“She’s not good with people, but she’s been sitting next to you for a while, and I think that she’ll be okay,” she admitted.
I nodded once. “Go ahead. If she screams bloody murder, I’ll bring her down to you.”
Magnolia laughed and started down the steps of the stadium.
The little girl watched her go, then looked at me with an accusation on her face. “Hey, it wasn’t my choice to leave you here.”
The little girl gripped the soccer ball again, softly murmuring to herself.
I kept an eye on the youngin next to me, but also kept an eye on the field as the two newcomers drew the old teammates together.
They all talked animatedly, and that was the first moment that I realized that the team would be okay.
They’d make it.
It’d be a rough road at first, but with the two veterans and Eddy, they’d be playing like a team in no time.
I watched the team captain place her hand on Nettie’s belly. Nettle placed her hand on top of hers and pressed down.
My smile grew.
Forty-five minutes later, the little one next to me got tired of my company and got up.
I picked her up, because she looked like she might very well topple all the way down the stairs if I let her go on her own, and she glared at me.
“I’ll help you down, then put you down,” I told her, assuring her that I wasn’t up to no-good.
She dismissed me and looked for her mother.
Nettie saw me coming first, and her entire face melted into softness.
She elbowed Magnolia slightly, and Magnolia darted over. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stay gone that long. You’re good with her.”
“I think it was the quietness.” I shrugged.
“Iris, can you say thank you?” Magnolia asked her daughter.
She said “thank you” in sign language.
I repeated it back to her.
“You know sign language?”
“I know enough to get me by.” I gestured toward Beau. “He knows it well. His brother and his dad are deaf.”
“I’m learning slowly,” she placed Iris down on the ground and the little girl dropped her soccer ball and started to dribble it straight toward Beau. Beau who was watching the ladies in front of him with a hard eye. “Thanks again.”
She left with Iris, following behind her slow dribble.
Nettie came up to me then. “I see you made a friend.”
“I wouldn’t say friends, exactly,” I teased. “She more tolerated me.”
“She’s adorable,” she mused.
“Very,” I agreed. “I can’t wait to hold our own girl.”
Nettie leaned on the iron railing separating us. “Do you think this is going to work out?”
