Playing House

Before anyone could say anything, Beau and Maddie ran up to me, and of course Beau had to scream ‘Mommy!’ over and over. The absolutely ecstatic looks on their faces distracted me from Eleanor for like, a second, until she cleared her throat.

“Well, that makes sense,” she remarked snootily.

“I’m sorry, what makes sense?” I asked, getting defensive. Ben stood behind Eleanor, waving his hands wildly, but I ignored him.

“That they belong to you,” she responded.

“Excuse me-” I took a step toward her, but Ben shot out of nowhere and stood between us.

“Burish! Let’s bring out the first game, eh?” He diverted instead of addressing the issue between his Great Aunt and me. I let it slide, knowing he was just trying to avoid conflict.

“Game? Benjamin, what is going on here?” Eleanor called out.

“It’s their third birthday. Didn’t you notice all the decorations?” Ben asked her.

“What’s the big importance to you of their birthday?” She responded, completely disregarding his question.

“Hey kids, lets open your gifts, eh?” Brent Seabrook yelled out, bringing all of the attention toward him. Eleanor picked up her teacup again, allowing herself to be ignored for the time being. As Ben and I stood to the side, away form his Great Aunt, I nudged him with my elbow.

“What the fuck!” I whispered, glaring at him.

“I know, I know. I’m working on telling her about us, I just don’t know how-”

“MEEEE!”

The room was silent for a moment after Maddie’s random outburst. Everyone, with the exception of Eleanor, knew of Maddie’s silence.

“Mommy, look. Is MEEE!” She screamed, running up to me. She held out her hands, which held a plush Madeline doll, from the cartoon she watched. I knelt down, letting her show me her doll.

“Who did you get it from?” I asked, trying not to cry.

“Unker Hewey,” she grinned.

“Uncle Huet?” I chuckled. She nodded and played with the doll’s hair, and I looked up at Cristobal. He was smiling brightly at me, and I couldn’t help but return it. I had been looking for Madeline dolls everywhere, but since the show wasn’t very popular anymore I couldn’t find them anywhere. I looked over at Cris, but before I could say anything, he spoke.

“Before you go thanking me, I’m from France. There’s an abundance of Madeline merchandise. It was really no problem. I just called up a shop and they shipped some stuff here.”

As if on cue, Maddie found her other Madeline merchandise and squealed. Everyone laughed, and I hugged Cristobal anyways.

“You have no idea how much this means,” I told him. He just smiled at me as the room started getting loud again. Ben grabbed my hand, squeezing it assuringly.

Beau and Maddie continued opening their presents, getting a bunch of nice things from the players and their families. Beau got a lot of hockey equipment and Star Wars things, the latter of which I knew was because of Adam. Maddie got some hockey equipment as well, because Duncan Keith was sure she was going to be an 'absolute tank.'

After the kids had opened all their presents, I risked a glance at Eleanor. She was scowling at everybody, sipping her tea.

“Oh! I have something else,” Ben called, running out of the room. He had already gotten Beau and Maddie numerous things, and had even set up a college fund for them.

A freakin' college fund.

I was speechless to say the least, so when Ben said there was more I nearly keeled over.

Ben came back with a little blue box, and my heart stopped. I knew where that box was from.

Tiffany’s.

I wanted to scream out to him to save it for later. I wanted to motion to him to put it away. I wanted to somehow convey to him that Eleanor thought I was just the maid, and this would be entirely inappropriate.

But I was frozen solid.

It was too big to be a ring box, so I knew it wasn’t anything serious like that. But still. Tiffany’s?? Oh dear. Ben stood in front of me and handed me the box, but I just stared at it.

“Open it,” he insisted. I swallowed hard and did as told. I was confused for a moment, pulling out a key.

“What is this?” I asked, holding it up. I suddenly caught sight of the Chevy logo on the key, and my eyes widened.

A car.

He bought me a fucking car.

“You didn’t,” I stated, looking up at him.

“I did,” he grinned. I shot up to go look at it, but he grabbed me and put his arms around my shoulders. “It’s not here, it’s at Seab’s place. I figured there’d be too much going on here today.”

I nodded, sitting back down, still awestruck.

“There’s more you know. In the box,” he said.

I looked at him with wide eyes. There is? I thought the Tiffany’s box was just a cover so I’d be surprised about the car key.

Aw, fuck.

I cautiously picked up the box again, looking under the cloth the key had been resting on. A string of diamonds immediately flashed in my eyes and I shut the box instantly, shoving it into Ben’s hands.

“You didn’t,” I repeated.

“I did,” Ben grinned, kneeling down and placing the box back on my lap. He reopened it, pulling the necklace out gingerly. “Happy Birthday,” he whispered.

“But….but you already got me a car! You can’t. I can’t,” I shook my head, pushing the necklace at him. He just smiled and stood up, pulling me along with him. He walked behind me and put the necklace on me, clasping it at the back of my neck and ignoring my protests.

“That is enough!” Eleanor suddenly exclaimed. We turned around to look at her, and Beau and Maddie immediately came up and stood by our legs. “Benjamin, what is going on?”

“What do you mean?” Ben played dumb.

“This!” She spat, motioning toward me. “It’s one thing to throw a party for this woman’s children. But buying her gifts? Cars? Diamonds? What is wrong with you?”

Ben was silent for a moment and I told the kids to go upstairs to their room. I was afraid things were going to get intense, and I didn’t want them down here for it.

“Their room? They live here?” Eleanor remarked. The twins instantly halted, clinging to Ben’s and my legs once more.

“Aunt Eleanor, I’m not really sure what your problem is,” Ben said, giving her a confused look. It dawned on me then that he didn’t know she still thought I was the maid, but before I could say anything Eleanor spoke.

“She’s the help! You can not have relations with the help,” she stated.

Ben looked at me, his eyes asking what he should do.

“Benjamin!” Eleanor called, trying to get his attention.

“Uh, excuse us,” Ben said, grabbing my arm and leading me into a hallway and out of earshot. Eleanor wasn't pleased, but what else was new. “Did I miss something?” He asked me.

“Adam told her I was your housekeeper,” I said.

“What? Why?”

“Because from the little time he spent with her he felt that it was the best route for me. He was just trying to spare me from her wrath,” I told him.

Ben sighed and scratched his head.

“Alright, there’s a few ways we can do this,” Ben said. “One, we come clean about everything. And I mean everything,” he motioned toward my stomach. “I’m not going to half ass the truth. Or, we can keep with the housekeeper story, and just tell her that your job requires a car. It’s not really yours, I just let you use it, or something.”

“And your housekeeper needs a diamond necklace because….”

“Shit,” Ben muttered, turning away from me and pacing the hall.

“Which, by the way, I absolutely love,” I told him, putting a hand on his stomach and stopping him mid-step.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. I hooked my fingers into his belt loops, pulling him up against me and walking backwards until my back hit the wall. “Mal…” Ben trailed off, glancing down the hallway. “She could come hobbling around the corner any second.”

“Fine,” I sighed dramatically, moving to step forward. Ben groaned and pushed me back against the wall, kissing my neck. I grinned at my victory and soon enough I felt Ben’s lips on my own. I kissed him back for a moment before Ben was suddenly ripped away from me.

“What are you doing ?!” Adam asked, shocked. He was holding Ben’s shoulder, clearly being the one who pulled him away.

“You see Adam, when a man and a woman love each other-”

“She’s criticizing your kids,” Adam interrupted Ben. “She’s out there putting them down and you’re hiding out in this little hallway sucking face-”

I didn’t listen anymore, as I bolted back out into the living room. Eleanor was sitting there with a smug look on her face, and Patrick Sharp was holding the twins and trying to calm them down. I grabbed Beau and Ben was right behind me taking Maddie.

“Benjamin-”

“She’s not the help,” Ben blurted out, cutting Eleanor off. “She was, but she’s not anymore.”

“And what exactly is she?” Eleanor inquired.

“She’s my girlfriend.”

Eleanor’s eyes narrowed at me, and I suddenly felt self-conscious. Well, more self-conscious.

“I see. And the children…?” Eleanor glared.

“They’re not mine. But I adopted them,” Ben informed.

“You what?”

“And she’s pregnant. With our child,” Ben added.

Wow. He was serious about not half ass-ing the truth.

Eleanor stood up, flustered, and walked out of the room. She slammed a door, which I assumed was the bathroom, and the entire living room let out a collective sigh.

“What…the…fuck?” Brent Seabrook remarked. Nikolai Khabibulin shoved him, giving him a short lecture about swearing in front of all the children. Ben suddenly turned toward me, apologizing.

“Ben, it’s fine,” I smiled. “We’ll figure this out, okay?”

He nodded, and once we saw that Beau and Maddie were fine we set them down and let them play some of the games the guys had set up. Everything had gone back to being loud and boisterous, until suddenly the room completely hushed.

“Amalia,” Eleanor said shortly. “Come to the kitchen with me.” She walked into the kitchen, and everyone watched me with wide eyes as I slowly followed. I looked back at Ben uncertainly, but he just looked back at me like I was walking to my death.

Which, I probably was.