The Engagement:
- Step 1: Al's Blessing-
It was only 48 hours since the Padres won the World Series. The team had been called into the clubhouse to go over logistics for the city wide parade and rally the following day, plus public appearances around the city for the next few weeks. Mike and Ginny had requested a meeting with Al and Oscar.
Mike and Ginny arrived about 30 minutes prior to the rest of the team and met in Oscars office. They had been up late the night before debating if they were ready to finally to go public with their relationship. So Al and Oscar mistook the tired look on their faces for something else when they entered the office.
"What's up you two? Should I worry? You break up and I need to trade one of you?" Oscar was to known jump to conclusions. He also might have had a little too much coffee these days planning all the festivities.
"No!" They both said in unison.
Mike and Ginny sat down and he took Ginny's hand. Mike began, "We're ready to take the relationship public in a few weeks."
Ginny continued, "We don't want to detract from the Padres World Series celebrations. But once most of the public appearances are done, we want to go public. We wanted to run it by you both first, and with your blessing, let the team know it would be coming in a few weeks so they won't be blind-sighted."
Al rubbed his hands through his hair… "you two just wont let me go out gracefully will you? I was thinking of retiring, but I may need to stick around another season just to make sure you two don't go screw anything up in the press." And he looked over at Oscar.
"Don't think you're retiring yet. If Lawson is sticking around, so are you. Plus the media storm they are going to bring down could only be handled by you. I mean you've dug yourself out of worse with Ginny alone." Oscar responded somewhat jokingly. "So do you have a plan?"
"Not really, we wanted to talk to you and the team first, then come up with a plan after that." Mike responded.
"I guess we have another thing to add to our list to tell the team today." Al said. "I'll walk down with you. I need to make a few calls from my office. See you in a few minutes in the locker room Oscar." And with that, Mike, Ginny and Al headed down to the locker room.
As they neared Al's office, Mike asked, "Hey Al, I have a quick questions about my contract, mind if I take two minutes of your time?"
"Sure, come on in," and Al shut the door behind them.
"So, upstairs we said we didn't have a plan to go public. Well WE don't have a plan. But I do have a plan. He pulled the chain out from under his shirt and revealed an engagement ring. I'd like to propose to Gin after the team pictures while we're out on the field. I know there will be a lot of family members there. I figure we can share video of the proposal with ESPN the following day."
"You think Baker is going to marry your grumpy ass?"
"Yeah, never been so sure of anything in my life. I still don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm never letting go. So, do I have you blessing?" Mike asked almost as if he was asking Ginny's dad.
"Teammates secretly dating, proposal post World Series Championship, my pitcher and Catcher married… I think I've seen it all. Babies?" and Al looked at Lawson.
"Not yet, I'm not allowed to knock her up for a few years, like 5," Mike responded with his notorious smirk.
"Make it closer to 10 and you have my blessing. But for the record, you'll be great parents" Al joked.
- Step 2: Family's blessing -
Friday afternoon, Ginny arrived home from a solo PR event to find her mom and Will in her living room laughing with Mike. She hated being bombarded and was pissed that Mike had invited them over without asking. Hell, he probably bought their plane tickets and paid for their hotels.
"Mom!?... Will?! …"
"Surprise!" Janet and Will said together. "Mike flew us in to celebrate your season! Although I had totally forgotten you two were still roommates."
Yup, Ginny was right.
"So Gin, What's new, other than being a ball player for the best team in the MLB?" her brother asked. Their relationship had been strained, but Will was trying to earn her trust again. "Is living in this bachelor pad keeping you from dating, or helping your dating life?"
Mike looked over at Ginny, "Yeah Gin, what's new?" He had been waiting patiently for her to tell them about their relationship. A week before they won the World Series she told Mike she was ready and would tell them as soon as the playoffs were over.
"Wow, I haven't been home five minutes and we're doing this?" And she dropped her bag. "Mom… Will… Mike Lawson brought you here under false pretenses. He said it was to 'celebrate the Padres win. But really, it was to get me to come clean. We've been living in sin and in secret for the past year and he doesn't want you to hate him."
Will and Janet started to laugh like Ginny had just told a great joke. But then they realized that Mike had walked over to Ginny and had wrapped his arm around her.
"How'd the event go? Same 'ol, same 'ol" Mike asked Ginny directly?
"Yes. But a little heads up about what I was coming home to would have been nice, Dear," With extra sarcasm added to the 'dear.' "I know, I said I was ready to tell them, and still love you, even though I hate these kinds of surprises." And she leaned up to kiss him.
It was now completely clear to Janet and Will what was going on.
"So you?" Will looked at Mike, "and my little sister? How serious is it?"
"We've been a couple this whole time we've been living together. But we had to keep it a secret to prove to the Padres management we could be teammates and a couple. We couldn't risk it getting out."
Janet was fuming. "You couldn't trust me? Your own mom?"
"Oh I trust you mom. But what if you accidentally told one of the ladies at church you daughter had a new boyfriend. And then they told someone else and it spiraled from there. Then the paparazzi would start hounding me to find out who my boyfriend was. And Will and I were just getting back to a good place. I didn't want to put this burden on him. I just got through one of the hardest years of my life being constantly under a microscope and in the media."
"So why now, why not just keep hiding from your loved ones?" Janet asked in a rather snarky tone.
"I'm tired of hiding my relationship with Mike. We're ready to go public with, well 'US' and we wanted to make sure you heard it from us."
"But you just said you didn't want to be under the media's microscope anymore. You're not making sense Gin." Will asked.
Mikes turn to support Ginny. "Well it's the offseason, and from what I know about this town, all eyes will shift to the Chargers. So our news will be news for about 48 hours and then people will forget about us. Fans will have the rest of the off-season to let it set in. We'll be honest and let them know we've been together this whole season and management was aware of the relationship."
"Wait, your coach knew before I did?" Janet asked.
"Yes mom, I said that before. We had to keep this a secret so they could know with out media attention that we could still operate on the field as professionals."
Mike had fixed dinner ahead of time. "Why don't we move this conversation to the dinner table. I'm sure Will and Janet have a lot of questions that we need to answer."
The rest of the night was tense, but as the weekend progressed tension dissipated. On Sunday, Ginny had another PR event with Duarte. Mike offer to take Janet and Will to the PR event the over to the airport. On the ride to the airport, Janet asked Mike. "This was you're idea, she would have let us find out through the media."
Mike didn't answer. Janet continued. "Do you really love her?"
"Yes ma'am. She's my everything. I plan to marry her once I retire, if that's okay with you?" Mike answered this time.
"You're definitely not what I expected for a son-in-law, but I think you'll be good for each other. But I better not hear about your wedding after the fact. I expect a front row seat."
"Thank you." Mike had the parent approval.
-Step 3: Ask the Girl - The Engagement Recap -
The photographer was on a tall ladder arranging the team, coaches and staff for a picture on the middle of the field. All the players were in their uniforms, staff in matching polo shirts with the Padres logo on it.
The photographer asked for one final shot. "Can the team captain come up front? Also, the first female player? I want a shot highlighting you two. Go ahead and stand on the pitcher's mound."
Both Mike and Ginny made their way to the front and the photographer continued adjusting the rest of the team to fill in the gaps. In actuality, they were handing something out behind their backs.
Then, Mike dropped down to one knee in front of Ginny as all the players held out a rose towards their Captain. Mike had a lapel mic attached to his jersey so those in attendance for the team picture could hear and Evelyn's recording of the proposal would be capture the audio. "Ginny, Rookie, love of my life." Ginny began to wipe the tears from her face as Blip handed her a handkerchief, and as if on cue.
Blip said "you know there's no crying in baseball."
Mike smiled, took her hands and continued. "You have challenged me, I mean really challenged me, and changed me for the better both on and off the field. I think everyone in the clubhouse would agree that you, in my life makes me a better man."
Blip shouted "now you're tolerable, old man Lawson…" Pretty much everyone laughed.
Mike continued, "I told you after our first kiss, I was never going to let you go. I told Al before spring training, bench me over her if our relationship get's in the way of the team. After we told the team, I'm told them I was going to marry you. A week later, I went and bought a ring, and have worn it around my neck every game since then. It was my lucky charm." As Mike was talking, still on bent knee, he took a chain out from under his shirt and held out the engagement ring attached to it. "Please Ginny, will you…" before he can end his question,
Ginny recognizes the chain instantly. She teased him relentlessly during playoffs about this chain. He'd been wearing an engagement ring for her this whole time. She has bent over to kiss him before he was able to finish asking. "… marry me" Mike finishes slightly breathless.
Ginny nods 'yes' and throws her arms around Mike's neck as he stood up, and whispers "three, I want three kids" in his ear that the mic doesn't pick up. Then she starts repeating, "yes, yes, yes." He slips the ring, still attached to the chain on her finger.
"She said YES!" and pumps his fist in the air. By this time their teammates have now separated the petals from the stems and thrown rose petals towards the newly engaged couple.
"I love you!" Ginny declared, her first words that are actually picked up by the mic on Lawson's jersey. She now has jumped onto Mike with both legs wrapped around him and there is no way anyone is getting in the middle of this epic kiss. He's knees are sure to feel this the next day, but he doesn't care, he's going to marry this woman.
In the background, you can hear the team cheering for them.
Once they have untangles themselves from one another, they are greeted and congratulated by those around them. Mike had made a promise of no champagne in the locker room, so he promised an engagement party at a later date.
On the drive home, Mike reminds Ginny of his interview. "So remember my interview with ESPN tomorrow?"
"Yeah, you are going to let them know you are finishing out your contract, put to rest any rumors. Why?"
"I want to share the video of our proposal on air." And with that there was a long period of silence while Ginny let it sink in. "Well, I thought it was a good idea. It doesn't just say, hey we like each other, it says, we're in love and getting married. We've been dating for a year and it hasn't impacted our game. You have the offseason to get over it. So when we come back next spring, you should be on board." And more silence.
"I just need a minute to process."
They pulled into the driveway of their house.
"Sorry, I didn't think how much this would for you be all at once, engagement and going public in a 24-hour period." The car was parked in the driveway. "Do you want to get married?" Mike asked hesitantly. He had been so sure of himself until this very moment.
"Out of the car now Mike Lawson!" Ginny barked. She ran around to where he stood on his side of the car and kissed him. "I can't wait to marry you… and I am ready to tell the world I'm in love with this grumpy old man." And she kissed him again as she leaned them both up against the car. "I'm in shock because I just didn't think you would want to get married again, after Rachel. So are you sure you want to get married?"
"I've been wearing that ring around my neck for months now. I've had plenty of time to change my mind, and I and so sure" and he kissed her forehead." Let's go get some beauty sleep, we have a show to do in the morning."
"You realize your ex-wife is gonna be so pissed you didn't give this exclusive on her show."
"I know, it's awesome, isn't it." Mike responded.
Thank you for following…
Now that Mike and Ginny have gotten engaged and brought us back to where this story began, in the studio where they first went public, I'm closing this series. I've started a new series exploring their engagement picking up almost immediately after they go public. I hope you enjoy.