Jessica

            I stepped out of the bathroom, one towel wrapped around my hair, the other around my body. I made sure the one lower one showed a good bit of cleavage, and almost didn’t cover the goods. We were supposed to be driving up to Vancouver shortly, but I wouldn’t mind if I could distract my husband before we left. I put a little sway in my hips, ready to tell him time was wasting as soon as he made his move. 

            He didn’t. I paused, dropping the pinup girl pose. Something was wrong. Alek was sitting on our bed, dressed only in his underwear, leaning forward, forearms resting on his thighs. His phone was in his hand, but he wasn’t looking at it. He was staring down at the carpet, face blank.

            I was pretty sure he’d had the same plan in mind as me, since he hadn’t made any move to put on his clothes, but that plan had changed. I hadn’t heard the phone ring over the sounds of the shower, but I had no other idea what might have done this to him.

            I pulled the towel off my head and threw it towards the hamper. I sat beside him, leaning in to offer support. Whatever had happened, I was on his side. For long moments, he stayed stiff. Then he relaxed against me, dropping his head on my shoulder. He was back.

            “What happened, babe?”

            A long breath moved through his body. “Agent Miller called.”

            I stiffened. “What does he – is there a problem with us crossing the border?”

            Thanks to Alek’s parents absconding eleven years ago with the proceeds of the Ponzi scheme they ran, Alek had to meet with Canadian law enforcement every time he crossed the border into Canada. It was a formality by now, because Alek hadn’t heard from his parents since before they fled, and they’d never tried to get in touch with him.

            If I ever met them, I’d be tempted to get violent. Not just for Alek’s sake, but because they’d stolen my family’s money. That had led to a lot of unhappiness, especially for my twin and me. Justin was the hockey player, but I could be violent in this case.

            Alek turned to meet my gaze then, and I’d never seen a look like that on his face. Like every emotion had been leeched out of him, leaving him empty.

            It scared me. I needed him, for so many reasons, but this guy looked checked out from everything.

            I swallowed. “What is it?”

            “My parents are dead.” The words were flat, robotic.

            I blinked. Tried to process the words he’d said. I knew what each one meant, but together they didn’t make sense.

            “Dead?” I shook my head. “How did Agent Miller know?”

            Alek’s gaze moved away from me, out through the bedroom window. “He told me maybe a year and a half ago – not long after I was traded to Toronto – that he knew where they were. Asked if I wanted to know where they were. I said no.”

            Part of me wanted to shake him and ask why he didn’t tell me this. But at that time we were supposed to only be hooking up. And with our family’s history, it was probably just as well I didn’t know. My mom might have scrounged a ticket to wherever his parents were to try to force them to return our money. She would be scarier than Justin and I combined.

            It was time to focus on my husband though, who looked worse than he had when the playoffs ended not long ago. 

            “I understand why you didn’t want to know. They gave up on you a long time ago.”

            His head shook to the side and back. “How am I supposed to react now? Cry? Laugh? Scream?”

            “Whatever you feel like doing.” I didn’t think there was a prescribed response for a situation like this.

            His gaze dropped again. No, we couldn’t leave it here.

            “Did Agent Miller just tell you so you’d know? Or did he want something?”

            “He asked if I wanted to go to the funeral.”

            What the fuck? What the actual, literal fuck? “They’re bringing the bodies back to Canada?”

            The Denbrowskis had run an ‘investment’ firm in Canada, and it was money they stole from Canadians that they’d taken with them. Alek had avoided his home country for ten years because of that. I could only imagine the protesters at a funeral here.

            He shook his head. “Algeria. They were in Algeria, and that’s where they’re being buried.”

            I had to assume Algeria didn’t have an extradition treaty with Canada, and that was why they’d fled there. How did they bury people in Algeria? Would they have a gravesite? Would they be cremated and their ashes released into the wind? Did Alek want to be there? Did he need to, for his own mental health?

            With the hockey season over, he had enough time to fly. And he had enough money, all earned by him. But I totally understood if he didn’t want to do that. His parents had fled Canada with his sister, leaving him in Florida with his first NHL team to face the fallout alone. If I’d known where they were, I’d have been tempted to go and slap their stupid, greedy faces.

            But despite everything, they were his family. His only blood ties. And damn, he had a sister. Was she still alive? If so, what would happen to her?

            Maybe he should go, get closure, and see what was happening with her. She was, what, eighteen? Nineteen? Pretty young to be orphaned in a foreign country. Though maybe it was home to her now. Maybe she had friends and support. 

            Alek pushed to his feet. “I need to hit the treadmill.”

            He didn’t normally run in just his briefs, but if he needed to do something physical, maybe it would help. It was also something he did alone. He was asking for space.

            I wanted to grab his arm, pull him back with me and make him tell me this wasn’t going to change us. I trusted our relationship, but this was digging into deep wounds. He only recently started to trust that I was really with him for keeps. That I wouldn’t abandon him like they had.

            I let him walk out, and grabbed my own phone to let my family know we were delayed. This might not be a great time to share in my brother’s celebration, and we could give them our news anytime in the next few months. 

            Damn the Denbrowski’s. But surely, this was the last thing they could embroil their son in. After this, it was done, right?

Alek

            I was numb, but there was energy pulsing under my skin, demanding a release. The energy was dark and mean, and I didn’t want it anywhere near my newly pregnant wife.

            I upped the incline on the treadmill, making the muscles ache as I pushed them. Sweat ran down my face, my back, my chest, and when I reached for my shirt to wipe it out of my eyes I realized I was only wearing my underwear. 

            A glance at the clock showed I’d been running for almost an hour. I slowed the treadmill, letting my muscles cool down while my brain finally pushed out of the fog and began to function.

            They were dead. I hadn’t seen them in eleven years. Might not even recognize them if I’d run into them on the street. But that wasn’t happening. They were dead.

            Did I want to go to the funeral? Was that a test law enforcement was using to check, one last time, if I’d known, and been involved? If I went over, and accessed the stolen money because I’d been part of the scheme, playing a long game? As if.

            I tried to imagine buying a plane ticket. Getting on a plane. I couldn’t do it alone, not without Jess, and how the hell could I drag her off to Algeria when we’d just found out we were pregnant?

            It wasn’t like going over to see them buried would answer any questions. I wouldn’t find out why they did it, why they didn’t tell me, why they didn’t ask me if I wanted to join them when they escaped. Did they think I was too honest? That I’d be better off without them? Why had they taken my sister and not me?

            Those questions would never be answered now. I’d lived for eleven years without knowing. And in this past year, I’d finally started living.

            Jess had done that. Jess with her boring underwear and sass in bed. With her good girl mask and the bad girl she shared with me. Now we had a baby coming.

            I turned the treadmill off and grabbed a towel to wipe off the sweat. I’d need to shower again. My hand rubbed my chest, trying to calm the turmoil I was feeling inside.

            I had my life now, a great life, better than I’d imagined. I had a woman who loved me, and stood by me, despite her parents and her twin, who admittedly were not fans of mine. She’d moved to Seattle with me, a place she knew no one, to be with me. 

            She loved me. She was maybe the first person to do that. With what my parents had done, I couldn’t assume they had, and since that time, when I’d become know as the Ponzi guy because of them, no one else had.

            My heart began to settle, and the roil of emotions in my head and chest started to calm down.

            Jess. Jess was my family, my world. That was how I’d make this decision. I’d do what was best for Jess.

            But I’d ask her about it first, because she might love me, but she was her own person.

            When I got back to the bedroom, she was dressed, curled up on the bed, checking something on her phone.

            She peered at my face. “What’s up?”

            “I’m going to shower, and then we’ll talk, okay?”

            Tension eased out of her body. “Okay.”

            I showered quickly. If I hadn’t been covered in sweat, I’d have skipped it altogether. I threw on a t-shirt and shorts, and joined her on the bed. She kept her distance, watching to see what was going on with me, but fuck that.

            I lifted my arm and she slid into the space that fit her perfectly. I held her tightly, till the last knots inside loosened and were gone.

            Her head was on my shoulder, the scent of her shampoo in my nose. I dropped my hand down her arm, till I could spread my fingers over her abdomen, where our baby rested safely. Yes, this was my world, my centre, my family.

            “I’m not taking you to Algiers.” I said to start.

            I could feel her stiffen. “Do you want to go on your own?”

            I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

            She tilted her head back, examining me. “Are you sure? I could stay in BC. I wouldn’t be alone.”

            “But I would be.”

            “Okay then. That’s decided.”

            I sighed. “Miller says my sister is there. He wondered if I wanted to see her.”

            “Do you?”

            I shrugged. “She’s a stranger to me now, but she’s on her own. I think.”

            “You’re worried about her.”

            “Of course. She’s only eighteen. I have no idea if there’s any money left, or if she can access it.”

            “Then maybe you should—”

            “No. She hasn’t reached out to me. Not for eleven years, not since our parents died. I have no idea what she thinks about me. I’m worried about her, but you’re my priority.”

            Jess settled her head on my chest again. “Do you have a plan?”

            “I thought I’d tell Agent Miller that he could give her our contact information, if she wanted.”

            The corner of her mouth quirked. “So if she needs help…”

            “Yeah, I’ll do what I can. If she wants it. I’ll keep the door open, but it’s her call.”

            Jess reached up and kissed my cheek. “You’re a good guy, Alek Denbrowski.”

            I rested my head on hers. “Not really. But I’m trying.”

            “Mhmmm.” I knew she was disagreeing, but she didn’t know me as well as I knew myself. Meeting Jess had changed me, but not completely. Every day I was a little more confident in her love, and that she was staying. Especially now that we were pregnant and bringing someone new into our family. Someone who would tie us together forever.

            But there were thirty years of being an asshole, and that wasn’t gone. Probably never would be, but that side of me would never be focused on Jess. Or our baby.

            “Did you tell Agent Miller?”

            “Not yet.” I reached for the phone and quickly texted a message. 

            Jess moved, resettling against me. “Do you want to put this trip off? I have no idea how my parents and JJ are going to respond to hearing we’re having a baby.” 

Her parents were still absorbing the fact that the son of the people who’d stolen their money was their son in law. Justin had changed a lot, and seemed to be good with our marriage, but this would push his boundaries.

            “Let’s go. It’ll be a distraction.” True. Her parents had probably already heard about my parents dying and would be trying to find a way to work that. Might be good to divert her.

            Jess pushed up. “Then let’s go before I need to nap again.”

            Growing a baby was a lot of work, and she was tired most of the time. I was so pleased that she didn’t need to work, and that I could use my money to give her that luxury.

            She got off the bed and bent to pick up our suitcase.

            “No way. I’m doing that.”

            “I’m pregnant, not sick.”

            “Let me feel like the big strong man.”

            “Idiot.” But she grinned, and she left the bag.

            I made sure I had my wallet and keys, and picked up my phone, just as it buzzed about an incoming message. I pulled it up while I crossed to the suitcase. It was from Agent Miller.

            Your sister says she’ll talk to you when she gets back to Canada.

            Holy hell. What did she want?

            Jess called, and I shoved the phone in my pocket. One thing at a time. Visit the Johnsons, tell them we were expecting. 

            I’d worry about my sister if and when she came back.