Family Is All It Takes

“So you never planned on staying with Langley either way?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah,” Mac nodded. “Despite what my mother thinks, Langley wasn’t all that great. As a person, I guess. But as a father? Hell no.”

He let that sink in. Mac had planned on leaving Langley anyway. Why was she so upset over her mother’s words?

“What did she say that got you so… distraught?” he asked carefully.

Mac set her beer down on the bar slowly. Rolling her neck once or twice, she turned to face Brandon.

“She wants custody of Jake. She says I’m not raising him right.”

“That’s not true,” Brandon shook his head. “You’ve got to be one of the best young mothers I’ve ever seen.”

Mac smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you, Brandon. But my mom doesn’t see that. She thinks I’m too much of a ‘wild child’. At least, that’s what she called me.”

Brandon did his best not to spit his beer out. “She called you a what?”

“A wild child,” Mac repeated with a chuckle. “Crazy right?”

“Insane!” he agreed. “That couldn’t be further from the truth!”

“I know! That’s exactly what Jordan says whenever she makes comments about me,” Mac smiled. “You two are so alike.”

“You guys were pretty close, eh?” he asked as he waved the bartender over.

“Best friends. I set him and my cousin up. And lo and behold, they’re married,” Mac grinned wistfully. “I couldn’t be happier for them.”

“So you never had any feelings for Jordan?” Brandon blurted.

Mac looked at him in surprise. “No. Well, maybe at first. But I realized we would never work that way. And plus, once he saw Heather… let’s put it this way, there was no going back for those two.”

“So you’re okay with the fact that your best friend married your cousin?” he asked.

Mac shrugged. “Of course I am. It makes me family with Jordan, like, legit family.”

“Did he get along well with Jake?”

“He did,” Mac nodded. “Sometimes, I realized Jordan was a better father than Langley ever will be. Which is odd, because up until he met Heather, Jordan wanted nothing, and I mean nothing, to do with children.”

“You seem like you’re willing to do anything for your family, especially Jake,” he said. “Wait, that was stupid.”

Mac nodded. “It kinda was. But you just don’t see things from my perspective. Jacob is my son. Jordan and Heather are my family. The team is just as close to me. Wouldn’t you do anything for your cousins?”

“Yeah, I guess I would,” Brandon nodded.

“To me, family is everything. Protecting you family, blood or not, is the most important thing to me,” Mac explained.

He didn’t know how to respond to that powerful statement.

“Come on,” Mac said standing up. “We should get back.”

“Right,” Brandon nodded. He stopped Mac’s hand from placing money on the bar. “I’ll pay.”

She cocked her head at him. “You sure?”

He nodded. “Positive.”

The two both looked down at their hands. Brandon’s was still placed firmly atop Mac’s.

Blushing, Mac pulled her hand out from beneath Brandon’s. “I’ll meet you at the car?”

Too lost for words, Brandon nodded. Mac just left him speechless.

******

As the game began, Brandon found himself searching for Mac in the tunnels.

There she stood, watching, in the same spot as last time. She offered a wave and a ‘thumbs up’. Turning, she scooped up her young son who had been dropped off at the rink prior to the start of the game.

Returning the gestures, Brandon realized something. That pang in his chest had a reason.

And it’s name was Mackenzie Lawrence.