The Three C's

“Oh my- Maggie, that’s so cool, when did you get the call?!” mom asked me as I stood in the kitchen telling my parents about how the Colonel from the Holloman Air Force Base asked for me to come and fly with them. I told them how I was going to fly in an F16, which was a very big and very fast jet.

“When will you do this?” dad asked.

“Two weeks, right before I leave to go back to Chicago- We’ll have to stay a few more days longer- It’s a good thing I packed for Colorado before I came here,” I said and Pat nodded his head and chuckled.

“Where do you train, Patrick?” mom asked him.

“I train in Winnipeg with some of my teammates and some other players.”

“You’re not going to Colorado with Maggie?” dad asked.

“No, that’s her thing, I don’t want to get in the way of that-“

“You wouldn’t get in the way,” I said and Pat gave me a smile.

“It’s only for a little over a month,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head.

“Well in any case, I’m sure this whole summer will fly by,” dad said and I nodded my head, “They announced your trade yesterday.”

“I know, I got the text and then Pat and I sat down and watched what the network had to say about it,” I said and my parents nodded their heads, “I was a little surprised that they were a little mean about it- But, whatever.”

“I think they were just pissy because they knew that you knew about the trade and didn’t say anything when they asked,” dad said and I nodded my head, “Don’t get upset.”

“I’m not!”

“Good,” dad said and he walked over towards me, kissed my head and patted my shoulders, “We’re proud of you Maggie!”

“Thanks dad.”

“Maggie!” I heard and turned my head to see Nick walking into the kitchen, I hadn’t seen my little brother since he dropped my off in Chicago.

“Nicky!” I smiled happily and ran over towards him and hugged him, “How are you?!”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Did I hear Maggie’s name?” I heard and looked up to see Dana coming around the corner, “Maggie!”

“Hey D!”

“When did you get in?!” she smiled brightly and ran over towards me and I hugged her.

“This morning, Pat and I came.”

“Pat?” she said and looked passed me and then ran over towards Pat and hugged him; I laughed and then wrapped my arm around Nick’s shoulder and pulled him into me.

“When does rookie camp start, Dana?” Pat asked her and I smiled at the fact that she was in the NHL.

“Next week- I’m so excited!” she said and I laughed, “I’m so ready for this!”

“That’s the spirit!” dad said and I smiled brightly.

-Kane-
“So Maggie’s actually here- That’s shocking- Who’s the guy?” I heard muttering and turned my head to see some people looking at us.

It was the fourth of July and we were celebrating it at Maggie’s Uncle’s house, I was meeting everyone on her mother’s side of the family. Maggie and I walked onto the large property, our fingers laced together and I could feel everyone’s eyes on us.

“What’s with everyone staring?” I whispered towards Maggie and she looked at me and then looked around, you saw her eyes roll and she scoffed.

“Don’t mind them, they’re family friends- I don’t like them too much,” she said and I looked at them and then back towards her, nodding my head, “I think that they use my family, but whatever, they don’t listen to me- Plus they started a nasty rumor about me.”

“What?” I asked and she nodded her head.

“Because of hockey I don’t get to spend as much time with my family as I’d like to- As I used to,” she said and I nodded my head, understanding that, “They started to spread a rumor that the reason why I didn’t come around- Why Mikey and I didn’t come home a lot, was because we were enjoying the famous life and we were too good to come around and visit them,” she growled as if it were poison on her tongue, “Disgusting.”

“They’re just jealous,” I said and she nodded her head. I looked around the property to see that we were on a farm, “What kind of farm is this?”

“A horse farm, Mikey, Nicky and I used to come all the time to help out during the summer, but then Nicky more than Mike and I because we were at hockey camp-“

“There’s my beautiful niece!” I heard and Maggie looked up and smiled brightly.

“Uncle Alex!” she giggled and then ran forward, jumping into the older man’s arms and hugging him tight, “How are you?”

“Better now that you’re home! How long do we have ya?”

“Two weeks!” she said happily and then turned back towards me, “Pat!” she called and I walked over towards her. I looked around, some of these people I recognized, seeing them at Mike’s funeral two years ago, though I never really talked to them, “Pat, this is my Uncle Alex, he owns the farm and is my mom’s youngest brother. Uncle Alex, this is my boyfriend, Pat!”

“Nice to meet you, son- Takin’ good care of our little Maggie?”

“Everyday,” I chuckled and shook the man’s hand and then wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Good to hear- ‘cause, you’d have a lot of muscle pounding you into the dirt if you didn’t,” the man said and I laughed nervously, knowing that it would be true.

“Uncle Alex, how many horses do you have?” Maggie asked, quickly changing the topic.

“Not as many when ya’ll helped out around here,” he said and then looked at me, “I took over the farm when my older brother wanted to retire,” Alex said and I nodded my head, “There’s about twelve of them, one foal- I’m gunna give her to Nina as a birthday present!”

“Really? When?”

“Today- Well, her birthday’s tomorrow- This is like a fourth of July slash birthday party,” Alex said and Maggie giggled and looked at me.

“Nina is his six year old daughter- She’s really cute,” she said and I smiled.

“Yeah, but she likes to steal things,” Alex said embarrassingly, “So make sure you check your pockets before you leave- She’s weird like that- Get’s that from her mother’s side of the family,” she whispered the last part and we laughed.

“Nothing bad though- She really likes to steal keys,” Maggie said and I looked at her, reached into my pocket and pulled out our rental car keys, “Yeah, make sure you keep track of those- If they’re gone, then you know where to look,” she giggled and I nodded my head, “So who’s all coming?”

“From what I hear- Everyone,” he said and Maggie nodded her head.

“Well, I’m gunna go show Pat the farm-“

“Sure, sure, just be careful of Chance,” Alex said and Maggie looked at him confused, “He’s a new thoroughbred- Mr. Nickels down the road bought ‘em- But he’s too wild and thought that I could do something with ‘em.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Maggie asked and I looked at her.

“He doesn’t want to listen-“

“Takes after his owner, eh?” Maggie teased and I smirked.

“Eh? I think you’ve been hangin’ out with those Canadians too much, Mags- You’re turnin’ into one of ‘em-“

“I’d never abandon ya’ll,” she laughed and I chuckled, feeling her fingers slip into mine and then walked with her as we headed towards the barn, “This takes me back,” Maggie said and I looked towards her, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.”

“You miss it?”

“Yeah,” she said and then looked at me, “But I love my life too much now to ever want it to change.”

We came up to the barn, but before we walked in, Maggie pulled me off to the side and we leaned against the wooden fence, giving me the chance to see some horses in the fields.

“How many does he have?”

“I’m not sure- Let’s take a look,” she giggled and then I followed her into the barn.

As soon as the doors opened we heard a horse freaking out and kicking it’s stall, I assumed it was the horse that Alex was telling us about, Chance. I looked at Maggie and watched as she headed over towards the stall, walking as if she was drawn to it. She stood in front of the horse’s stall and looked at it, the horse calmed down, I watched as Maggie opened the door.

“Mags-“

“It’s all right,” she said and I watched her, her Uncle told us to be careful, that the horse wasn’t trained, “There, you’re just not used to your new home- Aren’t ya, boy?”

I sighed and walked over towards her, leaning against the stall on the outside and smiled, watching her rub the horses face and calm him down, “Well, I found your third job.”

“Third job?” she looked at me confused and I chuckled.

“If hockey doesn’t work out, you can always be a singer, and if singing doesn’t work out- You’re the newest horse whisperer.”

She giggled and shook her head, “Shut up, Pat.”