Marek (Cold Fury Hockey #11)(38)
Always.
My eyes cut over to Reed, who is sitting one row down from me and to my left. He’s turned in his seat, grinning up at Hawke, and a rush of fondness for my buddy hits me hard. I’ve thought these last few weeks that he’s a dick because of the way he’s ridden me about how I was treating Gracen, but I know deep down that he was doing it because he cares about me.
“That’s wonderful news,” Gray says from the podium, and my attention swings that way. She turns to look at Vale. “And anything pregnancy related you need to know, my office door is open.”
Vale blushes as she nods at the general manager, her boss who has offered to dish over babies and pregnancy. That’s just Gray being all girl, and that’s also all right by us.
“Any other news?” Gray asks briskly as she grips the edges of the podium.
I look around but no one stands up. My gaze goes back to Gray, who watches us all for a moment before taking our silence to indicate the meeting is over. She leans forward and opens her mouth as if to say some last-minute words of encouragement, but without thinking I’m pushing up out of my seat.
“I have an announcement,” I say as I tuck my hands down into the pockets of my cargo shorts.
Gray’s eyes alight on me and she nods.
“I’ve got some big news too,” I say, surprised that this isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. “I found out a few weeks ago that I’m a father.”
Mutters of disbelief mixed with joy hit me from all angles after it takes a moment for my teammates to process what I just said. I grin and look around. “It was a shock, but I’m pretty fucking stoked about it.”
The guys all laugh and grin back at me.
“Her name is Lilly,” I tell my team, and my neck turns warm as I hear the gravely emotion in my voice just from saying her name. I give a little cough, suck in a breath. “She’ll be four in January, and she’s pretty fucking amazing. I’m sure you all will be meeting her at some event or another. Maybe a game here soon.”
I look quickly around the room, nodding at my teammates in acknowledgment of their happiness for me.
“That’s just amazing, Marek,” Gray says from the front of the room. “I can’t wait to meet Lilly.”
I blow out a breath and smile back at her.
“All right guys,” Pretore says as he steps back up to the podium. “You got thirty minutes to get suited up and hit the ice. We’re going to be doing drills today to get your skating legs back in working order.”
I groan at the thought of how much pain I’m going to be in, even as excitement pulses through me to get back out on the ice.
Everyone stands up and starts filing out of the meeting room, while others stand around in small groups for some chitchat and catch up after a nice summer break. I meet Reed and Holt at the bottom of the stairs. Both of them clap me on the shoulder and Holt says, “Good job on announcing Lilly.”
Reed and Holt were the only two who knew about her, and now the whole team knows.
A hand wraps around the back of my neck and I’m given a quick shake. I turn to see Alex Crossman, our team’s captain there. He sticks his other hand out and I shake it.
“Congrats, man,” he says warmly.
Ryker and Gray walk up, both also wearing smiles to indicate their happiness for me as well. Holt and Reed give me two more claps on the shoulder and head off toward the locker room.
“Some news you just dropped on us,” Ryker says as we shake hands.
Gray merely lays her hand on my forearm and murmurs, “You’ll be a great dad, Marek.”
“This is all so weird,” I say with a nervous laugh. “I feel like I should be passing out cigars or something.”
“You’ll need to bring Lilly over to play with the girls sometime,” Gray tells me. Ryker has two children, Ruby and Violet, from a former marriage, but they live with him and Gray. “And definitely bring her to the season opener party this weekend.”
“Absolutely,” I reply with an appreciative nod. The Cold Fury is truly one big family, and I’m sure they’ll all be fast friends.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Gray says in a lower voice as she inches in closer. “How did you just find this out? I mean…did you have any clue?”
A surge of unease causes a little sweat to break out on my upper lip. While I was fully prepared to talk about Lilly to anyone and everyone who wanted to listen, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle Gracen. Many of the people on this team are considered my close friends, and the others are friends all the same. I should have no problem telling my mates about the shitty reason I didn’t know about Lilly for over three years.
But something inside of me just can’t bring myself to throw Gracen under the bus. She’s Lilly’s mom, and she’s a great fucking mother. I don’t want my negative feelings to color other people’s perception of her.
“Let’s just say it was a misunderstanding between two people,” I tell the group still standing around me. All three lean in to listen. “Lilly and her mom, Gracen, are staying at my house for the time being so I can get to know Lilly better.”
And just like that, Alex, Ryker, and Gray accept what I’m saying. I can tell by their faces that they understand it’s a delicate situation and intensely personal. Their expressions show they respect that we’re making the most of a difficult situation.