Daughter // Tyler Seguin

1.1

With only one minute left in the game, they're tied at one each. Tyler has been trying so hard to score all night, Sophia cheers the loudest of anyone around us anytime he touches the puck. She won't take her eyes off of him whenever he's near, it's actually so cute how much she adores him.

"Mommy, what happens if Tyler scores?"

"I don't know if he will Soph."

"He will for me, I know he will. I can feel it in here." She puts her hand to her chest and I laugh as I shake my head at her. I turn back to watch the game, the puck is in Boston's end and everytime a shot goes through my heart skips a beat.

All of a sudden the puck gets loose and I see Tyler race after it, he picks it up on his stick and takes off down the ice. Sophia starts screaming for him to go faster. He crosses the blue line and starts to go off to the right of the net and as the goalie follows him across and goes down, Tyler shoots into the opposite top corner.

The puck hits the crossbar, ringing through the rink, and drops down. It looks like it passes the goal line in slow motion as Tyler throws his hands in the air and cheers, his teammates rush over and attack him in a giant pile.

After he finally breaks free, he skates close to us and taps on the glass near Sophia as she jumps around and screams her head off. He winks at me and blows a kiss as I laugh at his antics, I pretend to catch the kiss and stick my hand in my pocket as if I'm keeping it.

The game ends a few seconds later and Sophia rushes over to get high-fives from the players as they leave the bench. Tyler sees her as he's leaving and gives her a big hug as well as hands her something, he whispers something to her and she gives him a big kiss on the cheek. He looks past her and we lock eyes and I smile at him, I lift my pointer finger in the air and he smiles really wide and does it back.

"Sophia, come on sweetheart." I call and she says one more thing to Ty and he gives her another hug and she waves good bye.

"Mommy! Look!" She rushes over and hands me a puck, "Tyler said it's from his goal and he wanted me to have it!"

"Well isn't that so nice of Tyler, let me hold onto it for you Soph." I put out my hand and Sophia sets the puck in it. I throw it into my purse and turned back to Sophia.

"Can we go downstairs now?"

"How about we go to the bathroom first, and then we'll go downstairs. Sound good?"

"Fine." We start back up the stairs behind all the other fans, slowly making our way up. Once we finally get all the way up Sophia is whining for me to carry her because she's tired. I lift her up and carry her to the washroom.

There's a short line but we make it through quickly. Both Sophia and I go to the bathroom, I make sure she washes her hands when she's done. I check my hair in the mirror quickly, to make sure it still looks nice as Sophia watches me.

"Mommy, you look pretty."

"Thank you baby, ready to go see Ty now?"

"Yes!" I take her hand and lead her out of the washroom, she quietly mutters to herself as we walk and I smile down at her.

It's not a very long walk back downstairs and to the dressing rooms. This time we just flash our passes and get right through to where a bunch of other families are waiting for the players. Sophia is the only young kid there, we get a lot of stares as we stand a little far off from the group.

"Hi there, I don't think we've ever met?" A woman comes up to us, she sticks out her hand for me to shake, "I'm Ava, who are you waiting for?"

"Uh, Tyler."

"Seguin?"

"Yeah. I'm Harley by the way."

"Well it's really nice to meet you Harley."

"Yeah, you too Ava."

"I'm Sophia!" Sophia calls out from beside me and Ava laughs before bending down to talk to her.

"Are you waiting for Tyler too?"

"Yeah, he's mommy's friend. But she loves him more than that." Ava laughs and looks up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Sophia, that's not something you share with people we just met." I say and Sophia giggles.

"It's okay mommy, she's nice." I shake me head and Ava stands back up.

"She's adorable, how old is she?"

"She's five. Turning six in May."

"How sweet. So how do you know Tyler?"

"We're from Toronto. Me and Tyler were best friends growing up and once he got drafted we just kind of parted ways. Sophia was just a couple months old when he left. He was a really great help though in the beginning and even now, he helps us out a lot."

"Oh, well he's a super sweet guy. You're lucky you have someone like him in your life." Ava smiles at me which I return and look down at Sophia.

She's watching the door of the change room intently waiting for Tyler to come out.

"Yeah, we know. Sophia loves him so much, even though she doesn't remember him much from before. Everything in her life is Tyler Seguin and the Boston Bruins, which hurts me as a Leafs fan myself." I laugh quietly and Ava giggles.

"Tyler!" Sophia yells and pulls free from my grip on her hand, I watch her take off running towards him as he bends down with open arms. She jumps into him as a huge grin breaks across Tyler's face.

"Wow, they look a lot alike." Ava says to me and I turn to look at them, my cheeks burning.

"Oh, uh yeah everyone says that." I awkwardly stumble through my sentence as Ava chuckles.

"I know Harley."

"What?"

"About you guys." She gestures between me and where Tyler is still holding onto Sophia as they're deep in conversation.

"What, how? Who told you?"

"Brad, he's my brother. Tells me everything, but I swear on my life I would never tell a soul."

"Oh wow okay. I uhm, I've just never told anyone. Like people in my hometown don't even know. I don't know what they think but I made sure no one knew that Sophia is his."

"Why?"

"I had to protect him, he's so young and when he was getting drafted and just starting out I didn't want us to hold him back. That's why we stayed in Toronto this whole time too."

"I'm sure he could handle it all now. He's a big boy, and you're a big girl."

"I know, I have no idea why I'm being so open with you about all of this but I feel like I can trust you."

"Well you know your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks, that means a lot."

(A/N) There's going to be a part 2 of this chapter bc it is so long already so be on the lookout for that!!!!!!