Chapter 47
BILLIE
“That has to be a five-minute penalty!” Will throws his arms up in the air, pointing at the Jumbotron. “It was a premeditated hit on Jack!”
“Why don’t you head down to the ice and set him straight?” Kate suggests, eyes rolling into the back of her head.
Will crosses his arms over his chest, seriously considering his mom’s sarcastic response. “This ref is biased. It’s like he wants Colorado to lift the Cup because the Blades had their time last season.”
Continuing his rambling, Will takes a seat a few chairs down from where I’m nestled between Collins and Kendra in the family box.
Turning to me, Collins goes to speak, but Will is back on his feet and out onto the balcony, yelling something at the Colorado coaching staff this time.
Kate’s out of her seat and tapping furiously on the glass that separates them both. The rest of our girl group is amused at the back-and-forth between mother and son.
“William, will you calm the f—fudge down? Some people around here are trying to enjoy a live hockey game and not a running commentary of your thoughts.”
Rounding the glass partition, Will shoves his hands into his pockets and flops back down in his chair, legs outstretched in front of him.
June nudges her brother in the ribs. “You do talk a lot, Will.”
He screws his face up at her. Kate and Jensen’s kids are like mirrors of each other in terms of their mannerisms and looks. I guess that’s hardly surprising, given they’re twins. Although something tells me that June rules the roost between them and Will would do anything for his sister.
“I need an update on how things are going with number seventy-seven.” Winking, Collins plucks at my top. “You know, since you’re now at the jersey-wearing stage.”
Suddenly, I’m surrounded at all angles. Darcy is standing in front of me, and Jenna is to her left while Collins and Kendra lean in closer.
Darcy squeals with glee, “They’re so in love!”
“They really are.” Kendra rubs her hands together when my face says it all.
Jenna cups her ear. Her beautiful baby bump is now really obvious beneath Tommy’s jersey. “I hear wedding bells!”
I scoff despite the flutters that break out low in my belly. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“How are things now with your dad?” Kendra asks cautiously, earning a glancing side-eye from Kate.
When I dropped Blake off this morning, Dad wasn’t home. Mom explained that he was taking extra shifts at work to earn back some of the money they’d missed out on due to the accident and the cost of repairs to his van.
“No real change,” I quietly reply. “I know Emmett is desperate to talk things through with him, but that would be the worst move right now. I guess all we can do is get on with our lives and hope that, one day, he’ll work out that Emmett is serious about me and Blake.”
Collins narrows her eyes. “I could make the man see reason.”
Darcy shudders at a thought. “You genuinely scare me, Collins. Like, every day, I spend a second thinking over what it would be like to get on the wrong side of you.”
“It’s not pretty, trust me.” Ezra, her teenage stepson, randomly dips his head into the conversation, tossing a red jelly bean into the air and catching it in his mouth.
Turning one-eighty in her seat, Collins reaches up and ruffles a hand through Ezra’s messy brown hair. “Are you planning to share those, or have I lost my in-game candy stash forever?”
He just smirks, tossing a couple more beans in the air.
Collins intercepts one. “Snooze, you lose, my friend.”
“Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!” Will declares, motioning toward the rink. “Their forward just put a hit on Emmett.”
He winces as I leap to my feet and stand next to him, and the both of us watch as Emmett heads off the ice, stick tucked under one arm, a hand covering his brow.
“We can’t afford to lose Richards this deep into the second period,” he groans.
“You think that he’s out for the rest of the game?” I ask.
This kid acts like he’s already in his mid-thirties as he pulls an uncertain expression. “Depends. It’s all about concussions these days and whether he passes the trainer’s checks.”
“You’re big into hockey like your dad then?”
Will thumbs over his shoulder, grinning. “Like my dad and my sister. Although I kick my sister’s ass on the regular.”
June’s foot flies out, catching Will’s leg.
He reaches down, rubbing at the back of his calf. “Ow! That really freakin’ hurt. Now I’ll have a bruise there for Saturday’s game.”
When I glance at June, she wears a victorious smile that reminds me of her mother. “Then don’t tell lies, and you won’t get bruises.”
Chewing on what’s left of the French manicure I had done last week, I will away the final three minutes of the game.
“I swear to God, if they throw away the Cup tonight, I’m going to lose my ever-loving mind.” Jenna drops her head into her hands as all the girls stand alongside each other on the balcony. “Or go into early labor.”
“Yeah, no, we don’t want that at this stage in the pregnancy,” I say, gently rubbing her back to try and ease the nerves for us both.
Although at least Emmett was cleared to rejoin play by the trainer, a few strips above his left brow doing the job.
“He has to win tonight,” I murmur to myself.
Jenna lifts her face from her hands so she can look at me. “Why do you say that?”
With ninety seconds left on the clock and only one goal separating the teams, I grip the railing in front of us.
So much more is riding on this for Emmett than a lot of the other guys on the team.
Even if my boyfriend won’t talk about it much, I know his knee is way worse than he would ever admit. Even to himself.
“I assume you know all about Emmett’s knee injury?”
Jenna nods once. “I do.”
“Let’s just say that Emmett’s talents don’t just stop at hockey, but in his ability to hide pain too.”
The New York Storm goalie blows out a long breath, and the countdown enters the final thirty seconds, Blades fans starting to sing out each second.
Jenna slides her hand along the railing and rests it on top of mine. “That may be true, Billie. But something tells me that what Emmett’s gained in the past few months more than makes up for all the struggles he’s faced throughout his life so far, both on and off the ice.”
When Emmett clears the puck toward Jack for a breakaway, there’s only ten seconds left on the timer.
They’re certain to win now.
“Come on, come on, come on …” I chant under my breath, one eye on the clock, the other on Jack as he takes it into the corner to run down the dying seconds.
I don’t hear the buzzer because the entire arena erupts like a freaking volcano. Kate and Felicity are already on their way out of the family box with Kendra, Jenna, and Collins hot on their heels.
Darcy taps me on the shoulder, eyes wide with excitement. “Come on! We need to leave now if we want to celebrate on the ice.”
I shake my head at her, glancing back at the rink, where the boys are already gathering into a huddle, Coach Morgan punching the air with both fists. Then Jensen loops an arm around his shoulders, and both guys take a second to exchange a few words.
“I feel like I’ll be imposing if I go down there.”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I watch Emmett embrace each one of his teammates, although he isn’t centering his full attention on them as he looks in the direction of the tunnel—where wives and partners will shortly emerge.
Darcy wraps a palm around my upper arm. “Trust me, babe, there isn’t a chance in hell that you’ll be imposing.”
She pauses, and I study her carefully. She never looks nervous; in the final period, she was the only one smiling throughout the entire twenty minutes.
“What if I slip in my sneakers and fall straight on my ass?”
She bursts into giggles, dropping her eyes to the floor. “And you think that my Converse are any more practical?”
“Probably not,” I muse.
Interlacing our fingers, she part guides, part drags me back into the main family box and out of the door.
I thumb over my shoulder. “What about my purse?”
She waves away that small detail, picking up speed until we’re breaking into a light jog.
There’s no way I could successfully navigate this arena alone, hallways twisting and turning, random doors seemingly leading nowhere, until we eventually wind up standing in front of two security guards, dressed in dark blue suits and Blades baseball caps.
Since Emmett and I haven’t officially gone public with our relationship yet, I cast my eyes to Darcy, hoping she can explain away why this random woman, dressed in a Richards jersey, is trying to gain access to the rink.
“Mrs. Moore.” One security guard tips his chin at Darcy before his eyes shift to me. “Miss Quinn.”
As they both step to one side like an ocean parting for Jesus Christ himself, I practically choke on my own tongue.
“Come on!” Darcy retakes my hand.
I pull back. “How do they know about me already?”
She just shrugs, a sassy glint shining in her eyes. “Beats me. Perhaps Emmett let them know about his girl in advance?”
As we approach the edge of the tunnel and the sheer size of the arena hits me, I stop dead in my tracks.
Kate, Felicity, Kendra, Collins, and Jenna are already celebrating. Sawyer strides past us and onto the ice.
My mouth runs dry, and my palms are sweating. “Holy …” I trail off. “I’m going to fall on my ass, live on TV.”
Darcy just ignores my anxious rambling, pulling me into the rink.
“Small, slow steps, Bill! Just watch me,” she yells over the deafening noise, streamers now falling from the ceiling and filling the ice.
Will may as well be wearing skates as he glides around the ice, fist-bumping his dad and a few of the other guys on the team. June does the same.
“Hey there,” a deep voice rumbles in my ear, arms looping around my waist to steady me. “Don’t worry, Mama. I got you.”
I could be buried two hundred feet deep beneath the ocean bed, and I’d still hear Emmett’s voice.
He rests his chin on my shoulder. “Relax your knees for me.”