Page 92 of Heart on Ice

“It’s going to be okay,” I try to reassure her.

It’s a long time before another doctor comes to speak with us.

“Is there a Harper here?” he asks the waiting room.

Harper stands up. “That’s me.”

“He’s asking for you.” The doctor smiles, and I see the relief on her face.

“Is he okay?” she asks.

“Mr. St. Pierre has a severe concussion. He’s going to be out for two weeks to recover,” the doctor advises.

That’s not good.

“Can I go see him?” she asks the doctor.

“Yes, just one at a time for the moment. He’s in Room 2105,” he states. I give her the thumbs up, letting her know everything is going to be okay. She follows the doctor, and moments later,Claire comes back still looking pale but lights up when Pierre rushes in.

“How is he? Is everything okay?” He looks frantic.

He sees his mother crying and rushes over to give her a hug “He’s fine, he’s going to be okay.” She sinks into his arms, the relief on his face as he looks over his mother’s shoulders to me is palpable. He releases his mother and walks over to me. He cups my face and kisses me.

“I fucking love you,” he declares.

“I love you, too.” My hand grazes the bruising on his face from the fights on the ice.

“I was so scared for him. That fall was bad.” I can see the anguish on his face.

“He’s going to be fine. He’s out for two weeks, but of course, the team doctor is going to have to clear him. It was a bad concussion, and they are going to want to observe him. I think they won’t play him until the season starts, they don’t want to risk it.”

“I agree. He’s going to hate that.”

“I’m sure Harper will help him recover quicker.” Pierre pulls a face, but at least he is smiling. “I don’t want to hide us, Issy. I wanted you by my side today in the crowd where I could see you.”

“Don’t you think it’s too soon?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t care what anyone thinks. I care about you and me.”

He’s right. “Okay. Probably a good time to go public while everyone’s distracted.”

“Is Harper going to be okay? Collette filled me in on what happened. I can’t believe her ex did that to her.”

“Harper’s strong, especially now she has Felix by her side.”

“Guess that means Harper is going to become my sister-in-law,” he says, scrunching up his face.

“Yep.”

“Lucky I love you.” He grins as he kisses me again.

EPILOGUE

PIERRE

The Mavericks made the Snow Classic this New Year’s Eve as the most wins, and we got home advantage, it means we have to cut our winter break short to play in it. Harper, Felix, Sam, and Kimberly have flown back in from Christmas at Harper and Sam’s cabin in Aspen where Nate proposed to Camryn on Christmas day. But they couldn’t wait, so Sam got ordained online and married them in the middle of a blizzard. I was surprised it was Nate and Camryn getting engaged because I thought for sure my baby brother would have proposed.

We spent Christmas in Quebec with my mom, and Issy invited her sisters to join us. She didn’t want to be apart from them as it was the first Christmas without their dad. She also thought it might be better to be out of New York for the holidays due to the memories, which is understandable. Mom was very happy to host the girls, as well as Collette and Joelle, who flew over from London. There was a lot of screaming going on, but they were all happy so that was the most important thing. There was a hell of a lot more screaming when Issy opened her Christmas present, and it was a key to our new home inConnecticut. Felix delivered the same present to Harper for Christmas, too. We asked Sam to help us both find a perfect home for our girls, seeing as he knows them so well, and Collette gave the homes a female check over to see if the girls would like them.

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