A New Life

-Sean-
Schenner: We’ll be there in like an hour.

Okay, so we have an hour to celebrate Christmas just with the family, before our extended family shows up.

I grab the couple boxes that Charlie and I wrapped, along with the one I secretly got for her, and head back out into the living room. I make it back before Drew and my dad, so I put the presents under the tree. Charlie laughs at me, but I can see the twinkle in her eyes as she watches.

There’s a sort of feeling in the air between her and my mom, and I’m not sure what it is. But it doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Which is good, I guess. Right?

“Okay, here are the ones from us.” My dad says, carrying in a slew of things.
“And here’s the stuff from me.” Drew says following him.

I’m really happy to see how well the three closest people in our lives have been getting along. I think my dad really appreciates how well Drew cares for me, and I think Drew feels the same way about my parents with Charlie. Even though they may not be related by blood, they’re still each other’s family now. And they’ve more than accepted that.

My mom smiles at us all and announces that she’s going to pass them all out. There’s a small pile for each person, plus a fairly large pile between me and Charlie.

“Your mom kinda went a little crazy for the girls.” My dad laughs.
“They’re my first grand babies! Of course I went crazy.” Mom laughs.
“They’re not all from us, though.”
“No, some of them are from me.” Drew says.
“You guys didn’t have to...” Charlie starts.
“Nonsense.” My mom says. “Like I said, they’re our first grand children. Of course we did.”
“And they’re my first nieces. I gotta start vying for the title of best uncle. Especially when all their non-blood uncles have much better paychecks than me.” Drew adds.

We laugh and everyone opens their gifts. I really appreciate the things I got, and it looks like everyone else does too. My mom actually cries when she opens the earrings I picked out for her. I thought the tanzanite stones were appropriate, since that’s my birthstone. And Charlie agreed that the dark blue color would look beautiful with my mom’s skin tone.

Charlie and I move on to the girls’ gifts when we’re done, and laugh at the irony of some of them. For example, my parents got them each a Team Canada jersey. Meanwhile, Drew got them both US Army onesies.

Oh, the beauty of having an American military mommy and a dual citizenship daddy.

As we’re nearing the end of the pile, Charlie looks over at Drew and makes a face. I guess using their sibling connection, they have a silent conversation and Drew gets up to go upstairs. He comes back with a box and hands it to me just as we’re done with the ones in front of us.

“This is actually from me.” Charlie says. “Drew just helped me hide it.”

I smile and tear off the wrapping paper. When I see what’s inside, I can’t help but get choked up. They’re perfect.

Charlie got me two baby Flyers jerseys, each with the number 14 on the back. But instead of saying Couturier, they both say “daddy" over the numbers.

“I-” I can’t breathe. A stray tear runs down my face. “They’re so...”
“Do you like them?” Charlie asks nervously.
“Do I like them?” I repeat. “I fucking love them!”
“Yeah?” She smiles.
“Absolutely, Charlie.” My thumb runs across the letters. “They say daddy on them.”
“I’m glad you love them.”

I pull her face to mine and give her a kiss that probably isn’t appropriate considering my parents and her brother are in the room with us. But I don’t even care.

When I finally pull away after someone clears their throat, I reach for the one gift I didn’t put under the tree and hand it to Charlie. She eyes the small box suspiciously.

“Just open it.” I chide.

She does, and gasps when she sees the black and white diamond necklace. I carefully take it from the box in her hands and place it around her neck. She looks down at it and fumbles with the pendent.

“Sean...” Her voice is small. “It’s beautiful.”
I brush back a strand of her hair.
“Only the best for you.” I whisper in her ear so that only she can hear.

The four of us who are functional clean up from the morning while Charlie sits on the couch watching A Christmas Story.

“I feels so useless.” She says.

“Why?” My dad asks.
“You’re all cleaning up and doing stuff and I’m here sitting on my ass watching a movie.”
My dad chuckles.
“Charlie, you’re doing more than all of us combined. You’re protecting our girls.” He says. “If you tried to get up right now and help us, you could hurt them or yourself.”
“I would much rather you sit on your ass and watch us do all the work than take the chance of hurting my nieces.” Drew interjects.

Charlie thinks about it for a second, her face scrunched up like she's thinking about it. Knowing my wife, I can tell she sees the reasoning behind it all, but just doesn't like to be still when everyone else is working.

“If you really want to do something, here’s some napkins you can fold for dinner tonight.” My mom says, handing her a stack of cloth napkins.
“Why are there so many?” Charlie asks.
“I invited all the guys to have dinner here.” I respond. “All the single guys are gonna be here, plus Brayden, Janine and Ellie. And Luke and his new girlfriend.”
Charlie smiles brightly.
“Okay.”

She begins folding the napkins, content to do just about anything useful. By the time we’ve got the house cleaned up she’s about half way through the pile. I convince her to take a break while we watch the rest of the movie.

Brayden, Janine, Luke and his new girlfriend LeighAnne show up as it’s ending, and the house starts to switch to more of a party mode than the comfortable family time that it was before.

I make sure to grab my goddaughter as soon as she’s in the house, and decide I’m hardly going to let her go for the rest of the night. I might as well get more practice and give my friends a much-needed break while I can.

“You’re a natural.” Charlie says at one point when I'm rocking her.
“I’m just trying to get used to it still.” I admit.
“It’s incredibly sexy watching you hold her.” She whispers so no one else can hear.
I feel my pants tighten a little and have to hold my breath for a second.
“Don’t do this to me.” I smile.
She just winks and pushes me away.

Dinner is an absolute success from all sides of the room. The guys seem to enjoy having a home cooked meal, and my mom eats up all the praises for the food. My dad gets to chat with some of them about his career, which always makes him happy. And Drew talks to a couple of our foreign guys like Jake and Raffl about when he was in Europe for a while. Overall, everyone seems to have a good night.

“So when are you going back to Chicago?” Brayden asks Drew when everyone else has left for the night.
“Well, you guys have an afternoon game on the 28th. I’m staying to watch that and then driving to Cleveland to visit a friend of mine for a couple days. Then I’ll finish up the drive after that. I’ll be back on base by New Year’s Eve.”
“How long will it take?”
“From here to Cleveland it’s about seven hours. Then Cleveland to Chicago is about five. So it’s twelve hours total.”
Brayden nods his head.
“I’m dropping my parents off at the airport after the game too.” I say, answering his next question before he can even ask it.

Eventually, even Brayden and Janine decide it’s time to leave. They joke that they’ll leave Ellie with me for the night, and I consider agreeing to it. But it’s Christmas and they deserve to be with their daughter. Besides, I have two of my own coming soon and I don’t need that much practice anymore.

----------------

The game on the 28th goes well. Really well, actually.

I finally get the hat trick I've been promising Charlie and my girls. My third is the game winner. In overtime. Against the Penguins.

It can't get much better than that.

As the hats rain down on the ice around me, I can’t help but think about the gorgeous woman waiting at home for me. How proud she probably is of me. How excited she’s going to be when I get home.

I finally did it.