Father Figure

"Miss Vero!" Kris cried out as she opened her front door. His arms wrapped around her legs in a desperate hug. He acted like he hadn't seen her in months. 

Vero laughed and leaned down to give him a proper hug. When he didn't let go, she simply picked him up. He wrapped his legs around her waist as she stood there. I laughed. "Kris, don't be a pain," I told him.  

He groaned before dropping to his feet. His hand instantly took a hold of Vero's. He gave a cheesy grin up at her. "I swear my son is in love with you," I told her. 

She laughed and looked down at him. "Good, because I love him, too," she responded. 

"What other man do you love?" yet another voice called out. It was obvious he spoke French normally rather than having learned it as a second language based on his accent when he spoke it. 

A man walked over to stand on Vero's other side. His longish brown hair and bright smile looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn't place it. When my eyes landed on the Penguins logo on his shirt, I knew all hell would break loose soon. 

A shrill scream came from each of my boys making both me and Vero since while the man laughed happily. My sons rushed to hug him. He gave them all hugs in a good nature. He seemed used to this. "What are your names?" he asked. 

Kris looked ready to pass out from happiness. "I'm Beau!" my outgoing son exclaimed. 

"I'm Gab!"

Kris blushed a little. "I'm Kris," he mumbled out. 

The man chuckled. "Are you the boy my finacée is in love with?" he asked. Kris nodded his head shyly. Marc laughed again before messing up Kris's hair. "I guess that's okay. You are pretty adorable, I have to admit."

I looked to Vero in confusion. How was it my sons knew him already? She blushed. "I might not have said the whole truth earlier. My fiancé plays for the Penguins... He's their goalie," she explained. 

And that was all the explanation I needed to figure out Kris's behavior. The boys were all loading off a million statements and questions a minute to the man, whom I was guessing was Marc-André Fleury. He didn't seem to care, though. He brought them all inside his house and responded just as happily. 

Vero helped me bring in their backpacks with their clothes in them. "Thank you again," I told her. 

She brushed it off. "It's no problem. It's what friends are for, no?"

I gave her a smile. "How did they take everything?" Vero asked. 

I sighed. "They're all really happy that we won't be getting married. I know they didn't like him all too much, but I thought they'd be, I don't know..."

She nodded her head understandingly. "At least that gives you one less thing to worry about," she offered. 

I nodded my head. "We've got a lot to figure out now," I mumbled to myself as I watched my sons interact with one of their heroes. 

Vero gave my arm a light squeeze. "Well, you've got me by your side. For now, I'll show you the guest rooms," she told me with a bright smile. 

I followed Vero on the quick tour of her house. It was beautiful to say the least. Pictures of them were hung up all over the walls. There were a few with Marc and the Stanley Cup, as well as many of him with his teammates. Every time Sidney popped up in a picture, I lingered over it. 

He looked so happy now. He was doing exactly what he loved. I couldn't help but think that if he knew about the boys, he wouldn't look quite so happy. He wouldn't be able to do quite as much. He would have been tied down to his three sons sitting at home, waiting for him. 

I still couldn't being myself to regret never telling him. 

I was happy seeing him doing well. He had made a name for himself, I knew that much. I wasn't oblivious to the occasional poster around town with his face on it. 

We entered the living room again to find my sons all half asleep, sitting next to Marc on the couch. Kris had wedged himself up next to his hero, looking happy as a clam. 

"Boys, let's head to bed," I told them. 

They all started whining in protest. "Come on, you guys have had a long day," I reminded them.

Gab and Beau slid off the couch where as Kris's head dropped as he fell asleep on the couch. I laughed before walking over to pick him up. Marc helped me get him up. 

I walked them all up the stairs. I directed Beau and Gab to the bathroom where I had put their tooth brushes and took Kris right to bed. I tugged off the Crosby jersey he was still wearing along with his jeans. I slipped on his pajamas and tucked him in just as his brothers walked into the room. Beau rubbed his eyes while Gab let out a loud yawn. 

I tucked them all into the big bed and kissed them goodnight.  "I love you," I whispered as I got ready to close the door. 

"Je t'aime," Gab mumbled out. 

"Love you," Beau told me. 

I closed the door and went to the bathroom to clean up the mess they surely made. 

"Shit, Vero! They're like miniature Sids running around!" I heard Marc softly exclaim. 

"I know, I know. Just leave it be," Vero responded. 

My heart began pounding. Marc played with Sid. I had about a snowball's chance in hell of Sidney not finding out now. I didn't want that to happen. I knew it would just be a mess. And this meant Vero saw the resemblance, as well. She wasn't stupid. She'd probably already put two and two together. 

"How am I supposed to not bring up that I have three baby versions of my captain running around my house?" he demanded. 

"Marc-André you will keep your mouth shut. She is my friend and I will not let anything like that happen. If he is the father, then we'll let her deal with it how she pleases. If he isn't, you will make yourself look like a complete ass!" she scolded. 

The moment he finally agreed, I could tell who wore the pants in their relationship. I let out a small laugh before finishing up cleaning the bathroom. I took everything into the room I would be staying in before changing into my sweat pants and a plain T-shirt. I tied my long hair up into a bun before exiting my room. 

Marc gave me a smile as he passed me on the stairs. "Goodnight," he mumbled. 

"Night," I whispered back. 

Vero smiled at me as I entered the living room. I sat down on the couch next to her and let out a sigh. "I can't believe it's over," I mumbled. 

She gave me an empathetic smile. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. Especially after moving out here to be with him and all," she added. 

I nodded my head as I leaned back into the couch. "I don't want to dwell on it. I just want to figure out where I'm going from here," I told her. 

She grinned. "Well, I pulled out the newspaper from today. Why don't we start with finding you guys a place to stay at?" she suggested. 

I nodded in agreement and took a piece of newspaper she was holding out to me. We scanned through the ads and stopped to read something out loud every now and then. I knew everything would be spendy. I had maybe enough money in my bank accounts to last me two months without a job, but that was it. I needed to get that job at the hospital. I reminded myself to call tomorrow to check up on my application and everything. 

"Oh! Here's one!" Vero suddenly told me. "It's not so much an apartment, but a little... I don't know what you call them. They're like mini homes that are next to someone's house and they rent them out?" she offered. 

I nodded my head, knowing what she meant. "It's two bedrooms, has a living room and kitchen, one full bathroom, a half bathroom, and you get free use of the backyard as long as you act responsibly," she read off. 

I chewed my lip hesitantly. It sounded like a good offer for now. "And it's in this area. At least you know for sure that it's a good area and you're somewhat familiar with the streets and everything here," she added on. 

I let out a sigh. "How much is it?" I dared. 

She gave me a hesitant look. "Well, it's fully furnished and they're willing to add a little more to that..." she dragged on. I waited patiently for her to tell me the bad news. "About fifteen hundred," she mumbled. 

I almost died. "I know the people. We could go talk to them tomorrow and maybe they would lower the price," she offered. 

I laughed, but it didn't hold any humor. "I doubt it... That's really cheap for this area," I reminded her. 

She shrugged. "They're rich. They could probably handle it," she stated. 

I laughed again. "I doubt it. We'll keep it in mind, though," I decided. 

For the rest of the night, we searched the papers and the Internet a little bit for places. I came up with a list of five that I wanted to check out, though the first one still sounded like my best bet. 

I went to bed feeling a little better than I was earlier. But in the darkness of the room, I finally let down the front I'd been keeping up ever since Joe told me cheated. That was the first night in a long time that I'd cried myself to sleep.