A Winter’s Wedding (Christmas Cove #3)

Chapter 26

“Do you hear all that feminine energy over there, men?” Leo said and gathered his friends into a huddle. “I think these women mean to win tonight. And are we gonna let them?”

“NO!” they shouted back and patted each other on the backs like winners.

Leo waited for their attention to fall back on him. “Alright, who’s played hockey before?” Grant raised his hand, and Cam waved his palm up and down like he was unsure. “I vote Grant as team captain.”

“I should be upfront and tell you I haven’t played since I was eight years old,” Grant said.

“And I haven’t played any since college, and I only played with some friends in a frozen over parking lot,” Cam said.

“Okay, so we probably can’t win on merit, but…” Grant shook his head. “What if we just use what we’ve got and make the girls forget about the game so much that we can sneak a shot in every now and again. Simple. Distract, score, and win. We get the pot of money. They get to clean up horse sh?—”

“Grant Goldie, I don’t believe my ears,” Pa scolded him with a single look. “You want us to win under dishonest circumstances?”

“Yes,” Grant said with no hesitation. “Are you all in?”

“I’ll take America,” Leo said.

“I bet you will,” Cam joked. “I obviously have Jenny, and none of you better come near her.” He pointed a finger towards each of the other guys while making eye contact.

“I’ll take Carol,” Pa said and slapped Paul on the back. “You got Vi.”

“That leaves you, John,” Grant said. “You get the city girl.”

“You sure I can’t take on Thandie?” John pleaded with his hands in prayer. “Poppy already has it out for me tonight.”

“Thandie’s all mine,” Grant said, and his brows raised in three pulses.

“To be young again,” Paul lamented. “Who’s gonna faceoff?”

“Leo and America, of course,” Cam said. “Now, let’s out-do their sorry attempt at intimidating us and shout like the highlanders we are.”

“But we’re not,” John laughed nervously.

“That’s not the point, brother. Let’s give it what we’ve got,” Leo said and counted to three.

The men let out a battle cry with whoops and shouts that Braveheart would be proud of while they skated to the unmarked center. The women turned and skated arm-and-arm to meet them like a formidable roman phalanx. The men lined up in front of the girls and waited for the ref to appear.

Beside the fire, Alfonso was bent over, though Leo was unable to see what the man was doing. “Alfonso. We’re ready to get started.”

Instead of an answer, music carried through the night air. A strong downbeat, drums and guitar picking that perfectly matched the atmosphere. Leo knew the song before the verse even started. ‘Long Cool Woman’ by The Hollies was one of his favorites, and a great tune to get this game on.

Alfonso ran straight to the center, bypassing the cleared snow, and barreled over the heaps that made up the boundary lines. With the glowing puck held high over his head, he used his finger to draw America and Leo to himself.

The way America smiled and bit her lip, undid him. Leo just wanted to get this game over and get her home. He locked his gaze on his stunning wife. This is going to be a cake-walk , he thought and blew her an air kiss.

She moved her head to the left and mimed catching the kiss on her cheek. “You’re going down, Leopold,” she said, though he was unsure whether her words were a threat or an invitation.

“Ready?” Alfonso said. Leo nodded followed by America. “Faceoff!” he said as the puck fell from his fingers and bounced on the ice. Before the puck came to a rest, Alfonso turned and bolted off the rink.

America was first to get her stick on the puck and shot it over to Jenny to her left. Jenny caught the puck and skated with one leg off the ice and stretching skyward, like a figure skater. She spun and shot the puck across to Carol who took it clear to the small goal. Before Pa could even catch up to her, she swung her stick and took the shot.

Cheering overtook the sound of ‘Rocket Man’, which was now playing from the speaker.

“One score to the bella donne ,” Alfonso said and held up one finger.

“Are you on their side?” Grant asked.

“Alfonso not take sides.” He motioned for Grant to come to the center, and Thandie came in too.

Leo stood beside Grant and was determined to not underestimate the women again. America paired with him with one foot in front of the other like a runner ready to take off. But she wouldn’t get past him this time. She looked over to Carol and they nodded like they were sending messages telepathically, which didn’t bode well for Leo or Pa, he suspected.

Alfonso dropped the puck, and instead of focusing on the faceoff, Leo focused on America. He skated toward her, using his stick as a guard on one side and his arm hemming her in on the other. She dodged his advance and ducked under his arm. Coming around to his back, he felt a stick move up the inside of his leg and goose him on his rear.

There was no way he was going to let that slide. “Get over here,” he said and chased her down, barely missing John and Poppy who were fighting over the puck.

America spun around and bumped John off balance, allowing Poppy to steal the puck and shoot it over to Carol. She swung her stick and went for the goal again. The puck ricocheted off the goal post and slid back toward the center of the ice.

There was no apparent organization on either team. Bodies skated in all directions across the rink. Cam and Jenny were sitting in the snow, making out. Pa moved up the ice but was three short strokes behind Carol, and Poppy and John were pointing fingers at each other’s faces. Grant and Thandie looked to be having the best time racing across the ice toward the puck, and America was intense and flirty, like she had been when Leo had first met her. After the insane week they had just had, his heart was glad to see her being herself again.

While Leo was distracted by his wife’s exuberance, Grant screamed by Leo and clipped America’s shoulder. She spun, losing her balance, and Leo seized the opportunity to catch her. She fell in his arms just as the song changed to ‘More Than a Feeling’. He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. Their lips fit so tightly together. Her arms circled his neck, and she played in the back of his mussed hair the way he liked. This is how their night had begun before being kidnapped and he knew the only way to get back to what he wanted was to finish the dang game.

Knowing what had to be done, Leo dropped America down to the ice and skated away from her before she knew what hit her. “Sucker!” he yelled into the cold air.

“This is war now!” America shouted from behind him.

At the women’s goal line, Leo circled and waited for Paul who was skating backwards towards him. Vivian was trailing Paul and desperately trying to use her stick to steal the puck from her husband, giggling the whole time. “Pass it back to me,” Leo said. “I’m right behind you.”

Paul slid the puck between his own legs and away from Vivian. “Not so fast,” America said as she intercepted the puck and shot it all the way to the far side and to a waiting Carol. Carol took the puck and shot it right into the goal.

The women circled around Carol and jumped up and down with their arms over each other’s backs. From the sound of their cheering, it was though they had just won the Stanley Cup, not a wild hockey game. And if the inevitable men’s loss wasn’t approaching fast enough, ‘Dream On’, cut through the night, and cut through Leo’s hopes of winning.

“Huddle up men,” Leo shouted and called everyone over. Everyone joined him by the other goal, except Cam who was still making out with his wife in the snow. “Hold on.” Leo skated across to the two and yanked Cam away. “No fraternizing with the enemy.”

Thandie came over and took Jenny by the arm. “We could use your help.”

“I was helping,” she giggled. “Helping myself to that delicious man of mine.”

“Gross,” Leo said and dragged a love-drunk Cam to the huddle. “I don’t understand what’s happening. You need to pull it together and do a better job of distracting them.”

Cam’s hand flew up. “I was doing just fine, thank you.”

“What about you, Pa?” Grant said. “You’re supposed to be on Carol and she’s killing us right now.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know she could play. I swear it. But I’ll give it another try.”

“And John, whatever is going on between you and Poppy, figure it out.”

“She hates me,” John said. “She blames me for the incorporation and seems to be personally offended by my presence here.”

“Figure it out,” Leo said. “I am not cleaning out those stables.”

“Yes, you are,” Vivian said as she skated a circle around them, stopping behind Paul. Her arms snaked around his torso, and she whispered something into his ear. Whatever she said had Paul slack-jawed and pulling at his collar. She smirked as she skated away.

“You alright there?” Cam said. “I know that look.”

“Guys. The women are clearly playing a game with us, and it’s not hockey,” Leo said having caught on to what they were doing. All the flirting and suggestive banter was their way of distracting the men, and he had to admit, the women were playing the game better than the men were.

“Listen to that,” Leo said as ‘We Will Rock You’, came on the stereo. “Let’s finish this!”

On center ice, Alfonso waited, waving the puck above his head.

Pa positioned himself for the face off and pointed at Carol to meet him in the middle. “I want you, here.” He pointed to the ice in front of himself.

Answering his request, she skated to his position. “Right here?” she said and pointed to the ice a few feet away.

“No. Here.” Pa signaled to the space directly below his nose where he was leaning over.

She swizzled her toes and came so close, she bumped into his shoulder. “Right here?”

Pa was forced to stand up straight to accommodate her proximity. “That’s pretty good,” he said. Their noses were only a couple centimeters apart.

America looked at them and then at Leo with a smirk. Vivian covered her smile with a gloved hand and Leo nodded to Alfonso to drop the puck.

The glowing green disk hit the ice between them. Instead of going for the puck, Carol’s lips touched Pa’s and his hands became limp. He dropped his stick, and it bounced off the ice. By the time Leo saw Carol’s stick move toward the puck, it was too late for him to get his own stick between them.

Carol shot the puck to a waiting Jenny who took it, while spinning, down the ice. Passing to Vivian, who passed to America, while Poppy and Thandie blocked for them, Carol left a shocked Pa standing at the center. America passed to Carol who swung and pegged the puck right into the back of the net.

That was it. The men were officially on horse doodie duty. And the women would never let them live their loss down. Ever!

The women deserved all the cheering, and Alfonso joined them in their celebration huddle. There was nothing the men could do but clap their sticks against the ice in applause. With heads hanging low, they reluctantly congratulated the ladies on their rather unexpected win.

As though the music selection hadn’t been fitting enough, ‘We Are The Champions’, boomed over the ice and inflated the ladies’ egos even more. He could practically see their heads blowing up.

“Good game!” Leo said to America and hugged her. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Am I!?” she said.

They thanked everyone for an unforgettable party and America sat beside the keg where she had left her untied winter boots. Leo took one more cup and filled it with Pa’s beer. “I need a good night’s sleep after this.”

“You’re not going home with her,” Grant said. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. “Nope, you’re staying here tonight. But first…” he skated away and returned with the can of money and the others in tow. “We all agreed that you two should have this. As a wedding gift.”

Amidst all the fun, Leo had forgotten that they hadn’t told everyone about accidentally getting married in Vegas. Even though he knew all of these people would learn the truth in just a few hours, there was still a pang of guilt squeezing his conscience. He nodded. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you all,” America stepped in and spoke.

“And I guess I’m staying with the guys tonight. Will you be alright?” he asked America.

“We’ll make sure she’s settled,” Vivian said and took America under her arm. “Get some sleep.”

If there was one thing Leo knew he could do following the most exhausting week of his life, it was get some sleep. He thanked Vivian and kissed America. “See you tomorrow.”