The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife (Blair and Grayson) novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104

~BLAIR~

Yes.

She is still my wife.

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I was sitting in the suite with the television glowing in front of me, the volume just loud enough that Grayson’s voice filled the room and still somehow felt like it was speaking only to me.

Reporters crowded the frame. Cameras flashed. Microphones leaned in. And my husband–my husband, stood there in a team jacket with his last name across the back and said it like it was the simplest fact in the world.

Yes.

Blair is still my wife.

My heart skipped so hard I had to press a hand to my chest. I could hear every word of the interview as if the glass of the screen had disappeared and he was standing in the room instead.

He kept going.

I love her.

Grayson Shaw was telling the reporters who had spent weeks writing my name like it was a scandal that he loved me.

My heart hurt, but in the good way. The kind of hurt that comes when something you thought you had already lost walks back into the light and looks you in the eye.

Tears came before I could stop them. They slipped down my face and I didn’t even try to hide them.

He told them I did not cheat.

He told them Chase kissed me without my permission.

He told them to stop writing articles and acting like it was my fault.

He told them Lily was his past and I was his future.

He told them to be nice to his wife.

That he did not play when it came to me.

Hearing him confess that to the world–hearing him put a wall around my name in front of every reporter who had spent weeks tearing it down, was the most special thing he could have done.

Not flowers. Not a private apology whispered in a hallway. Instead, this was very public, letting the world know.

Tessa whispered, “Wow. I’m actually impressed.”

“This is beautiful,” Mom said, smiling like she had been waiting for someone to finally say it out loud.

Ethan bumped my shoulder, gentler than usual. “I guess Grayson isn’t all that bad after all. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give him another chance.”

Olivia squeezed my hand. Her voice was careful, the way it always was when she was trying not to push. “You can still take your time. But I think Grayson is pretty serious this time. He isn’t playing around with you anymore. And he’s definitely not allowing anyone to hurt you again.”

I wiped under my eyes and failed to look composed. I loved him. I had never stopped.

But it still did not erase the divorce papers.

It did not erase Lily.

It did not erase the weeks I had been sick and alone, staring at the ceiling of a house that suddenly felt too big.

It still felt like someone had reached into the worst part of the season and pulled me back into the light. And the light was warm. And I was terrified of it.

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Chapter 104

The suite door opened.

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Richard Shaw came in first, Nico behind him. My father must have allowed them inside. Richard’s eyes found me immediately, and the usual sharpness in them had softened into something that looked almost like relief.

“Blair.” He took my hand with a care that surprised me, like he was afraid I might break.

“We are very happy about the baby. I hope you know that. We cannot wait to spoil him. Or her. A very big congratulations.”

Nico’s grin was bright, the kind he usually reserved for winning or for tormenting his brother. “Uncle privileges start now. I have already argued with Grayson about getting my little niece or nephew involved with karts. I am still winning.”

I smiled. “It’s great to know that you’re happy with this news.”

Richard glanced at the screen, where they were still replaying Grayson’s interview. His mouth tightened, then eased. “Thank you for not giving up on my son. I always knew you were the right one for him. Even when he was too blind to see it. Especially then.”

Nico tipped his head, studying me with a kinder version of the look he used when he was about to mock Grayson. “I have never seen him that smitten with any girl. Not Lily. Not anyone. You are the first person I have watched have that effect on him. I like you for that. It makes it easier for me to make fun of him.”

I blushed. Heat crawled up my neck.

“And I’m not just saying that because I want to have a good relationship with you now that you’re pregnant,” Nico added, grin widening. “I’m saying it because it’s the truth. You make my brother happy like no other woman before. But what I like more is how insane you drive him. It’s fun to watch.”

I was surprised he was admitting this to me. Nico Shaw did not do this much sincerity unless it was in a joke, and even then he usually aimed it at Grayson.

Ethan shook Nico’s hand like he was still deciding whether he approved or not.

Tessa asked Nico if F1 drivers were allowed to date.

Olivia hit her on the hand.

“What?” Tessa asked, feigning innocence. “What did I say?”

Olivia stayed half a step behind me, watching my face the way she always did when she thought I was about to either cry or run.

On the screen, they asked Grayson if I had moved home.

He did not answer.

He ended it soon after.

I pressed my fingers to my mouth. The room kept moving around me–Richard saying something about dinner, Nico talking about tiny racing gloves, my family trading looks they thought I couldn’t see, but my mind had already left the room.

It drifted back to Grayson, replaying the interview over and over: the set of his jaw, the way he said my wife like it was a title he would fight for, the way he looked straight into the cameras when he said he loved me.

Did he really love me as much as he claimed in front of those reporters?

I knew for sure that I loved him. There was no question about that. Love had been the easiest part. It had arrived early and stayed late and refused to leave even when I begged it to.

I was only terrified of getting hurt again.

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