together, side by side. This is our story because I love you and you love me. You’ve had my back from the beginning, even supporting me when I thought I wanted someone else. I can’t believe I did that. Talk about being a dick!” She shook her head, annoyed as only Mia could be. “But even then, you cared enough about me to be my friend through it all. My soul mate. The moment you showed up in Biddeford, I knew this was it.”
Her lips touched his, the lightest brush, then a deeper press. He let her in, accepted what she had to give and what he had to give in return. All this love bursting out of him for this perfect human.
“That’s my girl. That’s my strong, beautiful, lion-hearted Mia.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “I love you so much. And it hurt to realize that, especially when I’d convinced myself that I couldn’t have you. Not because of Vadim—that was just an excuse. But because of fear. I’ve got a lot to learn about going for goal. Love is truly an act of courage. You’ve shown me that and I’m hoping that maybe you could keep showing me. Teach me your ways.”
“I could get on board with that.”
“Oh yeah?” He thought she might like that idea.
She wrapped her arms around him, her mouth close to his, their breaths mingling in the cool night air.
“The student becomes the master, Foreman.”
And then she kissed him again, sealing their vow as hearts and souls became one.
Epilogue
Mia raced down the right side of the rink, the puck stuck to her blade, the net in her sights. Until a big tower of Mother Russia appeared in front of her. She feinted left. The granite block followed. She tried the run around. This player stuck to her like Velcro. Finally, with one last burst of strength, Mia pushed her opponent back and plugged the puck into the back of the net.
The crowd erupted, no one louder than Cal and Vadim in the Rebels section, so nicknamed because the twenty or so seats were occupied by the team and their loved ones. All here to cheer on Mia in the gold medal game for USA versus Russia.
“You think Vespov would make a good addition to Chicago?” Isobel asked. She’d been treating this entire trip as a scouting expedition for the new franchise.
“Solid but not enough flexibility,” Cal said, then jumped to his feet as Mia got another shot on goal, only for it to whizz past the pipe. “The last thing we need is more Russians in Chicago.”
Vadim snorted. “What this Russian needs is for this horror to end so I can put my heart back in my chest where it belongs.”
The clock counted down as Team USA tried to hold on to its slim one goal lead. At twenty seconds to go, the crowd started the chant but they were too slow to match the actual clock, which drilled down, down, down, and … finally it was over. Mia dropped her gloves and her stick and hugged Cassie O’Brien so hard they both fell over.
Everyone in the stands clapped backs and high-fived. Theo turned around. “How the hell are we going to top that?” He and Burnett were playing the men’s gold medal game tomorrow against Canada.
“I don’t think much of your chances, Kershaw,” Reid deadpanned, getting the mind games started early. He was Team Canada’s star forward, and the bookies definitely had the USA’s cousins to the north with the slight edge.
Less than an hour later, Cal was watching the medal ceremony from the tunnel because Mia had managed to finagle him a Team USA ID as her coach (it helped that Coach Lindhoff was an old friend). The players were on the podium, crying their eyes out as they held hands over hearts and listened to the US National Anthem. Happy tears turned to beaming smiles while they milled around each other, comparing their gold medals and marveling at how their hard work had paid off.
Now that Mia’s Olympics were over, she could focus on her next goal: playing pro. She had offers from several teams, though he prayed she’d take the one from Chicago. Once Selena Fabien had been ousted, it didn’t take long for Vadim and the Chase family to renegotiate the women’s franchise for the Windy City with Selena’s successor. If Mia ended up elsewhere, they’d make it work long-distance, but he would prefer she was with him