Heart of Gold

It is now November and my bakery is growing hectic around the holidays. I love the business but its just to stressful. On and lower note Jon and the team leave in a couple days for the circus trip. It’s the one thing I hate about every season. It’s a long time. But everything was going according to plan. My lovely co-workers decided to make my wedding cake so I didn’t have to stress about where to go get it made and etc.

“Beth I’m leaving.” I said before taking off my apron. Beth made the decision that I would take a few days off just to relax and calm down a bit. I’ve been busy as ever and planning a wedding on the side just makes it worse. Jon lead me to the idea where his mom, my sister, and I would plan the wedding without some of Jon’s thoughts. It’d give him time to think more on hockey without the stress of a wedding on the side.

As I opened the door to our condo and revealed our living room I dropped to my knees. Glass shattered on the floor. Jonathan came running out of the hallway. “Stella!” he rushed towards me and lifted me up and carried me to the couch. “Are you okay?” he asked me removing strands of hair from my face. I shook my head. Out of all days in November today was the day I dreaded. November 12th was the day my dad died before I was born. When he found out that my mom was pregnant again he was ecstatic and went out to celebrate. In his drunken state he was involved in a serious car crash. My mom was devastated when she found out that he died before ever meeting his 2nd daughter. Since Andrea is four years older than me, she got the advantage to meet him. As for me never did. I never really had a father figure in my life other than my grandfather.

Jon knew what day it was and why I hated it so much. He pulled me closer as his shirt absorbed my tears. I continued to sob into his shirt for minutes. Every time Jon would stroke his hand against my hair. If someone were to take a picture of us at this moment it would say a thousand words. “Everything is going to be okay.” he whispered into my ear. He let go of me and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right back.” Jon cleaned up the mess I made and headed towards the bedroom. I hugged the couch pillow for the mean time. “Here.” Jon said walking back into the living room handing me his ’Blackhawks Hockey’ hoodie I loved. “Thanks.” I whispered slipping my head through the soft fabric. Jon sat on the couch next to me and I was soon wrapped around his arms. “I’m sorry.” I said as I rested my head on Jon’s chest.

“Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault. It’s your dad’s. He shouldn’t have made the decision to get drunk and drive around.”

“I just don’t know what to do.”

“Here’s one thing. You have your mom and sister, my parents, Dave, Gwen, Beth and the bakery, the entire Chicago Blackhawks franchise, and most of all me.” he said kissing the top of my hand.

“Do you have morning practice tomorrow?” I randomly asked.

“Yea. Why?”

“There’s a Better Halves meeting tomorrow before you guys leave for the circus trip.” “oh okay.” He said kissing the top of my head. I situated myself on top of him so I could lay in the arms of my soon to be husband. Nothing could ever be so perfect could it?

I headed down to the meeting room where BBH hold their meetings every two weeks. “Stella boo!” I heard the voice of my best friend come across me. I turned around. “So your actually here?” I asked her. “Of course silly!”

“Okay but this isn’t easy as it seems.”

“What being a wife or girlfriend of a hockey player?” she asked.

“Yes. It isn’t all fun and games you know.” I replied as we walked into the room.

“Stella you’re here!” said Carmen Brouwer pulling me into a hug. “Who could this be?” asked Elina, Hjalmarsson’s girlfriend asked. “This is Gwen. Patrick Kane’s new ‘girlfriend‘.” I said. Most of the other halves were worried and excited. Gwen looked at me confused. “Well welcome Gwen. We have a lot of new BBH this season ladies.” said Mary Lyn, the chairwomen for the Blackhawks Better Halves. “We talked about the success of the pink pucks for Hockey Fights Cancer day at the UC. This month were were conversing about having a donation drive for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately your other halves would be on their circus trip for the season. Any suggestions?” “Why don’t we ask fans for the homes games before the trip to bring in old still useable clothing for the winter and continue the toy drive like we did last year?” I suggested. “That sounds so good.” Elina added. “That way not only do the children get toys for the holidays but both children and adults get some clothing for the cold season.” “Excellent idea Stella.” The meeting went on and we’ve gotten a lot done. By Gwen’s expressions every few minutes throughout meeting, she was surprised by the amount of work we do by being the other halves of hockey players.

When the meeting was done some of the players were waiting in the lobby for their loved ones. “Gwen baby!” Kaner said as Gwen appeared in front of him. I shook my head as I waved good-bye to the others. “Hey Stella!” Abby Sharp yelled. I turned around to see her holding an envelope. “I… I mean we,” she started as Sharpie wrapped an arm around her, “We wanted to thank you for making our wedding cake.” Jon came up behind me and kissed my forehead. “Its no problem Abby. My team had a great time making it. They were kinda surprised when I told them who it was for.” they laughed. “Here. We just wanted to give you something to thank you.” Abby said as she handed me that envelope she was previously holding. “Bye Guys.” She said. “Bye Stell. Toes.” Sharpie said as they walked away.
“What’s that?” Jon asked.

“ I don’t know. Abby just said it was a little something for making their wedding cake.” I opened the envelope and saw a pair of tickets to Our Lady Peace. I turned my head towards Jon who just smiled. For someone who is known as Captain Serious, I swear I’ve never seen him smile so much in my entire life. “Well I’ll have to let Sharpie know that we thank him back.” he laughed. “Yo Tazer!” Kaner said walking towards us with Gwen on his side. “What?” Jon said rolling his eyes. “How bout a double date?” he asked us. I shrugged my shoulders. “We were fine. Besides I want to take Stella somewhere anyway.” “Oh okay dude. Stella watch out for him!” Kaner said. “Well I’ll call you later Stell.” She said hugging me before they walked away. I turned to Jon who awkwardly adjusted his bag strap on his shoulder. “So where exactly are we going Jonathan?” I asked curiously. “Not going to tell you.” he said taking my hand.