All That Matters

Taylor was all smiles when I picked her up from the airport. I’d left my dad back at the house to enjoy a quiet morning since Troy and Trina were headed to the west coast to watch the boys play games three and four against the Sharks.

Game one had been a loss, a jarring start to what Sidney was confident would be a long series. The Sharks were strong, keeping up without much struggle. Both teams were making it clear that they had no intention of going down without a fight.

Game two had gone better, but it had gone into a second overtime and the boys were exhausted by the time all was said and done. Sidney had fallen into bed and was asleep the second his head hit the pillow. They were given the following day off before they would head for California, and I was shocked he even made it out of bed at all. I couldn’t blame him if he had stayed in bed all day, I’d never seen a game quite like it, physical until the last possible second. Sidney was taking shorter and shorter shifts but it seemed every time I looked, he was on the ice.

And the overtime goal was his.

“You’re huge!” Taylor cried as he dropped herself into the passenger seat of my car.

“I will send your ass straight home to Canada.”

“What if I won’t get on the plane? I am a legal adult now.”

“In a box. I will send you to Canada in a box.”

“Just make sure you poke holes in it.” She said with a smirk. “But seriously, can you even see your toes?”

I sighed as she strapped on her seatbelt and I started the car.

“You know, someday in the very distant future you are going to get married and get pregnant. And when you do, I am going to make fun of you so hard,” I muttered. “Also, no, I haven’t seen my toes in like two months.”

“Oh well, if Sid has anything to say about it, I’ll never have sex.”

I chuckled. “Even after you have kids of your own, he will still maintain that you are a virgin.”

“Not possible.”

“Immaculate conception.”

She laughed at that and settled in.

“Think they’ll win tonight?”

“Your brother is pretty confident in their chances.”

“So am I, but that game the other night was insane.”

I nodded as I merged into traffic and headed west toward home. She was right, the game had been crazy and unpredictable and it was hard telling what the Sharks would have to offer on home turf. They seemed to have a lot to prove and they were willing to fight for what they wanted.

They wanted to win. They wanted the Cup.

But so did Pittsburgh.

“So, how long is Chuck staying in town?”

“At least until next week. I don’t think he’ll head home until the series is over.”

“Still thinking about moving?”

“You’d have to ask him.”

“Oh, I will.”

My father had been talking about relocating since Christmas. He’d thought about it a few times over the years, but his two week stay near Enfield, Nova Scotia had reignited his need for change.

He didn’t seem to know where he wanted to wind up, but he’d mentioned wanting to be closer to his grandchild and any future grandchildren we had to offer him. That meant that he intended to head east, but it wasn’t clear how close he intended to come. I certainly wouldn’t mind having him closer, but only time would tell what he would eventually decide to do.

“Have you made a decision about where you’re going to be come fall?”

I could almost hear the color drain from her face. I glanced in her direction before settling my eyes back on the road.

She had a lot of options and she was overwhelmed by them more than anything. She had a few offers back in Canada but she wasn’t sure any of them would be the best choice. She wanted to play NCAA hockey but she wasn’t sure where she wanted to be in the states. There was a verbal agreement but that was contingent upon a number of factors and she didn’t even like to talk about it.

I knew that a part of her was leaning towards Northeastern which would take her to my old stomping grounds where she could rejoin her old friend and former teammate, Stephanie Lemieux. But there was another part of her that wanted to stay in Minnesota where she had offers in both the Twin Cities and Duluth. There were others on the table; Ohio State, Quinnipiac, and Boston University. She hadn’t even told her brother about her Mercyhurst offer which would put her only two hours away from us in Erie.

Some were offering full scholarships and all of them would be giving her some amount of financial assistance. That was important to her. She knew that Sidney was already set on paying for her schooling and she didn’t want him to have to pay too much. He thought it was silly, but she didn’t ever want anyone to think that her brother bought her way into anything.

I knew she was feeling terribly lost about all of it, hoping that the agreement would go through and her initial choice would stand.

“You’ll figure it out, kiddo. And remember that your brother and I are always here to talk.”

“Thanks, Wyn.”

“And think about it this way, for the next few months, you’ll be able to talk to Sidney any day of the week. You won’t have any game days to worry about, no days that you have to avoid.”

“I’m sure he’ll be pretty busy.”

She glanced at my stomach.

“True, but he’ll never be too busy for a call or a text, especially from you.”

It was the truth. He took pride in being her big brother and he wanted to be a person she could always rely on. I knew that if she stopped turning to him, if she stopped seeking his advice about things, it would be a disappointment to him. And frankly, it was something that he worried about sometimes.

He’d mentioned it to me more than once.

“I feel like I don’t have the answers for her anymore. She’s smarter than me to begin with.” He spoke heavily, concerned that he’d lost his touch.

“But she trusts your judgment,” I murmured as we laid in bed waiting for sleep to come for us.

I wasn’t even sure how the conversation had started. I’d probably spoken to her earlier in the day and relayed the conversation to him on a day that they couldn’t actually talk to one another.

“Should she?” he asked through the darkness.

“She doesn’t expect you to have all the answers, Sidney.”

“She stumps me though. I didn’t go to college. I wouldn’t know the first thing about picking a school or deciding on a major. I don’t know what college life is like. I don’t have the foggiest clue what the best choice would be for her. I’m just lost.”

“She’s got me for that,” I reminded him. “I’ve made those decisions and lived that life. I doubt she decides to be an art major, but she can use me as a sounding board about those things. Sometimes she just likes you to listen to her.”

“Because I’m such a great listener?”

“You are a good listener. You’re observant and there’s no one in the world that knows that girl the way you do. You have a special relationship with your kid sister and that’s a great thing.”

“Aside from the fact that she’s eighteen now.”

“And you’ll be twenty-seven in August. What does that change? She’s still your baby sister.”

“I remember being eighteen,” he lamented.

“Yes, your first year in the NHL. You weren’t even that dumb at that age and better yet, she’s not you. She looks up to you, sure. But she doesn’t want to be you, she doesn’t compare herself to you in that way. She’s got a mind of her own.”

“There are boys like me.”

“Because you were such a cad? She’s responsible and focused. You don’t need to worry about her. It’s not like now that she’s a legal adult she’s going to have some kind of rebellious sexual awakening. The kid has a great head on her shoulders.”

“Bronwyn, do me a favor and never use the words ‘sexual awakening’ in reference to my little sister.”

“People have sex, Sidney. Circle of life and all that.”

“Not my sister.”

“Sidney—”

“No.”

Taylor would always turn to him and he would always be protective of her. Surely their relationship would evolve as they both got older and he learned to admit that she was growing up. It seemed that both of them had some concerns about it.

My dad was waiting when Taylor and I got to the house dragging her luggage with us.

“Bored?” I asked as he flipped through channels on the large TV.

“A thousand channels and nothing on.”

“Hey, Chuck!”

“Hey there, Miss Crosby. How does it feel to be a high school graduate?”

“Strange.”

“Saved your favorite room for ya.”

“Good, because I would have fought you for that room.”

I sent her off to unload her things and get her hockey duffel out of my car before it started to smell. I’d finally defeated the smell of Sid’s pads from his many drives with wet equipment during the lockout. The last thing I wanted was for the car to smell like hockey again.

She planned on staying with us for the remainder of the season and while her parents would fly home, she would stick around for a while.

By the time Sidney and I left Pittsburgh for Halifax, I would be left with only a single travel option; car. It would require a lot of pit stops to pee and stretch my legs and Taylor was coming along. She would be welcome company, a buffer to be the third and deciding vote when Sidney and I argued over radio stations and where to stop for lunch.

She’d also be a welcome help when it came to packing.

I dropped down onto the sofa next to my father. I was fully aware that I wouldn’t be able to get up without some assistance, but I didn’t care. I’d barely been on my feet and all I could think about was getting off of them.

“Trina called a little while ago. She knew you were out getting Taylor and didn’t want to bother you. But they got to San Jose in one piece.”

“Good.”

There had been trouble with their flight and there had been some concern over whether they would make it to the game or not. There had been issues on the plane from Pittsburgh which was running behind. Then, they’d missed their connection in Phoenix. But it seemed that all had been resolved.

I knew that if all else had failed, my father in law would have resorted to flying into the nearest city they could find and renting a car in an attempt to get there before the end of the game. But I was glad to hear that it hadn’t come down to that and they could be there to watch Sidney play. It had all worked out.

“Tired?” he asked as I dropped my head against the back of the sofa.

“Always.”

“Considered a nap?”

“She won’t let me. Never does.”

“Still no name?”

“Taylor is a good, strong name,” she called from the top of the stairs before descending towards the living room to join us.

“Sure, we’ll just name her Taylor Crosby the Second.”

“Can girls be juniors?” she mused.

“Not naming her Taylor,” I responded, my eyes closed.

“There’s always next time.”

“That’s the spirit,” my father said smoothly.

“Not naming any of our children Taylor.”

She plopped down in the chair to my left, one leg thrown up over the arm. She tossed her other socked foot up onto the surface of the coffee table and sighed.

“Never say never.”

“Never. I can safely say never.”

“Party pooper.”

Sid called a few hours later. My father had found a movie that we’d been watching without much interest. Really it seemed that none of us felt up for much of anything and opted to stay in the living room and do nothing.

I waddled up to our bedroom to chat without the presence of prying ears.

“Taylor arrive safely?”

“Present and accounted for.”

“Still a pain in the ass?”

“As per usual,” I confirmed. “She also called me huge.”

“Better than gigantic.”

“You think I’m gigantic?”

“I think you’re pregnant.”

“And gigantic.”

“And gorgeous.”

“Gigantic.”

“Amazing.”

“You’re not going to take the bait?”

“Not a chance in hell. I might be an idiot, but I’m not that stupid.”

I chuckled. “Did you have a good nap?”

“Hotel screwed up the rooms and I had to share with Duper last night and today. James is convinced that the employees are Sharks fans trying to destroy our chances in any way possible. Told us not to eat the mints on the pillows because they might be tainted.”

“He thinks they’re laxatives,” Duper called from the background.

“Anyway, I don’t sleep well with a roommate like Dupes. Gotta have one eye open all the time.”

“I will have you know, I am a terrific roommate!” Pascal hollered.

“Who is going to pay for putting baby powder all over my towels this morning.”

“Looked like a sack of flour blew up on ya!”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey,” Sid complained. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Just tell Pascal hello for me.”

“I’d rather not, babe.”

“Sidney.”

“Bronwyn says ‘hi,’ Duper.”

“She likes me!”

“She’s never shared a room with you and is under the impression that you are a tolerable person.”

“He is tolerable.”

“My side,” he repeated.

“You’re tolerable too.”

I heard Pascal laugh and a door close in the background as Sidney groaned.

“He knows how to get at you,” I said with a smirk.

“And apparently my wife does too.”

“One of my many talents.”

“Certainly not my favorite,” he lamented.

“Well, we can’t exactly do that over the phone now, can we?”

He laughed quietly. “Did you get any rest today?”

“Lounged on the couch a bit. All of us have been pretty lazy.”

“Lazy sounds nice,” he murmured.

They were tired. It had been a long season and I knew that he was looking forward to the offseason. But he wanted to start it the right way.

“Win a few more games and then you can take a couple of weeks off before you start training again.”

He wasn’t the only one looking forward to it. I could hardly wait to get back to Nova Scotia. I had yet to meet the Doctor that my physician in Pittsburgh had been coordinating with. I’d spoken to her on the phone, but it would be nice to actually sit down with her and go over the birthing plan that Sid and I had talked about.

My nesting instincts rarely took a day off and we had a spare bedroom to transform and kitchen to baby proof by July. It was a lot but I could tell that he was looking forward to a summer of privacy on the lake and big changes in our lives.

“When are you headed to the rink?”

“Soon. A few of us are heading over early for extra press.”

“Just don’t overwork yourself,” I warned. “You can always say no.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he kidded.

“Good luck out there tonight.”

“You’re gonna be watching, right?”

“I don’t know, it might go late and there’s a new episode of Real Housewives on—“

“Funny.”

“We’ll be watching so you better do a good job.”

“Or what?”

“Or else.”

“I’m not as afraid of you as I used to be.”

“I wasn’t trying to scare you. You’ll know when I’m trying to scare you.”

“I love you, Wyn.”

“I love you too, Sid.”

Taylor was making kissing noises outside the bedroom door as I hung up the phone.

“You two are so sweet you make my teeth hurt.”

I tossed a pillow in her direction but she easily knocked it away.

“Don’t throw things at goalies.”

“You are such a pain in the ass. Why were you eavesdropping?”

“Girls,” my dad warned from the hallway. “Let’s all be adults.”

She pulled a face.

“What are you two doing up here?”

“She was listening in, but I was coming up to let you know that supper is on me tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that, Dad.”

“But I want to.”

“If you insist.”

“I do.”

“He does,” Taylor said quickly. “I vote pizza.”

“Who said you even get a vote? It’s my house.”

She scowled. “But, pizza.”

“Fine. Pizza.”

She celebrated briefly then headed for the kitchen. She’d spent enough time in the house that she knew exactly where to find the menus that Sidney and I had stashed for the nights that we didn’t want to put the effort into cooking which were more and more common as my pregnancy progressed. I followed slowly, knowing that she was already halfway through dictating what we would have for dinner.

“No peppers!” I called down the steps.

“But I like peppers!” she hollered in return.

“Your niece doesn’t. No onions either.”

“Dammit.”

“You could always get separate pizzas,” my father deadpanned.

“This is the Crosby household where we make things infinitely more difficult than they need to be all the time.”

He laughed. “I guess I can’t say that I’m surprised.

“You really shouldn’t be.”

Sidney and I were certainly both skilled at it, but it kept things interesting.

“Sausage, pepperoni, and black olives?” Taylor suggested as we joined her in the kitchen.

“Add mushrooms.”

“Gross.”

“Fine, no mushrooms.”

My father laughed.

“Can we get breadsticks?”

Dad nodded. “You girls get whatever you want. I’m getting myself a cheese pizza and calling it good.”

“Plain cheese?” she demanded. “What is the point of that?”

“The point is that I’m not a competitive athlete taking a week off of training and making myself sick on a meal that I wouldn’t usually eat.”

She harrumphed. “Do we have anything around here for dessert?”

“Undeterred?” my father chided.

“Damn straight, Chuck.”

I smiled. “Sidney made sure we were stocked up on ice cream and reese’s enough to survive his absence.”

“Thoughtful,” my father commented.

“What I should have said was that I made sure Sidney got us enough ice cream and peanut butter cups for me to survive his absence because he won’t be here to go get me ice cream after I’ve told him I don’t want it and then change my mind twenty minutes later.”

“That sounds more accurate,” Taylor said.

“Will it suffice?”

“It’s not chocolate chip cookies, but it will do.”

“Would you rather have cookies?”

“Anything is better than bran and greek yogurt.”

I gagged.

“Sid eats that way in the summer too,” she defended.

“Trust me, I know where you got your meal plan.”

“Sounds like torture.”

“It is, Chuck. It is.”

I ordered the pizza and Sam stood guard over us when it arrived. I held her collar as my father went to the door to pay for the meal. She pulled against me, sniffing the air and leaping off the sofa as soon as the door was closed and the pizza man was on the way back to his car.

She sat with her face on my thigh while I ate.

“You beg too much, Sammy,” I muttered.

“She’ll make a killing under a high chair,” my dad said with a smile. “That beagle we had when you were little, he never left his post while you were eating. Sam will catch on quick.”

“She seems to know Wyn is the most likely to give her scraps.”

“She ain’t no dummy,” I kidded.

We grew quiet when my father tuned into the game. The preshow focused on the year that Tyler had been having in San Jose and the impact he’d had in Pittsburgh during previous cup runs. He’d scored some important goals over the years.

They showed interviews with several of the boys filmed post-practice that morning. They answered questions they’d answered countless other times about other teammates that had moved on. They answered them all in their scripted way about focusing on the game that they needed to play and not worrying about who they were up against.

There was a certain amount of focus on the way Sidney had been playing and notes about the streak that Evgeni was on, scoring in several games in a row. It was all old news, the same thing that they went through every game and every playoff.

But I saw the ease in Sidney’s features when they talked to him in the visitors’ dressing room. He didn’t seem stressed or worried as far as he was concerned, at the end of the night they would be up two games to one.

But he’d been wrong.

The momentum that they’d built in game two didn’t carry over and it was an utter failure. They let in too many goals against and they could blame whatever they wanted. They could say it was the travel or the time change. They could blame fatigue from a long season. But none of that was really true and they knew it.

At the end of the day, they hadn’t been able to get to their game and their opponents had capitalized on that in a very big way.

They’d had the ice mopped with their poor play and incomplete drop passes that made me cringe all night.

They were down two games to one, just where they didn’t want to be.

I didn’t talk to Sid that night, though I woke up to a text. Amazingly, I slept well. Perhaps because I had the whole bed to myself or maybe just from exhaustion. But aside from a couple of trips to the bathroom, she didn’t keep me awake all night and I woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed.

“Did you enjoy the shit show?” he asked when he called after their practice the morning after the game.

“Wasn’t a great game,” I admitted. “But tomorrow night will be better.”

“It better be. We can’t afford to get down three to one.”

It was the truth. They didn’t need that sort of struggle. They clearly needed a push, a reminder that in order to win they had to work. They couldn’t just rely on talent alone. But it had been clear that more than a few of the guys had had an off night. It just happened to fall on a very inconvenient day when in the regular season it likely wouldn’t have been a notable loss.

Only Sidney and Kris had managed to get anything behind Niemi while it seemed Marc hadn’t been able to stop anything. Though it was far from the truth, he’d faced significantly more shots and he wasn’t at the top of his game while Niemi seemed to be having the night of his life.

“You’ll get it sorted out.”

“We spent all morning working on defense. You’d think we’d know how to protect our goaltender by now.”

I refrained from making a joke about the failure of goalies when it came to my pregnancy. It seemed ill-fitting though on a normal day I knew that he would laugh. It hurt to hear the worry in his voice, but I knew that I couldn’t fix it.

“I’m kind of sorry Mom and Dad went to all the trouble to get out here and then they had to watch that.”

“You can’t win every game.”

“We should have won that one.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him. Going in, it seemed they had the upper hand. San Jose had basically collapsed in game two, but that had led to them playing desperation hockey in game three. They couldn’t simply be written off over one bad game and the boys couldn’t write themselves off over two.

“Tomorrow.”

He sighed. “I wish I could just talk to you all day.”

“I think that would get a little boring, don’t you?”

“Better than video sessions.”

“All day?”

“Video sessions, team lunch, team meeting, more video, team dinner, and lights out.”

“Whatever it takes to get the W tomorrow.”

“It’s almost like you don’t want to talk to me,” he teased.

“Well, you are a bit of a downer when you’re losing. Sometimes a girl just needs a break.”

“I’ll call you tonight before I head to bed.”

“Try to learn something today, would ya?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

I tried not to dwell on his mood knowing that it would all turn out fine. Hoping that they would come back the next night and do something with the chances that they got. I hoped it was the wakeup call that they needed and I kept myself distracted by going through college course lists with Taylor and helping her sort through her thoughts.

It was a welcome distraction seeing as how Sidney wasn’t feeling that much better about their chances that night even after a full day of going over their new game plan and breaking down the video of their losses.

“Just make sure you stay focused. It’s all you can do is be on your game and lead as best you can,” I reminded him the day of game four.

He seemed a little less pessimistic, some of the confidence having returned after a solid eight hours of sleep and some time to reflect on what had gone wrong.

“We’ll be watching.”

“I know you will.”

“I would tell you to do your best, but I know that you will so it seems silly.”

“It still helps.”

“Don’t fuck up.”

He chuckled. “I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s all we can ask, right?”

“Right.” He paused. “Since you’ll probably be asleep by the time I’m done with press and stuff, I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Can’t wait.”

I hoped that they’d return home tied two and two, that the game in Pittsburgh a few days later wouldn’t necessarily be a must-win situation to stay alive. I hoped that by the time they got home they would be evened up and have a bit of breathing room before getting back to their stride on home ice.

I chewed on my nails through the first period. No one seemed to be able to get anything behind a goalie. On one side of the ice that was fine, but not on both. They needed to score and when they were still tied at zero going into the third I was starting to feel more and more anxious.

Then it happened, Geno drew a penalty instead of taking one and the Penguins powerplay was on the ice for only the third time that night.

“Third times a charm,” I muttered to myself.

It was a set faceoff play I’d seen more than once. Sid won the puck to Kris before gliding into traffic in front of the net. Kris got the puck to the point, Paul faked a shot and got the pass to Sid and before it even appeared he touched the puck, it was between Niemi’s legs and over the line.

It was the only goal of the night and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.

Sidney was still smiling when they got home the next afternoon. He had no interest in resting that afternoon and soon we were all in the car and on the way to Southpointe. He’d secured an hour of ice time and wanted to spend some time with his sister while he had a chance.

I hadn’t seen her so giddy in a while. It was a welcome distraction for her. She was still stressed about trying to pick a school and decide where she would be in the fall. She still hadn’t told Sidney about some of the options she was fielding and I wasn’t sure why. I was sure she had her reasons, but the fact that she hadn’t told him about her two closest offers seemed strange. He wouldn’t pressure her no matter what, but she seemed hesitant to let him know that come fall she could be as close as two hours away, the Ohio State offer taking her only an hour further than that.

But it was a forgotten topic as she settled in between the pipes and pulled her mask down over her freckled cheeks. She was smiling broadly but that wouldn’t last. The competition would kick in and before long I’d be shouting at them from the stands keeping them from getting too aggressive with one another.

He didn’t get a lot of chances to be on the ice with her and they both relished in it.

It seemed that she wasn’t the only one in need of focusing on something different for a little while. It wasn’t much and the next day they would be playing their fifth game of the series before returning to San Jose.

After the debacle that was their series of flights to San Jose, his parents had stayed behind and would only come back to Pittsburgh after game six. I hoped beyond hope that there would be something to celebrate after the trip.

It turned out, after a win at home in game five, that there wasn’t room for celebration when San Jose forced a game seven.

But they were confident going into the final.

I sat with his family for the game, my Penguins jersey taut against my frame. There was no hiding it anymore and neither of us was too concerned. There were bigger things that I was worried about. I didn’t want to see them reach the final, a hard fought game seven, and walk away without the win. I wanted him to have the Cup again, I wanted them all to have it.

The public would know about the baby, but by the time word got out and the blogs went crazy, we’d be hiding out by the lake and that was one place where they couldn’t touch us. Not really.

I spent the game on the edge of my seat barely able to watch. Each time Sidney got into traffic Taylor and I would stare at each other, unable to look at what was happening on the ice. My heart was racing, my palms sweaty from the anxiety of it all. Troy was stone-faced in his seat next to me, but Trina seemed anxious as well.

All we could do was watch and wait as they traded leads several times in the first two periods. Each time the puck got anywhere near Marc I would tense up. I was only able to relax during the intermissions and then my heart rate would rise once more.

After sixty minutes, they were tied and the tension in the air was palpable.

It was only a few minutes into overtime that we watched as the puck danced around the goal for what felt like hours before, somewhere in the melee that surrounded the net, the puck was elevated over a pad and into the net.

The sound of the goal horn was immediate, as was the celebration on the ice. A cluster of Penguins gathered in the corner, Sidney somewhere in the middle of it all. I couldn’t react, not right away. I felt the celebrations around me as the crowd rose to their feet but I couldn’t seem to get myself together to join them.

In that moment, as the arena erupted, I was in shock.

Eventually I felt Taylor pulling on my arm as I watched the men down on the ice hoisting the cup one by one. She pulled me towards the benches where the families were gathering as the crowd continued to roar.

I almost felt like we were interrupting as I watched Sid get through a short interview on autopilot while the Cup continued to be passed around from player to player. His smiled was so broad that I thought his face would crack from the strain.

It had been a long five years since their previous win and he was just trying to take it all in.

I situated myself behind Troy like I had back in Sochi. But he immediately repositioned himself behind me, standing between his wife and daughter with a hand on my shoulder. Taylor’s hand was wrapped tightly around mine.

“When he looks over here, you’re the one he’s going to want to see,” he said quickly in my ear. “Sid and I have had this moment before.”

We hadn’t.

“I didn’t drive him to practice and games,” I replied.

“No. You drive him to be better.”

I felt my heart skip and before the rhythm could return to normal, he saw me out of the corner of his eye and his smile broadened to the point that it looked painful. I’d traded my jersey for the same tee that the others were wearing, even the baggy shirt doing nothing to hide the fact that I was eight months pregnant.

He skated towards me, stopping on a dime in front of the boards. I felt the tears begin to well in my eyes. I had no idea what to say. The door to the bench was open leaving me exposed as he wrapped his arms around me. He hadn’t hugged me so tightly in months and I found myself clinging to the fabric of his sweater.

He was so much bigger in his equipment that I could barely get purchase as I felt him lift me from the ground.

It was only the second time he’d kissed me in full view of a crowd but the first hadn’t been captured on film back in that dressing room in Sochi. But the cameras and the thousands of fans still screaming and shouting didn’t slow him.

It was good that he didn’t give me a chance to speak as I still wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t feel like a simple ‘good game out there,’ would suffice. There didn’t seem to be any words that I could say to express how wonderful it felt to see him so incredibly happy.

He was whispering in my ear as the cameras flashed. A hundred different murmurings of ‘thank you’ and ‘I love you’ that he just couldn’t seem to stop saying.

“You have to put me down,” I replied as he buried his nose in my hair. “Your team is waiting for you.”

They had a lot to celebrate and to have won it on home ice made it that much more amazing for all of them. I knew that they would go out and shut down the club where they ended up. I knew that there would be several parties over the course of the week and that one of them would probably happen in our back yard. All of that was fine with me.

He put me back on my feet and skated off though I caught him looking towards the bench more than once. I hugged Taylor and Vero and Nathalie sought me out as the boys continued to hoot and holler. Mario was on the ice with the team posing for a picture and I saw tears in the eyes of more than one wife.

Gold had been a tremendous achievement for Sidney, to win for his country. But there was something different about winning with a team that he’d played with for years. So many of them were locked in for years to come and they were more than a team; they were a family.

The celebration followed them into the dressing room and eventually we joined them there as well. Everyone took turns drinking out of the cup as I watched the celebration unfold.

Geno sought me out with a bottle in hand and I narrowed my eyes at him. He was grinning like a madman as he wrapped me in a powerful hug, still in his half-gear.

“Just for you.”

I glanced at the bottle he held out to me.

“You bought me sparkling grape juice?”

He shrugged. “You share with Taylor.”

I took the bottle as he hustled away. I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined he’d had it stashed in his stall for a while just waiting for the opportunity.

I hadn’t hugged most of Sidney’s teammates in the time we’d been together. I hadn’t hugged most of their wives. But even the most standoffish of the men in the room were seeking out as much affection as they could get.

I looked on as Marc lowered Estelle into the cup and Kris followed soon after with Alexander in his arms. I caught a look in Sidney’s eyes as he watched and couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. But there was too much going on to ask.

“She needs her first picture with the cup,” he said as he snuck up behind me a while later.

He smelled like sweaty hockey gear but I didn’t care.

“Who does?”

His arms wrapped around me, his left hand landing on my stomach. If someone with a camera turned in our direction it would be a prime image for internet fodder, but we both knew we were beyond that point already.

“She does.”

“She’s not here yet,” I reminded him.

“She’ll fit just fine.”

He slipped off and I saw him exchange a few words with Duper before a smile broke out across the face of his linemate. Within seconds the Cup was back in his hands and he was approaching me with a grin as the team looked on.

Most of the press had scattered, but a few remained.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he tilted the chalice on its axis.

“Taking her first picture in the cup.”

I could hear the sounds of his teammates and their families laughing around me. And while I wasn’t one for being the center of attention, that didn’t matter when I saw the joy on Sidney’s face, the light in his eyes that couldn’t quite be contained. Nothing else mattered and I didn’t care who was watching.

It was nearly five in the morning when Sidney collapsed into bed next to me and immediately wrapped me in his arms. His kisses were blazingly hot, filled with his joy and his relief all at once.

I’d been home for hours when his lips met mine for the first time since he’d completely enveloped me on the ice that night. But this time there were no prying eyes. There were no spectators or members of the press waiting to get a word with the captain. It was just the two of us with the privacy we’d both been craving since that kiss.

I was all his and he was all mine and we weren’t about to take that for granted.