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TYLER
Willow’s birthday party was in full swing. The birthday girl had already inhaled way too many juice boxes and almost all the candy from her birthday pinata. Little Ian Lafleur grabbed what he could when it fell, but Willow pulled the birthday girl card. Tyler had to chuckle, because, yep, she was her mother’s daughter – a mini-Trina through and through.
Tyler’s sister, Trina was the sweetest person, but she appeared to always be on a caffeine high. She had always been good to him and looked out for him when they were growing up, after all, he was the baby of the family.
Trina was married to Sam Morris, one of Tyler’s teammates. They liked to tease him and nicknamed him “surfer boy” for his light blond, California-like locks and his laid-back attitude.
The Kidd siblings were very close, and Paige fit right in with Tyler’s sisters.
But today, Paige uncharacteristically stuck to Tyler’s side for most of the party. Not that he minded having his gorgeous wife glued to him. It was more his concern for her mental state today. Willow had been extra-hyper all day, and Melanie had already left the party because her back was killing her.
He was proud of how his wife handled herself around Melanie, after all she was her boss, co-worker, and friend. But seeing her and her pregnancy day in and day out couldn’t have been easy for Paige.
Willow and Ian ran giggling through the hallway and into the living room, Willow downing a pixy stix as she hurried by.
“Willow!” Trina chased the birthday girl. “Slow down, kids!”
Tyler grabbed Trina’s attention, giving the children a bit of a lead. “Isn’t being wild one of the perks of being the birthday girl?”
Trina glared at him. “Oh really, Uncle Tyler? In that case, will you be sticking around to help at bedtime?”
“That goes way beyond my uncle duties.” Tyler teased. “But I stand by my statement that she is the birthday girl.”
Sam strutted into the hallway, already smirking at the situation before him between brother and sister. “What’s going on here? Are all the Kidd siblings playing nice?”
“The birthday girl is on a sugar rush. I was just saying to Tri, isn’t that part of the birthday girl’s job?” Tyler replied.
Sam looked at Trina who was off again running after Willow.
“Dance party!” Willow called out joyfully.
Sneaking a peek into the living room, Tyler saw Kat Lafleur already corralling her and Kris’s son, Ian and Willow by the television, while little Kaleb O’Conner quietly built Legos on the coffee table.
“You should ask Kaden what his secret is with little Kaleb.” Tyler pointed to the content little guy and his even more content parents.
“Oh, honey, not again. Maybe we could put a cartoon on? Or Maybe Aunt Tally will play a board game with you? Tal?” she called searching for their sister.
“I think we should get out of sight before Willow asks us to sing.” Tyler said and pulled Paige towards the kitchen.
“Go ahead you two, run away like little cowards!” Sam teased. “Someday it’ll be your turn!”
“Mommy! C’mon! Dance!” Willow called loudly from the living room.
Tyler dropped his head at Sam’s comment. He hoped Paige didn’t catch it, but who was he kidding? Of course she did. It wasn’t feasible to console her every single time that someone made a baby comment, but he would surely try his hardest. “Babe, can I get you a beer?”
Paige was controlling her breathing and she looked like she was silently counting to ten. “Yes. Please.”
“You want to grab a seat in the–” Tyler looked into the living room. Willow was still hosting her dance party, and Trina was her back up dancer. Hank was in his little play area with the dogs, Toby and Belle, watching over him. “Maybe the dining room? Maybe Talia and Harrison are in there.”
He grabbed her hand and led her to the beer cooler.
“Speaking of Talia, I haven’t seen my older sister much today.” Tyler pondered out loud.
He led Paige into the spacious dining room. Talia sat in the corner sipping a bottle of water while Harrison Dash, teammate and married to Talia, helped himself to a veggie tray.
“Tal, where have you been? You keep disappearing.” Tyler asked his sister as they walked into the dining room.
“Who? Me?” Talia responded. Her tone was unusual. “I’ve been around.”
Talia sipped on her water.
“Hey, sis, let me grab you a beer. I think this chaos calls for something more than water. Especially if you get called on stage for the dance party.” Tyler teased.
“Oh, no. No thanks. I’m good with water.” Talia stuttered.
“Since when is your go-to drink water?” Tyler asked.
“Auntie Tally!! Auntie Tally!!” Willow sang as she ran and jumped into the unsuspecting Talia’s arms.
Willow screamed with joy, but Talia gulped and just looked green.
“Tal, you okay?” Paige asked.
A drop of sweat ran down Talia’s face.
Tyler added to his wife’s concern. “Sis, you don’t look so good.”
Tyler took Willow from Talia’s arms only seconds before Talia jumped up and ran in the direction of the upstairs bathroom.
“Is she okay?” Paige asked.
“Uh– I better go after her.” Harrison said, setting down his plate.
“Yeah. Is she okay? She looked a little green.” Tyler asked Harrison.
Willow hugged him and honked his nose, interrupting his concern. No doubt this little girl was on a crazy sugar high, and it would’ve been a lot more comical if he wasn’t worried about his eldest sister.
“Is she okay? Um, yeah, she’s fine.” He waved Tyler off. “Just um, food poisoning. Yeah, she had food poisoning and I guess she isn’t fully over it. We were trying to get away from the chaos for a minute.”
“Food poisoning?” Tyler asked, setting Willow down. The little girl barely touched the ground before she took off running in the other direction. “Yikes, maybe Tri was right. She may have had just a little too much sugar.”
“Yeah. And she hasn’t even had any cake yet.” Harrison agreed. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on my wife.”
“I hope your sister is okay. She didn’t look too good.” Paige commented.
“Paige, can you grab Hank?” Trina rushed into the dining room, shoving little Hank into Paige’s arms.
Paige fumbled with her beer, trying to set it down before she spilled it as the happy baby boy was shoved in her arms.
“Thanks. I need to check on Talia.” Trina barely stopped before she hit the stairs. Calling behind her, she added, “I think Sam is in the game room if you want to hand him off.”
Paige looked at Tyler, her face scrunched up in confusion. “What is going on with your sisters? They are acting more hyped than usual.”
“I don’t know. Maybe Tal is just that sick and needs help?” Tyler shrugged. He never assumed to know what his sisters were up to.
“Hope whatever it is isn’t catching.” Paige grimaced.
“Yeah, because I would hate for you to have to take a day off work. I might have to be sick too.” Tyler laced his arms around his wife’s waist, doing his best to pull her close to him even though she still had Hank in her arms. Tyler kissed her cheek, then dropped a kiss on her neck. Even with the chaos of everyone in the house, the scent of Paige’s apple body spray had him wanting to skip cake and rush home. “Think we can get out of here yet? We made an appearance.”
Hank cooed and grabbed Tyler’s cheek. The baby’s little nails really dug in before he could pry him off.
Paige pulled back and smirked at Tyler’s comment. “This is your niece’s birthday.” She looked like she was going to scold him for wanting to leave, then added, “We have to at least stay for cake.”
“We like cake, don’t we Hank?” Tyler cooed to his nephew, then bobbed his head left to avoid another baby claw. And moved in for another kiss from Paige.
“Can we please not try to score in my dining room? Not to mention you’re holding my son.” Sam said, startling them, and taking Hank out of her arms. “Paige, you look good holding a baby. Ty, isn’t it about time our Captain has a little team of his own?”
Paige’s smile fell, and Tyler didn’t have time to say anything to Sam before he moved to the next room.
“Babe, he doesn’t know.” Tyler apologized. He pulled her into a comforting hug.
Paige did her best to hide the hurt he knew she felt and shrugged it off. “I know. Why would he? It just stung.”
Tyler’s heart ached for his wife. She was so strong, but then one little comment could change her entire mood.
Ali, Kaden’s wife, walked by them. She stopped and focused on Paige. “Girl, you okay?”
“Yeah... I’m fine.” Paige answered. “But I need another beer.”
Trina hurried through the dining room.
“Is Tal okay?” Tyler asked.
“Yeah, she’ll be down in a second.” Trina said.
Tyler turned his attention to Paige. “I’ll grab you another beer.” Then dropped a kiss on his wife’s head before heading to the kitchen.
Soon, it was time for presents, the attention was focused on the kids. Ian sat on the floor by Willow, and it looked like all the little guy could do to not rip into the presents himself, which was very entertaining for Tyler and Kris as they recited a fictional play by play of Willow opening the gifts, and Ian wanting to get his hands on them. After all the presents were opened and the room was filled with shreds of wrapping paper and a very happy birthday girl, it was time for cake.
“Ty, can you hit the lights, please?” Trina asked as she lit the candles.
As soon as the lights went out, the singing of Happy Birthday commenced. Tyler looked around as he sang. Willow was, as always, making herself the center of attention by dancing and making faces. Sam bounced little Hank on his hip. Trina busied herself with keeping Willow away from the lit candles.
Kris tried to wrap his arms around Kat’s waist while she did her best to hold back little Ian while he was anxious for a taste of the icing.
When he focused on Talia, it was obvious something was off. She was barely moving her lips, and she was leaning on Harrison. His arm was around her as he sang.
His sister was normally such a force. When she was in a room, you knew it. But tonight, she wasn’t being herself.
When the song was over, Willow blew out the candles, and everyone clapped. Trina plated cake and ice cream as everyone gathered around for a piece.
Tyler and Paige grabbed their plates and sat in the living room. Kris joined them.
“Where’s the rest of your crew?” Tyler asked, looking into the dining room.
“Ian wanted to sit at the table with Willow, and Kat stayed with him to make sure he didn’t dive into the cake.”
Tyler chuckled. “He sure didn’t learn that from you!”
“Nope.” Kris shook his head, nodding to his super small slice of cake, and fruit filling the rest of the plate.
“Kids generally will pick cake over fruit, Kris. But the good news is you will have plenty of time to sway his tastes as he gets older.” Paige commented.
Tyler couldn’t help but stare longingly at his beautiful wife. She was so strong and yet still helpful to their friends, even though he knew it was hard for her, considering the topic.
“Ty, you’re staring.” Paige laughed softly, as her face turned a light pink.
“Sorry,” he mused. “You’re just so beautiful, I can’t help myself. How did I get so lucky?”
“I swear, you two always act like newlyweds. It’s nice.” Kris commented.
“Daddy!” Ian yelled as he hopped on the couch next to Kris.
Kat put her bottle of water on the floor and sat on the arm of the couch, leaning on her husband. She finished off her piece of cake, then picked at her husband’s.
“Do you want the rest of my cake, babe?” Kris asked her, with the tone that he already knew the answer.
Kat simply smiled wide and Kris handed over his plate.
“If that was anyone else, I’d say, now that’s love. Because, I’m not giving up my cake easily.” Tyler teased. Kris wasn’t a junk food kind of guy, so it was probably a given to Kat that she would get whatever he didn’t eat. But they were just as cute of a couple as Kris accused him and Paige of being.
Kat, still smiling, said with a soft laugh, “he’s a sweetheart. And it just works that he’s not fond of sweets, since I am.”
“Did you eat Ian’s too?” Paige joked.
Kat motioned to the little boy, who was bouncing on the couch in a fit of giggles. “Does it look like he gave me his cake?”
Paige shook her head as they all laughed.
“Where’s Gia and Patrick today?” she asked.
Patrick was a Renegades teammate.
“They had an appointment this afternoon and didn’t think they’d make the party.” Kris answered.
“I thought it was extra quiet around here today.” Tyler teased.
“Yeah,” Kris agreed. “My cousin never fails to make his presence known.”
They talked about Ian starting a learn to skate program, and that will turn into a learn to play hockey. Because what other sport would a hockey player’s son play?
Soon their conversation was interrupted by Harrison.
“Hey Cap, we’re heading out. Tal isn’t feeling well.” Harrison fumbled with his jacket.
Harrison had been more anxious tonight then Tyler had ever seen him. But this wasn’t the time or place to ask. “Food poisoning can be awful. I hope she feels better soon.”
Harrison stared at him for a second almost confused. “Oh, right, food poisoning is awful. Tal is already in the car. She feels awful about having to leave Willow’s party early.”
“We can always get together once she feels better.” Tyler shook Harrison’s hand. “I’m sure Tri understands. Plus, after the cake is handed out it’s pretty much over.”
His words didn’t seem to be much consolation to Harrison.
Harrison nodded before saying goodbye to Paige.
“Tell her I’ll talk to her when she’s feeling better.”
“I sure hope Talia is okay. She seemed to turn green every time she was around food, or now that I think about it, even at the mere mention of food.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Kat took a drink of her water and waved off their concerns.
Paige shot him a telling glance that she had enough partying for one day; he helped with a little of the clean-up, then they made their exit.
As soon as they got in the car, Paige took a deep breath and turned to him, “I’ve changed my mind.”
Confused what they were talking about, he asked, “About?”
“Let’s see what we can do about getting away.”
Tyler didn’t mean to laugh, but he knew she’d change her mind. And after the chaos at the birthday party, he wasn’t surprised. He loved his niece, but Willow on sugar is not for the weak of heart, and Paige was barely hanging on before the party started. A little time away, and they only had a little, would do her good. “Absolutely! You knew I was already mentally planning it, right?” Tyler grinned.