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Sven

T he next morning, Sven woke to crying.

He’d been on his own in this house for three years. That was before he signed his four-year contract with the Magic, which was coming up again. Next year was his last year on contract here. He wanted to stay, but his game was off.As much as he wanted to ignore his father, he was right about that. It was time he fixed his game. Getting a good contract and being able to stay on this team depended on him figuring it out.

He was supposed to be focusing on that, but instead, he was tiptoeing down the hallway to the bedroom, where his daughter slept. His daughter. He wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to that.

When he got to the door, it was cracked. He knocked, and little Winnie was still crying. After cracking the door open, he noticed Stacie was still sleeping in her bed. She was probably exhausted after being on her own with the baby all these months.

He crept in, and when he looked over the crib, Winnie stopped crying and reached for him. His heart was fit to burst right out of his chest.He picked her up and quietly pulled the door shut behind them.

“What do you say, Winnie? Why don’t we let Mommy get some sleep? We can hang out for a bit.”

He made his way downstairs with this wide-eyed contented beauty in his hands. He rummaged through the diaper bag by the edge of the coffee table.

“Hey, sweet girl, I’m going to change your diaper and then make you a bottle.”

While no one would have suspected Sven as a baby person, when he was nine, his sister had been born. When your dad was a famous NHL player and your mom lived the life of a famous NHL player’s wife, it left Sven and Tilda alone with nannies a lot of the time. Sven took on a lot of the responsibility for Tillie. And while the bottles look a little different from when they used to, changing diapers and making bottles was something that came back to him.

Before long, Winnie was in a dry diaper and sucking down her bottle on Sven’s lap while he pulled up highlights from last night’s games.

He could get used to this. He would get a paternity test and figure out all the legal stuff that needed to happen, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. Even with her dark hair, she was his. She looked just like him. This brought everything into perspective.

He may have been having a shit season, but he’d figure it out. The stakes just got higher, but this pressure felt different from his dad. This felt like he needed to grow up and stop acting like a child. And while his dad told him that often, it was hard to do when his dad was still yelling at him and treating him like one. He would be lying if he said that his father’s voice wasn’t in his head, telling him he was going to mess up. That he wasn’t good enough for anything besides hockey.

Maybe this precious little baby in his arms did deserve better than him, but he was going to put in the work to be who she deserved.

“There you are.” He looked up to see Stacie coming down the stairs. “I was wondering where she went. I’m sorry I didn’t even hear her.”

“No worries. Winnie and I are just chillin’. I thought you might like to sleep a little more. I do need to start getting ready for work, though.” As he said that, a tiny little baby hand touched his face. “But then I’ll come home, and we’ll figure out what to do. I’ll call my lawyer, and we can start getting it all figured out.”

“Your lawyer? We don’t need a lawyer for anything.”

“I think it’s a good idea, but please don’t worry. I want to be a part of her life and help you guys. I’ll make sure you don’t end up in a motel like that ever again.”

“Really?”

“I wish you would’ve come to me sooner. I’ll do right by you both. We can figure this out,” he said, reaching out and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Okay, but we don’t need a lawyer... I mean, if we both want the same thing, then what’s the point?” she asked, batting her lashes.

Sven bit his lip.

Getting a lawyer was the responsible thing to do, and he would, but maybe he should drop it. He would hate for her to disappear right after she showed up.

“Okay,” he said as he patted her shoulder. “We can talk about that later. I’m going to go get ready for work. Please help yourself to anything in the house. Mrs. Malone will be in today sometime late morning. She’s my housekeeper, and I already texted her, telling her you and Winnie were staying here. She usually makes me a few meals to eat throughout the week. Just tell her what you need, and she can add it to the grocery list.”

“Are you sure?”

Her knee brushed his with how close she sat. Winnie turned in his arms and reached for her mother.

Sven handed her the baby as he stood. “Of course. Anything you need.”

By the time he got upstairs, he realized he was already late. They were doing practice skate before video game review, and there was no way he would make it there in time to gear up, but he would figure it out. He quickly put on his Magic T-shirt, hoodie, and athletic pants, then threw together a smoothie and made it to the ice as quickly as he could.

Unfortunately, he made it late and had to do bag skates. He needed to talk to someone at the center about what to do. If this situation took a wrong turn, it could be a PR nightmare, so someone in PR should know, and honestly, he was afraid of Hillary because she was a ballbuster.

The only person he could stomach talking to about this was Sasha. He just hoped she wouldn’t tell Conner. Conner had been on his ass lately, and this would not help.

After he’d finished up, he had a moment before his session with a trainer. So, he made his way to the business side of the Magic center and knocked on Sasha’s office door.

His heart was beating out of control. How on earth did he get himself in this situation?

“Come in,” called Sasha.

Sven pushed the door open, but his feet were cemented in place.

“Hi, Sven. What can I do for you?”

He needed to talk. It was his turn to do something, say something, anything, but he just stood there.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, concern coloring her voice.

He took a deep breath, closed the door, and dropped into the chair across from her.

“Sven? You’re kinda freakin’ me out.”

“Join the club.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well... nothing is wrong per se... Can I trust you to keep this just between us? At least for a while?”

He was regretting coming to her. He knew he needed to go to someone. Maybe he should have gone to his lawyer first. Fuck... this situation had him so out of his depth.

“That depends, but I promise to help in any way I can.”

He nodded and moved to stand. “I should just go.”

“Sven. Sit down. What the hell is going on?”

“Will you at least not tell Conner?”

“Yes. While I can’t promise not to go to Hillary, I won’t tell Conner if you don’t want me to.”

“Yesterday... I found out...” He raked his hand through his hair. “I have a baby.”

Sasha’s jaw dropped, and she just stared.

“I have a little baby girl, and her and her mother showed up on my doorstep the other day,” he said, his foot jiggling so hard it shook his whole chair, sloshing the water in Sasha’s cup.

“Okay... Did she want anything from you? How old is the baby? Sven... you’re a dad?”

He nodded. “I don’t think she wants anything from me...”

“Where are they now?”

“Back at my house?”

“They are staying with you?”

“Yeah... They were staying at a filthy motel down on Fifth Street... I couldn’t leave them there.”

Sasha’s eyes softened. “Do you think it’s smart to let them move in?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry... I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, but she’s my kid.”

“And you know this for sure?”

“I’m planning on calling my lawyer and getting a paternity test, but, yeah... she’s mine. She looks like me but with brown hair.”

Just thinking about her little baby face and her little, tiny baby fingers made him smile.

“Okay, I think that’s smart. I won’t tell Hillary yet, but we’re going to have to tell her. We just need a plan on what to do should this break or go sideways,” she said, taking notes.

He was a mix of emotions. He was angry Sasha was treating this like a problem to solve, but he got it. Because she was right—he was nervous. Even though he thought things would be fine, they could go sideways fast. Even despite all that, he was defensive, and this was his baby.

Sasha peered at him and must have been able to tell how confused he was because she gave him a small smile. “Do you have a picture of her?”

Sven shook his head. “I’ll get one, though. She’s fucking perfect.”

“How are you handling all of it?”

He took a deep breath. “I mean... I’m shocked but also not really. I’m nervous, but I’m just trying to figure out the right thing to do.”

“I know you’ll do the right thing. You’re a good guy. Keep me posted. I won’t tell Conner anything, and we can figure out how and when to tell Hillary.”

Sven nodded and stood. “I’m heading home. Thank you, Sasha.”

She came around, gave him a hug, then whispered, “It’s all going to be okay.”

He was almost embarrassed at how he melted into her hug and pulled her close. He needed this lifeline more than he thought he did.

When he got home, he didn’t see Stacie or Winnie anywhere, so he went up to find them. There was no sign of Stacie, but Winnie was asleep in her crib. He walked over to the crib and peered down at her peacefully sleeping. Fighting the urge to pick her up, he turned and made his way down into his room. As he turned the corner, he stopped dead in his tracks.

There, sitting on his bed, was Stacie. Naked.

“What are you doing?” he said, averting his eyes.

“You can look at me, Sven. It’s not like you’ve never seen me naked before,” she said, standing in front of him.

“Stacie, I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said, looking her in the eye, making sure to keep his focus at eye level.

“Why? We could be a family?” She rested her hand on his chest.

“Let’s just take this one step at a time. I just want to get to know you and Winnie. Let’s do that first.”

His phone rang in his pocket. Saved by the bell .

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take this.”

“Okay, but think about it,” she said as she dragged her hand over his chest and sauntered out of his room.

He sat on his bed and answered his phone without even checking the caller ID, which he immediately regretted. “Hello.”

“Sven, I’ve been trying to call you,” his dad said over the phone.

Sven fell back on his bed and covered his eyes. “I’ve been a little busy. We’re back in practice and games.”

“I’ll be watching your game tomorrow. I hope you’re finally able to get a goal. You should be outscoring most of your teammates. You need to get your fucking head in the game.”

“I know. Believe it or not ... this is not helping.”

“If you can’t take a little tough love from me, then you’ve gotten a little too soft.”

“I gotta go.”

“Wait—”

But he didn’t wait. He hung up and pulled one of his pillows down over his face to muffle a scream... Only the pillow smelled like perfume, and he remembered the naked woman he’d found lounging on his bed.

Then his dad called back.

He couldn’t deal with any of this. In the past, he would have called a teammate, maybe gone out for a few drinks, but he didn’t want to do that anymore. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. His life was upside down, and he was just holding on.

Then he heard another ring, but he picked up his phone. It wasn’t ringing anymore. Then he heard a voice answer it.

“Hello,” Stacie answered.

The baby monitor was sitting on his nightstand, so he moved to turn it off, but then she started talking.

“I’m working on it... Yeah, I’m still here ... I just need a little more time... I’ll get it to you. Please, just a little more time.”

Sven wasn’t sure he liked that. This was the second time in a few days he’d overheard her on the phone with someone who sounded like they wanted something from her. Was she behind on bills? He would help with that... but he was starting to get the feeling it might not be something that simple.

“Okay, I’ll call you when I know more... Bye.”

She hung up, and Sven turned off the monitor. He picked up his own phone and had a call of his own to make.

“You’ve reached the offices of DiMaggio and Ordaz.”

“Yeah, this is Sven Olsson calling for Victor DiMaggio.”

“One moment, please.”

He took a deep breath. It was time he got his lawyer involved in all of this because he sure as fuck didn’t know what to do.