Chapter 114

“So whose house are we at anyway?”

“Dana Heinze’s, our equipment manager, he’s around here somewhere. Would you like a tour?”

“Actually I would if it’s not to late.”

“Let me go find him.” Sidney kissed her and went to find Dana. A few minutes later, they both came back and Sidney let him show her the house alone.

They started to walk around and he suggested going upstairs first. Dana showed her every room and saved the best for last.

“And here is the master bedroom.”

“Are you kidding me? This room is beautiful Dana.” Karen looked around at all the space. There was a king size bed against the wall beside the French doors. Two chaise loungers were up against the wall facing the plasma TV on the wall that was proportioned between them and the bed.

“Wait until you see the bathroom.” Dana walked ahead and opened the door revealing a room half the size of the bedroom. “We put in a new garden tub with jets and redid the sink to make it for two. My wife loves her space in the bathroom.”

“Well what woman doesn’t? Especially…oh my god, two private toilets?”

“Yeah you could probably understand why. Another of my wife’s ideas, separate sinks and separate toilets.”

“I am beginning to like her way of thinking. Your house is incredible Dana.”

“Thanks. Why don’t we head back downstairs and let you see what’s all there?”

“Sounds good.”

They went back down and walked through each of the rooms. She saw all the guys having fun and her eyes scanned the crowd for Sidney. When she found him, she just watched him laughing and it made what they did fit even more perfectly.

Time passed and everyone started to clear out. Sidney and Karen stayed around for awhile longer before heading out.

“So what do you think of the house?”

“It’s beautiful.”

Sidney saw the look in her eyes and smiled. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear “Then welcome home baby.”

Karen turned around shocked “what? What do you mean welcome home?”

“Dana was talking about selling the house and since we started looking and not finding anything, I followed him home one day after practice while you were at work and when I fell in love with it, I knew you would too.”

“But I thought we would look and agree together?”

“Well you are agreeing with me, I just happened to buy it first. Are you mad?”

Karen looked around the house before fixing her sight back on to Sidney “no, I’m not mad. This feels right, this feels like home.”

“I have to agree to that. Plus, I told Dana that he and his family could take their time moving. I figured with the playoffs just starting and it would take a few months for you to redecorate, we could be ready to move in before the season starts next year.”

“Have you thought of everything?”

“Not everything. I’ve left a lot for you to do.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Let’s go home baby.”

They bid Dana goodnight and Sidney took Karen home. They got out of the car and he told her to wait on the porch for a minute until he came back for her. After a few minutes, Sidney opened the door and picked her up, carrying her inside. He put her down by the living room and her eyes widened by what she saw.

“Oh my god” she said looking at the room filled with candlelight and roses everywhere. “Sidney…”

“I guess by the look on your face that you’re impressed.”

“It’s beautiful. How did you pull all this off? This had to take longer than the few minutes I was outside.”

“Max, Flower and a few others got everything set up and all I had to do was light the candles.”

“Remind me to thank them.”

“How about if you just thank me instead” he said pulling her closer to him. “I don’t think I could be any happier than I am right now.”

“I know what you mean. I didn’t think love would be possible for us but you changed that.”

“I think we both changed that. All my life was nothing but hockey, hockey and more hockey but you made me realize that the perfect woman and great love can fit in there too.”

“I am far from perfect Sid.”

“To me, you’re perfect and I love you.”

“I love you too.” Sidney took her hand and led her to the couch. They sat down wrapped up with each other, holding hands. Karen played with Sidney’s ring as she held his hand “are you really going to wear your ring?”

“Of course, well except for when I’m playing but yeah, I plan to wear it. Why, do you not want me to wear it?”

“It’s not that Sid, but don’t you think you need to tell your parents and maybe Mario first instead of letting the media get ahold of it during the playoffs to cause a distraction for you?”

“Maybe we should tell them.”

Karen smiled before looking at him “what do you mean we? I’m just a bystander in all this.”

“You have got to be kidding me baby. WE are in this together.”

“I know but sorry, I will not be in the same room when you tell your dad.”

“Baby, you need to be there with me…he won’t kill me with you standing in front of me.”

“Sorry, you’re on your own stud” she said seriously until she cracked a smile.

“Very funny baby” Sidney got up and picked Karen up, putting her over his shoulder and carrying her upstairs “you want fun, I will show you fun.”