A Night to Last a Lifetime

We arrived back home just in time for him to head straight to the rink. I grabbed a cab and took our luggage home. I threw in a load of laundry and began to tidy up the apartment a little bit; it was quite obvious that Gabe didn’t understand the concept of cleaning. I was just about to sit down and watch some TV when my cell phone rang. It was Grace.

“Hey, girl! You back in town yet?” She sounded very excited for some reason.

“Yeah! I just got back a couple of hours ago actually. Want to come over before the game?” I asked hoping she would, I was bored already.

“Well, I’m starving, so I was calling to see if you wanted to go grab a bite to eat before?”

“Sure, meet you there in 20?” I questioned, knowing she would know the exact spot.

“Yup, I’ll drive to the game,” she said as she hung up the phone. We always went to a little pub just around the corner from me, so I could easily walk there. I pulled my hair into a straight ponytail, added a little make up to my face, threw on my Landeskog jersey and headed down to the pub.

The waitress greeted and told me that Grace was in our regular booth. We came here enough to be on first name basis with the staff and to have our own spot. We caught up on what’s been happening in the city the past week and what ridiculous things were said at the game the other night. I got an order of nachos and Grace ordered mozza sticks which we shared with each other. After we were done we hopped into Grace’s car and drove down to the Pepsi Center.

The security guard greeted us with a, “good evening ladies,” as we flashed our passes to him. He knew us by now but it was standard procedure. I texted Gabe saying I was here as Grace and I both went down before every game to wish our boys good luck.

Matt and Gabe both greeted us outside the locker room. Gabriel confessed that he was nervous for this game and I assured him he would do just fine. He gave me a quick peck as he told me that, “he was going to save some energy because he was going to play another game once he got home.” He winked at me as he returned to the dressing room.

As we walked away Grace confessed, “I wish Matt and I had a relationship like you and Gabriel. Matt is always so serious and stuff. Like, I see how you and Gabe joke around. I wish Matt and I could be like that.”

“Oh honey, trust me, Gabe was dead serious, we will be playing another game once he gets home, but I get what you are saying.”

The walk up to the family box was kind of awkward. I felt bad for Grace, and realized the relationship I had with Gabe was beyond amazing. Once we reached the box it didn’t take long for one of the wives to ask where I was the other night.

“Family issues,” I explained, not wanting to go into great detail with these bitches.

“Is everything alright?” Grace whispered to me.

“Well, um, you met my twin Tori, right?”

“Yeah, she’s a pretty cool girl.”

“Well, she’s kind of pregnant. Not kind of – she is most definitely pregnant – and I had to fly out and help her deal with our parents and the dad.”

“Is the dad just some random?” Grace asked. “I’m not trying to be nosy! I’m just curious.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call him random… Their hook up was kinda random, but… Well... Hmmm.”

“Spit it out already!” Grace said impatiently.

“Jeff Skinner.”

“NOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYY!” she yelled, grabbing the attention of most of the wives.

“Shut up! You can’t tell anyone, not even Matt! And let’s focus on the game.”

Just then the puck dropped. It was a pretty dull game, no fights, no goals, it went to overtime, still no goals and ended up going to a shoot out. I loved shootouts but I always became very nervous, all was well though because we won.

Grace drove me home and I headed to bed anticipating Gabe’s arrival. It didn’t take him long to get home, he must have really wanted to get some. We had amazing sex multiple times that night because we knew that he was going on a nine-day road trip tomorrow. Which I was fine with, I needed to catch up on schoolwork anyways.

The next two months flew by. Gabe always seemed busy with hockey, their team was right on the bubble for playoffs, so he felt the need to train harder. I didn’t really notice his absence because I was too busy preparing for finals. I was getting weekly updates from Tori with pictures of her growing stomach. She wasn’t saying much about Jeff, though, which made me worry but I had other things to focus on.

Another month had passed and the Avalanche didn’t make the playoffs. I was done with school so Gabe and I thought this was the perfect time to go visit his native land.

We packed our suitcases with just enough clothes to last at least a few weeks. We hopped on a plane, not telling many people where we were headed, and eventually landed in Sweden.

He didn’t tell his family that we were coming; I had only met them on half a dozen occasions so I was a little nervous. We rented a car and headed towards his house.

We knocked at the door because we felt it would have been rude to walk right in with them not knowing that we were coming. The door opened as Gabe’s twin shrieked in excitement, “GABBBBBEEEEEEEE! SOPHHHHHHHHHHH!”

His parents came running and even the family dog came to see what was going on. His mother had just started supper and said there would be lots to go around. However, she said it would be close to two hours before everything was ready.

“Perfect, I wanted to show Soph around town.”

“That’s fine,” his mother said as she kissed him on the cheek. “I’m just so glad my baby boy is home.”

We walked outside and headed towards the road, “I guess we are walking?” I questioned.

“It’s not too far. I just want to show you my favorite beach – I know how much you love beaches.” He grabbed my hand and winked at me simultaneously.

It was only about a ten-minute walk to a secluded beach. It was perfect. We sat down on the beach and made a sand castle, just like a couple of five year olds would do. Before we knew it, it was time to head back for supper.

We spent the next week frequenting the beach, hanging out with his old friends, and paying long overdue visits to family.

His mother seemed to love me; she always baked sweets and told both Beatrice and Gabe not to touch them because they were only for me. Of course, I shared with them. I didn’t understand why she was so welcoming to me, but I guess it was better than her hating my guts.

One night after supper Gabe and decided to walk down to the beach. We got there and all we did was lay on our backs and talk about nothing for hours. We then decided to go for a quick dip under the stars. It was so nice, the water was warm, the moon and the stars lit up the night sky. We spent well over an hour in the water and when we got out Gabe wrapped me up in a towel.

We both got dressed again as we sat back down on the beach.

“Soph, can we talk about something?” He sounded serious.

“Umm, yeah sure, you know you can talk to me about anything.”
“I love you Sophie. I have from the moment I met you. You are beautiful inside and out and I can’t imagine these past three years without you.”

He stopped for a minute; I was still quite confused where this was going. My phone was ringing but I just ignored it.

“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me – everyone can tell how happy we are together. I couldn’t picture life any different from how we are living right now.”

Once again he stopped, but this time he got up and started fumbling around in his pocket. My phone started to ring again and I continued to ignore it.

Gabriel got down on one knee and I instantly began to cry. “No fucking way!” I said in between sobs.

“Sophie Ann Jones, will you marry me?” he said in the cutest way possible.

By this time I was full out bawling but I managed to spit out, “Yes Gabe, yes! I have always loved you and always will.” He slipped a STUNNING ring on my finger as he leaned in and began to make out with me. My phone was ringing again and although it was annoying me I still ignored it, clearly this was more important. We just laid there and kissed for a while until my phone rang again. “Babe, you should probably get that. Someone is really trying to get ahold of you.”

“Hello?” I answered. “This better be good mom! I’m kind of in the middle of something.” I didn’t want to sound too bitchy but I wasn’t quite ready to tell anyone, not even my mom.

“First of all, I’m glad you are alive seeing how you haven’t been answering. Secondly, YOUR SISTER IS IN LABOR. You need to get here, NOW.” she screamed into the phone.

“Holy shit! Mom we’re in Sweden! We will be on the next flight out of here.” I quickly picked up my belongings and started to leave the beach. Gabe was right there with me. I hung up the phone and looked at him.

“Tori’s in labor, we need to get to Kitchener,” I started to get teary-eyed.

“OH MY GOD! OF COURSE. Wait, this is exciting right?!” It was so weird how the perfect night just flip flopped into the night from hell.

“Gabe, she’s only 5 months pregnant. This is definitely not good.”

Without even saying good-bye to Gabe’s family we threw our stuff in our suitcases and headed to the airport. The drive seemed to take days.