God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Fourth of July

Jonathan

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes Jonathan. Now get your Canadian ass off the bed and get ready" Maisie jokes trying to pull me off the covers.

"You love my Canadian ass" I joke back causing her to giggle.

"Jonnnnn" she pouts sticking her bottom lip out and making those blue eyes sparkle. That's not even fair.

"Fine, I'm up. I'm going" I say rolling out of bed. Sharpy was having a Fourth of July get together at his place and we were all invited. He wasn't born American but he finds any excuse to party. All the guys that are still in town were coming and I was actually really excited to see them. None of the guys have seen Everly yet and a lot of them wanted to see her. Her brown curly hair is growing and growing and I'm scared of the day I'll have to learn how to put it up. Her eyes look like a collection of the finest diamonds and she's starting to laugh. Life was good.  I get off the couch and change into shorts and a tank top. I go into Everly's room and find her smiling up at the things hanging above her bed.

"Well you're a happy little thing aren't you" I say picking her up. The first week I was scared to touch her, now she's two months old and I have a hard time putting her down. She grabs my nose and she shows a gummy smile. I rest her on my side and bounce up and down as she giggles along.

"Let's see what your mom picked out for you" I say moving to the changing table and find a red white and blue American flag dress. It was cute but a bit too patriotic if you ask me.

"Absolutely fucking not" I laugh picking it up.

"Jonathan... don't make me come in there" Maisie warns from the baby monitor.

"You hear that Evie, she's even gotten in my head" I joke and I hear her laugh.

"Ha ha you're sooo funny. Just get her changed while I get Jackson changed and meet me in the living room" she laughs and I do as I'm told. I slip on little white sandals and a red white and blue hat before heading down stairs. I pack her baby bag and lay down on the couch before placing her on my chest. She lays her head over my heart and grabs on to my tank top as we wait for Maisie and Jackson to come out. I take her hat off and run my fingers through her hair as we lay together in peace. This was real nice.

"You are going to be the death of me" I laugh. I never think I could love her more, yet here I am.

"Aren't you guys cute" Maisie asks coming out of Jackson's room with his hand in hers.

"I like to think so" I smile. She snaps a picture with the camera around her neck before grabbing Everly and putting her in the carrier. We all get buckled up in the car and take the short drive over to Sharpys. We set up the play pen in the living room and I take her around the house to meet the guys.

"Alright Evie, this is Sharpy, Bicksy, Krugs, and Hammer" I say and they all seemed way too excited to see her.

"Oh my god... you made her? Now way! She's adorable" Sharp says taking her from me.

"She gets the looks from her mom. She has my seriousness" I joke.

"I can't believe there's a little you" Hammer laughs as she grabs onto his finger. She really wasn't shy.

"Me either. But she's actually perfect. Then again after taking care of Patrick for so long anything is easy" I joke.

"Her eyes are killer" Bickell says making her smile.

"Crazy how the same pair of eyes I've fallen in love with three times now. It's like I'm in a trance or something" I shrug.

"They're truly something" he admits. I put her in her pen and find Maisie out back watching the city life go by all by herself.

"What's up Wall Flower" I ask sitting next to her and snaking my arm around her. She was friends with the other wives and girlfriends, but she enjoyed her alone time too.

"Thinking" she says continuing to stare off into the sky.

"About what" I wonder.

"About life. How I'm finally free of all my demons" she says.

"Wait... you told him" I ask and she nods.

"Yeah. He knows everything" she admits.

"How come you didn't tell me" I ask a little hurt. I wanted to be there in case something happened or Jackson didn't take it well. There's a number of things that could have gone wrong.

"Because it hurts. Knowing that he knows what I know. Knowing that he might change his mind and want to see his real mom or dad. When he calls me mommy he says it differently, like he wants me to be his mom but knows that can't be true. I didn't want to tell you because talking about it makes me feel gross. Like I want to throw up. I don't want you to look at me differently too" she says.

"Then we don't have to talk about it. But I am proud of you for doing that. I know that was hard for you. Lets talk about how perfect our family is" I say and she finally turns to look at me with a huge smile.

"We are pretty great" she admits.

"Since Jackson knows does this mean I get to show you off. Take you nice places and talk about how great our family is" I ask.

"We're not the Stanley cup" she giggles.

"No, no you guys are much better than that" I say and she looks into my eyes.

"That's sweet. I don't think I would mind now" she says.

"Seriously" I ask. I mean I've watched her run from cameras and attack people who asked the wrong questions.

"Yeah, I'm not scared anymore. Nothing my parents can say or do will hurt me. As long as I have you and Jackson and Everly I could never be hurt" she claims.

"Well I can't wait to tell people I'm marring the best girl and have the most amazing family in the world. And while they'll probably make stuff up and think we're too young I don't care. At the end of the night I get to come home to the most beautiful woman in the world and the best kids and that's all I've ever wanted from life" I admit.

"And that's all I want to give to you" she smiles. I her when a kiss and we go inside to eat hot dogs and hamburgers. We all go to navy pier for the fireworks and enjoy them. I held Everly and made sure her noise canceling headphones stayed on. She watches the fireworks in amazement as I look over to Maisie who had only seen fireworks twice. When I purposed and now. She still looks beautiful like that day, she always does. And it always feels like fireworks with her. Like a explosion of colorful and sporadic popping sounds that make me feel all giddy. She wraps her small hands around her necklace I gave her and pulls it tight to her chest. What a great sight.