Stockholm Syndrome

Flash forward five years.

“Carter Patrick Crosby we’re going to be late!” I call up the stairs as I gather hockey equipment.

“Why he is always late?” Noah asks. I look at him and shrug. Carter was 8, Noah was 7 and Skylar was 5. Carter and Noah both played hockey so I was constantly washing hockey equipment. Carter finally comes downstairs in his pyjamas.

“Carter why aren’t you dressed we have to go!” I say, my voice high. Sidney walks through the door and I silently thank the lord.

“Hi dad!” Noah says.

“Hey buddy what’s going on?” he asks.

“Nothing just waiting to go.”

“Can you tell your son to get ready please,” I say to Sidney irritably.

“Hey buddy go get changed. You guys are playing the phantoms. I hear their coach yells at the refs a lot.”

“Awesome!” Carter says before racing upstairs.

“Skylar!” I call out. My mini me comes walking in from the den wearing her ballet outfit.

“Good. You’re ready. We have to watch Carter and Noah’s game before we go to ballet okay?” I say tentatively.

“Okay,” she says smiling. I comb her hair into a bun and get her bag ready. Carter comes downstairs ready to go and we head to the rink.

“Hey mom when are we going snowboarding again?” Carter asks.

“When you guys have winter break for Christmas,” I reply.

“So we’re not having Christmas at home?”

“No we’re having it at the cabin in Breckenridge.”

“Will Santa know we’re there?” Skylar asks.

“Santa’s not real Skylar,” Carter says.

“Carter don’t say that. Yes Santa will know you’re there,” I assure her. We get to the rink and the boys grab their gear and head to the locker room. Me, Skylar and Sidney are on our way to find seats when some of the opposing teams parents ask for pictures and autographs. I know Sidney felt bad when this happened because he didn’t want to take the attention away from the boys. He finds us and sits down beside me and I squeeze his thigh. I see Carl, Natalia and Scarlett come in and I wave. Scarlett comes and sits beside Skylar with her matching bun and ballerina outfit. Skylar and Scarlett were best friends and me and Natalia decided to sign them both up in the same ballet class.

“Good we didn’t miss anything,” Carl says in Swedish.

“Uncle Carl what did you say?” Skylar asks.

“I said good we didn’t miss anything. Does your mom teach you Swedish?” he asks.

“Sometimes,” she replies. The game starts and I immediately spot Carter. Where’s Noah? I finally spot him on the bench and I frown. Carter gets the puck and finds the back of the net. We all stand up and start cheering. Noah finally gets the puck but turns it over. Carter gets another goal and I’m the loudest one in the stands. The boy’s team wins and we wait for them outside. Eventually they come out and I hug both of them.

“Great job guys. You made momma proud,” I say smiling.

“Did you see that, I got 2 goals!” Carter exclaims.

“You were awesome buddy.” Sidney says high-fiving him. We take Skylar to ballet and I make them
watch. I was happy that during Sidney’s off day we could spend time together as a family like this. We stop and get McDonalds on the way home and I make them eat it at the table.

“Noah why are you so quiet?” I ask him.

“I’m not,” he says defensively.

“Is it about the game?”

“No.” I look at Sidney and he shrugs. Once everyone is done eating, Sidney and Carter go to the den to watch a game and Skylar goes to her room to play with her Barbie’s. I go upstairs and find Noah flipping through a book in his room.

“Hey can I come in?” I ask and he nods. I sit down on the floor across from him and watch him.

“What’s wrong, talk to mom.”

“I’m not good at hockey,” he says sadly.

“That’s not true.”

“Yeah it is. I wanna be like Carter. He gets to play the whole game.”

“Okay well Carter is older than you and has had more practice. All you need is more practice and you’ll get better.”

“Will you practice with me?” he asks.

“Of course. Just me and you will go to the rink and practice some drills.”
He hugs me and I feel my heart swell. He reminded me of my brother Bobbie. Carl had always had a natural aptitude towards hockey, a natural skill where Bobbie had to work a little harder for it. I think of how easy it’s been for Carter to excel at hockey compared to Noah. I get up and head to the den where Sidney and Carter are yelling at the T.V.

“Babe can I have word?” I ask. Sidney gets up and follows me to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“Noah thinks he’s bad at hockey which I wonder why. His coach gives Carter twice as much ice time and his dad constantly favours Carter,” I tell him.

“I don’t favour Carter,” he says defensively.

“I know you don’t do it on purpose but Noah is seven and he’s suffering from middle child syndrome.”

“Okay. Well maybe I’ll take him out tomorrow after practice.”
I kiss his cheek then go to laundry room to finish the laundry.

I’m in our bedroom the next day when I hear feet racing up the stairs.

“Mom you should have seen me. I scored like four times. Dad taught me this cool trick that tricks the goalie. I can’t wait for practice on Saturday!” he yells.

“Way to go buddy! I’m happy to hear that,” I say smiling. He runs to his room and soon Sidney comes in and closes the door.

“You should have seen him. He was skating with way more confidence today then I’ve ever seen him. He just needs practice sessions like that and he’ll be golden,” Sidney says while wrapping his arms around me.

“Way to go dad. You know you’re kind of sexy when you help encourage our kids.” He presses his lips against mine and his tongue finds mine. I lift his t-shirt off and reconnect my lips with his. As we fall onto the bed I hear glass shatter. I pull away and stand up fast. I race downstairs where I find Noah and Carter standing around my favourite mirror, which was now shattered in a thousand pieces.

“Who did it?” I ask sternly. They just stand there and don’t say anything.

“You’re really not going to tell me what happened?” They keep their mouths shut and I shake my head.

“Fine. Rooms. Now.” I follow them to their rooms where I grab all their favourite toys.

“Until one of you fess up. You’re grounded. Which means no electronics, no TV and no playing hockey.”

“But mom!” Carter whines.

“Unless you’re going to come clean, I don’t want to hear it.” I shut their doors and head downstairs where Sidney is sweeping up the mess.

“You’re really cracking the whip,” he says smiling.

“They remind me of me and Carl. We used to vow to never rat on each other but it always got us in trouble.”

“So what’s your game plan?”

“Carter is going to feel guilty about because he’s the one that did it and he’s going to come clean.” Sidney laughs and shakes his head and continues cleaning.

“Mommy can I have a snack?” I hear Skylar ask.

“Oh my princess!” I say picking her up. “If you broke mommy’s favourite mirror would you tell me?”

“No because I wouldn’t want you to be sad,” she says softly. I kiss her cheek and cut her an apple.

“Can I tell you something?” she asks timidly.

“Of course.”

“I don’t like ballet.”

“I thought you loved it?”

“I used to but not now.”

“Is there something else you want to try? Like jazz or soccer. Maybe karate?”

“I wanna play hockey like daddy.”

“I thought you didn’t want to?”

“That was before. I’m bigger now and I know how to skate. Daddy taught me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she says grinning.

“Okay we’ll go shopping tomorrow and I’ll sign you up for a team.”

“Yay! Thanks mommy!”

“Tell daddy what you’re going to do,” I say as Sidney’s walking into the room.

“Daddy I’m going to play hockey like you!” she says as she launches herself in his arms.

“What? What about ballet?” he asks.

“I don’t want to do ballet.”

“You really want to play hockey huh?”

“Yes!”

“Well that’s great!” he says as he flips her upside down. She starts squealing and I can’t help but smile. The hockey gene even got through to Skylar.

I dragged the boys out of bed early on Saturday morning. Carter had fessed up to throwing a football in the house and breaking the mirror and the boys were officially ungrounded. We walked into the arena and Sidney took the boys to the stands. I went with Skylar to the locker room and helped her get ready in her brand new gear. I had found a local team for her to play on and I knew she was nervous.

“It’s okay to be nervous,” I reassure her. I put her helmet on and we head out to the ice.

“Good luck!“ I say before blowing her a kiss. I find my seat next to Sidney and we watch her practice. I was so impressed. Some of these girls had been playing for a year already but Skylar was doing a good job of keeping up.

“Look at her. You can’t even tell that this is her first day,” Sidney whispers to me. I nod my head and watch our youngest skate with a puck.

“She’s definitely a Crosby,” I laugh. Their practice ends and I go to the locker room to meet her. I find her and she’s grinning from ear to ear.

“Did you see me mommy?! I was skating with the puck!” she exclaims.

“I did! You were so good!” I say smiling.

“My feet hurt.”

“Yeah that’ll happen. Was it fun? Did you enjoy it?”

“So much fun. Way more fun than ballet.”

“I’m glad.” I get all her gear off and put her jacket and boots on. We meet Sidney and the boys outside and Carter and Noah hug her.

“Sky you’re just like us now. I’ll teach you how to stickhandle when we get home,” Carter says proudly. I look at Sidney and he has the biggest smile on his face.

Notes

Wow, 50 chapters :)