Chapter Fifty-Four
Brody
They say hard times make for strong men.
At least, I think someone once said that; if not, I’m a fucking genius because it was true.
The game was brutal. Perhaps one of the worst games I’d ever had the honor of playing in.
But something about it changed everything.
I’d come to a lot of realizations during the course of that game. Namely, that I sure as hell couldn’t retire on such an absolute shit note.
And I sure as hell couldn’t leave Boston.
This was home. I felt it in my bones. And once I realized that, everything else fell away.
Life had a funny way of working itself out. And what was meant to be yours would always come to you. I truly believed that.
So, I’d take life as it came. As long as I was where I was meant to be, I had to have hope that what was meant to be would be. That was all I could do.
I had a feeling, though, that Liam didn’t have the change of heart that I experienced when it came to retirement.
He lingered around, long after everyone had left the arena, savoring it. He stood in the middle of the ice, long after the game had finished, taking it all in. Looking around at the place where he’d built a legacy.
I waited behind him, letting him have his moment before telling him the decision I’d landed on somewhere smack in the middle of our piss-poor, history-making game.
When he finally turned back to where Cassie and I waited in the ice box, I saw the finality in his eyes. The acceptance that the game that had been his life for years was now firmly settled in the past. The chapter closed.
“How does it feel?” I walked out onto the ice next to him. “Knowing we’ve played our last game together?”
“Don’t get all emotional, Brody,” Liam said. “We’ll come to Michigan all the time, and we can kick the puck around on some little pond out there.”
I laughed, preparing to tell him the news, when Cassie blinked up at me in tears.
“So, I guess you’re leaving now?” Cassie blinked, teary-eyed up at me.
Liam wrapped an arm around her for support.
“Well, actually—” I said, grinning, “I—”
“Brody!”
I spun, and there was Maggie like a figment of my imagination, running toward me breathless and excited.
“Maggie?” I said, but she was already running onto the ice, slowing considerably as she realized that, though she was a mastermind in heels, they weren’t exactly ideal for walking on ice.
“Mags, don’t you dare break your neck on this ice or I’ll kill you.”
I ran forward, holding her up as she started to ramble.
“Thank God I’m not too late,” she told me, steadying herself with a tight grip on my arms. “I drove like a maniac all the way here—”
“How many times have I told you not to speed?” I scolded. “Jesus, Maggie. You gotta be careful.”
“I’ve never gotten a ticket.”
“I’m not worried about a ticket, I’m worried about you crashing your car.”
“The car’s insured.”
“Again, not about the car.” I shook my head in disbelief. “About bodily damage to you.”
“Never mind that!” she said, excitedly. “I had to come see you before you left for Michigan because—”
“About Michigan—” I started.
“No!” she said. “Please, let me go first. Please.”
My lips went thin and I nodded at her to continue.
“You can’t leave. You can’t go to Michigan, and you can’t go be with someone else,” she started, shocking every last thought out of my head.
“Not even some beautiful ex that you clearly have a ton of history with and is probably a lot more emotionally stable than me.”
“Maggie,” I shook my head, about to tell her everything, but she kept going. An unstoppable force that never failed to leave me reeling.
“I’m working on everything. I know I have issues. But the thing is, I love you, Brody—I love you. And I know I’ve been crazy lately, and I get caught up with work, and I make messes wherever I go—but I love you so much, and I couldn’t let you go without at least trying.”
“Maggie,” I tried again, but still she wasn’t done.
“And if you’re dead set on moving to Michigan, then I’m coming with you!
” she told me firmly, eyes blazing with that stubbornness I loved so much.
“And you know what, even if you don’t want me to, I’ll still come, and I’ll wait until I can prove to you that we should be together.
Because I’m willing to wait as long as it takes, because we belong together and that’s what you do when you love someone as much as I love you. ”
“Will you let me go now?”
She nodded, entire body stiffening as if bracing for impact. Slowly, and reluctantly, her arms dropped from around me and she took a step back, forcing herself to meet my gaze.
There was something there. Fear, maybe. Certainly something she’d never let me see before.
“Maggie, listen when I say this. I don’t care that you get caught up with work, because I love how you lose track of time when you’re determined to see something through.
I don’t mind cleaning up your messes because I love seeing traces of you in every room I enter.
And I don’t care about how much history I have with someone else, because the only person I ever wanted a future with is you. ”
Her breath hitched.
“I love you, Maggie,” I said, imploring her to understand it. “Only ever you.”
“Me?”
“If it’s not you, it’s not anyone,” I answered with devastating honesty.
And then she flung herself at me once more. I felt my body move of its own accord to catch her, as if it were second nature to have her in my arms. I gripped her so tightly so that she might never slip away from me again.
“Even though I put you through the ringer?” her voice was muffled as she spoke against my chest.
I inhaled the scent of her—argan oil and jasmine—as I laughed into her hair, resting my cheek atop her head.
“I like jumping through your hoops. It kept me in shape.”
She sniffled, eyes wetting my shirt as she let out the emotion she’d tried to keep buried for so long.
All I could think was, finally.
Finally you’re letting me see you.
And I loved her more in that moment than I ever had in my life because I felt the change in her. She was trusting me, lowering her guard. Letting go. Finally and completely giving me her heart in a way I’d never realized she’d been too afraid to do before.
“I know I’ve been a shitty girlfriend,” she said, sniffling, “but I think if you gave me another chance, I could end up being a pretty decent wife.”
I stilled. “What are you saying?”
“I want to marry you. I always wanted to marry you, Brody. Always. I was just scared that I was going to be too much for you. And I was afraid of what would happen when you eventually realized it.”
“How could you possibly think that, babe?” I let out the softest of laughs, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. I couldn’t believe she was here in front of me, saying all this. I couldn’t believe I was touching her again.
“I was scared that if I didn’t have my life together, you wouldn’t see any reason worth staying. That I wouldn’t be able to offer you as much as you’ve always given me.”
How could she think that? So little of herself when she had always been everything to me from the very first night in the locker room. Since the moment I saw her, I was done for. My hands were tied, fate sealed.
It was Maggie Brynn from that day forward, and I knew then—just like I knew now—that’s how it would be forever.
“Don’t you get it, Maggie?” I held her face in my hands. “Relationships aren’t about keeping score. It’s just about loving each other, through whatever shit comes our way.”
Her green eyes brimmed with tears and she nodded, as if urging me to continue. To give her the words—the reassurance she never dared ask for before.
“It’s you and me, Mags. I’m not going anywhere.
If there’s a problem you’re facing, then guess what?
It’s our problem, because I love you, Maggie.
And that’s what love is. If you think I’m going to walk away because life gets messy, then I’ll be happy to prove you wrong over and over and over again. ”
“Shut up,” she pushed at me playfully, but I held tight. “You’re literally the definition of a man written by a woman.”
“And you’re literally a raccoon,” I cooed back, brushing my thumb under her makeup-stained eyes.
“Hey,” she swatted at me.
“But hands down the most beautiful raccoon I’ve ever seen—smudged eyeliner and all.”
She opened her mouth, no doubt ready with another smart-ass comment, but I leaned forward to capture her lips with mine. There would be plenty of time for banter later. For now, we had other business to catch up on.
I pulled away from her grasp, watching her eyes widen in confusion as I took a step back from her.
“What are you—” she started, but I was already down on one knee in front of her.
“Let’s hope this goes better the second time around. Maggie Brynn, will you—”
“Yes!” she cried, sinking down to her knees in front of me, both hands shooting out to pull my face to hers for a kiss I had no desire to dodge.
“Yes?” I repeated after we broke apart, needing the confirmation in words. “You’ll marry me?”
“Yes!” she squealed. “Tomorrow. Tonight. Right now? Name the time and I’ll be there.”
“I don’t even have the ring with me.” I laughed, guilty and giddy and drunk on the moment all at the same time.
“I don’t care.” She shook her head back and forth.
“And our knees are getting wet,” I laughed, looking down to where we knelt on the ice.
“Who cares!” she yelled, crying now tears of joy. “We’re getting married! Let’s go now, to the courthouse.”
The only type of tears I ever wanted to see coming from those pretty eyes of hers ever again.
“Babe, babe, babe,” I said, as Maggie scrambled to her feet. “Wait. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Why not?” she asked, looking as if it would be fine to head there right now, me in my hoodie and skates, her in her work clothes and makeup-stained face.
“Because if there’s one thing Maggie Brynn loves, it’s a party. And I sure as hell won’t be the one to stand between you and the biggest party of our life.”
“Say that again,” she said, eyes gleaming.
“What?”
“Our life,” she said sincerely. “That’s all I want. You and me, always.”
“Done.” I nodded my agreement. “Easiest yes of my life.”
From somewhere behind us, I heard Cassie weeping and finally turned to see Cassie and Liam standing in the bench door, watching us.
“Come here, you guys,” Maggie said, gesturing for them to join me on the ice.
“Oh no,” Cassie protested. “We can’t ruin your moment!”
“Sorry, but Maggie just agreed to marry me! Nothing could ruin this moment.”
She shoved my arm, though her eyes were radiating love when she looked up at me.
Fuck it. I leaned down and kissed her again.
Because I could. Because I’d missed her. Because I couldn’t believe I almost lost her.
And most importantly, because she was going to be my wife. We might’ve taken the long way to get there, but it didn’t matter now. It had been worth it.
Cassie wobbled out onto the ice with outstretched arms to keep her balance, her Converse sliding on the ice as she took a few cautious steps.
“Careful,” Liam said, practically glued to her side to make sure she didn’t fall.
“Oh, right!” Maggie chirped, looking from them to me with humor. “Cassie’s pregnant.”
“What!” Cassie and I said at the same time.
“Maggie! How did you know?” Cassie pouted.
“Because you’ve been alternating between crying and throwing up all week.”
“Maybe it was the stress of your separation,” she defended weakly.
“Or,” Maggie emphasized, “maybe it’s the hormones.”
I laughed, pulling Maggie to my side so I could wrap an arm around her as we watched Cassie try to blubber out an excuse.
“Plus the fact that Liam’s been extra glued to your side lately—a seemingly impossible task, but then again, my brother’s always been an overachiever.”
Liam rolled his eyes, and before Cassie could stammer out a retort, he leaned down to kiss her cheek, instantly setting her at ease.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said. “We wanted to tell them anyway.”
“Yes, but not now! We stole their thunder!”
“First of all, you did not steal my thunder, because I announced it,” Maggie said. “Second, we’re all a family. And I don’t want there to be any more hiding things from family.”
“In that case,” I interjected, a little sheepishly. “I should let everyone know that I decided not to move to Michigan.”
Everyone stared at me blankly.
“Yeah, babe.” Maggie laughed. “I think we figured that since we just got engaged.”
“No,” I corrected, “I mean before that. I decided not to go.”
“When?” Maggie blinked. “Why?”
“When we were skating together,” I said to Liam. “I realized the same thing Maggie’s saying—we’re a family, and, well, families are supposed to stick together, aren’t they?”
“Yeah.” Maggie nodded, for once no witty comment to be made in response. “They are.”
“Don’t cry again, Cass.” I stared at our friend whose behavior lately suddenly made sense with Maggie’s revelation.
“I’m not. I’m not.” She waved us away. “I’m just so happy that everything worked out.”
“It was always going to,” Liam said. “You think Brody’s the type to ever give up on things?”
“I guess I wore down both of the Brynn siblings, huh? I infiltrated my way into your heavily guarded hearts, and now, here you are. Stuck with me, forever.”
I grinned between them both, as Liam rolled his eyes and Maggie shook her head but gripped my hand all the more tightly.
“Let’s get out of here,” Liam said, nodding toward the exit. “I’m sure you guys will want to get back to your own house.”
Maggie and I laughed at his subtle approach of evicting us from his house.
Fine by me. Maggie and I had a life to rebuild together.
“Don’t be rude, Liam,” Cassie said as they headed toward the exit.
“I’m not being rude, Cass,” he said, and then his words were lost to me, my mind too focused on processing the present moment all around.
We walked out of the arena together into the sweet air of a spring evening. The buds were blooming with new beginnings and the city lights twinkled, as if Boston itself were welcoming me home. Or reminding me that it always had been.
Liam and Cassie a few steps ahead of us, their voices filling the air. Maggie’s hand in mine, the weight of a promise we’d spent the rest of our lives fulfilling. I ran a finger along her ring finger, where I’d put the engagement ring on as soon as we got home.
This city. These people. This girl beside me who I had given my heart to so long ago.
This was all I’d ever need.