I make sure everything is squared away with the equipment guys, then grab my overnight bag. I’m reading a cascade of text messages from my sister as I step into the hallway.
Emery
FYI, you’ve been abandoned at the rink
I had a Braxton-Hicks contraction and Mom insisted we go home right away
Alexei will find you and bring you back to our place
I hope you’re hungry, because I’m stress cooking, please come distract our mother
Leaning against the wall across from the visitors’ dressing room is the big dark-haired, pale-skinned Russian goalie who called me fucking outrageous when I scored on him less than two hours ago. It’s a good thing I’m related to his fiancée, so he can’t murder me on the drive home.
Frowning, he holds out his hand.
“Hey bud,” I say, clapping my palm against his. “Sorry you had to wait.”
“It’s okay,” he deadpans. “I was thinking of blocking your shot in the shootout.” He taps his temple. “Permanent replay.”
I grin. “I’ve got Coop blasting his shot past you on a loop in my head, too.”
He scowls. “What did you tell him?”
“That’s a team secret.” I gesture to the exit. “Emery says my parents have already taken her home?”
He makes a face. “They love her very much.”
“Ah, they’re smothering her?”
“She’s not happy. But deep down I think she is very happy.”
“That’s par for the course with her and my mom.”
He shakes his head. “The mother daughter relationship is complicated. Especially now as we get closer to the baby arriving.”
“She wants my mom here, but not right on top of her?”
“Yes, something like that.”
There is only one big brother move for me to make here. It’s not one I want to do, but I’ll do it anyway. “Do you think I should suggest that my mom come with us tomorrow when my dad drives me home?”
A grin spreads across his face. “You are a good brother. That’s a great idea.”
When we arrive at his house, we’re greeted by raucous laughter. Deep laughs, from my dad and Sergei Artyomov, and little high-pitched giggles, too.
As I toe off my boots at the front door, Alexei raises his voice. “I take it bedtime didn’t happen?”
“Papa!” His three-year-old daughter Inessa comes racing down the hallway, then stops when she sees me, her eyes going wide at the unexpected uncle appearance so late at night. “Wait. Who are you?”
Emery follows, round baby belly appearing first, her blonde waves flying in all direction, faceverypink.
“What is wrong?”Alexei demands to know.
It’s pretty clear that she’s stuffed full of a giant Russian baby, but I’m not going to say that out loud. My sister is a very online person, so there is no shortage of photos documenting her pregnancy, but it’s still a shock to see her in person looking very different than the last time I saw her in the summer.
She rolls her eyes at her fiancé. “I’m fine. We were just doing a centre of gravity challenge. And this is my brother Logan, Inessa. You remember him from last summer.”
Inessa buries her face in Emery’s leg and shakes her head.
