Page 96 of Pucking Strong

Denison leans forward. “Let’s try to get at leastonemore hockey question asked and answered before we turn to personal stuff.”

Gill just shrugs, looking every inch the New York reporter. “Nicky, come on. Your own PR team broke the news. You want us to run with this or not?”

“It’s fine,” I say into the mic. Standing near the doorway, Poppy offers me a double thumbs-up. I turn my attention back to Gill. “Ask your question.”

He perks up. “The Rays announced during the first period that you got married this summer to your team’s new physical therapist.”

Holding my smile in place, I shrug. “I didn’t hear a question.”

A few people chuckle. “Fair enough,” says Gill. “So, is it true? Did you marry Teddy O’Connor?”

“Of course it’s true. That’s why we reported it.”

There’s more laughter at this.

“Teddy O’Connor started here as an intern six years ago,” Gill goes on. “Is that when you two met and started … you know?”

Sighing, I cross my arms and lean back from the table. “If you’re asking me whether I first met Teddy when he was an intern, the answer is obviously yes. Of course I met him then. He was as valuable to the team as an intern as he is now.” I lean forward, eyes locked on the reporter. “But if you’re asking if I somehow used my position as a player to take advantage of him or otherwise act inappropriately, then the answer is no.”

“But thatiswhen you met,” shouts another reporter. It takes me a moment to find him in the crowd. He’s a pale, lanky guy with a patchy beard.

“That is when we met, yes,” I repeat.

“And after his intern year, he left the team,” the lanky reporter goes on. “And you didn’t see him again for five years. Then, exactly one week into his new job with the Rays, he flies off to Sweden to marry you?”

I bristle, arms still crossed. “There was no question asked.”

“Everything about the situation is a big question mark,” the reporter challenges. “It feels like you’re trying to announce that you’re gay as some kind of cover, hoping we won’t ask any questions about the circumstances of this marriage.”

At this, Denison leans forward. “Okay, look, if we can’t focus on hockey, then this press conference is over—”

“No,” I say over him. “It wasn’t a question, but I’ll answer.” I let my gaze drift across the crowd of curious press. “This will be the firstand last statement I make regarding my marriage to Doctor Teddy O’Connor.”

They all wait. Even Jake and Denison have their eyes locked on me.

“In my ten years playing in this League, I have never once stolen a headline for any reason other than my exemplary performance on the ice. This has been by design. You see my reluctance to speak on this issue now as me somehow keeping secrets, but you’re wrong. I just firmly believe in keeping private lives private. The only reason we chose to make this marriage a headline is because we knew you would do it anyway. And we prayed to have some small ounce of control over the narrative that was spun about us.”

I shift my gaze from the lanky reporter to an Asian man holding a small video camera in the front row. “Because here’s the truth I know you won’t accurately report: If Teddy were a pretty young blonde woman who I rushed to the altar this summer, the news of our marriage would have warranted no more than a flurry of well-wishing comments left on an Instagram photo. But Teddy is a man. And Teddy is Black. And that makes our marriage worthy of spectacle and intrigue and unfounded conspiracy.”

I lean forward, staring them all down. “Because, regardless of whether any of you wish to acknowledge it, racism and homophobia still run rampant in this League. It swirls and festers like a plague. You think I haven’t seen it?” I search the crowd, eyes narrowed under the bright lights. “I’ve had the privilege of skating alongside Jake Price for six years. You think I don’t know the heinous things you’ve said about him and his family?”

Reaching over, Jake squeezes my hand.

I shift away from him, turning my gaze back to Gill. “I was there when you all made the jokes about Novikov and Morrow too. I saw the awful headlines you wrote. I comforted them and stood by them when the toxicityyouunleashed emboldened other players to bring their racism and homophobia out onto the ice. I heard the slurs they muttered. I’ve slammed more than one man into the boards for it, and I’ve happily taken the penalty.”

Pressing my hands flat to the table, my eye catches the glint of gold encircling my finger. Feeling bold, I stare right down the lens ofGill’s camera. “Teddy O’Connor is my partner, and that’s all you get to know. That’s all any of youdeserve. He’s mine, and I will fight as fiercely for him as I have for every other man on my team. More so, because at the end of the day, my teammates go home to their partners. I go home to Teddy. The only question you get to ask me about him for the rest of my time in this League is how happy he makes me. And my answer will never change: He makes me very happy. Now, someone ask a question that’s actually about hockey.”

In the silence that follows Henrik’s speech, we could hear a freaking pin drop. My family is crowded around the TV in the WAG room, eyes locked on the screen. Poppy let me bring them all back here while we waited for Henrik to finish the press conference. We’re the only ones left except for a pair of caterers cleaning up the sandwich trays.

The kids hang out in the corner, eating popsicles and playing with their balloon animals. I’m wedged on the sofa between Marcus and Raf. Across from us on the other couch, all three sisters are staring at me.

Natalie clears her throat. “Well, that was …”

“Surprising,” Jayla finishes for her.

Shae crosses her arms, glaring at me. “I thought you said this was a fake marriage.”

“It is,” I reply.

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