God Bless the Broken Road

It was Christmas morning and for the first time in years, I didn’t want get up. Eric had his arm wrapped tightly around my waist and was snoring quietly behind me. I let out a tiny sigh. Normally I would be bouncing off the walls with excitement to go into the living room and open presents, but not this time. I was excited, but just not as excited as I normally would be.

I knew I had to move on, to accept the fact that my parents were gone. Yesterday, Eric had suggested therapy and at first I wanted to be mad at him for suggesting it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was the best thing for me. Therapy would help me cope with the loss, help me ease the pain and maybe help with my breakdowns. Those are what I wanted to fix the most. I saw how they affected Eric and Jared, I watched how upset I was hurt them. Eric would deny it, but his game has been off this entire month and it always seemed to get worse after I would have a breakdown.

I rolled over to face Eric and watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful and calm, there were no worry lines obscuring his beautiful face, no frown that seem to be a permanent fixture the past couple of weeks, there were no sad eyes. I gently brushed my fingers over his lips and vowed that I never wanted him to look like that again, that I wasn’t going to put him through the agony he’s been through lately with me.

Last night I had overheard Eric talking to his brothers and Henry and the sadness and helplessness in his voice caused me to tear up. Hearing the pain in his voice made me realize how much I really was hurting him and not just him, while we were in the kitchen both Linda and Heather voiced how worried about me they were.

Eric stirred awake and tightened his hold on my waist. He also lightly bit my finger that was still tracing his lips, causing me to giggle.

“Good morning.” I whispered.

“Good morning.” he responded and captured my lips in a sweet kiss. “How did you sleep?” He asked when we broke apart.

“Fine.” There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” I called.

Linda stuck her head in the door and smiled at us. “Just wanted to see if you to were awake. Breakfast is almost done and then we can open presents.”

“Thanks, mom. We’ll be out in a second.” Eric responded.

Eric and I rolled out of bed and got ready for the day…well kind of. I would always stay in my pajamas on Christmas day. When we got into the living room, everybody was seated at the table.

“Merry Christmas, everyone.” I said, taking a seat between Jordan and Eric.

“Merry Christmas, dear.” Henry smiled, placing a kiss on my cheek

Breakfast was a quick event since we all dying to get in the living room and get the presents open. Even in our twenties we still were excited for Christmas morning. Once we were finished and the table was cleared, the six kids all rushed off to the living room, pushing and shoving to get a place to sit. I ended up sitting half on Eric’s lap and half of Jordan’s lap.

“Mackenzie, open mine first.” Jared said, handing me a small square box.

Not wanting to argue with him I took the box and opened it. Inside were a pair of pink diamond stud earrings. I gasped.

“Jared, these are beautiful. Thank you so much.” I stood up and gave him a hug.

“I’m glad you like them, I wasn’t sure if you would. I picked them out all by myself.” He blushed.

I placed a kiss on his cheek. “You did well, baby Staal.” I smiled.

Presents were passed around and there was plenty of laughter. Everyone loved the gifts they got. I began cleaning up all the trash and stumbled across one present still under the tree.

“Guys, there’s still a preset under here.” I announced, pulling it out.

Marc grabbed and looked at it. “There’s no name on it.”

Eric looked over at us. “Oh, that’s for you Mackenzie.”

Me? I took a seat on the couch and slowly began unwrapping the box. Inside were the pajamas that I told Eric that I wanted and he promised me he’d get them for me. The pants had the Hurricane emblem on them. There was a black tank top with the emblem on the front as well.

“Yay! Thank you Eric.” I smiled.

“Turn it around.” Jordan instructed.

I gave him a confused look and turned the tank top around. First thing I saw was a familiar number, Eric had gotten it customized for me. Then I noticed the name, it said Staal like normal, but what wasn’t normal was the thing in front of it. Mrs. My heart skipped a beat and my breath got caught in my throat. Slowly I lowered the shirt and looked around me. Eric was now standing in front of me with a smile on his face. He took the box out of my lap and the shirt out of my hands and moved them to the side of me on the couch. He grabbed my hands and gave me that signature Staal smirk.

“Mackenzie, we’ve been through so much together since the night we met at the diner. We’ve been there for each other through everything that has been thrown at us too. You’ve grown so much since we first met and everyday I fall more in love with you. You make me the happiest I’ve been in a long time. You get along with my family and team so well and every guy wants that.” Eric let go of one of my hands and dropped down to one knee. I had tears running down my face and I noticed that Heather and Linda did as well. “Mackenzie,” Eric said, grabbing my attention again. “I love you so much and nothing will change that. I want you to become a part of my family…permanently. Will you marry me”? Jordan handed Eric a box and slowly Eric opened it, reveling a simple diamond ring with little diamonds on the band. It was beautiful.

“Yes!” The word was out of my mouth before I could even process my response. The smile on Eric’s face was one that I haven’t seen in a long time. He slipped the ring onto my finger and pulled me up and into his chest.

“I love you.” He whispered before crashing his lips to mine.

When we pulled apart, both Eric and I had huge grins on our face. “I love you too. Merry Christmas, baby.”

“Merry Christmas.”

Soon I was wrapped up in many hugs and had everyone congratulating us. I was beyond happy to be engaged to Eric. I loved him and he loved me, the age difference had no effect on our relationship. Sure people looked down on us because we were six years apart, but we could care less what they thought.

For the rest of the afternoon we all went our separate ways and did our own things. I helped Linda cook dinner while Eric and Henry watched whatever the NHL Network was showing.

“So Linda, did you know about this?” I asked, with a smile on my face.

Linda blushed. “I did, Eric asked us if we would approve. He would have asked your parents, but…” She trailed off, grabbing my hand. “Mackenzie, I know you don’t want to think about anything like that right now, but just so you know Henry and I are here for you throughout everything.”

“Thank you, Linda. I’m going to need all the help I can get. I’ve never planned a wedding before and unlike most little girls, I have no idea what I want.” I admitted.

“Well then this will be fun for all of us. But you don’t need to worry about anything like that for now. Just enjoy your engagement to my wonderful son.” She lightly pushed me out of the kitchen.

I joined the guys in the living room and just sat there and listened to the conversation around me. This was going to be my family for, hopefully, forever. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to join. They all loved each other, supported one another, and most of all they loved me even though I wasn’t a part of their family. I knew for a fact that my own parents would have loved the Staals and they would have approved of Eric. I began playing with my necklace as I watched Linda and Henry snuggle on the couch, Eric grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. He knew what I was thinking about and knew not to push it. That’s why I loved him.

That night I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. I was engaged! I wanted to tell my mom, to see her face when I told her, but I would never get to see that. I felt the tears burning my eyes, but I didn’t want to shed them. I’ve shed too many in the past month. Eric came into the room and shut the door quietly behind him. I sat up and looked at him and I knew he saw the tears in my eyes.

“It’ll be okay, Kenzie. I promise.” He whispered, climbing into bed with me. He kissed my temple. “I know you wanted her to be here to see this, but she can see you. She see’s how happy you are and how happy you make me. Most of all she sees how much I love you.”

I rolled over to face him. He looked a lot like he did this morning. His eyes were bright with excitement and filled with love. He had a slight smirk playing on his lips and those worry lines were no where in sight. “I love you, too Eric. I can’t wait to become Mrs. Eric Staal.” I squealed lightly.

The smile from earlier was back on his face and my heart skipped a beat. “I love hearing that.” He said before attaching his lips to mine. He rolled so he was hovering over me, never breaking the kiss. I pushed lightly on Eric telling him to stop. He broke the kiss and gave me a confused look.

“We can’t do anything, E. Your brothers and parents are down the hall.” I took a deep breath. “Plus, I want our first time to be more special.”

Eric gave me a look. “What’s more special then the night of our engagement?” He asked.

I bit my lip and looked at him. He was right, what was more special then our engagement night? “It’s not that, tonight would be perfect…” I trailed off. “I just…I’m just not sure if I’m ready.”

Eric sat up and looked a me. “I’m not pressuring you into doing anything Mackenzie, I would never do that to you. If you’re not ready we won’t do anything, I promise.”

Why did I feel like crying all of a sudden? “I know you aren’t and I know I should be saying we should wait until our wedding night to do anything, but seriously who lives by that rule anymore?” I chuckled. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Eric, I’m a virgin.”

Eric seemed to freeze and then grabbed my hand. “I never even thought about that Mackenzie. I am so sorry.” With his other hand he caressed my cheek. “Sometimes I forget you are younger than me. If you want to wait until our wedding day, we can.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to wait, I really don’t. But I don’t want my first time to be in a house full of my future in-laws.” I blushed again I felt like crying.

“Sweetheart, we can wait. I am in no rush what so ever. I love you no matter what. Our relationship was never built off sex and I’m okay with that. We will take our time, there’s no rush. Don’t feel like we have to have sex tonight just because we’re now engaged. I still love you.”

With those words the tears that I felt like shedding, began to slowly roll down my face. I wrapped my arms around Eric’s neck and hugged him tight. “I love you Eric and I promise we will have sex.”

“No rush.” He promised, kissing me. We laid back and fell asleep in each other arms. I was going to marry my savior.