God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Kingdom of Hockey and Happiness

Maisie

The Blackhawks don't make it past the wings as they lose it in 5 hard fought games. No one thought they would come this far so that's a feat in itself, hell, they didn't even make the playoffs last year. But it was obvious Jonathan liked to win and he liked to do it often. He's taking it hard and I hated seeing him beat himself up like that. The past few days he's been kind of down so Jackson and I were going to cheer him up.

We head to a Walgreens and pick up a bunch of candy. Hershey kisses, sour patch kids, skittles, all the good sweets. Then we get a bunch of popcorn and a few movies before heading to check out.

"Why is daddy sad" Jackson asks as he holds my hand.

"Because sweetie, he really wanted to win" I explain.

"If he would have won would he be happy" he wonders.

"Yeah" I guess. I mean it's not that easy but I guess that would make him happy. Without a word he takes off and I lose him somewhere in the store. I try not to freak out but if I lost him I don't know what I would do. I find him in the toy isle looking at the plastic medals and trophies.

"Jackson Andrew Brown don't you ever do that again" I whisper yell as he continues to look at the awards.

"I think daddy would like that one" he says pointing to a toy trophy.

"Why does daddy need a trophy" I ask trying to bring my heart rate return to normal.

"Because he's sad he didn't get one. But he's the best at a lot of other things so he still deserves one" he claims.

"That's sweet of you... you want this one" I ask picking up the one he pointed to and he nods his head. I throw it in the cart and finally make it to check out with my child. After purchasing everything I let him pick out movies then show up to Jonathan's door. I knock loudly and he answers in nothing but shorts, nice.

"Hey! What are you guys doing here" he asks welcoming us in.

"We're here to cheer you up" I say and he raises a eyebrow.

"What makes you think I'm upset" he asks and I frown at him.

"Okay, okay. I got it" he chuckles and I nod my head. We head to the living room and I dump all the candy onto the table. I grab some popcorn and pop it while Jonathan hangs with Jackson on the couch.

"What's this" Jonathan asks picking up the trophy.

"It's yours. Even though didn't win the big trophy you're still really good at other things. Like piggy back rides and Batman impressions and being my dad, so you get this trophy" Jackson says and I stop. Jonathan pulls him on his lap and gives him a hug. I can tell he needed this. Glad to know Jackson isn't just helping me but Jon too.

"Jackson, thank you. For everything" Jon says. Jackson didn't understand what that meant, but I did. I meant the world to him. I pour the popcorn into a bowl and join them on the couch.

"What movie do you want to watch first" I ask.

"Batman" they reply at the same time. I roll my eyes but pop the movie and snuggle into Jonathan's side. He wraps a large arm around me and I rest my head on his shoulder as I watch Jackson place himself in front of the tv.

"Thank you for doing this" he whispers rubbing my side.

"It was my pleasure. I really care about you and you always take care of me. Now it's my turn" I say patting his chest.

"I love you" he reminds me.

"I love you too."

We spend the whole day eating candy and popcorn before a tired Jackson comes and sits between us.

"Mommy I'm tired" he says rubbing his eyes.

"You wanna have a sleepover" Jonathan offers and he was suddenly awake again.

"Yes" he screams jumping up and down. Jonathan takes him into the spare bedroom and Jack jumps up on the bed. Patrick was back in Buffalo for the summer so Jon was probably bored out of his mind without him here. We spend the rest of the night building a fort with a bunch of blankets and hockey sticks and other things found in the apartment. Eventually Jacksons "Kingdom of Hockey and Happiness" was finished and he was sitting on top of his thrown Jonathan made for him.

"Oh great and mighty king, what is your first declaration" I ask in a English accent. He was big into the accents when we played make believe.

"I declare that Miss. Maisie and Mr. Jonathan be married" he says and I look at him. Something tells me he wasn't playing make believe when he said that. That's a issue for another day though. But he does marry us and I was now Mrs. Maisie Toews, I admittedly liked the sound of that.

"Okay, we're married. What is your second act all mighty King" Jonathan asks.

"Now I declare you adopt me" he says to Jon and I freeze. I stare at Jonathan as they look at each other. I know we were playing make believe but I had a feeling these were things he really wanted. This was a little too deep for my liking. I didn't want Jonathan to say no because that would make him sad and I didn't want him to say yes because then he'll still expect that after we were done playing. This was a sticky situation.

"Okay, I'll adopt you" Jonathan finally answers and my head quickly shoots to him.

"Great! Now that we're one big family lets explore the land and slay the dragon" he claims and we cheer with him. After about three hours of fighting dragons and saving the kingdom the king collapses in bed and drifts off. We leave him be and go into Jonathan's room. I've actually never slept in here.

"I don't know where he got the idea of you adopting him from and I know he put you in a tough situation" I start as I crawl into the bed.

"Stop right there because I know where this is going" he says grabbing my shoulders and I take a deep breath.

"I meant what I said" he claims and I look up at him.

"Really" I ask. I knew him and Jackson are close but that's a lot of responsibility.

"Yes Maisie. Its been eight months and not a second of my time with you did I think that you weren't the one or that Jackson was anything beside a gift. I love you guys with my whole heart, you've shown me all the intangibles that are better than winning. When Jackson gave me that trophy, I already had it in my heart I wanted to adopt him" he tells me and my eyes go big.

"Seriously" I choke.

"Well yeah. It's not like he's old, he's only four and I want to be in his life forever. You said it yourself, every little boy deserves to have a dad to look up to and I want to be that for Jackson. I can help support his hockey dreams and whatever he needs. I know you don't take help but I really want to do this. Losing is hard but it's nice knowing you guys will love me regardless" he claims.

"Okay then, lets see what we can do" I say and he nearly chokes on air.

"That seemed too easy" he laughs.

"I trust you Jonathan. You've given me no reason not to. I don't see why we wouldn't be able to make it so you're legally his father" I explain.

"Well we have the whole summer to figure it out" he claims pulling me close.

"You might, I still work at Chicago Cut and have to set up things with the United Center" I laugh.

"Look at you being all big time" he says rubbing my shoulders. Eventually I fall asleep in his arms as my mind frantically searches for positivity.