Flagrant Foul (gxg)

Epilogue

Five years later

"You may now kiss the bride!" stated the kindly older woman. Wasting no time, I swept Skye into my arms and kissed her soundly on the edge of the ocean. We'd just renewed our vows for the fourth time, this time on a beach in Hawaii, after our wedding the summer after our first national championship. We'd had an amazing life since then, and it was even better than I'd ever imagined.

Sure, it wasn't all roses. Neither of us had handled pregnancy well, with Skye carrying first right after our marriage and me after my first season playing for the Los Angeles Sparks. So now we had two little girls, Lyla and Isla, and couldn't have been happier. Getting them into the world had been a chore though, with Skye having constant blood pressure issues, and me having gestational diabetes and then a lot of bleeding during the birth. After all that, we decided that two was enough, and we called it quits on the baby making. Luckily, it wasn't like we could accidently knock each other up.

No matter how many times we tried!

I'd been the number one pick in the WNBA draft, with Leah being picked right after me and heading up to the Seattle Storm. Imani had been drafted two years earlier and was playing down with the Phoenix Mercury. It was nice that we were all on the west coast, so we could get together a couple times in the off season, in addition to when we played against each other. The three of us even got selected to the Olympic team, and helped them win a gold medal! No, we weren't stars in that, just playing a few minutes here and there while the more seasoned players got the major playing time. But the next time they come around, then we'd be the stars!

Leah and I had got our wish, winning the title four straight years, and the team was still going strong after we left thanks to some great recruits that came aboard while we were there. The year Imani left was the hardest, as it took the incoming freshmen some time to develop, but while we headed into the NCAA Tournament as a three seed, we turned it on late and won it all again. I was so proud of all of our teammates, and we still kept in touch with many of them along with our soccer friends.

Bryn had been drafted too, and was playing in Indiana, with the Fever, while Dayana was playing in an Australian league. Bryn and Scarlett had ended things after Bryn graduated. I didn't know what happened, but it seemed mutual since they still talked a lot and were friendly. Scarlett was playing in a French league though, so I guess it would have been hard to maintain any kind of relationship. But Dayana was engaged to the same guy that she'd been seeing back in college, and I didn't doubt we'd all take a trip to Australia at some point for a ceremony.

Gee and Leah had been married in our junior year, and Gee had gone along with Leah to Seattle, where Skye's mom had helped her find a job so she could work while Leah played. Zara and Imani had been married right after graduation. Both couples were insanely happy, and we got on group Zoom calls all the time.

Speaking of weddings, my mom and Ray had theirs, and it was perfect. It was more of a nice family gathering in my grandparent's back yard, and just like that I had an official stepdad. It was nice seeing them so happy, and they flipped out when they saw the honeymoon that Skye and I sent them on. Ten days in Europe on a foodie trip that started in Spain, wound through France, and ended up in Italy. They had a great time, and enjoying the time off ended up changing a lot in their lives. With me up at college, they ended up selling the bar and grill down in Fort Lauderdale, along with the house, and moved up to Charlotte near my grandparents and bought another bar and grill instead. They set up a smoker like my Pops' in the back and served a bunch of BBQ options along with the drinks. Even better, they actually hired more people, so they didn't have to work their asses off every day of the week.

I had thought about asking them to move to Los Angeles when I got drafted, but since trades happen quite often in basketball, it would be selfish for me to uproot them. Besides, my grandparents had lived in their place for so long, I didn't think they would want to try getting acclimated to a new city. We enjoyed our time in North Carolina so much that we loved visiting them there anyway, and it gave us an excuse to go back.