Epilogue

EPILOGUE

STEFAN

I love opening day. There's electricity in the air. The arena is buzzing, and everywhere I look, I see little girls wearing Detroit Women's Hockey jerseys. My own is perched on my knee, her jersey several sizes too big because they haven't started producing anything smaller than toddler sizes yet.

"Ready for your first hockey game, Julie?" I ask, and my daughter coos and laughs as she looks around at all the commotion in the arena while I make sure her noise canceling headphones are secure. "Your mom has been working hard to help get this team started. This is a big day for her."

Julie and I are standing behind the glass, watching as Detroit's women warm up before their inaugural game at The Ren. Francine has been working for the last year and a half to help get this team off the ground. She stayed with the Union, still working in the penalty box, right up until we were engaged, and then she left to join the women's league. She was instrumental in recruiting and player development, and today she will be on the ice for the Opening Day ceremony, side by side with the general manager, and league president. I couldn't be prouder.

"Hey!" A voice calls from behind me, and I turn to find Alex and Gabriel sauntering down the stairs behind us. "Happy Opening Day!"

"Happy Opening Day, you two." I pass Julie off to Gabriel who immediately starts bouncing her in his arms and walks her around to the spot behind the goal. "She's not going to be a goalie!" I shout in their direction and Gabriel just laughs and laughs.

"How's Franny?" Alex asks as we find our way to our seats a few rows up from the glass.

"She's good. She's nervous. She hardly slept last night, and not because of Julie." I was up with Julie through the night so that Francine could try to get some sleep. We watched old Union hockey games with Stevie curled up beside us on the couch. "I'm so proud of her."

"You should be. It's an incredible thing she's doing. To go from box girl to front office?"

"When are you going to stop calling her Box Girl?"

"When she tells me to. It's our thing."

"You shouldn't have a thing with my wife," I scowl, slugging Alex in the arm. "But anyway, she was way over qualified to be babysitting us. This is right where she belongs."

Gabriel and Julie make their way back and once I have my daughter in my arms again I tell her the hazards of being a goaltender.

"You want to be a forward," I whisper, "right in the middle of the action."

"She's going to be a defender," Rachel Winters joins us, sitting in the seat beside Gabriel who goes suddenly, inexplicably silent. "Look at her. She's built for it."

"Hey Rach," I reach around Gabriel and hold up my fist. "Glad you could make it."

"Like I'd miss this," she bumps her fist against mine, "besides, I never pass up a chance to see my niece."

Julie is passed, once again, to Gabriel who hands her off to Rachel and uses it as an excuse to focus his attention on the severe woman beside him. The two are polar opposites, but when Julie is in the picture, they get along quite well. Juliette, for whom my daughter is named, and Tom join us just before the start of the ceremony, and the Donut Worry crew fills in the row behind us. I snap a picture, as best I can, of the family gathered in the stands for Francine's big day, and when she steps onto the ice, emotion wells in my throat.

"Good afternoon," her voice echoes through the arena. This place where we met. Fell in love. And where I proposed – in the penalty box, naturally – and now this place that she is helping to build for a new generation of professional hockey players. "My name is Francine Henderson-Morrow, I'm the director of player development, and I'd like to welcome you to the inaugural game of professional women's hockey here in the great city of Detroit."

The crowd erupts in cheers, and I'm on my feet, Julie in my arms, as we cheer on Francine. And the team. But mostly Francine. After the ceremony and anthems, the first shifts take to the ice, and I can't stop the tears that fall from my eyes as I sit here, with my daughter on my lap, and watch the first ever Detroit Women's Hockey team take to the ice.

"Francine!" A cheer goes up from our two rows, and I turn to find my wife coming down the steps, a smile lighting up her whole face.

"Hey Stats," I pull her in for a kiss after she sits down beside me. "Look at what you've done."

"Isn't it great?" She whispers, thumbing away the tears from her eyes. "It's a dream come true."

"So is this," I gesture to the friends and family gathered around us. Our daughter laughing as she reaches for her mom's red curls. "And I get to share it with you."