The Brick Wall

Chapter 4

Curtis POV

  "Are you ready, baby?"

  Lennox coos back at me, her feet kicking up a storm in her car seat as I drive a couple of hours outside of Raleigh.  We pass by light posts that are decorated with lit up Christmas wreaths as the start of the season seems to have spilled out onto local businesses and streets. 

  I pull the truck off the interstate into Emporia, just a bit over the North Carolina line into Virginia. I follow the GPS a mile further into town until I'm pulling into the local shopping mall.  I scour the signs, looking for the arrow that leads me to the Macy's parking lot.  

  It takes me no more than ten seconds to spot her. "There's Ga-Ga, Lenny Lou," I announce to my daughter as I see the bright pink scarf covering her head as I turn down the lane.  I pull the truck into the empty spot next to her small Volvo and cut the engine. "What are you doing waiting out here?" I question her before pulling her in close for a long, tight hug.

  "I just got out not two minutes ago, Curtis. Stop worrying about me and give me my baby girl!"  My mother's fingers are already reaching into the warmth of the truck to grab up the car seat.  I gently grab her shoulder and make her step back, but not before Lennox is opening and closing her fist in want. With a grip on the back of the car seat I'm unlocking it from the base and scooting it over to the edge of the bench seat. 

  "Let me grab the stroller from the back." With little to no effort I'm lifting up the stroller, pulling it apart and prepping it for the seat to be locked in on the top. My mother is already trying to lift the seat out of the truck and struggling each step of the way. "Mom, let me." I adjust the blanket over Lennox once more before locking the seat in place. With a click of my keys the truck is also locked and I offer my elbow to my mother, offering up the warmth of my body to her as we stroll into the mall. 

  "She's getting so big," my mother, Dottie, comments as she lifts the blanket off of her. "Oh my goodness, look at that outfit!"

  I have to admit, Lennox is looking especially adorable in her red and green dress with white tights and black patent leather Mary Janes. Her soft brown fuzz that covers her head is adorned by a little thin red velvet band that holds a small red bow with a white pearl in the center. 

  "No way you picked this out."

  "I take offense to that," I complain as I push the stroller through the store.  

  My mother laughs at me, a sight that I've not seen since moving to Raleigh at the beginning of October. It had taken everything in me to follow her urging when the AHL called me up. 

  Dottie Everett had been smack in the midst of battling breast cancer in Norfolk when I'd gotten the offer. My eyes were filled with tears when I'd told her. Her own bright blue eyes matching mine as her hands covered her mouth in shock and surprise.  While her tears were filled with joy, my own fell in a harsh torment of fear. 

  "You're sick," I'd managed to get out while I bit back a sob, thankful that Lennox was asleep in her crib for a nap.

  "What's your point?" she'd asked as if my statement was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. "You're a hockey player, with a baby. You go wherever you can to get further in your career, Curtis."

  "But I can't leave you, not when you're like this."

  The stern look she leveled me with was one I'd seen all my life. "Like what?" she challenged me.  "Like the radiant woman I am that's going to kick cancer's ass should be the only sentence coming out of that smart mouth of yours."