This Is Wild

by Natasha Madison

  I make it to the team and stand beside Evan who stands by Matthew and Max. “Holy fucking shit, we did it,” Evan says, and then someone hands me a baseball hat with our logo on it.

  “You guys did it,” Matthew says. “All of you did it.” He looks at me, and then they call Evan over to accept the cup. “Well, I guess you think because of this, you can date my sister?”

  I shake my head at him. “No, this has nothing to do with me dating your sister. But you should know”—I lean in—“I’m going to marry her.”

  He shakes his head. “Well, if I have to pick anyone, I would pick you,” he says. “You did what everyone else said you wouldn’t do. They buried you even before you gave them a chance to change their mind.” He smacks my shoulder. “Be proud of what you did.”

  I nod at him, and when Evan comes over and hands me the cup, the last year replays in my head. The ups, the downs, the nights waking up sweating, the nights spent walking around. Everything happens for a reason, and we can only go one day at a time.

  I lift the cup over my head and look at my girl who stands there giving me everything that I could have ever wanted.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Zoe

  “Didn’t you say we could stay in bed all day long?” Viktor groans from beside me. After he won the Stanley Cup, we celebrated until about three a.m., and then we had our own celebration at home, falling asleep right when the sun was coming up.

  “I’m hungry,” I tell him, nervous, and my heart beat is rushing and beating so hard that I’m afraid he’s going to see right through my lies. I open the door to the restaurant ​that I forced him to come eat at.

  “We could have ordered food,” he says, his hand always in mine if we are next to each other. “We could have ordered cake with icing, and I could have eaten it.” I block his mouth right before everyone yells surprise. “What?” He looks around at everyone there. The balloons everywhere with “1” all over them.

  “You didn’t think I wouldn’t make a fuss, did you?” I tell him, and then Matthew comes up to us, and he looks like he slept maybe an hour.

  “You know, I would not have gotten out of bed for anything today,” he tells him. “But this, this I would.” He slaps Viktor’s shoulder and then looks at me. “You and your balloon obsession.”

  “It’s a party.” I roll my eyes. Okay fine, maybe asking them for a thousand balloons was a bit too much, but I did cut it down to five hundred.

  I look around the room ​at all our friends, some of his teammates, and even some ​of the people he goes to meetings with.

  “You did good,” Zara says, coming over to us and handing me Zoey. “I am so tired,” she says, and then I look over at Viktor as he shakes hands and has words with everyone.

  Karrie and Vivienne come to me now. “We couldn’t do this in a week?” Karrie says.

  “How was I supposed to know that they would win the cup?” I ask them and just shake my head. Vivienne looks around the room and then takes a long sip of her wine.

  “This is lovely,” my mother says, coming over to us. “It’s wonderful, and we are so proud of him,” she says, and I look over at my father who is now hugging Viktor and saying something to him. His eyes tear up, and I look down. “Go to him,” my mother says, and I nod and hand her Zoey, who sleeps through it all.

  “Hey there,” I say to him as my father walks away, and he wipes his eyes. “Are you surprised?”

  “Your father just said he’s proud of me,” he says. “He has known me seven months, and he’s proud of me.” He shakes his head. “My father probably isn’t going to text me about the Stanley Cup, let alone tell me he’s proud of me,” he says, and my heart breaks for him. “I mean, I don’t know why it still gets to me.”

  “Because he’s your father and because his love should be unconditional and all that,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “This isn’t about him. This is about you. This whole thing is about you and being here for you.” He nods and kisses my lips. “Look around at everyone here who came to celebrate you and everything you’ve done.”

  “I must have done something right,” he tells me and kisses me. We find our seat and start eating the meal. The whole time, everyone laughs and has a great time. I look around, and ​this is what I wanted him to see. That everyone is here to support him and is proud of him. To have the peace he deserves to have.

  He taps his glass in front of him, and when everyone quiets down, he stands up. “I guess I should say something since you all came out for me,” he starts the speech and then holds my shoulder beside him. “I can’t believe it’s already been three hundred and sixty-five days.” He shakes his head. “This morning when I got up, I looked over and saw the date on my phone, and for once, I thought, what took me so long?” He laughs nervously.

  “Today, I remember walking into the rehab and listening to them tell me what was going to happen and thinking, I’m just going to do what they want me to do, make everyone happy, and get out of here.” He shrugs. “I made notes on how to hide it in the future. I was in rehab, and I wasn’t thinking of getting clean. I was thinking of ways to hide it.” He looks over at Jeffrey and Patrick.

  “Crazy, right? But then one day led to another day, and I stopped making a list on how to hide it and started making a list on how to change things. How to change me. They say when you are starting in recovery not to make any big commitments.” He laughs. “Well, someone should have told them it wasn’t an ideal time to pack me up and move me out to a new city, to a new team, to the unknown.” He looks at Matthew, who just shakes his head.

  “You’re welcome,” Matthew says, grabbing his glass of water and raising it to toast him.

  “It was, in fact, a blessing, a new page, a new beginning. It was a slow process, and that is what made it harder. I expected to wake up every day and be like I don’t want that.” He takes a big deep breath. “That was the biggest challenge to want it and fight it. As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, I carried on, making progress and gaining the one thing that I lost along the way—my self-respect.” I turn my head to kiss his hands that squeeze my shoulder as if he is gaining strength from me.

  “Knowing I was worth it, knowing I was a good person. Knowing I am a good person. In one year, I got my life back. I mean, I got it back before, but in one year, I know I deserve it. Every single day will be a struggle, and I’ve come to terms with that. Some days will be easier than others, but no matter what, I will not use. Knowing that I now have the foundation to achieve it is everything. There are twelve steps to the program, and as of yesterday morning, I had completed them all except to share my inventory with another human.” I wipe away a tear and try not to look up at him. “I’m lucky to say that I found that human who took all my mistakes and looked past them. She took everything I did and accepted it, and then she turned and looked at me, and I saw that she still loved me.” I shake my head, and then Zara reaches over and holds my hand as I try to blink away the tears and fail miserably. “Zoe, you are by far better than any chip they can give me,” he says, and now I feel his hand move away from my shoulder, and he leans down. “I love you,” he whispers to me and kisses my lips, and everyone claps. “Thank you,” he says when he stands up again and then sits down.

  “I love you,” I tell him, and just like that, everyone goes back to their own conversations.

  Slowly but surely, people get up and leave, and then I look around at Mark, who comes up and shakes Evan’s hand. “Congrats,” he says, shaking his hand and his beard is so thick with this playoff superstition. “I’m going to head out,” he says, and Viktor shakes his hand and thanks him for coming.

  He looks around, and then his eyes land on Vivienne. I look at him and then Vivienne again, who looks straight at him. He looks from us, then back to Vivienne. I don’t know what is going on right now, and when I look over at Zara, wondering if she just saw what I saw, she looks from Mark to Vivienne who is now talking to Karrie beside h
er. Mark shakes his head and walks over to her, and my eyes go back to Zara who just watches with her eyes wide. The only one who isn’t surprised by all this is Karrie, who tries to roll her lips together. “Are you done?” he says to Vivienne, and if anyone knows Vivienne, they know she is the one who runs the show in all aspects of everything basically.

  I swear you could hear a pin drop; I don’t think anyone actually says anything. I’m not even sure they knew what was going on before Mark just swaggered across the room toward Vivienne. “Yes,” she says, flipping her hair behind her shoulder. She pushes her chair away from the table, and the whole time, everyone watches as the scene plays out.

  “Good, now let’s go,” he says, and she walks around the table, her hand slipping in his like they’ve done it for a long time.

  “What in the fuck is that?” Matthew is the first one to ask, then looks at Karrie.

  Karrie shrugs her shoulder. “I don’t think she’s thirsty anymore,” she says, and just like that, everyone starts to laugh.

  * * *

  THE SERIES CONTINUES WITH THIS IS LOVE!

  Will Vivienne finally find love or will she run in the other direction? Find out in This Is Love!

  * * *

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  Epilogue One

  Zoe

  Nine months later

  “I can’t believe it’s the last home game of the year,” Zara says from beside me as I blow bubbles into Zoey’s neck, and she giggles. I call her the mini us. With her strawberry hair in little pigtails and her big blue-green eyes taking everything in.

  The crowd claps and then she follows through, shouting, “Da da da da,” which irritates Zara since she has only said mama once.

  “I can’t wait to be off for the summer,” Zara says. “Two months off with no work. It will be fabulous.”

  “Well, no time like the present to give me another niece or nephew,” I tell her, and she shakes her head.

  “She just started sleeping through the night,” Zara says, and then Matthew comes into the room. His eyes fly around the room and land on me.

  He walks over to us and then makes faces with Zoey. “Are you the cutest Zoey in the world?” he says to her, and she gives him a gummy smile with her little two teeth at the bottom showing.

  “Uh, second cutest Zoey,” I tell him. “I’m number one. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “Hey, I need some help. Can you come down with me?” Matthew says ​to me, and I get off the stool and hand Zoey to Zara. The whole box is full of family. The only one missing is Justin, ​who is playing his own game tonight.

  “What do you need help with?” I ask him, walking down to the locker room with him.

  “It’s fan appreciation night,” he tells me, and we walk into the hallway, and I see other people who are fans there. “I need you to help them get on the ice and make sure that everyone lines up properly.”

  “I’m not going on the ice. That’s awkward,” I tell him. “Ask Karrie.”

  “It’s too late,” he says, and the horn blows. “It’s the last game of the season, so the fans who were selected get a surprise jersey off the back of a player. No one knows who yet until they get on the ice.”

  I scrunch up my nose. “They smell like ass,” I tell him. “You should at least give them a clean one.” He rolls his eyes and puts his hands in his pockets.

  “Okay, you can lead the way. Go all the way to the end of the red carpet. You will be the first and last one off the ice,” he tells me, and I swear I want to kick him.

  “I take it back. I don’t want to go out there,” I tell him. “My boyfriend is out there. People know,” I tell him, and they do. After he won the Stanley Cup, People magazine came out and did a story on him. He wrote the story himself about his journey, and it’s now framed and hanging in our living room. I obviously moved in with him right after he got his one-year chip. I wasn’t asked; I was just there all the time and so were my clothes. I mean, he did help by always packing an extra bag when we went over to the brownstone.

  “There is no time for this. Do it for the fans,” he says and pushes me out, and I smile at the fans who look at me. “Follow her,” Matthew says, and I walk down the hallway and then out of the bench onto the ice that now has red carpet on it. I walk all the way to the end and see the team skating to the middle of the ice and holding up their sticks to thank the fans for another year.

  I make my way to the edge of the carpet and then everyone lines up beside me and looks out to the glass. Two of the equipment people walk out and hands them Sharpies. The players go toward their fans, and then I look at Viktor who skates over to me. “Hey,” he says to me, taking off his helmet. His hair is all wet as he bends down to kiss me.

  “Go to your fan,” I tell him, and he just smiles at me.

  I look around, and something isn’t right. Matthew is standing beside the entrance where I came from with Zara under one arm and my mother under the other while she hugs Allison. My father is on the other side of Allison. I look at them and then look back at Viktor, and then finally I hear the crowd going nuts, and I see why.

  He is on one knee in front of me, and the tears just come now, pouring down my cheeks. “Zoe Stone,” he starts, and I put my hand in front of my mouth. “You are the shining light in a dark world. You have shown me love like no other, and I don’t want to know what life is like without you in it.” He pulls out a square box from his pants. “I want to wake up with you forever. I want to go to bed with you forever. I want you to wear my ring so everyone knows that you’re mine.”

  “I am yours,” I tell him through sobs.

  “I want to have babies with you that look exactly like you. I want to hold your hand when you are happy and hold you up when you are sad. Will you do me the honor of being my forever?” He opens the ring box, and I don’t even look at it. I look at no one but him. I grab his face in my hands and kiss his lips.

  “Yes,” I tell him, and then all of a sudden, a microphone is right next to us.

  “She said yes!” Viktor’s voice fills the arena, and the crowd goes wild. He gets up and picks me up around my waist. “Forever.”

  He places me down on my feet and slips my ring on my finger. “This is so wild,” I tell him smiling and then look over at my family who stands there cheering us on. “But it’s us,” I tell him and wrap my hands around his waist.

  Epilogue Two

  Viktor

  Six years later

  “I’m home!” I yell, walking into the house and slamming the door behind me. I walk through the house we bought in Long Island in the same neighborhood as everyone else. “Hello,” I say at the base of the stairs and hear nothing. I look up and hanging in ​the middle of the wall is a picture of Zoe and me on our wedding day.

  Two months after I proposed to her, we got married quietly with only our family there. My parents and sister also came out, but it was a bigger deal having her family there. Neither of us wanted a big wedding, or if she did, she didn’t say, so we got married in her parents’ backyard.

  I walk through the house, looking at all the little things we’ve done over the past five years. On top of the fireplace is the letter I wrote to her framed and engraved with one day at a time June 1st.

  I walk to the back door, and when I see them, a smile automatically fills my face. “I’m home,” I say out to the yard. The three of them look back at the door, and my son runs to me. His black hair flying back, his dark blue eyes staring right at me, but what gets me most of all is the smile on his face. It’s always there, always. He was our little honeymoon present. Nine months after we got married, my wife gave birth to him. Lucky for us, I was home, and we were on hiatus that week. After eight hours of torture for me and for Zoe, they placed him into my arms.

  “Daddy’s home,” he says, throwing himself into my arms. “You were gone forever.”

  I kiss his neck
. “It’s been two hours since I went over to Uncle Matthew’s house,” I tell him, and he smiles.

  “I wanted to go,” he tells and then squirms out of my hands. “He loves me the most.”

  “I bet he does,” I tell him, and he runs away to the clubhouse that Matthew had built for him. You see, we ​decided to name him Matthew, but we call him Matt so as not to mess everyone up. But when we introduced him to Matthew, he took him in his arms, and they’ve had a bond ever since.

  “Where are my girls?” I say, walking to them as my daughter sits in the sandbox. She looks up at me, and she is the stamp of her mother. A little mini me and now I know how Matthew felt all the times I kissed Zoe in front of him. “What are you building, princess?” I ask her, using her nickname. I’m sure I ​don’t have to tell you what we named her because it was not even an option: Zara.

  “A castle,” she answers me, and I go and sit behind my wife with my legs on the outside of her, and my face goes to her neck.

  “Hi,” she says and turns her head to face me. “You didn’t go for long.”

  “It was shorter than we thought,” I tell her and kiss her lips. “What have you been doing?”

  “I’m trying to get them as much fresh air as possible so I can go to bed as soon as they do.”

  “Are you still not feeling well?” I ask her and hug her tighter. “You should call the doctor. It’s been two weeks.” She doesn’t answer me; she just nods her head, and we spend the rest of the day outside where I chase the kids, and Zoe swings in the hammock.

  I close Zara’s door softly so as not to wake her and then check in on Matt ​who is already fast asleep with the covers bunched around his feet. I walk down the hallway to our bedroom and hear the shower running. I walk into the bathroom and see Zoe sitting on the counter like she did when we first visited the house.