To Sweden With Love

I was running around the apartment cleaning and packing at the same time. I hated leaving with a messy home.

"Ellie, slow down," Derick grabbed me by the wrist as I tried to scramble pass him.

He pulled me back and in for a kiss.

"What's the rush?" He said as our lips parted.

I grunted. "I don't know. I just stress clean whenever I'm nervous."

"What's there to be nervous about? It's just my mum and dad you're going to meet."

"My point." I gave him a concerned look.

"There's nothing you have to worry about! They're going to love you, El!" He reassured me.

I sighed. "And what if they don't?"

"Oh stop it, I've told them all about you and how much you mean to me. They're so glad I finally found someone who makes me completely happy."

I gave him a small smile.

He continued. "I also told them that I could definitely see spending the rest of my life with you."

"Really?"

"Absolutely," he said giving me another kiss.

I get butterflies every time his lips touch mine.

I love him so much.

---

Thank God I have a boyfriend who pays for every flight I take. If I didn't, I would be in so much debt.

I mean, I would like to be able to pay for my portion of the trip, but he never takes my money.

We waited in the terminal at JFK for our flight to board. My leg was bouncing.

Derick put his hand on my knee and told me to relax.

Truth is, I was still nervous about meeting his parents.

"They're picking us up at the airport, just so you know."

"Okay," I said quietly.

A few minutes later, we boarded our flight and were on our way to Ottawa.

I just sat staring out the window the entire flight. I didn't have much to say.

I was too worried about meeting his parents.

I think I might have fallen asleep for a little bit. My head resting on Derick's shoulder.

He interlocked his hand with mine and kissed my temple.

He still owned a house in Ottawa that he said we could stay at instead of staying with his parents. He wanted me to feel comfortable and not pressure me into staying somewhere where I didn't.

It really didn't matter to me. I was going to have to face my nerves eventually.

As our plane landed, he took his phone out and texted his dad that we had made it.

We held hands as we made our way off the plane and down to baggage claim.

His parents were waiting for us outside of the terminal.

Derick grabbed our luggage and we met his parents outside.

"Mum, dad... This is Ellie."

They both gave me a welcoming hug.

"It's wonderful getting to meet you finally," his mom said.

"Derick's told us so much about you," his dad said following.

"I hope all good things," I joked.

"That's all I have on you," Derick interjected.

I glared at him and then smiled.

He kissed my cheek before opening the car door for me.

I was quiet for the entire ride to their house. Derick caught up with his parents filling him in on all the things he has missed. I just looked at him as they talked. He sort of looked sad because he's missed so much. Between missing Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family, to his sister having her twins...

I haven't had a real holiday dinner with my family in a long time either. Liv usually invited me over for dinners with her and Michael's families...

At least now I'll be able to have a new family to celebrate with.

Derick looked at me and smiled his goofy smile. "What?" He laughed.

I laughed back. "Nothing, I was just think how you can celebrate American Thanksgiving now."

"She raises a good point, Der," his mom said.

"What's better than two days full of good food?" I giggled.

"Point proven."

Mr. Brassard pulled into the driveway of Derick's house.

It was such a big beautiful house.

Mrs. Brassard told us that his sister, Janie would be over later on with the kids and that we'd be going to their house for dinner tonight.

I thanked them for the ride and told them that I'd see them later.

"First things first, I don't know if there's food in the house," Derick stated. "I haven't been here in a few months so everything is probably bad."

"Wait, weren't you just here like two weeks ago?"

"Well yeah but I was out of the house so much I didn't have time to grocery shop."

I walked over the the refrigerator and opened it.

One side was filled with beer and wine coolers; the other side was packed with all kinds of food.

"I think someone is buying you beer and food," I yelled from the fridge.

He laughed as he walked into the kitchen. "My mum must have gone shopping for me."

"There's so much beer!" I exclaimed.

He came up behind me and grabbed a Labatt. "Canadian."

"Whatever, any beer is good for me."

Derick insisted on eating something small because his mom always cooked for the size of a small army.

After we ate, Derick took me through the house to show me where everything was.

We made our way back to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He flipped on the TV and I laid down with my head on his lap.

A few minutes later, I fell asleep.

---

A couple hours later, I was abruptly woken by a knock on the door.

I popped up and noticed Derick had gotten up. He was no where around.

I peaked out the window beside the door to see who it was.

I just assumed it was his sister, since I knew we would be expecting her.

"Hi," I said as I opened the door.

"Ahh, you must be Ellie. Derick told me about you. I'm Janie, his older sister. It's nice to meet you."

"Yup, that'd be me. Do you need some help?" I pointed to one of car seats she was holding.

"Please," she laughed.

"So I don't know where Derick is, he's around here somewhere." I shut the door behind me.

"Derick, venez voir votre nièce et son neveu!" Janie yelled.

I'm going to have to learn French, aren't I?

All of a sudden there was a thud. Derick had tripped over the step in between the hall and his hockey room.

"Forgot that was there, to be honest."

I laughed. "You good?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Now gimme my Nolan." He picked his nephew up out of his seat and spun around with him.

Baby laughter is contagious.

"You can't forget about Cammie," Janie said picking up her little girl.

"I can only do one at a time! I can't multitask!" He exclaimed.

He handed Nolan back to me and took Cammie from Janie. He spun his niece around this time.

I never thought I could see him so happy.

"He hasn't seen them in a long time. I think he'll be occupied the rest of the day." She rolled her eyes.

He put Cammie back down in her seat next to Nolan. "I don't think I'd be able to handle two at the same time."

"You can't even handle yourself half the time," I joked.

He crossed his arms and shot a look at me.

"Just kidding?" I continued.

"Right, anyway. Now that Uncle Derick will be moving back home, he can spend more time with his favorite kiddies."

"Now that he's referring to himself in third person..." I started.

"He likes calling himself Uncle Derick," Janie laughed. "You should have heard him when I told him I was pregnant."

"I hope he's this happy when he has one of his own."

She pulled me aside. "Have you guys talked about having kids?"

"No. I mean, I do want kids but I don't think I'm ready for them."

"Yeah, they can be a handful but they're my pride and joy now," she smiled. "How are things going now? He's told mum that you were upset over his decision to come back home."

"I was more upset over him having me move all the way to New York just so I could move again. But honestly, I'm pretty happy with where we are in our relationship now. We've had a lot of disagreements, but I love him too much to stay mad."

"He's always been the sweetest kid. And Ellie, from what I can tell... by just the way he talks about you... he really loves you. Other than right now with him and the babies, I've never seen him so happy."

She hugged me.

We watched Derick play with his twin niece and nephew.

The pure happiness on his face enlightened me.

Made me fall more in love with him.

---

Dinner with his family went really well actually. They're all so sweet. I was worried for nothing.

I'm so happy that they have welcomed me to be part of their family.

I woke up to an empty bed. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

I walked out into the living room to find him talking on the phone.

I hope this is the call he's been waiting for.

"Uh huh. Uh huh. Mmkay. I'll talk to you later." He said before hanging up.

He got up from the chair and greeted me with a kiss. "My agent."

"Any news yet?"

"Nothing yet. But that's nothing to worry about right now. We got houses to go look at today."

"Ah yes, our realtor messaged me this morning with an address to meet her at."

"Perfect, how many do we have today?"

"I think I have it narrowed down to just two... and I figured we could have lunch."

"Please, we haven't gone out in a long time. We're normally mad at each other," he joked.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just gonna go grab a quick shower and throw on a little make up before we go."

"So that'll be about two hours."

I hit his arm as I walked passed him heading back into the master bedroom.

I jumped in the shower and a few minutes later I heard the bathroom door open.

"I figured I needed to shower too so," he said as he stepped in with me.

Now that we wasted more time than I wanted to by fooling around, we were going to be late.

I shot our realtor a message saying we'd be a few minutes late.

We found our way to the first house.

Situated on Ruskin Street, just fifteen minutes from the arena. The big beautiful house had five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Perfect for us consider we wanted a big family.

"The bedroom in the basement can be for Mats," Derick joked.

"Okay but what about the yard? Do you think it's big enough for Blades?"

"I think so, as long as you don't get anymore."

"One is plenty for me. I have to take care of you too," I rolled my eyes. "Besides, my next pet is a kitten."

"Shall we?" He escorted me back to the car so we could go to the second house.

The second has was on Blossom Trail Drive. It was a little over a half hour drive to the arena. It was also five bedrooms with three and a half bathrooms. The yard was bigger but we both agreed that it would be too much to maintain with how busy we are.

"I definitely like the first house better," I said walking back into the second house. "It doesn't feel as open. It felt a little homier."

"And once we get our own stuff in it, it'll feel more like home," Derick added.

We were going all in on the house, paying the list price plus a little more.

After that was all done, I took my phone out of my purse to find I had a text from Liv.

Did you hear the news?

What news?

When she didn't text me back right away, I just assumed it wasn't all that important.

When I turned around, I saw Derick doing the pocket check.

He looked over at me and smiled. "I must have left my phone at home. Mind if we stop back by the house so I can grab it?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Okay."

When we got back to the house, I stayed in the car as he jumped out real quick to grab his phone.

When he didn't come back our right away, I turned the car off and went inside to find him.

"Der?"

He was on the phone.

The second he got off he said, "I guess I'm a Senator now."

That must have been the news Liv was referring to.