Page 64 of Break

She sniffs and holds out her arms for our daughter and presses her against her chest, snuggling the baby under her chin. She frowns and blinks at me, probably still making sure I’m real. “Don’t you have a game?”

I nod and blow out a deep breath. “I needed to be here.”

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “You can spend the day and night with us, but you need to get back out on the ice, James. You win that cup, bring that shit home, then figure out what you want to do from there. I don’t want you to be here just because you feel like you have an obligation to be.”

I sigh and glance down at my lap. “I’m stepping up. I’ve thought about it for weeks, I even worked with a therapist. I swear. I fucking swear that time just got away from me. I don’tknow why I had it in my mind that I had enough time to deal with hockey, with playoffs… to winning and coming back to you. When Landon and Nolan told me that you were in the hospital I hopped on a jet back home. I want to be here. I want to be a dad, at your side. I want us to be a family.”

She glances away and tightens her lips, pursing them to the side. “I can’t take it if you walk away again. It broke me. I can do this all on my own.”

I shake my head and glance around the room, nodding a thanks when Mr. Evans slowly gathers everyone out and offers my son to me before they all step out and close the door. The click of the latch forces me to snap my gaze to Marie’s eyes. Bianca finally hops off the bed to give us some privacy, following the group out the door.

“I’m here 100%, Marie. Always and forever, just like our friendship and everything else we’ve been through. I think I knew I always loved you, I guess… I just had no idea how much. Every time someone mentioned kids, you always popped up in my mind. If I ever did decide in the future, on my own, it would have always been you. I’ll beg and plead, on my hands and knees for you to give me, us, a shot. I want to watch these kids grow, knowing they have both parents under the same roof. I want a ring on our fingers. I want you forever.”

She stares down at our daughter and her gaze softens. “Are you sure?”

I nod and kiss my son’s head, breathing him in. “I swear. On everything I am. I was just so fucking scared… I felteverything.I wasn’t abandoning you, I just had so much shit to go through. Patterson set me up with a therapist and I poured everything, everything out, heart and soul over these past several weeks. I was terrified of turning into our parents.Abandoning my children, drinking and doing drugs, making their lives a living hell. Neglecting them.

“I still have a way to go… probably another lifetime of therapy until I’m ‘normal’ but I made my decision from the moment it fell from your lips that these babies are mine. I just didn’t want to drag you into hell with me while I sorted out my addled mind. I was so angry with myself that I put you in this situation and how alone you must have felt. Never at or with you. Never.”

She rolls her eyes and glares at me. “I’ve been in hell with you since the day I was born, James. We grew up as neighbors, our parents were one and the same. Don’t give me that shit, we’ve always walked hell together.”

I nod. “But you moved past it, Marie. You’re so fucking strong. I threw myself into hockey, traveled, partied, and drank. I did everything I could to erase my mind, hardening myself so much that nothing outside of you or the girls could touch me. Look at you… You always put everyone ahead of yourself. You’re surrounded by people that adore you, cherish you just for being you. My team loves you more than they ever would me. They all showed up to the gender reveal party without ever slipping a hint my way. Everyone chooses you, for good reason. Hell, even my sisters chose you all those months ago. And now? I choose you, too. I choose our children. Us. Please.”

She shakily nods and shushes our daughter when she wakes up and begins to cry out. “They’re little demons already, needing to nurse every hour… The nurses say it’ll get better when my milk comes in.” She pulls up the towel and sets the baby on her breast, nodding to our son so that I can hand him off. I look down and my brows jump when I notice his dark blue gaze blinking straight at me.

Well, more like my chin.

“He’s so quiet.”

She snorts and I lean down, setting him on her free breast so that they can both feed. “You should have heard him when he was born. Screamed the whole place down. He was obviously comfy in there.”

I smirk and settle back in my chair, staring at my children eating. Damn her breasts are massive.

“They’re going to get bigger.” I furrow my brows as I move my gaze to Marie’s eyes. “My boobs. They’re going to be even more massive once my milk comes in.”

I hum and bite my lip. “Even better.”

She rolls her eyes and nods for me to get closer. “Come sit with me, let’s name these babies. Then we can talk more about thesefeelingsyou say you have.”

Epilogue

One Year Later

Marie

_________

James settles beside me on our bed and lets out a low groan. “I think that’s everything… The bouncy house is broken down for pick up and even the smoker is cleaned. All of the dishes are done, the tables and chairs are broken down… Alyssa just finished vacuuming and Caroline wiped down all of the surfaces.”

I chuckle and snuggle into him, pressing a kiss to his chest. Breathing him in. I still can’t believe he’s here. A real parent, a dad. My fiancé.

Stepping up as if he was born for it.

He stayed with me barely twelve hours after he showed up that day in the hospital, I had Alyssa and Caroline dragging him to a taxi with his heavy ass bags to get back to the playoffs.

Two weeks later, they won. Brought home the fucking cup. Instead of partying, he hopped on a jet and came back to me. To us. Our family.

He spent the off season practicing a handful of days a week. He let his sponsors, agent, and coaches know that they could kiss his ass until it was mandatory for him to be back at the rink.

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