Hockey Christmas (A Holiday Sports Romance Love Story)

by Naomi Niles

  “I wish I knew what you were doing,” she smiled morosely at me. “I think I’d feel better if you would just let me know. I’m worried enough; I honestly don’t think that you could make it any worse.”

  “I can’t,” I shook my head firmly. “I’m sorry; I’ll tell you all about it when it’s done. I promise. I just… I need to do everything within my power to keep you safe; you know that.”

  “But I can’t keep you safe,” she whined, looking sad enough to break my heart.

  “Yes, but I have to think about both of you, don’t I?” I rubbed her swollen stomach gently, feeling a rush of love wash over me as I considered the child inside of her. She was carrying our miracle, and I needed to ensure both of their safety. “You and our unborn baby.”

  She nodded, finally agreeing with me, seeing that I was being reasonable with this one. “Be quick?” she pleaded, and I agreed.

  “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  I stared into her eyes for a few moments, wishing that I didn’t have to tear myself away, but then the darkened face of my father popped into my mind, and I remembered what a madman he was. I needed this done now before anything else could happen, and for that I had to go. So I forced myself to let Danica go, and I span on my heels and made myself move.

  As I sat back in the front seat of my car, before I switched on the engine, I fired off a text to my dad, smiling smugly to myself.

  This was going to work; it just had to. Brad Fronton was such a proud man that I knew this would drive him crazy. He wouldn’t be able to resist stumbling straight into my trap.

  ‘I have taken Danica and Lyla back to my hotel room, so you better not try anything. Leave them both alone. Forever.’

  I knew that he wouldn’t reply, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t need him to text me back; I needed him to get himself tied up in knots. So far, everything had gone exactly as I needed it to, and I was starting to feel a little more confident that I might just be winning at last.

  Chapter 39

  Danica

  ‘I’m here; are you okay? I love you, Rhett xxx’

  I kept staring at that message over and over again, waiting for the clock to tick by, waiting for his next communication. Every time my phone pinged, my heart fluttered like crazy, but the moment was always over far too quickly, leaving me to wait in the endless thirty dark minutes stretched out in front of me until I would get to talk to him again.

  ‘I love you too,’ I wrote back quickly. ‘Be safe; look after yourself. We’re counting on you. xx’

  It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough for the time being. I didn’t know where “here” was, but I knew what it meant. Rhett was finally putting his mysterious plan into action, which also suggested that he was in danger. Until this was all over, I didn’t think that I’d be able to even consider relaxing.

  When Rhett finally spoke the words, “I love you,” aloud for the very first time, they had meant so much to me. The moment had been so perfect and I’d felt it so deeply. But now I couldn’t help but wonder if had been some sort of goodbye. If he wasn’t exactly certain that his plan was going to work. Okay, so things had never been smooth sailing between us, but it finally felt like the obstacles were melting away–my secret, our parents, the wedding–and I didn’t want to lose him forever, just as there was the real possibility that he could be mine.

  We could actually be a family–that possibility was real–as long as we all got through this in one piece.

  I wished I knew what it was that he was doing. That would help me right now, but sitting here in silence with my mom and Auntie Cat with no knowledge whatsoever was driving me insane. I felt twitchy and annoyed, and I was sure that I was winding everyone else up too.

  “Are you okay?” Mom asked me, for what felt like the hundredth time. “Do you need anything? Can I do anything for you?”

  Now that we had nothing better to do, she was obsessing over my pregnancy, which wasn’t helping anything. I was trying my best to keep calm, and to stop myself from getting too worked up, but it was getting me nowhere, and this wasn’t helping one bit. She kept trying to fuss me, and that was winding me up just as much as anything else.

  “I’m fine, Mom,” I replied dully. “I just can’t stand all of this waiting.”

  “Rhett didn’t tell you anything?” she asked again. “Absolutely nothing about what’s going on here?”

  “Lyla,” Auntie Cat snapped, growing frustrated. “Will you just give it a rest? If that boy said he’s sorting it, then there is nothing else that you can do.” Auntie Cat had always been the stern one of the pair, but this telling off was on another level–even for her.

  “What you need to be doing is focusing on your future. From what you’ve told me, your entire life is in jeopardy. You need to contact your employer, to check that you still have a job to go back to, then you need to start organizing your divorce to this awful man.”

  “It’s not quite that simple,” my mom replied, clearly chastened, but Auntie Cat was having none of it.

  “Bullshit!” she exclaimed. “Brad will be in jail soon enough–that’s grounds enough to get the ball rolling in advance. You’re the lawyer; you know that.”

  “I’m in business law, not marital-”

  “Stop making excuses, Lyla; just get this done.”

  And with that, she stalked from the room, leaving me and Mom to collapse into half hysterical giggles. It was as if we were school children, being told off in the principal’s office, and that was enough to dispel at least some of the awkward atmosphere.

  “I’m sorry,” Mom finally said as we calmed down a little bit. “I have been going on a bit, haven’t I? I just can’t seem to stop myself, all of this is a little too much for me.”

  “It’s okay, Mom; we’re all just worried. This is stressful.” I held her hands in mine, wanting her to know that I really didn’t blame her for freaking out, because I was, too. I was just doing it in a much quieter fashion.

  “I’m sorry that I brought Brad into our lives–this is all my fault.” But I jumped in quickly. I didn’t want her to start feeling sorry for herself, of feeling guilty for what had happened. It was done now; we just needed to deal with the consequences for the time being.

  “Mom, we all trusted him. He seemed genuinely sweet and kind, but that’s what conmen do. They trick even the most intelligent of people because they are so damn clever with their games,” I said sincerely, hoping that I could at least help her feel a little bit better. “We just need to get rid of him, that’s all. Then we can start on finding your happiness again.”

  I didn’t want this awful experience to put her off men forever; I wanted her to find love again. She’d spent far too long on her own, and now that I was about to start my own life, it was only fair that she did too. She’d sacrificed so much for me, and I wouldn’t let her spend another moment of her life doing that.

  “Danica?” she asked me, with a new, curious tone to her voice. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything,” I replied, just happy to have her opening up to me. I hoped that whatever this change of subject was it would take our minds off of this for the time being.

  But I wasn’t expecting what she actually said.

  “Is Rhett the father of your child?”

  Oh my God: there it was again. That pit of dread that threatened to swallow me up. My heart fell as I spun into an abyss of fear. She knew that my baby’s dad was Rhett–my stepbrother, the son of the conman that she married. This couldn’t have been a worse time for her to figure that one out. I wondered if maybe she’d seen us outside, and that was what had confirmed it for her. We’d been very careful not to kiss in case we were being watched, but there had been a definite intimacy between us, which apparently was obvious to everyone.

  It was now or never. Did I lie, and threaten everything that I finally had with the man that I loved, or did I confess and accept the fallout that was to come?

  “Yes,” I hung my hea
d, fully waiting for the barrage of abuse that would undoubtedly follow. “He is. But I met him before I knew anything. I lied before. We really were close at Camp Woodtree and I just freaked out when I saw that he was Brad’s son.” I hoped that she wouldn’t ask if things had been going on under her roof, because I really didn’t feel like that would be a good road to go down.

  I finally risked glancing my eyes up and connecting them with hers. Luckily, and totally unexpectedly, there was a shining happiness there.

  “I’m so glad,” she announced, clapping her hands together with joy. “Rhett is lovely.” Then her voice quieted down. “I was wrong, you know. With what I said before. If you want to be with Rhett, and have him in your child’s life, then you should. I shouldn’t have put my own feelings onto you. Just because I raised you alone, and we got by just fine, doesn’t mean that you should have to do the same. As fulfilling as raising you was, I was always a little lonely, which is why I latched onto Brad when he showed me some affection.”

  I couldn’t believe for one second that Brad was the first man to show her any affection, she was absolutely gorgeous, but maybe he had come along at a time when I was old enough for her to feel ready to respond. It was just a shame that he’d turned out to be so rotten.

  “You’ll meet someone else,” I reassured her. “Someone so much better. Soon, all of this will be a distant memory, and none of us will ever think about it again.”

  She decided to ignore that, and focus on me. “You and Rhett really do seem to have a special connection,” she observed. “I can’t believe that I didn’t pick up on it earlier.”

  “Well, to be honest, we were back and forth a lot because it felt so wrong–what with you and Brad getting married.” It felt nice to be able to get this off my chest once and for all. It was like a weight lifting off my shoulders. At least everyone would now understand a little better why I’d been acting so strange.

  “Well, that won’t be an issue anymore,” Mom reassured me. “We will be divorced soon enough. Then you can be free to be happy. And, Rhett is a wonderful boy; he’ll be a great father too.”

  Free.

  The word that I’d wanted to associate with me and Rhett for such a long time was now in reach. I just had to hope that he would make it back to me, and we could make that dream a reality at last. It was almost too good to be true.

  “Thank you, Mom.” I smiled gratefully at her. “I appreciate you being so understanding, I really do.”

  “You know, I felt as passionately about your dad as you do Rhett.” A dreamy look overtook her face, but all I felt was worry. He’d ended up running out on us, so it didn’t seem like passion was enough to sustain something real. Was that what she was trying to tell me? Was she trying to warn me off a lifetime of heartache?

  “Of course, that was far more one sided, which was why he left. Rhett feels exactly the same for you as you do him.” I let out a deep and relieved breath. Okay, good; she thought that we could go the distance, too. “I’m really happy for you,” she finally looked right at me, smiling widely. “And I can’t wait until you finally get the happiness that you’ve been working so hard towards.”

  “You and me both,” I joked, feeling my heart race. I really did want that–so desperately–and I just hoped that my desires would be enough to keep everyone safe.

  “Was that your phone?” she asked me, dragging me from my thoughts. “I think you just got another message.”

  I grabbed the handset eagerly, seeing another message from Rhett. I’d spent so long obsessing over my phone, I couldn’t believe that I’d actually missed it when a message finally came through. It didn’t say anything substantial, but it was enough to get me through the next few minutes.

  ‘All okay here; are you all right? I love you. x’

  Tears filled my eyes as I typed out my reply. I was okay in one sense, but I was falling apart in another, not that I would tell him that.

  ‘Everything is fine. I miss you, and I hope that you’re all right. Thinking of you, love you. xxx’

  “Is everything all right?” Mom asked, biting her nails anxiously. “Has he said anything?”

  “Not yet,” I was forced to admit. “Just that he’s all right. He won’t tell me anything in detail until it’s done.”

  “Okay,” she nodded anxiously. “So we just have to wait. We can do that, can’t we? Wait patiently, while everything fall apart around us?”

  “It’ll be fine, Mom,” I tried my best to reassure her even though I felt exactly the way that she did. “Rhett will sort everything. It’s going to be okay–we just need to trust him.”

  There was that word again–trust–only this time I had no trouble with it. I could trust Rhett with my life; I just couldn’t trust Brad with his.

  Chapter 40

  Rhett

  I spent the drive gearing myself up for what needed to be done, rehearsing my words over and over again until they were etched into my mind. I wasn’t sure that this would go exactly as I wanted it to, but if I at least planned out all that I needed to say, I could guarantee that at least some of it would come out.

  But as I got back to my hotel room, I was shocked to find it completely empty. I thought Dad wouldn’t be able to resist and that he would already be there waiting for me. I couldn’t believe that I’d been quicker than him, and that I’d actually managed to beat him, but I wasn’t sure what else to think.

  If he didn’t come, everything would fall apart. My plan would fail, and all of us would be left with nothing–on the run, hiding from Brad Fronton forever.

  No, I couldn’t allow that to happen. Not when I had a child on the way. I wanted my baby to grow up in a loving, stable home with a father who was always there. I wanted to do the complete opposite to my dad; I wanted to be so much better than him.

  I spent hours pacing the hotel room alone, growing less and less confident that I was going to be able to pull everything off. He should have been there by now; my message should have been enough to rile him up immediately. So why was I still by myself? If he hadn't come right away, it was either because he knew exactly where Danica and Lyla were–which meant that he would target them directly first–or he knew that it was a prank and he was just ignoring me.

  Or maybe he was planning to get me even worse than I had him. I had no idea what that man was capable of, and that left me petrified. I just wanted something to happen now, for something to get started. I didn’t want all of this stupid plan to have been for nothing.

  I picked up my phone, re-reading my messages from Danica, wondering if there was a clue in there, something to tell me that she was in danger, but I couldn’t spot anything out of place.

  Just as I decided to call her, to put my mind at rest, someone started to hammer on my door, putting the fear of God right back into me. He was there; it was happening. This was what I’d been waiting for, but now that it had arrived, I was consumed by terror.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I jumped about ten foot into the air as my eyes flicked everywhere, trying to find a place to hide in until I had the situation sussed once and for all. My heart began to pound painfully against my chest, and I instinctively moved towards the nearest corner, trying to hide myself there. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do, just until I gauged what my dad wanted to do to me.

  This is it, I told myself. This is what you’ve been waiting for. Now is the time to get everything said and everything done that you’ve always wanted to do. For yourself, for your Mom, and for Lyla. Don’t forget Danica and your unborn child.

  Just the thought of the future that lay ahead of me had me feeling stronger and more confident once more. I could do it for them. Maybe not for myself, but I certainly could for all the people I loved, the ones that were relying on me.

  My phone pinged in my hands and my eyes were drawn to the screen, just to see if it was Danica again, but it wasn’t. I was finally getting that long awaited reply from my father–just as he was at the door.

&
nbsp; ‘You should have listened to me. You should have left it well alone. I will make sure that you regret this.’

  Maybe he had sent that so I would assume it was someone else coming in to get me, but I knew better. He might have usually sent his minions to do his dirty work, but I was something that he wanted dealing with properly, and he could only trust himself to do that.

  “Shit,” I muttered, as I dialled 911 with trembling fingers. This was it, the key moment to my plan and I didn’t want to screw it up.

  “Hello?” I heard the operator ask, but it was too late. I couldn’t answer because the door was bursting open and my dad was entering the room. Instead, I tossed the phone onto the dressing table nearby, and I prayed that he wouldn’t pay any attention to it. If I could just leave it on, the authorities would have all the evidence that they needed. I just hoped that they traced the call and they got there before things got too far.

  “I told you not to come,” I said with a cold steely voice, as I finally spotted my father’s hardened, angry face. “I told you to leave us all alone.”

  He laughed mirthlessly, stomping past me and slamming the bathroom door open, as if he’d discovered my secret. Once he realized that what he was looking for couldn’t be found in there, he swung open the doors of the wardrobe, then peeked under the bed. It was like watching a bizarre game of hide and seek evolve in front of my eyes–I was just waiting for the moment that he finally realized that he’d been played.

  He wasn’t going to like that, not one bit. He saw himself as the master of the game, the one who was always one step ahead. It would drive him mad to be beaten.

  “All right then,” he growled. “I’ll bite. Where the fuck are Danica and Lyla? Have you hidden them somewhere? In the lobby? In the bar? It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll find them soon enough.”

  He sneered at me as if I was pathetic. “The Hillington isn’t exactly a big hotel, and when I do find them, I’ll make you all wish that you hadn't been born.”