Seeing Stars
56: Good Man
“I heard you lookin’ for a good man, to hold you with some good hands. Somebody get you through the bad land, so you lookin’ for a good man…”
It was good to be back in Victoria. Despite all the packing and preparation it took to get here, it was nice to be back to the lazy, coastal town. Even though Cassidy had only been here once, it still felt like home when they entered through the front door.
The first thing Jamie did was open up the backdoors and windows to let some warm air in, while Cassidy led Truman and Shiloh in. They were pretty cautious, moving slower than usual, which was to be expected as they had just spent the past six hours in the cargo underbelly of the plane. Cassidy felt pretty bad about that. Because of their size, they weren’t allowed to fly in the cabin with them, so they were hauled into crates and stowed with the luggage. It wasn’t unsafe for them, just terrifying.
So when they finally saw Jamie and Cassidy coming to claim them at the Victoria airport, they began howling in anticipation, and didn’t stop until they got into the car that was driving them to the house. Eventually they warmed up to the house, tearing through it just like they did in Dallas. And while they got acclimated, Jamie and Cassidy went off to see the changes that had been made in their absence.
With the supervision of his parents, one of the guest bedrooms had cleared of the sparse furniture and painted a very light blue. Because there were going to have to be three nurseries for the three houses, each one was going to have a different theme. Both Jamie and Cassidy agreed upon the Dallas nursery jungle theme. For Nashville, Cassidy had chosen her old room to be painted a light yellow, for which she was planning a country and western theme. And for Victoria, Jamie had chosen a hockey theme.
Although Cassidy didn’t want the boys thinking they had to be hockey players like their father, Victoria wasn’t going to be the primary place of residency, so she didn’t fight it too much. Plus when she looked at how the room had been set up thus far, she had to admit it looked pretty good. Hung up side by side, was a jersey from four teams Jamie had played for throughout his hockey career: the Peninsula Panthers, Kelowna Rockets, Hamburg Freezers, and Team Canada. Against the wall that the jerseys hung from, two cribs sat end to end, each with a Dallas Stars onesie hung over the side. In the corner, a rocking chair was accompanied by a lamp and side table with a goal light perched on it, and beside that, a small bookcase that housed the childrens’ books Jamie had growing up. And there were shelves along the other walls that looked like the lockers and cubbies inside the Stars’ dressing room.
Cassidy wrapped her arms around Jamie’s torso and curled into his side, “it looks amazing.”
And before Jamie could come out with a response, the dogs began barking adamantly. They hurried to the front door, and Jamie pulled it open, seeing his parents standing at the threshold with bags of groceries in their hands.
“I could spank you for playing injured!” Heather shrieked as she leaned in to kiss Jamie’s cheek. It was the first time she was seeing him since he had the hip surgery. Jamie took the bags from her hands and carried them into the kitchen where his father followed close behind, as Heather hustled to Cassidy and hugged her warmly. “You look wonderful! How far along are you now?”
Cassidy smiled and squinted her eyes shut to think. It was mid-May now, “twenty weeks. About sixteen to go,”
“And how are the lads treating you?” She smiled and led Cassidy to the couch, cuddling up with Shiloh as she sat down.
“Kicking a little more each day; they really are putting my body through some abuse.”
“Just like their father, then. Being pregnant with Jamie was hell. I swear that kid never sat still,”
“Thanks mum,”
Both women looked back as Jamie and Randy reentered the room. Jamie sat down beside Cassidy and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, watching as his dad leaned in to kiss Cassidy’s cheek before sitting down beside Heather.
“How’ve you been feeling?” Randy asked, interlocking his fingers with Heather’s.
Cassidy glanced up at Jamie and grinned, leaning in against him. “Don’t get me wrong, I love that I’m going to have a family with Jamie… but I’m tired all the time, I worry about him because of his hips… maybe if it hadn’t happened so suddenly, there wouldn’t be so much stress, but I’m just thankful that Jamie’s been by my side and isn’t making me go through this alone.” As Jamie leaned in to press his lips against her temple, Cassidy reached up and held onto his hand, clutching it gently.
“Well you both must be pretty worn out from traveling, so we’ll make dinner, and you just relax and hang out, alright?” Heather stood up and took Randy into the kitchen with her.
When they were gone, Jamie reached over with his free hand and set it on top of Cassidy’s stomach, rubbing it softly. It had grown yet again in the past two weeks, Although she had picked up some maternity clothes, she much rather wear Jamie’s. And because of the size she already was, and the anticipation of how big she was going to get, she invested in a support belt, already feeling the positive effects when she wore it.
“Jame…” Cassidy murmured, looking up at him. He smiled down at her, waiting for her to continue, “your mom’s probably going to make something really healthy, and I appreciate that; I do. But I’m really craving a burger, like a mouth-watering, medium-rare burger with lettuce, and pickles, and tomatoes,” she moaned out, feeling more hungry now than ever.
Jamie giggled, “I’ll tell her.” He leaned in and kissed her lips slowly, catching her bottom lip in between his teeth. With their lips locked, he took a deep breath in through his nose, “I love you so much.”
“What about a middle name for that? It’s a hard name to match,”
Cassidy and Jamie looked at each other. Honestly, they hadn’t thought of that. They had been ultimately consumed with trying to figure out another ‘K’ name for their second son, that the thought that they’d have to come up with a middle name for both slipped their mind. Not only that, but Heather was right. Finding a name that paired well with Knox was an insurmountable task.
“It’s something we’re going to have to put some thought into,” Jamie responded, setting his hand on top of Cassidy’s, as he picked at his salad. He could tell that the idea was rattling her.
“Have you got any ideas for the second twin?” Randy asked, picking his burger up in his hands and took a hearty bite.
Cassidy smiled and leaned back in her chair. She’d thrown down her burger like it was nothing as everyone else was still finishing up. After all, she was eating for three. “We’ve been throwing around Kiptyn. And so far it’s the only other ‘K’ name we’re alright with calling our child for the rest of his life.”
“Oh I like that name,” Heather smiled and picked up her plate as she stood from the table. Subconsciously, she picked up Cassidy’s as well, “I think that’s a handsome name.”
Cassidy grinned and rubbed her eyes and then took a quick glance at Jamie’s watch. It wasn’t exceptionally late, but she was feeling drowsy. Slowly, she stood up and set her hands on Jamie’s shoulders. “I think I’m going to shower up and turn in,” she walked to Heather, “thank you for making dinner.” She hugged her and then walked to Randy, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, “I’m sure we’ll see you soon. Goodnight,”
As she left the room, Truman and Shiloh followed her through the house to the master bedroom. It was a trend that had started a few weeks back. It was like the dogs could tell that something was different with her, that she needed some extra protection. Whether they had a sixth sense or not, Cassidy undeniably felt more safe with them by her side. Even when she stepped into the shower, they laid on their beds and watched her from the bedroom. They never fussed or caused a scene; just simply stayed by her side.
For awhile, Cassidy just let the warm water run over her. It was relaxing to just have it wash over her sore body. When she had finally shut off the faucet, it must’ve been twenty minutes or so. With a towel wrapped around her, she pushed the glass door open and stepped out. It all happened so quickly, that by the time Cassidy even thought to react, she was on the floor, clutching at her side.
In an instant, Shiloh was beside her, nudging his nose into her face, licking her. Truman ran for the bedroom door, but was rendered useless as he couldn’t get pass the closed door. He started barking furiously, hopping up against it to scratch his nails against the wood. Not a moment too soon, the bedroom door flew open and Truman bolted into the bathroom, being followed by Jamie.
“What happened,” he yelped, bending down to set his hands beneath Cassidy’s arms, gently and carefully lifting her off the floor.
“I slipped,” she murmured, adjusting the towel as she stood up. With Jamie assisting her, the dogs went back to their beds, watching the action.
“Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Cassidy waved her hands, “no… I landed on my ass. I think everything’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” He was just as frantic as Cassidy expected him to be.
“Yes,” she reached for his arm, giving it a tight squeeze, “I’m fine. Besides, with the way you bolted in here, I should be asking you if you’re alright. You should barely be walking, let alone running,”
“Well it’s hard not to rush when you hear a dog wailing like its just been shot,” he looked back at Truman, who was already on his side, sleeping. When he looked back at Cassidy, she was already pulling away from him to get back into the bedroom in order to change.
She slipped into a pair of Jamie’s sweatpants and a Dallas Stars shirt that he usually wore to practice. It wasn’t long before she hunkered down in bed, and when she did, she flicked on the TV but barely even heard the noise it made.
“I didn’t think middle names would be so hard; granted that we have both first names in Knox and Kiptyn.”
Jamie smiled and changed into a pair of athletic shorts, then crawled beside her, “I like both those names… unique but not too far out there. A middle name for Knox is going to be tricky; has to be more than one syllable or it sounds weird,”
Cassidy turned onto her side, which seemed to be like the only comfortable position for her to be in these days, “four months is a long summer. I didn’t think we’d have this sort of time. I also didn’t think I’d be pregnant at twenty-two and you’d be having hip surgery at twenty-five. It’s been a wild ride,”
“I wouldn’t have traded it in for anything else. These months are going to fly by. I’m gonna be back on my feet soon enough, and we’re going to be parents before you even know it. And I think we’re ready for it; new adventures, new stories to tell… By September, we’ll be able to look back on this summer and feel insane for being so nervous.”
It was good to be back in Victoria. Despite all the packing and preparation it took to get here, it was nice to be back to the lazy, coastal town. Even though Cassidy had only been here once, it still felt like home when they entered through the front door.
The first thing Jamie did was open up the backdoors and windows to let some warm air in, while Cassidy led Truman and Shiloh in. They were pretty cautious, moving slower than usual, which was to be expected as they had just spent the past six hours in the cargo underbelly of the plane. Cassidy felt pretty bad about that. Because of their size, they weren’t allowed to fly in the cabin with them, so they were hauled into crates and stowed with the luggage. It wasn’t unsafe for them, just terrifying.
So when they finally saw Jamie and Cassidy coming to claim them at the Victoria airport, they began howling in anticipation, and didn’t stop until they got into the car that was driving them to the house. Eventually they warmed up to the house, tearing through it just like they did in Dallas. And while they got acclimated, Jamie and Cassidy went off to see the changes that had been made in their absence.
With the supervision of his parents, one of the guest bedrooms had cleared of the sparse furniture and painted a very light blue. Because there were going to have to be three nurseries for the three houses, each one was going to have a different theme. Both Jamie and Cassidy agreed upon the Dallas nursery jungle theme. For Nashville, Cassidy had chosen her old room to be painted a light yellow, for which she was planning a country and western theme. And for Victoria, Jamie had chosen a hockey theme.
Although Cassidy didn’t want the boys thinking they had to be hockey players like their father, Victoria wasn’t going to be the primary place of residency, so she didn’t fight it too much. Plus when she looked at how the room had been set up thus far, she had to admit it looked pretty good. Hung up side by side, was a jersey from four teams Jamie had played for throughout his hockey career: the Peninsula Panthers, Kelowna Rockets, Hamburg Freezers, and Team Canada. Against the wall that the jerseys hung from, two cribs sat end to end, each with a Dallas Stars onesie hung over the side. In the corner, a rocking chair was accompanied by a lamp and side table with a goal light perched on it, and beside that, a small bookcase that housed the childrens’ books Jamie had growing up. And there were shelves along the other walls that looked like the lockers and cubbies inside the Stars’ dressing room.
Cassidy wrapped her arms around Jamie’s torso and curled into his side, “it looks amazing.”
And before Jamie could come out with a response, the dogs began barking adamantly. They hurried to the front door, and Jamie pulled it open, seeing his parents standing at the threshold with bags of groceries in their hands.
“I could spank you for playing injured!” Heather shrieked as she leaned in to kiss Jamie’s cheek. It was the first time she was seeing him since he had the hip surgery. Jamie took the bags from her hands and carried them into the kitchen where his father followed close behind, as Heather hustled to Cassidy and hugged her warmly. “You look wonderful! How far along are you now?”
Cassidy smiled and squinted her eyes shut to think. It was mid-May now, “twenty weeks. About sixteen to go,”
“And how are the lads treating you?” She smiled and led Cassidy to the couch, cuddling up with Shiloh as she sat down.
“Kicking a little more each day; they really are putting my body through some abuse.”
“Just like their father, then. Being pregnant with Jamie was hell. I swear that kid never sat still,”
“Thanks mum,”
Both women looked back as Jamie and Randy reentered the room. Jamie sat down beside Cassidy and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, watching as his dad leaned in to kiss Cassidy’s cheek before sitting down beside Heather.
“How’ve you been feeling?” Randy asked, interlocking his fingers with Heather’s.
Cassidy glanced up at Jamie and grinned, leaning in against him. “Don’t get me wrong, I love that I’m going to have a family with Jamie… but I’m tired all the time, I worry about him because of his hips… maybe if it hadn’t happened so suddenly, there wouldn’t be so much stress, but I’m just thankful that Jamie’s been by my side and isn’t making me go through this alone.” As Jamie leaned in to press his lips against her temple, Cassidy reached up and held onto his hand, clutching it gently.
“Well you both must be pretty worn out from traveling, so we’ll make dinner, and you just relax and hang out, alright?” Heather stood up and took Randy into the kitchen with her.
When they were gone, Jamie reached over with his free hand and set it on top of Cassidy’s stomach, rubbing it softly. It had grown yet again in the past two weeks, Although she had picked up some maternity clothes, she much rather wear Jamie’s. And because of the size she already was, and the anticipation of how big she was going to get, she invested in a support belt, already feeling the positive effects when she wore it.
“Jame…” Cassidy murmured, looking up at him. He smiled down at her, waiting for her to continue, “your mom’s probably going to make something really healthy, and I appreciate that; I do. But I’m really craving a burger, like a mouth-watering, medium-rare burger with lettuce, and pickles, and tomatoes,” she moaned out, feeling more hungry now than ever.
Jamie giggled, “I’ll tell her.” He leaned in and kissed her lips slowly, catching her bottom lip in between his teeth. With their lips locked, he took a deep breath in through his nose, “I love you so much.”
“What about a middle name for that? It’s a hard name to match,”
Cassidy and Jamie looked at each other. Honestly, they hadn’t thought of that. They had been ultimately consumed with trying to figure out another ‘K’ name for their second son, that the thought that they’d have to come up with a middle name for both slipped their mind. Not only that, but Heather was right. Finding a name that paired well with Knox was an insurmountable task.
“It’s something we’re going to have to put some thought into,” Jamie responded, setting his hand on top of Cassidy’s, as he picked at his salad. He could tell that the idea was rattling her.
“Have you got any ideas for the second twin?” Randy asked, picking his burger up in his hands and took a hearty bite.
Cassidy smiled and leaned back in her chair. She’d thrown down her burger like it was nothing as everyone else was still finishing up. After all, she was eating for three. “We’ve been throwing around Kiptyn. And so far it’s the only other ‘K’ name we’re alright with calling our child for the rest of his life.”
“Oh I like that name,” Heather smiled and picked up her plate as she stood from the table. Subconsciously, she picked up Cassidy’s as well, “I think that’s a handsome name.”
Cassidy grinned and rubbed her eyes and then took a quick glance at Jamie’s watch. It wasn’t exceptionally late, but she was feeling drowsy. Slowly, she stood up and set her hands on Jamie’s shoulders. “I think I’m going to shower up and turn in,” she walked to Heather, “thank you for making dinner.” She hugged her and then walked to Randy, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, “I’m sure we’ll see you soon. Goodnight,”
As she left the room, Truman and Shiloh followed her through the house to the master bedroom. It was a trend that had started a few weeks back. It was like the dogs could tell that something was different with her, that she needed some extra protection. Whether they had a sixth sense or not, Cassidy undeniably felt more safe with them by her side. Even when she stepped into the shower, they laid on their beds and watched her from the bedroom. They never fussed or caused a scene; just simply stayed by her side.
For awhile, Cassidy just let the warm water run over her. It was relaxing to just have it wash over her sore body. When she had finally shut off the faucet, it must’ve been twenty minutes or so. With a towel wrapped around her, she pushed the glass door open and stepped out. It all happened so quickly, that by the time Cassidy even thought to react, she was on the floor, clutching at her side.
In an instant, Shiloh was beside her, nudging his nose into her face, licking her. Truman ran for the bedroom door, but was rendered useless as he couldn’t get pass the closed door. He started barking furiously, hopping up against it to scratch his nails against the wood. Not a moment too soon, the bedroom door flew open and Truman bolted into the bathroom, being followed by Jamie.
“What happened,” he yelped, bending down to set his hands beneath Cassidy’s arms, gently and carefully lifting her off the floor.
“I slipped,” she murmured, adjusting the towel as she stood up. With Jamie assisting her, the dogs went back to their beds, watching the action.
“Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Cassidy waved her hands, “no… I landed on my ass. I think everything’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” He was just as frantic as Cassidy expected him to be.
“Yes,” she reached for his arm, giving it a tight squeeze, “I’m fine. Besides, with the way you bolted in here, I should be asking you if you’re alright. You should barely be walking, let alone running,”
“Well it’s hard not to rush when you hear a dog wailing like its just been shot,” he looked back at Truman, who was already on his side, sleeping. When he looked back at Cassidy, she was already pulling away from him to get back into the bedroom in order to change.
She slipped into a pair of Jamie’s sweatpants and a Dallas Stars shirt that he usually wore to practice. It wasn’t long before she hunkered down in bed, and when she did, she flicked on the TV but barely even heard the noise it made.
“I didn’t think middle names would be so hard; granted that we have both first names in Knox and Kiptyn.”
Jamie smiled and changed into a pair of athletic shorts, then crawled beside her, “I like both those names… unique but not too far out there. A middle name for Knox is going to be tricky; has to be more than one syllable or it sounds weird,”
Cassidy turned onto her side, which seemed to be like the only comfortable position for her to be in these days, “four months is a long summer. I didn’t think we’d have this sort of time. I also didn’t think I’d be pregnant at twenty-two and you’d be having hip surgery at twenty-five. It’s been a wild ride,”
“I wouldn’t have traded it in for anything else. These months are going to fly by. I’m gonna be back on my feet soon enough, and we’re going to be parents before you even know it. And I think we’re ready for it; new adventures, new stories to tell… By September, we’ll be able to look back on this summer and feel insane for being so nervous.”
Notes
For some reason there's no button to get to the last chapter from here, so here's the link: http://www.hockeyfanfiction.com/Story/59265/Seeing-Stars/58/. Hope you enjoy!
This chapter is titled after "Good Man" by Lee Brice.
please update!!!!
5/2/16