Music to My Heart
Three
“Ebs!”
The familiar voice calling his name put a smile on his face and he turned in it's direction.
“Hallsy!”
It was late August and Jordan and Eve had set out to New York City to find a place to live for the season that was fast approaching. Until they found a place they’d be staying in a hotel. Jordan had been most excited about Eve meeting Taylor and Roni for the first time though.
The two men embraced and immediately began speaking over one another, causing them both to laugh. Jordan caught sight of Roni and he pulled her into a hug.
“It’s so good to see you, Jordan, but who is that?” She asked cutting her eyes over his shoulder where Eve hung back.
Jordan turned with a smile and grabbed Eve’s hand, pulling her forward. “Eve, this is Taylor and Roni. Guys, this is Eve. Danni set us up.”
“Of course she did,” Taylor grinned.
“Without Danni’s nudging we might not have ever gotten together, on account of your being a huge douche nozzle,” Roni pointed out.
“She wouldn’t take my calls or accept my gifts,” Taylor told Eve. “But I wore her down.”
“Danni conned me by telling me she’d introduce me to their teammate Sam when she knew she never intended to do that,” Roni added.
“Because she knew you’d find me irresistible if you would just go out with me.”
“You painting a bowl at a paint your own pottery place was pretty adorable I suppose.”
“That bowl has a place of honor on our mantle,” Taylor said proudly.
“How did she get you two?” Roni asked.
“Fancy Christmas dinner, us and her and Ryan,” Eve answered.
“Then she subjected her to the white elephant gift exchange,” Jordan added. “You guys were replaced by Drats and McDavid.”
“Pfft, I’m irreplaceable, dude,” Taylor replied.
Roni shook her head at him. “Mr. Irreplaceable, that’s you.”
“Hey, you’re the one who agreed to marry me.”
“Yeah, what were you thinking, Roni?” Jordan teased.
“I blame the spawn I didn’t know at the time was cohabitating inside me,” she shrugged.
“I still can’t believe you guys are pregnant and engaged.”
“I can’t believe Taylor told you. I’m only six weeks along; we agreed to wait,” she added, giving Taylor a look.
“I had to tell someone, Roni or I was going to die.”
“Jordan bet Danni a hundred dollars that she’d be pregnant first,” Eve told them.
“Why would you do that?” Taylor asked. “Have you learned nothing?”
“Her and Nuge got married, they bought and renovated their first house. It’s the next step, right? But no, Danni said it’d be Roni and I stupidly took the bet. Lesson learned.”
They all shared a laugh. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” Roni said. “I’m starving and want to know everything about your first date and how Eve puts up with you.
The next day Jordan and Eve were on the fourth house of the day Jordan’s realtor had shown them. She had left them alone in the backyard after showing them the property and going on and on about all of the homes pros.
“What do you think?” Jordan asked Eve.
“What do you think? It’s your place.”
He shook his head and pulled her into his arms. “Our home,” he corrected.
She smiled. “The truth?”
“Hit me.”
“I love it,” she sighed. The three story Tudor style home had a brick and stucco exterior. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, in addition to all the other standards: kitchen, dining room, office, and a living room with a fireplace, plus a finished basement. A mudroom gave way to a screened porch.
“I do too. I can picture us here for a long time.”
“A long time, huh?”
“The longest. You’re stuck with me, Eve Cannon.” He reached into his pocket and took her hand in his “I love you, and I know I want to spend my life with you but there’s a lot going on right now, with being traded here, and getting us both moved here. I want you to know though that no matter what, you’re it, and I promise to be always be there for you, to always be your friend and partner in life. I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me and I hope that’s a really long time. I know I’m not ready to be engaged, and this between us still feels so new and you’re not ready either but one day, when we both feel ready, or maybe never if we’re happy doing what we’re doing now, I don’t know.”
He was rambling and to stop himself he slid the rose gold ring onto the ring finger of her right hand with a sheepish smile. He took a deep breath to settle himself. “What I mean is, for now I just promise to keep loving you everyday like I have every day that’s gone by.”
“Jordan....” she breathed out, admiring the ring, an infinity symbol set with five small pave diamonds on each side. “It’s beautiful.”
“Just like the woman wearing it.”
She hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Jordan.”
“Should we go make an offer on this place?”
“Yes!”
“Let’s find our real estate agent then.”
In early November, the Oilers came to town and it was the first time Jordan would play against his former teammates. He was both excited and nervous for the game. The game ended up being an overtime loss but he had scored to tie the game and was pretty happy with that.
Danni had taken time off to fly out for the game (she was also catching the game against Taylor and the Devils as well as against the Rangers for her week vacation) and was staying with Jordan and Eve. After seeing Ryan off to the team bus after the game, Danni joined Jordan and his teammates for a night out.
The three of them were sitting at a high top table at the club they had gone to when John Tavares came up behind Danni. “Hey,” he greeted them. Danni turned and looked up at him.
“You’re John Tavares,” she said.
“That’s what they tell me. And you are?”
“Oh! I’m Danni.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Danni,” he smiled.
She looked around him. “Where’s your girlfriend? The pretty one you rescued like a knight in shining armor?”
Even in the dim light of the club they could all see the flush that rose up John’s neck. “You know how sometimes you used to make Schultzy do stuff with you because he’s friends with Nuge?” Jordan interrupted.
“Yeah?”
“And you know how that one time when we were gone to Vancouver and Justin was hurt and you guys went to dinner and some blog posted a story about you cheating on Ryan and how there was a bunch of drama and you were the Yoko Ono of our locker room?
Eve’s jaw dropped. “That really happened?” Eve asked, her eyes wide.
Danni frowned. “Unfortunately yes. And it really sucked.”
“That wasn’t my girlfriend,” John told her. “Her name is Alex and she’s James Neal’s girlfriends, and I’m friends with him and got to know her the couple years ago. She was in town to see him play and our Halloween party happened while she was here.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry for assuming.”
John shrugged. “It’s okay. I could do worse. Alex is a great person, but she’s like another sister to me.”
“Danni is the one who set Eve and I up,” Jordan explained.
“Oh yeah? Think you have some more mojo to help me out?” John asked. “Honestly I came over to introduce myself not realizing you were taken,” he continued, inclining his head towards Danni’s wedding rings. “Nugent-Hopkins, eh?”
Danni blushed. “If you want to sign in Edmonton when you hit free agency Ryan and I would be happy to find you love.”
“You and I both know that Nuge would have nothing to do with that,” Jordan told her.
“Okay, fine, I’ll meddle all on my own.”
John laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. And for the record, I think you’d get along great with Alex if you ever meet. She’s doing her best to find love for me and Steven and PK.”
“Could I get that in writing perhaps? So Ryan knows it’s perfectly normal for me to want to marry off all his friends?”
“I’m pretty sure with a minor amount of convincing I could get Alex to call Ryan herself and tell him that.”
Danni’s eyes lit up. “Could you? Oh my gosh that would be amazing.”
“Now you’ve done it, Tavares,” Jordan spoke up. “I was the last one and now she’s going to go full speed ahead to finding McDavid the love of his life.”
“Connor needs me, Ebby!” Danni exclaimed.
He flushed immediately at her nickname for him. “Ebby?” Eve asked. John looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I wasn’t supposed to say that,” Danni apologized. “You guys have to pretend you never heard that. It’s like how only I get to call Ryan Nugie.” John made a motion as if closing a zipper over his lips. “You’re a good dude, John. And you already wear orange and blue so if you want to come join the Oilers...” she trailed off with a grin.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he winked in return.
While most of his teammates (and the majority of the NHL in general) headed for sunshine and beaches for their bye weeks, Jordan and Eve rented a cabin in Portland, Maine with Taylor and Roni since the Devils had the same week off as the Islanders.
They spent their time enjoying the outdoors and eating delicious seafood. It was a relaxing getaway that recharged the guys for the remaining games of their season but also allowed each couple to time to connect with each other.
On their last day in Maine, Roni was up before everyone else and Eve found her outside on the deck drawing in a sketchbook with a mug of hot cocoa.
“Good morning,” Eve said as she took a seat across from her.
“Morning. How’d you sleep last night?”
“You mean over all the giggling your fiancé and my boyfriend were doing?” Eve rolled her eyes. “I don’t think those two will ever get enough of each other.”
Roni laughed. “When Taylor got traded, it hurt, because him and Ebs are so close and they’ve always had each other. It’s always been him and Jordan and Ryan. And then all of a sudden he was on his own. But it was an adventure, you know?”
Eve nodded and Roni continued. “We decided that we had to look at like a blessing but damn if that wasn’t hard when they made the playoffs last year and Taylor didn’t. Then Ebs got traded and I swear I’ve never seen Taylor smile more that he was going to have his best friend nearby again. And I got you out of the deal so that’s pretty great. I’m glad Danni fixed you and Ebs up. He needed a girl like you in his life. I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy to decide to follow him here. Taylor and I had been together a few years and it was still hard for me to wrap my mind around uprooting my whole life to just follow him.”
Eve smiled to herself as she twisted the ring on her right hand. “It sounds crazy but it was such an easy choice. Sometimes I can’t believe how quickly I fell for Jordan but that’s what happened. I want to be with him, wherever that is. He’s definitely it for me.”
Roni smiled. “When I first met Taylor he was such a douche and it was a huge turn off. Then I let him take me out on a date and he wasn’t that guy. I was still scared though so while he kept pursuing me, I kept pushing him away. Until he showed up at my school with hundreds of dollars worth of art supplies and wanted to paint with one of my classes. I cut him down though and he walked away, defeated. I finally got him to give up and it hurt. I thought I would feel relieved but instead I felt terrible. And then Danni showed up with her class and she gave me a verbal slapping and I chased him down and gave him a real shot. It was the best decision I ever made.”
“And now you’re going to have a baby and you’re getting married this summer.”
“I’m having a baby with Taylor Hall; what the hell am I thinking?” Roni laughed. “Seriously though, I don’t think it’ll be much longer before you’re hearing wedding bells too.”
“I hope so.”
The familiar voice calling his name put a smile on his face and he turned in it's direction.
“Hallsy!”
It was late August and Jordan and Eve had set out to New York City to find a place to live for the season that was fast approaching. Until they found a place they’d be staying in a hotel. Jordan had been most excited about Eve meeting Taylor and Roni for the first time though.
The two men embraced and immediately began speaking over one another, causing them both to laugh. Jordan caught sight of Roni and he pulled her into a hug.
“It’s so good to see you, Jordan, but who is that?” She asked cutting her eyes over his shoulder where Eve hung back.
Jordan turned with a smile and grabbed Eve’s hand, pulling her forward. “Eve, this is Taylor and Roni. Guys, this is Eve. Danni set us up.”
“Of course she did,” Taylor grinned.
“Without Danni’s nudging we might not have ever gotten together, on account of your being a huge douche nozzle,” Roni pointed out.
“She wouldn’t take my calls or accept my gifts,” Taylor told Eve. “But I wore her down.”
“Danni conned me by telling me she’d introduce me to their teammate Sam when she knew she never intended to do that,” Roni added.
“Because she knew you’d find me irresistible if you would just go out with me.”
“You painting a bowl at a paint your own pottery place was pretty adorable I suppose.”
“That bowl has a place of honor on our mantle,” Taylor said proudly.
“How did she get you two?” Roni asked.
“Fancy Christmas dinner, us and her and Ryan,” Eve answered.
“Then she subjected her to the white elephant gift exchange,” Jordan added. “You guys were replaced by Drats and McDavid.”
“Pfft, I’m irreplaceable, dude,” Taylor replied.
Roni shook her head at him. “Mr. Irreplaceable, that’s you.”
“Hey, you’re the one who agreed to marry me.”
“Yeah, what were you thinking, Roni?” Jordan teased.
“I blame the spawn I didn’t know at the time was cohabitating inside me,” she shrugged.
“I still can’t believe you guys are pregnant and engaged.”
“I can’t believe Taylor told you. I’m only six weeks along; we agreed to wait,” she added, giving Taylor a look.
“I had to tell someone, Roni or I was going to die.”
“Jordan bet Danni a hundred dollars that she’d be pregnant first,” Eve told them.
“Why would you do that?” Taylor asked. “Have you learned nothing?”
“Her and Nuge got married, they bought and renovated their first house. It’s the next step, right? But no, Danni said it’d be Roni and I stupidly took the bet. Lesson learned.”
They all shared a laugh. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” Roni said. “I’m starving and want to know everything about your first date and how Eve puts up with you.
The next day Jordan and Eve were on the fourth house of the day Jordan’s realtor had shown them. She had left them alone in the backyard after showing them the property and going on and on about all of the homes pros.
“What do you think?” Jordan asked Eve.
“What do you think? It’s your place.”
He shook his head and pulled her into his arms. “Our home,” he corrected.
She smiled. “The truth?”
“Hit me.”
“I love it,” she sighed. The three story Tudor style home had a brick and stucco exterior. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, in addition to all the other standards: kitchen, dining room, office, and a living room with a fireplace, plus a finished basement. A mudroom gave way to a screened porch.
“I do too. I can picture us here for a long time.”
“A long time, huh?”
“The longest. You’re stuck with me, Eve Cannon.” He reached into his pocket and took her hand in his “I love you, and I know I want to spend my life with you but there’s a lot going on right now, with being traded here, and getting us both moved here. I want you to know though that no matter what, you’re it, and I promise to be always be there for you, to always be your friend and partner in life. I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me and I hope that’s a really long time. I know I’m not ready to be engaged, and this between us still feels so new and you’re not ready either but one day, when we both feel ready, or maybe never if we’re happy doing what we’re doing now, I don’t know.”
He was rambling and to stop himself he slid the rose gold ring onto the ring finger of her right hand with a sheepish smile. He took a deep breath to settle himself. “What I mean is, for now I just promise to keep loving you everyday like I have every day that’s gone by.”
“Jordan....” she breathed out, admiring the ring, an infinity symbol set with five small pave diamonds on each side. “It’s beautiful.”
“Just like the woman wearing it.”
She hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Jordan.”
“Should we go make an offer on this place?”
“Yes!”
“Let’s find our real estate agent then.”
~*~*~
In early November, the Oilers came to town and it was the first time Jordan would play against his former teammates. He was both excited and nervous for the game. The game ended up being an overtime loss but he had scored to tie the game and was pretty happy with that.
Danni had taken time off to fly out for the game (she was also catching the game against Taylor and the Devils as well as against the Rangers for her week vacation) and was staying with Jordan and Eve. After seeing Ryan off to the team bus after the game, Danni joined Jordan and his teammates for a night out.
The three of them were sitting at a high top table at the club they had gone to when John Tavares came up behind Danni. “Hey,” he greeted them. Danni turned and looked up at him.
“You’re John Tavares,” she said.
“That’s what they tell me. And you are?”
“Oh! I’m Danni.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Danni,” he smiled.
She looked around him. “Where’s your girlfriend? The pretty one you rescued like a knight in shining armor?”
Even in the dim light of the club they could all see the flush that rose up John’s neck. “You know how sometimes you used to make Schultzy do stuff with you because he’s friends with Nuge?” Jordan interrupted.
“Yeah?”
“And you know how that one time when we were gone to Vancouver and Justin was hurt and you guys went to dinner and some blog posted a story about you cheating on Ryan and how there was a bunch of drama and you were the Yoko Ono of our locker room?
Eve’s jaw dropped. “That really happened?” Eve asked, her eyes wide.
Danni frowned. “Unfortunately yes. And it really sucked.”
“That wasn’t my girlfriend,” John told her. “Her name is Alex and she’s James Neal’s girlfriends, and I’m friends with him and got to know her the couple years ago. She was in town to see him play and our Halloween party happened while she was here.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry for assuming.”
John shrugged. “It’s okay. I could do worse. Alex is a great person, but she’s like another sister to me.”
“Danni is the one who set Eve and I up,” Jordan explained.
“Oh yeah? Think you have some more mojo to help me out?” John asked. “Honestly I came over to introduce myself not realizing you were taken,” he continued, inclining his head towards Danni’s wedding rings. “Nugent-Hopkins, eh?”
Danni blushed. “If you want to sign in Edmonton when you hit free agency Ryan and I would be happy to find you love.”
“You and I both know that Nuge would have nothing to do with that,” Jordan told her.
“Okay, fine, I’ll meddle all on my own.”
John laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. And for the record, I think you’d get along great with Alex if you ever meet. She’s doing her best to find love for me and Steven and PK.”
“Could I get that in writing perhaps? So Ryan knows it’s perfectly normal for me to want to marry off all his friends?”
“I’m pretty sure with a minor amount of convincing I could get Alex to call Ryan herself and tell him that.”
Danni’s eyes lit up. “Could you? Oh my gosh that would be amazing.”
“Now you’ve done it, Tavares,” Jordan spoke up. “I was the last one and now she’s going to go full speed ahead to finding McDavid the love of his life.”
“Connor needs me, Ebby!” Danni exclaimed.
He flushed immediately at her nickname for him. “Ebby?” Eve asked. John looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I wasn’t supposed to say that,” Danni apologized. “You guys have to pretend you never heard that. It’s like how only I get to call Ryan Nugie.” John made a motion as if closing a zipper over his lips. “You’re a good dude, John. And you already wear orange and blue so if you want to come join the Oilers...” she trailed off with a grin.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he winked in return.
~*~*~
While most of his teammates (and the majority of the NHL in general) headed for sunshine and beaches for their bye weeks, Jordan and Eve rented a cabin in Portland, Maine with Taylor and Roni since the Devils had the same week off as the Islanders.
They spent their time enjoying the outdoors and eating delicious seafood. It was a relaxing getaway that recharged the guys for the remaining games of their season but also allowed each couple to time to connect with each other.
On their last day in Maine, Roni was up before everyone else and Eve found her outside on the deck drawing in a sketchbook with a mug of hot cocoa.
“Good morning,” Eve said as she took a seat across from her.
“Morning. How’d you sleep last night?”
“You mean over all the giggling your fiancé and my boyfriend were doing?” Eve rolled her eyes. “I don’t think those two will ever get enough of each other.”
Roni laughed. “When Taylor got traded, it hurt, because him and Ebs are so close and they’ve always had each other. It’s always been him and Jordan and Ryan. And then all of a sudden he was on his own. But it was an adventure, you know?”
Eve nodded and Roni continued. “We decided that we had to look at like a blessing but damn if that wasn’t hard when they made the playoffs last year and Taylor didn’t. Then Ebs got traded and I swear I’ve never seen Taylor smile more that he was going to have his best friend nearby again. And I got you out of the deal so that’s pretty great. I’m glad Danni fixed you and Ebs up. He needed a girl like you in his life. I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy to decide to follow him here. Taylor and I had been together a few years and it was still hard for me to wrap my mind around uprooting my whole life to just follow him.”
Eve smiled to herself as she twisted the ring on her right hand. “It sounds crazy but it was such an easy choice. Sometimes I can’t believe how quickly I fell for Jordan but that’s what happened. I want to be with him, wherever that is. He’s definitely it for me.”
Roni smiled. “When I first met Taylor he was such a douche and it was a huge turn off. Then I let him take me out on a date and he wasn’t that guy. I was still scared though so while he kept pursuing me, I kept pushing him away. Until he showed up at my school with hundreds of dollars worth of art supplies and wanted to paint with one of my classes. I cut him down though and he walked away, defeated. I finally got him to give up and it hurt. I thought I would feel relieved but instead I felt terrible. And then Danni showed up with her class and she gave me a verbal slapping and I chased him down and gave him a real shot. It was the best decision I ever made.”
“And now you’re going to have a baby and you’re getting married this summer.”
“I’m having a baby with Taylor Hall; what the hell am I thinking?” Roni laughed. “Seriously though, I don’t think it’ll be much longer before you’re hearing wedding bells too.”
“I hope so.”