Epilogue
MAY
The hum inside the Billings Centre was electric. It was game six for the Tempests against Boston, and Toronto was down three games to two. They had to win tonight, or they wouldn’t move forward into the second round of the playoffs.
My seatmate’s focus, however, was not on the nail-biting pressure facing the Tempests tonight.
Abbie’s jaw had dropped with one glance at the ice when we’d arrived early to make sure we had everything ready for when Theo’s family got here.
I leaned toward her, putting a finger underneath her chin to gently close her mouth as she watched the teams’ warm-ups.
“Careful. Aiden’s going to come back with your drink and find you ogling the hockey players,” I teased.
Her gaze flipped to mine for a second before being drawn back to the ice.
“Indie.” Her voice was a strained whisper. Abbie pressed her shoulder into mine as she spoke out of one corner of her mouth. “You never told me anything about the warm-ups.” She choked on the last word.
I laughed at her reaction to the more—ahem—enthralling nature of some of the players’ pre-game stretches. Currently, a couple of Boston’s players were working through some vigorous hip rolls and lower-body stretches.
“Jesus. It’s worth the price of admission alone just to see them warm up.” The words slipped from Abbie’s lips before she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.
“What’s worth the price of admission?” a deep voice came from behind us.
The pink blush that decorated her cheeks as she watched the players thrust their hips toward the ice spread like wildfire over her cheeks and neck at the sound of her boyfriend Aiden’s words.
“Oh! Nothing.” She cleared her throat before offering Aiden a sweet smile.
Aiden, having forgone his usual bespoke suit for the occasion, still looked ready to take on a boardroom in a cashmere sweater and perfectly pressed black slacks.
A glance at the ice had a hum emanating from his mouth, “I have an idea of what you two were just talking about.” He reached our row, moving to stand beside Abbie and handing her the soda he’d gone to the concession stands for. He leaned into her space. “As long as you remember you’re mine, sweetheart,” he spoke into her ear.
Standing so close to Abbie’s other side meant I felt the shiver that ran through her with his words. Those professional hockey players on the ice were a momentary blip in Abbie’s thoughts, judging by the adoring gaze she gave Aiden.
Before I could tease either of them, a commotion came from the other side of the row. The Yao-Miller family had arrived .
“Excuse me, pardon me. Just going to sit and watch my brother play a very important game. It’s a surprise, you see. He doesn’t know we’re coming.” Chase spoke animatedly to the couple that he was about to climb over to get to our seats.
“Chase! They don’t need your whole life story. We’re never going to get to our seats if you keep talking. We’re already running late as it is.” Emery’s voice rose from behind her brother. “Sorry about him.”
After successfully making it into our row, Chase offered me a side hug before Emery pushed him out of the way so she could take the seat beside me.
Their dad, Joe, mouthed, “Thank you for this,” over his bickering children’s heads, giving me a warm smile. I grinned back at him. I was overjoyed to have them here on Theo’s behalf.
“Sorry we’re late. You have no idea what it takes to wrangle the twins to get somewhere on time. Even from a hotel steps away from the arena.” Emery rolled her eyes as she jerked a thumb in Chase and Liam’s direction.
“Hey! I resent that completely correct accusation.” Liam leaned around Chase to offer Emery an unconvincing glare.
“Yeah. We had to get our signs ready,” argued Chase. He unfolded the posterboard from under his arm. It read, “Wash your socks, Yao! I can smell you from here!” complete with blue and gold glitter that flaked off every time he moved the sign.
“You are not holding that up.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Nothing was going to mess up this game for Theo. It was the only game I could make everyone’s schedules work out, and the hockey gods had blessed my plan to make sure Theo’s whole family was together.
“I thought you might say that.” Chase winked and nudged Liam to open his sign. “So we made another boring, sentimental one.”
Liam revealed a similarly glitter-tastic poster, except this one had the words “We’re proud of you, bruh! Yao’s our hero!”
“Good.” I nodded. “You can hold up that one.”
Emery jumped in to change the subject, elbowing me gently in the arm. “Do you think Theo’s going to be surprised? Are you sure he doesn’t know we’re coming?” She bounced a bit on her toes. The excitement in the arena was contagious, and besides, there was nothing Theo’s siblings loved more than taking each other by surprise.
“Definitely. Aiden bought these tickets. He’s expecting me and you to be sitting over on that side.” I pointed across the ice to another section of glass-side seats nearest to the goal. “And he has no idea that your dad, Chase, and Liam were able to get the time off.”
While Emery and Liam had some flexibility with their jobs, it wasn’t the case for the whole family.
Once Theo told his family he was retiring, Chase had volunteered to let one of his co-leads take on the big project his architecture firm was working on this spring so that he’d have more freedom to come to Theo’s games. And for the first time in his career, Joe had left the SJSU football team in the hands of his assistant coach for a handful of games in order to be here.
My eyes threatened to fill every time I thought about them coming together for Theo. I swiped a finger under each eye just in case any rogue tears threatened to escape.
I’d worn waterproof eye makeup for a reason.
“Aw. You’re such a softie now, Ind. I love it,” Abbie said fondly.
“Am not,” I argued half-heartedly. I totally was. And I didn’t even mind anymore.
Even though I couldn’t see Theo’s face through his goalie mask when he’d come on the ice during the pre-game program, I knew he’d been thrilled. Last night, I’d texted Michaels to point Theo in our direction before the game started.
Instead of skating straight to goal, Theo made his way over to the glass and pointed his stick at me with a nod.
Now, hours later, after a nail-biting game, Joe and I made our way toward the locker room. I hoped that having his family here to celebrate him would ease the sting of the Tempests’ loss.
As we rounded the final corner toward the locker room, Joe stopped short.
“Indie, I know you must be anxious to make sure Theo’s okay, but do you mind if I go ahead and have a quick word with him first? I don’t want to spoil your moment.” Joe’s usual calm was punctuated with a quick roll of his shoulders. He glanced toward the door where the players would exit from.
Knowing how much Theo had always wished his dad had made it to more of his hockey games over the years, there was no way I was going to stand in the way of their father-son moment, especially with Joe initiating it.
Theo and I had all the moments in the world ahead of us.
“Of course, Joe.” I offered him a soft smile. “I can…” I gestured around the corner, offering to give them total privacy.
“No need. You’re welcome to stay. I only want to make sure Theo hears what I have to say before we rejoin the family and the chaos begins again. And before he comes out here, I want to thank you, Indie. Not just for now but for making my son so obviously happy all these months. I haven’t seen this kind of joy in him since before we lost Alice.” His jaw tightened briefly mentioning his wife’s name, but the tension around his eyes smoothed once he took a deep breath.
“He makes me really happy too.” My voice wobbled on the few words I could force out.
“I do hope you’ll consider calling me ‘Dad,’ you know, when the time comes?” He winked before moving to wait just outside the locker room door.
I couldn’t do anything except lean against the opposite wall, a ripple of surprised pleasure lingering in the wake of Joe’s words.
It was several minutes after the majority of players had already left until Theo emerged.
Thankfully, the hallway had quieted, giving Theo and his dad a moment together without his teammates vying for his attention.
Despite the team’s loss, Theo grinned when he saw us both waiting for him.
“Hey, Rocky. Hi, Dad.” He sounded tired but happy. As much as I wanted to jump into his arms and celebrate his last game with him, I nodded toward Joe.
Joe pulled Theo into his arms for a tight hug. He murmured something quietly into Theo’s ear before releasing him.
Joe kept a hand on Theo’s shoulder, his gaze steady on his son.
“I want you to know how proud I am, and have always been, of all you have accomplished in your career, Theo. I know for a fact that all my players over the years probably got tired of me bragging about my talented, dedicated son.” Theo’s mouth opened in shock, but no words emerged before he closed it again. Joe gave his shoulder an affectionate squeeze before continuing. “One of my biggest regrets has been that you might have believed that I didn’t support your hockey dreams.”
Theo swallowed deeply, hesitating.
“You mean you wouldn’t rather I played football?” he said quietly.
“Never,” Joe insisted, his tone sad. “I should have made myself clear when you started out, but I loved that your mom went all in with you on your dream. I wanted you two to have that bond since lord knows she had zero interest in football despite marrying a college football coach.” He chuckled warmly with the memory before sobering once more.
“I’m sorry, Theo.” He brought his other hand up to Theo’s shoulder, looking directly into his eyes. “I’m just as proud of you today, retiring as one of the top goalies in the league, as I was the day your Gong Gong first put you onto the ice in your brand-new skates. I have that very moment framed on my office shelf. It was always one of our favorite photos. Your mom was so happy when you were happy, T. Now that you’ve found love yourself”—he turned his head to smile at me—“and are moving home again, I hope you’ll give me a chance to be more present in this next stage of your life.”
Theo threw his arms around his dad in response. “Thank you, Dad. I want that too.” His voice was thick with emotion.
Joe gave Theo a kiss on the top of his head before pulling back. “I will see you both shortly. I’m going to make sure your siblings have behaved since I left them.”
“Thank you, Joe.” I tried and failed to hide the tremor in my voice after being allowed to share in such an important moment.
I moved toward them to hug Joe as he took his leave. Being part of the Yao-Miller family felt tangible to me now. I wouldn’t take this gift for granted.
Then, it was just Theo and me.
Before we left the arena to celebrate with our family, I had one more surprise for him.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing our mouths together for a kiss. Theo deepened the kiss, his hair still damp from his shower when I wove my fingers into it.
Moments later, I pulled back and linked my hands behind Theo’s neck. His hands remained on my hips, giving me a squeeze where they rested underneath his jersey I wore.
“How do you feel, baby?” I tilted my head back to make sure I could see his whole face.
“God. Ten minutes ago, I would have said tired, proud, and sad that we lost tonight. It feels right, you know? I gave this team my all for this last season, and I’m leaving with no regrets. But then my dad goes and says all that? Shit. It’s like a weight I didn’t know I was carrying lifted off my shoulders.” A deep sigh accompanied his words.
“He’s proud of me, Rocky. He told his players about me,” Theo whispered, a few tears running down his cheeks. “All these years, he’s…” His eyes closed, letting more wetness escape, unable to finish his thought.
I moved one hand from behind his neck to gently wipe them away.
“Yes. All these years, he’s been proud of you. I could see it in the way he watched you tonight. Like he couldn’t look away from you for a second or he’d miss something.” I gave him a watery smile. “I’m sorry the team didn’t win tonight, Theo. You deserved to make it all the way to the Cup.”
“I’m not, baby. I’m winning at life right now. I don’t need a trophy to show me how lucky I am. I’ve got everything I need right here in my arms.” He kissed my lips softly before continuing. “And I have all the most important people in the world to me in one place tonight because the love of my life surprised me by getting my whole family here to see me play my last game.”
“You deserve to be celebrated, Theo. And I have one more surprise before we head back to my place.” I stepped back, pulling up the jersey I wore to the waistband of my jeans.
“Rocky…” He looked around us and up at the ceiling for cameras. “What are you doing? ”
“Giving you your surprise, goalie.” I flipped the button on my jeans, giving me just enough room to expose my hip area. “Look.” I jutted my chin down.
Always protective of me, Theo closed the short distance between our bodies, using his height and bulk to hide me from anyone who might walk by.
I moved the fabric further away from my skin so Theo could see his surprise.
About two inches inward from my hip bone was Theo’s jersey number, an eighty-eight stylishly tattooed where only he’d ever get to see.
“Fuck me, Rocky.” He ran the tip of his index finger over the healed skin, making me shiver.
“We’ll get to that later, if you’re up for it, goalie,” I teased.
Unable to take his eyes, or finger, off his surprise, he didn’t look up even as he started to harden against my opposite thigh.
“Oh, I’m up for it. I’ve never seen anything so sexy in my fucking life, baby. Well, this tattoo and everything else about you, that is. Thank you.” I grinned at his enthusiasm.
After one last swipe of his finger against my skin, he buttoned my jeans and pulled the fabric of the jersey from my hand so it covered my waist once again.
His gaze met mine, shining with more love and sexy promises than I’d ever dared hope for. And now this kind, loyal, and gorgeous man was mine.
“Ready to go?” I asked.
“More than ready, baby.” Theo wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked toward the players’ exit. “I can’t wait to get back to Amado with you and start our life together there.”
“Me too.” I raised my hand to his chin, turning it so that I could look into his eyes. “I love you, Theo.”
“I love you too, Rocky.” Theo kissed my temple. “See what I mean? What’s one fleeting moment holding a trophy over my head when I have a million more like this to look forward to with you.”