Keep It Kasual

Packing the car and trailer up with 10 guys took no time at all, I got to talk to Carey Price while we did it too. Most of what we talked about was how his workouts differ from skaters workouts. When he asked why I was wondering I told him who my brother was. That put a grin on his face and got him talking about what he did differently. Between him and Marc-Andre I had a good idea of what I could do to help Frankie’s workouts be more tailored to him, it was a complaint he had about who he worked with. “Honestly, he needs to have some endurance but flexibility is more important. I hope that helps. Hey, have you ever ridden a horse?” The rest of the guys around us groaned.

I snickered. Yes, I knew he was a cowboy goalie; no I didn’t care. “Not in several years but yes I have. My Aunt Jayne owns a horse farm outside of Thunder Bay. She’s told me several times I was welcome to come by but I’ve been busy with life.” Honestly I had been busy with life and trying to survive, vacations just weren’t in my budget.

He nodded. “At least you have been riding though. If you ever get to B.C. in the summer look me up. There’s a chance I’ll be at home.” We exchanged numbers. “Besides, this way you’ll know someone in Montreal.”

I shook my head. “No, more like I’ll know _two_ people who play for the Habs.” He looked at me oddly, as did some of the other guys. “Danny Briere lives across the street from my folks in the summers. You want a challenge? Watch my 3 brothers and his 3 boys all at once. Been there, survived that.”

5 hours later we pulled into my folks driveway. As I turned my Traverse off and got out I heard Alex screaming in Kris’ car. I went over and took him out of the car. He kicked and screamed as I did so as well. Once I had him out and was _trying_ to cuddle him, I also tried calming him. “Mon fils, pourquoi pleures-tu? Que s'est-vous si bouleversé? (My son, why are you crying? What has you so upset?)”

I closed the door and walked with him for a little bit over the driveway. Kris had stayed in his car, massaging his temples. I walked up and down the driveway for 3 or 4 minutes before Alex calmed down enough to notice he wasn’t in his car seat anymore, let alone that I was holding him. By that time he was sniffling more than screaming and crying and was holding on tightly to my clothes. I heard the front door open, it still creaked ever so slightly; then my dad came over to us. “Il a une bonne paire de poumons sur lui. (He has a good set of lungs on him.)”

We hugged sideways as I grinned. “I know. I’m not sure why he was so upset though. He was awake when I put him in the car.” I heard a car door opening and turned to see Kris getting out of his finally. “Everything ok? He’s _really_ upset.”

Without missing a beat Kris began rubbing Alex’s back while Alex was in my arms. “Il vous a manqué, et a continué à appeler pour vous. Ce fut la fin de l' s'adapter, il jeta. (He missed you, and continued to call for you. This was the end of the fit he threw.)”

I sighed. I felt horrible that Kris had to put up with that, then I had an idea. “Avez-vous me manquez, mon petit un? Peut-être que vous devriez venir avec moi demain, voulez-vous vouloir que? (Did I miss you, my little one? Maybe you should come with me tomorrow, do you want that?)” I caught Kris’ eye as I said that and he grinned at me.

Papa directed us inside soon after Alex was calm saying that dinner was ready. It was nice to have the entire family together again after several years of being apart. When we got inside I noticed that maman had redone the kitchen since I was here last. “Oh wow! This is lovely maman!”

She turned slightly from the stove and smiled. “Merci.” She turned back to the stove as I walked further into the kitchen with Alex.

It had been dark and rather depressing but now all of the cabinets were painted white. As I got closer I noticed the new apron sink and tiled walls. “Maman, you didn’t tell me you redid the kitchen. When did you do this?”

“Did I not? It was not long ago t’at we finished it I do not think. No, we finished it before t’e boys came home. I love it.” She came over and kissed my temple, she’d always done that as our special greeting. “T’is must be Alexander.” The she noticed the tear streaked face he had. “Ma fille, il a pleuré, avez-vous pincez lui? (My daughter, he cried, did you pinch him?)”

She began carefully wiping his face with a clean kitchen towel. “Non, maman. He threw a fit in the car. I don’t think he liked being apart from me.” Alex wasn’t moving or being his normal ‘I hate me face being touched’ self, boy was this kid upset. “I’ll have him with me tomorrow for the ride back to Montreal. That should help.”

“Qu'en est-il son papa? Comment peut-il vous traite? (What about his papa? How does he treat you?)” She had moved back to the stove and Alex had turned to follow what she was doing. Small progress, but good as well.

I leaned against the counter away from the stove and sighed. “We get along just fine. He trusts that I will always do what’s best for Alex. We’re on the same page with how he wants Alex raised. It surprised us all when Alex called me Mama the other day; we’ve talked about that too. Kris doesn’t mind as long as I don’t. We actually were thinking of drawing up some legal papers so I could care for him when Kris is on road trips where I can take Alex to the doctor and such.” I leaned closer to her and whispered. “Je l'aime vraiment maman, mais nous avons convenu que nous devons apprendre à vivre les uns avec les autres. Nous parlerons peut-être faire plus en un mois. Je ne veux pas faire n'importe quoi et ensuite découvrir que nous ne s'entendent pas. (I really like him mom, but we agreed that we must learn to live with each other. We may talk about doing more in a month. I do not want to do anything and then discover that we do not get along.)”

She smiled at me. “Eh bien, au moins vous êtes intelligent à ce sujet. Le bébé doit venir en premier avant toute autre chose. Maintenant, appelez le dîner de garçons est prêt. (Well, at least you're smart about it. The baby should come first before anything else. Now, call the boys dinner is ready.)” She put the last dish on the table and that’s when I noticed that there was a high chair. She held her hands out to Alex. “Viens ici grand garcon. Mama obtiendra la famille et puis nous allons dîner. (Come here big boy. Mama get the family and then we'll have dinner.)”

Alex must have understood that Maman was someone he could trust as he went right to her. I smiled and left the kitchen for the living room. “Attention, il ya la nourriture sur la table. Ne pas effrayer le bébé ou vous répondrez de à moi. (Attention, there is food on the table. Do not scare the baby or you will answer to me.)” They all laughed and got up carefully.

Unlike most people when they were meeting someone new, like a girlfriend or boyfriend, would have a formal dinner, my family always just welcomed them like family. Not only did it put the new person at ease, it let everyone ask questions more freely. Tonight was no exception. Kris, Alex and I were seated close together with maman on the other side of Alex. The conversation flowed as well as the food. Of course papa asked Kris what he really wanted me in his life for.

Kris put down his utensils and looked my father in the eye. “Je ne vais pas vous mentir monsieur. D'abord, elle est la soignant d'Alex. Il est l'attraction, oui, mais jusqu'à ce que nous sommes sûrs que les choses n'iront pas mal, nous ne ferons rien. Ni de nous ne veut blesser personne. (I will not lie to you sir. First she is the caregiver of Alex. There is attraction, yes, but until we are sure that things do not go wrong, we will do nothing. Neither of us wants to hurt anyone.)” Fortunately I knew ahead of time that he would be telling the truth so I didn’t choke on the drink I had just taken. The same could not be said for my brothers.

Needless to say the conversation turned from the upcoming season and workouts to just exactly what we were thinking. Kris got lucky and had to excuse himself to answer his phone. I got the third degree. After a few questions that were too personal, I halted the interrogation. “Ok enough! Nothing is happening right now, Kris and I have _agreed_ on that. I don’t ask any of you about your sex lives so I would appreciate the same in return. Yes we are attracted to each other and there has been a sharing of a bed, which was because there was only 1 bed in the room. Not to mention Alex was in the room too. You know, the young child both of us think of first, that happens to be sitting right here?”

Kris came back in with a smile on his face. “Good news, Mario ‘as no problem coming for t’e afternoon to meet you all.” You now could hear a pin drop and _I_ remembered what I had forgotten to tell my family.

“Well you forgot his baptism and in all the excitement and chaos of moving, I think I forgot to call.” I said, trying to make it seem lighter than it really was.

Dad leaned back in his chair a little and sighed. “So I guess neither of you were lying. I did no’ tell anyone.”

Kris tugged me up and handed me his phone. “He needs t’e address.” Oh, yeah. I quickly took the phone and heard the chuckling on the phone.

“You heard that then. You should know beforehand that my papa is Marc Brassard from Le Droit.” I said as I moved into the living room. I sat down on the couch and had to smile as Mario spoke.

“I am well aware of who your parents are and your brothers as well. Has Kris told you why I want to meet you and them before I sign off on your visa?” I heard a loud squeal come from the kitchen and had to just shake my head.

“Yes sir, I don’t blame you either. I can’t say that most of us won’t be awed at first, I am hoping that it doesn’t get too bad. Oh you should also know that Daniel Briere lives near us and his sons may come by if they find out I’m in town at all.” There was another chuckle on the phone.

“I am sure I can handle that as well. I am planning on being there at about noon or so, if that is ok.” I assured him it was fine and then gave him the address. “We’re at 94 Rue de Bourdon, Gatineau.” I heard a few keys clicking and then Mario amended his arrival time. “Actually it looks like I am only about 2 hours away from you instead of further. I could be able to be there at 10 roughly if that is alright.”

“Anytime between 10 and noon is fine, this way if something happens on your end that needs your attention, hopefully you won’t feel as torn. In fact if any of the rest of your family wishes to come as well they would be welcome too.” I knew that if I didn’t extend the invitation maman would have my hide. He thanked me but was unsure if anyone else would be coming with him.

Soon after I was back in the kitchen and seeing maman feeding Alex. They both looked in their element, after all Alex liked to eat and maman loved babies. I grabbed my camera and took a couple shots of them; it was too cute with everyone else in the background. After I got those, I sat back down and handed Kris his phone. “He said he’d be here between 10 and noon. I don’t know if anyone else will be coming with him.”

After dinner Maman insisted on taking care of Alex, I think she was smitten, and told Kris and I to get lost for an hour or so. We hadn’t had a child free evening so we were both a little lost. So we did what we were told, taking his car, we drove for a little bit before an idea hit him. “Do you need an outfit for t’e baptism? We could go find t’at.”

That’s how we ended up at the St. Laurent Centre in Ottawa. We did look at a few of the kids’ shops for things for Alex, but nothing jumped out at us. Then he saw Lids. He went right in and began looking at the Pens stuff. “I don’t mind if you brand me, but do we have to do it _here?”

He chuckled. “I guess no’. Let us go find you somet’ing to wear.” We went into Laura, a women’s store in the mall. Now normally a guy in a women’s store gets a lot of attention, Kris was the exception apparently. While I was looking at the skirts trying to find one I liked, he was looking through various dresses. Mind you he had no idea what size I needed, he seemed to be looking at them and if he liked them he would pull one out and hang in sideways. It was an interesting way to shop.

I finally gave up and went to look at the dresses when I found nothing I would wear in skirts and tops. That’s when I started going and looking at the dresses he had moved out on the racks. As I looked through I found that Kris had a very good eye for color and pattern. Some I thought were too long for me so I tucked those back in their racks. Others had no personality, no pop, so they got put back. In the end I had 4 dresses all picked by Kris that I could no longer choose from.

Kris came over to see what I had chosen. “Oh I like t’ose. You are no’ afraid of color and pattern are you?” He picked up the purple ombre dress and held it up to me. Something must have not been right as he put that one away himself. “Your eyes do no’ pop wit’ t’at one. No good.” I smiled. He was looking for a dress that made my eyes pop, that was something I didn’t expect. Picking up the chevron pattern dress, he held it up. He was shaking his head and putting it back on the rack soon enough too. “You do no’ look good in blue and purple.

Before he could say anymore I took the last two dresses and went into the dressing room. I first came out in the Geometric Daisy Print Dress. This dress was lovely. I wasn’t falling out of it, in fact I was covered up where I needed to be and yet showed a little bit of skin beneath the print. I liked this dress but it was a little bit long for my tastes. “I like this, but I’m thinking it’s just a little too long.”

“W’at do you mean, you look great?” Kris said back. He turned me around and finished doing up the back. “I would definitely take you ou’ in t’is dress.” He put his chin on my shoulder and turned us towards the mirror. “It shows not’ing and still t’ere is somet’ing.”

I laughed. “Let me try the other one on and _then we’ll decide.” I slipped out of his grasp and back to change dresses. As soon as I put the final dress on, I knew it was the winner. It was an empire-waist dress that was an abstract pattern, or at least looked like one. The bottom was panels that folded gently from the waist to the hem. This particular dress had more of the teal colors in it than the blue and purple, along with black and white. I stepped out of the dressing room with a smile on my face. “I love it.”

Kris stepped back and took a good look. “No’ too much blue and purple, t’e teal makes your pretty green eyes stan’ out.” He turned me around and finished the back up. “It does no’ hide as well as t’e ot’er one did but you look wonderful in it. Oui, I agree, t’is is t’e one.” He undid the dress and let me go change back into my clothes. “Do you ‘ave all t’e ot’er t’ings you need for t’is?”

“You mean like a purse, shoes and such?” He confirmed. “I don’t have a lot of jewelry but I’m sure I can find something that will work in my stuff.” I came out with both dresses and put the daisy print back on the returns rack.

“I ‘ave some jewelry you can wear, if you wan’.” I looked at him as if he’d been replaced by something. “I go’ it before Cat and I ended it, never gave it to ‘er, she never saw it. In fact I brought it to Montreal t’is summer and t’en she pulled all t’is crap.” He pulled out his phone and found what they looked like online. “T’is is t’em.” He showed me the image of a ring that had a heart in diamonds and a rose gold infinity symbol.

“Those are gorgeous. Are you sure?” We were now approaching the counter.

He just _looked at me. “Of course I am sure. I will no’ give t’em to ’er, she does no’ deserve t’em anymore. I would love it if you wore t’em.” He stopped me then, which told me that the topic was closed. He paid for the dress and then we were on our way back to my folks’ place.

At 7 am the next morning I heard the melodious sounds of Alex chirping as he woke fully. I slid out of bed and pulled him up before he could wake Kris. We padded out into the living room and I quickly changed him. Being that it was Saturday morning, I knew that most of my family would be sleeping until later. I made Alex’s breakfast and some coffee for myself and sat down to feed the hungry boy.

Midway through Frankie stumbled into the kitchen. “Café ... Qui a fait cela? (Coffee ... Who has done this?)” He poured himself a cup and sat down near us.

“I did. Knowing the way the house normally is on a Saturday I thought it would be nice to have some already made for early risers.” Frankie saluted me with his cup and took a drink. The rapture on his face after was reward enough. “Hey you wanna go for a run?” He seemed to perk up a little at that. “I was thinking our usual route if you’re up for it.”

Frankie smiled. “Nous n'avons pas été sur une course dans un temps long, surtout pas à la maison. Je peux y aller. Il a toujours été un bon entraînement. (We have not been on a run in a long time, especially not at home. I can go. It has always been a good workout.)” We had, over years, built up a route that he and I ran everyday we were at home and together. Both he and I ran most days no matter the weather, it kept us in shape for one and gave us some time just the two of us where we could talk and such.

“Let me finish feeding this little guy and we can take him too. Write a note for everyone else and then go get ready.” He grunted and I turned back to feeding Alex his breakfast. After Frankie went back upstairs and Alex was finished eating, I took him upstairs to get myself ready for our run. As we carefully went into the room, we found Kris awake and dressed for a run. “Morning. You look like you’re ready to go for a run. Frankie and I were going to go on our usual route if you want to join us.” I put Alex on the bed and found my own running gear. “He’s been fed already and there’s coffee downstairs. We were going to take him with us, test out the stroller for what it’s supposed to do.”

Kris grinned. “J'aimerais me joindre à vous. Comment rugueuse d'un sentier est-il? (I would like to join you. How rough of a trail is it?)” He was keeping Alex busy while I changed into my gear.

I thought about it for a moment. “Um… about a third off our route is off road. It’s all hilly though. We run down this street until it ends and then we’re off road until we hit Rue le Gallois. Until Rue du Sommelier we’re on streets and then we follow the power lines until we hit Rue Saint Louis. That turns into Montee de la Source and we turn off it at Chemin Whissell. When we hit Rue Clermont we make the decision of which way we’ll go. Either we go around Chemin Denis or we continue on Rue Clermontuntil it turns into Rue des Tourterelles and then take Rue de Bouchette until it hit Rue de Mont Joel which ends at Chemin Denis. Then it’s Montee des Erables to home. It’s a long route but it makes a good workout because of the elevation changes. It takes a hour or so if we get moving quick we’ll be back before Mario is here.”

He scooped Alex up off the bed and laughed. “I will go ge’ t’e stroller out of t’e car so we can go sooner.” Alex grinned and giggled turning Kris’ attention to his son. “Viens mon fils, nous allons nous préparer à aller, afin que maman peut joindre à nous plus tôt. (Come, my son, let us prepare to go, so that Mom can join us sooner.)” They left the room and I finished pulling my clothes on.

By the time I joined them outside it was almost 8 am. Frankie and Kris were trying to figure out how to stop the front wheel from moving. “Guys it isn’t this difficult.” I reached down and turned the tracking adjustment knob and the front wheel locked into place. “Let’s go, I’m feeling the itch.” With that our run began.

We followed the route and got back home finally at about 9:30. While we were breathing as if we had worked, none of us were out of breath. As I parked the stroller and went around to see Alex I heard three voices I hadn’t heard in a year. “KALLIE!” I turned to see all three of the Briere boys running towards me.

“BOYS!” I hollered back as I stood and let them semi-tackle me. Caelan, Carson and Cameron all hugged me tightly. I didn’t notice at first that we were no longer alone.

In a little bit I heard a not so discreet coughing coming from behind the boys and looked up to see Danny standing there with 2 others. “Good Morning Kalista. Did you enjoy your run?”

I laughed as the boys let go of me. “Always. We ran the whole circuit which tells me that we’re all in good shape.” Alex kicked and babbled in his stroller so without even worrying about it I took him out and hoisted him onto my hip. “Even Alex enjoyed himself.”

Danny grinned over his coffee mug. “Good. Kalista these are two former teammates of mine. Claude, who I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about from the boys, and Scott.” I nodded at them both trying to be nice for Danny’s sake. “Wait, you ‘ave met Hartsy before, last summer I t’ink.”

I nodded carefully as advice from maman, and reinforced by Thumper, ran through my head. Unfortunately Scott had no such filter it seemed. “Oh yeah! You were with that kid last year. You said he was your brother.”

Caelan cocked his head at me as if to silently ask which one it was. Fortunately I was fluent. “Dom, both Benj and Frankie were off at various camps at the time.” The boys all nodded. Dominic didn’t always like going running with me so it normally took a compromise on my part to get him to do it.

Carson piped up. “Oh come on Hartsy. Dom’s a cool guy, heck all of Kallie’s brothers are cool. Hey how was Frankie’s camp this year?” I had to shrug as Alex had put his fingers in my mouth.

Danny laughed and gently pulled them out. “Let go little one.” He said as he did so. “Active isn’t he?”

The front door opened and closed behind me and the tension surrounding me sky rocketed. I was confused by it until Alex shouted in my ear. “DADA!” That might explain it; Kris was coming up behind me.

He came up and handed me a water bottle. Ruffling Alex’s hair he spoke to his son. “Vous gâché ma surprise, mon fils. Comment puis-je faufiler sur Kallie si vous lui dites que je suis ici? (You ruined my surprise, my son. How can I sneak up on Kallie if you tell her that I'm here?)” Alex just babbled back at him and reached out. Kris took him so I could get a drink.

I answered Danny’s question after I had one. “No more active than yours were when they were little. He’s a fun little man.” Danny nodded and grinned. “Actually that’s part of the reason I’m moving to Montreal and then Pittsburgh. Alex’s birth mother wants nothing to do with him so someone has to care for him while Kris is busy.”

Danny and the boys all nodded, understanding the need to have someone watch out for a child. “He could no’ have picked a better person, Kallie. I know t’at you love children and will make sure t’at Alex is well cared for no matter w’ere you are.”

Kris leaned over and kissed my shoulder. “Your maman wants Alex and your papa is cooking breakfast. We are going inside.” I turned and smiled warmly at him. Was he marking his territory; yes. Did he really have to, oh hells no!

I watched them start to go back into the house when Claude said something _very stupid. “Votre goût chez des hommes laisse beaucoup à désirer. (Your taste in men leaves much to be desired.)”

My head whipped around quickly and I spoke clearly and calmly. “Vous ne savez rien de mes goûts alors ferme ta face à ce sujet. Je pense que je m'en tiendrai à être amis avec _d'autres membres des Flyers, ceux qui _acutally sont gentils. (You know nothing of my tastes so shut your face about it. I think I'll stick to being friends with _other members of the Flyers, who are _actually nice.)” I no longer heard Kris walking, not that him being still stopped me from politely driving my point home. “Je crois que je comprends à quel point vraiment déplaisant vous êtes maintenant. Faites-nous une faveur et de partir. Après tout, nous avons besoin de manger et qui ont peuvent avec vous autour? (I think I understand just how truly distasteful you are now. Do us a favor and leave. After all, we need to eat and who can with you around?)”

Claude gaped at me while all three of the boys were stifling snickers. Hartnell was looking between Claude and myself, a bit confused as to what just happened. Danny took pity on him and gave a short explanation. “Claude said something very stupid about her taste in men. She replied that he knew nothing about her and that she was going to stick to the nice Flyers. She t’en told him to leave so they could eat.”

I thought that he was going to defend his Captain but instead he just nodded sagely, as if he had gained some respect for me and how I handled myself. “Come on guys, we have our own breakfast to have and a workout to do. Let’s drop this, it’s not during the season after all.” That I did not expect but I did appreciate.

The boys all hugged me before running back across the street. Claude just turned on his heels and went away while Hartnell nodded politely and followed. That left Danny and myself. “I can not believe he said that.” I whispered.

Danny just chuckled. “I can’t believe you took ‘im down and tore ‘im a new one without resorting to cursing. I t’ink that is a first for ‘im.” He hugged me tightly. “Do not let Letang fight all of your battles this season with Claude. He will look for a way to get back at you. I hope that Hartsy helps him to see that he brought it on ‘imself. Just out of curiosity, who were the others you were speaking of?”

I smiled. “The first night I helped Kris get Alex into his place, I met Max and Bruno. They were very nice, in fact they are going to help on Monday to unload the trailer and finish my move.” Danny hugged me again and slipped a piece of paper into my hand. He then padded across the street to deal with the possible aftermath.

When I turned to go up the driveway I found that Kris and Alex were still standing there and the look on Kris’ face was difficult to translate at first. “What?” I asked as I got closer.

He shook his head slightly. “I have never seen anyone stand up to ‘im and have ‘im back down like t’at. Let alone a woman. I t’ink we will have to watch out for ‘im t’is year.” I was now standing next to them and Alex bent himself to lay his head on my shoulder.

As I rubbed Alex’s back, I sighed. “I couldn’t let him think he could chirp me like that and get away with it. I didn’t want to make you or anyone else stand up for me so I did it myself. I’m sorry if it ends up making this season more difficult.”

Kris closed the gap between us. “Don’ you worry about t’at. All I wan’ you to worry about is if t’is little man is happy and healt’y. Let me worry about wha’ might ‘appen on t’e ice.” He placed a kiss on my forehead carefully. “Let’s go put him down for a nap and you take a shower.”

Alex went down without a fuss; I guess that run took all of his energy. I was now coming downstairs from my shower feeling good. “Il ya ma sœur, la plaque de la mode. Tu es superbe. (There is my sister, the fashion plate. You look great.)” I smiled and curtsied at Benj. Yeah he was being a pain but still it was a nice thing to say.

As I turned into the kitchen I saw Kris talking to Frankie. “Kallie! Je suis céder au pressions de leurs pairs. Je suis sur le point d'appeler Jenn et lui dire sorte je peux obtenir vérifiées. François m'a aidé à obtenir un compte Twitter. (Kallie! I give in to peer pressure. I'm about to call Jenn and tell her so I can get verified. Francis helped me to get a Twitter account.)” Frankie nodded and Kris grinned. He picked up his phone and dialed a number. I let him be and got breakfast for myself.

I sat back down and began listening to Kris talk to someone in Pittsburgh excitedly. I didn’t see the point of Twitter. I _did_ have a Facebook page but I wasn’t interested in telling people where I was _as_ I was there. Frankie liked it cause he could stay in touch with friends here even when he was far away, Dad liked it too for the same reason. I had Facebook that was enough for me.

“I don’ know what to say.” Kris said a little while later. “Kallie what do I say?” I had just finished washing the dishes when he asked me this. I put the final dish in the draining rack and turned in place.

“Well from what I know you don’t want to sound like a jerk. Frankie knows more about this than I do.” I sat down at the banquette and thought for a moment. “How about you thank them for the warm welcome cause I hear your phone blowing up and be honest about being new.”

He handed me his phone. “Help me, translate t’is for me s'il vous plait. Donnant cette twitter chose un aller, grand crier sur au tout le monde pour l'accueil chaleureux.” Fortunately he has a phone that had a good keyboard so I wrote his first Tweet in English for him. “Giving this twitter thing a go, big shout out to everyone for the warm welcome.” I handed it back to him and let him send it.

After that Kris and my brothers went off to find people to follow. I let them go and checked on Alex. We were coming down the stairs when the doorbell rang. “Je l'ai! (I have!)” I called out as Alex and I got the front door. As we opened it, there stood one of the tallest men I had ever seen. Then it registered who it was. “Oh! Bonjour, S'il vous plaît venez po (Oh! Hello, Please come in.)” Mario came in with a smile and a tickle for Alex. I didn’t even think twice before calling out for Kris. “Kris sortir ici! (Kris get out here!)” He tried telling me I could wait, that didn’t fly with me. “Parce que j'ai dit ainsi, voilà pourquoi! Pardonne-leur, mon frère François a parlé Kris en obtenant Twitter. Ils recherchent des personnes pour lui de suivre maintenant, je pense. (Because I said so, that's why! Forgive them, my brother François told Kris getting Twitter. They are looking for people for him to follow now, I think.)”

“It is fine, I hope he made sure to call Jenn about it.” I nodded sagely. “Good I am sure he will have many followers soon enough.” I showed Mario into the living room where the boys were busily looking at Frankie’s laptop.

Kris looked up and nodded at Mario. “Let’s put t’is away for now. We can take it up later, we do not leave for hours.” He took Alex from me and nuzzled him to make him giggle. I chuckled and went to get maman and papa. This was why Mario was here, to find out things about me.

Soon after he got here, we got down to business. He asked how Kris and I had met and why I had offered to help him when he needed it. He seemed satisfied with my answer as he moved on with his questions, asking my parents what I was like as a older sister and such. It took a couple hours all told. His questions varied from my background in babysitting to my intentions towards Kris. I told him the complete truth about everything, including that we were making sure we could live together before any further steps were taken. “And why, if you went to university for photography, are you willing to give it up to help a single father care for his infant son on top of his grueling job?”

I smiled as Alex patted my leg. He had been put on the floor and had been wandering from person to person. I looked up at Mario and knew that this was the make or break question. “Because they need someone who knows how to make their lives go smoothly. I have worked with my parents however I had to so that all of my brothers could play. I know that it takes hours of preparation for even just practice on a daily basis. Meals have to be balanced a certain way to help keep them in top form all year. On the other side, Alex needs someone he can count on to be there every day without fail to make sure he is safe and is growing the way he should. Kris needs to know that his son is well cared for so that he doesn’t have to worry about him while gone on the road. I took care to make sure that as they were both getting to know me at first, Alex and I went with Kris as much as possible or we were with others he could trust so that he didn’t have to worry.”

Alex was now working his way into my lap, or trying to. When he couldn’t get his leg in the right spot he got mad. He let out an angry squeal and smacked my knee. I stopped talking to Mario and looked down at Alex. “Alexander, nous ne frappons pas. Frapper fait mal. (Alexander, we do not hit. Hitting hurts.)” He squealed again at me angrily. “I know you want up, but if you hit me I won’t let you up.”

Mario smiled as I handled the 8 month old smacking me. “So I hear that you are also bilingual and can go back and forth easily. How important it is for you to have him understand both?”

Alex had buried his face in my lap and I simply stroked his back to calm him. “It’s essential. Better that he learn both languages now when he’s young so that when he is older, both are easy for him. My birth mother was from Toronto and my papa is Quebecois, for me it was something that actually has helped me in life. I can go anywhere around Canada and understand people no matter the language.”

Mario just smiled again. “I think I have everything I need. Do not get too comfortable in Montreal, Kalista, you _will_ be moving with Kris to Pittsburgh.” As soon as he said it, it was like all the tension bled out of the room. Because I had Alex in my lap, Kris walked Mario out. I heard him thanking Mario profusely. “Stop, it is clear that she is who we thought she is. I spoke with Danny Briere and his boys for a few minutes before ringing the doorbell and found out just how she handled herself this morning. She cares for you, better still she handles things personally and does not hide behind anyone. I am sure she, and you will do very well this season.” They then were out of earshot of myself as I sat there kind of stunned. I had been grilled by Mario and passed. Today could _not_ get any better.