Sunday rolled around and Patrice was nervous. He would meet his son for the first time. Sure, he’d seen him before, but then he hadn’t known who he was. This would be different. Emily had told him that she would talk to Lucas after they went ice skating together. That way Lucas could behave normally around him, ask all the questions he wanted, without growing self-conscious because he was talking to his father for the first time.
He’d talked to Dennis the previous evening and had shown him the photos. He didn’t want to talk to the others about it. Dennis had been there when he’d found out, and he was a great Dad, so his advice would be good. Dennis had told him to take it easy, get to know the kid and give Emily a chance to make this right. He could understand her behavior, but at the same time said that it hadn’t been right. Emily knew all that, but that hadn’t kept her from doing what she thought was best for her and the child. And Patrice.
“Mommy what are we waiting for?” Lucas looked up at his Mom, getting impatient. They would be the only people there, as usual, which was a good thing today. Most of the time, in fact, because the boys could just skate around, play with the puck, and have fun without worrying about bumping into anyone.
“I told you, we’re waiting for a special guest.” Emily ran a hand through her boy’s hair. Her heart was racing. She’d known that this day would come, but it was still a strange situation.
“Are you talking about me?” Patrice asked as he approached, his bag with his skates, pucks and stick slung over his shoulder. He’d heard this little exchange and couldn’t help but smile.
With his Bruins bag over his shoulder, and all the time in the world to look at him, Lucas finally realized who it was, and so did Johnny. Their faces lit up immediately.
“No way! It’s Bergeron!” Johnny said in awe, unable to move. Lucas stood next to him, mouth a little agape.
“Nice to meet you, boys.” He grinned at the two of them, then squatted down to be on eye level with them. “So, you’re Lucas, and you must be Johnny then. I hope you’ve got your hockey sticks with you?”
“Yes!” they exclaimed in unison, which made Patrice chuckle. He got upright again and looked at Emily. “Thank you for inviting me to come along.”
“Yeah, thanks Mommy!” Lucas looked at his Mom, before he started running off towards the entrance with Johnny. The two adults followed them and put the bags down.
“Can you help Lucas put on his skates? He knows how to tie shoes, but he doesn’t have the strength to lace the skates up tightly.”
“Sure!”
Patrice kneeled down in front of Lucas and put on his skates. He looked so much like himself that it was kind of scary. His parents would realize it straight away, if they saw pictures of Lucas.
“Tell me when it’s too tight, okay?” Patrice laced up the skates under the watchful eyes of Lucas. One of his big idols was tying his shoes. How awesome was that? And he would skate with him on the same ice.
“You gonna skate with us?”
“Yep.”
“And show us tricks?”
“I can try.” Patrice looked up with a grin on his face. “There, all done.” He lifted Lucas down and opened the door to the ice. You two go ahead, I’ll just put my skates on and follow you immediately. Is that okay?” He handed Lucas his helm and made sure that he’d strapped it on correctly.
“Yes,” Johnny brushed past him. Both boys took their sticks, a puck and headed onto the ice.
Patrice sat down and took his own skates out of the bag, started to lace them up. He couldn’t help but look up now and then to look at the kids. Both of them already moved naturally across the ice, hockey stick firmly in one hand, the puck always passed between them.
“They’re so excited that you are here.”
Patrice turned to the side when Emily spoke up. She was looking straight at him, a smile on her face, that lit up her eyes, made them sparkle. It brought back memories from years ago.
“I was so nervous,” he blurted out. Slowly he got up and retrieved his helmet to put it on his head. “But now that I’m here and know that you’re with us as well, I’m a little more relaxed. It helps that we’re doing something I’m pretty good at.”
“That is an understatement. But now I’m curious, what is something you are not good at? Because I don’t recall anything.”
“I should better join the boys.” And with that he was out on the ice, skating a few rounds before he decided to join the kids.
Emily stayed seated and watched them. Of course she had her skates with her, but didn’t want to interfere now. The boys were racing Patrice on the ice without their sticks before they asked him lots of questions. He showed them everything they wanted to know. Emily was surprised because she was surprised that Patrice was this good with kids. Why?” Because she shouldn’t be surprised. He was the guy to start a family, live in a house with a white fence and a dog or two.
He was just so natural around Lucas and Johnny. That evening, Emily would have to tell her son, that Patrice was his father, and would from now on be a part of their life, or rather Lucas’ life. He’d wondered about his father for some time now. In the beginning, it wasn’t such a big problem, but once he’d realized that most other kids had a father, he’d started asking her questions. She’d always said that one day, he would meet his father.
Emily didn’t set foot on the ice even once that afternoon. The kids had taken off their skates and talked animatedly about something. Patrice gathered their sticks and handed them to Emily.
“I’ll just be five more minutes.” Patrice grinned at her. And skated towards the goal, hockey stick in hand, and the puck at the end of the stick. He wanted to do a few more round, shoot some pucks at the goal. Emily found herself watching him, mesmerized. She’d seen him play before, but not like this. Not as the only person on the ice. It was almost as if he was skating just for her.
When he stepped off the ice, he let out a chuckle, and nodded towards the boys: “Seems like they’re exhausted.”
“Huh?” Emily snapped out of her thoughts and followed his line of vision. “They usually are, but today especially. I mean, they met one of their big idols.”
“Yeah…” He watched them a moment longer, then sat down to take off his skates. He packed up his stuff and picked up the boys’ stuff as well as Lucas. He didn’t wake up. “You just take Johnny.”
“Are you sure, you can carry all that?” Emily scooped up Johnny, who immediately snuggled up to her.
“Yeah, that’s no problem.”
Together they walked to the car. Patrice helped her to put away the stuff, then strapped the children in their seats. As quietly as possible they closed the doors and faced each other.
“So…”
“So…” Emily pushed back her hair. “Thank you for coming here with us today.”
“It was fun, and I got to know Lucas a little more.”
“I’ll tell Lucas about you tonight before he goes to bed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. The sooner he knows, the better.”
“Will you let me know how it went?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, then I’ll talk to you later.” Patrice smiled at her, before he turned around to walk to his own car.

Notes

Here it is :)