Holiday Hockey Tale The Icebreaker's Impasse (By Ivory Row) novel Chapter 123

Easton

After that, I drive them to our office building. Dad bought this building when he first started out on his own. It’s only four stories tall and he ended up having to buy the one next door later on.

He kept his office here and added ours after we graduated. He said it reminds him of his humble starting roots and to never get an inflated ego. The third floor was completely empty here after that division needed to expand. “Do you want to deliver your dad’s ultrasound pictures?” Luci asks as I guide them into the elevator.

“Yes but that’s not why we are here.” I push the three button and we ride there.

“This door over here.” I direct them. The double doors are glass. Hanging in the middle of both are two signs. One says “LH” in a fancy script and the other has a light purple background with sparkles. In the center is a heart made out of purple daisies. Inside is a simple black desk with the same photo behind it. Beneath the flowers on this one, it reads “Luci’s Heart: Fostering a Better Future.”

“Easton…what is that?” Her voice trembles.

“A present you inspired.” I usher her down the hall. The girl at the desk smiles brightly at me.

“Rhiannon, this is my Luci and Cole.” I introduce them. “Rhiannon grew up in foster care until she aged out also.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Luci and Cole. I’ve heard so much about you two.” She beams. Luci shakes her hand speechless.

I knock on the second door. “Come in.”

I open it and Collins stands from behind the desk. “Hi Luci Lou. I guess your husband decided to finally bring you in and show you what we’ve been up to for the last nine months.”

“Easton, you kept this a secret.” She stares up at me, overcome. “What…”

“Let me give you the grand tour, Luci. Your husband never brags on himself enough.” Collins grins at us. “We have about ten employees so far. All of them are former foster children. So far, we are offering ten scholarships a year for trade school to any kids who are part of the system, even if they are adopted after the age of sixteen. Five college scholarships with the same criteria. We also have the duffle bag program. We provide a duffle bag, stuffed animal and three complete clothing outfits for each child when it’s needed. It’s delivered to the caseworkers and the kids get to choose the animal and duffle bag from what we have in stock on the website. Gives them some control back.” He begins walking down the hall and beckons with his fingers. “Now this is my favorite thing your other half came up with.” I shake my head subtly at him. He steps toward the end of the hallway into a room with two guys working at laptops. “This is the memory storage department.” Luci immediately wraps her arms around me.

“You are the best.” She is crying.

“He hasn’t even told you what they do.” I tilt her chin up to look at me.

“I can already tell.” She points to the screen. Dad has come in and Cole spotted him. He puts his finger to his lips and Cole runs to him whispering about pictures of the baby. Dad shushes him gently. “Let Daddy show off his surprise a little and then I can’t wait to see the baby.”

“We scan in all photos and attach them to their name and casefile. Also anything else like important documents or sentimental items. Like this is a letter the mom wrote as she was battling cancer.” He points to the screen. “We keep them for life. They get the items back immediately. When they turn 18, we contact them and ask if they’d like the flashdrive or reprints of the items. They can elect to wait for them and we will mark that to contact them in three years when they turn 21. We’ve been using a select group of caseworkers for the last three months to test all of this, making sure we have all the bugs ironed out before we announce it to the entire city next week at the hockey game.”

“It’ll be all over the screens before and after the game along with us making an announcement about it. It’s fully funded already for the first year but we’ll take donations from anyone that wants to help. Hopefully, in a few years we can expand it beyond Kenton to the whole state.” I tell her softly.

“You’re going to do that at the hockey game?” She asks.

“Sure are. The owner really liked the idea.” Dad tells her with a big grin.

Collins continues. “We just bought a building near the main admin office also. It will have rooms for art, play, and music therapy for foster kids with trauma, focus issues and so much more. There will be psychologists there too. The foster parents can submit for grants to help with paying for all of this. If kids are in one of the orphanages, the caseworker can petition to have those services provided to them.”

Luci is crying freely. “This will help so many kids.”

I nod at her. “That was the goal. We can foster but that only helps one or two kids and yes that’s huge to them, but I really wanted something that could impact the whole system. You can help give me more ideas. Kingston already suggested having sports teams for them too.

Like soccer, hockey maybe even martial arts offered there for them. A way for them to be part of a team and connect with other kids like themselves. I’ve already got a martial arts instructor who is very interested. The sports we need to see about buying a place for it.”

“We’re also going to offer it for military kids who’ve lost a parent or have one deployed, Luci.” Dad throws in. “Baker asked and we thought about Barrett and Banning. They will only need submit proof of their service.”

“Do Sydney and Banning know?” She whispers tearfully.

“Not yet. I wanted you to see it first. It’s named for you, my love.” I whisper into her ear.

“I can’t…..you can’t ever leave me. Ever, Easton Reed.” Her eyes stare intently into mine.

“I don’t plan to.”

Six weeks later, we’re standing in the backyard at Dad’s. Everyone is here and we are going to have our gender reveal. Cole and Barrett are practically vibrating with excitement. Luci has no idea what she’s having and chose girl to guess to be opposite of me. I have this intuition that Cole will get what he wished for. We gave him and Barrett two confetti cannons they’ll set off.

Banning helps Barrett get ready while I stand with Cole. “Alright baby rascals, let’s see what Easton is going to be dealing with.” Becker says as he begins the countdown.

“Three…not yet Cole Reed!” He points to him and Cole looks sheepish. “Two….One…Go!”

They fire them off and the instant shower of blue confetti begins blowing all over the yard. “A brother! I get a baby brother! Can we name him Luke Skywalker Reed? Since he’s younger than me and Daddy is big Dark Vader. Luke was his son.” Cole is bouncing up and down as he fires all of that off. Everyone loses it laughing.

“I think Mommy gets to come up with some suggestions too.” I answer him, seeing her shaking her head.

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