Page 107 of Pucked and Pregnant

The fan go crazy, the arena so loud that I hardly hear Connor as he comes back around the net and crashes into me, jumping and shouting at the top of his lungs.

We’re instantly swarmed by the rest of the team and Coach, who are also screaming and shouting. My heart swells with pridedespite my slightly blurry vision and the blood pouring out of my nose.

“We did it!” Aiden yells, executing yet another backflip and skating wildly around our team, all clustered in the center of the ice.

“We did it,” I whisper, looking up at the jumbotron. Liv is looking down at me, a smile that could light up all of Boston on her face.

“They did it!” Liv shouts, her voice ringing out over the arena. “The Boston Blades have won the Stanley Cup! They managed a shake-up victory that will go down in the history books as the kind of result you can expect from a team who focuses on teamwork above all else.”

The team whoops and hollers, skating a clumsy circle around me. I think about how much Liv’s connection with my three best friends helped influence this victory. Without her, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to this moment of triumph. She really is the glue that holds us all together, making us better than we could ever be apart.

The Cup ceremony begins, and after a brief speech from the NHL commissioner, it is handed over to Coach. Connor grabs it immediately, kissing it and hoisting it high above his head. The crowd goes wild again as tokens of their affection—hats, stuffed animals, and flowers—start raining down onto the ice.

I take my turn hoisting the Cup into the air, leaving a bloody handprint on the silver surface as I pass it along. That seems fitting since blood, sweat, and lots of tears got us to this moment.

“There’s nothing better than an underdog story,” Liv is saying as we pass the Cup around between us. “And there are few underdog stories more compelling than the story of the Boston Blades.”

Liv’s cohost has made his way down to the ice. He heads over to me, mic in hand.

“This is a moment that will surely go down in history,” he shouts over the still roaring crowd as he holds the mic out toward me. “Do you have anything you’d like to say about your team?”

I grin at him. “We’ve all worked so hard to make this happen,” I say. “We’ve survived adversity, the doubt of the industry as a whole, and personal strife to come back stronger than ever and win this game. I want to thank my entire team, whom I love like brothers, our coach, who pushes us to be our best each and every day, and my sister, who has stood behind me since childhood, and this team from the start.”

The crowd cheers in response, and I look up at Liv, who is still in the press box. She gives me a big thumbs up, and I return it.

“I have something I want to say.” I look over my shoulder and see Aiden pushing through the rest of the team to get closer to us.

“I have something I want to say to Liv,” he says as he gets closer to the mic. I swallow hard and look up at my sister, not sure what is happening. She’s leaning against the railing, staring down at Aiden with a frozen expression on her face.

“Olivia Winters,” Aiden begins as he stares up at her, “you have made my life better every day since we were kids. It’s taken me a long time to realize this, but my life is only worth living with you in it. Will you marry me?”

The crowd immediately starts cheering and clapping, and everyone turns to look at Liv. A spotlight shifts to her, revealing her shocked face. I realize that she’s crying as she grips the railing.

Her gaze flickers to me and I shake my head a little.No, I didn’t know about this, I say to her with that silent gesture.

She takes in a deep breath before turning to pick up her headset off the table beside her. When she turns around again, she’s smiling.

“Aiden Campbell, I would like nothing more than to be your wife. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

A new round of cheering explodes throughout the arena, and the whole team starts congratulating Aiden, clapping him on the back and shouting well wishes.

“Are you cool with this?” I shout to Dimitri and Connor over the noise.

Dimitri nods and looks at Connor, who nods as well.

“He’s honestly the easy shoe-in when talking about husband material,” Connor says with a grin.

I shake my head and smile. “As long as you guys are all happy, I’m happy.”

“We’re happy,” Connor assures me with a smirk, looking up over my head at Liv, who is grinning down at us with tears slipping down her cheeks.

“We’re all really, really happy,” Dimitri adds.

32

LIV

I’m definitely dying, I think to myself as another contraction seizes me in its iron fist. I squeeze my eyes shut and grip Connor’s hand as hard as I can, hoping that I leave bruises.

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