Ember
Issy has the baby the night before game seven. The girls' chat goes off at some ungodly hour and wakes us both up.
Included is a photo of a red, furious, absolutely perfect little face, all screwed up and outraged about the entire situation, and I actually make a noise out loud.
Collette: OMG he’s here.
Jo: Look at our gorgeous nephew.
Harper: Hey, Alby, your new best friend and cousin Bastien is ready to play with you.
Harper inserts a photo of Bastien smiling.
Cassidy: Congrats, he is gorgeous.
Ember: Proud of you, Mama.
Issy: I’m exhausted but not as exhausted as Pierre. I told him to go home and get some sleep before today.
Harper: Felix said he’s doing good, so don’t stress.
Issy: Not the best timing, he was supposed to come next week.
Jo: He’s a true St. Pierre. He wanted to watch the game.
Issy: Oh no.
Harper: We will come up and see you before the game.
We head up later that day with the world's largest bunch of flowers. Issy looks wrecked and radiant, propped up in bed with her hair scraped back. And then she looks down at the bundle in her arms and her whole face changes.
“Little Alby.” She smiles. “I named him after my father.” Tears well in her eyes. “Wish he was here to see him.”
“He’s looking down on you.” Harper hugs her.
“He would be so proud.” Issy smiles.
“He would also have Alby signed up for a ten-year deal before he could work. He would say he’s a legacy.” Evelina laughs.
“Oh my gosh, he would, wouldn’t he? Alby wouldn’t have a choice, it’s hockey or nothing.” Issy laughs through her tears.
“As if Pierre would allow him to play anything else,” Jo adds.
“So true.” Issy smiles.
“Felix has already started with Bastien,” Harper says, rolling her eyes.
“Could you imagine, in what, twenty-odd years, these two boys could be in the same position as their dads are now.” Collette grins.
“That would be kind of cool,” Violetta adds. “And when the rest of you start knocking out some kids you could have a whole team.” She chuckles.
“Speak for yourself,” Evelina says. “I'm not pushing anything the size of a football out of me for a hockey team.”
“You say that now,” Issy says serenely. “Then you meet them and your brain melts.”
“I’m happy being the fun aunt.” Evelina smirks.
Issy looks so happy as she gazes down at him like nothing else in the world exists, tracing his fingers with hers.
“Can I ask something?” Collette says. “And nobody laugh at me. Did it hurt as much as everyone says?”
“Yes,” Issy and Harper answer.
“Right.” She nods, looking scared.
“But then they put him on my chest,” Issy says, “and I forgot about all of it in about four seconds.”
“She's right. Seeing little Alby is making me broody again,” Harper states. “You and Fish thinking about adding to the team?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. Fish wants a hockey team.” She cringes.
“They all do.” Harper laughs. “But you’re the one who has to push the watermelon out of you, so you decide.”
“You’d have cute kids,” Cassidy adds.
“And if you had a boy, it could be the start of a second-gen hockey team.” Issy smirks.
“The boys would love that, wouldn’t they?” She chuckles.
Jo looks at her phone and groans. “Right, Lettie, we have to go.”
She groans. “Urgh, damn work.”
“You’re the one who needs to be there hours before to get the best content.” Jo moans.
“She’s right. Okay, love you guys. Go boys. See you at the arena ladies,” Collette says as they say their goodbyes and leave.
The arena is deafening. I've been to a lot of games this season. I've clawed my way from watching alone on a couch with the sound down to standing in this building with twenty thousand people.
Game seven.
We're all here. Jo's on one side of me, they both finished early so that they could be in the family suite watching the game as players’ partners instead of employees. Cassidy's on my other side, and Claire, Felix and Pierre’s, mom is talking to my mom and Cassidy’s parents.
Harper’s got Bastien on her hip with his little headphones.
Issy said she’s watching from her hospital bed with her sisters so she’s not alone.
They're up by one.
Three minutes left.
I have never been so frightened in a good way in my entire life.
“Come on,” Collette breathes beside me. “Come on, come on, come on.”
Emmett is everywhere. My brother, who I have watched play hockey since he was six years old in a helmet too big for his head, is out there dragging an entire team up the ice by his teeth. Pierre and Felix are playing like their lives depend on it. Fish is throwing himself at everything that moves.
And Sully.
I can't stop watching Sully.
Two minutes.
My heart's in my throat. The noise in here is a physical thing, pressing on my chest, and Jo's grip on my arm is going to leave marks.
Their guy gets in behind Sully down the left side, clean, and my stomach drops through the floor.
And somehow, I don't know how, Sully gets back.
He's just there, stick down, body in the way, and he takes the puck clean off him, chips it out, and the whole building comes apart.
“Shit,” I hiss.
Cassidy screams something incoherent directly into my ear.
One minute.
And then they pull their goalie.
Six of them. Six against five. Collette makes a sound like a kettle.
Claire says something in French that I am fairly sure is not a prayer.
They come at us in a wave. The puck is moving too fast to follow, pinging around our zone, and every single person in this building is on their feet.
Their guy winds up at the top of the circle.
My brother throws his whole body in front of it.
And I stop breathing.