded and talked animatedly to the little girl. Maddie didn’t want to leave. She had eggs in the basket that Skylar found for her to carry them in.

“You can come back anytime Dom will bring you. I work here every day after practice,” I told her.

“You do?” Dom seemed surprised.

“I do. Skylar is here most days as well. At least until school starts. She’s teaching English at the high school when the new year begins.” I thought it would be good for Maddie to have positive female companionship. Skylar smiled and nodded at me. She liked the idea of the kids returning.

“Can I come back?” Maddie asked Skylar.

She squatted down and I was sure I would have to help her up again. “Of course you can Maddie. We can do fun girl stuff.”

“I would like that. Maybe Grace would like to do fun girl stuff with us.”

“I bet she would,” Skylar replied.

“Can we Dom?” Maddie looked to Dom for confirmation.

He nodded. “We have to go now though.”

Skylar extended her hand to me so I could help her to a standing position. Then we said goodbye to the kids and watched them get into Dom’s car. He backed carefully around my truck. Soon they were at the end of the lane. I squeezed my niece a little tighter. Gracie looked at me at the same time that Skylar was looking at me too but I couldn’t read her expression. Then Sky turned and headed towards the house.