Epilogue 2
brAXTON
TEN MONTHS AFTER THAT
My ears ring as the Ottawa Beavertails lose the goal they just scored, and the home crowd goes up in arms. The referee ignores them, but when Maddox skates up to him and leans in close, throwing his hand angrily into the air, he has no choice but to listen to him.
Oakley is standing beside Ava at the end of our row in the stands, a similar look of rage tugging at his features while he shouts at the ref as if he can hear him over the crowd. My neck is slick with sweat despite how close we’re sitting to the ice, and my heart is in my throat.
Goalie interference is the call on the ice, but as a replay of the goal hits the jumbotron, it’s obvious Dallas’ goalie had more than enough time to collect himself and make the save after he was knocked down by one of our players.
With only five minutes left in regulation time and a now even score of two to two in the Stanley Cup final game, this is the worst possible scenario for Ottawa.
“They’re calling Toronto,” Oakley grunts, watching the referees head to the side of the rink with laser focus.
“What does that mean?” Addie asks from her spot on my right.
Cooper answers her from her other side. “They’re getting a second opinion from the review team in Toronto.”
“How hard would that have been to say, Dad?” she scolds. Oakley sends her a quick, apologetic smile before turning back.
If it weren’t for the tense atmosphere, I might have giggled at her frustration. Even after all of these years watching her dad in the league and then her oldest brother, she still hasn’t figured out the nitty-gritty details of the game. It’s adorable.
I figured they would call for another review of the play from the guys in Toronto, especially with this game being so do or die, but hearing it out loud makes my stomach twist into one giant knot of worry.
My eyes are drawn to Maddox as he stands by the boards, his new team behind him.
Their coach is livid, his face the shade of a tomato.
The C on my husband’s red-and-black jersey is new, only having been placed there a handful of months ago, but it looks right.
Like it belongs there. I never thought I would see a time when he wasn’t in green, but the red fits him just fine.
Free agency was an overwhelming process, but after weaning through a dozen offers over the course of only a few days, Maddox signed a seven-year contract with Ottawa. And once we got married in August, we moved to Ottawa.
I’ve been working as a travelling veterinarian since we got settled in our new home, and it’s been amazing. I feel like I’ve found what I’m meant to do, and the fact I get to travel with my husband? That’s the cherry on top of it all.
In all honesty, life has never been better.
Even with our families back home in Vancouver, we nearly see them just as often as we did before. It’s easy to make time for the people you love, and it’s a great feeling knowing that they think the same way.
“He deserves this win,” Ava breathes, nervously flexing the fingers she has intertwined with mine.
“He’ll get it. There’s nobody else who could pull this off like Maddox. Goal or no goal,” I say.
“If he doesn’t, I’m sorry for the grumpy man you’re going to be going home with later, Brax,” Addie says, patting my lap sympathetically.
This time, a smile does crack through my tight facial muscles. What I have planned for tonight will put a smile on his face, regardless of if they do lose.
“I’m sure a few kisses from Hades will help. That sweet boy can heal all wounds,” Ava adds.
The Huttons love Hades and have all but adopted him into their family. He has a bigger family now than he could have ever dreamed of, and he’s doing so much better. The broken dog with a lifetime of scars has found happiness again, and I’m honoured to have a part in his journey.
“They made a decision,” Oakley says, and we all glance at the refs as they drop their tablet and headphones back behind the boards and skate back to centre ice.
The ref who originally made the no-goal call stares out at the crowd as he starts to speak into the small mic he’s wearing. “After review, the call on the ice stands. We have a no goal.”
The crowd starts to boo as his arms come out to his sides, forming a straight line across his body.
I find Maddox again, but this time, he’s already staring at me, his shoulders the slightest bit slouched, yet his mouth is turned up in a small smile. It’s a smile that says a thousand words—a way for him to show that win or lose, he’s leaving this arena happy. With a sense of accomplishment.
Tears of both pride and love burn my eyes when he pulls his glove off and touches his palm to his chest before bringing it out and pointing at me. Without hesitation, I kiss my fingers and point back.
“I love you,” he mouths.
“I love you more,” I mouth back.
A beaming grin, and then he’s putting his head back in the game, setting up on the Dallas blue line for a faceoff.
Two minutes later, he receives a quick pass from one of his teammates, finds an opening, and scores a goal no ref could possibly call off.
Then . . . then he wins his first Stanley Cup.
Our new home is full of happy faces and a buzz in the air that I want to bottle up and keep forever.
The amazing family I married into chats among themselves in our living room, glasses of wine and beer bottles clinking as they give another congratulatory toast to my husband, and I join in with my non-alcoholic spritzer.
The chest at my back is warm and inviting, and as I snuggle further into Maddox’s lap on my favourite cushy armchair, I let a sense of contentment wash over me.
The Bateman family is here too, and Jamieson and Oliver haven’t stopped teasing Maddox about the way he seems to track me wherever I go when I’m not with him. I think Maddox likes it, though, because he takes it on the chin every time, flashing smug grin after smug grin.
Even after Rose’s initial story about Maddox and me faking our relationship, we didn’t have many questions to answer from his family.
We admitted that, at first, it was an agreement to help his image, but there wasn’t much convincing needed when it came to telling them that we were then very much real.
According to his aunt Gracie, it was obvious from the start that agreement or not, it was absolutely real.
She’s always been a smart woman. Not much slips past her.
“Stop being so growly,” Tinsley scolds from the loveseat across from Dox and me, her words pointed at Noah.
I fight to keep the shock off my face at the total ease in her movements as she flicks him in the cheek and scowls at him. But it’s when he lays those dark eyes on her and bluntly apologizes that I lose that ability, my surprise obvious.
Maddox’s chest shakes with a silent laugh before he leans in and places his mouth at the shell of my ear.
“I know. It takes some getting used to seeing him like that.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him apologize to anyone,” I mutter.
Noah plants an inked arm on the back of the couch behind Tinsley, but he never so much as brushes a finger against her. The skull tattooed on his throat pulls as he swallows, and his eyes remain on the side of her face even after she’s turned back to the conversations around her.
“Is he really moving to Toronto?” I whisper, asking the question I’ve been rolling around in my head since I originally heard the news a few weeks back.
“Mmhmm. Took longer than we all thought it would. Her lease is up at the end of August, and they’re renting a place together. Poor girl has no idea what she’s signing up for.”
“Maybe she does. They seem very close.”
“As close as us, I think. Best friends to the very end.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek as I watch Noah shift his body around Tiny with every slight movement of hers, like he’s connected to her in some molecular way.
“Just best friends?” I ask, eyes darting away when Noah catches me staring and cocks a brow.
“Best friends in her mind, anyway. I think if Tinsley asked him to kneel for her, he would drop to the floor right now,” Dox states, drifting his lips across my ear.
Suddenly, images of Maddox on the floor in front of me flood my thoughts, and before I can stop myself, I ask, “And you? If I asked you to kneel for me, would you?”
The arms he has wrapped around my front tighten ever so slightly. I lean my head back against his chest, and he rests his chin on my shoulder.
“Always, baby girl,” he murmurs.
I lift my drink to my lips and smile into it before taking a slow sip. The nausea that hit me on the way home from the game is gone, but I’m still nervous to drink too fast in case it comes back.
“If I asked you why you chose a non-alcoholic drink tonight, would you tell me the truth?” Maddox asks after a beat.
I force myself not to freeze up. “Maybe I just didn’t want to drink tonight. It should be you that’s celebrating, anyway, you know, Mr. Diet Coke.”
“I found the sticks in the bathroom drawer before the game, sweetheart,” he whispers, fingers drifting over my stomach, moving in soothing circles.
“Knowing you might be pregnant is what kept me from throwing that referee down on the ice. All I wanted was to finish the game and come home to you, win or no win. The entire time I held that cup, all I could think about was you.”
My heart thrashes in my chest. I spin in his arms, uncaring about everyone around us, and thread my hands behind his neck. His hands find my waist as he holds me in place, thumbs stroking my hips.
“Tell me it’s real,” he begs softly.
“It’s real.”
Bewilderment floods his face before he stands with me in his arms and spins us around the room, my face falling to his throat and legs wrapping around his waist.
“I’m going to be a fucking dad!” he shouts, and gasps and cries from our family follow his announcement. I hold him tight as he continues to spin, like I’m scared he could disappear into thin air at any moment.
“Are you kidding?” Adalyn squeals, and then Maddox is setting me down on my feet, still keeping me tucked in to his body even as his sister pulls me in and squishes me.
I release a watery laugh as I hug her back. “No joking here.”
“I’m going to be the godfather, right?” Cooper asks, sweeping me into his familiar arms the second Addie releases me.
“We’ll see,” Maddox teases from behind me.
“And obviously, I’m going to be the godmother,” Addie states.
Cooper kisses the top of my head and releases me. He pinches the back of Addie’s bicep and chuckles when she screeches and swats at him.
“You’re a little young to be a godmother, Adalyn.”
She narrows her eyes at him. “And you’re a little old to be a godfather. How’s your hearing? Need a hearing aid yet?”
Cooper grins, eyes twinkling. “What did you say?”
“Funny.”
“Huh?” he asks, pulling at his earlobe.
Addie turns to her brother and me now, exasperated. “This is exactly why I vote for Jamieson to be godfather.”
“Jamieson?” Cooper sputters. “He’s never even held a baby! I have a little sister!”
“Hey, asshole! I’ve held a baby before plenty of times,” Jamieson shouts from somewhere in the living room.
Cooper snorts a laugh. “A baby doll doesn’t count.”
“At this rate, none of you will be godparents,” Oakley says, working his way through the crowd of loved ones and smiling softly at me.
He opens his arms, and I barrel into him at the sight of his wet under eyes, a sob wrenching from my chest. His arms are strong around me, keeping me from collapsing at the onslaught of emotions that are threatening to buckle my knees.
“I’m so happy for you,” he says, squeezing me tight.
I turn my cheek to his chest and find Ava watching us, her chin wobbling and hand over her chest. She smiles softly at me, and I smile back, blinking through my tears.
A few steps and she’s closed the distance between us, pulling Maddox with her toward Oakley and me, creating one big family hug. I push out a rasped breath when Maddox wraps my hand in his and squeezes, running a finger over my wedding rings as if he’s reminding himself that this is real.
And it is, because like I said . . . life has never been better.
The End