MM Series (#3)
Marriage has been easy for star hockey goalie Evan Henderson and his best friend's sister, Ellie. They both knew what they wanted from the start of their relationship.
The only problem is that they can't get everything they want.
Afte...
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I rap on the wooden door a few times before Coach Ray's office.
Coach John Ray is a former Harvard hockey player, who later moved on to play professionally in Seattle and Long Island for the NHL. And then a few years in the AHL. Before settling down in Tampa as an assistant coach, only to get promoted a year later to Head Coach, where he's been for the past nine years. He's young for a league coach-at the ripe age of thirty-nine-but he's damn good.
"Come in." He looks up from his desk when I push the door open. He pulls off the reading glasses perched on the tip of his nose and leans back in his seat. He is the epitome of don't judge a book by his cover. Because he's short for a man. But goddamn he's scary as hell. "Have a seat. You're not in trouble."
I lower myself onto the leather chair and remain sitting up straight. "It's been brought to my attention the situation of your wife."
My brows furrow. "I'm sorry?"
"I overheard some of the guys talking about how they felt bad that you're wife is still in Miami. So I pulled a few of them aside to get some details."
"Um, okay." A queasiness settles in my gut.
"High risk pregnancy, huh?"
I nod slowly. "Yeah... I'm sorry, but with all due respect, what does this have to do with hockey?"
"I don't care about only the sport, Mr.Henderson. I don't have a team without my players, and I care about my players. I like to know their backgrounds. I like to know if they have kids or not-if so I like to know how the family is doing. I like to feel connected to my players. So I'm not just another authority figure to them. This isn't high school hockey, Mr.Henderson. I don't know what you've heard about me, but assume it's all lies."
I lean back in my seat, relaxing a bit. I nod for him to go on.
"I've got a daughter. She has CHD. Do you know what that is?"
"Heart defect, right?" I ask and he nods.
"She had her first surgery three days after being born. She's seventeen now." He laces his fingers together and rests them on his abdomen. "Your wife is high risk or the baby is high risk?"
I shrug. "Both really. We lost our first to an ectopic and we didn't even know she was pregnant. Baby latched itself to her fallopian tube and they had to remove it because it bursted. She almost died." I swallow the lump in my throat. "It took us over a year to conceive. And we didn't do it on our own."
"HCG shots?" He asks and I nod. "Oh trust me, I know those all too well. It sucks doesn't it? Having to stick a needle inside the woman you love."
"And she's afraid of needles too."
"Yeah. Mine too." He glances at the frame on his desk before meeting my gaze. "Tell me more about her. How far along is she?"
