Riptide: A Christian Yelich Story

Thirty-Two

Amelia sighed softly and went to find Christian to comfort him after wiping her own tears. They lost in game 7 of the World Series on a walk off home run. She knew he'd be hurting.

"Where's Christian?" She asked Lorenzo Cain, making sure that her belly was hidden by her hoodie. Christian still didn't want to tell the team. They were convinced that they would be up in arms about it, and she could see that there was more there.

"He's by his locker. He isn't letting anyone talk to him, though. He's convinced that he could rob that homer, but he really couldn't, Mil-town." Amelia smiled softly at the nickname and nodded.

"I know he couldn't have, Lo. Thank you," she squeezed his shoulder and went over to his locker and just silently sat next to him and took his hand.

"You're the one who tied the game, baby. And that homer was easily 15 feet past the wall. I know the loss hurts, but it isn't on you. I promise," she said after he laid his head on his chest.

"I want to tell them. I want this season to end on something happy," he whispered, putting his hand in the pouch of her hoodie and rubbing over her bump.

"Okay. We can do it before the reporters get in here," Amelia said softly, gently brushing through his hair.

"Thank you for being patient with me. For being my rock," he said softly and stood up, clearing his throat to get the attention of the room. "Guys? Amelia and I have something we'd like to share."

The whole team and all the other men and women in the room came around, the media people with their cameras at the ready.

"As you know... the last year has been really hard for us. But we couldn't be happier to announce that we're expecting two beautiful babies early in the spring. We are so happy. Nathaniel can't wait to meet his siblings, and I can't wait to tackle this journey with my amazing wife," he said, brightness returning to his eyes.

Travis looked over at Amelia, who was smiling sheepishly and holding her belly. "Congratulations, guys. How're you doing?" he whispered in her ear, concerned about how she was handling all of this with the memory of her previous loss.

"I'm good. I'm 16 weeks now, so a lot of the risk for miscarriage is gone," she smiled softly and gave him a hug. "Thank god I can take this off now, I'm boiling down here."

Christian smiled and watched her take off her hoodie and reveal the t-shirt that showed off her bump. As his teammates embraced both him and her, he realized that it was silly of him to be scared. These guys were his family, too.

***
This wasn't comfortable.

Christian was sitting next to Amelia at the Christmas breakfast table, holding her hand tight. This was the complete opposite to the atmosphere at his family's Thanksgiving. His mom was ecstatic about her grandbabies, Collin and Cam were impressed, and his step dad was just happy that his idiot stepson finally got his shit together.

This was completely different. And he couldn't let Amelia see that it was affecting him.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Amelia Grace Anderson," her mom said, completely intentional in her usage of her maiden name.

It was aimed to hurt Christian, and it succeeded. It devalued what he's done to be better. It insinuated that he wasn't important enough to be a part of Amelia's life.

"Yelich. My last name is Yelich, mom," Amelia sighed, seeing the briefest glimpse of pain cross Christian's face.

"Yeah, you're acting like one. Reckless. Not caring about the people who actually love you," Alex was absolutely sneering at Christian, eyes full of fire. He had been firing them off all morning. Praying for the whores of the world at breakfast and glaring at him. Asking Amelia if she'd gotten tested for STDs. "He isn't going to stick around for the long haul, Amelia. He's only ever proven that. So don't be so stupid. I helped you find that divorce lawyer. Use him."

"I'm not getting a divorce!" Amelia snapped, visibly upset. As she swiftly stood from the table, she swayed dangerously and Christian immediately wrapped his arms around her to steady her.

"Go lay down, baby girl. You don't need to get worked up over me," Christian said quietly, helping her to the couch and sitting her down. "I'm going to grab you your iron supplement. You take care of our boys," he teased gently and kissed her.

Back to the lion's den.

He grabbed her iron supplement and water and was about to turn back around to go to the living room when his arm was caught in a vice-like grip.

"You hurt her again and you're dead. You deserve to feel every ounce of pain you put her through, you worthless sack of shit. You're an awful father, an even worse baseball player, and an abysmal husband. You don't deserve her. And you will know that for the rest of your life."

Christian was released and went back to Amelia, heart sunk in his chest. Alex was right... he was terrible. He tried so hard to be a good dad and husband, but he failed repeatedly. His average has plummeted. When they were separated, he had a season average of .272. The worst of his career. The only reason his average was .301 this year is because he bat .480 after getting Amelia back, otherwise he didn't know if he'd crack .250.

He didn't deserve Amelia. Or Nathaniel. Or their babies. Or his job.

He lingered on that when handing Amelia her things and staying by her side, thinking about how lucky he was to be loved.

He's done nothing in life to prove that he was good enough for anything.