She stared at the jersey in her hands for a few minutes in shock. Of all the events leading up to this night, nothing had led her to believe she would be sitting here, alone in a dressing room where the smell of sweaty hockey gear perpetually lingered in the air, reading the tiny words that she ran her fingers over in disbelief.
Will you marry me, Lauren?
Will you marry me, Lauren?
Lauren’s attention was brought back to earth when she heard the door shut. When she looked up, Sidney was standing there with an easy smile on his face.
Tears spilled over Lauren’s eyes as he knelt down in front of her. “Lauren, I love you. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone or anything in my entire life. You bring more joy to my life than I ever thought possible and I want that forever. You make me so unbelievably happy and I want to marry you and give you the fairy tale ‘happily ever after’ ending you deserve.” Sidney reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a little black box. “Lauren, will you be my wife?” Sidney flipped the box open to reveal the most beautiful diamond ring Lauren had ever seen.
With tears in her eyes and trembling hands clutching Sidney’s jersey, Lauren tried to find the words to express what she was feeling, but her voice failed her and she was only able to nod her head. Sidney’s smile grew even bigger as he leaned up and captured her still-quaking lips in a fiery kiss. When he broke away a moment later, she whispered against his lips. “Yes. Yes Sidney!” He kissed her again and slid the ring onto her finger.
“I am the luckiest man in the entire universe.” Sidney said, standing up and pulling her into his arms. He spun her around and she buried her face in his neck.
“I love you.” She said, tears streaming down her face and her lips curled into a big smile.
“I love you more.” Sidney said, kissing her again as the door opened.
“This looks like a good sign.” Jordan said to Max, both of them grinning from ear to ear.
“She said yes. She said yes!” Sidney said quietly, never taking his eyes away from Lauren’s. A tear escaped his eye and Lauren kissed it away, wrapping her arms even tighter around his neck.
“Awww our kid is all grown up and found himself a fiancée!” Max said, wrapping them both in a hug.
“Don’t worry, Jordy, I’ll still always love you.” Lauren said as he scooped her into his arms, leaving Sidney stuck in Max’s death grip of a hug.
“Good. I’m really happy for you, Lauren. For both of you.” He said, smiling down at her.
“Our families must be going nuts by now.” Sidney said, wrapping his hand around Lauren’s.
The reality of what Sidney said sank in. “They all knew about this, didn’t they?”
Sidney grinned. “Well, I knew you would want them to be here to celebrate with us. But then I also knew that I wanted it to be just you and me when I proposed. And this just seemed to work out well. Besides, I had to have some help planning all this. Dana helped me get my jersey done – I wore that jersey tonight, you know. I had to be so careful not to take my glove off anywhere where anyone could’ve seen, or where they could’ve caught it on camera. I was so nervous.”
“You’re perfect. I love you.”
“I love you too, more than you could possibly imagine.” Sidney said, kissing her again before they stepped back out into the family lounge.
The room fell silent and every eye was focused on Sidney and Lauren. Sidney’s family and teammates, Lauren’s family, Mario, Vero, a few of the player’s wives, and some Pens staff members were all waiting anxiously. “Well…” Sidney began. “It turns out I had my phone in my pocket the whole time.” He flashed a sweet, boyish grin.
“And apparently he also had something else in his pocket too.” Lauren said, smiling widely as she held up her hand. The diamond sparkled in the light and everyone started cheering. Everyone showered Sidney and Lauren with hugs and kisses and all the women gazed admiringly at Lauren’s ring.
“Who would’ve thought that my son, the one who once bleached his beautiful brown hair into an awful orange-rust color, would grow up to have such good taste?” Trina teased, holding Lauren’s hand in hers.
“Hey!” Sidney exclaimed, but then shrugged sheepishly. “That was for the playoffs - I had to! Besides, I picked her, didn’t I?” he said, gazing at Lauren.
“You chose well, Sidney. I’m very happy for both of you.” Mario spoke up, smiling at them. “Now, shall we be going? I believe we have some celebrating to do.”
“Indeed, we do.” Lauren’s mom agreed and they all shuffled out towards the parking lot.
Sidney opened the passenger door for Lauren and helped her in, only to shift her around so she was facing him and his lips came crashing down on hers. They broke apart a few minutes later only to laugh at the hoots and hollers that were coming from various directions of the parking lot.
“Aren’t you two starting your honeymoon a little early?” Max yelled.
“You’re cutting off her oxygen, Crosby!” Brooks teased.
“She didn’t look like she was suffering!” Max countered.
“If you had to kiss Crosby like that, wouldn’t you be suffering?” Jordan piped in.
“Hey! Watch it – that’s my fiancé you’re talking about!” Lauren yelled through her laughter. Even in the dark she could tell Sidney was blushing as much as she was. She smiled and pulled his lips to hers for another blazing kiss.
The broke away a few minutes later and Lauren pulled her legs inside the car as Sidney shut her door. He turned around to face his teammates, grinning like an idiot.
He stared at them for a minute before letting out a holler. “Woohoo!” They all laughed as Sidney practically skipped over to the driver door.
When Sidney and Lauren arrived at the Lemieux’s, the party was in full swing and Nathalie and the Lemieux children were waiting anxiously by the door for them to arrive.
They practically attacked Sidney and Lauren and Alexa squealed with delight when Sidney picked her and spun her around. Nathalie gave Lauren a big hug and wiped a few tears from her eyes.
“See, I told you he would ask when he was ready - when the moment was perfect.” Nathalie said, shooting a knowing glance toward her older daughters.
