<b>Book </b><b>3 </b>opening Face off
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Emma stared at the pregnancy test in her trembling hands, watching the second pink line appear. Three children under three years old. The thought made her dizzy.
“Mama!” Charlotte’s voice echoed from the nursery, followed by the crash of something breaking.
Emma shoved the test into her robe pocket and rushed down the hall. Two–year–old Charlotte stood in her crib, tears streaming down her face, surrounded by the pieces of her favorite snow globe.
“It broke, Mama,” Charlotte sobbed. “The princess is gone.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Emma lifted her daughter, stepping carefully around the ss. “We’ll get you a new one.”
Eighteen–month–old Frankie chose that moment to wake up, his cries joining Charlotte’s. Emma juggled both children, her mind racing. How would she tell Alek about the baby? They’d just gotten into a rhythm with two kids and their demanding careers. <fn69b3> Original content can be found at find(?)ovel</fn69b3>
“Rough morning?” Katie appeared in the doorway, already dressed for the day.
“You could say that.” Emma handed Frankie to Katie gratefully. “Charlotte had an ident with her snow globe.”
Katie’s sharp eyes caught the stress in Emma’s voice. “Everything okay?”
Before Emma could answer, Alek’s voice boomed from the kitchen. “Emma! Where’s my presentation folder?<b>” </b>
Emma’s stomach clenched. Alek’s first major NHL board meeting was today, and he’d been stressed for weeks. The owners were questioning some of his decisions, and he needed today to go perfectly.
“Coming!” Emma called, settling Charlotte on her hip. She found Alek in the kitchen, his usually neat appearance slightly frazzled as he searched through papers.
“The blue folder,” Emma said, pointing to the counter. “Next to the coffee maker.”
Alek grabbed it, then pulled Emma close for a quick kiss. “Sorry I’m scattered. This meeting…”
“You’ll be brilliant,” Emma assured him, breathing in his familiar scent. “You always are.”
But as Alek hurried out, Emma felt the weight of her secret pressing down. Three children. A husband under career pressure. Her own women’s hockey league demanding more attention every day.
“Mama sad?” Charlotte asked, patting Emma’s cheek with her small hand.
“No, baby. Mama’s just thinking.”
Katie appeared with Frankie, who was now happily chewing on a piece of toast. “Kids are fed. Why don’t you grab a shower? You look like you need five minutes.”
Emma nodded gratefully. In the shower, she let herself think about the test in her pocket. They’d talked
< Book 3 opening Face off
about having more children, but not yet. Not with everything happening at once,
+25 Points
Her phone buzzed with a text from her assistant: “Reporter called about the women’s league expansion.
Wants interview today.”
Emma groaned. Thest thing she needed was media pressure on top of everything else.
After her shower, she found Katie in the kitchen with both children. Charlotte was finger–painting at the
table while Frankie yed with blocks on the floor.
“Better?” Katie asked.
“Marginally.” Emma poured coffee, then remembered she shouldn’t be drinking caffeine. She set the mug
down untouched.
Katie’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, what’s going on? You’ve been weird all morning.”
Emma nced at the children, then back at Katie. “Can we talkter? After the kids‘ nap?”
“Of course.” Katie’s expression softened. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”
Emma wasn’t so sure. At lunch, she tried calling Alek, but his phone went straight to voicemail. The board
meeting was probably running long.
“Dada?” Frankie asked, looking around the kitchen.
“Daddy’s at work,” Emma exined. “He’ll be home for dinner.”
But when seven o’clock came and went with no sign of Alek, Emma started to worry. She tried his phone
again. Nothing.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Katie said, helping clean up after the kids‘ dinner. “Big meetings sometimes runte.”
At eight–thirty, Emma finally heard Alek’s key in the lock. She met him at the door, taking in his exhausted expression and loosened tie.
“How did it go?” she asked.
Alek pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. “I need a drink.”
That wasn’t a good sign. Emma led him to the kitchen, where she poured him a ss of wine. He drank
half of it before speaking.
“They want me to relocate,” he said finally.
Emma’s heart stopped. “What?”
“The board thinks I need to be closer to the main operations. They want me to move to Toronto.”
“For how long?”
Alek’s silence was answer enough.
“Permanently?” Emma’s voice came out as a whisper.
Book 3 opening Lace off
“They said it’s not negotiable. If I want to keep the Commissioner job, I have to be in Toronto by the end of the month.”
Emma sank into a chair, her mind reeling. They’d built a life in New York. Her women’s league was based
here. The children were settled. And now she was pregnant with their third child.
“What did you tell them?” she asked.
“That I needed to discuss it with my wife.” Alek sat across from her, reaching for her hands. “Emma, I know this is a lot. But this job… it’s everything I’ve worked for.”
“I know.” Emma squeezed his hands, feeling the pregnancy test burning a hole in her pocket. “It’s just… the
timing.”
“The women’s league can be run from anywhere,” Alek said carefully. “And the kids are young enough that moving won’t traumatize them.”
Emma nodded, but inside she was screaming. How could she tell him about the baby now? When <i>he </i>was already dealing with this massive career decision?
“How long do we have to decide?” she asked.
“Two weeks.”
Two weeks to uproot their entire life. Two weeks to figure out how to tell him about the pregnancy. Two weeks to decide if she was ready to give up everything she’d built in New York.
“We’ll figure it out,” Emma said, forcing a smile. “We always do.”
Alek leaned across the table to kiss her. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
But as they headed upstairs, Emma’s hand went to her pocket where the pregnancy test waited. Some secrets were harder to share than others.
And this one might change everything.