“No, you didn’t.” I laugh, and he laughs too.
“I’m so fucking happy you proved me wrong.” He turns and bear hugs Levi next, and I skate a little away from the group, looking up at the section reserved for friends and family, but I can’t see her because everyone is jumping and hugging and high-fiving, and it’s just a blur of limbs and bobbing heads. God, I really want to see her.
“Handshakes!” Levi bellows because it’s his job as the captain to rally us for this act of sportsmanship so the despondent Milwaukee team can get the fuck off the ice and lick their wounds, they can give us the Cup and family can join us on the ice. I can’t wait to share this with Dixie and the Braddocks, who have accepted me like family. I push back the slight sting of knowing my own family won’t be here. Todd is in Europe for work, and although my parents are well aware of what’s going on and I’ve told them they have tickets if they want them, they won’t be here.
Fifteen minutes later, they bring out the Cup and hand it to Levi. I can’t believe it’s happening to me. Winning this is a lifelong dream, and I earned it. I started every single playoff game. I got us here. Levi takes a lap, kisses the brilliant metal, and then he turns and brings it to me. The camera flashes are blinding. I get that this is a moment. Not many brothers win the Cup together.
I kiss it, lift it over my head and roar. As I take my lap around the ice my eyes find her by the doors they’ll be opening to let family onto the ice in a few minutes. Her cheeks are pink with excitement and her eyes are blurry with tears of joy. I grin even larger at the sight and give her a wink. As I skate by to hand the Cup to Jude, I notice Winnie is on one side of her…and my parents are on the other.
I stare at them, blinking to see if this is just some hallucination brought on by mass levels of joy. But no, they’re still there. They look more uncomfortable than excited, but they are here. Our eyes meet, first mine and my mom’s and then mine and my dad’s. My mom waves her trademark little royal wave, a tentative smile on her lips. My dad nods.
I skate toward Levi, who is watching Jude spin around with the Cup above his head. I grab his jersey at the shoulder and tug him closer. “Mom and Dad are here.”
“No,” he kind of laughs.
“Levi, they’re here.” I turn him. I can tell the minute he lays eyes on them, because his expression changes to bewilderment and his eyes get a glimmer of hope. “They came?”
“Yeah…shit. They actually came.”
My eyes find Dixie’s again and she looks sheepish. She did this. That beautiful, uncontrollable, stubborn, nutty little firecracker did this. God, I love her.
Dixie
I lean closer to Mrs. Casco. “They’re going to open the doors now and let us onto the ice.”
“The ice? But it’s slippery. Won’t we all just fall?”
I smile reassuringly. “Just walk slowly and with short steps. It’s easier than you think.”
“You can hold on to me, Catherine,” Mr. Casco tells his wife and bends his elbow like he’s escorting her to the debutante ball. It’s stuffy but also cute as hell.
They both look unbelievably uncomfortable right now, but the whole night hasn’t gone that way. Tessa and I picked them up at the airport forty minutes before the game. Neither of us told Eli or Levi about their visit in case they decided to cancel at the last minute. They didn’t, and although it was super awkward for me to meet them like that, without Eli there, it was worth it. They were as uptight and cool as Eli has described them, and at first I fretted that they would get annoyed or even upset watching the game, but they didn’t. In fact, they got pretty into it, clapping and gasping and cheering. I think it helped that the rowdy bunch of hooligans that share my DNA were sitting in the row right behind them. My mom seemed to bond with Mrs. Casco, and my dad was all too happy to answer Mr. Casco’s questions about the game.
Zoey reaches over and squeezes my hand excitedly as Declan Randall Braddock squirms in his BabyBjörn at her chest. I reach up and caress his pudgy little cheek and wish for a second that he was more than three months old so he would remember this. But knowing his dad, there will be other Cup celebrations in his life. They open the door and we spill onto the ice with the rest of the families. I make sure the Cascos stay near me. Tessa is right beside me, and my family is right behind me, but they break off with Zoey to rush to Jude, who is standing just left of Levi and Eli. Both Casco brothers are looking at us as we approach like they’re seeing ghosts.
I rush to Eli and jump into him. He wraps his arms around me and squeezes me breathless. “You won a fucking Stanley Cup!” I say against his ear, my face smarting from the giant smile I can’t wipe off.
“I fucking did!” he replies and laughs as he loosens his hold on me and my feet hit the ice again. His eyes move over my shoulder quickly, and I turn and see Levi hugging his mom. “You did this?”
“It actually wasn’t that hard,” I reply with a shrug. “I just used my incredible charm.”
He laughs and takes my hand and he glides closer to his family. His dad smiles at him. “Congratulations, son. You’re very talented. So is Levi.”
“We are!” Eli agrees with a smile. “Thank you, Dad. I’m really happy you guys came.”
“I’m so glad your lovely girlfriends convinced us,” Mrs. Casco says, and Eli squeezes my hand as Levi leans over and kisses Tessa’s cheek. “It’s scary to watch you out there but…I’ve never seen you two happier.”
“We just won the hardest trophy there is to win in sports, Mom,” Levi tells her with a grin. “Together. This is one of the best days of my life.”
“We’re proud of you,” Mr. Casco says, and I can tell by both of the boys’ faces that they haven’t heard that a lot, or maybe at all.
Mrs. Casco looks at me. “So, where is your brother?’
I point a few feet away, closer to the middle of the ice. “I should go over there.”
She nods. I look up at Eli. He kisses the top of my head and lets go of my hand. I take quick short steps and scurry across the ice to get to my family. Jude is lifting Declan out of the BabyBjörn. My heart just melts, and a wave of happy tears hits the back of my eyes. I fight them off, because he’ll tease me mercilessly if he sees me cry. He still razzes me about how I was a weepy mess when I saw Declan for the first time, and he doesn’t believe my lie that I was upset he wasn’t a girl. I was thrilled he was healthy, and seeing Jude hold him had opened the floodgates, but then Jude handed him to my dad and, in front of everyone right there in the hospital room, put a gorgeous ring on Zoey’s finger, and well, it was game over.
He sees me and grins wildly. I shuffle over and hug him. “Congrats.”
