by Beth Ehemann
“Sounds good to me,” Viper agreed. “Especially the nap part.”
“I’m sure you boys must be exhausted.” Sophia shook her head. “I still can’t believe you drove for an entire day to get here. You’re all pretty amazing.”
Viper puffed his chest out, “I’d just like to remind everyone, once again, that it was all Viper Claus’ idea.”
“Viper Claue?” Kacie giggled. “That’s kind of adorable.”
“Oh, God. Don’t.” I looked over at her. “Don’t encourage him. We had to listen to him refer to himself as Viper Claus in the third person almost the whole way home.”
“I would say that being in a car with Viper for an entire day is the equivalent of traveling alone in the car with . . . ten two-year olds,” Andy teased. “When they’re awake and chattering, your blood pressure is raised, and then when they finally fall asleep, you try not to make any sudden movements or sounds and wake them up.”
Everyone in the room laughed out loud, even Viper.
“Well, I appreciate you guys putting up with Viper Claus and fighting so hard to get home. I honestly cannot imagine sitting here right now without the three of you with us.” Kacie said as she scooted over and tucked herself into my side.
“There’s something else I’d like to say real quick, if that’s okay . . .” Sophia sat up straight and cleared her throat. “Several years ago, my life was very different. It was just Kacie and me here with the girls—and Fred—who didn’t have a twinkle in his eye for me yet. Then one weird rainstorm came along and flooded out the whole county, which led to Brody staying here for a few days. What I learned over this time is that you really have no idea how much one day can change your life. I didn’t know it at the time, but that one day, and that one rainstorm, brought me an amazing son-in-law who I love like my own, two—soon to be three—more grandbabies to love, a wonderful husband who loves me more than I’ve ever been loved in my life, and all of you guys, who have become not only Kacie’s extended family, but mine as well. I’m just so thankful for all of you . . . and for this last week you chose to spend here with us—” She pinched her lips together and shook her head, unable to talk anymore.
The whole room was quiet, everyone dealing with their emotions in different ways. The girls were teary-eyed; Andy stared down at his mug. Even Viper was choked up—which was about as rare as an eighty degree Christmas day in Minnesota.
I let out a heavy sigh and raised my mug in the air. “I’ll drink to that . . . to the Cranberry Inn gang.”
After dinner, the boys all stretched out on the couches and floors in ham comas. Darla, Michelle, Dani, and I sent my mom away so that we could take over cleaning duties since she single-handedly prepared the whole Christmas dinner.
“I swear, in her last life, your mom was a master chef or something,” Dani said as she scrubbed the sweet potato casserole dish that was too big to put in the dishwasher.
“I know, right?” Michelle agreed. “I’m over here just trying to not burn water when I boil it and your mom whips together a seven course meal like it’s nothing.”
“Why do you think Brody sneaks over here for leftovers all the time? I can hold my own in the kitchen, but not when compared to her.” I laughed.
Andy walked up to Dani at the sink and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Can I steal you for a second?”
“Uh . . . yeah, give me a minute to finish this,” she answered.
Darla took the dish from her, “Go. I got this.”
“Thanks.” Dani smiled at her and took Andy’s hand as he pulled her from the room.
I frowned and looked from Dani to Darla to Michelle. “What’s that all about?”
Michelle popped an olive from the dish into her mouth. “Not sure. I think he’s giving her his Christmas present.”
“Ah, got it.” I said.
“Did Brody get you anything?” Michelle asked.
“I don’t think so, but I don’t even care. Him planning this whole week, then driving home yesterday and stuff . . . that’s present enough for me.” I shrugged.
My cell phone rang from the counter. I glanced down at it and smiled to myself.
“Hey!”
“Hey! Merry Christmas!” Zach said cheerfully.
“Merry Christmas to you, too! Were you up early?”
“Yeah, but not for presents. The upside to having a six-month old at Christmas is that she has no idea it’s Christmas so we can sleep in. The downside is that she’s teething and was up at four o’clock. I’m beat.”
“Awww, poor baby. Teething sucks!”
“It does.”
“I wish you guys could have made it today,” I said sincerely.
“I know, and Claire said thank you for the invite, but her parents came in to spend Christmas with the baby, so we were obviously trapped.”
I let out a quick giggle. “Next year. Anyway, want to talk to the girls?”
“Yes, please. And tell Brody and your mom I said Merry Christmas.”
“I will. Same to you, Claire, and Audrey. Hang on one sec . . .” I put my hand over the phone and called out, “Lucy, Piper!” They ran down the hall, stopping on a dime in the kitchen doorway.
“Yeah?” Piper said.
“Daddy Zach is on the phone.” I stretched my arm out and handed the phone over. Piper took it and disappeared down the hall, rambling things off to her dad as fast as she could.
“Kacie. You’re amazing,” Michelle said with a heavy sigh.
I spun and looked at her, trying to figure out where that came from. “Huh?”
“Your relationship with the girls’ dad just blows me away. With everything that happened, no one would blame you if you wanted to be bitter and hate him forever, but you guys not only co-parent seamlessly, you actually get along. It’s just . . . refreshing.”
“Thanks,” I said as my face flushed. “I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t always like this. There was a while at the beginning where I was resentful and bitter, but then I took a step back and thought about it. I feel like the more people that love my girls, the better, right? So why try to block what could be a really positive relationship for them? It took some time, and a lot of tongue-biting, but eventually we learned to work together. Once we had that down, the friendship bloomed. We’re not super tight best friends or anything, but I know that he and Claire will be sitting next to Brody and me at their weddings one day with genuine smiles on our faces. I can’t think of a better gift for them.”
Darla stared at me with a deadpan expression on her face.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“Nothing,” she shook her head back and forth slowly. “Your maturity is just off the charts sometimes. If I were you, I’d have a whole line-up of Zach voodoo dolls in my room. A summer one, a winter one, a pajama one . . .”
“Stop it,” I laughed as I threw a dishtowel at her.
“Who’s Lucy talking to?” My mom asked as she came into the kitchen.
“Zach,” I answered. “He called to wish them Merry Christmas. Said to wish you and Brody one too.”
Mom stretched her neck up high and glanced over the couches into the family room. “Speaking of Brody . . . where is he?”
I followed her stare and looked for him too. “No idea,” I said.
“He left here about half an hour ago,” Fred answered. “Said he’d be back soon. He had to go to your house for something.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s probably hiding in the bathroom again.”
Just then, I heard the front door slam shut and Brody walked through the kitchen. His solid black beanie was pulled down low, making his eyes look greener than normal and his cheeks were pink from the cold.
“Hey! We were just talking about you. Were your ears ringing?” I teased.
He smiled at me and those dimples I love so much made an appearance. “Sophia, can you keep an eye on the girls for a minute? I want to show Kacie something.”
“Sure,” she agreed.
His eyes returned to mine. “Put your coat and boots on. Meet me on the front porch, okay?”
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him skeptically. “Okay?”
“Just do it,” he said with a laugh, then bent down and kissed the tip of my nose.
I slipped my boots on and bundled up in my coat and hat as I wracked my brain trying to figure out what that boy was up to. He was sitting on the porch swing when I opened the front door. What little sun we’d had started to go down already and it was starting to turn dark.
“What are you doing, you crazy man?” I said as I stepped out and closed the door behind me.
“I want to talk to you for a minute without anyone else around.” He stood and walked over, taking my hands in his. “I feel terrible because I never got a chance to go shopping and get you jewelry or something pretty for Christmas.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Brody, you should know by now that I don’t care—”
“Wait,” he cut me off. “Let me finish.” He took a deep breath. “I did something a few weeks ago and was waiting for the perfect time to tell you, and I feel like this is it.”
My eyes started dancing around the porch, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “Okay?”
“Follow me,” he said excitedly.
He took my hand and led me off the porch and around the inn, giving me a major case of déjà vu. “Brody, slow down! The snow is too high and my legs are short!” I giggled, trying to keep up with him as we marched through the snow together. Halfway through the yard, I finally looked up and around him. “What the—is that a Christmas tree out there?”
“Just keep walking,” Brody ordered.
Finally we got to the edge of the pier and he stepped back, holding his arms out wide. “Ta-da!”
“Ta-da what?” I still didn’t understand what was going on.
“Come here,” he took my hand again. We walked to the huge, brightly lit tree at the end of the pier and he stopped and looked at me. “When I was trying to think of what to get you for Christmas, I kept coming up empty, Kacie. You’re a simple, low maintenance girl who doesn’t like a lot of fancy frills so I was stressing about it. Then I got to thinking. What matters most to you . . . and that was easy. Your family.”
I nodded slowly, growing more confused by the second.
“But not just your family. You’re all about memories and preserving memories and making memories, so when I found out your mom was selling the inn, I knew I couldn’t let this pier go.”
My heart started racing. “But how? It’s on the inn’s property.”
A sexy little grin grew across his mouth. “Correction, it was on the inn’s property, but it’s on the very edge of the property line, almost on ours. So when I found out she sold it, I called her realtor who put me in contact with the buyer’s lawyer. After some haggling back and forth, and an offer they couldn’t refuse, we had the county come out and redo the property lines, so we now own this whole section . . . and this pier. Our pier. The pier that we had our first non-date on, the pier we’ve made love on, the pier I proposed to you on. No way was I going to let someone take that from us, so I bought it.”
“This pier is ours now?” I squeaked out.
“Yep,” he nodded. “And we can do whatever you want with it. Leave it here, move it to our backyard. Whatever you want to do I’m fine with—”
I crashed my mouth against his. Never in my life had I needed to kiss him more than I did at that exact second. This man, this husband of mine, knew me better than I knew myself. Buying the pier never crossed my mind, but as soon as he said it, suddenly I couldn’t imagine my life without it officially being ours.
“Brody Michael Murphy,” I said breathlessly as I pulled back. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but you are the most amazing man in the whole world, and there are days I still can’t believe you’re mine.”
“So I guess you like the pier?” He dipped his head, trailing soft kisses down my neck.
“I don’t like it, I love it. Thank you for being so thoughtful.” His mouth lingered, gently licking my skin and making certain parts of my body come warm up very quickly. “I swear, if there wasn’t a houseful of people up that hill right now, I’d make you make love to me right here, right now.”
“Uh—” he laughed quickly and lifted his head, “—even if the house was empty that probably wouldn’t happen. Little Murphy isn’t exactly a fan of the cold. He kinda hides when we’re outside in the winter.”
I raised on eyebrow at him. “We’ve been having sex for six years now, so I consider myself an expert on your body, and I promise you . . . Little Murphy is not an accurate description.”
He laughed again and rubbed his hands up and down my arms quickly to warm me up. Then he pulled me in tight against his chest and rested his chin against the side of my head as he looked out over the lake. “Kacie Murphy. I love you. I love you a whole hell of a lot.”
“I love you right back, number thirty.”
“Wanna head inside? It’s getting cold out here.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “Since everyone is leaving first thing in the morning, the girls said they’re going to start packing up tonight. I should probably help them.”
I sniffed as I turned to head back up the pier, but he held onto my hand and tugged me back. I looked up at him and he nodded his head once to the side, flashing that million-dollar grin. “One more time . . . pay the toll.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that involuntarily crossed my lips when he said those words to me. “Gladly.”
I glanced up at the clock.
One minute.
One fucking minute to go and we would win the Stanley Cup. My heart was in my throat and I was using my adrenaline to keep the puke at bay. Every muscle in my body was tense and I focused as I hard as I could on that little black puck.
48 seconds.
The guys and the puck were moving fast and fierce across the ice. Every player on the Tampa Bay Lighting was as focused and desperate as I was, but this was it.
28 seconds.
They skated toward me and my eyes zoned in on the puck as they passed it back and forth. The center came in and screened me on the left side to try and obstruct my view as the defenseman shot the puck from the top of the circle. Moving to the left to get a view of the puck, I jerked my hand up and caught it at the last second just before it flew past me.
19 seconds.
I handed the puck off to Louie and prayed harder than I’d ever prayed in my life. I prayed for Louie to keep control of the puck and not lose it. I prayed for those last seconds to go by quickly. I prayed to be a hero to the team I loved so much.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
The buzzer sounded, and almost immediately the shrill noise gave way to the cheers from the crowd. It was deafening. The whole building shook. My arms flew in the air as I threw my mask off and tossed my stick down. Every member of the Wild skated toward me, all of us colliding into each other in a hornet’s nest of hugs and celebration. The guys from the bench hopped over the boards and skated over to us as well. Coach Collins ran out onto the ice with tears in his eyes. For the first time ever—ever—the Minnesota Wild were the Stanley Cup Champions!
I immediately looked through the mess of jerseys for Viper and found him looking for me, too. We got razzed on social media and in the news for our ‘bromance’ but in that moment, I didn’t give a shit. I needed to hug my best friend. We locked eyes and crashed into each other.
“We did it! We fucking did it!” Viper screamed as we hugged. “Congratulations, brother!”
I squeezed him harder than I ever had in my life. There is no one I would rather have on my team, both on the ice and off. The Tampa Bay Lighting players waited patiently, with disappointment across their faces, for our celebration to end so the handshake line could begin.
“Guys! Guys!” I called out as loud as I could. “Handshakes!”
We put our celebration on hold and fell into line, skating past each player of the Tampa Bay Lightening, shaking hands and showing our respect as we went. They wanted it just as badly as we did, but the win fell in our column that night and for that I would be forever grateful.
After the Lightning players left the ice, the ceremony was back on. The red carpet had been laid out and the podium sat empty at the end of it, waiting. The music began and a lump formed in my throat. Tradition was about to take over and I couldn’t believe we finally got to be part of it.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the announcer boomed. “The Stanley Cup!”
Phil Pritchard and Craig Campbell, wearing navy blue blazers and white gloves, slowly walked down the tunnel carrying the thirty-five pound Stanley Cup statue. They continued down the red carpet and out to the stand, where they set the polished silver trophy down and walked back. The next few minutes were a blur as the announcer talked and the trophy was presented. I narrowed my eyes and frantically searched the families for my people, but everyone was jumping up and down and I couldn’t find Kacie.
“Brody!” Coach Collins called my name and my head snapped toward him. “C’mon! Take Lord Stanley for a spin!”
I skated over to the trophy and took a deep breath. I’d dreamed of hoisting that cup above my head and skating around the rink with it just like so many before me had since I was a little kid . . . and now I was about to do it. I gripped both sides firmly, thanked God for all of my blessings, and lifted the three foot tall cup high above my head.
The crowd roared and people started taking pictures as I skated around for my victory lap with the Stanley Cup. My eyes teared up and I was torn between weeping with happiness and busting right through a brick wall from excitement. I yelled and cheered as I slowly skated around the rim of the rink. When I got to the other side where the families sat, my eyes searched for my family.
Finally, I found them!
Kacie cheered, jumping up and down when she saw me.
