Untitled Story

When we moved into our new home in Colorado, we had wanted our children to become involved in their new school, and make new friends, I had never expected though that it would be our new nightmare. My son, River, a 16 year old joined the Varsity hockey team, while 10 year old, Madalynne joined Girl Scouts and ballet. I was also pregnant with our third child “the surprise,” we hadn’t quite been expecting this one, as we hadn’t really wanted another child at the time.

River had been in hockey before when we lived in Wisconsin. We had thought that we had known what to expect in the sport. He had been Co-Captain before, so he had been kinda in charge before. He was known to make the goals, and play by the rules. His new team, however in Colorado, didn’t play by the rules, and it wasn’t the kids who didn’t.

Chapter 1

“Team, I’d like to introduce your new teammate, River Chandler,” Coach Anderson said in the locker room, as the team got ready for practice.

River stood by nervously as all his new teammates looked up at him, a few glanced wearily at him as River shuffled his feet.

“I’d like you guys to make him feel as welcome as possible,” Coach Anderson told them, now finish suiting up and I want you out on the ice in ten minutes.”

River went and put his backpack in his newly appointed locker and started suiting up in his Colorado “Rockets” Hockey uniform.

I had been waiting for River’s hockey practice to end, when a few women came up to me.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi, your kid on the team?” The blonde one asked me. She was tall, walked gracefully. She had blue eyes and long wavy blonde hair.She looked like she could have previously been a model.

“Yeah, River Chandler. We just moved here a few weeks ago from Wisconsin, and he wanted to join the hockey team. Your kids on the team also?” I asked them.

“Yeah, my son’s the captain of the team,” the blonde said, “I’m Maggie Wallace, she is Sarah Christianson, and that is Ericka Lawson.”

“I’m Dana Chandler,” I said introducing myself.

“You married Dana?” Sarah asked, sitting down on the bench next to me.

“Yeah, I’m married, my husband is Jackson, he is a lawyer. River is our oldest child, he’s 16, and than Madalynne is ten, and than, Jackson and I are expecting our third child. I’m 5 months pregnant,” I told them proudly. Even though “baby surprise” was totally unexpected, we were so excited about this new one.

“Well, congratulations! What’s that going to do with your figure than?” Maggie asked, “Perhaps after the, um, new one is born, you and I can go in for some liposuction or something, to get rid of the fat from the baby.”

“Um,” I said dumbfounded, “fat from the baby?” I hadn’t thought that I had gained that much weight so far in this pregnancy. In fact, the doctor had told me that I was doing very well with my exercising and healthy eating. I wasn’t quite sure what to think.

“Don’t mind Maggie,” Ericka said, “Mag’s always been kind of blunt. You’re looking terrific Dana.”

“Thank you,” Dana said.

“Hey mom, are you ready to go?” River asked, coming over by me.

“Yeah honey, I’m ready. It was a pleasure to meet you ladies,” I told the girls.

“Dana, why don’t you meet us for coffee tomorrow afternoon, when the boys are at practice?” Sarah asked, “We meet at Perkins, at 3:15.”

“Sure,” I said unsure, “I’d be glad to. I’ll see you guys tomorrow than.”

“Bye, Dana!” Maggie said, as I left with River.

“My god, what a bitch,” Maggie said to Ericka and Sarah.

“Well, I don’t know, she seemed to be alright,” Sarah said, “I like her.”

“No, you don’t,” Maggie told her.

“Than why did we invite her to coffee? You know that is something that only we do?” Ericka asked.

“Because she’s nice, and new, and I’m sure that she’d like to meet all of the other hockey moms too,” Sarah told her.

“Whatever,” Maggie grumbled.

“So River, how was the practice?” I asked him as we got into our green mini van.

“It was good, the coach seems to be pretty nice, I really like him. The guys seem to be okay too, they don’t seem too thrilled about having a new guy, but every guy has to start somewhere, huh mom?” River asked, sitting in the front seat and buckling up his seat belt.

I quickly shifted my car into gear and started driving over to where Madalynne’s ballet practice was held. She loved her ballet, she’d be really excited when she got done.

“You’re right, you just gotta give them time,” I told him, thinking about the other hockey moms.

“Who were those ladies you were talking to mom?” River asked.

“Those were just a few moms of your teammates, Maggie Wallace, Sarah Christianson, and Ericka Lawson,” I told him, “they seemed to be nice.”

“Kent Christanson is Sarah’s son, he’s pretty cool. He talked to me a lot. We’re also in Chemistry and Geometry together. We’re Chem lab partners,” River said.

“That’s good,” I told him, smiling. I was so hoping that the kids weren’t going to have a hard time settling into their new hometown and schools. Madalynne, I hadn’t been too worried about. She was really outgoing and happy, she had lot of friends in our old town. River was pretty shy though and bashful, he didn’t make friends very easily. So I was more worried about him. When I had put him in hockey when he was younger, I had been hoping that it would help him make more friends faster and easier, but so far, years later, it hadn’t helped his shyness. His was more interested in having three or four close friends, than a ton of just good friends.

“Stay here in the car, and I’m going to go get your sister,” I told him,unbuckling myself and opening the door.

I walked into the ballet academy where Madalynne had her lessons. I watched her as she did some pliés, as she was instructed by her dance instructor. All the little girls in her ballet class looked so adorable in their leotards and tights. As the instructor dismissed class, Madalynne ran up to me excited.

“Mommy!” Madalynne squealed.

“Hey baby, how was ballet practice?” I asked her, helping her with her shoes and coat.

“Great, mommy! Rita was showing me some cool new stuff to do, and her mommy bought her a really pretty leotard!” Madalynne said excitedly.

“Well, maybe someday after practice you can have Rita come over for dinner and the two of you can play” I told her, smiling as I grabbed her backpack, and mouthed a quick thank you to her dance instructor before we walked back out to the car.

I opened the side door for Rita and helped her in, before getting myself into the car and started driving home. I still had supper to make, and Jackson would be coming back from his office at six. We’d have dinner and than I’d help Madalynne with her homework while River did his in his room. His classes were a bit hard this year, but he liked the challenge and he was bright kid. After the kids were in bed, than there would be some alone time for Jackson and I. We hadn’t had a whole lot of time to talk and cuddle, ever since we moved here and he started his new job at his new lawfirm.

Dinner went by in a snap, and pretty soon I was tucking Madalynne into bed, and kissing her forehead, “Goodnight baby,” I whispered, as she lay sleeping. She had fallen asleep a half an hour earlier and Jackson had brought her up to her room, where I got her ready.

“Night mommy,” she murmured sleepily, as she hugged her Raggedy Ann doll, and turning over onto her side.

“Get to bed early tonight, River,” I told him as I stood in his doorway watching him as he did his homework from his computer desk. The constant clicking of his typing told me that he was hard at work.

“I will mom, I just gotta finish typing this report tonight. It’s due next week, and I want to be able to relax this weekend,” River said, pausing for a moment before returning to his report. River, the constant overachiever, I thought to myself smiling, as I shut his door before going into Jackson and I’s bedroom, and shutting our door.

“Hey,” I said, as Jackson sat in the sitting area of our room in front of the fireplace.

“Hey baby, come here,” he said holding out his arms welcoming me into them. I walked over and sat on his lap, leaning my head on his shoulder, letting him wrap his arms around me.

“You aren’t going to be able to do this much longer,” I told him, chuckling as he held me, starting to think about what Maggie had said earlier, “Honey, do you think I’m fat?”

“Oh no, baby. To me, you’re beautiful,” Jackson told her, kissing her, “You’re the most gorgeous and sexy mother to be, that I know,”

“Mmm,” I murmured as his tongue became more demanding, “Maggie offered to go with me to get plastic surgery after the baby was born,” I said pausing.

“You better know, you’re beautiful, you don’t need it,” Jackson told her, “Let’s go to bed,” he whispered seductively.

“Alright,” I said smiling, as I went over to lock our door.

Chapter 2

“So Maggie do you work anywhere?” I asked when I was meeting with the other hockey moms the next day at Perkins. A few other woman had joined us, not just Maggie, Sarah and Ericka.

“Yes of course,” she said, “Do you?”

“Um, no, I’m a stay at home mom,” I told them.
“Oh, well, that’s good for you,” Maggie said, kind of scowling.
I didn’t understand Maggie at all. She just didn’t make any sense to me.

“So have your sons been playing hockey for a long time?” I asked, trying to fill in the silence that had surronded after Maggie’s comment.

“Yes, Nicholas has been playing hockey since he was four, we had him enrolled in his preschool hockey team. He was the captain than, just as he is now,” Maggie bragged.

“Nick is an excellent player,” Sarah agreed.

“It’s Nicholas,” Maggie corrected her.

“Yeah, whatever,” Sarah murmured, “ Kent loves playing hockey, also. He’s a pretty good goalie.”

“River seems to be liking it so far, he hasn’t said a whole lot about it though. He’ll do fine though, I’m sure,” I told them.

“So, Dana, what is your husband like?” Ericka asked.

“He works at a law firm in town, he enjoys it. He’s a pretty high profile lawyer, he mainly just takes murder trials and cases like that,” I told them, “We’ve been married for 18 years now.”

“That isn’t quite what Ericka meant, Dana,” Maggie said, looking over at me.

“I’m sorry, Maggie, but those details are for my husband and I only,” I told her, frowning.

I looked over to where River skated on the ice, snagging the puck from Kent, as Nicholas skated up and slammed River into the side, I jumped up as I saw him wince. Nicholas said something to him, and River straightened up and skated around the side again. I looked over at Maggie and the girls, and Maggie grinned and shrugged, “It’s only the practice, Dana, don’t worry, he won’t hurt him.”

“What the hell is up with that?” I asked her.

“Well, maybe your son shouldn’t be such a pansy,” Maggie sneered.

I furiously glanced away, as Sarah came over and stood near me.

“What’s up with her?” I asked Sarah, “You’re not like them.”

“That’s just Maggie, you’ll get used to her. Just don’t get in her way,” Sarah told me.

“But what’s up with that?” I asked her, “What’s her problem with me?”

“Look, Dana, I don’t know what hockey is like in Wisconsin, but here in Colorado, it’s a totally different sport, and the rules are much, much different here,” Sarah told me

Chapter 3

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked her, as we stood on the side watching the boys go in to the locker rooms.

“You’ll find out, don’t worry,” Sarah said, “you’ve never seen anything like it, that’s for sure.”

“Hmm,”I murmured, waving as River came out of the locker room carrying his gear.

“See you tomorrow, Dana,” Sarah said, turning towards me, and leaving, “Same time, same place.”

“See you tomorrow,” I told her, turning towards my son, “How was practice?”

River looked towards me and shrugged, “It was alright,” he said.

“What was Nicholas’s problem?” I asked as we walked towards the van.

“I don’t know, he’s a jerk,” River mumbled.

“I’m sure he’ll come around,” I told him, although since his mother was the biggest bitch that I had ever met, I doubted that her son was any different. She probably instilled all of her qualities in him. Lucky child.

“So how are your classes going?” I asked him.

“They are going good,” He told me, looking over.

“How are your grades going to be?” I asked, glancing over at him. I took one hand off of the wheel and pushed over one of his dark brown curls that he had inherited from me. His eyes were so deep and serious, I just died to find out what he was thinking, but he never said. He just didn’t share. Madalynne and I talked all the time, but River I just couldn’t get him to open up to me at all. I wanted to know what was going on in that bright mind of his.

“My grades are good,” River said, looking out his car window.

“How do you like playing on the team?” I asked him, trying to get some insight into what was perhaps making my sixteen year old, so quiet.

“It’s fine,” he murmured.