“I don’t know where my skates are.”

“You’re too organized not to know where they are.”

Junie shot down every argument I had. She was right. I did know where my skates were. I also knew in my heart where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be doing it with.

I didn’t know if the four of us would ever be a family, but I had to try, not just for the kids but for Easton and me. I owed myself that much. Mark was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. This was my life now, and I had to stop living for someone who wasn’t here anymore. My guilt over what happened was misplaced. I’d been a good wife, and he’d been a good husband. We hadn’t been in love, and looking back, I don’t know if we would’ve lasted over the long haul.

Easton and I had something special. We always had.

I needed to give us a chance.

~~Easton~~

My new year was starting out crappy.

On New Year’s Eve, I’d joined the Puck Brothers, but no amount of alcohol dulled the pain inside me. I still had my kids, but I didn’t have Caro. I didn’t realize until that very moment how much that hurt. She didn’t feel the same. She didn’t trust me. She assumed the worst of me. She should know me better than that, but obviously we hadn’t come very far since we’d reunited.

I insisted on time with the kids, and rather than being subjected to my company, she conceded by allowing me to take them on my own. We had fun together, yet I missed her. I guess I’d harbored hope we’d form a family together.

Now I was at the family skate at the practice facility on the third Saturday in January with the twins. We sat on a row of bleachers while I laced up Hailey’s figure skates, making sure they were tight enough to offer proper support. Heath insisted on doing his own, but I checked them afterward and did some minor adjustments. He was wide-eyed as he watched the skaters on the ice. Several of my teammates skated by with their kids. Even guys without kids were there, enjoying skating for the pure joy of it. All of us lived to skate, or we wouldn’t be hockey players.

This was my first somewhat public outing with my kids, and I had cautioned my teammates not to mention I was their father. I hoped everyone remembered, but if they didn’t, I’d deal with the fallout if I had to.

Straightening, I stood and reached for their hands. Hailey took mine and rose to her feet. She was fucking adorable in the pink skating outfit she’d insisted on wearing. Heath, on the other hand, wore the jersey I’d previously bought him. My heart swelled with pride seeing him in it, just as it had that first time I’d laid eyes on him. They were mine, and I was their dad. I would always be their protector, their port in a storm, and the guy who had their back.