Alive on Opening Day by Adam Hughes

go to a movie,
but you said you weren’t feeling well. You were in the bathroom for
a long time, then asked me to take you home.”
     
    She watched him with
raised eyebrows, waiting for the pieces to click for him, and then
they did.
     
    “ You were sick from the
baby?”
     
    Gabbie nodded. “Yes, I
think so,” she said. “I had been having trouble in the mornings all
that last week of school — before Senior Week — and had already
gone to the doctor. I didn’t say anything to you because I thought
I just had a bug. The doctor’s office called my mom on Monday
morning, though, and told her I was pregnant. I was going to
tell you that
night after the game … but I never got the chance.”
     
    For the first time, Gabbie
looked sad, and tears glimmered in her eyes.
     
    Dan shook his head and
pulled her close. “I’m sorry, Gabbie. Sorry for leaving you, and
sorry for doubting you.”
     
    Dan and the two women
hugged for a minute or so, and then he pulled away and looked at
Gabbie.
     
    “ Gabbie,” he said. “What
are we going to do?”
     
    She shifted Troy in her
arms and nestled the tiny bundle against Dan’s chest.
     
    “ We can figure that out
later, Dan,” she told him. “Right now, you’re going to hold your
son.”
     
    —
     
    Dan spent the rest of the
afternoon catching up with Gabbie and Clara, but most of all
cuddling and playing with Troy. Dan had always thought babies were
cute enough, but he didn’t have any younger siblings — or any
siblings at all, for that matter — so he never really spent much
time around them. It was surreal to think he was now a father,
responsible for another human life.
     
    In this case, that human
life was all of six weeks old, one of the few Aquarians born in
Pickens County in 1974. Dan wasn’t much into horoscopes, but he
knew that he himself was a Gemini. But, in Dan’s world, everything
could be related to baseball, and he realized February 13, when
Troy was born, was just about the time pitchers and catchers
reported to Spring Training each year. And Dan’s own birthday —
June 15 — was the Major League Baseball trade deadline. They may
not have shared a Zodiac sign, but Dan and his son would forever
bonded through the diamond. Beyond that, Dan enjoyed holding the
baby but didn’t see much commonality between them. In fact, Troy
looked nothing like Dan, though, to be fair, he didn’t look like
Gabbie, either.
     
    Nevertheless, Troy was
their son, and they had to figure out how to take care of him.
During her pregnancy, Gabbie lived at home with her parents, Meg
and Al. Al was understandably furious when he first found out
Gabbie was going to have a baby, but he soon softened, declaring he
was still her father and would provide a safe environment for her.
That was especially true since the baby’s father was not able to
help, and so the Jordan’s had agreed to let her stay home and even
to help care for the baby.
     
    Of course, the Hodges had
stepped up, too, and Clara spent a big chunk of most weekdays with
Gabbie and Meg, taking care of Troy and also forging a friendship.
Gabbie and Clara told Dan how the three (four, if you count Troy)
liked to go bargain-hunting at garage sales and were thinking about
writing a recipe book together. That surprised Troy because he
didn’t know Gabbie could cook and because he wasn’t particularly fond of his own
mother’s cooking — aside from her topnotch breakfast skills. Still,
it was great to know the three women could get along and that Troy
had had a safe and happy place to start out his life.
     
    But if David had taught
Dan anything, it was that a father takes care of his children and
his spouse. Now that Dan was awake, it was time to figure out how
he was going to support Gabbie and Troy, and himself. The problem
was, he had never really even considered what kind of work he might
do, so focused was he on landing a scholarship from Coach Harris at
IWU.
     
    College! How could he