Standing together, watching the happy boy scramble off with the Oysters, Carolyn turned to the Captain. "When Jonathandoes pitch on opening day Captain, no help!" she insisted. Looking at her with a serious face, he nodded, "My word of honor Madam." Yet she noticed a definite twinkle in his eye as he added, "But don't be surprised if he has a no-hitter!" Alarmed, she turned with a shout, "Now Captain!" Raising a hand, he indicated a truce. "Legitimately of course."
"Just like you promised to not interfere about his spot on the team?" she asked. "Come Madam," he grumbled, "the boy may need his mother's gentle care and guidance, but surely you recognize that other perspectives are also needed to help a boy inch his way forward toward becoming a man?"
"And that means propping him up, even when he doesn't believe it possible?" she grinned. "It means believing in him," the Captain said happily, "far more than he might believe in himself at any given moment. I'm pleased to see it worked, don't you agree?"
Turning her back to him for a moment, she shook her head, and took a moment to watch Jonathan pitch another strike for the Oysters. "What?" the Captain said in confusion as he tried to peer around her and capture her attention again. "You mean you do not agree?"
Shaking her head again, she turned back to face him, and the tears in her eyes made him step back in consternation and concern. "No," she said at last, "what I mean is that I cannot believe how very fortunate Jonathan is . . . or I suspect I mean how fortunate I am to have another parent in you, to make sure together we can help him become a strong, confident man one day."
"Me? A parent?" he paused head tilted in confusion, "I believe I shared with you my entire understanding that I never . . ." Her finger held to his lips stopped him in mid-sentence. "Being a parent," she said patiently, lovingly, "has everything to do with being there for a growing child when you are needed. Granted, it is wonderful to be part of it from the very second when a new life begins," she stopped, realizing that the two of them were both actively imagining that moment. "And yet," the Captain said, graciously giving her a moment to let the blush fade from her cheek, "no matter how dearly I would have wanted to be there at the beginning, I am at least here for the ones where I can be a parent. Is that what you mean?"
"I do indeed," she smiled at their entire understanding. "I do as well," he smiled. "Perhaps one day we might find a more proper setting to say words like this, ones that would officially make us the family we are already becoming." Turning to watch the game, she glanced over her shoulder toward him, "If anyone could do it, it would be you Daniel Gregg." Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave himself over to a powerful feeling of pride, and he began thinking about how he might make such an imagined moment a reality.