Tears sting my eyes before I can stop them.
“I want to see you play,” he whispers. “Please don’t quit. Please!”
I press my forehead to his, one hand cradling the back of his head, the other firm on his back like I can anchor him here.
“Hey,” I murmur. “Hey. Look at me.”
He does, hiccupping. His glistening blue eyes pierce my heart.
“I wasn’t planning on leaving you,” I say quietly. “It was never that, okay? I was just thinking about timing. About being around for you. About doing this right so I can be the best dad for you. I thought maybe you’d like it better if I was home with you more, that’s all. Hockey doesn’t have to be my life because you’re my life now.”
Harper steps closer then, her hand resting on my arm.
“There’s something else,” she says softly.
I look at her, heart still pounding, already stretched thin with emotion. She takes a breath, then says, “I’m pregnant, H.”
The hallway tilts and I nearly lose my balance.
Whoa.
“What?” I breathe.
She smiles through tears. “Almost fourteen weeks.”
Wh-wha-what?
I laugh and choke and cry all at once, a sound I don’t even recognize as my own.
Pregnant?
She’s pregnant?
Like, for real?
She squeezes my arm. “And I would love for our second child to see their dad play too.”
“We’re having a baby?”
“Mhmm.” She nods biting her bottom lip.
“Another baby?”
“Yeah.”
“A whole baby…from the very beginning?”
She laughs this time. “Yes.”
Connor looks between us, stunned. “Wait, you’re having a baby?”
Harper nods slowly. “Mhmm.”
“You mean…you mean I’m going to be a big brother?”
She smiles softly this time. “You are.”
He wipes his face with his sleeve, sniffling, then looks back at me with renewed urgency. “See? You can’t retire. Because Mom is going to have a baby and I’m going to be a big brother, and I need to bring my baby brother to all your games and teach him about hockey.”
