Page 139 of Your Sharpest Edge
Damien beamed up at me, and this was exactly where I was meant to be. Anastasia’s eyes softened, and she wrapped her arms around both of us, pulling us into a tight embrace. In the quiet of the hallway, surrounded by the people I loved most, I realized that this was the start of something new, something beautiful.
Anastasia and Damien walked down the hallway to catch up with Alina, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched my family, my last name and the number fifty-eight proudly displayed on their backs.
“Looking good from back here,” I called after them, and Anastasia’s laughter echoed down the hallway.
“Holy shit,” Ledger said. “The little guy called you Dad. How do you feel?” he asked as we headed to the locker room to do our pregame warm-ups on the ice. Ledger shook his head. “That’s intense.”
“Nah,” I responded almost immediately. “It was always meant to be.”
Ledger’s lip furled into a smirk. “I’m proud of you, man. You’ve come a long way.”
I shook my head again. “No. I got lost for a bit, but it’s always been her.”
“I can’t imagine dating someone or falling for them long enough to be with them forever. It’s such a foreign concept.”
“Ah,” I laughed. “You wait and see. She’s out there for you.”
extended epilogue
stassi
The social media intern who was starting this year was sitting next to us in the family and friends booth upstairs. “Nova, it’s nice to meet you.” I shook her hand as we slid in next to her. “You look so young.”
“I am,” she said. Her long black hair was straight on her shoulders. She had intense angular features and was wearing a black shirt and black jeans. “I’m eighteen, so this will be my first internship after school, but after a couple years of being here as an intern, I hope I can get my feet wet and do social media full-time for a team.”
I nodded. “That’s amazing.”
“In fact,” she added, sitting up straight. “You’re the person who designed a few of the jerseys I see the wives wearing today.” She gestured behind us to the box where the rest of the team’s families were.
I nodded enthusiastically. It was never going to not be surreal to see my pieces on real-life people. The fact that I wasmaking a living doing something I loved was unreal, to say the least. I felt the same way now as I did when I first started skating.
“I’d love to do a piece about you and showcase a few pieces. I think people would love that.”
I grabbed her hand. “I’d love that,” I exclaimed, and then we watched as the game started.
“Do you know anything about hockey?” I asked her, and she nodded.
“My dad . . . er . . . he grew up around here.”
“Well,” I laughed because I had spent so much time around hockey players, but I had no idea how the game was played. “My son and I may ask you questions then because we have no idea what’s going on.”
She giggled. “Sounds good.”
Alina and Damien were descending from the booth to the seats below. I was going to miss her terribly. Memories of my first roommate, Layla, flooded back. When I moved to OC, my ex isolated me, and I lost touch with her. I feared the same might happen with Alina, but she kept reassuring me that we’d be separated only by distance, not by heart.
“Mommy! Which one is Daddy?” Damien asked.
My heart clenched for the second time. The first time was when he said it earlier.
Determined not to make a big deal out of it, I pushed through my anxiety. With Dimitri in jail and his rights terminated, my biggest fear was that Damien would feel abandoned. But Alex had always been there for us, a constant presence I’d relied on.
I knew I needed to talk to Alex about this. We had never discussed what Damien should call him, but Alex’s affection for Damien suggested he wouldn’t mind.
“Alex and Ledger...” I used their first names for now. “Ledger has the C on his shirt for captain and is next to Alex.”
“Wow,” Damien said, leaning forward to get a better look at the ice.
“Wow is right, sweetie,” I whispered, gazing out at the ice.
