Pucking Strong: An MM Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 4)

Jacksonville Beach is swarming with families. It’s the opening night of the annual Deck the Chairs event. Sponsors bid to decorate one of fifty lifeguard chairs. What follows is six weeks of concerts, parades, and events for the holidays. There’s a musical light show and movies on the lawn. Food trucks provide dining options, while local businesses get to connect with members of the community.

My cold Swedish heart melts for Christmas, so I’ve always enjoyed attending—even before I had Teddy and Karolina ooh-ing and aah-ing on either side of me. She can finally bear weight on her leg. The cast is off, but she still has to wear a thick walking boot that wraps up around her shin, keeping the bone protected. She walks at my side, wearing a festive Christmas jumper and Santa hat, tugging at my hand every time she sees something fun.

Teddy and I are wearing jumpers too—at his insistence. His features a Christmas tree that actually lights up on the front. Mine has a glittery snowman. At this rate, I’ll be brushing glitter from my beard until New Year’s Eve.

We can’t walk ten feet down the lane before someone from the team is shouting our name and waving us down. The Rays always sponsor a chair, and it’s become tradition for the players and their families to take pictures with it each year. Many of the players use the picture as their Christmas card photo. I think that’s why Teddy has us dressed up like this.

“Hey, Karlsson family!” A very pregnant Rachel Price walks up, wheeling a wagon behind her. Their son Jamie sits inside it, playing with a bubble wand. “Love the Christmas sweaters.”

Caleb walks at her side, wearing the younger of their two boys in a sling. The toddler is crashed out asleep, mouth open. A mop of curly blond hair peeks out from the top of the baby sling.

“Hey,” Teddy waves in welcome. “Have you seen the chair yet?”

“Yeah, we just left Jake over there,” Rachel replies. “Poppy roped him into sticking around for a bit to take pictures with families.”

“Is it epic?”noveldrama

Poppy’s been determined to win the chair-decorating contest for years, to no avail. Last year, our entry included an animatronic stingray that moved and sang carols.

Rachel shrugs. “Eh, it’s pretty cool, I guess.”

“We’re a house divided this year,” says Caleb.

“A house divided?” I repeat.

“Yeah, Out of the Net has a chair this year too,” Rachel replies. “So, we gotta support our man.”

“And our Tess,” Caleb adds.

Rachel laughs. “Right? You’d think this contest was as serious as the Olympics for the way she’s been running Ilmari ragged these last few weeks.”

I glance around. “Where’s their chair?”

She turns and points. “One row past the Rays chair, like five down on the left. You’ll find Ilmari over there with the Langleys.” She reaches out, placing a hand on my arm. “Just, whatever you do, tell Poppy you’re voting for the Rays chair. You don’t want her to swap out your Christmas cookies for lumps of coal.”

Every year, Poppy hosts a party and makes enough desserts to feed a village—cookies and fudge, rum balls, macarons, coconut clusters. Every player and member of staff gets a thoughtfully organized tin of the most delicious treats. It’s one of the highlights of my holidays.

Next to me, Teddy groans. “Man, I forgot about her cookies. She gave me a tin when I was an intern. I think I cried when I ate the last mocha truffle.”

Rachel smiles. “Since you’re both on staff, don’t be surprised if you get two tins. We had to beg her to stop giving us four every year. It’s too many cookies, and we could never eat them fast enough.”

I cast Teddy a warning glare. “If you think I’m sharing any cookies with you, think again.”

He crosses his arms. “If you love me, you’ll let me have the whole tin.”

Draping my arm around his shoulders, I kiss his brow. “Nice try.”

Rachel and Caleb both laugh. “Hey,” she says, one hand on her belly. “Do you guys have plans for the holidays? Henrik, I know you usually go back to Sweden if you can.”

“Not this year,” I reply. “Now that they’ve added the New Year’s Eve game, there’s just not enough time for travel.”

She nods. “Yeah, Ilmari really wanted to get home to Finland this year too. But with the kiddos, it’s just too hard—”

“And you’re pregnant,” Caleb presses with a scowl. “That’s why we’re not flying across an ocean to Finland. Because you’re pregnant with our twins, Hurricane.”

She just rolls her eyes. “These babies still have plenty of time to cook. I’m fine.” She turns to me. “We were thinking of doing a quick trip up to my family’s ranch in Montana. I wanted to make a party of it, take the private plane. My brother will meet us there with his husband and their girls. And the Langleys will come. You guys would be welcome too. I bet Karolina would love the snow.”

Hearing her name, Karolina perks up. “I love snow!”

Rachel smiles down at her. “I knew you would. Do you know how to make snow angels?”

While Karolina explains her favorite memory of making snow angels in detail, I glance to Teddy. He just shrugs, casting a wary glance down at Karro. I know what he’s saying without words. We thought we would hear something from her case worker by now. It was two weeks of chaos, then nothing, nothing, nothing.

Elin has advised us not to prod. There are processes for these things, and pushing our point won’t make anyone rush. She told us not to go anywhere this holiday. We shouldn’t be traveling with Karolina until we hear from the court about any potential changes to the custody arrangement.

“You don’t have to decide now,” Rachel says. “There’s time. Want to just let us know?”

“Can we?” Teddy replies with a weak smile. “There’s just some stuff still up in the air.”

She nods, reading between the lines. Then she glances at Caleb. “Babe, we should get going. Tess asked us to bring them back some coffee and donuts.”

We part ways with the Prices, leading Karolina in the direction of the Rays lifeguard chair.

Teddy loops his arm with mine as we walk. Karolina walks in front of us, zigging and zagging to take in every sight and sound. “Montana would be fun,” he says with a wistful sigh.

“It would be fun,” I reply. “I’d love to be able to give Karolina a white Christmas, a little taste of home. But we should probably wait until we hear something.”

“I know. It’s just hard to turn down an offer to ride on Hal Price’s private jet again.”

I smile, patting his arm. “Next year.”

We get through our photo shoot at the Rays deck chair, which includes approximately fifty poses, with Jake and Poppy acting as dueling set directors. The chair is designed to look like a coral reef with all these fish and rays swimming around it, all wearing Santa hats.

Karolina eats up every moment, posing first on the chair, then on each of our laps. Then we all stand in front of it. Then a shot with her on my shoulders, my arm around Teddy.

“Okay,” Teddy calls, snatching my phone from Poppy. “I think we’ve probably got a good shot in there somewhere.”

Jake helps me get Karro down from my shoulders while she whines that she can see all the chairs better from up there. I get her down to the ground as, next to me, Teddy gasps. “Ohmygod. Babe—” He shoves my phone in my face.

I take it, leaning away, wincing at the bright screen. “What?”

“Look!”

I look down at the screen, but I see nothing except the screen saver photo Hanna took of Teddy, Karro, and me at the beach a few weeks ago. “What am I looking at?”

He presses in next to me, grabbing my wrist to turn the phone. “I was just holding it, and it just buzzed in my hand. Babe, you got an email.”

“Okay—”

“It’s from Cheryl.”

My breath freezes solid in my chest. “You’re sure?”

He huffs, dropping his hand from my wrist. “Well, my god, check it and see!”

Noting something wrong, Poppy swoops forward and takes Karolina by the hand. “Karro, honey, have you seen the back of the chair yet? It’s so cool. Come check it out.” She tugs her a few feet away, exclaiming loudly about the lights and designs on the back of the chair.

Heart in my throat, I open my inbox and tap the new email from the case worker. Teddy stands at my side, both hands gripping tight to my arm. The anxiety is rolling off him in waves. “Well?”

I read the email twice through, making sure I miss nothing in the English-to-Swedish translation in my head. Then I let out the breath I’ve been holding for four long months. “She’s ours.”

Teddy cries out with relief, wrapping his arms around me. “Oh god, really?”

I nod, holding him to me with one arm, my other arm trapped between our chests, my hand still holding the phone. “She says we still have to follow through with the remaining protocols. But the judge has changed our status from temporary custody to full custody.”

He presses a kiss to my neck. Then he pulls away and reaches for the phone, reading the message for himself. Just behind him, Jake has tears in his eyes. “I’m really happy for you, Karlsson.”

I nod, my own eyes feeling misty. “I know it’s what my sister would have wanted for her.”

Jake smiles, glancing from Teddy back to me. “That’s not quite what I meant, but I’m happy for all of it. You deserve good things.” He holds out a hand to me.

I take it, clasping his hand in both of mine. “Thank you, Jake.”

Teddy finishes the email and sinks against me, wrapping both arms around my waist, burying his face against my shoulder. “Oh god, babe, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I’ve just been borrowing air for weeks, feeling like I’m suffocating.”

“I know.” I drop Jake’s hand, wrapping both arms tight around my Teddy. I kiss his temple, his cheek, the corner of his mouth. “Thank you,” I whisper between each press of my lips.

“Thank you? For what?”

I lean away, cupping his face. “Without you, none of this would have been possible. Without you, they would have taken her from me. I’m not sure I could have fought it—”

“You would have,” he assures me. “Henrik, you’re so strong. She gets that from you, as much as from her mother. I see that now. You would have fought for her.”

I smile. The love of my life is happy in my arms. His tacky blinking sweater is now dusted in glitter from the one I wear. I feel lighter than air. The only things keeping me tethered to the ground are Teddy’s hands on me. “Now what do we do?”

He laughs, the sound joyous and full. “Now we finally get to make plans for our future, starting with Montana for Christmas. Then you’re gonna marry me again.”

I nod, relaxing my hold on him. “I was thinking something small.”

“For Christmas? What, like a small present?”

“No, for the wedding. I was thinking we plan something small. You know, just Karolina, your family, and our close friends.”

“Oh, honey.” He lovingly pats my cheek. “That’s why you’re not planning it.”