Accidentally In Love

Jordan stood there and watched Mandy sleep, a small smile on her lips. Jordan couldn’t keep his own smile off his face as he watched her sleep, he could stand there forever and watch Mandy sleep. He loved her so much.

Across the room, Troy began waking up and Jordan walked over to the play pen that Taylor had given them and looked down at the baby. Troy was staring up at him with wide eyes and on the verge of crying, so before he could make a noise and wake up Mandy, Jordan picked up the baby and walked out to the living room. He quickly made a bottle for Troy and then went to sit on the couch and fed him. As Troy greedily drank the bottle Jordan smiled softly, picturing him sitting right here feeding not his best friend’s son, but his own.

“Eventually you’ll have a cousin to play with, Troy.” Jordan whispered, again picturing having kids with Mandy.

Jordan looked behind him and saw Eric walking back into the living room. He smiled at his brother before taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch. Silently, Eric watched Jordan with Troy.

“Have you and Mandy ever talked about having kids of your own?” Eric as quietly, like he was almost afraid to ask.

Jordan sighed and looked down at the baby in his arms before looking at his brother. “We have, but it’s too soon for us.”

“Too soon? Jordy, you and Mandy have been friends for so long. You’ve been in love with her for almost five years and I know she feels the same. So what if you’ve only been together for almost a year?”

“She still has school and we aren’t in any rush to start a family. If it were to happen by accident, I’m not going to be upset about it.” He said and then sighed. “Plus, I still haven’t told her yet.”

Eric’s eyes grew as he started at his little brother. “You haven’t told her?"

Jordan shook his head and removed the half empty bottle from Troy’s mouth and began burping him. “No I haven’t, I don’t know how to tell her.”

“Just tell her before she finds out from someone else. Are they at least talking up a contract for you?”

Jordan shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything yet. There are a couple teams that have expressed interest in me.”
“Like?”

Jordan sighed, he didn’t like talking about not having a contract for the next season. Hockey was Jordan’s life and he didn’t want it to end now. “I talked to my agent the other day and as of then Chicago, Washington, and Carolina all expressed interest.”

Jordan couldn’t help but smile when he saw the look on Eric’s face. “Screw Pittsburgh, come play for us. Shit, we’d be unstoppable with you, Jared, and I on the same line. Holy shit.”

“The Staal line.” Jordan chuckled, it did sound pretty awesome. “I think Skins would be hurt though if I came in and took his spot.”

“Jeff could suck it up."

Jordan chuckled and continued to fanaticize about playing in Carolina with his brothers, but deep down Jordan didn’t want to leave the ‘Burgh. This was his home during the season. He loved the organization, the guys on the team both new and the veterans. Plus Mandy had family here and he’d never ask her to leave Taylor behind.

Eric looked at Jordan. “Jord, just tell her, if you don’t it’s going to be worse. As for the contract in Pittsburgh don’t worry about it too much because if you do it’ll ruin your summer.”

Jordan nodded and fed Troy the rest of his bottle. “How do I tell Mandy?” Jordan asked quietly since Troy had fallen back to sleep.

“Just tell her because she’ll rather hear it from you rather than hear it from ESPN or her sister.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to put him back to bed.” Jordan stood up. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Jordan.”

“Night, Eric.”

Jordan quietly laid Troy down in the play pen and then climbed into bed with Mandy. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him. Tomorrow he was going to tell her.

The following morning Jordan woke up to an empty bed. He rolled on his back and sighed, today was the day he was going to tell Mandy. He just needed to know how. With a groan, Jordan rolled out of bed and went to check on Troy, but he wasn’t in there. Then he heard it, the distinct sound of Mandy whispering to someone. Jordan looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly seven in the morning. Quietly, Jordan went out to the living room where Mandy was sitting on the couch feeding Troy just like he did the night before.

Jordan must have made a noise because Mandy jumped and turned around. She gave Jordan a sleepy smile before looking back down at Troy. Jordan took a seat next to her and gently lifted Troy out of her arms.

“Did he wake you?” She asked quietly, stifling a yawn.

“No, the empty bed did.” He smiled.

Mandy smiled. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t want him to wake everyone up.”

“What time did he wake up?”

She yawned again, “Around six, I was able to quiet him down a little, but finally he got hungry and didn’t want to listen to his aunt.” She chuckled.

Jordan placed a kiss on her forehead, when she laid in on his shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to sleep? I can stay up with him.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I just need coffee.” Jordan chuckled.

He watched as Mandy went into the kitchen and started making coffee. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to tell her about the contract, but he’d worry about that later. She joined him back on the couch and turned the TV on quietly so they wouldn’t wake up their guest.

“What do you want to do today?” She asked him quietly.

“Well, we need to take the kids back to your sister and Sidney.”

“Aw, you mean we can’t keep them?” She pouted, eyes dancing with laughter.

Jordan found himself lost in her eyes, he leaned forward and kissed her. “No, we can’t” he whispered before kissing her again.

Just then they heard the sound of one of the guestrooms’ door opening and closing. Then the sound of little feet walking. Mandy looked over her shoulder and saw Kelsey and Stephanie standing there with sleep still written on their faces.

“Good morning, girls.” Mandy smiled despite the hour the girls were up. “How did you guys sleep?”

Stephanie walked over to her aunt and sat on her lap. Kelsey followed suite, but sat between Mandy and Jordan, but she did rest her head on Jordan’s shoulder. Mandy chuckled at the girls.

“If you two are still tired, then why did you get up?” She asked, smoothing back Stephanie’s curls.

“Parker was snoring.” Kelsey answered with a yawn.

Jordan chuckled and kissed his niece’s forehead. “Do you two want to go lay back down in our bed?” He asked.

“Can we, please?” Stephanie asked, already falling back asleep.

“Of course you can, come on.” Mandy carried Stephanie and took Kelsey’s hand. Jordan looked down at Troy who was asleep as well maybe just maybe, he’d stay asleep.

As if Mandy could read Jordan’s thoughts, she came back into the living room with Troy’s playpen under her arm. Without a word she set it up in the corner of the room and Jordan got up and placed him in it. He grabbed Mandy’s hand and dragged her back to the couch where Jordan laid down and pulled her down with him. They snuggled together and fell right back to sleep.

Hours later the two of them woke up to the smell of breakfast being made and giggling. Jordan opened his eyes and looked down at Mandy who had a laughing Kelsey pinned next to her. Jordan smiled and looked at Stephanie and Parker who were laughing as well.

“Guys, breakfast is ready. Leave Jordan and Mandy alone.” Eric’s voice came from the kitchen.

With quiet protests, the three kids walked to the dining room where Tanya was setting up their plates. Jordan hugged Mandy closer to him before letting her get up. She checked on Troy before joining his family in the dining room.

“Why were you two sleeping out here?” Tanya asked

Mandy took a sip of her coffee before answering. “Troy woke up a little before six so I got up to feed him. Jordan woke up because I wasn’t in bed, then the girls woke up because Parker was snoring so we let them sleep in our bed. Troy had fallen back to sleep, so we took advantage of it”

“Already thinking like a mom” Tanya smiled.

Jordan smiled at his sister in law before tucking into the breakfast they made. Throughout breakfast Jordan would look over at Mandy and just smiled. He loved her so much and couldn’t wait to spend the summer with her, it was going to be their one year anniversary and Jordan had something special planned already.

“So, Eric and I were thinking we would take the kids to the park for a little bit. Give you two a little break and some time to pack.” Tanya said when they were cleaning up.

I looked at Eric and he just gave me a look before taking a sip of his coffee. At the thought of going to the park all the kids cheered and proceeded to get ready, waking Troy up in the process. Mandy went to tend to Troy as Jordan sat at the table with his brother.

“This is your chance to tell her.” Was all he said before getting up and going to get ready himself.

Jordan sighed and thought about all the different ways he could tell Mandy that his future was uncertain at the current moment. He also thought about how she was going to react to the news. Half an hour later, he’d find out. She was sitting in the living room, folding some clothes she didn’t get to the day before. Jordan sat down across from her and began helping her.

“Mandy, we need to talk.”