“We are,” Rowan answered. “We will be having an unofficial ceremony and reception this summer. You’ll be invited, of course, once we have everything planned. But we are married, we are staying married, and we need to know the next steps for the team.”
Coach Cal nodded, and he switched straight to business mode. He grabbed the laptop from his desk and drafted an email to inform the front office about our marriage and relationship. It was official.
We told Jonesy and Liam the night we told Coach Cal. The next day, before practice began, we announced the wedding to the rest of the team.
After practice, our social media team presented us with two new jerseys and pulled us into the hallway to film a short clip for the team’s socials. I was handed a jersey with my number and the name Rangecroft, and Rowan was handed a matching one with my last name and his number. The social media team filmed us walking toward one camera on the outside field. After they got the footage they wanted for that, they took close-ups of the back of our jerseys, and then they took a few shots of our joined hands and the yellow gold bands around our fingers.
They promised to email us the final copy later that night for our approval before it was posted.
When we got home, we folded the jerseys and put them on my dresser along with the two game balls Rowan had earned this season. “I’m going to rearrange my trophy room,” I told him as I looked at the balls. “I want you to have half of it so you can put all your stuff up too. Then we can frame the shirts and hangthem side by side with all my accomplishments on one side and yours on the other.” I thought for a moment. “And you’ll need to have Raina send your stuff from Fayetteville too, won’t you? Once you do that, we can figure out what we’re keeping from both households and donate the rest?”
Rowan pulled me in for a quick kiss. “We will figure it out, but not until the season’s over.”
“Rangecroft, Tobitt,” Coach Cal called out after he blew the whistle to call for the end of practice. “Come see me!”
A few of our teammates made the same kind of noises schoolboys made when one of their classmates were called to the principal’s office, the kind that implied that we were in trouble. I flipped them off playfully and jogged over to where Coach Cal was waiting for us. Rowan walked behind me at a leisurely pace. “What’s up, Coach?” I asked once my husbandfinallyjoined us.
“Front office called down during practice. Y/N from SEN’s here. They want to interview the two of you about your marriage and what it means for the team. I told them I’d ask, but I would not require either of you to do the interview.” Coach Cal had his serious voice on, and the respect I’d always had for him grew tenfold. I felt safe and protected, because I knew our coach wouldn’t make us do some interview about our personal life if it wasn’t something we wanted. “What do you think?”
I looked over at Rowan and shrugged. I didn’t mind doing an interview, but I loved doing press. Rowan raised an eyebrow at me, and I nodded. “I’m game if you are,” I told him easily.
“Is there anything we should avoid saying in regard to the team?” Rowan asked Coach Cal.
Coach shook his head. “Your marriage has no bearing on the team. Not either of your roles on the team, not plays the team is going to call, none of it.” We both nodded, and Coach Cal told us where to go to meet Y/N after we changed out of our practice clothes.
Fifteen minutes later, we were seated in one of the smaller conference rooms with Y/N and their camera person. It was a simple and intimate set up, much like the one I’d had a few weeks ago when Y/N interviewed me after my injury. Like that time, the camera was turned off when we entered and got situated.
“Before we get started, I wanted to go over the kinds of questions I’m going to ask you, make sure you’re okay with it,” they informed us as they settled in their chair. I motioned for her to go on. “We’re going to start with your first impressions of one another and how your relationship started. I will then ask you about your decision to get married, the ceremony itself, and how you feel it will affect the team. I will not ask you anything more personal than that.”
“Can we not ask about the ceremony itself?” Rowan asked. Y/N raised an eyebrow, and Rowan grinned. “We were a little drunk.”
“We were a lot drunk,” I corrected. “We don’t remember a lot of the details, and we’d rather keep that… private?”
“Then we will say you were married in a small, intimate ceremony and leave it at that,” Y/N agreed with a small nod. “Okay, scoot a little closer. You’re married. It’s your first public interview. You can look like you like each other.”
I laughed and scooted my chair toward Rowan until our legs were touching. “Okay?” I asked.
Y/N looked back at their camera person who checked the screen of the camera. When they were given the thumbs up, Y/N turned their attention back to us. “Alright. Let’s get started infive, four.” They trailed off and finished counting down on their fingers.
The red camera light started to blink, informing us that we were now being recorded.
“Today I am in Tucson at the Scorpion training facility with newlywed team members, Milo Tobitt and Rowan Rangecroft.” Y/N angled their body so they were somehow speaking both to us and the camera. It had to be a skill reporters practiced in college or something, because every reporter I’d ever spoken to could manage it. I was always looking right at that red blinking light. “I think I speak for all Scorpions fans when I say that post earlier today was a surprise to everyone. Married?”
“Yup!” I chirped with a broad grin. “Rowan—I mean Rangecroft and I got married after the Vegas game Sunday night.”
“Did anyone know you were dating?”
“Tobitt and I kept our relationship private. Only our closest friends and family were aware of it prior to our marriage,” Rowan answered. He nudged my knee with his and gave me a soft smile, probably the softest any of our fans had ever seen from him. “Our relationship has never been and never will be for public consumption.”
“And how long have you been together?” Y/N asked. “Did you know each other before Rowan was traded from the Fayetteville Foxes?”
“No, we met during my initial walk through of the facility. Coach Cal asked Milo to show me around. Later that day, we discovered we were neighbors, and it just went from there.”
“We’ve only been together for about, what? Two months?” I looked at Rowan for confirmation, and he nodded. “Yeah, about two months. I think we made it official after bye week.” Even if I hadn’t realized that was what we were doing until just a few weeks ago when I’d gotten injured. I saw no reason to make thatpublic knowledge. Like the truth of our wedding ceremony. Not everything needed to be public knowledge.
“That seems fast,” Y/N commented, “but I suppose when you know, you know?”
“And we know,” Rowan told them with the same certainty as he’d told me he didn’t regret marrying me on Monday morning in that hotel room.
