“I love you, Mia Carroll Wild,” he says against my lips.
Now I’m crying. “I love you, too.”
“We’re married for real now, right?” he whispers in my ear.
“One hundred percent real.” I hug him back tightly.
“Declan Wild, please return to the team bench,” the announcer says over the loudspeaker. “Game seven is about to begin.”
“This win will be for you,” he says to me as we stand up. “I hope you enjoy it.”
Turns out he was right on both counts.
* * *
Declan
“Almost there!” Arch yells as we huddle together during the Fire’s last timeout. “Just over two minutes left, boys, and we’re world champions.”
I glance up at the scoreboard. Three to one. All we need to do is possess the puck until the buzzer sounds…
As soon as the puck is dropped, I’m all over it.
Hunter Storm is chasing me down.
But I’m not giving up the puck for anyone tonight.
I promised my wife a win, and that’s what I’m going to give her.
The crowd starts chanting “Wild” as I skate around the ice and the time ticks down.
The Fire pull their goalie, and that’s when their entire first line comes at me.
Stickhandling is my specialty, and knowing this is the last time I’m ever going to be out here like this...it inspires me.
I escape the attempts to check me into the boards, and as the clock winds down to under thirty seconds, the crowd begins to call out the time.
“Twenty-five. Twenty-four. Twenty-three…”
Down to twenty seconds left.
I keep skating.
My legs are fucking killing me, and I’m running out of steam. Skating on only adrenaline, I use the crowd to keep me going.
“Eleven. Ten.”
Under ten seconds.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
The buzzer sounds, and the announcer shouts, “The Montana Wild Kings are world champions!”
My teammates mob me, and we fall into a messy heap onto the ice.
As I eventually detangle myself from my teammates’ euphoric hugs and slaps on the back, I stand up.
Jared is right behind me as I skate off the ice.
