Chapter 18

Sidney left on a short road trip. They went to New Jersey for a game and then flew up to Toronto. They were only back for two nights before they were flying up to Montreal for a night and I decided to take advantage of one of those nights. The girls stayed out of the house and I asked Sidney to come over for dinner. He came bearing Chinese.

“I’m ready to talk,” I told him when he came back into the living room from cleaning up. He sat down on the couch next to me and smiled.

“It’s about time,” he joked. I narrowed my eyes and threw the fortune cookie I was holding at him.
“I’m serious!”

“Okay, then talk.” I paused for a minute, collecting my thoughts.

“I left the house and went to the library that night because Grace was watching your game,” I started.

“You’re not going to blame the accident on me, are you?” he asked, looking completely serious.

“Of course not. Just let me talk. When I was in the coma I knew something had happened, but I didn’t know how to wake up. I could hear the voices of the people in the room but I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t move. I didn’t know how much time had gone by, but I started to get tired of trying to do something, anything, and failing. I think I started to give up. Noises and voices started to fade out. I remember wondering if I was dying. Then I heard you. I heard you tell my parents you were in love with me. Suddenly I didn’t want to give up anymore. I wanted to wake up and tell you that I forgave you, that despite what I’d said, I was always going to forgive you. I started to fight again. You saved my life.” He reached over and took my hand as I felt tears falling down my face.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you. I was scared every day. Every time my phone rang my heart stopped thinking someone was going to call to tell me that – I never wanted to leave your side.”

“I felt you. Every time you held my hand or kissed my forehead, I felt you.” He smiled. I looked down at our hands intertwined and bit my lip. “I love you, too.”

He moved closer to me and touched his forehead to mine. He wiped the tears from my cheeks and cupped my face in his hands. Then he pressed his lips to mine. My heart started racing. God, how I’d missed the feeling of his lips. I felt a little lightheaded by the time he pulled away.

“Thank you for showing me that part of your life,” I said to him, referring to dealing with the autograph seekers outside of the arena.

“Just remember, you asked for it,” he joked and I couldn’t help but laugh.

A week later I took my finals. I don’t know if I did as well on them as I would have if I’d taken them on time, but somehow it didn’t seem to matter as much. I knew I still wasn’t going to be able to graduate on time with all of my friends, but I was still only a semester away, and I’d be able to finish up in the fall. A few days later I woke up and saw Grace packing some of my stuff into a travel bag.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“Packing some stuff for our trip,” she said without stopping.

“What trip?” I asked, wondering if I’d forgotten something.

She just smiled at me and walked out of the room. She refused to tell me what was going on and I had no choice but to deal with it and go with her to the airport. Hailey drove us, and I found out all of my housemates were in on this surprise trip, even though only Grace was going.
When we got there I realized we weren’t even getting on a normal plane. Our flight was chartered and we didn’t have to deal with things like boarding passes and security. I got on the plane and settled in, waiting to see where we were going.

“Please buckle up your seat belts. We’re going to start descending. We should be in Toronto in just a few minutes,” I heard the pilot announce.

I whipped my head over to Grace. The Penguins were playing in Toronto that night. She just smiled and laughed. It seemed a little strange that I’d been kept in the dark about a trip to see the guys play until the date hit me. It was Valentine’s Day. Normally I didn’t give it a second thought, and it had been the same this year, until now.

There was a car waiting for us and it took us straight to the arena. We made it inside in time for warm ups. I’d never been inside of another rink before and it was pretty cool to see what another team’s atmosphere was like. We found our seats and settled in to watch the game.

During a stoppage in play I noticed that they were putting personalized Valentine’s messages up on the big screen. Grace and I giggled as we read each one. It continued at every stoppage. During one in the second period we were reading them when we both gasped.

“Happy Valentine’s Day Grace and Tanner. Love J & S.” We both looked at each other and started laughing, shaking our heads. The Penguins lost the game 6-2. It hadn’t been a good game and I was pretty worried about the mood Sidney was going to be in. We used our passes to go downstairs and wait for the guys. They walked out together and gave us hugs when they reached us.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Sidney whispered in my ear during the hug. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as upset as I expected.

“Thanks, S,” I joked. He laughed and winked. We walked outside and the team began to board the bus to take them back to the airport. “So I guess we’ll see you guys later.”

“Not so fast. You’ll be seeing them later,” Sidney said pointing to Jordan and Grace. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m going back with the team in Sidney’s seat. I think you two have a flight home tomorrow. I’ll see you then,” Grace told me and gave me a hug before getting on the bus with the rest of the team.

“Are you ready?” Sidney asked me, taking my hand.

“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly. He just laughed and led me to a car that was parked and waiting for us. It was then that I remembered that Grace had packed me a bag that I didn’t have anymore. “Shit, Sidney, I had a bag with me. I must have left it in the other car.”

“It’s at the hotel.”

I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. A few minutes later the car pulled up to a hotel. Sidney led me inside and we got on an elevator. When the doors opened we walked off and he led me to a door at the end of the hallway. I couldn’t believe my eyes when he opened the door.

“Um, isn’t it Valentine’s Day?” I asked as I walked up to the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the main room.

“Not when you’re in here,” he replied. I looked around and saw that there were stockings, wreaths, Santas, snowmen, reindeer, and candy canes all over the room. “You missed Christmas and I wanted to give it to you.” I turned to him and kissed him.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t even opened your presents.”

“You’re not serious.” I looked under the tree and sure enough there were two wrapped gifts sitting under it. “I don’t have anything for you.”

“I have you, and that’s all I need.” I sat down on the couch and he brought the presents over to me.

He handed me one and I unwrapped it. My eyes widened when I saw a diamond necklace in the box. I ran my hand over it, never having actually seen a necklace like this before. I thanked Sidney and told him I loved it. He just smiled and handed me the second gift. There was a card attached to the top.

“This one was pretty difficult to find,” he told me before I opened the card.

I furrowed my brow at him but opened the blank card. I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun, was written on the inside in Sidney’s handwriting. I recognized the quote immediately as one Mr. Darcy used at the end of Pride and Prejudice as he admitted his feelings for Elizabeth. I opened the present and my hand flew up to my mouth.

“Is this what I think it is?” I asked in shock.

“A first edition,” he responded. I ran my hand over the cover before opening it.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” I read aloud from the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice. I shook my head in disbelief. “This must have cost you a fortune.” I knew very well that a first edition of this book had gone for $125,000 a few years before in an auction.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told me, kissing me gently.

“This has been the best Christmas ever,” I told him. He laughed and helped me up.

“Okay, now on to New Years,” he said leading me into the kitchen of the suite.

When we walked in I saw a Happy New Year 2009 sign, confetti, and a bottle of champagne. He popped open the champagne and poured it into two flutes. I laughed and shook my head at him.

“Happy New Year, Tanner,” he said.

“Happy New Year, Sid,” I returned. We each took a sip of our champagne and then Sidney began to push me towards another room. “Now what?”

He opened the door in front of me to reveal the bedroom. I smiled when I took it all in. There were rose petals surrounding the bed. There were lit candles all over the room and cheesy paper hearts and cupids on the walls. Cheesy was how I liked it.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Baby,” he whispered in my ear. I turned and kissed him hard.

“You are perfect, do you know that?”

He laughed and kissed me. I saw my bag sitting next to the bed and I took out the pajamas that were packed and got ready for bed. When I was done I got into bed and Sidney got in beside me. I cuddled into him and put my head on his chest.

“Thank you so much for everything. You went above and beyond.”

“Nothing is above and beyond when it comes to you. I love you,” he said.

“I love you too.” He placed a kiss on my forehead and I fell asleep in his arms.