Make It Back to Me

October 10th 2009
Evelyn hadn’t anticipated Ben sitting next to her in the player’s box as she watched the Blackhawks’ home opener of the 2009-2010 season, but Ben had gotten another concussion somewhere in the preseason, presumably while they had been in Europe. Ben had plagued with concussions when he first came to Chicago from Philadelphia almost two years before and he knew them all too well. Though, Evelyn couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t as bothered about being sidelined like he would have been just the season before.

When Evelyn asked her husband about it though, he only shrugged it off and continued to watch the game and watch his team play. Evelyn shrugged and made her way to the back of the box where the snacks and drinks were located. Grabbing herself a small wedge of sandwich and pouring herself a glass of lemonade, she took a seat at one of the tables as she kept an eye on one of the monitors to keep track of the game. It was halfway through the third and tied at three. She had a feeling it would go into overtime and maybe even further.

“He doesn’t seem too bothered to be missing out,” Evelyn heard as Marian Hossa took the seat across from her. She smiled shyly, still not used to the attractive Slovakian man being part of the Blackhawks’ family. She glanced at Ben to see him shaking his head and laughing lightly at her, well aware of the small crush his wife had on his new teammate. “I guess it’s true what they say.”

“What’s that?” Evelyn asked, setting her sandwich down and staring curiously at Marian.

He shrugged, “Your priorities shift around when you have a family.” Evelyn smiled, wondering if that was the reason for Ben’s almost indifference to not being out on the ice. She turned to Marian to find him grinning at her as he took a sip from his bottle of water. “That’s what I think, at least.”

Evelyn finished her food and her drink as the third period came to a close. Walking back towards Ben, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he hunched forward and looked at the now empty ice. “What are you thinking about?” She asked, resting her chin on one of his shoulders.

“Nothing really; just daydreaming.”

“About?”

“The baby.” Evelyn grinned and moved to stand in front of Ben, laughing as his hands immediately went to her belly. He stared at her large stomach for a few moments before moving his gaze to her eyes. “I love you,” he told her, standing to press a kiss to her lips. The buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the overtime period, and Evelyn moved to sit down in the seat next to Ben’s, but he didn’t return to his seat, and neither did Marian.

Instead, the two of them bounced in their spots, their eyes following the puck that flew across the ice. Evelyn blew out a deep breath and sat back in her seat, feeling the wave of dizziness and heat that took over her body, something she had been feeling as of recently and something her doctor assured was perfectly normal for a woman going into her sixth month of pregnancy. Waiting for the hot flash to end, she kept her breaths long and deep, something else her doctor had told her would help.

“Marian?” She asked, grabbing onto the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Do you think you can grab me a bottle of water?” Marian gave her a friendly smile and quickly got her water before making a snarky comment at Ben. Evelyn laughed at the stricken look on Ben’s face, obviously having no idea his pregnant wife had been having a hot flash. She waved him off, “Marian was closer and less enthralled, anyway.”

Thirty minutes and nine rounds of shoot-out later, Ben was finally taking his exhausted wife home. He had offered to carry the nearly sleeping woman to their car, but Evelyn refused, telling Ben she didn’t want her husband to aggravate his concussion by carrying a whale. The Ottawa native hockey player had no choice but to keep his mouth shut and only shake his head. It seemed that no matter how beautiful he told his young wife she was, she wouldn’t believe him or even go as far as to snap at him and twist his words around.

It had to be the hormones, he concluded.

As soon as they got into their apartment (much to Ben’s disliking), Evelyn had passed out on their bed, leaving Ben to rid her of the clothes she wore and dress her in something cool and comfortable to sleep in. He walked into the kitchen and cracked himself a can of beer open before letting out a tired sigh; he had found a place he liked, but Evelyn – or maybe still her hormones – refused to leave the apartment they had been living in for almost a year.

Of course, with his wife in the state she was in, he didn’t quite know how to go about telling her that the house he had found and wanted her to come see (though she refused) was already theirs. As soon as he had seen it, he knew it was their home. Ben Eager had never been a sappy man, but as soon as he saw the house, he saw himself and Evelyn raising their son there, and maybe he could even see a couple more kids, too.

- - -

The next day, with the day off, and Evelyn waking up feeling completely fine, Ben decided it was as good of a day as any to tell her about the house he had bought. He had scoped out how her hormones were acting that morning over breakfast, and he figured today was the best day he was going to get for a while, or even the rest of her pregnancy. Taking his chances, he asked his wife if she wanted to go for a drive, and when she grinned and said she would love to, Ben was feeling pretty confident.

“So, where are we going?” Evelyn asked, after they had been driving for almost ten minutes on the relatively quick moving downtown Chicago streets.

“Almost there,” Ben told her, gripping her knee a bit and sending her a smile.

She let out a groan, but Ben could tell it was an amused, exaggerated one. Running her hands through her hair, she let the scenes of the streets they drove on pass them as they headed into what Evelyn clearly knew to be as the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. She wondered if they were trying out a new restaurant (the area had tons) but when Ben pulled up to a large town house, she came to the conclusion they were visiting someone. Why else would they be there?

Ben came to her side of the Navigator, helping her step down out of it before lacing their fingers together and walking with her to the front door. “Did one of your teammates get a new place?” She asked as they came to a stop on the front steps, but Ben shook his head and stuck the key he had recently added to his key ring into the lock. “Ben…”

“Welcome home, Lyn,” he said, pushing the large doors open and ushering her into the foyer. She was stunned into silence as she looked at the beautifully designed house, even though it was bare of furnishings. The walls were all painted warm colors, the hardwood floors were beautiful, and just plain everything about it was beautiful. “I couldn’t help but buy it, Evelyn. I love it.”

“I,” she paused, turning to look at her husband. “I love it, too, Ben.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded, “I know I harped on you about leaving the apartment, but this place…”

“You feel it, too?” She nodded, smiling up at Ben as he kissed her quickly before pulling her further into the house. “I can just see us living here with the kids, you know?”

“Kids?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Well, you know, if I’m lucky enough to still be in Chicago a few years from now, yeah, kids.” Evelyn wrapped her arms around his thick middle, resting her head on his chest as a few stray tears peaked past her eyelids. Only wearing a tee shirt, Ben felt her tears and he immediately wrapped her in a tight hug and asked what was wrong.

“I’m sorry,” she laughed, wiping the tears. “You know my hormones are out of whack. I’m just overwhelmed. You’ve given me more than I could have ever asked for, and I don’t just mean the house. I mean our son, your love; everything.”

“Don’t go soft on me, Lyn. Who’s going to call me out when I do?” Making his wife laugh was the only thing Ben would never get sick of. He wasn’t really regarded as the ‘funny guy’; Burish and Sharp had that spot covered, but truthfully Ben wasn’t interested in making tons of people laugh anyway. Evelyn was all that mattered; her and their son. “You want a tour of the rest of the house?” He asked her, kissing her cheek.

When she nodded excitedly, he took her by the hand and led her to what he was sure would be his favorite room, the kitchen. Evelyn grinned at him and Ben realized he hadn’t ever been as happy as he was in that moment. His wife was back where she belonged, with him. She was pregnant, glowing, and as beautiful as ever.

Yeah, Ben Eager was loving life, that was for sure.