Page 18 of Canadian Boyfriend

Mike Martin took a pull of his beer, set it on the table, and said, “Now it’s my turn to lay some stuff on you that you’ll need to know.”

“OK.”

“Olivia was a year old when I met her mom. She’s never met her biological father. She doesn’t know any other father but me. She is my daughter. She’smine.” His voice had gone a little quivery, and he leaned forward as if to punctuate the declaration, like he had last week at Suz’s.

Oof. What would it be like to have someone claim you so vehemently? I cleared my throat. “You’ve adopted her?”

“That part is in process, but I’ve been granted guardianship. But there was a dispute over that.”

“With her biological father?”

“No. No one can find him, and frankly, I hope it stays that way. He fucked off when Sarah got pregnant and was never heard from again.” He sneered, making clear his opinion of the guy. “Sarah’s parents tried for guardianship when Sarah died, even though Sarah’s wishes had been made clear in her will.”

Wow. “You don’t get along with them, I take it?”

“I’ve never been a fan, let’s say. It’s not some big terrible thing, just that Sarah was never close to them. They’re old-money, high-society people. Sarah got pregnant when she was twenty-one and single, and they flipped out and disowned her. She didn’t see them for a couple years, not until Olivia was three.”

“Sotheybailed on Sarah when she got pregnant, too.”

“Yes.” There came the sneer again. “They did reconcile, though, and by the time we got married, things were back to ‘normal.’ I never thought they treated Sarah as well as they should have, but I figured it wasn’t my call to make. Olivia was with them in Chicago when Sarah died. Sarah had dropped her with them and flown up to Montreal.” He looked out at the lake as he continued. “Ivan and I had a game there and two days off afterward, so Sarah and Lauren were going to join us for a getaway. Sarah rented a car at the airport, but she spun out on some black ice on her way to the hotel.”

Oh God. I wanted to say how sorry I was, but I thought of that woman at Suz’s. I didn’t think Mike Martin would want to hear condolences. He was telling me this for a practical reason.

He cleared his throat and returned his attention to me. “Sarah’s parents didn’t want to give Olivia back when I flew down to Chicago to get her.”

Wow.“Really?”

“Yeah, it was a whole thing. To be fair, they loved—love—Olivia. And they’re her grandparents. I was never suggesting they be given no access, but there wasno way”—he pounded the coffee table—“they were taking her from me.”

“And you won?”

“There wasn’t a trial, so technically there was no winning or losing. There was a lot of legal wrangling, though, because although I’d been named guardian in Sarah’s will, she had never sought to terminate Olivia’s sperm donor’s rights. So there was a lot of back and forth, including Sarah’s parents filing for guardianship. That was dispensed with pretty easily given the will, but then they invoked grandparents’ rights. We sorted it all out in court-ordered mediation. They get her for five days starting at noon on Christmas Day, and a week in the summer. I was never suggesting they not see her at all, but the guardianship filing had me spooked as hell. They tried to argue that not only was I not a blood relative, but all my travel made me a less good prospect—they’re retired and have nothing but time.”

“I have to say, on paper that’s not a crazy argument.”

“I know. The whole thing about my going back to hockey is…” He blew out a breath. “Complicated. I was never so scared in my life as during those mediation sessions. I half expected them to fail, and that we’d end up in court. Honestly, I was surprised when the mediator said Olivia should stay with me, and even more surprised when Sarah’s parents accepted it.”

“What do you think swayed everything your way?”

“Olivia.”

“Really?” I hadn’t expected that answer.

“Yeah. I mean, I threw everything I had at the situation. Money, of course, and an army of lawyers, but I also told the mediator Iwouldquit hockey if I had to. We argued that after having lost her mom, the best thing for Olivia was to stay with me, the person she knew as her dad, in Minnesota. Lauren was really close with Sarah, so she was already like a second mom to Olivia, and she agreed to take Olivia while the team’s on the road. Olivia’s grandparents had raised concerns about a nanny who didn’t know Olivia spending so much time with her. Lauren came to a session and helped us quash that argument, painting an idyllic picture of the girls hanging out when the guys were off playing hockey.”

“So Lauren saved you?” This Lauren lady sounded pretty amazing. “I thought you said it was Olivia’s doing?”

“Lauren did a great job, but ultimately, I think it came down to Olivia. She hadn’t been at any of the sessions, but she asked me if she could come to one. In consultation with the mediator, I agreed—kind of against my better judgment; I was trying to keep from her how heated things were getting. We got there, and she asked if she was going to get a say. ‘Yes, of course,’ the mediator said. ‘You can say whatever you want. Do you want to speak to me privately?’ Olivia said no. I’m not going to lie; I panicked. Things have not been great between Olivia and me since Sarah died. But she told the mediator she wanted to live with me. The mediator asked her why. She looked right at me and said, ‘Because he’s my dad. Why would I not want to live with my dad?’”

I had noticed, a few times in the past month, Mike Martin’s eyes going flat. Now they were doing the opposite. The gold flecks in them looked like they were about to start sparking.

“Olivia’s lucky to have you.”

“I’mlucky to haveher.” He swallowed hard but then did that little smirk of his. “But I don’t want to paint too rosy a picture here. As you might have picked up, she’s not doing super well—emotionally or academically.”

“She’s had a big loss—and she’s, what? Eleven? I teach a lot of tweens and young teens, and it’s an age of upheaval under the best of circumstances.”

“My point is, she’s on her best behavior at class. She likes you. But around here, the only creature she’s consistently decent to is Earl 9. As she spends more time with you and grows more comfortable, I think it’s entirely likely that her inner shithead will come out.”

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