Page 67 of Penalty Kill

“Let’s get this over with so we can go be with them,” Hartman said.

On the way through the tunnel, he took several deep breaths, and by the time he stepped onto the ice he was shouting plays and skating at full force. He was in captain mode. I shared a final look with Olli before stepping out.

It ended up being one of the worst practices we’d ever had as a team. Worse than when Olli got injured, or Erik, or even when we found out Howe wasn’t coming back. None of us was focused. We were missing passes. Olli barely blocked a few shots, letting the rest in.

Finally, Coach called it.

“We’ll stop wasting everyone’s time. I know you all care about Chloe and Reese. Madeline let me know that right now both mom and baby are stable. They’re trying to delay labor for as long as possible, but it’s likely she’ll have to have him today or tonight at the latest.”

Half the guys dropped their heads, some sighed, and I inched closer to the bench. I wanted to get showered, changed, and to the hospital as quickly as possible. Addison was set to pick up the boys, and I knew she would probably want to be there for Chloe too. I’d have to call her on my way.

“Let’s go.” Olli smacked my back as we hurried to the locker room. He, Hartman, and I were ready to leave less than ten minutes later.

“We’ll get there and see what the situation is. I’ll let everyone know when I have more information,” Hartman told the rest of the team.

As much as Chloe and Reese loved everyone, they didn’t need all twenty-plus of us showing up. Then there was the Pride. The last thing we needed to do was overwhelm Chloe.

We piled into Olli’s car and were at the hospital minutes later. Emma met us at the entrance and we got signed in before heading back.

“How is she?” Olli asked before kissing his wife.

“She’s doing a bit better.” She glanced at me. “Sydney helped her calm down.”

I froze in the middle of the hall. Sydney was here? She hadn’t said anything to me, but I thought for sure she would be gone. I thought today was it.

“Come on, Brandon.” Hartman waved me through the open doorway.

We crowded into Chloe’s room. She was lying on the bed with monitors and wires everywhere. When she saw us, her eyes instantly teared up.

“Oh no. Come on, I thought we were done with the crying.” Erik’s shoulders dropped.

Chloe reached one hand up, and we took turns hugging her before surrounding the bed. I finally met Sydney’s eyes. She quickly looked away and smiled at Chloe.

“See, no reason to be scared. You have half a hockey team here for you.”

Chloe sniffed and giggled. She must already be on drugs because I couldn’t remember the last time I heard her giggle like that. But just as suddenly as she started, she stopped. Her lower lip quivered, and I could see the fear in her eyes.

“Of course, little Murray is in a hurry to come. He wants to watch us in the playoffs,” Hartman said, breaking the tension in the room.

“Impatient, just like his mom,” Reese said with a half-hearted smirk.

She wacked his arm. “Erik’s the impatient one.”

I glanced over at her brother, and he just shrugged.

We were only able to stay in the room with her for a few minutes before the doctor came in to check on her and kicked us out. Standing across the hall from Sydney was surreal. There were hints that she was leaving today. She made sure the boys were getting picked up today and tomorrow. She hugged the boys just a little longer than normal this morning. The main thing was her inability to meet my eyes as we’d moved around each other in the kitchen.

I hadn’t expected to see her again, let alone hours later.

“Syd, can we talk?”

She stared at the ground and shook her head. “Not until we know what the doctor says.”

Fine, that was fair. Emma watched our exchange with narrowed eyes. I didn’t tell anyone about last night’s dinner. It was a mixture of pride and denial.

No one else here was aware of her plans to leave. At least, not how soon it was going to happen.

Erik paced in front of the door, clenching and unclenching his fists.