The Penalty Box

Chapter 63

Tyler sat with his adoption paper in hand, seemingly still in disbelief of the events that took place this morning.

"Welcome to the family Ty," Brandon laughed, patting Ty's back.

"Wait," Ty said suddenly looking at Brandon and then at me," Does this mean that this idiot is technically my uncle?"

Coty and I started laughing harder than we should've. Bran grabbed Ty and put him in a headlock before preceding to drag him to the pool and threaten to throw him in.

Coty left a few minutes later to welcome various teammates and family members and show them the way back out to the deck. Pretty soon everyone was here. Coty had fired up the grill, and with the help of some of the other Canes, and my brothers, started grilling everything we had in sight.

"How are you feeling?" Lily asked, sitting down next to me.

I smiled and put a hand on the small bump that I now had," Well, I'm not as sick as I had been. God the last bit of that first trimester almost killed me."

"I know, I remember Coty calling Conrad and asking him to babysit you while he went to practice," Lily recalled,"I still can't believe that you're having a baby, and Coty Bruner's baby at that."

I laughed and glanced over at my husband, who was laughing at something that one of the guys had said. He caught my eye and smiled and gave me a little wave. I'd never get tired of his goofy boyish smile that he always got when he looked at me.

"Lily, Coty and I were hoping we could ask you something," I mentioned," We were hoping that we could name the baby after Josh?"

Her eyes teared up and she leaned forward to hug me,"He'd be so proud of you Cal. So damn proud of the both of you."

"Stop, you're going to make me cry," I mumbled clutching onto her.

We both laughed and tried our best to dry the tears. We laughed some more when Tyler took my little nephew from Charlie and started to run around the yard with him. He was going to be a good big brother, that I was sure of.

"Where's my big sister at?" Jared yelled walking into the back yard.

I squealed and practically jumped out of my seat so I could run to him. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding, he'd been busy off in a completely different state. One thing was for sure, hockey was taking this family all over the country.

"Congratulations Cally, you're a mom two times over now," He joked," Somehow I always knew you'd end up adopting Tyler."

I shrugged," He was family long before we realized it."

He smiled and hugged me again. Gone were the days of it just being us. We no longer had to rely on each other alone, which was quite strange. But we'd all once been told that life was full of lots of twists and turns.

"So, little niece or little nephew?" Jared asked me.

"Don't know yet," I shrugged," Somebody around here is supposed to have planned a reveal for tonight."

"Really?"

"It was Ty's idea to have an adoption party and a gender reveal in the same night. I was fine with just finding out at the next appointment. But the boys wanted to surprise me, they thought it'd be cute."

"I know I tell you this every single time we talk," Jared mentioned," But I'm really happy for you Cal, you deserve all of this."

"What about you? You're out there living your dream," I pointed out," My baby brother is no longer a baby."

"Ew okay, enough sentimental crap," He groaned, letting go of me," I'm gonna go find Ty and give him shit."

***

Coty had an arm around my waist as we both looked down at the cake. Apparently everyone had a say in what type cake was going to be used for the occasion. After a lot of discussion, mostly on the Hurricane side of things, it had been decided that they'd get a cake in the shape of a jersey. It'd been decorated to look just like a Hurricanes jersey, with Baby Bruner, written across the top.

"C'mon, hurry up," Ty laughed," If I'm going to have a little sister I need to start planning on how to best execute my big brother duties."

Everyone around us started laughing. Cory smiled and pulled me closer to him as he started to cut into the corner of the cake.

I honestly couldn't put into words all of the emotions I had at that moment. Up until that point, I hadn't cared if it was a boy or girl, as cliche as it sounded, I just wanted the baby to be healthy.

But as Coty pulled back the piece of cake that he cut, I couldn't help but squeal. The entire inside of the cake was a bright pink. For some reason, I hadn't expected that.

However, there was no way that I could say I was disappointed. I always wanted a daughter, I just thought that I'd have a son first, after all, we had lots of boys in our families.

Cory laughed as everyone started cheering rather loudly. He smiled and hugged me and kissed the top of my head. We hadn't really talked much about what we wanted, but I knew he was happy.

"Better start planning," Charlie laughed, patting Ty's back," If that kid is going into be anything like Callahan, she's going to need someone to fight everyone off."

"Hey! I take offense!" I exclaimed, trying my hardest not to laugh.

"Babe, you always needed someone to look out for you," Coty reminded me," That's why you had the team."

"Ha! That's funny," I laughed patting his chest," I was the one who kept all of you straight."

"She is 100% right about that," Kyler laughed," Remember that time in Florida? Where you-"

"We don't talk about Florida," Coty laughed nervously.

"What about Florida?" Ty asked curiously.

I smiled," I'll tell you later bubs. After all, we're going to Floria next month and I'd really like you to not make the same mistake."

"You are awful," Coty mumbled.

I laughed and reached up to kiss his cheek," Just think, you'll have two of me when she's born."

                                       **

"Hey Callahan?"  Ty asked, knocking on the doorframe of the nursery.

"Yeah what's up?" I peaked my head out of the small closet.

While Coty was at practice, I took it upon myself to start hanging up some of the many outfits we'd bought for the little baby.

"I know it's still a long way off," He started," But I thought maybe Jr. could have this?"

I looked over at the small jersey he was holding in his hands," It was mine when I was a baby," He shrugged.

"Oh Ty," I mumbled stepping forward to hug him.

"It's just a jersey," He laughed as I started to cry a little.

"Stupid pregnancy hormones," I muttered.

He let me go and took a step back. I watched as he glanced around the room, which in days after finding out that Coty and I were having a girl, had been completely decorated in pink.

"I know I've thanked you like a million times already for adopting me, but I don't think I ever thanked you for starting the team back up again," He stated," Without you bringing Lightning back, none of this would've happened for me. I never would've met you and Coty, and I never would've made another team to be honest, and I'd be stuck here forever. I wouldn't be completely in love with Scarlet, who's literally the most perfect girl I've ever met. I wouldn't be getting college offers from really good school, with really good hockey programs, and I certainly wouldn't have any of this. So, thank you."

"It's a wonderful life Tyler," I told him," You never know where it's going to take you."

And all because a small girl, who'd been mad at the world for far too long, once loved to play for the penalty box.