Page 154 of Unmanageable

I’m pretty sure I’ve stepped out of linear time.

“You’re—” I swallow hard. “Pregnant?”

She nods, laughing and crying at the same time, the most human I have ever seen the Shark.

“Thirteen weeks, according to the math. I took the test this morning in the cabin. Well, I took nine tests. Because apparently, I don’t trust plastic sticks with life-altering information unless they’re in a majority consensus.”

She clears her throat, a little smirk flashing through her tears. “Oh, and for the record? Sorry, Finny, but Ivy knew first.”

I blink, completely thrown. “You told Ivy before me? Scottie, I helped make this baby!”

“Priorities, O’Connell.”

I laugh. I think I sob. I’m reasonably sure I might be having a minor cardiovascular event, but I don’t care.

“You’re serious,” I whisper, my hand moving instinctively toward her stomach, hovering just over the thick, dark fabric of the Reign hoodie.

“Yes,” she says, her voice breaking. “Finny, I’m serious. We’re… we’re going to be parents.”

I stand up so fast I nearly lose my balance, then I pull her into my arms, cradling her face in both of my hands like she’s something miraculous. Which she is.

“We’re having a baby?” My voice cracks like I’m a twelve-year-old kid again. “A tiny, loud, probably highly litigious and impossible version of us?”

She nods again, her forehead coming to rest against mine. “If you’re still okay with that. If you still want the ring-and-vows part of the deal knowing that your sleep schedule is about to be professionally dismantled.”

I laugh helplessly, pulling her in and kissing her with every bit of love and relief I have stored in my body.

“Scottie-girl, I have never been more okay with anything in my entire life. You just hijacked my proposal with the best news of my existence.”

I pull back just an inch, already dropping right back down to one knee on the gravel. I’m not letting this moment go.

“You’re not the only one with a life-altering announcement tonight, Sharky.”

Her laugh turns into a sob, her hands resting on my shoulders.

“Scottie Elise Reed,” I say again, “will you marry me? Will you let me be the guy who wakes up with you at 3:00 AM for feedings and goalie-guards this family forever? Will you let me stay?”

She doesn’t hesitate for a single microsecond.

“Yes,” she says fiercely, pulling me up. “A thousand times, yes. To the ring, to the baby, to the whole chaotic, noisy mess.”

I slide the ring onto her finger.

It fits perfectly.

***

Telling the family back at the cabin an hour later is pure madness.

Ivy is the first to cry. It’s not a polite, single tear; it’s a full-body, gasping, silent sob that requires Callahan to basically hold her upright by the elbows.

When Scottie reminds her that she already knew, she just shrugs and says, “Yeah, but now it feels real,” and continues sobbing.

Callahan, for his part, goes still when I tell him. His eyes widen, and he looks at me like I’ve just told him I’m retiring to become a monk. He doesn’t say anything for a long time, then he walks over and pulls me into a crushing, ribs-cracking hug.

Jenna screams so loudly that I’m fairly certain birds actually took flight from the trees three miles away.

She immediately grabs Scottie’s hand to inspect the diamond with the eye of a jeweler, then starts aggressively Googling designer baby onesies before we’ve even finished the second sentence of the announcement.