No Soul

“PR is taking care of it.” Mario explained in his office as Emma sat in his lap, playing with his iPad and coloring a picture for him. “They’re going to release a statement explaining that you’ve recently come into custody of Emma and Noah, and if they have any questions, they can refer back to that statement.” Mario explained, smiling down at the little girl who looked up at him at the mention of her name. “Of course we ask that they respect your privacy and the privacy of the little ones.” He added.

Emma finished her task and leaned back against Mario’s chest as he tried to figure out the hairstyle that Sidney had tried to master this morning involving almost a whole bottle of curl detangler and a clip with a butterfly on it.

“That’s it?” Sidney asked with a blink. “That’s all? I kind of expected it to be a bigger circus than that.” He admitted with a blush.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s yet to come, this is just our preliminary plan.” Mario nodded. “Our next order of business is to give them your name and start looking for some help.” He began.

“Help? What do you mean, help?” Sidney asked with a small frown as he checked the time on his phone. He was going to try and make it to church that Sunday morning but Noah was cranky and Emma was having too good a time at Mario’s house.

“Sid, what were you thinking was going to happen when the season started up again? That you’d bring these two with you to every practice, home game, and road trip?” Mario asked with a stern look. “They’re not even old enough to go to school yet, you need to start interviewing for a caretaker.” He sighed. “And don’t offer it to Nathalie, because I know she’d want to but she already has four to look after. “ Mario added, knowing that the thought must have occurred to his protégé.

“Mario, I just don’t know, who else am I supposed to trust with my own kids?” He asked, playing with the stress ball on Mario’s desk. “Maybe I can ask around with a few of the wives or girlfriends on the team.” He mumbled.

“Sidney, I’m saying this in your best interest. If you want to find someone who is going to understand the circumstances before the season starts, you need to start looking now.” Mario stressed, making Sidney wince with his honesty.

“I’ll look into it.” Sidney nodded, but decided that for now, they were doing just fine as the three of them. “Emma, baby, let’s go see if we can get Nammy to make us some smoothies.” He said, reaching his arms out to Emma who hopped down from Mario’s lap and ran to Sidney with a giggle.

“I’m serious, Sid.” Mario said finally, causing Sidney to nod once more before disappearing from his office. He would cross that bridge when he came to it. But for now, things were just fine.

The next day was exceptionally warm and the twins were trying out their first time in Sidney’s backyard pool. Marc and Vero had come over early in the afternoon to spend time with the little family seeing as they were planning on starting their own soon.

“Look Daddy!” Emma giggled wildly from atop Marc’s shoulders as she braced her hands on his forehead while he tickled her little toes that Lauren Lemieux had painted purple earlier in the week.

“Look at you!” Sidney smiled happily, carrying Noah on his hip as they slowly descended into the water after all but dunking his little clone in sunblock. Noah was rather weary of the pool and didn’t take to it right away like his sister did. Emma was having the time of her life in her little pink bikini and water wings, splashing around with Marc’s help as Vero whipped up some lemonades and snacks in the kitchen.

“Daddy.” Noah cringed, pulling his feet up as his toes skimmed the cool water.

“I got you.” Sidney reassured, pushing Noah’s bright orange water-wing further up his tiny arm. “See? You’re fine. You don’t like the cold, huh buddy?” Sidney asked, slowly rubbing the water into Noah’s skin to get him accustomed to the temperature. Noah shook his head, arms locking around Sidney securely.

“Flower?” Emma asked, tilting her head up towards Marc who burst into a giant smile at the sound of her delicate little voice calling him his atypical nickname.

“Oui ma petite fleur?” He asked, making her giggle with his silly words.

“I like this.” She insisted, rubbing her thumb over his little soul patch with a grin.

“Sidney, mon ami, I think your daughter has a thing for men with facial hair. First Max and now me? She has a type.” He warned, making Sidney roll his eyes as he attempted to pry Noah off of him gently to help him learn how to doggie paddle in the least.

“Flower?” Emma asked again, hand placed on his collarbone as they waded further into the water.

“Yes?” He asked again with a grin as Vero appeared on the patio, smiling at the way he held the young toddler.

“I want to be a ballerina.” She stated rather informatively.

“You do? You don’t want to be a hockey player like your Daddy? You want to be a ballerina and wear tutus and tights?” He asked, accentuating his words with a spin in the water, laughing at the way she threw her head back with wild giggles.

“Yes! I want to dance! Like Angelina Ballerina!” She insisted, making Sidney smile while Noah sat on the edge of the pool, dangling his tiny feet in the small waves that Marc and Emma were creating.

“Angelina Ballerina?” Marc asked as they waded back towards the staircase of the pool, heading to the snacks and drinks that Marc was hungry for. Emma nodded and played with his tiny hint of chest hair while sharing a secret giggle with the goalie. “Better get her started, Sid, she wants to be a Ballerina like her friend Angelina.” Marc advised.

“Angelina Ballerina isn’t a real person, pal, she’s a cartoon.” Sidney laughed. “But we could look into singing her up for classes. You don’t think she’s too young, do you?” He asked, not sure what type of protocol toddler ballet required.

“I figure if you can start hockey by now, you can start ballet.” Marc shrugged.

“Yes, Sid, she can start classes, I’m pretty sure Pascal’s daughters have already started, and Zoe is a year younger than Emma.” Vero got in on the conversation as the voice of reason. “I’ll ask Carole-Lyne tomorrow.” She added, making Sidney nod. Perhaps she could help with all of the odd equipment Emma was going to need like shoes and tutus.

“Hi Vero.” Noah blushed, reaching for his new friend who was looking rather beautiful that afternoon in a white swimsuit with a teal cover-up as well as her favorite sunglasses and her long, brunette hair down over her shoulders.

“Bonjour my precious little boy.” Vero smiled, taking the older of the twins in her arms and sitting down on one of the patio chairs. It was no surprise that Vero fell in love with Noah right away with his cute little expressions and high-pitched giggle that rivaled Sidney’s. Vero was the type to always want a little boy over a little girl and Noah and utterly and completely stolen her heart.

“Any thought of what you’re going to do when the season starts up again, Sidney?” Vero asked as Noah ate some of the fruit she prepared off of her plate while Marc and Emma shared a lemonade through a crazy straw.

“Not really, I don’t really want to talk about it.” Sidney rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Alright, I won’t bother you about it.” She reassured. “Has anyone heard from Brianna or Kris? Last I saw her she was about ready to hatch.” Vero remarked, taking a sip of her drink before Noah could feed her a cube of honeydew.

“We spent the afternoon with them two days ago, they baby sat when I had to go into town for a few things.” Sidney nodded. “Yeah, Brianna’s about ready to pop, it’s kind of funny to watch Kris around her.” He added.

“Kris is so excited to be a Daddy, leave him alone.” Vero insisted. “Besides, you know the kind of trouble he had with his own Dad growing up, he’s probably nervous.” She added. Most of Kris’ closest friends knew about the fact that his biological father had abandoned he and his mother when Kris was only a child, growing up with his step-dad as a stand in for his father. They all knew that Kris was trying to prove to himself that he was nothing like his own Dad and wanted to be the best parent in the world to his new baby girl.

“Baby?” Noah asked, looking up at Vero with half a strawberry hanging out of his mouth.

“That’s right, Brianna’s baby is going to be coming any day now.” Vero nodded, running her fingers through his hair. “Sid, I hate to bring it up, but have you ever considered bringing these two to a speech therapist?” She asked from behind her sunglasses.

“A speech therapist? Why would I do that? They speak just fine.” Sidney frowned, knowing she meant well, but trying not to be offended as she potentially pointed out something wrong with his kids.

“It’s just, it seems that these two talk as much as Duper’s two-year-olds. I have twin cousins, and twins don’t develop their vocabulary as quickly as other children because they learn how to communicate nonverbally with one another.” She added.

Sure, Sidney had noticed that their vocabulary wasn’t exactly expansive, but they were three years old, how much were they supposed to be talking?

“Just something to think about, Sid, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Vero tried to reassure the young captain.

“I know.” Sidney nodded, taking a bite into the egg salad sandwich that Vero had prepared earlier for the bunch.

“I like this!” Emma cheered, causing the adults to look down at her from beside Marc as she smiled widely, dressing from the salad all over her cheeks and half a sandwich poised in her hands.

“Do you?” Sidney laughed. That was another recipe he could add to his repertoire. Over the past two weeks he had mastered several meals and was managing to sneak in healthy foods that the twins would otherwise turn their nose at. He was relived to find out that they rather enjoyed his whole-wheat, aioli, zucchini and sun-dried tomato pasta that he made before workouts and games to build strength. That way he could make a giant batch for them all to share and save the leftovers which kept him from having to cook every day. That, and Graduates lunches were a lifesaver. They were like Lunchables for little kids and that meant one less meal he had to figure out for them during the week.

“Well I’m glad you like it, ma petite fille.” Vero smiled, sweeping Emma’s curls out of her face with a grin. “They’re about due for a haircut.” She said mostly to herself but it wasn’t something that went by unnoticed by Sidney. Was she trying to make him feel like a bad parent or was that just a side-effect of her rather blatant observations? Sure, Emma’s hair had gotten a little long, but it wasn’t out of control. He could still shampoo it and run a comb through it after spraying in half a bottle of detangler.

“Yeah, I made them an appointment for next week.” Sidney lied, something he rarely did, but felt like he needed to save face in just the tiniest way possible.

“Have you talked to your Dad?” Marc, the martyr for subtlety spoke up, taking even himself by surprise. He wasn’t sure where the question came from, but now it was out in the open.

“I told him that if he wanted to be a part of their lives, he could choose to be. He chose not to be.” Sidney said finally. Vero took a deep swallow of her beverage before speaking up again.

“No matter what, Sid, you have us. And you have your teammates, we all support you and you know we would do anything for the three of you.” She placed a comforting hand on his knee to which he mustered a small smile.

That was one thing Sidney would always have, the unconditional love and support of his closest and dearest friends. With his phone vibrating on the table, Sidney picked up the iPhone 4 to see Kris’ image on the display.

“It’s Kris.” He said before pressing the green button that would connect them. “Hello?” Sidney answered. “Whoa, whoa, either speak English or slow down. And take a breath, you sound like you just ran a five-minute mile.” Sidney advised. Marc and Vero trained their eyes on their young captain as his jaw dropped and a smile formed on his face. “Calm down, calm down, everything’s going to be just fine.” Sidney reassured. “Call me as soon as anything happens.” He ended. “Right, okay, bye.” He hung up, hoisting Emma into his lap.

“Well?” Vero pressed, leaning forward.

“Brianna went into labor, baby Letang is on her way.”