Everything That Follows - Jacob Markström

You're a lifestyle journalist assigned to the parenting and maternity beat-usually reporting on postpartum health or new-mom survival hacks. But this month, your editor has a new pitch: Fatherhood in Focus-a special feature on high-profile single dads navigating the impossible.

Your first subject? Jacob Markström, veteran NHL goalie for the New Jersey Devils, who unexpectedly became a solo parent overnight.

It's been a quiet storm behind the scenes. His wife left nearly a year ago without warning, just weeks after giving birth to their second son. Since then, Markström's been parenting Clark, a rambunctious two-year-old with the sass of a teenager, and Elias, an 11-month-old who still wakes up crying every night, alone.

You don't expect Jacob to agree to an interview. He's infamously private-his press presence has been limited to post-game clichés and muttered goalie speak. But when your email is returned with:
"One hour. Don't push."
-you find yourself driving to a quiet neighborhood in Hoboken, recorder in hand, heart bracing.

What you find isn't what you expected.

Jacob is guarded. Gruff. Tired in the way only single parents are. But beneath the stubble and tension is a man trying desperately to be everything for two small boys. A man who cuts apples into shapes for Clark's lunchbox. A man who holds Elias against his chest during naps, arms wrapped protectively around the only thing he has left.

You come looking for a story. But you stay for something else-something softer than you thought Jacob Markström was capable of.

Because maybe, just maybe, behind every grumpy goalie is a man hoping someone might choose to stay.

*Updates every saturday :) *