Rain Check?

After Shot: Finnegan Archer Evans (part 2)

I find myself laughing the following afternoon as Carly and I sit in my gynecologists' office. My sister in law looks at me strangely, closing the magazine she'd been reading. "What's so funny?"

"Well, let's see. Scott was my confidant and the only one that knew about me regaining feeling in my leg before the wedding. And now, you are the only one to know I'm pregnant."

"I wonder what secret you and Shanna will share with one another," she giggles out, catching on to the hilarity of secrecy in my life. "You tell your mom and sister yet?"

I shake my head no, "Do you see them here? You know they'd have both skipped work for this, and I don't really want them to know before Chris."

"How are you wanting to tell him? I mean, he's coming back tomorrow, right?"

I nod now, my own hands skimming over the magazine choices when I spot something that looks surprisingly familiar. My lips go tight as I bite back a smile, pulling the magazine out completely to see the image that covers one side of the front cover.

One of our wedding photos on the cover of People magazine.

Carly finally notices as well, "Did you know?"

"Nope," I say, beginning to quietly flip through the pages until I reach the two page article. My emotions run a bit all over the place, assuming first and foremost that someone we trust had shared the intimacy of our day. But then I notice specific comments in quotation marks coming from my husband himself. Things that only he could answer. "Mother Trucker," I mutter under my breath, agitation now coming forth.

"What?"

"Your brother," I answer curtly. I read through the article, not really finding anything that should agitate me, but a fair warning would've been nice, right? He obviously knew it would be published, why not give me a heads up?

'Captain America, Steve Rogers, has found his love in Agent Peggy Carter. Chris Evans married third grade school teacher, Dempsey Abrams of Boston, in a quiet ceremony on Christmas Eve surrounded by their closest family and friends including many of the original Avengers movie stars. We caught up with the new found 'husband' who couldn't wait to gush about his stunning bride.'

Tell us about the day you played Cap at Disneyland. Well, it had been planned while they were finishing up building that part of the theme park. They'd asked me to be there for the opening but it was a conflict with my schedule at the time. So they approached me about pulling a 'Johnny Depp' and I was all for it. I loved all the months I spent in that costume, uniform, that it felt like visiting an old friend getting to put it on again.

You pulled quite the stunt that day, dancing with a woman in the midst of the crowd. Yep, I did. It felt too perfect seeing a woman dressed as Peggy Carter to not have a little fun with it. And that woman ended up becoming your wife. That she did.

Tell us about how your relationship developed. So, I head back to Boston as I had some time off before promoting Knives Out, it was just before Defending Jacob began filming. My sister is a teacher at a high school that has a fundraiser event where they play softball against the elementary school teachers. So, you recognized her there? Not even a little bit. My family went out to see my sister after the game but I was on a work call. However, my sister realized she played against my nephew's teacher. We have a big Halloween party each year and Carly invited her to come. That's where I realized that she had been the one dressed up as Peggy.

How did she feel turning the head of Captain America? (We'd like to note that Chris is howling in laughter at this moment). It's a really funny story that I don't think she'd appreciate me telling the entire world of People magazine readers, so I'm gonna keep that within the family.

"Oh, thank heavens," I sigh towards Carly as she reads over my shoulder. "He didn't tell them I had no idea who he was."

"That would've been a trip to the doghouse for sure," she assumes.

How did you manage to keep it under wraps so well? We saw you two at the Globes, but then there seemed to be radio silence for several months. I am a relatively private guy and had fallen in love with a woman who was not a part of the same lifestyle. Dempsey is a pretty private woman as well, she was teaching at the time. And with her, I didn't have to be Hollywood Chris. I was as she likes to refer to me as, 'Ethan's Uncle.' That was the most important thing to both of us, that we stay grounded within our own relationship and try to keep the outside world separate.

"He dodged that question," Carly whispers under her breath just loud enough for me to hear.

Nothing really had ever gone public about our break up, the time apart or even that we weren't actually together during the shooting. I think he deserves a little something extra for not putting that part of our private life out there even now, after the wedding.

Dempsey, your now wife, suffered a really devastating blow back in the spring. How is she doing now? She most certainly did. I will never be able to comprehend the magnitude of fear that she felt that day, the following days in the hospital, nor the months upon months of recovery it took for her to regain use of her legs. She is by far the strongest woman I have ever met in my life. And I still can't believe I get to call her my wife.

Your fans went absolutely wild at your surprise wedding. Was that always the plan, to keep it to yourselves? Not necessarily. But, like I said, being with Demi was different than any other relationship I've been in. You could call me selfish if you want to, it won't bother me. I wanted to give her every dream she could ever imagine, and I don't really think being bombarded by my fandom fit into the dream engagement, or dream wedding. After the insanity of the last few months, we really just wanted to celebrate with those nearest and dearest to us. I hope my fans can respect and appreciate the idea of putting the woman I love first.

We're all watching and waiting to see Dodger and Star welcome a human sibling soon. Think that's coming up anytime soon? Who knows. Your guess is as good as mine.

"Mrs. Evans?"

My head pops up from the magazine, seeing the nurse standing there with a chart. She's been the same nurse I've seen for the last several years, welcoming me into a hug as soon as I'm close enough.

"Good to see you, Franny," I tell her.

"So which side of the office am I taking you to this time?" she asks, coming to a stop at the fork in the hallway. Her green eyes moving between mine and Carly's, silently holding back her own hope concerning my visit.

  I give her the tiniest nod towards the right, a hallway filled with beautiful images of newborns. Her face scrunches up and she quietly squeals in delight before throwing her arms around me again.

  "Let's go checkout your baby then!"

*unedited.
*I hadn't planned this chapter to be so little about the baby but it's the way it went. Hope you don't mind. Just means there's still more to come 😘