Chapter 21

"How's it coming?" Zeke rubs my shoulders as I push the last bit of tulle through my sewing machine.

"Perfect. Just a few more stitches and this one is done. Did you get the decorations hung up?"

"Yep. The birthday girl showed me exactly where she wanted her streamers and helped me with the tape. Then she insisted each chair have a balloon tied to the back."

"Perfect. Kinsley said she would pick up the cake for us and ooh, what about the food? Does Rory need me in the kitchen?"

"No! I don't need you in the kitchen!" Rory's voice rings out from the other side of the wall. "Hawk and I have everything under control."

"And by control," Hawken shouts with a stuffed mouth, "she means she's got cooking and plating under control and I've got quality tasting under control."

"Uncle Hawk!" Elsie giggles. "You can't eat all the food before the tea party!"

"Ooooh, I can't?"

"Nooooo!"

"Oh. Alright, Squish. I promise I'll stop but I really think you should try one of these cookies because they are delightful."

"He's totally feeding her cookies isn't he?"

Zeke laughs. "Without a doubt, yes, but it's her birthday. As long as she's happy, I'm happy."

I lift up the purple tutu I just finished making. "And as long as the guys are wearing these tutus like Elsie asked them too, I'm ecstatic."

"I don't know what's happened to us over the years." Zeke shakes his head, amused. "Having kids has made us all soft. I think the guys are more excited about this birthday party than Elsie is."

"That's because in her world, grown ass men wear tutus all the time. This is not out of her ordinary."

"I suppose you're right. And in case I've forgotten to say it or fail to say it later…" Zeke leans down and kisses the side of my neck. First near my collar bone and then behind my ear, pushing my hair out of the way to pepper my skin with soft, lingering kisses. "Thank you for going the extra mile for Elsie. All your planning has paid off. I think she's in for one hell of a fun afternoon and that's all because of you."

"It's my pleasure, you know that."

He leans into my ear, his lips so close I can feel his warm breath on my skin. "It will absolutely be your pleasure. I can promise you that. My thanks for being an amazing woman."

"Alright, you two. Get a room already," Hawken teases as he passes by with food trays in his hands. For a moment, my cheeks redden and I look around praying Elsie isn't near us. Thankfully, she ran off to her playroom. She doesn't know about Zeke and me just yet and I kind of want to keep it that way for a little while. If it were up to Zeke, I'm sure the world would know, but I asked him to keep us on the downlow for Elsie's sake. He might not agree but he understood my request and respects my feelings so he's going along with it, albeit begrudgingly.

Zeke stands straight and smiles at Hawken. "I've got several rooms upstairs. Do you mind watching the kid while we put one to good use? It should only take a few minutes."

Hawken and I both drop our jaws at the same time, laughing at Zeke's audacity, but Hawken recovers and says to me, "I'm really sorry your man can't last for you, Ada. That's a crying shame."

Zeke flips Hawken the bird and winks at me, but I do him one better. Shrugging my shoulders I turn with the last tutu in my hand and explain, "Hey when the beaver's busy she doesn't wait. She goes after that wood with reckless abandon. I can appreciate a quickie."

Hawken places the food trays on the table, shaking his head and grinning. "Whoa. Okay. Who has two thumbs and wouldn't dream of denying the busy beaver her wood in a timely manner?" He gestures to himself with both his thumbs. "This guy."

Zeke pats Hawken's shoulder. "Damn right."

___

Six guys seated around a table in the sunroom, each one of them dressed in a different colored tutu and donning a tiara on the top of their heads might be the best thing I have personally ever laid eyes on.

"Oh yes, Darling," I hear Dex titter in his best rich-old-British-woman voice. "These cookies are to die for. You simply must have another." He gives a small bite of cookie to Summer sitting next to him, and then holds the plate out for Elsie.

"Oh, thank you, Uncle Dex." Elsie picks another cookie from the plate and takes a dainty bite, her pinky in the air and everything. She plays the princess role quite well if I do say so myself.

"You're welcome, Miss Squish."

Zeke didn't even have to pay his friends to show up for Elsie today. He told them what she wanted and they all willingly said yes and arrived ready to party with the five-year-old. Today I can feel the love through this house. The love for a little girl on her birthday. The love of friendship. The love of families coming together to support one another complete with a living room full of pack-n-plays and sleeping babies. The bond of a special brotherhood. It's kind of like what Luke had in the military. I appreciated it then and I appreciate it now. We girls are always quick to bond and form friendships and sisterhoods with small circles of friends. That select group of women we would bare our souls to, but to also see it among Zeke and his friends is something I hope he never takes for granted.

The guys love him, anybody can see that. And to hear it from Carissa, they've adored Elsie since the day she was born. Not that they don't love all the other babies that have been brought into this world via the couples in this house today, but Elsie was the first. Elsie is who made them all honorary uncles and second fathers. I think it's so sweet and melts my heart to see them play with her. She has them all wrapped around her dainty little finger and it's not only adorable, but incredibly swoon worthy.

"I don't know how on Earth, you pulled this off, Ada," Carissa says next to me as we watch the guys seated around the table with Elsie from the kitchen. "But seeing those six burly men wearing tutus and tiaras and having a tea party with Elsie is next level orgasmic." She sighs. "I'm pretty sure my ovaries are exploding as we speak."

"Right?" Tatum sighs. "Gah! Dex and I were just having an argument earlier over something stupid like dishes in the sink but now watching him in there, playing to that sweet girl's every whim…and with his own daughter next to him too…" She turns to me with a desperate expression on her face, tugging at her shirt like she's trying to fan herself.

"Do you have like, a closet or something we could use quickly because watching my man in there is making me all kinds of hot and bothered."

Charlee, Rory, Carissa, and Kinsley all laugh and then mutter, "Saaaame," before falling into a fit of giggles again.

"I mean, let's face it," Carissa sighs leaning back against the counter with wine in hand, "hot hockey guys in tutus and tiaras are hot as fuck. Well done, Ada."

I take a slow sip of my wine making eye contact with Zeke who gives me a quick wink. "When the five-year-old-to-be asks for a springtime tea party in the middle of winter with all her uncles complete with tutus and tiaras, Zeke agreed she gets what she asks for," I explain to them. An amused chuckle builds up inside me. "Plus, I was not about to pass up the opportunity to see these guys in their tea party glory so Elsie and I sat down and planned the whole thing. Right down to the color tutu each of them would get."

"Well, you did a remarkable job," Charlee states. "Really, this has been amazing to watch. Elsie looks so happy."

"Right?" Rory adds. "Dare I say, Lori would have never put this much thought and detail into a birthday for anyone let alone her own kid."

A feeling of unease washes over me at Rory's words. I turn slightly so Zeke can't see my face and so I'm a little closer to the ladies. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Lori?" Rory asks.

I nod. "Yeah."

"What do you want to know?"

"I guess I don't know." I shrug. "Zeke doesn't talk a whole lot about her. Just that they were married and she left him."

"Yep." Carissa nods. "That's pretty much what happened from what we all understand. They were happy together for a while and excited about Elsie coming along. I remember Colby telling me how ecstatic he was to show her ultrasound picture to the guys when they were in New Orleans for our wedding."

Narrowing my eyes, I shake my head dumbfounded. "So, then what happened?"

"Honestly, I think she just didn't love the life of a hockey player's wife, you know?" Charlee suggests. "It's no secret that their schedule is grueling and they're gone a lot. Sometimes we travel with the team but it's not very often. And now that most of us have kids at home, it's harder and more stressful to travel. So, we stay home."

"Was she close with you guys?"

Carissa, Charlee, and Rory look at each other and shake their heads before Carissa explains, "Well it would've just been Charlee, Rory, and me at that time. Right around the time Dex and Tatum met at Charlee and Milo's wedding we had all found out that Lori left Zeke and Elsie and nobody has seen her since."

"Seriously? She and Zeke don't talk? Doesn't that seem weird?"

Rory shakes her head, her lips pursed. "Not when she wanted nothing to do with either of them. The bitch couldn't handle the privileged lifestyle, and I use that word only because let's be honest, we're very privileged to be living these lives where if we didn't want to work, we wouldn't have to. Zeke commented once that she said she had more life she wanted to live and didn't want to be bogged down having to stay at home with a kid and no husband to be with her."

"Wow." My heart breaks all over again for Zeke even though I know he doesn't grieve that hurt anymore.

"Yeah. It was rough for a while," Carissa tells me. "But Zeke's parents stepped in and helped out with Elsie and the guys rallied around Zeke whenever they needed him."

"And then you came along," Kinsley says, nudging my shoulder.

"And then you came along," Carissa repeats. "And Zeke was never the same again."

"Uh oh. I hope that's a good thing." I cringe at her comment before taking another sip of wine.

She laughs. "An exceptionally good thing. He clearly loves you very much."

Hearing her say she thinks Zeke loves me causes my wine to go down the wrong way and I fall into a coughing fit. Kinsley pats me on the back several times and then I hear, "Everything okay in there, Darlings?"

"Uh, yes." I cough and clear my throat so I too can use my fancy old lady British accent. "Yes, my dear Colby. I do apologize most sincerely. My beverage seems to have caused me a wee bit of stress but not to worry. My faculties are in tip top shape."

"Oh, incredibly good to hear it. Cheerio Darling."

"Yes, Cheerio."

"Uncle Colby," Elsie giggles. "We don't have Cheerios."

"Well, that's particularly good then because everyone knows Lucky Charms are far superior, don't you think? I mean just look at all these marshmallows."

"Oh yes," she says. "The marshmallows are my favorite but Daddy says I have to eat the cereal parts too."

"Very wise man, your dad. He's an incredibly wise man, indeed."

"You alright?" Tate asks me.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Kinsley rubs my arm. "She just gets so choked up when it comes to her favorite goalie having feelings for her."

She's not wrong about that.

Several months ago, I was just a widowed woman playing with cats for a living.

Now I'm living with a professional hockey player, looking after his little girl full time, and easily falling in love with him.

"I know he has feelings me. We've both said as much, but love?" I shake my head. "I don't know if I would go that far."

The ladies all look at one another and clearly there's something between them I'm missing.

"What? You're all thinking something and not saying it, so what is it?"

Charlee cocks her head to the side and smiles. "Ada, the man is crazy about you. There is no question."

"But—"

"But what?" Rory asks. "Do you not feel the same?"

"No, that's not it at all. I just…" I sigh, my shoulders falling. "How do you know?"

"Because I edit romance books for a living and I read about the signs all the time. I saw them for Rory and Hawken and I saw them for Quinton and Kinsley."

"What signs?"

She shrugs. "You know, the little things. The way he looks at you like you're his lifeline. The way he's talked about you. At least hearing second hand from Milo who is rooting for you too, by the way. The way he watches you when you're in his presence. The way his eyes light up when you enter a room. I bet you anything if you walked into the sunroom right now, his heart would melt for you."

My cheeks heat at Charlee's explanation. It's one thing to have these thoughts on my own but to know the girls all see it too, that this isn't a thing just between Zeke and me. It's a little bit weird for me. Not because we have feelings for each other but because I was hired to be Elsie's nanny.

"Can I ask you guys something and trust you'll give me an honest answer?"

"Of course," they say in tandem.

"Do you guys think it's weird at all that, you know, I was hired to be Elsie's nanny and now we're..."

"Fucking?" Kinsley smirks.

A nervous laugh escapes my lips. "For lack of a better word, yes. I know it took a while for us to get there, but now that we've finally crossed that bridge…"

"The sex bridge?" Kinsley asks, amused.

"Yes. The sex bridge." I nudge her playfully. "I'm not going to lie. It's been the best month of my life, but still…are people looking at us and talking about Zeke sleeping with his employee or anything like that because I would hate for it to be weird for him. Or for the press to say something completely off balance."

"Okay first of all, don't you worry about the press. That's what you have me for. If something ever comes out you two aren't happy with, I'll absolutely spin the narrative in your favor. Seriously," Carissa says with a hand on my shoulder. "Secondly…" She shakes her head. "I don't think it's weird at all. At least no weirder than Colby hating me at first only to find out he was falling in love with me."

"Or me," Charlee adds. "I showed up at Milo's door with a black eye and a couple suitcases in need of a place to stay for a while."

Wait. What?

"You did? Why have I never known this?"

She smiles at me. "Sorry. I assumed you knew."

It dawns on me that I've never asked any of the ladies how they got together with the guys. "I guess now that you mention it, the only one I knew about already was Kinsley." I turn to Tatum. "What about you and Dex? How did you get together?"

An ornery smile spreads across her face.

This ought to be good.

"I stuck my finger in his butthole one night in Key West and he couldn't stop thinking about me from that day on."

Rory cackles but then covers her ears. "TMI, Tate! TMI! I do NOT need to hear about my brother's butthole."

Tate giggles. "I mean…I'm just being honest. But in all seriousness he knocked me up that night and fate brought us back together just before Summer was born."

"Holy shit! That's amazing."

"It really is. But see? When the universe wants to put two people together, somehow or another it works out."

"What about you Rory? I imagine you've known Hawken a long time being Dex's sister."

"Yeah, we're probably the most non-unusual ones of the bunch." She cringes slightly. "Like you said we've known each other for a long time and it just sort of…happened."

"Happened." Tate snorts. "Sure." She winks at me and nudges Rory's shoulder. "You should definitely ask her about the yellow chair in her bedroom sometime."

"Ooh yeah and you should definitely ask her what nickname she's given to her favorite toy." Charlee giggles. "The whole story is just too good."

"Listen bitches," Rory laughs. "That's enough out of all you. We're supposed to be talking about how much Zeke loves Ada and Ada loves Zeke."

"Is that what we're talking about?" I squeal as my eyes grow huge and my cheeks redden. I tip back my entire wine glass, emptying the contents into my mouth.

"Mhmm," Kinsley says, pouring more wine into my glass. "I mean come on. It's okay to admit it. Has he said it yet?"

"What? I love you?"

"Yeah."

"No." I shake my head slowly.

"Well, do you?"

"I…" My thoughts jumble, my mouth dries, and my heartrate rises, but I take a deep calming breath and can't help the smile that unfolds across my face. "I think I do, yeah." I swallow back my nerves. "But do you honestly think he—"

"Yes. We do." Carissa nods for all of them. "And if he hasn't said it yet, I have no doubt he will. And soon. Does Elsie know what's going on between you?"

I shake my head adamantly. "Absolutely not. We've tried hard to keep her in the dark because if things go badly…" I swallow down one of my biggest fears. "I'm an adult, I can grieve through any potential heartache but to put a child through that? Again? I could never do that to her. She might not remember her mother being around but she still had a mom and her mom still left her. I could never forgive myself if she had all these hopes and dreams of a family and they were crushed by a breakup."

Kinsley grabs my hand, squeezing it in comfort. "Which is why you two aren't ever going to break up. You're only going to get stronger. And you have all of us to support you both along the way. Positive affirmations here. No negative thoughts. Do you need me to bring you a positive potato?"

I smile, squeezing her hand back. "I've got two of them already."

"Positive pickle then? Positive pineapple? I can make whatever you need to keep the yucky thoughts out of that head of yours. Oooh how about a penis of positivity?"

"You have one of those?"

She laughs. "I mean…Quinton's never says no sooo…" She shrugs with a grin and I laugh with the ladies.

"Kinsley, your positive mindset knows no bounds and I am so very glad you're my friend."