Epilogue Lainey
ONE YEAR LATER
“How are my girls doing?” Jensen greets us with a hug as we walk into the private arena entrance with the biggest smile on his face, his chocolate-brown eyes beaming with pride. He clicks his tongue, looking at me. “Goddamn, you are so beautiful.”
He steals a quick kiss from me before bending down and kissing our baby girl’s forehead and playing with her tiny little fingers. She coos, smiling up at him.
“How’re you feeling?” I ask him, knowing that he’s probably far more nervous than I am, and my nerves have been eating me alive all day.
Tonight is his first game back on the ice since his injury, and I’ve never been more anxious to watch a hockey game.
“I feel great. My body’s ready.” He shakes his hands out.
“And your mind?”
He nods confidently. “I’m ready.”
Reaching up, I pat his cheek with my left hand, admiring the rock weighing my ring finger down. “Good.”
Jensen proposed a couple of months ago, after Carly Rose Donnelley was born. It was the easiest question I’ve ever answered.
We haven’t set a date yet, but I wouldn’t be upset if we just walked into the courthouse and did it there. I don’t need a big show or event. I just need my little family.
“Ahh!” Morgan’s squeal cuts through the beat of silence, drawing our attention as she runs over to us, the other WAGs behind her.
Jensen turns back to me and cups my cheek. “I love you. I’ll see you after the game.”
He kisses me, stealing my breath away.
“I love you. Good luck, baby.”
Winking, he smirks. “Don’t need it.”
I roll my eyes at his cockiness that has been coming out to play as the confidence in his body returns. I blow him a kiss, which he catches and holds to his chest as he turns and jogs down the hallway in his uniform, guards on the bottom of his skates.
“How is my little baby peanut doing?” Morgan claps her thumbs and middle fingers together, bounding over with absolute glee on her face.
I quickly learned after moving here that the Nighthawks entire organization is a family. Whether you’re a coach, a player, a partner, or a member of the cleaning crew, you are part of this family. That became evident after Carly was born.
Jensen’s parents were eventually informed when I was pregnant. It was awkward and a little rough at first. They wanted to be involved, but that was hard to deal with, given their past treatment of Jensen.
A lot of healing had to be done before Jensen and they came to an agreement, but in the end, we want Carly to have her grandparents in her life.
But only if they are going to show Jensen the same love and respect.
If not, we are going to keep them at a distance.
We’d rather raise our girl without a set of grandparents and a sense of self-respect than to raise her to tolerate mistreatment from family simply because of blood.
Since then, his parents have really made an effort. It won’t heal the wounds they left behind over the years, but it’s a start.
When we were at the hospital, we had a rotating door of visitors who didn’t stop coming until we left. Players. Coworkers. Family. At some points, I had to turn off visiting hours because it was overwhelming, something everyone thankfully understood.
But that love didn’t end after we got home or even after the first month passed. Baby Carly only brought all of us closer together, more than we ever could’ve expected. I’ve gotten so close with a lot of the wives of the team, especially the mothers, learning so much from them every day.
After everyone coddles Carly, we head up to the box to watch the game that’ll be starting soon after warm-ups, which have already begun, judging from the sounds echoing off the ice.
Jensen probably shouldn’t have stepped away to greet us, but I would’ve liked to see them try to stop him. Besides, we’re his good-luck charms—at least, he tells us that.
“Woo!” Piper shouts into the noisy rink below as I gently bounce Carly, walking over to the edge of the box and peering down below.
My heart swells as I look just in time to see Jensen take the ice, leaping off the rubber mat of the bench and onto the smooth surface. He glides with ease like he never left it.
He spins in his skates, gliding backward toward where Luca is stretching on the ice, looking great in the black-white-and-silver Nighthawks jersey. Luca has been a natural addition to the team, finding chemistry with any players they throw him with.
His trade ended up working out perfectly because he chose to take over my lease for me when they finished repairing the water leaks and damage. It was the best of both worlds for us. I stayed moved in with Jensen, and he moved into my old place.
Even if he hadn’t, we would have figured it out. Leaving Jensen’s penthouse was never an option in my mind. I’d gotten used to waking up next to the man I loved and walking down to the living room to watch the sun rise over New York. You couldn’t drag me from there if you tried.
Luca scoops up a puck, passing it to Jensen, who’s cutting toward the net. He dribbles it before shooting it into the top-right corner, sinking it deep into the net.
He skates over to MacArthur, who bumps gloves with him and nods. Even from here, I can feel the excitement and joy emanating from him and his team. These guys have really found something special here with each other. If they keep playing like this, there’s a chance we could take the cup this year.
Watching Jensen and Luca win the Stanley Cup together would be magical.
They skate around the ice together, warming up, and I can’t help but picture the little boys who did the same at the rinks in our town.
Who dreamed of making it to the pro league and living their dream of playing hockey for a living.
Look at them now; they’re still just two boys at heart, best friends, playing the sport they love side by side, and I get the honor of watching it in real time.
The only thing I wish is that Carly could be here to see this moment, the moment where all of the stars finally aligned.
After the years of trials and tribulations all leading to this, I wish she were here to enjoy it with us.
She deserved a happy life, too, one with fulfilled dreams, but since she can’t be here with us, we will live in her honor.
One day, when baby Carly comes to us, asking where her name came from, we will tell her that she was named after the best woman I’ve ever known. The one who selflessly choose to protect her brother in a car accident, saving his life.
We’ll tell baby Carly stories of her aunt, keeping her alive in everyone’s memory. As long as we remember, our lost loved ones will always live on. That I’m certain of.
New York has become the place I call home, the place Jensen and I welcomed our daughter into the world, and the place I hope we never move from. The Nighthawks were supposed to be my foot in the door for my career, but now, I want it to be my forever, our forever.
If not, I know we’ll be okay because we have each other. Always have, always will.