Sincerely, The Puck Bunny (Totally Pucked #2)(33)

“That motherfucker,” Reed curses.

I nod. “He’s done. All I want to do is focus on Olive. My daughter. It’s almost like… even after all the shit I’ve done, all the fucking up and hurting the people I love, I’m still getting a chance. A chance to be something amazing to this little girl.”

Graham nods. “I never really thought about being an uncle. Kids aren’t really my thing, but I think it could be cool. Can I see her?”

“Yeah,” Asher adds, and then Hudson too.

I laugh. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Together, we walk down to the nursery and stand in front of the glass wall where all of the babies are. I find her tiny, wrapped body in the bassinet on the far right.

“That’s her. That’s Olive Elizabeth,” I say proudly. My baby girl.

“Oh my god, she’s so fucking cute,” Graham squeals, pressing his hand over his chest. “She’s after my own heart.”

“God, you're a girl. But… wait until you hold her for the first time. She has this… baby smell that’s the best smell in the entire world. I can’t even describe it,” I tell them.

Reed nods. “Being a dad is the best thing I’ve ever done. I know you’ll be amazing at it.” He claps me on the back, then slides his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to him. I guess Reed’s situation is like mine, in the sense of we’re both new fathers and we didn’t see it coming. Last year, his estranged sister and her husband passed away and left behind their son, Evan. Reed was the only living relative he had, and now… he’s his dad. And man, he’s amazing at it. He’s the one I’d go to for advice, hands down.

“Somebody has to call Liam. He’s gonna shit,” Asher says.

“Oh yeah, can you imagine?” Hudson agrees.

My eyes are still glued to Olive, but I nod. “Yeah, maybe once we get home and get settled. Maddison’s exhausted.”

“We’ll let you get back to your girl, I mean… you know, your baby mama.” Graham smirks. “Keep us updated in the group chat, yeah?”

I nod. “Thanks guys. It means... It means a lot to me for you to be here. For standing by me these past couple of years, no matter what. I’ll never be able to repay you for it.”

“It’s what friends are for, Briggs,” Reed says.

“Yeah, no more sappy shit before I start crying. We love you, man.” Asher pulls me in for a quick hug and handshake.

“I need to start brainstorming about what I’m going to get her,” Graham adds in as they begin to walk away and I shake my head.

I’m glad he’s excited, but also nervous for what the future will hold for me, Olive and Maddison.





Twelve





There have been very few times in my life that I’ve felt pure, untouched happiness. The kind of feeling that you can recall at any given time, one that sends a shot of serotonin straight from your brain to your heart, at just the thought of that moment.

Like the first time I ever stepped onto the ice as an Avalanche. Or my first day as a coach for the Mighty Pucks and even the first game we won by a landslide. Or even holding the Stanley Cup in my hands after the most brutal and rewarding season I’d ever played.

But nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, holds a candle to what I’m feeling right now with this small, fragile bundle wrapped in pink that’s snuggled in my arms.

I’m a father.

I have a daughter, and God, she’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. And for the past forty-eight hours, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of her at all. Worried that if I close my eyes, even if only for a moment, she’ll disappear from view as quickly as she came. Maybe that’s a tad neurotic, and if you would’ve told me this time last week that I’d be holding a baby, let alone my own, I would’ve told you that you were fucking insane. But now that I’m here, holding her in my arms, I get what everyone says about “new parents.” I never want to set her down, and I never want to forget what this moment feels like. Her tiny hand is wrapped around my finger as she sleeps, her eyelids fluttering with whatever she's dreaming of, while I memorize everything about her.

Her chest rises and falls steadily as she sleeps, and I count the breaths, over and over. Proof that she’s here, and she’s mine. That if I blink, she won’t actually disappear into thin air.

I don’t even want to think about what will happen when we walk out of these doors because it fucking terrifies me. What will it mean for us when we leave the safe, untouched bubble we’ve been in since her birth?

Will Maddison allow me to be present in their lives? Will these be the last moments I get with Olive before everything goes to shit? The thought alone causes my chest to seize in panic. I never really believed in love at first sight, not until her anyway. The moment that my eyes landed on her, still fresh from her mother’s stomach, I felt something unfamiliar in my chest. Something that, until this moment, I had never felt before. A mixture of pride and overwhelming love, knowing I created this tiny baby with strong lungs, and the cutest dimpled cheeks I’ve ever seen.

I don’t need a paternity test to know that she’s mine. She has my nose and my chin, and you know, more of me than she does Maddison, which is unlucky for Olive, since her mother’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. My eyes scan her face again for the millionth time, memorizing the slope of her nose, the long, dark lashes that fan out on her cheeks. Her lips pucker in her sleep, and I grin, so unbelievably proud.