Status: In Progress
Better Together
Leaving What We Know Behind Us
The woman of my dreams agreed to marry me. My mind was going crazy with thoughts of our future that I forgot where I was until Dani came to sit on my knee and kiss me.
Instinctively, my arms wrapped around her waist and I pulled her close. I broke the kiss to stare at my beautiful fiancé.
“Help me put on the ring?” she asked as I broke my stare. I pulled the engagement band from the box and she held her hand out. Nervously, I slipped it on her finger. It looked big compared to her dainty hands. I was afraid she wouldn’t like it. “Jake, stop worrying. It’s perfect,” she kissed me quickly before we both stopped to look at the ring. It was silver with a diamond marquis and red accent stones. Ruby was her birthstone and her favorite color, so it felt right to use that on the ring.
“I’m glad you like it, it took me forever to find this one.”
“I love you, now, let’s get going. I want to see the sunset in Carolina!” she jumped up, grabbed one of my final two boxes, and headed out. I sighed, grabbed the other, and followed with a huge grin on my face.
We made our flight and landed just outside Berry’s Bay at 5pm. A nephew of Jordan Staal picked us up and dropped us off at the beach home we rented. He played in the NHL with Carolina for two years now and was biding time by talking hockey. Dani chimed in on some things, but mostly watched the scenery as we drove.
When Parker stopped in front of the house, I thought Dani was going to run as fast as she could to see the inside. She surprised me by staying by my side and thanking Parker and grabbing her suitcase.
“It is gorgeous here, Jake. This house is amazing,” she said once we looked around the inside. It was a modern beach house and was perfect for a small family.
“Let’s take a walk on the beach?” I suggested and she agreed. We took off our shoes and headed onto the sand from our back porch.
“How’d those talks with Carolina go according to your agent?” she questioned once we were about twenty yards from the house.
“Really well, they showed interest, but I think they are too high in the picks to take me in the first round.”
“I have faith in you,” she said with a smile and then kissed me. “Love you,” she said again with a smile plastered on her face. It was pretty much permanent these days and I loved it. It went really well with the glow that she was getting from the impending motherhood.
“I love you too, Dani.”
“Welcome to the 2033 NHL Draft. In case you are just joining us, Pittsburgh’s first pick was Olaf Peters, a Canadian native. He was quite the refreshing pick as he was not thought of to go first. But now we go to Carolina with pick two.”
“For the second pick in the 2033 draft, Carolina has picked Jacob Crosby.” From where I sat next to Jake he didn’t look surprised, but then his phone rang just minutes before and he had accepted someone’s offer but refused to tell myself and his father. Now I knew why. We were going to end up in the beautiful city of Raleigh.
Jake rose and I did too to give him a hug and a kiss. He shook hands with his dad and then he went to meet the Commissioner and Carolina team owner. He shook both men’s hands before accepting his draft jersey with a two on the back for pick number two.
I didn’t realize I was crying until Sidney wrapped me in a side hug.
“He’ll do just fine in Carolina, don’t worry, Danielle,” he reassured me.
“I’m not worried. I’m happy, he likes the Raleigh area and he just got the spot on his dream team. I can’t believe he went second!” Sidney just remained silent at my side as Jake did his thing and then came back to us.
“What do you think of my jersey, beautiful?” he cockily asked as he wore it proudly.
“I think it suits you,” he gave me a pointed look. I just went to him and gave him a good kiss on the lips.
“We won’t have to worry about telling the press you’re taken. They are getting their fill of the two of you now,” his dad spoke. We broke our kiss and blushed. We returned to our seats and sat through the rest of the day’s section of the draft.
Every now and then he would set his hands on my slightly bigger bump and then take my hand to kiss the back of it, and hold it the rest of the time.
By the end of the day, I just wanted to go to the hotel and sleep. Jake must have agreed because he turned down some offers to get a drink. I told him he could go but he was insistent upon going to sleep.
“Why didn’t you take any of their offers to grab a drink?” I asked as I changed out of my summer dress and into my sleep shorts and a tee of Jake’s.
“Because I wanted to see you like this,” he smiled as he saw the short black yoga shorts and his CU tee.
“I’m nothing special. You can see this anytime you want,” I told him as I climbed into bed.
“But we are in a new city and I’d like to have a memory with you here.” His eyes grew darker and my mind found the right frame to understand his cryptic message. I could feel myself becoming turned on because of my hormones and his message kicked things into gear.
“Okay,” I said in a way that made him join me and slowly move my tee to expose the baby bump that had me wearing yogas, dresses, shorts, and sports bras most often in Carolina.
“What do you think we are having?” he asked as his hands caressed the place that our baby grew inside of me.
“Well, there hasn’t been a girl Crosby except Taylor in the family for three generations, so it is a high chance that it is a boy.”
“I think you will be wrong. I think you are carrying a girl. You are too tiny to have a boy,” he said before placing kissed all around my belly.
“Are you kidding? I’m huge for almost five months. All the people I know think I’m closer to seven months from the pictures they have seen. They say the first is the smallest too. And I’m blaming being huge on you,” I teased.
“Maybe there’s something we’re missing. What if we were having twins?” he looked up and I’m pretty sure I looked frightened.
In the last few weeks, Jake’s mind set has done a 180. He went from wanting to wait to start a family to being the most involved man I’ve ever met.
“Let’s hope there’s only one more Crosby coming into this world. It’s all the population can handle,” I joked. He smiled and got to work making a memory with me in Winnipeg.
Instinctively, my arms wrapped around her waist and I pulled her close. I broke the kiss to stare at my beautiful fiancé.
“Help me put on the ring?” she asked as I broke my stare. I pulled the engagement band from the box and she held her hand out. Nervously, I slipped it on her finger. It looked big compared to her dainty hands. I was afraid she wouldn’t like it. “Jake, stop worrying. It’s perfect,” she kissed me quickly before we both stopped to look at the ring. It was silver with a diamond marquis and red accent stones. Ruby was her birthstone and her favorite color, so it felt right to use that on the ring.
“I’m glad you like it, it took me forever to find this one.”
“I love you, now, let’s get going. I want to see the sunset in Carolina!” she jumped up, grabbed one of my final two boxes, and headed out. I sighed, grabbed the other, and followed with a huge grin on my face.
We made our flight and landed just outside Berry’s Bay at 5pm. A nephew of Jordan Staal picked us up and dropped us off at the beach home we rented. He played in the NHL with Carolina for two years now and was biding time by talking hockey. Dani chimed in on some things, but mostly watched the scenery as we drove.
When Parker stopped in front of the house, I thought Dani was going to run as fast as she could to see the inside. She surprised me by staying by my side and thanking Parker and grabbing her suitcase.
“It is gorgeous here, Jake. This house is amazing,” she said once we looked around the inside. It was a modern beach house and was perfect for a small family.
“Let’s take a walk on the beach?” I suggested and she agreed. We took off our shoes and headed onto the sand from our back porch.
“How’d those talks with Carolina go according to your agent?” she questioned once we were about twenty yards from the house.
“Really well, they showed interest, but I think they are too high in the picks to take me in the first round.”
“I have faith in you,” she said with a smile and then kissed me. “Love you,” she said again with a smile plastered on her face. It was pretty much permanent these days and I loved it. It went really well with the glow that she was getting from the impending motherhood.
“I love you too, Dani.”
“Welcome to the 2033 NHL Draft. In case you are just joining us, Pittsburgh’s first pick was Olaf Peters, a Canadian native. He was quite the refreshing pick as he was not thought of to go first. But now we go to Carolina with pick two.”
“For the second pick in the 2033 draft, Carolina has picked Jacob Crosby.” From where I sat next to Jake he didn’t look surprised, but then his phone rang just minutes before and he had accepted someone’s offer but refused to tell myself and his father. Now I knew why. We were going to end up in the beautiful city of Raleigh.
Jake rose and I did too to give him a hug and a kiss. He shook hands with his dad and then he went to meet the Commissioner and Carolina team owner. He shook both men’s hands before accepting his draft jersey with a two on the back for pick number two.
I didn’t realize I was crying until Sidney wrapped me in a side hug.
“He’ll do just fine in Carolina, don’t worry, Danielle,” he reassured me.
“I’m not worried. I’m happy, he likes the Raleigh area and he just got the spot on his dream team. I can’t believe he went second!” Sidney just remained silent at my side as Jake did his thing and then came back to us.
“What do you think of my jersey, beautiful?” he cockily asked as he wore it proudly.
“I think it suits you,” he gave me a pointed look. I just went to him and gave him a good kiss on the lips.
“We won’t have to worry about telling the press you’re taken. They are getting their fill of the two of you now,” his dad spoke. We broke our kiss and blushed. We returned to our seats and sat through the rest of the day’s section of the draft.
Every now and then he would set his hands on my slightly bigger bump and then take my hand to kiss the back of it, and hold it the rest of the time.
By the end of the day, I just wanted to go to the hotel and sleep. Jake must have agreed because he turned down some offers to get a drink. I told him he could go but he was insistent upon going to sleep.
“Why didn’t you take any of their offers to grab a drink?” I asked as I changed out of my summer dress and into my sleep shorts and a tee of Jake’s.
“Because I wanted to see you like this,” he smiled as he saw the short black yoga shorts and his CU tee.
“I’m nothing special. You can see this anytime you want,” I told him as I climbed into bed.
“But we are in a new city and I’d like to have a memory with you here.” His eyes grew darker and my mind found the right frame to understand his cryptic message. I could feel myself becoming turned on because of my hormones and his message kicked things into gear.
“Okay,” I said in a way that made him join me and slowly move my tee to expose the baby bump that had me wearing yogas, dresses, shorts, and sports bras most often in Carolina.
“What do you think we are having?” he asked as his hands caressed the place that our baby grew inside of me.
“Well, there hasn’t been a girl Crosby except Taylor in the family for three generations, so it is a high chance that it is a boy.”
“I think you will be wrong. I think you are carrying a girl. You are too tiny to have a boy,” he said before placing kissed all around my belly.
“Are you kidding? I’m huge for almost five months. All the people I know think I’m closer to seven months from the pictures they have seen. They say the first is the smallest too. And I’m blaming being huge on you,” I teased.
“Maybe there’s something we’re missing. What if we were having twins?” he looked up and I’m pretty sure I looked frightened.
In the last few weeks, Jake’s mind set has done a 180. He went from wanting to wait to start a family to being the most involved man I’ve ever met.
“Let’s hope there’s only one more Crosby coming into this world. It’s all the population can handle,” I joked. He smiled and got to work making a memory with me in Winnipeg.