Chapter 81
RAIN
Dane looked terrified when he took me to the dungeon, but immediately I relaxed when I saw he had a makeshift goalie set up in the back corner along with two hockey sticks. He picked one up and held it out to me. “You always had a killer slapshot.”
He didn’t use real pucks. I took the stick from him and bent down to assess what I was expected to hit. “Is that a wiffle puck?”
“Lindy made me buy those. She got tired of me trying to fix the wall all the time. I hit a pipe one time too.”
I whistled. “Impressive.”
He sent me a grin. “Thanks.” He hooked one of the wiffle pucks and brought it over to where he was standing before lining up to take a shot. “So.” He hit it and it sank behind the goalie, which looked taped together with pillows, duct-tape, and determination. “You want to talk about anything?”
I gave him an unimpressed look. “What a way to start. You should be a therapist. The skills you have at making people want to open up to you? Top not-notch.”
He flashed me a grin as I wound up and sank another wiffle puck in the net. “I see you’ve already picked up our ways in this Connors’ household. We keep it together with dry wit and sarcasm. Lindy already fucking loves you. I can tell.”
I began to swing on a second puck, but then I whiffed it before rounding to him. “What?”
He gave me a cool look, then sank his second puck in the net.
“She gave me a look when I came into the living room just now.
It was a whole conversation in one look, but she told me that I better make things right with you and insure you come around again and want to be a part of our family or I will be sleeping on that couch for a very long time.
" He indicated a ragged couch that looked as if it had been the net most of its life.
It was more stuffing than couch at this point.
I remarked, “If we were in Minneapolis, I know a good couch person.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” I lined up for a third shot and didn’t miss this time. “So. Yeah. This is our conversation, huh?”
“Seems like.” His tone got serious.
So was mine. And I chanced a look at him again, seeing him watching me.
A burst of nerves exploded inside of me. “I don’t know what to say here.”
“You can say anything you want,” he remarked, lightly. “I’d deserve it.”
“Why?” I rounded to face him directly. Hockey, wiffle pucks, the net, all of it was forgotten.
His face shuddered, but I asked further, “Why didn’t he love me?”
“He?”
“Keith.”
He flinched. “I—I don’t know, to be honest. He—” He glanced at me, uncertain.
“Don’t hold back. I was there. I know how he treated me.”
His mouth twisted before he swung, distractedly, at nothing on the floor.
He was just swinging while he was thinking.
“I don’t know why he treated you the way he did.
I think it was a mix that you were a girl.
He wanted a boy. You weren’t going to be in the NHL, though you could be in the women’s professional league.
And you were nice, Rain. You didn’t demand his attention. I think that was part of it too.”
“It was my fault.”
“You didn’t demand your space. You were owed it. Fuck. You were owed so much more than you were given, but you never cried about it or threw a fit. It was like you were nothing.”
Now I flinched.
“I didn’t mean—”
I waved that off. “Don’t. I acted like nothing because that’s how I was treated by you, by him, by Daniel.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” I averted my gaze to keep from breaking down.
I hadn’t expected our conversation to be like this, where I wanted to cry because Dane seemed to care.
I had known he wanted to apologize. He already had, and I knew Lindy wanted to meet me, the girls too, but actually seeing he cared was a whole other experience.
“What did I do wrong?” I whispered the words to myself.
“Nothing.”
I met Dane’s gaze. He grimaced. “You did nothing wrong. You, just, were born into the wrong family.”
Yeah. Maybe. I didn’t know.
I decided then and there I wasn’t going to tell him about Mal.
I hadn’t met my real father yet. That was planned for late in the summer.
I needed time, which Mal understood and he gave it.
I’ve been focused on the team and on my relationship.
My connection to the Grays’s owner hadn’t been leaked.
The press didn’t know, and I hadn’t been sure if I wanted to let Dane know or not.
I was going to keep some things to myself. It’d come out after this season was done, when I was no longer acting as their consultant. Or maybe it would never come out. I didn’t care either way but I was okay with any of it, or all of it.
I was content.
I’d done my job. I helped get the team to the first round of playoffs, but I wanted them to get to the second round.
My brother was standing in front of me, talking to me, apologizing to me, wanting me to be in his life and his family’s life.
And I had a man waiting for me upstairs that would tear the world apart for me if I asked.
Dane gave me an odd look. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” It was the truth. “I’m okay. I’m going to be okay.” I laughed. “I’m going to be better than okay, and for someone like me, that means the world.” He was still giving me that weird look. I ignored it and stepped over to hug him.
Dane went rigid, his eyes widening.
I ignored that too and patted him on the back. “Thanks for making the first step, but I was already locked in the second I saw your little girls smiling at me.”
I stepped back as he let out a harsh breath of air.
“They tend to have that effect on people. It’s their super power because I swear that my little girls are going to be criminal masterminds one day.
Have you seen their dolls upstairs? Try to give them an angel doll and they throw a fit.
Give them a devil doll and they’re content as can be.
I’m terrified. Lindy thinks it’s awesome.
She jokes they get it from me, but that’s all her.
” By unspoken agreement we put away the hockey sticks and began for the stairs.
“She told Dad off.”
I stopped just before starting up the stairs. “What?”
“Lindy. She invited him over for dinner, and before the girls came in, she informed him that he would never treat any of the females in this family how he treated you growing up. If he did, she would have no problem educating the girls on how he treated you and she’d let him try to explain it to them.
Dad’s usually reserved and on good behavior around Lindy, but for the first time he looked scared of her.
I showed her the texts that Griff sent on your phone and she told me straight up to make sure you married that man.
Consider yourself a part of our family again, whether you want to be or not.
” With that, he headed upstairs while I was rooted in place behind him.
But I was smiling.
I told Tyler how the conversation went once we got home and he laughed and laughed and said he couldn’t wait to have Lindy meet Skylar.
I agreed.