Please Remember Me

“I can’t believe this.” I said as I watched out the window looking at all the people lined up and waiting for the parade along the sectioned off streets.

“We really do have the best fans.” Patrice said as he pulled into the crowded parking lot of the TD Garden.

We parked the car and were immediately bombarded by media and some lucky fans that got VIP passes. I was definitely feeding off of everyone’s excitement; my cheeks were starting to get sore from all of the smiling I was doing. As we were making our way to the platform where the rest of the team was waiting for things to start, we were stopped by the same girls who stopped me at the game last night.

“Gabby!” They yelled before coming up to me and Pat.

“Oh hi guys.” I said giving them each a hug, “I’m sure you guys know who this is.” I said wrapping an arm around Pat.

“Hi ladies.” He said shaking each of their hands as each of them fan girled over him. Something we were both used to by now.

“Oh my goodness we are your biggest fans, can you take a picture of all of us?” They asked handing me one of the girls IPhones.

“Sure” I said as they all circled Patrice, “Say cheese.” I said just as I snapped a few pictures. “Very pretty.”

“Thank you so much!” They all gushed as they let us go our separate ways.

“Girls can be so crazy sometimes.” Patrice said laughing once we we’re far enough away.

“Aw I thought they were very nice.” I said giving him a disapproving look.

“They didn’t squeeze your muscles.” He said giving the look right back to me.

“Okay fine so girls can be a little crazy.” I said giggling.

Once at the platform Patrice gave me a kiss before heading up onstage with his team to kick this whole thing off. I looked on with the other families, mainly with Sheena and Brittany and their kids. This was my first chance getting to see the new babies.

“I can’t believe how much they both look like you guys.” I said taking Zoe from her. I held the baby in my arms as I felt a pang in my heart. In two months I would be able to hold my very own baby girl and dress her in cute Bruins clothes and little dresses.

“Oh I know, Zoe looks just like Johnny but luckily with my nose.” Sheena said laughing as she gently bounced Kenzie in her arms. “So how’s this mommy doing today?”

“I’m doing great, I had a little scare last night, but it was just some pre labor stuff.” I said shrugging it off as I coddled the happy sweet little baby in my arms. Before we could talk much more about it Patrice and Brad rapping to black and yellow again caught my attention. “You think these boys would get some new material.” I said jokingly as I laughed along with everyone else. Before I knew it the little speeches were done and we we’re all piling onto the boats. Johnny had come over and taken his kiddo back so he could get them settled in their carriers before the boats took off. Pat helped me climb on to the boat and get situated on his side, we we’re sharing the boat with Loui and a couple of guys from management and then the families. For Pat though it was just he and I, his family wasn’t able to make it down for the game yesterday due to some flight complications and so they just decided to stay and wait for us to make a trip up to see them. A part of me felt bad Pat wasn’t able to share this day with his family, I knew he would’ve enjoyed today so much more if they were here. It also made me realize how much his family was going to miss in our kids’ lives. They wouldn’t make it for birthday’s or see them learn to walk, be there when the get their first crush and then their first heartbreak. It made me sad to know that they would see our kids grow up in photographs and videos.

“Hey.” Patrice said cupping up behind me and placing kisses on the back of my neck, “You’re quiet, what’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing, I’m just tired is all.” I said trying not to be a downer on his big day.

“Yea I know what you mean.” He said wrapping his arms around me so that I was leaning against his body.

“How was your night?” I asked really having the time to have a real conversation while we waited for all the boats to be ready.

“Unbelievable.” Patrice said nuzzling his cheek against mine, “I wish you could’ve stayed with us.”

“It’s good for you to have time with just the boys.” I said as we felt the boats start to move and heard the crowds start to roar.

“Here we go!” He said letting go of me and waving to all the screaming fans.

I waved at everyone as we passed enjoying the atmosphere of everything going on. There was confetti and streamer floating through the air. I raised both my hands in the air and just took everything in. It was magical; I couldn’t even imagine what Patrice was feeling. I was only the wife, and I was beaming on the inside.

“This is great!” Patrice said laughing like a little kid.

“I know,” I said kissing him on the cheek, “They’re all here for you.”

“I doubt that.” Patrice said still smiling as big as ever as he went back to chanting with the fans, “We got the cup!!”

I made sure to photograph as much as I could and still enjoy the day, but I wasn’t sure if I had gotten one solid photo. That was until Patrice whipped his phone out and took a selfie of us with the crowds in the backround. Yep, that one was gonna be printed and framed inside our house.

“Are you having a good day?” Patrice asked me as we both sat on the back rail of the boat.

“Today has been amazing, are you?” I asked resting my head on his shoulder.

“It’s been one of the best days of my life. It just makes it that more real.” Patrice said as he continued to wave at all the fans. “My heads starting to pound again though.”

“Oh one sec,” I said getting up and rummaging through the bag I had brought. I picked out a bottle of water and a few pills I had packed away in a zip lock baggy and came back to him, “Here take these, they should help.” I said discreetly handing him some aspirin.

“Vous êtes un épargnant de vie!” He said happily before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“You would think that after being with you for this long I would know at least some French.” I said giggling with him.

“I said you’re a life saver; trust me you’ll pick some up when we go home for the summer.” He said as he wrapped an arm around me.

Home for the summer…. I pushed the thought from my brain and waved at all the fans, but still I couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed.

Before either of us knew it the wonderful parade was over, and Patrice was helping me off the duck boat. We we’re all going to meet at Milan and Brittany’s for a nice lunch and then the guys were supposed to head back out for some team-cup bonding. I was ready to get to Britt’s and spend the day soaking up the beautiful sunshine and having a great time with all of my closest friends. Luckily, it was a short drive to their house so we all crammed into a few of the guy’s cars and made the drive over to their beautiful home.

“Alright, I’m gonna get changed into my swim suit. See you in a few?” I asked as I was being dragged off by Brittany and the rest of the girls.

“Yea I’ll meet you out there.” He said smiling.

~~~~

“So how’d this morning go?” Sheena asked giving me a wink as we all switched into our swim suits.

“If you’re asking if we had sex, the answers a huge NO.” I said slightly pouting. “He brought the guys home so that might be it, but there was definitely time. Like if I wasn’t the size of a whale he wouldn’t have cared the guys were there we would’ve done it.” I said now kinda embarrassed at my openness, knowing that Patrice would kill me for talking about our sex life like this.

“It has nothing to do with your size, you are the most stunning pregnant women I’ve seen I kinda hate you for it actually.” She said laughing.

“Then maybe he’s just not interested anymore?” I said trying to block out the one thought that was pecking at my brain.

“Honey, no, every guy deals with the exhaustion of the playoffs differently maybe he’s sincerely just too tired. Once the partying dies down and it’s just you and him it’ll get better.” Sheena said rubbing my shoulder gently.

“What if there’s another girl?” I whispered just so that she could hear me, it stuck me in the heart to say the words.

I could see the shock rush all over her face as she tried to hide it from me, “Oh Gabby, don’t think like that sweetheart.” She said pulling me into the bathroom so we could talk privately.

The second she closed the door behind her I full on broke down, “I don’t know how else to think.” I said as big crocodile tears streamed down my cheeks.

“Shhh.” She cooed as she wrapped her arms around my shaking body. “Patrice loves you way too much to do something like that to you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, as long as I’ve known him he has never looked at anyone the way he looks at you. Come on let’s get you cleaned up and back downstairs before he starts to worry about you Honey.” She said as she handed me a tissue.

“Thanks Sheena.” I said giving her a tight hug, “I’m just so hormonal.”

“I understand trust me.” She said opening the bathroom door and walking out into Brittany’s bedroom with me. We both finished dressing and walked downstairs to find everyone. I pulled on my wrap suddenly feeling a little self-conscious in my swimsuit choice as I walked out onto the patio hoping to find Patrice by the pool. Sure enough there he was talking with a few of the guys.

I walked up beside him and laid my towel out on one of the chairs besides his before sitting down next to him. He smiled in my direction as he listened to some funny story Shawn Thorton was telling about the first time he won the Stanley Cup and got it stuck at the bottom of a pool.

After that most of the guys either got in the pool or went inside, leaving us to ourselves. Patrice picked my legs up and laid them both in his lap as he enjoyed the sunny weather and what looked like a refreshing beer. He tenderly started to massage my swollen feet; yes he was the best husband in the history of forever.

“You have no idea how good that feels Baby.” I said giving him an approving smile.

“Good.” He said giving me a goofy grin, “Maybe they wouldn’t be so swollen if you didn’t wear heels 24/7?” He asked raising an eyebrow at me.

“Hey,” I said raising a warningful finger, “I wore flats today.”

“And your legs still looked damn good.” He said moving on to my next foot.

“Did they?” I asked going along with his flirting.

“They always do.” He said setting my legs down and taking me by the hand, “Wanna take a dip?”

“Yea sure.” I said as I stood up and pulled my wrap off instantly noticing Pat’s eyes roaming my body. It felt great to be getting this kind of attention from him, and I was starting to think that Sheena was right. We were going to be okay. “Everything okay?” I asked giggling at how red he turned having been caught checking me out.

“Yea erm sorry.” He said as we walked over to the pool.

“It’s alright to stare at your wife you know?” I said giving him a kiss on the cheek before jumping in the pool.

“Well in that case.” Patrice said swimming up beside me and taking me in his arms as he kissed me softly on the mouth, “I really love you.”

It was funny to me how easy he could erase any doubt, fear, or insecurity I had with those words. “I love you too.” I said kissing him back until we were hit by tsunami Marchand causing us both to break out into an all-out splash brawl.

“Hey foods ready!” Brittany called from the kitchen causing all of us to stop our fighting and rush to dry off.

“I’m starving.” I said as I gave my grumbling belly a gentle rub.

“You’re always starving.” Brad joked as he shook his hair out all over me.

“And I still have a smaller beer belly then you.” I said laughing along with him and Pat.

“I think she just won this argument Brad.” Patrice said laughing as he wrapped an arm around me as we walked inside to eat.

~~~~

Finally back at our house for the night, I went upstairs and started the tub before undressing. Placing my IPhone on the dock, I hit my playlist and let the music play through the speakers. I placed my hand in the water testing it for warmth before sinking my tired body into the water. Pouring in some bath oils I let the aroma of lavender envelope my senses as I waited for Patrice to come home. It had been a wonderful day spent celebrating and then spending time with all the girls before everyone headed back to their homes, or on vacations. I was excited to be going on vacation with Patrice this next week for our late honeymoon. But one thing was still bugging me from earlier. Going home for the summer... I always thought we were home, I didn’t sign up for Canada summers. I had no problem going on small vacations to see the family, but I had a business here in Boston I couldn’t just uproot everything I’ve known and been accustomed to since I was little. I never agreed to leave my hometown to go to a country where people spoke in a language I couldn’t even understand. Besides there was no way I was having my babies in Canada, I was having my children at a beautiful Boston hospital. This time alone had certainly given me time to think about everything, and it made me realize that Patrice and I had a lot to talk about…