Sequel: Family Goals ›
Keep It Kasual
Chapter 7
The next morning started with my phone going off. Now that wouldn’t be so bad if it was the alarm I had set, that was something I would expect. No this was my Minion #1 ringtone (a.k.a Bee Doo), that meant it was Frankie who was on the other end of the call. Slapping my hand onto the phone, I picked it up and spoke into it. “Que voulez-vous? (What do you want?)”
“Wow quelle belle chose à dire à ton frère première chose le matin. Est-ce quelqu'un ne reçoit pas tout? (Wow what a beautiful thing to say to your brother first thing in the morning. Is someone not getting any?)” I glared at the phone and then noticed the time. That gave me another griping point for my annoying brother.
“Tais-toi François. Pourquoi êtes-vous m'appeler 25 minutes avant mon alarme se déclenche? (Shut up François. Why are you calling me 25 minutes before my alarm goes off?)” By now there was no denying that I was awake, that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. I hadn’t tried sitting up yet, mostly due to the clamp I had still around my waist. I learned that yesterday when Alex woke from his nap.
I heard Frankie snort. “Maman voulait un d'entre nous de vous appeler quand nous reprenons la route. Nous devrions atteindre Toronto vers 11 heures. Devrons-nous apporter le café? (Mom wanted one of us to call you when we hit the road. We should reach Toronto around 11 hours. Will we have to bring the coffee?)” I sighed, they were calling because mom told them to and would be here at about 11. Only my family would think 6:25 a.m. was a good time to call.
Before I could form an answer Alex woke up and then stood up. “Je dois aller Frankie, Alex vient de se réveiller. Quand vous frappez Oshwa, appelez à nouveau. Je ne pense pas que nous allons être en mouvement jusqu'à ce que après le déjeuner. Kris et Marc veulent obtenir du temps de gymnase ce matin. (I have to go Frankie, Alex just woke up. When you hit Oshwa call again. I do not think we'll be moving until after lunch. Kris and Marc want to get gym time this morning.) I then began to slowly work myself out from under the clamp of Kris’ arm.
Frankie laughed aloud. “Parlez-en à vous plus tard sis. Ne pas faire tout ce que nous ne serions pas! (Talk to you later sis. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t!)” He laughed some more as he hung up. Just after Frankie hung up, Alex let out a happy squeal.
I waved at Alex as I slid out from underneath Kris’ arm. Kris tried to keep me pinned but I was mostly out from under him when he tried to pull me back. I went over and picked up Alex. “Bon matin, petit homme. (Good morning little man.)” He tucked his head on my shoulder briefly while I grabbed his bag and took him out into the living room.
20 minutes after Alex and I came out into the living room, I heard my alarm going off. Then I heard an alarm from the other room. I flipped the coffee maker on then and waited for the aroma to bring the zombies to me. Meanwhile I changed Alex into an outfit for breakfast. Once the coffee was ready Kris came out scratching his head. “Bon Matin. (Good Morning.)”
“Morning. I hope my brother calling didn’t wake you like it did the little man here.” Alex was holding onto my fingers and standing with a smile on his face. Kris shook his head no and headed for the coffee. Marc came out shortly thereafter with Estelle, as he opened the door I heard the shower running. He set his little girl down next to me and then focused on the caffeine.
I picked up a sleepy Estelle and checked her, seeing that she needed a change and her papa was inhaling coffee, I took care of it. That made her a happier child. I set her down next to Alex and they began babbling at each other, happy babies in the morning were a wonderful thing.
Once they were caffeinated, Kris and Marc shooed me into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I came out feeling as ready for the day as I could. By this time Vero had joined the guys. Kris smiled at me as I came out. “Tu es superbe, prêt pour le jour et tout ce qu'il apporte. (You look great, ready for the day and all it brings.)” He touched me carefully as he passed me. “Donnez-moi quelques minutes et je serai prêt à aller. (Give me a few minutes and I'll be ready to go.)” He said it quietly to me as he went in to shower. It made me shiver a little. It sounded more intimate than he might have intended.
He closed the door behind him and I went over to the couch and the knowing looks of the two adults sitting there. I decided to ignore the looks I was getting from them and focus on Alex. “Just a few minutes and we’ll go E A T. Yes and then we will go meet Ava and her parents and have fun today.” Marc chuckled and went into their room, which gave Vero a chance to pounce.
“You aren’t fooling me, you like ‘im don’t you?” She moved over to sit _right_ next to me. “We saw t’at shiver you just did, don’ try to lie.” I was caught. “Don’t worry we won’ tell him. Marc says t’at ‘e was talking abou’ wha’ a great cook you are. T’at ‘e will ‘ave to work ‘ard not to gain weigh’ t’is season.” I blushed and chuckled.
“No, he won’t have to do that. I make healthy food that tastes good. Paula is a nutritionist, so she and I trade recipes. I have a whole book of stuff from her. Knowing her she’s going to want to make us dinner tonight. Before Adam and I reconnected I was eating like crap. Paula showed me that it wasn’t difficult to have healthy meals with a little work beforehand.” I smiled at the memory. Standing in their kitchen learning how to wash and prep veggies when you got home from the store so that the hard work was done when it came time to cook. “I don’t look like it now, but I was a lot bigger when I first met Paula than I am now.”
One of the doors had been opened behind us but I didn’t look to see who until Kris spoke. “T’ere is no way you ‘ave ever been a big girl.” He came over and sat down next to us, fresh from getting his own day started. “I would ‘ave seen some kind of sign.”
I full out laughed. “There’s a reason I like being outside. I walk as many places as possible and work out as much as I can. College did a number on me and I’ve worked hard to undo that number. Alex will get a lot of time outside when the weather cooperates. Why do you think we went over the stroller so carefully? It’s going to have to stand up to the weather and terrain.”
Just then Alex smacked Kris on the knees trying to get his attention. Of course it worked. Kris put a hand over Alex’s and spoke softly to him. “Qu'est-ce que mon fils? Avez-vous faim? Est-il temps de manger? Où est votre oncle Marc-André? Nous attendre sur de lui, encore une fois. (What is my son? Are you hungry? Is it time to eat? Where is your uncle Marc-Andre? We wait on him again.)” Alex punctuated Kris’ statements by smacking him some more on the leg. Little Man was definitely ready for food.
There was a laugh behind us. “Vous attendre personne. Venez, laissez-nous nourrir la famille a faim et ensuite aller être travaillé sur par Scary Gary. (You wait for nobody. Come, let us feed the hungry family and then going to be worked on by Scary Gary.)” We picked everything we would need for breakfast up and headed out.
After breakfast we moved a car seat and split up. The boys went to work out with Scary Gary and his other Pros while we waited for Paula and Ava. They were dropped off soon enough and the 6 of us went for a walk down the street to the Hockey Hall of Fame. We got halfway there when we noticed a line out the doors and down the block. When we asked someone why the line was so long, we were told it was Penguins Fan Day.
Vero turned to me with the most evil grin on her face. “Come we ‘ave to go back to t’e ‘otel.” You know it’s difficult to argue with someone who is nearly dragging you. When we got back into the room she went and grabbed one of their suitcases. “I looked up if t’ere was anyt’ing special going on ‘ere today.” She opened the bag and handed Paula a shirt. “I grabbed some gear t’at I ‘ave gotten over t’e years, or maybe for t’is occasion.” I’d known her for about a week and I already knew that tone of voice. Veronique was up to something. She then handed Paula another shirt. “For Ava.” She then continued. “We will be back in a minute.” Picking up Estelle she went into their room and mostly closed the door.
Paula unfolded the shirt for Ava, it was a cause we both always got behind, Hockey Fights Cancer. This was from 2011 and had a really cute bear on it. She then unfolded hers and found a simple Pens logo’d shirt. “Oh I like these, I may have to switch teams.” She changed Ava’s shirt and then her own, by that time V and Estelle were back.
“You look so good!” She then lifted the dress Estelle was wearing and showed off her Penguins onesie. It made me laugh. It had a cute checklist on it: Helmet, Ice Skates, Gloves, Hockey Stick and Diapers. Nothing like having the right onesie for la petite Fleur (the little Flower). Vero herself was still in jeans but color coordinated now with a black and white bag and a color blocked Pens shirt. I swear I didn’t know anyone else as stylish as she was.
“Now for la tenue parfaite. (the perfect outfit).” She pulled out a bag and handed it to me. “I ‘ad to beg Yannick to get t’is shirt from ‘im.” It was pink and white, not normally colors I wore a lot of. Opening it I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a Pink and White Property of Kasual 58 shirt. “N'est-il pas tout simplement parfait? Je avoir une chemise d'enfants avec Letang 58 sur le dos aussi, pour Alex. (Is not it just perfect? I have a kids shirt with Letang 58 on the back too, for Alex.)” She brought it out and showed it to Alex. “Avez-vous envie de porter le numéro de votre papa? (Do you want to wear the number of your papa?)” She changed him into the shirt while I begrudgingly changed mine.
“You’re trying to brand me already? I’ve only known you guys a week.” Vero waved a hand at me, making Paula laugh.
“A week and she already knows you prefer Defensemen, dang girl!” Vero looked pointedly at me and then at Paula who grinned. “Oh, she _didn’t_ know. Does she at least know _why_ you have this preference?” I flopped onto the couch and waved a hand, a gesture for her to continue and completely ruin my life. “You know she’s got 3 brothers right?” Vero nodded and sat next to me. “Do you know that the oldest is a goalie and the other two are forwards?” Gaping by Vero was accompanied by a chuckle from Paula. “Whenever they play all together, she’s the Ref. Rarely they can get a couple friends to play. She gravitated to watching the single position she didn’t understand from watching her family. It’s stuck, according to Adam, her whole life.” That was it, I mimicked shooting myself in the head and played dead. Vero would not stop now until she got me together with _some_ Defenseman, hopefully preferably Kris.
Once Vero and Paula had bonded over embarrassing me, yes Paula got told of what happened this morning as Kris passed me and she squealed appropriately, we headed back out to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Pittsburgh Penguins Day at it. It didn’t actually take us too long to get inside now that we had Pens gear on. There was a fast line for those with gear on. Getting inside we stopped first in the Entrance Foyer. Wow, that was a lot of pucks on that wall… I read the plaque that said there were almost 1300 pucks in this display alone. Then I noticed the M*A*S*K display. I pulled out my camera and began picking and choosing masks to take shots of for Frankie.
As was tradition, at least for Paula, she told us to choose a statue to stand under and she’d take our picture. V and I looked at each other and went to the one of Ken Dryden. All 5 of us, 2 adults and 3 children, fit underneath his arms easily. We looked through the NHL Legends display but did not take any pictures. Then came the 2013 Captains Display, all game worn jerseys from each of the 30 Captains in the NHL. Between the three of us we could name every person represented. We didn’t get a chance to really look at the Ring Display, it was crowded with people looking at it.
We did get a chance to look at the PHATS / SPHEM Wall of Honour (Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society (PHATS) and the Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers (SPHEM)) and all the honorees there upon. Most people wouldn’t care too much but we all knew that often it was these gentlemen who put the players back together or kept them from getting too hurt. V asked me to take good pictures of it if I could for the crew in Pittsburgh.
The next area we took our time in was the replica Canadiens dressing room. Ava, having been here multiple times before, walked in and sat down under Jacques Plante’s nameplate. It was too cute so I took a shot of her sitting there like she owned it. I took Alex out of the stroller and let him hold onto the bench. He rocked a little bit and then began stepping like he was trying to walk. I grabbed my camera and began taking a series of pictures of him doing this. After a little bit he stopped and plopped down on his butt. I couldn’t help but smile, he was almost ready to get into _everything_.
Before we left the dressing room I made sure to get a panorama of the quote; Nos bras meurtris vous tendent le flambeau a vous toujours de le porter bien haut! (to you from failing hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high!) Even though we lived just outside of Ottawa, Frankie always wanted to go see the Canadiens play.
We went through the Dynasty Display a bit faster, mostly because we didn’t want to jinx the chances of Marc being the goalie to do it again. We skipped the TSN Theatre’s film, Stanley’s Game Seven for the same reason.
That brought us to Panasonic’s Hometown Hockey exhibit. It was really cool seeing all the memorabilia from all over the continent. As we were going through Vero squealed and hauled us over to a display. “Look it’s Aleks’ jersey from ‘er las’ Championship Game in college! Here are Mari’s gloves too!” I didn’t know who Aleks was besides the little man in front of me, who was now starting to droop, nor did I have a clue as to who Mari was either. “Take a picture of me wit’ t’is please Kallie. ‘hey will love it w’en we go back to da Burgh!” I lined up the shot with Vero and Estelle in it and then, just as I was going to _take_ the picture, I heard another squeal behind me.
“Oh My God! It _IS_ you!” Not knowing what was going on I didn’t like it when Alex and I were unceremoniously shoved out of the way and a pair of girls crowded Vero and Estelle. They looked barely legal as they spoke quickly and over each other. I checked on Alex and found he was mostly asleep, that was a good thing.
Turning back to Vero and the squeal twins, I saw that she was taking this in stride. “Girls! Girls! Please stop. We were about to take some pictures wit’ t’e display for Aleks and Mari. I will take pictures wit’ you _after_ we get ours. No, you can no’ take picture of Estelle while you wait.” She turned to Paula and rattled off a question. “Paula auriez-vous s'il vous plaît prendre sa tandis que nous prenons les photos? Je préférerais ne pas l'avoir notre fille partout sur l'internet sorte bientôt. (Paula would you please take her while we take photos? I would prefer not to have our daughter all over the interne so soon.)
Paula spoke less French than most people I know, but she rolled with Vero easily. She took and covered Estelle while Vero and I took a couple pictures with the gear she mentioned. The squeal twins seemed disappointed by this turn of events, I was just glad they hadn’t noticed Alex yet. Afterwards Vero kindly took a couple pictures with them and disappointed them by answering truthfully that Marc-Andre was _not_ in the building..
After that encounter we hit the NHLPA’s Be A Player Zone. As you would think, it was crowded. Fortunately the lines seemed to be moving right along. We watched as it got closer and closer to our turns. Then it was Vero’s turn to get out on the simulated ice and let loose her inner goalie. She didn’t do half bad either, although I think years of being with her husband had something to do with it.
Paula was next and was really bad at it, but she was smiling and trying hard so the gathered crowd cheered her on. Ava was too small which left it to me. Setting the game to rookie, I stood there and waited. I actually stopped 3 “pucks”, although I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to have a bruise on my knee from dropping without pads.
Getting to the other half of the game Vero and Paula did better than they expected, although Paula commented as she came off. “I’ll stick to watching and learning to skate thanks.”
When it was my turn I found a good stick and lined myself up. I had fired on goalies before, besides Frankie even. I got three shots behind the computer goalie before he was able to stop one. I heard a familiar camera clicking and turned in time to see Paula taking a few shots of me out here. I just shook my head and went back to the game. I ended up surprising even myself, having only had 1 shot get by the goalie and not having missed a single target.
We skipped the Broadcast Zone, none of us wanted to even try our hands at that. We did _not, however skip the NHL Slapshot Zone. We grabbed controllers and “fought” head to head for a few minutes. There might have been some light pushing and chirping, but overall it was a friendly game. Paula commented at how uneven Vero and I were matched. “Kallie you should just give her one or two, it would make it fair.” She said laughing at how I was defending against her.
“All’s fair in Love and Hockey.” I said, as I deked her guy out of his skates and made my way to the crease. “Besides I like video games and I think the Wii is the best console. They mostly have family friendly games and you move a lot with them.”
I caught an evil look cross Vero’s face again before she took a shot on my goalie and got it past him. “Oh that reminds me, I made sure that all of your games were packed. I had to do it myself to keep Adam from hijacking them, but you’ll have them all.”
I grinned. “Thanks, I know you like some of those titles. I just wish I had had my console stolen, not like I can play them right now.” Yeah I had my tiny place broken into a few months ago, they took my Wii and the TV it was attached to. They left everything else alone. The police never found either the TV or the Wii but they had caught who was breaking into places.
We skipped the Game Time Trivia and Upper Deck Collectors’ Corner, both kids were asleep and we waned a chance to sit for a few minutes. That meant we did _not_ skip the Tim Horton’s Theatre. We got in just before the film started, the 40th Anniversary Tribute to the 1972 Summit Series. I’d heard about this series before, how important and ground breaking but to see it through the actual film was wonderful.
After the film we went into Tissot’s World of Hockey Zone. It was a huge area and had an incredible amount of interesting things to see. We made our way slowly through looking at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Hall of Fame, to see the builders and legends of the game around the world was awe-inspiring. The relatively small Triple Gold Club display was kind of surprising. It takes a hell of a lot of work to win World Championship Gold, Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup.
The next series of display cases was about the Top 100 Moments in International Hockey. Vero snickered as we got near one display. “Take my picture wit’ t’is would you? I can embarrass Sidney and his wife wit’ the shots t’en.” Of course I took the pictures for her. I knew who Sidney Crosby was, I didn’t know much about his wife though.
There was so much to look at and take in that we nearly missed the display on Women’s International Hockey. Women have been playing the game nearly as long as men, it was just too bad that they weren’t as recognized for it. Vero was grinning as she read it. “I ‘ope t’at Aleks wins ‘er appeal wit’ t’e IIHF so she can play wit’ t’e boys in Sochi, she ‘as won t’e Stanley Cup and t’at is ‘arder to win. She also won t’e Calder t’is year too.” Now I put the pieces together and figured out who Aleks was, Aleks Malakhov/Crosby.
We decided the loud Global Game Encounter could wait for another day when the children weren’t sleeping and went on to the Esso Great Hall. It was a lot quieter in here, which made sense as this was where the trophies of the NHL were kept and where the glass portraits of the 370 Hall of Fame members were as well. We steered ourselves towards the glass panels first, to look at the honoured members first. From all ages of the North American game and both sides of the border, these are the greats and builders of the game. If Hockey was like Catholicism this would be its Vatican, it’s high holy place of worship. Ok so it’s a bad analogy but it’s the one I thought of while walking and reading the names on the panels.
When we were done looking at the panels, _then_ we began looking at the trophies of the NHL. We started with the individual awards, as there was a large crowd now around the Stanley Cup. Reading about each award, how it started and some of the winners was a who’s who list for the NHL’s best players through the years. When we had read all of them we found that the line had died again for looking at the replica Cup. Yes the Stanley Cup they let the players handle is technically a replica. The original bowl is still in the Hall of Fame, as with the retired expansions.
When we were asked if we wanted to take a picture with the Stanely Cup, Vero waved off the photographer. “No t’anks, we ‘ave ‘ad private pictures wit’ it already.”
“Are you sure? How often do you think you’ll get to touch the Cup?” He was trying hard, I’ll give him that.
Vero was firm though. “I said non, I am sure w’en my husband and ‘is team win it again t’is year we will be able to ‘ave pictures taken again.” Of course this is when Alex woke up with a wail.
Immediately I was around the stroller and pulling him out to calm him down. The photographer noticed both my shirt and Alex’s and tried working on the two of us. “Are you sure? I know that Letang has his name engraved on it. It would be a nice memento of your visit.”
With a now calm Alex in my arms I stood up and took a critical look at where the NHL’s most hallowed trophy stood. “Without my light meter I can’t be certain but I believe this light is too harsh to show off the brilliance of the Cup to it’s true potential. Add in that the backdrop is too reflective and I definitely say no.” I went around and picked up my own camera and showed it to him.
He seemed to understand exactly what I was getting at. “Another professional, that explains it. What are you doing here?”
I laughed and looked at Vero, hoping that she would forgive the minor lie I was about to give. “When Vero said she had never been, I couldn’t stand that and had to fix it. It’s also a wonderful way to get a chance to show my boyfriend and his son another side of Toronto.” I bumped shoulders with Paula. “Of course meeting friends is also a great thing.” Paula bumped back and grinned at me.
The official photographer gaped a little bit and then the pieces fell together. “I am sorry Miss, I was unaware that some of the Pittsburgh ladies would be here today. If I would have known…”
Vero waved a hand. “We did not want special treatment so of course we told no one. If you’ll excuse us, the kids are starting to wake up and will need to be fed again soon.” We made our way away from him and found ourselves outside the inner entrance to the Spirit of Hockey Retail Store. Out side it were more goalies masks, older ones than those in the front. I took some shots of them and made sure to get one with nearly everyone in front of the sculpture “In The Crease” then Paula took herself and Ava out and put me and Alex in more firmly. She knew how to take good shots too, which is the only reason she got her hands on my cameras. Once that was done, we left through the retail front. We didn’t want or need to spend money on jerseys and t-shirts here.
We all laughed all the way back to the hotel, no one even mentioning the white lie I had told. Once in the room and face to face with the guys again, however I knew something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”
Kris sighed. “I ‘ave to tell ‘er, she ‘as a right to know.” Marc nodded and Kris looked at me, not noticing what we were wearing. “I called Ray to see if we could get you a visa so t’at you can be wit’ us in Pittsburgh. ‘e said t’at I can not ‘ave my nanny come so easily but my girlfriend, she could get a visa easily.” He stopped for a moment and then continued. “T’e problem wit’ t’is is t’at t’e whole team knew about t’e problem Cat and I ‘ad at t’e end of the season and t’ey want to check out you and your background.” He kind of smiled a little bit. “Do you t’ink your family would mind meeting Mario and his family?”
Shock, absolute shock, that’s what happened to me. I felt someone guide me to sit on the couch but I couldn’t really think. I even heard Paula take up the thread of the conversation. “You’ll have to forgive her. From what I understand about Kallie and her family, Mario was her mother’s favorite player. She always said he would do very well but didn’t live long enough to see him lift the Cup at all.” She was holding me while explaining this.
Like a automaton I reached for my phone and dialed a number I knew all too well. Maman answered. “Maman, tu peux obtenir papa sur le téléphone trop s'il vous plaît. (Mom, can you get dad on the phone too please.)” I heard her call for her and then he picked up the phone. “Papa, le patron de Kris veut rencontrer les gars. (Dad, boss Kris wants to meet guys.)” He asked the fateful question. “Non, papa pas M. Shero, son autre patron ... Oui, qui est celui-là. (No, not Mr. Shero dad, his other boss ... Yes, that's the one.)” My dad gasped and then accused me of lying, which made me defensive. “Non je ne mens pas, Kris vient de me dire. Ici, parlez-lui vous-même. (No I'm not lying, Kris tells me. Here, talk to him yourself.)” I handed Kris the phone and sat there. My entire life I had heard how big a fan my mom was of so many teams and players, but she had a special place for Mario Lemieux.
Vero had taken Alex out of his stroller; he made a beeline on his knees for me. Getting to me, he pulled himself up carefully. Pretty soon he was smacking me on the knees and babbling at me. He’d done that ever since I had gotten him up my first real day on the job. This time, however, he did something no one expected. I was watching Kris talk to my dad instead of paying attention to Alex, apparently that upset him. He had started saying mamama in the last couple days. So, to gain my attention, he smacked me _hard_ on the knee and shouted “MAMA!”
Immediately and without thinking I looked down to him. That caused Alex to smile broadly and say it again. “Mama.”
Kris stopped talking and turned around slowly. “Nous devons appeler en arrière. Mon fils vient d'appeler votre fille maman. (We have to call back. My son just called your daughter mama.)” I heard my dad gasp and then ask if we were ok with this turn of phrase. “Non, nous ne sommes pas mécontents à ce sujet, tout simplement abasourdi. (No, we are not unhappy about it, just stunned.)” Dad must have asked again because Kris restated what I think he really meant. “Il est tout à fait surprenant, il n'a pas dit ça avant, sauf lorsque babillage. (It is completely surprising, he has not said this before, except when babbling.)” They quickly said goodbye after that and Kris came over to kneel by Alex.
Alex looked at Kris as he knelt down, then little man looked at me and said that word again. “Mama.” He then smacked Kris on the face and said. “Dada.”
“C'est exact mon grand garçon, je suis ton papa. Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? (That's right my big boy, I'm your daddy. What do you want?)” Alex just smacked him again in response. He swooped Alex up and spun him around a little bit, making Alex laugh. That is when he noticed the shirts. “W’en did you ge’ t’is shirt?”
Vero piped up. “It is Penguins Fan Day at t’e Hall of Fame today. We needed to blend in.” Kris turned around again and looked at all of us. His head cocked a bit when he saw what I was wearing. He came over and offered me a hand to stand up. I took it and he took a good look at my shirt. Vero, being helpful, continued. “Yannick let me buy the last one. I t’ought because you wear a lo’ of Kasual clothes, she should ‘ave somet’ing.”
Kris had a hold of my hand still when he spoke again. “Excusez-nous, nous devons parler en privé. (Excuse us, we need to talk in private.)” He pulled me away from everyone and into the room we had shared. After closing the door and moving us away from the door, he started the conversation. “Are you ok?”
I stood there, trying to put my thoughts into words. When I finally was able to do so, I looked at Kris. “Um, I think so. If Mario wants to vet me, why didn’t you give them what your lawyer found? Why does he want to meet my family?”
Kris shook his head. “I _did_ give t’em wha’ my lawyer found, Mario wants to know that I am no’ being taken advantage of I t’ink. Meeting your family will give ‘im an idea of wha’ kind of person you are too.”
I sighed and sat on the bed. “So if we pass this, what then? I mean I feel guilty about lying to the pushy photog at the Hall of Fame that we were together, how are we going to convince him we are?”
Kris smiled and sat down with Alex next to me. “Kalista, we won’ have to lie to Mario. Let me say t’at again, I _won’t_ lie to Mario. ‘e will know t’at we are no’ together, he says he wants to meet you t’ough and I can’t tell ‘im no. You don’t tell t’e big boss no.”
I nodded. He was right, telling someone the truth was the right thing to do, so I tackled the _other_ topic hanging between us. “Well hopefully he will find that I’m someone that makes you easier to be around. Tell me truly, how do you feel about Alex calling me what he did?” Alex bent over backwards in Kris’ arms when I said his name and started babbling again.
Kris shook his head. “Honestly, you are a better maman than Cat has been or wants to be. You truly care for him and I. It bot’ered me w’en t’ey were all trying to get your attention yesterday. T’ey were all asking me for your number today, t’at bot’ered me too.” He put Alex down on the bed behind him and turned to face me properly. “I ‘ave been t’inking abou’ t’is. Moving you in ‘ere for t’e nap and sleeping wit’ you las’ night, I have no’ felt as peaceful and whole in a long time.”
I smiled and looked at the bedspread. I knew how he felt exactly. “Was this before or after clamping on my waist so I couldn’t move?” Yeah I was teasing him a little bit. He blushed lightly and chuckled. “You should know that Paula has told Vero that Defensemen are my favorite players. I saw an evil look in V’s eyes after that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to push us together.”
Kris ran his fingers down my cheek. “Would it be pushing if _we_ chose it? T’ey say that babies are smarter t’an some adults, could t’is be a case of t’at?”
“Let’s just take this one day at a time for now. Let’s make sure we can live with each other before we do anything we can’t take back. If in a month or so, after we get to know each other better we can revisit this. If Alex keeps calling me mama and we feel that we can work on a relationship as well as caring for him, we can try.” I hated to tell him this, cause well let’s face it Kris is hot! I also didn’t want to jump into anything that would in the end hurt them.
“That is no’ a no, t’at is a no’ right now. Correct?” I nodded. “I can work wit’ t’at.” He leaned in a lightly brushed his lips to mine. “T’e nex’ mont’ is going to drag.” He whispered while he was close.
“It will fly by, we’ll be busy with the little man and getting ready for the season.” We smiled at each other and put our foreheads together. We stayed like that until Alex decided that he wasn’t getting enough attention and head-butted us. After much laughter by all of us, we went back out and decided to go back to Adam and Paula’s to plan the rest of the day.
“Wow quelle belle chose à dire à ton frère première chose le matin. Est-ce quelqu'un ne reçoit pas tout? (Wow what a beautiful thing to say to your brother first thing in the morning. Is someone not getting any?)” I glared at the phone and then noticed the time. That gave me another griping point for my annoying brother.
“Tais-toi François. Pourquoi êtes-vous m'appeler 25 minutes avant mon alarme se déclenche? (Shut up François. Why are you calling me 25 minutes before my alarm goes off?)” By now there was no denying that I was awake, that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. I hadn’t tried sitting up yet, mostly due to the clamp I had still around my waist. I learned that yesterday when Alex woke from his nap.
I heard Frankie snort. “Maman voulait un d'entre nous de vous appeler quand nous reprenons la route. Nous devrions atteindre Toronto vers 11 heures. Devrons-nous apporter le café? (Mom wanted one of us to call you when we hit the road. We should reach Toronto around 11 hours. Will we have to bring the coffee?)” I sighed, they were calling because mom told them to and would be here at about 11. Only my family would think 6:25 a.m. was a good time to call.
Before I could form an answer Alex woke up and then stood up. “Je dois aller Frankie, Alex vient de se réveiller. Quand vous frappez Oshwa, appelez à nouveau. Je ne pense pas que nous allons être en mouvement jusqu'à ce que après le déjeuner. Kris et Marc veulent obtenir du temps de gymnase ce matin. (I have to go Frankie, Alex just woke up. When you hit Oshwa call again. I do not think we'll be moving until after lunch. Kris and Marc want to get gym time this morning.) I then began to slowly work myself out from under the clamp of Kris’ arm.
Frankie laughed aloud. “Parlez-en à vous plus tard sis. Ne pas faire tout ce que nous ne serions pas! (Talk to you later sis. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t!)” He laughed some more as he hung up. Just after Frankie hung up, Alex let out a happy squeal.
I waved at Alex as I slid out from underneath Kris’ arm. Kris tried to keep me pinned but I was mostly out from under him when he tried to pull me back. I went over and picked up Alex. “Bon matin, petit homme. (Good morning little man.)” He tucked his head on my shoulder briefly while I grabbed his bag and took him out into the living room.
20 minutes after Alex and I came out into the living room, I heard my alarm going off. Then I heard an alarm from the other room. I flipped the coffee maker on then and waited for the aroma to bring the zombies to me. Meanwhile I changed Alex into an outfit for breakfast. Once the coffee was ready Kris came out scratching his head. “Bon Matin. (Good Morning.)”
“Morning. I hope my brother calling didn’t wake you like it did the little man here.” Alex was holding onto my fingers and standing with a smile on his face. Kris shook his head no and headed for the coffee. Marc came out shortly thereafter with Estelle, as he opened the door I heard the shower running. He set his little girl down next to me and then focused on the caffeine.
I picked up a sleepy Estelle and checked her, seeing that she needed a change and her papa was inhaling coffee, I took care of it. That made her a happier child. I set her down next to Alex and they began babbling at each other, happy babies in the morning were a wonderful thing.
Once they were caffeinated, Kris and Marc shooed me into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I came out feeling as ready for the day as I could. By this time Vero had joined the guys. Kris smiled at me as I came out. “Tu es superbe, prêt pour le jour et tout ce qu'il apporte. (You look great, ready for the day and all it brings.)” He touched me carefully as he passed me. “Donnez-moi quelques minutes et je serai prêt à aller. (Give me a few minutes and I'll be ready to go.)” He said it quietly to me as he went in to shower. It made me shiver a little. It sounded more intimate than he might have intended.
He closed the door behind him and I went over to the couch and the knowing looks of the two adults sitting there. I decided to ignore the looks I was getting from them and focus on Alex. “Just a few minutes and we’ll go E A T. Yes and then we will go meet Ava and her parents and have fun today.” Marc chuckled and went into their room, which gave Vero a chance to pounce.
“You aren’t fooling me, you like ‘im don’t you?” She moved over to sit _right_ next to me. “We saw t’at shiver you just did, don’ try to lie.” I was caught. “Don’t worry we won’ tell him. Marc says t’at ‘e was talking abou’ wha’ a great cook you are. T’at ‘e will ‘ave to work ‘ard not to gain weigh’ t’is season.” I blushed and chuckled.
“No, he won’t have to do that. I make healthy food that tastes good. Paula is a nutritionist, so she and I trade recipes. I have a whole book of stuff from her. Knowing her she’s going to want to make us dinner tonight. Before Adam and I reconnected I was eating like crap. Paula showed me that it wasn’t difficult to have healthy meals with a little work beforehand.” I smiled at the memory. Standing in their kitchen learning how to wash and prep veggies when you got home from the store so that the hard work was done when it came time to cook. “I don’t look like it now, but I was a lot bigger when I first met Paula than I am now.”
One of the doors had been opened behind us but I didn’t look to see who until Kris spoke. “T’ere is no way you ‘ave ever been a big girl.” He came over and sat down next to us, fresh from getting his own day started. “I would ‘ave seen some kind of sign.”
I full out laughed. “There’s a reason I like being outside. I walk as many places as possible and work out as much as I can. College did a number on me and I’ve worked hard to undo that number. Alex will get a lot of time outside when the weather cooperates. Why do you think we went over the stroller so carefully? It’s going to have to stand up to the weather and terrain.”
Just then Alex smacked Kris on the knees trying to get his attention. Of course it worked. Kris put a hand over Alex’s and spoke softly to him. “Qu'est-ce que mon fils? Avez-vous faim? Est-il temps de manger? Où est votre oncle Marc-André? Nous attendre sur de lui, encore une fois. (What is my son? Are you hungry? Is it time to eat? Where is your uncle Marc-Andre? We wait on him again.)” Alex punctuated Kris’ statements by smacking him some more on the leg. Little Man was definitely ready for food.
There was a laugh behind us. “Vous attendre personne. Venez, laissez-nous nourrir la famille a faim et ensuite aller être travaillé sur par Scary Gary. (You wait for nobody. Come, let us feed the hungry family and then going to be worked on by Scary Gary.)” We picked everything we would need for breakfast up and headed out.
After breakfast we moved a car seat and split up. The boys went to work out with Scary Gary and his other Pros while we waited for Paula and Ava. They were dropped off soon enough and the 6 of us went for a walk down the street to the Hockey Hall of Fame. We got halfway there when we noticed a line out the doors and down the block. When we asked someone why the line was so long, we were told it was Penguins Fan Day.
Vero turned to me with the most evil grin on her face. “Come we ‘ave to go back to t’e ‘otel.” You know it’s difficult to argue with someone who is nearly dragging you. When we got back into the room she went and grabbed one of their suitcases. “I looked up if t’ere was anyt’ing special going on ‘ere today.” She opened the bag and handed Paula a shirt. “I grabbed some gear t’at I ‘ave gotten over t’e years, or maybe for t’is occasion.” I’d known her for about a week and I already knew that tone of voice. Veronique was up to something. She then handed Paula another shirt. “For Ava.” She then continued. “We will be back in a minute.” Picking up Estelle she went into their room and mostly closed the door.
Paula unfolded the shirt for Ava, it was a cause we both always got behind, Hockey Fights Cancer. This was from 2011 and had a really cute bear on it. She then unfolded hers and found a simple Pens logo’d shirt. “Oh I like these, I may have to switch teams.” She changed Ava’s shirt and then her own, by that time V and Estelle were back.
“You look so good!” She then lifted the dress Estelle was wearing and showed off her Penguins onesie. It made me laugh. It had a cute checklist on it: Helmet, Ice Skates, Gloves, Hockey Stick and Diapers. Nothing like having the right onesie for la petite Fleur (the little Flower). Vero herself was still in jeans but color coordinated now with a black and white bag and a color blocked Pens shirt. I swear I didn’t know anyone else as stylish as she was.
“Now for la tenue parfaite. (the perfect outfit).” She pulled out a bag and handed it to me. “I ‘ad to beg Yannick to get t’is shirt from ‘im.” It was pink and white, not normally colors I wore a lot of. Opening it I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a Pink and White Property of Kasual 58 shirt. “N'est-il pas tout simplement parfait? Je avoir une chemise d'enfants avec Letang 58 sur le dos aussi, pour Alex. (Is not it just perfect? I have a kids shirt with Letang 58 on the back too, for Alex.)” She brought it out and showed it to Alex. “Avez-vous envie de porter le numéro de votre papa? (Do you want to wear the number of your papa?)” She changed him into the shirt while I begrudgingly changed mine.
“You’re trying to brand me already? I’ve only known you guys a week.” Vero waved a hand at me, making Paula laugh.
“A week and she already knows you prefer Defensemen, dang girl!” Vero looked pointedly at me and then at Paula who grinned. “Oh, she _didn’t_ know. Does she at least know _why_ you have this preference?” I flopped onto the couch and waved a hand, a gesture for her to continue and completely ruin my life. “You know she’s got 3 brothers right?” Vero nodded and sat next to me. “Do you know that the oldest is a goalie and the other two are forwards?” Gaping by Vero was accompanied by a chuckle from Paula. “Whenever they play all together, she’s the Ref. Rarely they can get a couple friends to play. She gravitated to watching the single position she didn’t understand from watching her family. It’s stuck, according to Adam, her whole life.” That was it, I mimicked shooting myself in the head and played dead. Vero would not stop now until she got me together with _some_ Defenseman, hopefully preferably Kris.
Once Vero and Paula had bonded over embarrassing me, yes Paula got told of what happened this morning as Kris passed me and she squealed appropriately, we headed back out to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Pittsburgh Penguins Day at it. It didn’t actually take us too long to get inside now that we had Pens gear on. There was a fast line for those with gear on. Getting inside we stopped first in the Entrance Foyer. Wow, that was a lot of pucks on that wall… I read the plaque that said there were almost 1300 pucks in this display alone. Then I noticed the M*A*S*K display. I pulled out my camera and began picking and choosing masks to take shots of for Frankie.
As was tradition, at least for Paula, she told us to choose a statue to stand under and she’d take our picture. V and I looked at each other and went to the one of Ken Dryden. All 5 of us, 2 adults and 3 children, fit underneath his arms easily. We looked through the NHL Legends display but did not take any pictures. Then came the 2013 Captains Display, all game worn jerseys from each of the 30 Captains in the NHL. Between the three of us we could name every person represented. We didn’t get a chance to really look at the Ring Display, it was crowded with people looking at it.
We did get a chance to look at the PHATS / SPHEM Wall of Honour (Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society (PHATS) and the Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers (SPHEM)) and all the honorees there upon. Most people wouldn’t care too much but we all knew that often it was these gentlemen who put the players back together or kept them from getting too hurt. V asked me to take good pictures of it if I could for the crew in Pittsburgh.
The next area we took our time in was the replica Canadiens dressing room. Ava, having been here multiple times before, walked in and sat down under Jacques Plante’s nameplate. It was too cute so I took a shot of her sitting there like she owned it. I took Alex out of the stroller and let him hold onto the bench. He rocked a little bit and then began stepping like he was trying to walk. I grabbed my camera and began taking a series of pictures of him doing this. After a little bit he stopped and plopped down on his butt. I couldn’t help but smile, he was almost ready to get into _everything_.
Before we left the dressing room I made sure to get a panorama of the quote; Nos bras meurtris vous tendent le flambeau a vous toujours de le porter bien haut! (to you from failing hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high!) Even though we lived just outside of Ottawa, Frankie always wanted to go see the Canadiens play.
We went through the Dynasty Display a bit faster, mostly because we didn’t want to jinx the chances of Marc being the goalie to do it again. We skipped the TSN Theatre’s film, Stanley’s Game Seven for the same reason.
That brought us to Panasonic’s Hometown Hockey exhibit. It was really cool seeing all the memorabilia from all over the continent. As we were going through Vero squealed and hauled us over to a display. “Look it’s Aleks’ jersey from ‘er las’ Championship Game in college! Here are Mari’s gloves too!” I didn’t know who Aleks was besides the little man in front of me, who was now starting to droop, nor did I have a clue as to who Mari was either. “Take a picture of me wit’ t’is please Kallie. ‘hey will love it w’en we go back to da Burgh!” I lined up the shot with Vero and Estelle in it and then, just as I was going to _take_ the picture, I heard another squeal behind me.
“Oh My God! It _IS_ you!” Not knowing what was going on I didn’t like it when Alex and I were unceremoniously shoved out of the way and a pair of girls crowded Vero and Estelle. They looked barely legal as they spoke quickly and over each other. I checked on Alex and found he was mostly asleep, that was a good thing.
Turning back to Vero and the squeal twins, I saw that she was taking this in stride. “Girls! Girls! Please stop. We were about to take some pictures wit’ t’e display for Aleks and Mari. I will take pictures wit’ you _after_ we get ours. No, you can no’ take picture of Estelle while you wait.” She turned to Paula and rattled off a question. “Paula auriez-vous s'il vous plaît prendre sa tandis que nous prenons les photos? Je préférerais ne pas l'avoir notre fille partout sur l'internet sorte bientôt. (Paula would you please take her while we take photos? I would prefer not to have our daughter all over the interne so soon.)
Paula spoke less French than most people I know, but she rolled with Vero easily. She took and covered Estelle while Vero and I took a couple pictures with the gear she mentioned. The squeal twins seemed disappointed by this turn of events, I was just glad they hadn’t noticed Alex yet. Afterwards Vero kindly took a couple pictures with them and disappointed them by answering truthfully that Marc-Andre was _not_ in the building..
After that encounter we hit the NHLPA’s Be A Player Zone. As you would think, it was crowded. Fortunately the lines seemed to be moving right along. We watched as it got closer and closer to our turns. Then it was Vero’s turn to get out on the simulated ice and let loose her inner goalie. She didn’t do half bad either, although I think years of being with her husband had something to do with it.
Paula was next and was really bad at it, but she was smiling and trying hard so the gathered crowd cheered her on. Ava was too small which left it to me. Setting the game to rookie, I stood there and waited. I actually stopped 3 “pucks”, although I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to have a bruise on my knee from dropping without pads.
Getting to the other half of the game Vero and Paula did better than they expected, although Paula commented as she came off. “I’ll stick to watching and learning to skate thanks.”
When it was my turn I found a good stick and lined myself up. I had fired on goalies before, besides Frankie even. I got three shots behind the computer goalie before he was able to stop one. I heard a familiar camera clicking and turned in time to see Paula taking a few shots of me out here. I just shook my head and went back to the game. I ended up surprising even myself, having only had 1 shot get by the goalie and not having missed a single target.
We skipped the Broadcast Zone, none of us wanted to even try our hands at that. We did _not, however skip the NHL Slapshot Zone. We grabbed controllers and “fought” head to head for a few minutes. There might have been some light pushing and chirping, but overall it was a friendly game. Paula commented at how uneven Vero and I were matched. “Kallie you should just give her one or two, it would make it fair.” She said laughing at how I was defending against her.
“All’s fair in Love and Hockey.” I said, as I deked her guy out of his skates and made my way to the crease. “Besides I like video games and I think the Wii is the best console. They mostly have family friendly games and you move a lot with them.”
I caught an evil look cross Vero’s face again before she took a shot on my goalie and got it past him. “Oh that reminds me, I made sure that all of your games were packed. I had to do it myself to keep Adam from hijacking them, but you’ll have them all.”
I grinned. “Thanks, I know you like some of those titles. I just wish I had had my console stolen, not like I can play them right now.” Yeah I had my tiny place broken into a few months ago, they took my Wii and the TV it was attached to. They left everything else alone. The police never found either the TV or the Wii but they had caught who was breaking into places.
We skipped the Game Time Trivia and Upper Deck Collectors’ Corner, both kids were asleep and we waned a chance to sit for a few minutes. That meant we did _not_ skip the Tim Horton’s Theatre. We got in just before the film started, the 40th Anniversary Tribute to the 1972 Summit Series. I’d heard about this series before, how important and ground breaking but to see it through the actual film was wonderful.
After the film we went into Tissot’s World of Hockey Zone. It was a huge area and had an incredible amount of interesting things to see. We made our way slowly through looking at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Hall of Fame, to see the builders and legends of the game around the world was awe-inspiring. The relatively small Triple Gold Club display was kind of surprising. It takes a hell of a lot of work to win World Championship Gold, Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup.
The next series of display cases was about the Top 100 Moments in International Hockey. Vero snickered as we got near one display. “Take my picture wit’ t’is would you? I can embarrass Sidney and his wife wit’ the shots t’en.” Of course I took the pictures for her. I knew who Sidney Crosby was, I didn’t know much about his wife though.
There was so much to look at and take in that we nearly missed the display on Women’s International Hockey. Women have been playing the game nearly as long as men, it was just too bad that they weren’t as recognized for it. Vero was grinning as she read it. “I ‘ope t’at Aleks wins ‘er appeal wit’ t’e IIHF so she can play wit’ t’e boys in Sochi, she ‘as won t’e Stanley Cup and t’at is ‘arder to win. She also won t’e Calder t’is year too.” Now I put the pieces together and figured out who Aleks was, Aleks Malakhov/Crosby.
We decided the loud Global Game Encounter could wait for another day when the children weren’t sleeping and went on to the Esso Great Hall. It was a lot quieter in here, which made sense as this was where the trophies of the NHL were kept and where the glass portraits of the 370 Hall of Fame members were as well. We steered ourselves towards the glass panels first, to look at the honoured members first. From all ages of the North American game and both sides of the border, these are the greats and builders of the game. If Hockey was like Catholicism this would be its Vatican, it’s high holy place of worship. Ok so it’s a bad analogy but it’s the one I thought of while walking and reading the names on the panels.
When we were done looking at the panels, _then_ we began looking at the trophies of the NHL. We started with the individual awards, as there was a large crowd now around the Stanley Cup. Reading about each award, how it started and some of the winners was a who’s who list for the NHL’s best players through the years. When we had read all of them we found that the line had died again for looking at the replica Cup. Yes the Stanley Cup they let the players handle is technically a replica. The original bowl is still in the Hall of Fame, as with the retired expansions.
When we were asked if we wanted to take a picture with the Stanely Cup, Vero waved off the photographer. “No t’anks, we ‘ave ‘ad private pictures wit’ it already.”
“Are you sure? How often do you think you’ll get to touch the Cup?” He was trying hard, I’ll give him that.
Vero was firm though. “I said non, I am sure w’en my husband and ‘is team win it again t’is year we will be able to ‘ave pictures taken again.” Of course this is when Alex woke up with a wail.
Immediately I was around the stroller and pulling him out to calm him down. The photographer noticed both my shirt and Alex’s and tried working on the two of us. “Are you sure? I know that Letang has his name engraved on it. It would be a nice memento of your visit.”
With a now calm Alex in my arms I stood up and took a critical look at where the NHL’s most hallowed trophy stood. “Without my light meter I can’t be certain but I believe this light is too harsh to show off the brilliance of the Cup to it’s true potential. Add in that the backdrop is too reflective and I definitely say no.” I went around and picked up my own camera and showed it to him.
He seemed to understand exactly what I was getting at. “Another professional, that explains it. What are you doing here?”
I laughed and looked at Vero, hoping that she would forgive the minor lie I was about to give. “When Vero said she had never been, I couldn’t stand that and had to fix it. It’s also a wonderful way to get a chance to show my boyfriend and his son another side of Toronto.” I bumped shoulders with Paula. “Of course meeting friends is also a great thing.” Paula bumped back and grinned at me.
The official photographer gaped a little bit and then the pieces fell together. “I am sorry Miss, I was unaware that some of the Pittsburgh ladies would be here today. If I would have known…”
Vero waved a hand. “We did not want special treatment so of course we told no one. If you’ll excuse us, the kids are starting to wake up and will need to be fed again soon.” We made our way away from him and found ourselves outside the inner entrance to the Spirit of Hockey Retail Store. Out side it were more goalies masks, older ones than those in the front. I took some shots of them and made sure to get one with nearly everyone in front of the sculpture “In The Crease” then Paula took herself and Ava out and put me and Alex in more firmly. She knew how to take good shots too, which is the only reason she got her hands on my cameras. Once that was done, we left through the retail front. We didn’t want or need to spend money on jerseys and t-shirts here.
We all laughed all the way back to the hotel, no one even mentioning the white lie I had told. Once in the room and face to face with the guys again, however I knew something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”
Kris sighed. “I ‘ave to tell ‘er, she ‘as a right to know.” Marc nodded and Kris looked at me, not noticing what we were wearing. “I called Ray to see if we could get you a visa so t’at you can be wit’ us in Pittsburgh. ‘e said t’at I can not ‘ave my nanny come so easily but my girlfriend, she could get a visa easily.” He stopped for a moment and then continued. “T’e problem wit’ t’is is t’at t’e whole team knew about t’e problem Cat and I ‘ad at t’e end of the season and t’ey want to check out you and your background.” He kind of smiled a little bit. “Do you t’ink your family would mind meeting Mario and his family?”
Shock, absolute shock, that’s what happened to me. I felt someone guide me to sit on the couch but I couldn’t really think. I even heard Paula take up the thread of the conversation. “You’ll have to forgive her. From what I understand about Kallie and her family, Mario was her mother’s favorite player. She always said he would do very well but didn’t live long enough to see him lift the Cup at all.” She was holding me while explaining this.
Like a automaton I reached for my phone and dialed a number I knew all too well. Maman answered. “Maman, tu peux obtenir papa sur le téléphone trop s'il vous plaît. (Mom, can you get dad on the phone too please.)” I heard her call for her and then he picked up the phone. “Papa, le patron de Kris veut rencontrer les gars. (Dad, boss Kris wants to meet guys.)” He asked the fateful question. “Non, papa pas M. Shero, son autre patron ... Oui, qui est celui-là. (No, not Mr. Shero dad, his other boss ... Yes, that's the one.)” My dad gasped and then accused me of lying, which made me defensive. “Non je ne mens pas, Kris vient de me dire. Ici, parlez-lui vous-même. (No I'm not lying, Kris tells me. Here, talk to him yourself.)” I handed Kris the phone and sat there. My entire life I had heard how big a fan my mom was of so many teams and players, but she had a special place for Mario Lemieux.
Vero had taken Alex out of his stroller; he made a beeline on his knees for me. Getting to me, he pulled himself up carefully. Pretty soon he was smacking me on the knees and babbling at me. He’d done that ever since I had gotten him up my first real day on the job. This time, however, he did something no one expected. I was watching Kris talk to my dad instead of paying attention to Alex, apparently that upset him. He had started saying mamama in the last couple days. So, to gain my attention, he smacked me _hard_ on the knee and shouted “MAMA!”
Immediately and without thinking I looked down to him. That caused Alex to smile broadly and say it again. “Mama.”
Kris stopped talking and turned around slowly. “Nous devons appeler en arrière. Mon fils vient d'appeler votre fille maman. (We have to call back. My son just called your daughter mama.)” I heard my dad gasp and then ask if we were ok with this turn of phrase. “Non, nous ne sommes pas mécontents à ce sujet, tout simplement abasourdi. (No, we are not unhappy about it, just stunned.)” Dad must have asked again because Kris restated what I think he really meant. “Il est tout à fait surprenant, il n'a pas dit ça avant, sauf lorsque babillage. (It is completely surprising, he has not said this before, except when babbling.)” They quickly said goodbye after that and Kris came over to kneel by Alex.
Alex looked at Kris as he knelt down, then little man looked at me and said that word again. “Mama.” He then smacked Kris on the face and said. “Dada.”
“C'est exact mon grand garçon, je suis ton papa. Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? (That's right my big boy, I'm your daddy. What do you want?)” Alex just smacked him again in response. He swooped Alex up and spun him around a little bit, making Alex laugh. That is when he noticed the shirts. “W’en did you ge’ t’is shirt?”
Vero piped up. “It is Penguins Fan Day at t’e Hall of Fame today. We needed to blend in.” Kris turned around again and looked at all of us. His head cocked a bit when he saw what I was wearing. He came over and offered me a hand to stand up. I took it and he took a good look at my shirt. Vero, being helpful, continued. “Yannick let me buy the last one. I t’ought because you wear a lo’ of Kasual clothes, she should ‘ave somet’ing.”
Kris had a hold of my hand still when he spoke again. “Excusez-nous, nous devons parler en privé. (Excuse us, we need to talk in private.)” He pulled me away from everyone and into the room we had shared. After closing the door and moving us away from the door, he started the conversation. “Are you ok?”
I stood there, trying to put my thoughts into words. When I finally was able to do so, I looked at Kris. “Um, I think so. If Mario wants to vet me, why didn’t you give them what your lawyer found? Why does he want to meet my family?”
Kris shook his head. “I _did_ give t’em wha’ my lawyer found, Mario wants to know that I am no’ being taken advantage of I t’ink. Meeting your family will give ‘im an idea of wha’ kind of person you are too.”
I sighed and sat on the bed. “So if we pass this, what then? I mean I feel guilty about lying to the pushy photog at the Hall of Fame that we were together, how are we going to convince him we are?”
Kris smiled and sat down with Alex next to me. “Kalista, we won’ have to lie to Mario. Let me say t’at again, I _won’t_ lie to Mario. ‘e will know t’at we are no’ together, he says he wants to meet you t’ough and I can’t tell ‘im no. You don’t tell t’e big boss no.”
I nodded. He was right, telling someone the truth was the right thing to do, so I tackled the _other_ topic hanging between us. “Well hopefully he will find that I’m someone that makes you easier to be around. Tell me truly, how do you feel about Alex calling me what he did?” Alex bent over backwards in Kris’ arms when I said his name and started babbling again.
Kris shook his head. “Honestly, you are a better maman than Cat has been or wants to be. You truly care for him and I. It bot’ered me w’en t’ey were all trying to get your attention yesterday. T’ey were all asking me for your number today, t’at bot’ered me too.” He put Alex down on the bed behind him and turned to face me properly. “I ‘ave been t’inking abou’ t’is. Moving you in ‘ere for t’e nap and sleeping wit’ you las’ night, I have no’ felt as peaceful and whole in a long time.”
I smiled and looked at the bedspread. I knew how he felt exactly. “Was this before or after clamping on my waist so I couldn’t move?” Yeah I was teasing him a little bit. He blushed lightly and chuckled. “You should know that Paula has told Vero that Defensemen are my favorite players. I saw an evil look in V’s eyes after that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to push us together.”
Kris ran his fingers down my cheek. “Would it be pushing if _we_ chose it? T’ey say that babies are smarter t’an some adults, could t’is be a case of t’at?”
“Let’s just take this one day at a time for now. Let’s make sure we can live with each other before we do anything we can’t take back. If in a month or so, after we get to know each other better we can revisit this. If Alex keeps calling me mama and we feel that we can work on a relationship as well as caring for him, we can try.” I hated to tell him this, cause well let’s face it Kris is hot! I also didn’t want to jump into anything that would in the end hurt them.
“That is no’ a no, t’at is a no’ right now. Correct?” I nodded. “I can work wit’ t’at.” He leaned in a lightly brushed his lips to mine. “T’e nex’ mont’ is going to drag.” He whispered while he was close.
“It will fly by, we’ll be busy with the little man and getting ready for the season.” We smiled at each other and put our foreheads together. We stayed like that until Alex decided that he wasn’t getting enough attention and head-butted us. After much laughter by all of us, we went back out and decided to go back to Adam and Paula’s to plan the rest of the day.
♠ ♠ ♠
Minions... Yep she calls her brothers minions...Minion #1 (Francois's) Ring tone is here.
Minion #2 (Benjamin's) Ring Tone is here.
Minion #3 (Dominic's) Ring Tone is here.
Kalista and Alex's outfits for the day.
Vero and Estelle's outfits.
Pens Gear for all... I tried to capture the person's essence in their name underneath the shirt they are wearing.
The official website for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Having never been there myself I did my tour via that Exhibit Tour menu, hopefully I will change this sometime soon.
The Wikipedia entry for the NHL awards, a neat thing to go read. Has when the award started, what it is given for and who the current holder is.
No, I will not apologize for how long this is! However, other questions and comments I welcome and do my best to answer.
And finally for reading this incredibly long post all the way to the end there is this reward.