Chapter 69

The next morning, Lauren felt more relaxed about heading into court knowing Sidney would be right there beside her. As they walked into the courtroom, Sidney squeezed Lauren’s hand and sat down beside her on the bench. When they brought Jimmy in, Sidney had to let go of Lauren’s hand because he got so angry at the sight of him and he was afraid he might break Lauren’s fingers. Lauren watched him take a few deep breaths, and that seemed to calm Sidney down. He put his arm around her shoulders and she rested her hand on his thigh.

“Madam foreman, has the jury reached a verdict?” The judge asked.

“Yes, your honor. We, the jury, find the defendant, Mr. James Peters, guilty on all accounts.”

Lauren and Sidney couldn’t hide their relieved expressions upon hearing this. Sidney leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“Duly noted. The court thanks you for your service.” The judge replied. “The court will take a recess, and sentencing will resume this afternoon.”

They stood up and Sidney pulled Lauren into his arms. “I love you.” He whispered, and she smiled and took his hand as they walked out of the courtroom.

As they stepped out of the courthouse, they were greeted by a throng of reporters. Apparently, word had spread that Sidney was in town and had attended the trial that morning. “I’m going to have to answer a few of their questions. Why don’t you guys go on ahead and Dad and I will catch up with you in a few minutes?” He whispered into Lauren’s ear. She nodded and watched him head off in the direction of the reporters, with Troy following closely behind him.

“Sidney, how is the trial going?”

“It’s going well. It’s nearly finished.” Sidney replied.

“How long are they going to put him away for?”

Sidney knew that with the multiple charges he had been convicted of, a life sentence wasn’t a possibility, but he could get put away for a very long time. “Sentencing has not begun yet, so I have no idea what will happen with that. My biggest concern is making sure that nothing like this happens again.”

“How is Lauren doing?”

“She has an amazing amount of strength, and our family and friends have been very supportive.”

“Will she return to school?”

“That’s a personal decision she will have to make. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get going.” Sidney replied quickly as him and Troy headed down the street towards the café everyone else was eating at.

When they arrived, Sidney’s eyes lit up when he saw Lauren waving them over their table. The café was fairly crowded, and Sidney was receiving glances from all directions, but luckily, everyone seemed to understand that this wouldn’t be the most appropriate time to interrupt their favorite hockey star.

The lunch hour seemed to pass quickly, but Sidney was glad to see Lauren more relaxed and smiling quite a bit. He knew there would still be rough times, but it was good to see things turning around for the better.

They returned to court and the sentencing went rather quickly. This judge was a tough one, and gave the maximum sentence for all charges. Lauren, Sidney, Vero, Marc, and all of their families let out a collective sigh of relief. They know there’s the possibility of Jimmy being released for “good behavior” in less time, but they would worry about that when the time came. When court was adjourned, Sidney pulled Lauren into a tight hug, lifting her feet off the floor and she buried her face in his neck. After a moment, he set her back down and they each made rounds, hugging their families. After Lauren’s mom hugged her so tightly she thought for sure her stitches would bust, Lauren found Sidney again and he pulled her into his arms. He rested his forehead on hers so he could love into her eyes. “Let’s go home, baby.”

She responded with a wide grin and took his hand as they walked out of the courtroom.

Outside, the media was waiting for them again. Sidney was bracing himself for the flood of questions when Troy tapped his shoulder. He nodded his head toward the reporters and said, “I’ll take care of them. You two go on ahead.” Lauren gave Troy a hug and Sidney waved toward the crowd as they got into the waiting car.

Their families had gone ahead in other cars, so Sidney and Lauren were alone. Sidney wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into him, relaxing her body against his. “I’m so glad that is over.” She said.

“Me too. I hate that you had to go through most of it alone. I hate that you had to go through this at all.”

“Sidney, I didn’t have to go through it alone. You were always there, even when you weren’t actually there. I missed you a lot, though.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I missed you too.” They rode the rest of the short ride to the hotel in relative silence, enjoying each other’s company and each of them processing the feeling of relief that they were experiencing.

The next morning, Sidney’s parents flew back to Nova Scotia, and everyone else flew back to Pittsburgh. Lauren and Sidney slept most of the flight home and a car was waiting for them outside baggage claim. They stopped at the Lemieux’s first to drop Sidney’s things off and then they were headed to Lauren’s parents’ house. When they saw the car pull up, Nathalie and all of the Lemieux children came running out the front door to greet them. Sidney and Lauren laughed as the kids latched onto them. Even Nathalie couldn’t help but throw her arms around the two of them.

“I am so glad you two are back. We missed you.” The kids hauled Sidney’s bags inside as Nathalie ushered everyone into the house.

“We missed you too. All of you.” Lauren said, ruffling Alexa’s hair.

“Lauren! I drew a new picture for you!” Alexa said, running out of the room and returning a moment later.

Lauren lips curled into a smile as she looked at the drawing. Sidney was standing behind her with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder. “It’s beautiful, Alexa.” Sidney said.

“Yes it is.” Lauren agreed. The picture showed Lauren, Alexa, and Sidney holding hands and walking somewhere that looked like a park. All of them had big smiles on their faces and Lauren couldn’t help but smile too.

“Another beautiful masterpiece, Alexa. Thank you.” Alexa grinned wildly and then went off into the other room to play.

“She missed you guys. She was worried too, even though I’m not quite sure she fully understands what happened.” Nathalie explained.

“I missed her too. And I’m glad she’s young enough to keep her innocence through all of this. She just has so much joy in her life and I’d hate to see that ever spoiled.” Lauren said. “I should do something special with her soon.”

Sidney grinned at her. “That sounds like fun. Can I come too?” Sidney asked, sounding like a hopeful little child.

“Of course. She’d love that. She adores you. So do I.” Lauren said, kissing his cheek.

They stayed and talked with Nathalie for a while and then drove to Lauren’s house to drop off her stuff. They hung out with her brother and parents for a while and then went back to the Lemieux’s for the night.

They laid in bed for a while, just relaxing and talking. “So you go back to the doctor tomorrow?” Sidney asked.

“Yeah, and as long as he thinks everything looks okay, he’s going to take my stitches out.”

“I think he will. They looked really good when I looked at them yesterday.”

“Thank you for the prognosis, Dr. Crosby.” Lauren giggled and Sidney rolled his eyes.

“No problem.” He grinned, kissing the top of her head. “Do you have any other plans tomorrow?”

“Nope, that’s it. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I have practice till around noon, but then I was hoping we could spend the day together.”

“I’d like that. I feel like we haven’t gotten to ‘hang out’ in a long time.”

“I agree. Night, babe.” Sidney said, pulling her tighter against his body.

“Night, Sidney.” She said, snuggling her head against his chest as they both fell asleep.