Ashley looked away for a moment, her mind flashing to the long hours, the travel, the passion she had for her career. The dream she’d spent years chasing.
“But my job,” she whispered, the words falling like a confession.
“You are what I love,” he said simply, unequivocally. “You, Ashley Savage, my wife. I would support you in anything you choose, anything you do. If you want to work for another five years, great. If you choose to quit tomorrow, super. If you wanted one child or a dozen – I am here for everything and anything you choose to do because that is what love is.”
Her breath caught again, but this time, it was from the sheer, overwhelming swell of love rising inside her chest. He saw her—not just the woman she was, but the woman she wanted to be. Her doubts, her fears, her dreams. He didn’t just accept them—he held space for them, letting her make the decisions with patience and understanding that was staggering to behold.
“So it’s okay if I’m scared and want to wait?”
“Of course, honey – but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it and snuggle together,” he said, his voice touched with a soft smile as he opened his arms.
Ashley didn’t hesitate. She went to him, curling into his embrace as though it were the safest place in the world. Because it was, but the thought was now there in her mind- a baby.
What would having Liam’s baby be like?
What would her career look like?
So many things would have to change, but maybe this was something they could revisit after the season. Maybe she could negotiate fewer hours in her contract?
Time would tell, but her marriage of convenience, their fake marriage, was now exceedingly real. They were looking at futures together, children, and if someone had asked her that a year ago – she would have laughed in disbelief. But now?
Now, her hand was resting on her stomach… thinking.
13
LIAM
“Let’s do this,”Liam charged, pumping up the team for this last battle, this last round. It had been a long road for all of them. Six months of wins, losses, and battles on the ice, challenges in their friendships, their relationships, a new arrival in Coeur’s family, several more expectant mothers, and he wouldn’t change a thing.
“We’ve been after this for six months,” Liam reminded them, but it really didn’t need to be said aloud as he met each man’s face and saw their eyes. “Eighty-two games, all over the country, plus sixteen games this playoff season… and it comes down to this one…”
He let his words hang in the silence.
“This is the one where I need you to give yourall,” Liam whispered, knowing they would hear them. “This isn’t about showing up on the ice. This is abouttearingit up…”
And saw the impact the word had on them as he spoke.
“We’ve worked so hard, we’ve given so much, and I’m asking you to pull up that energy, that passion, all of those feelings – and put them into what is about to happen on the ice.”
He saw them watching him, saw their looks, felt their trust, and got emotional as his eyes stung with the understanding that this was their moment. It was their time, but they had to see it, to feel it, too.
“We’ve all got our pasts, our scars, our insecurities,” Liam whispered openly, not holding back. “They’ve shaped us. They’ve pushed us, but now I want you to grab those moments and let them fester inside of you – because we cannot let ourselves rest on our laurels.”
He saw Boucher nod as the man gave him a silent thumbs-up. This was the man who Liam thought should have been captain, yet here he was acknowledging that he’d done a good job this season – that he was giving the speech they needed to hear… and Liam nodded back in appreciation.
“The Yukon Kodiaks are vicious on the ice,” he began softly, knowing they were listening, that they heard him deep within their souls. “And they are hoping to get their trophy back – but we can’t let them take it. And make no mistake, they are just like us, but not as desperate. We each have an ax to grind, but those men won last year – which means they think it’s going to be easy to bring home the trophy again,but they don’t know us!”
“Yeaaaah!” Acton crowed, pumping his fist, and his eyes were practically glowing with excitement. Good. That would be infectious and spread within the team.
“We’ve got something to prove – and because they don’t know us, they have no clue how much we are willing to give to take that trophy home,” Liam continued, seeing each of their faces.
“Coeur, can you imagine how Stephen would idolize you? Lafreniére, no more toilet-shaped coffee cup…”
“I like my cup,” Lafreniére retorted, rolling his eyes, but that smirk was there.
“Upgrade it, brother. Get Kendall to make a misshapen Stanley Cup for your morning brew,” Liam chuckled, making the other man smile as he nodded. He then turned to Boucher – the almost captain and a man he was proud to call ‘teammate’ and ‘friend.’ “Boucher, your daughter will be watching – and she’s awfully bloodthirsty. Don’t let her down…”
“I won’t,” the quiet man smirked. “She would never let me live it down if I did.”
