Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
She wrinkled her nose, still grinning. “Good, because I’m pretty sure there’s breast milk soaking through this towel onto whatever you’re wearing.”
I set her down and tugged at the towel, eager to get a look at her enlarged breasts, which were easily double Ds for now.
“Jesus, those are sexy,” I murmured.
She squealed and pulled the towel against her stomach. “I’m leaking milk. That’s definitely not hot.”
“Bullshit.” I looked down at my crotch, my erection outlined against my gym shorts.
“Five more weeks,” she reminded me.
“I slipped the doctor a Benjamin and he said you’re cleared for sex in two weeks.”
She laughed, trying to wrap the towel around herself. “Yeah, good one.”
She tucked the towel around her so it was secure, then slid the ring onto her finger.
“Let’s go show Charlie,” she said.
When we got into the living room, he was kicking his legs, still staring at the spinning lights.
“Look, lovey,” Shelby said, leaning down to show him her sparkling ring. “Mommy and Daddy are getting married.”
She turned off the swing and he immediately started fussing again. She ran a hand over his hair as she picked him up, walking over to the recliner.
“You can eat, and then we’ll celebrate,” she said. “Sound good?”
As I watched her feed our son, I was already celebrating inside. I wasn’t sure hockey would ever be the same for me after the devastation caused by the explosion, but I knew one thing for sure.
I had an incredible family to lean on during the hard times, and I’d never let them down. My forever had found me at Mountain Top with a binder and a mission, and I was damn glad she did.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
Beau
“Hey, check out my kid.” I turned my phone to show Charlie’s toothless grin to Coach.
“Cute. He looks like you.”
Coach’s hair had gone from salt and pepper to almost fully gray in the past six months. Though we were practicing at a college arena, things were still unsettled for our team, and they would be for a while.
“If everyone could take a seat, I’d like to get started,” Mila said.
We were meeting in a conference room on the college campus Mila was renting rink time and office space from. It wasn’t ideal. The office space was spread out over campus and we had to share the rink with the college team, but at least we were in the same area. For the first couple of months after the arena was destroyed, things were a mess.
There were so many unanswered questions, but the most important thing had been recovering the bodies from the rubble and burying those we’d lost.
As the acting team captain, I was included in weekly meetings with the Coyotes’ top brass. I held a weekly meeting with my teammates after that to let them know what was going on.
Frankly, our weekly get-togethers had quickly come to mean more to us than just a briefing on the efforts to rebuild our team and arena. We met up at local restaurants or a teammate’s home and talked a little bit of hockey and a whole lot of life.
We’d lost five of our twenty-three players that day. No warning. Not only was there a hole in our team that could never be filled, but many of us were dealing with survivor’s guilt and reliving the trauma of that day. Petty disagreements had been forgotten. We were bonded for life now, and everyone knew the only way we’d get through this new hell was together.
“I have great news for the first time in a while,” Mila said as she took her seat at the head of the conference table.
She looked at her assistant Dave, who stood next to the doorway of the conference room. “Bring him in, please.”
Dave opened the door to the conference room and waved someone in. I was floored when Ford Barrett walked into the room, his expression all business.
“Meet the newest member of the Coyotes family,” Mila said.
This was a top-level administration meeting between eight of the team’s top executives, coaches, and me. I could tell from the shocked looks on several faces around the table that I wasn’t the only one who was just finding out about this.
“Hey, man,” I said, standing up and approaching Ford with a grin. “I’m so stoked you’re here. Welcome.”
He gave me a slight smile and nodded. Ford was one of the highest ranked offensive players in the league. Everyone had been sure his next contract would be with New York. I knew Mila had paid dearly to acquire him for our team. The Ice Queen had her flaws, but her commitment to this team was rock solid. All of us had grown to appreciate her more in the past six months. She’d really stepped up and made a huge effort to take care of every family who lost a loved one in the explosions.