Offside (32 page)

“Not yet. My mom and dad are here, and
they’re going to try to see if I can meet them.”

“How about if I introduce you? I know
them.”

His eyes lit up. “I know you do.
You’re dating Matt.”

“I sure am.”

“I’d really like to meet them.” His
expression became more animated, his eyes wider.

“Should I take you over to them? Or
bring them over here?” She didn’t want to wheel him away and have
his parents come back looking for him.

“You can take me to them. Holy cow!
This is cool!”

She figured out the brakes on the
chair and pushed him over the patio toward the group of people
where Matt and his brothers stood talking and laughing. When she
was close, she stepped from behind the chair and touched Matt’s
arm. He looked down at her and smiled, his eyes warm and bright.
“Hey, Hon.”

She tipped her head toward Ryan in his
wheelchair. “There’s someone here who wants to meet you and your
brothers.”

She watched Matt take it all in
quickly, immediately excusing himself to the group and clapping a
hand on Tag’s shoulder to get him to join them. Logan and Jase
clued in too and soon they were all hunkered down around Ryan’s
chair.

The look of delight on Ryan’s face as
he talked to his favorite hockey players was too much for Honey.
She tried to stay and listen, but her throat hurt so bad, and she
had to give a huge sniffle and turn away so they didn’t see her
lose it.

She hastened back to the clubhouse,
just trying to get away, to get somewhere private to regain
control. She made it inside, turned and found a quiet alcove,
covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

Arms came around her and she found
herself enfolded in a hug from Laura Heller.

Honey turned into the older woman’s
arms. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I just…I can’t…”

“It’s okay, Honey.” Laura rubbed her
back. “It’s okay. I overheard you with that boy.”

“He’s…d-d-dying. And he’s only
twelve.” Her chest burned and she couldn’t stop the tears from
flowing.

“I know. It’s so sad.” Laura’s voice
trembled too.

“And h-he’s so brave,” Honey sobbed,
hanging on tighter. Laura’s arms rocked her a little, stroked her
hair. “God. God. I have to go back out there, but I don’t know if I
can.”

“You can. Take a minute. If Ryan can
do it, you can too.”

She sniffed again. “Oh my god. Yes.
Yes.”

“Matt loves you.”

Honey gave a hiccup. “Um. Yeah. I love
him too.”

“I was concerned,” Laura continued,
arms still holding her. “When he said he was dating
you.”

“Be-because of my
reputation.”

“Yes. Just being honest. I wasn’t sure
what you were going to be like. I was picturing a spoiled, rich
princess. But that didn’t make sense. For Matt. I trusted his
judgment. But I wanted to meet you myself.”

Honey gave a jerky nod, embarrassed
now, her face wet, her makeup probably wrecked. “I
understand.”

Laura drew back and used her thumbs to
gently stroke away tears from Honey’s hot cheeks, smiling at her.
“You’re beautiful. Inside and out. I watched you with all our
grandkids at the house. They love you. Kids are a good judge of
character. I watched you today, having so much fun with Remi and
Kyla and Nicole. They like you too. I saw you talking to people out
there, charming everyone, including the news people. It’s not your
event, but you threw yourself into it wholeheartedly, helping get
things organized last week, letting reporters interview you even
though you clearly didn’t want to.”

“Um…”

“Then I watched you with that boy. Oh,
Honey. I can see how big your heart is. And I know why Matt loves
you.”

“Frack,” Honey muttered, squeezing her
eyes closed. “You’re making me cry even more.”

Laura laughed softly. “I’m sorry.
Here.” She handed her some tissues.

“Thank you.”

Honey wiped her eyes and blew her
nose, but still felt that tight ache inside her chest that
threatened to turn to tears again. She bent her head and took some
deep breaths. “I need to use the ladies’ room again. I probably
look scary.”

“Let’s both go. Some cold water on
your face will help.”

They took a few more minutes to clean
up. Luckily Honey was wearing waterproof mascara, but her nose and
cheeks were bright pink. Oh well.

“Okay?” Laura asked.

“Not really.” Honey gave her a smile.
“But I’ll fake it. Wow. Sometimes we take so much for granted, when
we should feel so, so blessed.”

“That is so true.” Laura paused.
“Thank you, Honey.”

“For what?” Her eyes
widened.

“For loving my son. For making him
happy.”

They looked into each other’s eyes,
smiled, and Honey reached for Laura’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank
you,” she said. “For raising such a great guy. And for being so
nice to me when I was losing my shit.” She covered her mouth, eyes
wide.

Laura laughed and waved a hand. “Don’t
worry, I’ve heard it all, raising four hockey players.”

“I bet you have.”

They strolled back out.

They paused outside on the patio and
Honey took in the four brothers still crouched down talking to
Ryan, all of them so big and gorgeous, healthy and tanned from the
afternoon in the sun, with wide smiles and sincere interest in
Ryan, and Honey’s heart swelled up so big she thought it might
burst.

Matt looked up at her and caught her
eye and his eyes crinkled up with warmth and love. When she’d
fallen in love with Matt, and him with her, she’d thought that was
enough, more than she’d ever hoped to have, but now being a part of
his family made her feel even more incredibly lucky. As a kid she’d
dreamed about warmth and laughter and hugs and happiness.
Unconditional love. A mother who cared and comforted her, siblings
who were interested in her and teased her, people she could open
her heart to and love, and trust them to take care with her
feelings and love her in return.

Now she had that. She had it
all.

Author Note

Thank you so much for reading Offside!
Make sure you’re on my
mailing list
for news about my next releases. If you
enjoyed Offside, please consider leaving a review at the retailer
of your choice or at Goodreads to help other readers find my
books.

I’ve been so thrilled and gratified
that readers have loved my Heller brothers so much. Every email I
get asking about Jason’s baby, or when the next book is out, or
when Matt would have his story, made me feel like you all think of
these guys as real people as much as I do!
I am incredibly blown away by the response to this
series. I was always told nobody would be interested in hockey or
hockey players, but I wrote these books anyway and I’m so glad I
did. Thank you!

And never fear, dear, dear readers, although this is the
end of the Heller brothers series, I
will
be writing more hockey books!

Other books by
Kelly Jamieson

Heller Brother Hockey

Breakaway

Faceoff

One Man Advantage

Hat Trick

Offside

Other books

Love Me

Friends With Benefits

Love Me More

2 Hot 2 Handle

Lost and Found

One Wicked Night

Rule of Three

Sweet Deal

Hot Ride

Sexpresso Night

Irish Sex Fairy

Conference Call

Rigger

Power Struggle

Taming Tara

Power Shift

San Amaro
Singles

With Strings Attached

How to Love

Slammed

About the Author

Kelly Jamieson is the bestselling
author of over thirty romance novels and novellas. Her writing has
been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and
“blisteringly sexy”. If she can stop herself from reading or
writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she
reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in
the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed
catalogues (there might be a theme here…) She also loves shopping,
especially for clothes and shoes.
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