Page 103 of Crush
The next fifteen minutes of play never felt so long in my life. Every shift felt more important than the last, every shot more dangerous, as Chicago desperately tried to tie the game.
But Ilya kept us alive, making one great save after another.
With under a minute left in the game, Chicago's urgency hit a fever pitch, and they threw everything they could at the net.
The crowd started the countdown:“ten, nine, eight, seven …”
Ilya tracked shots through traffic, snagging pucks out of air. The shots he didn't see happened to hit him—you have to be good to be lucky.
And precious seconds continued to roll off the clock.
“Three, two, one!”
Then the horn sounded and it was over.
We'd done it.
We'd really done it.
I raced over to Ilya and jumped into the goalie's arms—he toppled over and the two of us hit the ice.
“You did it, bud!” I yelled, laughing.
Our teammates weren't far behind. They hurried over and every last man jumped onto the dogpile, until Ilya and I were crushed under the weight of twenty of our closest brothers.
Next thing I knew, the Cup was being passed into my hands, and I hoisted it high into the air. Thirty-five pounds of silver held straight overhead, but to my arms, it felt totally weightless.
I skated the trophy right over to where my family sat. They jumped up and clapped, all of them, even Chloe, their expressions jubilant as they shared the moment with me.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to Brynn.
I couldn't have done it without you.
Chapter 40
Brynn
When Shea skated off with that glistening silver trophy high over his head, Nick and Cam, sitting on both sides of me, immediately burst into tears.
“Aw, you guys!” I said, an arm around them both.
I figured they weretears of happiness—witnessing their dad accomplish a boyhood dream, one that was currentlytheirboyhood dream, had to be a profoundly moving moment. Seeing the pure boyish joy on Shea's face mademetear up, too.
But Nick sobbed, his face mashed into my shoulder. “I don't want you to go, Brynn!”
Now that the playoffs were over, the boys figured tonight would be the last time they'd see me. After the game, I had to drive them to their mother's house.
“Me neither!” Cam wailed, his hand clenching mine.
Gah.Their lamentations were like a knife to the heart.
Chloe did her part to try to cheer her brothers up. She wrapped her arms around Cam and gave him a big bearhug. “Hey, Cam, I don't want Brynn to go either, okay? But she said she's still going to visit us from time to time.”
“Yeah butnoneof the other nannies ever visit us!” he cried.
“Well …” Chloe locked eyes with me while she consoled her brothers. “Maybe this time it will be different. Who knows?”
I smiled at her.
