Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

We arrive at my parents’ house in Vancouver, British Columbia, the day before US Thanksgiving. It’ll be a short trip since we have to fly back on Friday, but it’s worth it to finally get to introduce Lexi to my parents and my older brother, Tanner. He’s been less than supportive over the phone, so I’m hoping once he meets her in person, he’ll chill the fuck out.

I know he’s coming from a place of caution, and while I can’t deny it’s wise given our profession, he also doesn’t know Lexi. And at this point, his continued prodding about me getting a paternity test is only starting to piss me off instead of feeling like a big brother looking out for his little brother. Hopefully, this weekend he’ll understand why I’ve been hesitant to bring it up to Lexi and push something that I don’t doubt.

My dad picked us up from the airport and has been chatting with Lexi the whole way to my childhood home. Both my brothers and I tried to convince our parents to let us buy them something nicer, but they refused our offers. They said no other house would carry the memories this one does, and I can’t deny there is something soothing about returning home and remembering all the love and laughter that filled our house during my youth.

I glance at Lexi, reminding myself she didn’t have that kind of childhood. Maybe over the next couple of days, I can give her a taste of the kind of life I’d like to build with her. One where we’re always surrounded by family, good food, laughter, and so much love it feels a little suffocating.

Dad pulls into the two-car garage, and we all pile out of his SUV. The door to the kitchen opens, and my mom is there, her hands up in the air and a huge smile on her face.

“My sweet boy. Come here!”

I rush over and lift her up in a hug. She squeezes me tight, and when I set her back on her feet, she’s still smiling, her brown eyes bright and shimmering with happy tears. “It’s so good to have you home, Sweetie. Isn’t it great, honey?” she asks, looking behind me at my dad. Before he can answer, her mouth parts and she pushes me aside. “Oh my gosh. You must be Lexi!” She moves past me, quicker than I can blink, and wraps a surprised Lexi in a huge hug. “We are so excited to finally meet you. Tyler talks about you all the time.”

Lexi looks at me over my mom’s shoulder, her arms loosely returning my mom’s hug and her eyes wide with shock and uncertainty. “He does?”

Mom finally releases her. “Of course he does. Every single call.” I may not be able to see my mom’s expression, but I can see Lexi’s. My stomach tightens at the slight surprise she tries to hide. As if she’s shocked I talk about her with my family—which she shouldn’t be since the guys razzed me good when she met my friends last week. Clearly I haven’t done a good enough job showing her what she means to me if she’s still surprised I talk about her with the people closest to me.

“Well, come on inside. I bet you’re exhausted after a full day of travel. You’ll never guess who showed up this morning.”

“Who?” I ask, my brow furrowing. I knew Tanner would be here since that was the whole reason we planned this Thanksgiving get-together, even though my parents usually celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October. This was really the only time both of us could get off during the season. Neither Tanner’s team nor the Wolves play on Thanksgiving, and Tanner’s game isn’t until Monday while mine’s on Sunday, so we were both free to come for a quick visit.

“Taron!” she shouts, practically vibrating from pure joy, and it’s no wonder. I can’t remember the last time my mom got all three of her boys under the same roof. Taron plays pro hockey and his schedule is insane.

“How the hell is he here? Doesn’t he have a game today?”

“Achilles injury,” a voice says from behind me, and I spin around to find my little brother, who’s built just like you’d imagine a hockey player to be built. “I’m out for the next three to five games depending on how quickly I can recover, but I was able to get clearance to come here for a couple of days as long as I keep up with my exercises.”

I wrap one arm around his back, pulling him into a tight hug. “Damn, man, it’s good to see you.”

He slaps me on the back. “You too. I hear you went and decided to pull a middle-child move for attention.”

I look at him like he’s just grown a second head.

“You know, knocking up your girlfriend.” His gaze slides past me to Lexi, and his smile turns seductive. “Although I definitely would’ve found a way to keep a woman who looks like that.”

I step in front of him, blocking his view of her, and give him a death glare. “Might want to move your eyes to something else before I punch you,” I growl low, but apparently not low enough to keep Mom from hearing.

“Now, now, boys. That’s enough. Let’s head inside.”

Taron throws me a typical grin, knowing he accomplished his mission of riling me up, and I spin around to find Lexi smiling at me. My breath stalls in my lungs at the lightness in her eyes, so different from the usual weight that I wish she’d share with me.

She grabs my hand, squeezing it once. “Not gonna lie; that whole caveman thing was kind of hot.”

I pull her body flush against mine, wrapping my arms around her and dropping my forehead to hers. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she says, her voice soft and breathy.

I brush her hair away from her face. “No one gets to look at you like that except me.”

“Because I’m yours,” she says with a subtle air of disbelief.

“Because you’re mine,” I say, my words strong and sure, never wanting her to doubt how much I want her.

How much I love her, even if I’ve been too scared of spooking her to say the words.

“Come on inside, you two. I’ve got food already prepared since I figured you’d be hungry,” Mom calls from inside the house.

I keep Lexi’s hand in mine as we walk through the door into the kitchen, and I nearly burst out laughing when I see the spread filling every inch of counter space.

“Is this just for us, or are you also planning to invite the whole neighborhood?”

Taron chuckles, even as he snacks on a baby carrot.

“Don’t be silly. You boys practically ate us out of house and home when you lived under this roof. I wasn’t about to run out of food during your visit.”

“We’re only here for two days, Mom.”

She purses her lips and hits me with her mom glare. “Two days with professional athletes who eat six high-protein meals a day. Plus, Lexi’s eating for two.” Her attention moves to Lexi. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Tyler what you were craving lately so I could have it on hand. It’s been a few decades since I was pregnant, but I still remember how strong those cravings could be.”

Lexi smiles at her, and from this angle, it looks like her eyes shimmer a little, but she blinks and they clear. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Russell.”

Mom throws the dish towel she’s holding over her shoulder and walks over to us, grabbing Lexi’s upper arms softly. “Sweetie, you can call me Tina. You’refamily now, so no need to be so formal. I’m just so happy you and Tyler found each other.” Mom’s eyes get misty as her gaze drops down to Lexi’s stomach and back to her face. “I’m so excited to be a grandma. I hopeyou two won’t be strangers during the offseason. Andwe’ll find time to come down and visit so we can help you out any way we can.”

Mom’s voice hitches, and I know she’s getting emotional. She worries about us, and she’s made it clear more than once she wants to see us happy and settled with families. This is a dream come true for her. Lexi is the daughter she’s never had and always wanted, and I’ve never been more thankful for my mom being as loving as she is. Lexi deserves to have this in her life.

“So where’s Tanner?” I ask, looking toward the living room.

An awkward look passes between my parents and my stomach drops. “He, uh, decided he couldn’t get away for the holiday,” Dad says.

My jaw clenches. That’s total bullshit. I brought it up to him just last week, and he never said anything about bailing. I’m glad I didn’t tell Lexi about his doubts, or else she’d think this is her fault, and the last thing I want is for her to have guilt over my brother being a fucking child.

“I’m sorry I won’t be able to meet him. Ty’s talked about him a lot,” Lexi says. She looks up at me, a smile on her face and the usual creases next to her eyes missing. “All of you, actually. I think I’ve asked him to tell me a million stories at this point.” Her cheeks get a subtle flush, and my heart pinches in my chest.

Fuck, I’m so gone for her.

“Well, then it seems only fitting we tell you some stories about your man here,” Taron says as he walks over to her other side and wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her away from me as he leads her to the living room. “Did he tell you about that one time with the frogs?”

He’s out of the room when I catch the tail end of his sentence, and I’m about to storm in there to stop him from telling one of the most embarrassing stories of my childhood when Lexi’s laughter rings through the room and my steps stop.

Fine, he can tell her, but only as long as she keeps laughing like that.

“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about Tanner earlier. We only found out last night,” Mom tells me.

“Kind of a coward move. I expected more from him.”

It’s clear she knows the real reason he didn’t come when she doesn’t look surprised or outraged by my comment.

“I know you’re upset he’s not here to meet her, but maybe try to cut him a little slack.” A furrow forms between her brows. “I think he deals with a lot more than he ever tells us about because he’s been more guarded in the last year.”

“He doesn’t need to take it out on me or Lexi though.” Honestly, I’m fucking pissed he’s not here. I thought for sure after he met her this weekend, we could finally put all this shit behind us, but now he’s just going to continue to drag it out. “I’ll be right back,” I say before I duck back outside.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and click on his contact. It rings longer than normal, and part of me thinks the coward is going to let me go to voicemail when he finally picks up.

“I should’ve known you’d call.”

“You’re damn right you should’ve,” I say. “What the fuck, Tan? You really bailed on spending time with our family because of Lexi?”

He lets out a heavy sigh like he’s tired of this conversation already, and the condescension that rolls through the line only pisses me off more.

“I love her, Tanner.”

“You can’t be serious,” he scoffs. “You barely know her!”

“We’ve been together for a couple of months now.”

“That’s no time at all to con you.”

“That’s enough,” my voice goes hard as steel. “You don’t get to make judgments about her or me when you can’t even be adult enough to meet her. You don’t know her, and frankly, I’m questioning if you know me at all anymore. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be questioning my judgment like this. She’s not conning me. And the more you push that assumption, the more you drive me away. So think carefully about what the endgame is here, brother, because if you make me choose between you and her, I will choose her. Always.”

“You’d really choose a woman you barely know over your own blood?”

“You mean, my own blood who’s being a pompous asshole and won’t even meet her before deciding she’s some gold digger? That blood? Because frankly, that’s not the kind of blood I want in my family.”

He’s silent, but his silence speaks volumes. He’s got nothing to say because he knows I’m right.

But maybe my mom’s right too, because a year ago he wouldn’t have reacted this way. I thought we were close and told each other all the important things, but I’m wondering if this is more personal for him. If something—or someone—made him this way. Before I have a chance to ask about my hunch, his cold voice rings through the line.

“Have a good Thanksgiving, Ty.”

And then he hangs up.