Decidedly with Luck (By The Bay Book 6)

by Stina Lindenblatt

  39

  Kiera

  Were competitive sports my thing?

  When it came to playing them, not at all. When I first learned that Logan was actually Love Bug’s father, I’d hoped that Love Bug would be lucky enough to inherit his father’s genes.

  But as the Lightning player smashed into the plexiglass, with Logan sandwiched between them, I changed my mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Love Bug inherited my lack of hockey prowess.

  I guess Stephen’s mom had been right all along about Love Bug possibly one day playing the sport at an elite level, like Stephen and Logan.

  Had I broken the news yet to Judith that Love Bug wasn’t her biological grandson?

  Was the moon made from strawberry cream cheese?

  I know, I know, the longer I waited to tell her, the worse the heartbreak would be. I needed to yank off the Band-Aid, and do it soon.

  Very soon.

  They were moving to San Francisco in a few weeks.

  Except, I had no idea how one went about breaking someone’s heart without actually breaking their heart. Hence why I hadn’t gotten far with my letter-writing campaign.

  Once again, I mentally cursed Logan for the predicament he’d put me in when he kept his true identity a secret at the ball—and continued keeping it a secret after moving to San Francisco.

  Yeah, I know, it wasn’t totally his fault. I was the dummy who told everyone Stephen was Love Bug’s father. I’d panicked and hadn’t thought of the consequences until it was too late.

  As it was, only a few people were aware that Logan was Love Bug’s father—and my parents weren’t part of that privileged group.

  I planned to tell them after the playoffs were over.

  Yep, I was a pregnant chicken.

  I was positive they’d be thrilled that the father was someone I’d known for ten years. We weren’t two strangers having a baby together.

  My parents were only starting to come to terms with my reasons for lying about Stephen being Love Bug’s father. This news would help things along.

  “Yay, Daddy!” Livi bounced in her seat as Logan battled for the puck near the Lightning’s goal.

  The final game of the playoffs was halfway through the third period, the score tied.

  And my heart had been sitting in my throat, beating faster than hummingbird wings, since before puck drop at the beginning of the game.

  Even Love Bug couldn’t miss that something big was happening in his daddy’s life.

  Logan flicked the puck to Eli, who nailed it at the goal.

  The darn Tampa goalie blocked the shot with his stick, sending the puck toward his teammate. The forward gained control of it and sped down the ice.

  Logan and Eli chased after him.

  “If you lean any farther forward, Kiera,” Stacy said, grinning at me, “your center of gravity will cause you to fall off your seat.”

  I grinned back. “I can’t help it. I’m nervous for them.”

  Whoever won this game won the Stanley Cup. It was the moment Logan had worked hard for all these years.

  It was also the turning point in our relationship. No matter how the game went, he was moving into my house tomorrow.

  “You’re lucky your baby isn’t due during hockey season,” Stacy said. “Logan will be around for it.”

  “Wasn’t he there when Livi was born?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

  On the ice, tempers got heated, and a penalty was called on the Rock for tripping.

  Eli was sent to the sin bin.

  Or as Livi liked to call it, the time-out box.

  “Livi came two weeks earlier than expected. Logan was away on a road trip.” Sadness crossed Stacy’s face like a cloud pushed by a strong breeze. “I hope you’re ready for being the girlfriend of an NHL player. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I married him. Turns out, it was something I wasn’t prepared for.”

  Was I ready? I had no idea.

  If Stephen had been recruited into the NHL, I probably wouldn’t have been ready for it either. It had been tough enough when he played collegiate hockey. But I would’ve liked to think I’d grown up since then. I’d spent the last seventeen months alone, the last six months pregnant.

  I was a strong and independent woman.

  Hear me roar!

  Of course, it was easy to think that. As my granny used to say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

  Although now that I thought about it, she meant that in the more literal sense.

  As in, she put rum in the pudding…

  “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. But I’m not sure that I’m technically his girlfriend. I’m the mother of his baby, and he’s moving in with me”—and we have sex—“but he hasn’t actually said anything about me being his girlfriend. For all I know, he’s the father of my baby and my roommate.”

  She laughed as Logan stepped on the ice for his shift. “I’ve known Logan for over eight years. He definitely thinks of you as his girlfriend. Can I tell you something, just between us?”

  I nodded.

  The puck flew toward the Lightning goal.

  “He’s always been in love with you, Kiera. I don’t think that’s ever changed, even when he and I were married.”

  I opened my mouth to protest.

  “It’s true,” she said, preventing me from denying it. “He and I might not have realized it at the time, but in retrospect, his feelings for you were always there. He just respected Stephen, you, and me too much to risk admitting the truth to himself and everyone else. You need to—”

  Logan tipped the puck into the goal.

  Whatever Stacy had planned to tell me was lost to the noise of the entire arena jumping to their feet, cheering the goal.

  The energy had been high before, but that was nothing compared to now.

  “And the winner of the Stanley Cup…” the NHL commissioner announced, “the San Francisco Rock.”

  Weightlessness filled me over what the team had accomplished. They had done it. All the sacrifices the team had made—that Logan had made—had been worth it.

  The fans screamed and cheered their appreciation. Tears were running down Stacy’s and my smiling faces. Livi covered her ears with her hands and bounced on the spot like a hyped-up kangaroo.

  The team captain skated to the table, which held the large trophy. The commissioner handed the coveted prize to him, and the captain hoisted it above his head. He skated a short distance before handing it off to the next player.

  I caressed my side where Love Bug had last kicked me. “What do you think of that?” I said to my belly. “And your daddy scored the winning goal.”

  That resulted in more tears. I was so happy for him, for his team.

  Stacy, Livi, and I had vacated our seats while waiting for the Cup to be carried onto the ice. Now, we were with the rest of the players’ families—including Logan’s parents—waiting to join the players on the ice.

  Logan’s parents had flown in for the game, and Logan had put them up in a hotel. They had no idea that I was pregnant with their future grandchild. They also had no idea he was moving in with me soon.

  If they wondered why I was with Livi and Stacy, they never said anything.

  The players each took their turn skating around the ice while holding the cup for all to see. Livi continued to keep her ears covered until it was her father’s turn to hold the Cup. Then she was as loud as everyone else.

  Once they finished the skate and the team photo, we were allowed to join the players. Stacy and I cautiously walked along the ice to where Logan was standing with a sports reporter, doing our best not to slip. We kept our distance while the pair talked.

  Logan looked too excited to pay attention to her questions. His energy level rivaled Livi’s from a moment ago. Apparently, the hyped-up kangaroo thing was an inherited trait.

  Logan spotted us and said something to the woman, then skated toward us.

  Play it cool. Play it cool. Play it…I told my
self as he approached us.

  All I wanted was to fling my arms around him, kiss him, and let him know how proud I was of him. But I couldn’t exactly do that in front of his parents…in front of anyone.

  No one was aware of his pending double fatherhood status.

  Not yet, anyway.

  I might have been thinking that, but Logan had a different plan in mind.

  Without even acknowledging his family first, his mouth was on mine, almost startling my feet out from under me. His sweaty arms engulfed me as much as they could, given my swollen belly.

  Any other time, I would have been severely grossed out by his dripping body pressed against me. But this was Stanley Cup sweat, so it was totally worth it.

  Our kiss was brief but intense, the result of his adrenaline high. We hadn’t seen each other for the past four days, and we had lost time to make up for. But that would have to wait since his parents were in town.

  His parents.

  Oops. I guess the secret was out of the lockbox.

  I beamed at him. “Congratulations. Love Bug and I are so proud of you.”

  His grin widened, and he spread his hand on my belly.

  Behind us, I heard Livi declare, “That’s my baby brother.”

  “It is?” That sounded like Logan’s mother. “You must be excited.”

  I turned to see Livi nodding enthusiastically.

  Logan’s mother peered at me with more curiosity than before. “I take it congratulations are in order, you two. And when were you planning to tell me the big news?” She closed the distance between her and Logan and hugged him.

  Whereas Logan and his father were tall, his mother was petite. Her size difference almost caused him to topple over.

  Laughing, he returned her hug. “Mom, Dad, this is Kiera, my girlfriend.”

  I exchanged a glance with Stacy, who wore an I-told-you-so smug smile.

  “Well, I’ve got a billion questions to ask you two,” Logan’s mother said, “but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow. You’ve got a Stanley Cup win to celebrate.”

  40

  Logan

  Three days after the Rock won the playoffs and I moved in with Kiera, I was standing in Stacy’s kitchen. She handed me two glasses from the cabinet to set on the tray next to me on the counter. Outside the kitchen window, Livi and Tony were searching for the soccer ball. The three of us would be playing a game once they’d finally located it.

  “Don’t say anything to Livi,” Stacy said, “but Tony and I have decided to get a puppy.”

  “A puppy? Won’t you have your hands full with the baby?”

  “Absolutely. But we’re not getting it quite yet. We’re checking out breeders first.”

  “Is this your way of making sure Livi will want to spend more time with you and Tony than with me?” I grinned at her so that she knew I was kidding.

  She returned the grin. “No one is saying you can’t get a puppy. Oops. I forgot. You’re living with Kiera now. She can say no to a puppy.”

  That might’ve been true, but Kiera had always wanted a dog. Her mother was the one who hadn’t been interested in getting one when Kiera was growing up.

  But that was all I knew. We hadn’t discussed the possibility of us getting a dog at some point.

  We hadn’t discussed a lot of things since discovering I was the father of her baby.

  “How are things now that the two of you are living together?” Stacy asked.

  “You mean since we’ve become roommates?” At her confused expression, I clarified. “Kiera decided that I would be living in her guest room.”

  Stacy’s eyes and mouth went comically wide. If it weren’t for the embarrassment hanging out in my gut, I would have laughed at her expression. “You’re not sharing the same bed?”

  Good, I wasn’t the only one surprised at that.

  That’s right. When I won the poker game that had me moving in with Kiera, I thought I’d at least get to share her bed with her.

  Nope.

  Not at all.

  Don’t get me wrong, we were still having sex. Kiera’s horny hormones had practically demanded that.

  But I was expected to do the walk of shame every night back to the guest room.

  All right, it wasn’t precisely the walk of shame, but the sentiment was the same.

  “Why do you think we didn’t work out?” I blurted, not really interested in continuing the bed-sharing conversation. Based on Stacy’s shocked expression, that clearly wasn’t what she’d expected me to say. That made two of us. “We were in love when we got married. What changed?”

  She appeared to consider my question for a moment, then removed the pitcher of strawberry lemonade from the fridge. She placed it on the tray with the glasses. “You’re right, we were in love when we got married. But it takes a lot more than being in love to make it work.”

  “I guess my hockey career didn’t help much since I was never around.”

  She shook her head. “It’s true that your career didn’t exactly help things, but that meant we needed to try harder to make sure we didn’t drift apart. Neither of us did that. I was busy putting Livi first. And then later, I was so intent on starting my own business because I felt like I was nothing more than a hockey wife and a mother. I had no identity beyond that.”

  Her answer startled me. “I didn’t realize you’d felt that way.”

  “That’s because I didn’t tell you. I thought I needed to be the perfect mother and perfect NHL wife, and that was all that mattered. And at first, that was true. But then, as we began drifting apart, and I realized I wanted more in life. I wanted an identity that was all mine. And that only caused us to drift even further apart.

  “Only neither of us clued into that at the time. We were so focused on our own needs, we forgot about our marriage.” She gave me a sad smile. “I know you think you were the one at fault for our failed marriage, but that’s not true, Logan. A marriage is about two people who feel complete together. Two people who are confident in who they are and can both contribute to a healthy, loving marriage.

  “I learned that lesson the hard way. And because of that, I won’t make the same mistakes with Tony that you and I made. Now it’s your turn to do the same…with Kiera. Don’t repeat the mistakes you and I made.

  “You’re a good man, Logan. You deserve the best. But if you screw it up this time, I will hunt you down and kick you in the ass.” She slugged me in the arm. Hard.

  Then she kissed me on the cheek, and I chuckled.

  She nodded at the kitchen window. Outside, Livi was waving the missing soccer ball at me. “I think they’re ready to whoop your ass.”

  The best thing about the romantic comedies that girls drag their boyfriends to see?

  All right, there’s nothing great about them…other than the fact that they’re educational.

  Yep, you heard me correctly.

  For example, they teach men how to get the big moment right when they’re declaring their undying love to the woman they’re dating. Girls lap that stuff up.

  Don’t believe me?

  Then why are they so popular?

  Good. You see my point.

  So this was why—the day after hanging out with Livi, Stacy, and Tony—I was using my limited knowledge of romantic comedies to plan the proposal that would (metaphorically) knock Kiera off her feet.

  No, you don’t need to get your hearing checked. You heard me correctly that time, too.

  Kiera was the mother of my unborn child, and us getting married was the right thing to do.

  But because we had done things backward (and inside out), I needed to pull out all the cannons and go huge.

  Just like they do in romantic comedies.

  Have you ever watched the movie Enchanted?

  Okay, I’ll admit I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to it when I watched it with Livi a few years ago. I did remember there were a lot of singing and dancing numbers.

  And that kickass fight with the dragon at the c
limax.

  And “true love’s kiss” after the redheaded heroine ate the poisoned apple.

  But since Kiera and I had already kissed more than once, I figured “love’s first kiss” no longer applied to our situation—especially since Kiera hadn’t eaten any poisoned apples.

  So my conclusion from what I remembered of the movie?

  That I needed to go big with the proposal.

  Yes, I realized Robert didn’t actually propose to Giselle, but since fire-breathing dragons weren’t (fortunately) part of our agenda either, I figured that was okay.

  Would a musical number factor into the proposal?

  Hey, let’s not get too crazy.

  There wasn’t enough time to pull that together. But if there had been, then yes, I would have also included a big musical number.

  Had Kiera and I talked about getting married? Not in so many words.

  But it was the right thing to do for our son.

  And I knew she would agree with me.

  Stephen would have done the same if our places were reversed.

  How did I propose to Stacy? Nothing like what I’d planned for Kiera.

  We’d been talking about marriage and our plans for the future and how our friends were all getting married. I figured the timing was perfect and got down on one knee to propose.

  Maybe that was part of the reason our marriage hadn’t worked out in the end. The proposal had been lackluster.

  That wasn’t to say our marriage had been that way, too, but I figured it certainly contributed to the problem.

  A foreboding, so to speak.

  There hadn’t even been an engagement ring at the time.

  And so that was why I was standing outside of Tiffany’s, preparing to buy the perfect ring.

  When I’d bought Kiera the “Believe” necklace, it was because I had cared a lot for her in college. I still cared a lot for her, only things were more complicated now.

  My feelings were more complicated.

  Of course, if I’d been honest with her from the start, things would never have gotten to this point, with us discovering I was the father of her son.