“Vacation time, baby!” Emma shouts as she plops down beside Aubrey. “Are you excited too, little Tulip? We’re going to have so much fun!” she says to her daughter, who claps with joy in her arms.
Cecilia comes over next, doing the same as Morgan did while holding her son’s hand. I lean forward to get as close to eye level as I can with him and stretch out my free hand to him, palm facing him. “Hey, little man. You excited to spend some time on the beach with your favorite uncle?”
He tries to high-five my hand with a stuffed pillow shaped like a hockey stick. “Ockey!”
I lean back in my seat and laugh. This kid cracks me up. His obsession with hockey is borderline unhealthy.
“Ugh!” Cecilia groans. “I can’t wait for this idiotic phase to be over. It’s getting ridiculous. You should have seen the tantrum he gave us because we weren’t bringing his hockey stick with us.” She shakes her head. “Sy had to run out and go from store to store until he found this pillow-shaped stick. It was the only way to get him on board with leaving his favorite stick behind.”
Silas comes up to her side with a wide grin and kisses her head. “What can I say? He’s my son after all,” he says, to which she rolls her eyes.
Noah chuckles. “What did you even do to get him so obsessed with it?”
“Probably decorating his room with nothing else but hockey gear wasn’t the best idea,” Silas replies with a snort.
“And may I remind you that all the gifts I received from you guys at the shower had something to do with hockey? I literally have twenty miniature hockey sticks, so you’re all to blame for his obsession.” Cecilia gives us all the stink eye.
“I’m just happy Gracie isn’t obsessed with anything yet.” Grey sits down beside his girlfriend and daughter. “As much as I love hockey, I could not stand hearing that word every minute of every day.” He laughs.
“Dada! Miam, miam,” Gracie says and reaches out for her father.
“You hungry, Buttercup?” He takes her into his arms.
“I’ll go buy her something,” Em says as she stands and kisses her daughter’s cheek.
“I’ll come with you.” Aubrey quickly gets up and joins her.
“Me too. Sam, can you watch Dante while I’m gone?” Cecilia asks the kids’ nanny.
He walks over and takes Dante’s hand from her. “No problem.”
“I’m right here, you know.” Silas frowns. “Hisactualfather.”
She giggles and pats his cheek. “I know, honey.” She’s totally doing it on purpose to ruffle his feathers at this point.
“So, Sam. You excited for a nice tropical vacation?” I ask him, bringing my hand that still holds Vixen’s onto her lap, needing to feel her smooth skin some more. She’s still leaning against Noah but is now paying attention to all of us.
Sam looks down at our hands, then to Ronnie and Noah, and smirks. “Yeah, a free paid vacation filled with fun. How could I not be?”
“You’re here to watch the kids. Not have fun,” Silas scolds him.
“Oh, don’t be so grouchy, Sy. He can have fun as well. We’re eleven adults with only two children. We can all watch them. Sam’s mostly here to give you guys a break when you want some time alone with your wives. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still enjoy his vacation,” Morgan tells him.
Silas groans and drops down in a seat. “I guess,” he grumbles, not looking pleased.
Suddenly a group of four teenage boys wanders over, all with excited grins on their faces. “Hi!” one says. “We’re really huge fans. We were at your game when you guys won the Stanley Cup.”
“It was epic!” another shouts.
“Seriously amazeballs! Mr. Ford, you killed it with that hat trick!” a third one adds. “Could we get your autographs and some pictures?”
The last one rips out his phone. “Oh, yeah! My brother will totally be jealous. He’s been a fan for so long. He would die if I came home with your autographs all over my shirt and selfies.”
“Thank you,” Greyson says to the third one. “And sure, why not.” He smiles, then turns to Morgan. “Mind holding her for a sec?”
“Not at all.” She beams and takes Gracie from him.
The boys come in closer, all going to each of us as we fish out our permanent markers from our carry-ons. It’s become a habit to always wander around with a few markers in our pockets. Fans stop us often, wanting autographs, and don’t always have things to write with.
