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Sven

S ven made his way to the Magic center. He was having conflicting feelings about leaving Winnie. Even though he trusted Natalie with her, with the way Stacie had disappeared, a part of him was nervous she might show back up. Or what if Winnie wasn’t comfortable with Natalie? Or what if she got fussy? Would she know that she liked to be worn in the baby carrier he’d bought? He should have shown her that.

At a red light, he thought about pulling up her contact and telling her where it was. Instead, he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She could handle it.

By the time he made it to the center and into the meeting room for the team meeting and video review, he was one of the last ones there. He took a deep breath and sighed. He was dreading what he was about to do, but he knew he needed to do it.

“Coach,” he said as he walked up to Coach Wagner.

“How’s it going?” Coach asked, since he was one of the few people who knew what was going on.

“It’s going. I think I have things a little more under control, so I shouldn’t have to miss anything else.”

“Good to hear,” Coach said with a nod.

“I was wondering if I could talk to the team. I kind of what to tell them what’s going on,” Sven said, trying to shove down his nerves.

Coach Wagner clapped him on the back. “Of course, and if there’s anything else we can do for you, let me know.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Sven took his usual seat as the last few players filtered in. He kept his head buried in his phone; he wasn’t sure what to do. How do you act normal when you were about to drop the bomb he was about to drop? So far, the only people who knew were his sister, his housekeeper, Sasha, Hillary, and a handful of coaches. And of course, Natalie knew.

Something about thinking about her brought a smile to his face. He knew all too well her expression when he was wiping off his chest from Winnie’s baby food incident. He gave his head a little shake. She was his nanny. Even though he was attracted to her, and she seemed to be attracted to him, they could have a professional working relationship, right? People did it all the time.

As the room filled and the coaching staff came in, Coach Wagner stood to start the meeting. Sven wiped his sweaty palms down his shorts. Why was he so nervous?

“Okay, boys, before we get started, I know some of you were curious why Sven wasn’t with us on the road trip. He’s asked to come talk to you guys.”

All the guys turned and watched him as he made his way to the front. His heart was pounding away.

He took a deep breath and tilted his head to pop his neck. “I’m sorry I missed the road trip. I had some family stuff come up.”

All eyes were on him. It was like each set of eyes were judging him.

Fuck. He hated this.

“A few weeks ago, I received a surprise... Fuck...” he said, swiping his hand through his hair. The sea of faces had gone from neutral to showing concern the more flustered he got. “I’m just going to come right out and say it. I have a daughter.”

Cash’s mouth had dropped, and Conner’s eyebrows were tightly drawn. He glanced over to Coach Wagner, who gave him an encouraging nod.

“She’s maybe six months old, and she’s staying with me. I needed to take some time to figure out how to make it all work and find a nanny, and all that. That’s why I needed to stay here. I’ve hired a nanny, who’ll be able to watch her on all upcoming road trips... but, yeah... so now you know.”

He was pleasantly surprised to see encouraging faces.

“Thank you, Sven. Let us know if you need anything else,” said Coach, clasping his shoulder as he stepped forward to take over the meeting.

Sven took his seat and tried to stay focused on the meeting and game videos, but his mind kept wandering. Getting out on the ice would help with that.

“Okay, boys, go suit up and meet me out on the ice. We are going to run some drills before a scrimmage.”

As he made his way into the locker room, everyone was quiet.

Finally, Conner came in. “So, you’re a dad, huh?”

Sven sat on the bench next to his locker and nodded.

“When did you find out?” asked Ethan.

“A couple weeks ago,” Sven answered.

“How did you find out?” asked Wes.

“A woman showed up at my door with a baby and said it was mine. And I could tell just by looking at her that she wasn’t lying.”

“How’s it all going?” Conner asked as he put on his skates.

“Well . . .”

And he told them, told them about how she showed up, about some of her shady behavior, and about how she left with his stuff and his car but not the baby.

“So, she just left Winnie with you?” asked Conner, looking shocked.

Sven nodded.

“Damn,” Cash said, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. “How are you holding up?”

Sven blew out a breath. “It’s been crazy. I’m not sure it’s all hit me yet. But now that I have a nanny, I won’t let you guys down again.”

“Hey, man, you didn’t let us down. I wish we would’ve known. We’re here to help however we can,” said Cash.

“You should bring her to the next family skate,” said Gunnar.

“She’s still a baby.”

“My wife will be there with our new little one,” Gunnar said, who was only one of three of the Magic players who had kids.

Well, four now , Sven thought to himself.

“Okay, I’ll think about it.”

Sven turned to his gear and got ready for practice. He was ready to get out onto the ice and blow off steam.

After a good practice and a workout session, Sven was on his way home. It’d gone better than he could’ve thought. In fact, it was kind of a best-case scenario, really. He was excited to get home and see his little girl. He pulled into his garage. The empty stall next to him still made him angry. And he wasn’t angry that she had stolen his car, and he probably would have bought her a car if she asked. No, he was mad—because how could she have left Winnie with him? He would never hurt Winnie because he loved her, but how did she know that?

That whole situation still made him sick, but as he walked into the kitchen, a smile spread across his face at the sight.

There, dancing in his kitchen to “The Wheels on the Bus,” was Natalie, making his baby girl laugh while she fed her.

Winnie’s eyes found him, and she reached for him.

“Hey there, sweet girl,” he said, walking over to them and dropping a kiss on Winnie’s head.

He had the urge to do the same thing to Natalie... That was weird.

“How was your day?” he asked as he walked over to the fridge, got out a container of grapes, and started snacking.

“Good,” she said as she fed Winnie the last bite, then moved to the sink to wet a washcloth to wipe off her hands and face. “Ms. Malone went shopping, Winnie and I hung out, and she’s just about ready for a nap.”

She turned to get Winnie out of the highchair, but Sven had beaten her to it.

“I was wondering if it would be okay if I took her on a walk or even to the park... Ya know, stuff like that.” She propped her hip against the counter, taking them in.

“Of course,” Sven answered. “As long as you have your phone on you so I can get a hold of you. I’ll order another car seat for your car if that would make it easier.”

“That sounds great! Is there anything else you need today?”

“Actually, I was going to see if we could sit down and talk about your schedule and my schedule and look over all that stuff.”

“Oh, ummm... yeah, that sounds great. Let me go put Winnie down for her nap,” she said, moving to take her from Sven.

“I’ll do it. Just relax for a little bit... if you don’t mind.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s fine.”

He couldn’t help his smile. “You really are from Alabama, aren’t you?”

“Why?” she asked skeptically, pinching her brows.

“Whyyy?” he drawled out in a fake Southern accent.

“Oh, hush,” she said, giving him a dirty look.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, winking at her before he turned to take Winnie upstairs to put her to bed.