Don't Let These Boots Fool You

Six Months Later

Everything had felt perfect up to this point. The season kept me busy because of the different events, but despite how busy I had become I always made time for the twins. My small house on the outskirts of town had gotten crowded as of late. Sidney had been spending quite a bit of time around the house lately which felt odd originally until I realized it was because of Missy. Missy had agreed to stay with me until the house on the property was finished.

Jordan had moved all of his stuff into my house and put his house for sale it felt good to have him around the house. Although I felt as if I hadn’t seen him in weeks because of the playoffs. I scrambled around the house with a baby in my arms trying to find my jersey somewhere around the house, it had to be clean and I knew it.

I was just about to scream with frustration when I heard footsteps coming down the hall. “Baby, what are you doing?” Jordan’s tall frame pushed into the room. His beard covered his strong jaw line and his eyes shone as he watched me hold my niece in my arms.

My frustration nearly melted away but I still wanted to know where the damn jersey was. “I can’t find my jersey, and it’s the same one I’ve been wearing all season long. I can’t change jerseys in the last game of the Stanley cup.” I paced the closet one last time searching all of the long sleeve shirts that I owned and came up empty handed again.

Jordan came up behind me, hands resting on my shoulders. “Just relax, it might have gotten washed back in the locker room like last time.” He grabbed my niece and walked her back out to Missy babbling at her as if she would respond to him.

I waited for Jordan to come back into the closet to kiss me goodbye as he did before every game. He was as much a creature of habit as Sidney was. I had learned that Sidney had specific things that had to occur on game days, he was so bad that he wouldn’t even text Missy until after the game.

The Jersey needed to be found before the game. I paced the closet trying to think of where I could have left it. I had tried so hard to fit in with the wives after I had come into the role as girlfriend. Jordan had told the company as well as I had told my supervisor we were dating. Everyone was thrilled because they saw just how much Jordan had mellowed out since then.

His hands on my hips told me that he was in the room. I felt his lips on my neck and smiled. This was all a part of his pregame ritual. He would find me wherever I was in the house and kiss my neck. This was all to let me know that he thought of me before games. “Don’t worry you’ve got it. Just play hard and do what you always do.” I turned in his arms and placed a kiss on his lips.

One hour until he was supposed to be at the arena. “I know. You and Missy will be in the same seats right?” I had been sitting behind the bench with Missy while our mothers sat in the family box with the twins. Jordan wouldn’t let them leave after they had won the first game when they were there.

My head nodded as I tried to find other components of my outfit. “Don’t worry I’ll be where I’m supposed to be. Now get out of here before you’re late. I love you Jordan.” Those three words still scared the shit out of me every time I said them. His large frame wrapped itself around me before kissing my cheek and leaving out the front door.

I sat in the closet trying to find my boots and everything else that went with the outfit that I had been wearing as of late. I leaned on my stomach and grabbed the boots from under my long sleeve shirts before pulling them onto my feet. “It’s still weird to hear you say those words to someone that isn’t your family.” I spun around to find Missy standing in the doorway with both of the car seats facing me with sleeping babies inside.

Her words didn’t surprise me at all because it was true. I had only ever said that to the people who I felt were family. I never said it to Danny, Sid, or even Mike and I thought that he would be the one to change that, but sadly he didn’t even make me feel loved. I nodded my head before turning around again to look at the closet that once held both my clothes and Jordan’s.

“Come on Mama wants to take us to dinner before the game. That quiet Italian place where the crazy old lady makes me the best lasagna ever.” She grabbed the babies before I could help her out. I followed her closely as we jumped into my truck and drove into the city.

I watched as all of the buildings slowly passed us by and tried to stay positive for Jordan for this evening’s game. I sat quietly through dinner too nervous to eat, but wanting to spend the time with my family. After everyone had gotten their fill of pasta we piled back into the truck and drove to the arena. Unfortunately we had to pick up our tickets from will call.

“Come on Kelly we’re going to miss the warm ups and Jordan will kill you if we do.” I laughed at her as she dragged me through the concourse and to the will call booth. She waved at the lady who had gotten to know her extremely well since she had been coming to the games since she began to stay with me.

They lady smiled at us as we got closer to the booth. “Hello you two. I’ve got your tickets right here. Oh looks like you’ve got this too Kelly.” She smiled handing over the jersey. I grabbed it quickly slipping it over my shoulders pulling my hair out from the jersey and smiling. “You better keep a closer eye on that little one. It’s a sentimental thing.”

I smiled at her and followed Missy into the arena to find our seats before the boys skated onto the ice. Watching Jordan and the guys that I had gotten to know through the months as working with the foundation. Each guy had become someone that I trusted and knew would look out for me. I had even watched each of them grow into better people, Max had settled down a bit and started acting his age, Marc was expecting, and Evgeni was trying to stay in the burgh year round.

“I can’t believe they got to the last round of the cup. Who would have known?” I mumbled under my breath as I leaned back in my seat watching each of the guys skating around the rink. A loud clack startled me when Jordan hit a puck into the glass. I looked up to see him grinning and thinking that he was funny. I pointed at him, making sure that he knew I was aware that it was him.

As the game began I tried to stay calm knowing that this game would be make or break for these guys. I could barely sit still during the first period I was so nervous. “Would you stop fidgeting before you make me nervous?” Missy looked down at her phone as she tried to not text our mama to see how the twins were. It was crazy to think that they were nearly six months old already and growing so quickly.

“Sorry.” I turned back to the screen and saw that the second period had elapsed and we were headed into the third with a single goal lead. I couldn’t believe that I had one more period to sit through. I just wanted them to win and the game be over with. I needed to not be nervous for Jordan, but it was extremely hard to not be nervous when all you’ve heard about all season is the goal to win the cup.

Each second ticked by slower and slower as the game continued on. I quit watching the game because I was getting so extremely nervous and didn’t know if I could handle watching Jordan get checked into the boards, or the missed shots anymore.

Screams erupted throughout the arena forcing me to look up, there was a pile of gold and black clad bodies. I couldn’t find Jordan until I glanced up at the jumbotron and saw the replay of Jordan’s goal. I nearly cried that they had won the Stanley Cup. Missy’s arms wrapped around my body in a pure happiness set of tears too. We were engrossed in our own celebration that we didn’t realize that one of the game day security guards was standing beside us. “Oh I’m sorry Gary, what’s going on?”

He smiled, I had gotten to know him pretty well in the past few weeks since he was typically the one to escort Missy and I back to the locker room after each game. He reminded me of my older brother and I knew that was most likely because he looked just like him. “Your presence has been requested on the ice with the team.” He held out his arm as he had for the previous games. Instead of going down through the back halls he took us down to where the Zamboni could get onto the ice and allowed Missy and I to stand on the carpet by the entrance.

The boys were all celebrating and whooping and hollering which made this win even better. Watching them reminded me of the time that Brett had won state, it was his first year and him and my older brother were on the same team. Going to state had been their greatest athletic achievement, which is exactly how these guys looked in this moment. I watched the way they skated around the ice, their smiles, and the pure joy in everyone including the fans faces.

“Kelly, Come here.” Jordan had skated to the edge and held his ungloved hand out to me. He skated along the red carpet that had been rolled out onto the ice while walking beside me. I watched him stand before me once we got to the middle of the ice. His teammates were standing beside me in a circle blocking me from the view of the crowd.

Each player who had a girlfriend or wife had her in the circle too. I was confused what Jordan was doing but should have known he was up to something when even Missy was smiling. “Kelly,” Jordan sighed before pushing a skate back to where he was on one knee. “I’ve known since you got here in September that you were the one for me. It may have taken us going through some rough spots, and me nearly losing you, but I want to be with you, forever. Check the back of the Jersey and let me know if you’ll accept.”

He stayed where he was at on the ice. I was surprised he hadn’t gotten me a ring, but maybe that wasn’t what we were. We had done everything half ass backward. We had started out as just friends and somehow came to a point where we had become close enough to protect each other from hurt. I pulled the jersey off and looked at the back of my jersey. He had Mrs. added to his last name on the jersey. I nearly started crying I looked back down at him to see a ring box in his hands.

“Jordan, how did you do this?” I knew I hadn’t lost my jersey, I kept it in the same spot because it was the same jersey that he had given to me the night of my birthday.

He stood up and smiled broadly. He looked over at Missy and Sidney with a sly smile. “I had some help, but honestly I thought you’d have noticed when you put it on and this would have all been ruined. So let me ask, will you marry me. Like I said before it can be soon or in the far off future. Either way I want to marry you and spend the rest of our lives together, and even spend a ton of time with your family in Kentucky.”

I looked at him and knew that the ring didn’t matter. His salary didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered to me was spending the rest of my life with the person that I should have fallen for after the first kiss. I was whole when I was with Jordan and he knew it as well as I did. I nodded my head to him and watched him slip a ring on my hand, but before I could even look at it I jumped into his arms and felt him skid backward.

Cheers erupted among us and all of the team wrapped us in a hug. I knew that I had taken the right job, gone through my hardships but ended up with more in the long run. I had Missy in my life for maybe the rest of my life because she liked the area so much, Jordan fit into my family and fit into my life with such ease that it didn’t seem possible that we were so perfect for each other. I had even gotten apologies from all of my problem players over the past few months. Dan gave me a little credit to the better behavior of their team and I knew that I would have a long career in my job because I had offers coming in from many different teams, but I knew exactly where I was going to stay. I planned on staying in Jordan’s arms where ever he would play and Missy would follow.

The End