As for me, I decided the Cup would be with me on the beach while I eloped with the love of my life. No one else was invited. So the Stanley Cup sits at a table not far from where Jana walks toward me in a simple white gown. I’m wearing a khaki suit, nothing fancy.
She looks absolutely radiant, and the emerald-and-diamond ring I bought her sparkles in the island sun. Her long blonde hair blows in the gentle breeze, and I swear I hold my breath the entire time she makes her way toward me.
We didn’t want to wait to get married since the kid thing is a big unknown. Will Jana have to do IVF, will she get pregnant the natural way, will we need to involve a surrogate? These are all questions we have to find the answers to, but we decided to wait until after our wedding before we started searching for them. We wanted today to be about our love, our commitment, and the possibility of what might be going forward.
Jana reaches me and takes my hand.
“You look stunning.” I can’t take my eyes off her.
She smiles and gives me the once-over. “You clean up pretty well yourself.”
She winks because she’s seen me much more dressed up than this, but I did trim down my beard and get my hair trimmed for the occasion. Can’t have the wifey thinking I’ve let myself go just because I’m about to become married to her.
The officiant we met only an hour ago begins the ceremony. And when he tells me it’s my turn to say my vows, I speak from the heart.
“Jana, as we stand here today, I want to thank you for showing me what real love is. Despite your stubborn, high-maintenance side, I knew there was something special about you.”
She rolls her eyes playfully.
“You’re a strong, powerful, fearless woman who doesn’t make apologies for who you are, and I admire that, as much as that side of you drives me crazy sometimes.” I squeeze her hands and wink. “I cannot imagine my life without you. Your presence has allowed me to imagine a life I never thought would be possible for me. Knowing you’re by my side allows me to step away from my fear and embrace all the possibilities of what might be, because with you by my side, I know that whatever happens, it will turn out all right. I love you more than I can put into words, and I need you to know that you are everything to me. Without you, my life has no meaning. It just doesn’t make sense.”
By the time I finish, she has tears in her eyes.
The officiant directs Jana to say her vows, and like me, she doesn’t have anything written down.
“Kane, I never could have anticipated how much my life would change when you walked into it. In all honesty, looking back, I don’t even feel like I was really living before you became a part of my life. I was just sort of existing. You’ve loved me in a way that few ever have before—unconditionally. And there is such peace in knowing that no matter what, you will be there cheering me on, picking up the pieces of me if I fall apart, and loving me in a way I never knew was possible. I love you with all that I am, all that I have, and all that I can be. And no matter what the future holds for us, we will deal with it together. And that’s all I need to know that this union today will have a happy ending.”
I sniff back my own tears and have to use the cuff of my suit jacket to wipe my face.
Eventually the officiant pronounces us husband and wife, and I pull Jana into my arms and kiss her with the love and tenderness that flows through my veins. The lady boss is officially my wife. Who would have thought?
We take some pictures for social media with us and the Cup, then we send it home with the two trustees, since we were the last ones from the team to get it.
My career has been a long one, relatively speaking, and I feared that the best part of my life was over when I retired and went into coaching. Now, with this silver ring on my left finger, I feel as though the best is still to come. Like I have a whole new life to start with this amazing woman by my side.
It’s early morning when my phone rings, and I see that it’s my brother. I put him on speaker because I’m too lazy to hold the phone to my ear. Jana and I have been sex fiends since the wedding yesterday, and I’m still recuperating.
“Hey, Lee,” I say. “You’re on speaker.”
“Congratulations to the happy couple! Aren’t you glad I got his head out of his ass for you, sis?”
Something warms in my chest at hearing my brother refer to my new wife as sis.
She giggles next to me, naked in our honeymoon bed. “Thank you for the millionth time.”
“You’re interrupting sex time,” I say.
“Sorry, I just wanted to call and give my congrats, but I had to tell you… you’re never gonna believe who I just found out has been hired as my team’s massage therapist?”
I forgot training camp has already started for him. “Who?”
“Shayna Kudrow.”
My eyes bug out of my head, and Jana looks at me in confusion.
“Didn’t you…” I start, and Jana frowns.
“I did.”
“This should be interesting.” I scratch my beard.
“Real interesting. Anyway, gotta go, but I knew you’d be the only one who would understand how fucked up this is.”
We hang up.
Jana sits up, turning to face me. “What did he do?”
“You’re my wife, so no secrets, right?”
She gives me a stern nod in only the way she can. “That’s right.”
So I tell her the history of Lee Burrows and Shayna Kudrow…
TRUST US, this is a bonus scene you cannot miss… Can we say, where are they now?
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Catch a flight with us to San Francisco, where Kane’s little brother will kick off his own series, Kingsmen Football Stars with his book, You had your chance, Lee Burrows. Who doesn’t love second chance workplace sports romance?
Reserve your copy now!
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Cockamamie Unicorn Ramblings
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As we’ve always said in our ramblings, some couples take longer than others to connect with when you’re writing a book. Sometimes it’s not until the end of the book when an author finally knows their character. But with Jana and Kane, something sparked by the second chapter.
We’ve teased you from the start of Tropical Hat Trick about these two. Many times we write those little pieces without fleshing out their characters or their story and we end up in the corner somewhere wondering how the heck we can write ourselves out of it.
And that kind of happened here. Kane was originally going to want kids and a family from the get-go. He’d want the relationship and fight for Jana. But there were some reasons why this didn’t work for us so one long Zoom call later we decided to switch up the storyline a little, bringing you what you just read.
We know a few people weren’t fond of Jana in some of the previous books and we’re hoping she won you over in the end. One of our goals is to give you different types of characters throughout a series. We don’t want them to ever be carbon copies of each other. We aspire for you to know their personalities and what makes each one a little different than another. Within a series and sometimes when they’re only a secondary character in someone else’s book you can’t see their actual story yet and you might not understand them. You might not get why they do what they do. But know that we always (usually) have a plan. LOL Jana was definitely the right fit for Kane, and she needed a guy like Kane who was strong enough to stand up to her and strong enough to fight for her.