"I'd take a gold band on my hand, over being a single man, 'cause honestly I don't know what I'd do if I never met a woman like you..."


Cassidy squinted as the evening sun reflected into her light colored eyes; doing her best to dodge people as they swerved in front of her while she tried to get to Kennedy and the awaiting car. As soon as she was close, Kennedy embraced her friend tightly, swaying side to side.

“How’s papa Knoxious?”

Cassidy sighed as she hoisted her duffle bag into the back seat of the car and then took her place on the passenger side. Driving away, Cassidy chuckled in mild disbelief.

“Well he did have an aneurysm. I guess the MRI caught it just in time because they rushed him to surgery right after. The surgery went smoothly, thank God. And he was able to go home yesterday, and the stubborn ol’ mule wouldn’t let me stay for Thanksgiving. He insisted that I come back and spend it with Jamie,”

Kennedy looked over at Cassidy quickly, before she returned her eyes to the road. She stayed silent for a quick minute as if she were unsure of what she wanted to say.

“Which reminds me,” Cassidy interjected. And Kennedy let out a sigh as though she was happy that Cassidy continued, “Thanksgiving’s at Jamie’s house. He’s inviting Tyler and their new teammate… Jason Demers, I think? Jamie calls him Daddy, which creeps me out, but I think his name’s Jason. And I’m extending the invite to you.”

“How kind of you. Is Antoine invited?”

Cassidy glared at Kennedy and shook her head sternly. There was no way in hell, Antoine would be invited just so he and she could spend their time in the bathroom performing obscene acts on each other. And by Kennedy’s small nods, she knew she understood.

“Any plans tonight?”

“Jamie has a game, but because we haven’t seen each other in awhile, he’s planned a date for us, I guess. I’m just supposed to meet him at the arena after the game,”

Kennedy smirked and nodded her head as she turned into their driveway, pulling into her spot before she turned off the engine. “Sounds like a riveting time,”

Cassidy rolled her eyes and snorted, reaching back to grab her duffle bag full of dirty clothes, “if you had a good boyfriend, you’d understand that that’s actually a good way to spend an evening. You’re bitter,”

“I’m playing the field,”

They both looked at each other instantly and laughed, knowing very well that Kennedy had been playing the field since the day she realized just what the opposite sex had to offer. It was then that Cassidy hopped into the shower, ready to wash off the stresses of the past two weeks. While she did her best to downplay her dad’s situation for Kennedy’s sake, truth was, it was way worse than she let on. Of course Jamie knew the severity, for he was the one to force the doctor into scheduling an MRI.

After Jamie had left the hospital that night, Cassidy was left alone in the hospital room. What she thought would be maybe a twenty-minute scan, turned into a half hour, then an hour, and then two. And through all of that, no one had updated her on the status of her dad. For all she knew, he could’ve died while the scan was being administered. She had wandered the halls looking for answers, or anyone that could give her a clue. But everyone had the same answer. Last they knew, he was in radiology.

So she found that department by herself, but without any form of personnel badge, she was prohibited from going much further than the waiting area for that wing. By this point, Cassidy had been frantic. How could a hospital lose a patient? Nurses assured her that everything was probably alright, and that she shouldn’t worry about anything. But when those same nurses sent her father’s doctor a page, and didn’t get a response after ten minutes, Cassidy felt like she had the right to worry.

The angst she was feeling was being replaced with fury. It was no longer a job she could handle by herself, so despite it being early morning, Cassidy called Jamie and told him the situation. By the works of one angry hockey player, she was back in the loop of everything.

She hadn’t lied when she told Kennedy that her father had an aneurysm that the MRI caught. But catching it in time… not so much. The scans did reveal a collection of blood in her father’s brain that seemed contained. But in rushing and prepping him for surgery, the aneurysm burst, and it was up to the trauma surgeon to repair the damages as safely and quickly as possible.

In the end, either a stroke of luck or the act of a deity kept any serious damage from happening. But that luck would have to continue. After the surgery, Lee had been medically induced into a coma. This unraveled Cassidy, and she called Jamie again, hoping to find comfort with him, but only got his voicemail as he was probably at practice.

She had been forced to get through that hurdle alone, and if anything, it taught her about her own strength. After spending the next few days in constant tears, her father awoke, and a week and a half later, he was back at home, still the stubborn and endearing man she had grown up with.

That had taken an emotional toll, and now back in Dallas, Cassidy was ready to move on. But she’d never truly be able to forget everything, considering her father’s cancer was still tearing through his body like a demon from hell.

---

Meeting Jamie at the American Airlines Center was just like every other night she had met him there after a game. She’d sit and wait in the hallway, waiting for him to do post-game media, shower, change, sometimes even do a press conference, before meeting her. And usually the press could care less about the woman standing in the hall; that girl looked plain and casual.

But tonight was different. She wasn’t that plain girl tonight, but rather the definition of a well put together woman. With her hair in loose curls and a pale pink high-low dress matched with nude pumps, the press that exited the locker room flocked to her. And Cassidy soon found herself single-handedly dealing with a barrage of questions.

Reporters yelled over the other, wanting their question to be heard and answered. But too stunned to say much of anything, Cassidy stood still. With questions flying at her from every direction, she felt a hand grab onto her wrist and start pulling her away. Camera flashes began going off, and Cassidy prayed that Jamie could get her out of the disorienting light.

He led her into the locker room, and it was at that moment that Cassidy realized that the person who had grabbed her wrist, wasn’t Jamie. In fact, she didn’t recognize this person at all.

“You looked like you could use some help,” the man smiled widely, “you’re Cassidy, right?”

Her mouth dropped open but she was interrupted by a playful voice she knew too well, “Daddy!”

“Jason,” Cassidy murmured, looking up at the man. He nodded and smiled that boyish smile again.

“Cassidy,” Jamie’s breath caught in his throat as his hands were up near his tie, securing it in place.

“Jamie,” she looked up at him, a grin now spreading across her own face as she saw his cheeks still mildly flushed.

“Jason!” Jason exclaimed, giggling, as he was happy to add to the conversation in any way possible. But after receiving a dirty glance from Jamie, he chuckled and exited the locker room.

“What are you doing in here, Cass?” He tilted his head to the side, pushing his hands deep into his pant pockets.

Pointing back towards the door, she smiled, “I got swarmed by reporters. Jason brought me in here.” Cassidy brought her hand up to Jamie’s face, running the pad of her thumb over the moustache on his upper lip, “oh I can’t wait for November to be over.” She smiled and reached for his arm, sensing he was more fidgety than normal, “are you alright? You seem… nervous,”

Jamie licked his lips and nodded, “yeah you just… you look so beautiful tonight.” He leaned in give her a lingering kiss, breathing in to catch a hint of her perfume.

In the months they’d dated, Jamie had never been one to plan an extravagant date. The most he’d ever planned was the time they went to the rink to confess about the things they loved most. Everything else seemed to be spur of the moment. Except tonight.

The level of intricacy that must’ve gone into planning the night amazed Cassidy. Jamie had made reservations for a restaurant, in which they were seated out in a garden, secluded from everyone else, with little twinkle lights strung throughout the trees. It looked like a dream, and Cassidy could hardly believe it was all set up for her pleasure.

After getting lost in her own fairytale, Jamie urged her back to the table, grinning as they sat across from each other while the wine was being poured. Jamie smiled up at the waitress, nodding a thank you, and then reached across the table to hold Cassidy’s hand.

“Jamie, this is way too much. Just spending time with you would’ve been enough.” She caught his eyes and felt herself blush, “did you forget I’m a Southern girl; I don’t need fancy things.”

“I didn’t forget, but you deserve this.” He squeezed her hand and then let go to pick up his wine glass to take a small sip, “how’s your dad?”

Cassidy sat back in her chair, looking around the garden again. “Angry they shaved off his hair for the surgery. And insistent that I spend Thanksgiving with you instead of him.”

“Yeah that was maybe a little selfish on my part.” When he could see Cassidy was confused and getting riled, he continued, “I’m a Canadian boy; I would starve without you.”

She picked up her wine glass, “It’ll probably be his last Thanksgiving, I don’t want him to be alone.”

“He won’t be. I’ve been in touch with him, and considering he feels well, I arranged the neighborhood to stop by his house and have a Thanksgiving feast with him.”

“You did what?” Cassidy grinned, feeling tears well up in her eyes. She tried her best to hold them back.

“I stole his address book, and I made some calls. People are going over with turkey, and potatoes, and cranberries, and stuffing… He’ll be well fed, and he won’t be alone,”

“I could kiss you right now!” Cassidy shrieked.

“I wish you would,”

They both leaned forward in their seats, reaching across the table to kiss each other quickly, stopping the display of affection as the waitress came back to take their orders. Jamie ordered for them both, not because he felt Cassidy was weak or incapable, but more of a gesture that he was taking care of her.

“Let’s dance,” Jamie smiled once the waitress was gone. He finished off the rest of the wine in his glass and stood up, offering his hand down to Cassidy.

“There’s no music,” she giggled, taking his hand to stand up.

“That’s okay; we’re sparrows, we’ll make our own.”

He held one of her hand’s out to the side, while his other arm looped around her back, holding her in front of him as he led them around the garden, swaying back and forth in a rhythmic motion. After a moment, Cassidy pulled her hands away from his and adjusted them. In her pumps, she was tall enough to just reach her arms over Jamie’s shoulders, lacing her fingers together behind his neck. And Jamie reciprocated by draping his arms over her hips.

“This is truly amazing. Thank you, for everything.”

“Everything… which leads me to the next thing we should talk about tonight…” Jamie backed away from Cassidy slowly, and chewed on his lower lip as he pushed his hands back into his pant pockets.

Cassidy groaned quietly, figuring this was headed where she anticipated it to all along. He was regretting his decision to help her father now; spending all that money and resources on someone who was practically helpless.

“Jamie, I told you this would happen. I never wanted to put us in a position where we would have to choose between family and each other, because I know how that turns out. And you’d do the same if the roles were reversed and it was me helping out your dad. I never wanted you to help in this way, I just wanted to go through life with…”

Her eyes were now red as yet she felt another round of tears making their debut. But midway through her rant, Jamie interrupted her by pulling a small box out of his pocket and getting down on one knee. Cassidy brought her hands up to her mouth as the box opened to reveal a square cut diamond ring, just like she had jokingly asked for so long ago.

Jamie beamed at Cassidy’s reaction, “Cassidy, I grew up loving one thing in life; hockey. And my parents used to say that if I ever found a girl that fought with hockey for first place, that I should marry her. You make me a better man every single day. You’ve given me something more to live and fight for. You are the most beautiful and sexy, and smart and compassionate person I have ever known. And I don’t know anything I want more in this world than for you to be my wife.”

“A Stanley Cup?” Cassidy sniffled as tears of happiness streamed down her face.

Jamie chuckled and took the ring out of the box, reaching for Cassidy’s shaking hand, “I would rather have one Cassidy Knox, than four Stanley Cups. Marry me, and make me by far, the happiest man on the face of the earth?”

Cassidy nodded and looked down at her hand as he slid the diamond ring onto her left ring finger. And the moment he was done, she collapsed into him, pressing her lips to his. When she pulled back to look at him, there was what seemed like a permanent grin across his face.

“You were nervous. That’s why when you saw me in the locker room, you looked surprised,” she murmured, standing up in Jamie’s arms.

His hands were cupping either side of her face, “I don’t know if you know this, but it’s my first time proposing to someone,” he chuckled and kissed her lips quickly again before they moved back to the table. “And considering the last conversation we had about marriage ended with you telling me to give you a few years… I was a little nervous,”

Cassidy stared down at the ring, playing with it as it sat perched on her finger like a trophy. When she finally looked back up at Jamie, he was staring at her admiringly. “I can’t wait to be your wife,”

Notes

This chapter is titled after "A Woman Like You" by Lee Brice.

This will be the last update for awhile as I'm traveling to Canada! Good thing this ends on a happy note. <3