Page 39 of Catching Dreams

When I got back to our motel room, I had to laugh that there was a ton of cat stuff on the bed. Litter boxes, cat toys, bowls, scratching posts, and more. My guess is that my wife had found a kitten she liked.

“Molls? Are you here?” I called out.

“In the bathroom,” she hollered back. “Come meet our new baby!”

I opened the bathroom door and saw not one, not two, but three very tiny kittens walking around my wife’s legs. She was seated on the toilet seat while she was petting them and talking to them in baby voices.

“Um, this is not one kitten! Explain.”

My wife actually laughed. “Don’t worry. Only one is ours. I talked to Mack, and he told me to get the sweetest kitten I could find. We decided to let Nico pick one after the funeral.”

“Well, that explains his kitten and our kitten, but who is getting the other one?”

“Pen’s kids want one,” she said with a smile. “They said Nico could pick his kitten first. That’s why we have all of them together.”

“I guess that makes sense. So, we’re going to keep all three kittens with us until we get back from Kentucky?”

“I guess it’s a good time to find out if you’re allergic to cats or not,” Molly said as she lifted a multi-colored kitten into her arms. “Because if you actually are, you can go back to living with Cooper.”

“Ha, ha! I’m not, don’t worry!” I said with a shake of my head. “I told you I was tested when I was younger, and even the doctor was shocked I wasn’t allergic to cats!”

Going to a funeral with my wife and old teammates was not how I wanted to spend our last day together before I had to go back to playing for my own team. We all sat in the third and fourth rows behind Mack and Ashleigh’s family. Ashleigh Marie McAlister’s body had been cremated, and a beautiful urn covered in her favorite flowers, chrysanthemums, sat in the front of the church she had grown up attending. Next to her was a giant photograph of her smiling face.

A lot of media was outside, including Erick and Tanner. Molly couldn’t believe the media had shown up at a funeral, but I told her it was just part of the bigger picture. The public wanted to see Ashleigh put to rest, too.

Nico sat on his grandmother’s lap during the service, and he seemed to enjoy the attention. During the middle of the service, when the officiant was talking about Ashleigh’s love of being a mother and a wife, we all heard Nico’s loud voice. “Mommy! Hi, Mommy!” His voice actually sounded like he was saying ‘Mob-bee’ since he couldn’t hear himself talking. Nico wriggled out of his grandmother’s grasp and went up to Ashleigh’s picture. “I want Mommy!”

I grasped Molly’s hand and wiped away a tear of my own with my other hand. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church. I saw Mack’s hands covering his face as he shook with sobs. It was the first time I had seen him cry, but I was glad he was showing his emotions. I felt horrible for him and Nico.

Mack’s dad put a hand on Mack’s shoulder as he tried to get up. He got up himself, went over to his young grandson, and scooped him up and into his arms. He walked out a side door of the sanctuary, and the officiant took a moment to take a deep breath. He proceeded with his eulogy about Ashleigh and his prayers for the small boy who no longer had a mother and for the husband who had lost his wife.

After the service, we all lined up to pay our final respects and hug the family. By the time we got up to the front, Nico was back and in his dad’s arms. He was enjoying giving everyone high fives and hugs. We shared condolences with Ashleigh’s mom, dad, grandparents, and her younger sisters. Then, we greeted Mack’s parents and his older brother, Connor.

“STONE!” I had to smile as Nico leaped from Mack’s arms into mine.

“Hey, sweetheart!” Molly said and rubbed his back. He smiled down at her, then he squealed with delight when he saw the other guys from the team.

I tried to give Nico back to Mack, but he just shook his head and jumped into Cooper’s arms.

“If you don’t mind holding him, he seems happy with you guys,” Mack said.

“We got him, Coach,” Cooper said and swung the laughing little boy onto his shoulders.

“If he gets to be too much or upset, just bring him back up here.”

We all went into the foyer, and I had to laugh as Cooper and Dominic threw a laughing Nico back and forth between themselves.

“Tyler, do you have a minute?” I turned to see Coach Henderson standing there with his wife.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” I said in surprise. I hadn’t seen him in the church, but we were close to the front.

“I wanted to pay my respects,” Steve Henderson said. “Someone wants to meet you.”

“Of course,” I said and reached for Molly’s hand to let her know I wanted her to come with us.

“Tyler Stone, this is Harold Schroeder,” Henderson said, gesturing to the tall, gray-haired man in a suit, with baseballs on his tie, standing in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. I had seen him on TV so much I felt as if I knew him, but I had never met him in person. The head coach/manager of the Cincinnati Coyotes was here and wanted to meet me.

“Mr. Stone, I hear good things about you,” Harold Schroeder said to me and gave me a very firm handshake.

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