Page 130 of Goalie Goal
I shook my head. “That’s where you’ve got it wrong. You’re imprinted on my soul. What we have is eternal, a bond that will never be broken, not even when our time on this Earth is done.” Taking her hand in mine, I pressed it over my heart. “You might doubt it, but I feel it in here. It’s not a choice loving you; it’s a compulsion. One I’ve never felt the need to fight because it’s as natural as breathing.”
Gemma blinked up at me, her jaw dropping on a soft exhale. I knew what I had laid down was heavy, but saying “I love you” wasn’t enough. I needed her to understand that what I felt went deeper. That no matter what came our way, I would stand by her side and fight.
Hooking a finger beneath her chin, I brought her lips together before dipping my head and dusting mine over them. “How about those pics?”
She let out a shaky exhale but nodded, climbing off my lap toward the nightstand where her phone rested. I used the break in body contact to slip off my suit jacket and roll up the sleeves on my button-down, having come straight from the plane.
When she returned, Gemma curled into my side, her head resting against my shoulder as she held the phone before us. The screen showed an image of two dark-haired little girls. If I had to guess, the older one looked close to Ollie’s age, and the youngerone was still a baby, big enough to be sitting up on her own but not quite old enough to walk.
She sucked in a sharp breath before identifying them by name. “That’s Bianca. She’s four.” She traced the girl’s face with a fingertip. “And the baby is Serafina. She’ll be one in March.”
“Pretty names,” I mused.
“Yeah.” She let out a wistful sigh.
Taking the phone from her hand, I swiped to the next photo. In this one, you could tell the older one, Bianca, didn’t realize she was being photographed, allowing the capture of an unguarded moment.
I couldn’t hold back a smile. “She looks like you.”
Gemma shifted against me, leaning in to take a better look. “Oh, I don’t know. We aren’t that closely related,” she protested.
“Genetically speaking, you are,” I countered.
“What?” Turning her attention away from the phone, she looked at me in confusion.
“You said your dad’s an identical twin, right?”
Her eyes slammed shut, and she shivered but nodded.
“You and your cousins would match as half-siblings through genetic testing because your fathers have identical DNA.”
“Huh.” A wrinkle formed between her brows as she considered that logic. “Never thought about it like that.”
She eased the phone from my palm, staring at the picture of the little girl. A smile tipped up the corner of her mouth for the first time since my return home, and the tightness in my chest loosened a fraction.
“I hope her life in this family turns out better than mine.”
Anything I said would feel hollow, so I remained silent, offering support through our embrace. Eventually, Gemma relaxed enough that her breathing leveled out, and she fell asleep in my arms.
After the horrors she’d endured in her past life, I knew this wouldn’t be the last time fear rose to the surface, threatening to drag her back under. But I vowed to be her anchor when those demons came calling, chasing them away and bringing her back to the present.
Gemma’s family might’ve stolen thirty-seven years of her life, but I would ensure that the rest belonged to her. I couldn’t wait to watch her blossom as time passed and she felt comfortable enough to spread her wings and relax into her new life—one where I was by her side every step of the way.
Normally, I didn’t mind the West Coast trips. A week of mild weather and sunshine was welcome, especially in the dead of winter.
But this time, I found myself restless, anxious to get back to Gemma. We’d boarded the plane to San Francisco only two days after her middle-of-the-night meltdown, and my gut told me I shouldn’t have left her.
Now that we’d moved south to San Diego, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something more going on with her beyond bad memories rising to the surface. Every time I called via video chat, she sounded nervous, the fear still lurking in the hazel depths of her eyes. And each time, it was on the tip of my tongue to beg her to fly out and join me, certain that being together would settle us both.
Dakota had tagged along to keep an eye on Bristol when Maddox couldn’t, with her due date fast approaching, and Gemma would have companions while I was busy training or playing.
But I knew what the answer would be if I asked. Barely a month into her new position managing the bar, she wouldn’t be willing to ask for time off.
We’d trained on the beach today, the change in scenery welcomed by the team. While my teammates shuffled back to our hotel in search of a shower, I parked my sweaty ass in the sand, staring out at the horizon, stretching endless past the sea.
A soft grunt sounded beside me, and I turned to find Jenner had dropped to sit beside me.
“You seem off,” he noted casually.
