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“Wow, you guys, this is amazing,” I said, nodding.
“Let’s do this!” Drew moved forward and they essentially marched into the great room.
I was behind them but I heard the kids’ screams and squeals of delight. Especially Annalise who launched herself at Lars.
“Thor came to my birthday! Thor came to my birthday!” She said it over and over, grabbing his hand and pulling him around the room.
I held my breath, waiting to see how Lars would react to so much touching, but apparently his dislike of it didn’t extend to kids. Or at the very least, he tolerated it from the kids because he was totally in character, rambling on about thunder and hammers and the like. The kids were eating it up, too, and I caught Hadley’s eye across the room. This was what we’d been hoping for, the magic of being four coupled with the love that came from our extended Mavericks family. Most of the kids here weren’t part of the Mavericks family since there weren’t many her age and none in her preschool class, but they didn’t care about professional hockey players anyway.
“If I ever have kids,” Nash said in my ear, “I’m totally doing this shit for them.”
I grinned. “It’s epic, right?”
“Who’s the blond hottie?” he asked, checking out Tori.
“That’s our nineteen-year-old nanny,” I said. “So behave yourself.”
“Nineteen is legal,” he protested.
“If you piss her off and she quits, I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
“Fine.” He headed in the opposite direction. “Maybe there’s a single mom in the group over by the fireplace.”
The kids were having a blast and we owed my teammates huge. The Avengers were such a hit, especially Thor and the Hulk. Konstantin spoke halting, heavily accented English so instead of trying to communicate, he grunted and spoke in monosyllabic sentences. Mostly, he growled at them, made them scream, and chased them until they were shrieking with laughter. Annalise now had a new best friend—Thor/Lars—and didn’t leave his side for a second. She and two of her little friends followed him like the Pied Piper and he didn’t seem at all stressed to be the object of so much attention, which was a relief for me because he could be extremely rigid when it came to his routines and social quirks.
“I think it’s time for cake,” Hadley whispered to me about two hours later.
“I think it’s time for a nap,” I chuckled.
“Cake first.” She went toward the kitchen and I followed, lighting the candles as she gathered everything she’d need to cut and serve pieces of cake.
“Ready?” I asked her, lifting the massive two-tier Avengers-themed cake. She’d run out of time to make it herself and wound up buying one, but it was absolutely amazing, full of intricate detail, little plastic Avengers in the midst of battle, and “Happy Birthday, Annalise” printed on a banner held up by Captain America and the Black Panther. It was such a cool cake, I was almost jealous.
Hadley started to sing “Happy Birthday,” and everyone joined in, ending with me putting the cake down on a table that had been set up for that very purpose.
“Thor, will you help me blow out the candles?” Annalise asked Lars, who nodded amiably. He got down on one knee, one of his massive arms around her tiny torso, as she squeezed her eyes shut and whispered, “I wish Mommy and Daddy come home soon.” Then she blew out the candles.
While the kids ate, drank, and laughed, the adults in the room dealt with myriad emotions, myself included, and I watched Hadley and Nina swipe at their eyes while some of the guys turned away, probably too embarrassed to show any emotion they were feeling since we’d all heard what Annalise wished for.
“Can we play outside?” Annalise asked once everyone had stuffed themselves on cake and ice cream.
Hadley looked at me and I nodded. “Sure. I’ll help corral them.”
“I’m in,” Nash added.
Before we knew it, all the kids were outside along with most of the parents, playing tag and whatever else four-year-olds did. Hadley and I stood off to the side, watching and sipping wine out of plastic cups.
“I think she’s had a great day,” I told her. “And it’s all because of you.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You got the guys to do the Avengers thing. If it hadn’t been for that, this party would have been a dud.”
“I doubt it, but it just goes to show how good of a team we make. We did it together.”
Her eyes met mine and she smiled faintly. “You’re making it really hard not to like you, Wes.”
“Is that the goal?” I laughed. “To not like me?”
“We have to put what these kids need before our own needs.”
“That’s what we’ve been doing, isn’t it?”
“Mostly. But the sexual chemistry going on lately has the potential to blow up in our faces, and the main people who’ll get burned are those kids. We have to be friends, and have a good relationship, because if we start something and it doesn’t work out, how are we going to co-parent?”
