Those Will Be The Best Memories

Madeline rubbed her husband’s back as he cleared his throat and gave a loud sigh. His black suit covered his body snugly, leaving his muscles clearly defined. He stood in the tunnel of the rink with his youngest daughter and son in his arms. Madeline held her hands in front of her, smiling at her baby girl who was chewing innocently on her fingers.

“Sorry we’re late Ma,” Maddy’s oldest son apologized as he walked into the tunnel with his younger sister.

Matthew Eager was now an eighteen year old hockey player, playing for the Ottawa Generals; just like his father. Cherie Eager, Ben and Madeline’s second child, was almost fifteen years old with blonde curls and blue eyes. Both of them looked exactly like their father’s side of the family.

“Hi Daddy,” Cherie smiled, leaning towards her father and giving him a loving hug.

Ben grinned, “Hi sweetheart.”

Cherie moved back to stand next to her mother, her heels click quietly and her black high-waisted skirt clinging to her, “Are you nervous?”

Ben shrugged, “A little bit,” and lifted his youngest son a little higher.

A year and a half ago, Madeline had found out that she was pregnant. Becoming pregnant at forty-two years old was definitely not something they were planning for, but it’s not as if they were complaining. To make things even more interesting (more interesting then their children finding out they still had sex) Maddy’s doctor informed her that she was having twins.

She gave birth to a little boy and a little girl, Joseph Lukas and Juniper Leigh-Anne, two days before hockey season started. What they weren’t expecting, but had been warned that it could possibly happen, was that Joseph was completely deaf. Madeline started to notice it when they went to games at the Philips Arena and when a team would score June would cry while Joseph would stay silent. She simply thought it didn’t bother Joseph, at first, but began to do tests at home, such as clapping behind him when he didn’t know she was there.

After a quick visit to the doctor, Joseph was determined legally deaf. Of course, it didn’t make his parents love him any less then all of his other siblings, but it definitely put a strain on their relationship when Ben wasn’t able to attend meeting about how to communicate with their youngest son.

Ben placed a kiss to his son’s forehead, poking his nose softly as he did the same to his daughter, breathing in deeply as the national anthem began to play and the crowd stood up and began to sing.

Since Ben had been traded to Atlanta, his career seemed to explode. Instead of playing on a fourth line, like he had down with the Chicago Blackhawks, he had started playing on the second line at the beginning of his career as a Thrasher. A few years later, he was given the A and kept the A until he retired when he was thirty-nine.

It had been a long and fulfilling hockey career and Ben couldn’t have been happier, especially when Atlanta was given the chance to win the cup three times and winning it twice. Ben Eager had won the Stanley Cup three times but it had always been just as exciting if not more.

“Are you ready?” Madeline asked, nudging his side as the anthem came to an end.

Ben cleared his throat and nodded, leaning to the side to kiss his wife; yes, his wife. Ben and Madeline had gotten married after two years of living in Atlanta. It was a small wedding in Hawaii with their immediate family on the beach. It was small and beautiful, just what they wanted.

“The Atlanta Thrashers are extremely proud today, to raise another number into the rafters. This player was a huge fore-checking forward who helped lead the team to two Stanley Cups in a four year period. He was aquired from the Chicago Blackhawks after winning the Stanley Cup and spent the rest of his career with Atlanta. We are proud to raise number fifty-five, Ben Eager.”

Ben let out a shaky breath and smiled as he was lead out onto the ice with his youngest kids in his arms and his wife and two other children following. He could hear people ‘awing’ in the crowd as they caught a glimpse of his children and he simply grinned.

“Ben, would you do the honor?”

Ben handed June over to Matthew and Joseph over to Madeline. He was handed his banner, with his name and number on both sides, and the two cords that would be raising it. He quickly clipped the cords to the banner with tears in his eyes as he gave the okay and the cords began to rise. He lightly let go of the banner and stood back with his family as he pulled Cherie into his arms, watching the banner of his now retired number float into the rafters of the Philips Arena.

He let out a shaky breath as it was finally settled at the top of the rafters and leaned his head back as he stared at the multiple banners, including the two Stanley Cup banners. Everyone in the crowd began to clap as the staff ushered his family off and handed Ben a puck to do the ceremonial puck drop.

He walked over to the two Captains of the teams, ironically the Thrashers and the Blackhawks, posed for the picture, and dropped the puck, the captain of Atlanta picking it up off of the ice.

Ben waved to the crowd, shaking hands with a few of the people and walked into the tunnel where his family was waiting for him. Madeline had tears streaming down her face as she cuddled Joseph in her arms, “Congratulations Benny!”

Ben grinned and pulled his wife and son into his arms as he felt Matthew hug his mom from the back, June in his arms, and Cherie hugged their sides. The family stood in the tunnel simply hugging for quite a while as Ben ran through his hockey career and how much his life had changed.

He had four beautiful children and finally married his high school sweetheart as well as won three Stanley Cups. Not to mention the amount of friends he had made throughout the years. He still kept in touch with all of the guys from the Blackhawks; especially the ones he had won the cup with, and had remained in Atlanta with Andrew Ladd while Dustin Byfuglien had decided to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs after the team began to grow and won three Stanley Cup in the last ten years.

Either way, Ben had one of the greatest lives in the world and there was nothing he would rather be doing. All he knew, was as he would get older, those will be the best memories.