Chapter 28
~
Carissa
The locker room smelled of sweat, leather, and champagne, a heady mixture that made my chest swell in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
The team was buzzing, lifting the Stanley Cup high, shouting, laughing, slapping each other on the back, and I stayed a few steps away, heart lodged somewhere between joy and disbelief.
Henry’s face was alight, pure exhilaration, as he bounced from player to player, chattering non-stop about goals and blocks and impossible saves.
Before I knew it, someone had lifted him onto their shoulders, and the team circled, snapping photos of him holding the cup as if he were the MVP himself.
He was beaming, shouting my name, his little fists waving in the air, and I laughed, tears pricking my eyes, caught in the raw, chaotic pride of it all.
Then Dawson appeared. He moved through the crowd of teammates with that precise, deliberate gait of his, skates still laced, hockey bag slung over one shoulder, eyes locking on me.
My pulse hit a new high, catching on the sight of him.
The way the locker room lights glinted off his sweat-darkened hair, and the quiet strength in the set of his shoulders amidst all the raucous celebration.
He sidled up to me, lowering his voice so it cut through the noise without raising it. “Carissa,” he said, and I could hear the weight in his tone, the honesty I’d been craving. “I was wrong. I thought I shouldn’t let myself get close to you. That I had to hold back. But I see now… I was wrong.”
My stomach dropped, and then caught, as though his words had knocked the air right out of me.
He reached for my hand, brushing my fingers with a tentative touch that still made my whole body ache.
“This,” he gestured vaguely at Henry, at Boone and Gage, at the chaos of their laughter, the joy, the life around us, “this is the family I always wanted. And I won’t let myself lose it… I won’t let myself lose you.”
Everything in me stilled. The locker room faded to a blur of yelling, laughter, and clanging trophies.
There was only him. His gaze was sharp but unguarded, and it hit me in every nerve ending, every corner of my heart.
I let my own hand curl around his, pulling him closer, and I kissed him there, right in the middle of the celebrating chaos.
Full force, letting every emotion I’d buried for weeks pour into it.
He answered immediately, his hands framing my face, thumbs pressing into my cheeks as if he could physically hold the truth between us.
The rest of the room dissolved around us, the noise a muted roar, and all I could feel was him.
The heat of his lips, the solid weight of him pressed against me, the electricity crawling along our skin.
Then a whistle pierced the air, high and clear. Boone. I laughed, pulling back just enough to catch my breath, and the grin on his face told me he’d known exactly what was happening the moment Dawson arrived.
Gage crouched down and gently set Henry back on the ground. The boy ran straight toward us, all energy and bright-eyed excitement, stopping between us and looking up at me. “Are you going to stay?” he asked, voice trembling a little, hopeful and urgent at the same time.
I looked between Dawson, Boone, and Gage. Three men who had become everything I didn’t know I needed, and one boy who had already claimed all our hearts.
“Of course I’m going to stay,” I said, letting my hand drift to rest on Dawson’s chest while I held Henry’s gaze. “We’re a family. After all.”
Henry’s eyes widened, mouth falling open just slightly, and he tilted his head. “Does that mean… are you going to adopt me?”
Dawson’s hands came up on either side of my waist as I crouched slightly to meet Henry’s gaze.
Boone and Gage leaned in, the three of them forming a kind of protective, warm circle around us.
Boone laughed softly, ruffling Henry’s hair, and Gage lifted the boy’s little hands, high-fiving him, all while keeping an eye on me and Dawson.
I swallowed, voice thick, letting the moment settle over us. “Yes,” I said. “Yes, Henry. We’re going to adopt you.”
The boy shrieked, throwing his arms around me in a hug that lifted me slightly off my feet.
Dawson followed, slipping one arm around my shoulders, the other resting against Henry’s back.
Boone pressed a playful kiss to the top of Henry’s head, and Gage crouched down to squeeze him close.
For a heartbeat, I felt the warmth and chaos of everything we’d built together; the trust, the laughter, the love.
I leaned into Dawson, letting my forehead press against his chest, feeling his heartbeat echo my own.
His lips found mine again, soft this time, slower, full of relief and promise.
There was no hesitation, no uncertainty.
Just the two of us, anchored by the family we’d found in each other and the boy who had chosen us all.
Around us, the locker room erupted again. There were shouts, cheers, the clink of bottles and cups, but I didn’t notice. I only noticed Dawson’s hand splayed over my back, Boone’s wide grin as he gestured for Gage to pick Henry up again, and the boy’s pure, unfiltered joy.
“I can’t believe this is real,” Henry said, squealing into my shoulder. “We’re a family?”
“Yes,” I murmured, holding him tight. “All of us.”
Dawson kissed my temple, soft but deliberate, and whispered, “All of us.”
And I knew, with every fiber of me, that he meant it. Not just Dawson, but all three of them. This was ours. Not perfect, not without its scars, but ours. Together.
Henry squealed again, Boone’s laughter ringing in my ears, Gage grinning over the boy’s shoulder, and Dawson holding me close.
For the first time in months, I didn’t feel the ache of uncertainty.
I felt the pulse of this makeshift, fiercely loyal family.
I felt the weight of love in a way that was entirely real, entirely ours.
We were chaotic. We were loud. We were relentless in our attachment to each other. But we were home.