Free SWOLLEN: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Stephanie Brother Page A

about Maggie was one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever done in my life, but I know for a fact that if he is actually serious about giving us a go, the real difficulties will have only just begun for us. Couples with kids argue all the time and for a couple that doesn’t even know each other that well, it could be impossible.
    If it weren’t Liam, I might be inclined to not even bother, but because it’s him, I will do everything in my power for us to succeed.
    It’s a two-way thing, though, and if Liam can’t put up his side, I’ll have invested everything and got out nothing.
     
    Five.
     
    Liam
    I want to tell everyone everywhere I go, that I’m a dad. Not only that I’m a dad, that I have the best-looking daughter in the world, and that her mother, Jasmine, is the perfect woman for me.
    I see kids in the street and feel proud, look at their parents and feel an instant connection.
    I do as Jasmine says, I speak to parents that I know and parents that I don’t, if the situation allows it, and the overwhelming response I get from them is that although it’s the hardest job in the world, there isn’t a day goes by that they regret it. Dads grumble more than moms, but even the dads, beyond all the whingeing and whining think that what they have done to create the child they now have in front of them is clearly their best achievement.
    I’m well aware that things between Jasmine and I are in their very early stages. We are going to butt heads on certain things, have arguments down the line, there will be upset and disappointment and the inevitable crossed word but even with all of that thrown into the mix with a two-month-old baby that hasn’t even see its first tooth, I’m confident we can all make this work.
    Why am I so confident? It’s a hunch. Nothing more than that. I don’t know Jasmine all that well, but I feel her. I feel her when she’s with me and when she’s not it feels like there is a part of the world missing. A Jasmine shaped hole in my heart that can’t be filled by anything but the girl herself.
    And as for Maggie, Maggie will be difficult, there’s no avoiding that. Bringing up a child is not an easy task. She’ll be the center of attention to the extent that everything else that we want will go out of the window, but, do you know what? In my heart of hearts, I know she’ll be worth it, and I know Jasmine and I will get through it.
    My feelings for Jasmine have only increased in the year we spent absent from each other. I’ve been moving along aimlessly for so much of my life that now this has happened, I finally feel like I’ve got purpose. I was going to pay my debts and disappear without a plan, but right now I have the plan I was always looking for. When football was taken away from me, I didn’t have anything left to grip onto, which is why my life went spinning out of control in the way that it did. I’ve had the fighting circuit for the last few years but that’s coming to an end, and it was never really my scene anyway, despite the fact I’m so good at it. When my debt is paid off and I finally leave this world behind, what perfect gift but Jasmine and Maggie to spend the rest of my life with.
    One look into that girl’s eyes and I knew. One look into Maggie’s and there is no way, whatever happens in this world, that I will do anything but protect her.
    The week goes glacier slow. At home, I feel like I’m the cooler king, while I bounce a baseball off the wall and back into my hand, thinking about all the cool stuff I can teach her, all the places Jasmine and I can go on vacation, even the other brothers and sisters we can give her.
    I don’t hear from Jasmine, but I don’t expect to. I want to respect the distance she has asked for and treat this decision seriously. I’m not the kind of person who says they are going to do something only to back out when it gets difficult, but I think she already knows that. The week will convince her as much as it will