"Kendall, you did not tell him that you love him!" Hayley asked in disbelief. "I know you two have been spending a lot of time together for the past few months, but you only know him as Liam's father."
Kendall bit her lip. "I don't know why I said it, but it felt right to say." she waited for Hayley to say something but she could hear her quietly talking with someone else in the background. "Are you with Sean?"
"Hey Kendall," Sean's voice was the next voice she heard.
"Sorry, was I interrupting something?" she suppressed a laugh. From what Hayley told her before she left for Saskatoon, they always got interrupted before they could even get each other out of their clothes. She felt bad that she inadvertently hopped of the cock-blocking train that everyone in the Flyers organization seemed to be on.
"Yes," As soon as the word left his mouth, she heard Hayley protest in the background no doubt trying to get her phone back from the six-foot-four-inch giant.
"Kendall, hey, sorry about that."
Kendall laughed as she heard Sean groan in the background. "No, I should probably be the one who's sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Please, as soon as you hang up the phone I'm going to jump him before anyone else can interrupt us. But back to what we were talking about before. I just – I just want you to be careful. Brayden is obviously a good guy, but I worry that Kelsey will never get over the fact that he chose you over her."
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself and I can surely handle Kelsey."
"I know you can." Hayley giggled on the other end of the line and Kendall knew that this talk was officially over.
"Well, I'm going to let you two go at it and I will be in touch." Kendall said quickly before hanging up the phone so she didn't have to hear anything that she couldn't unhear.
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Brayden anxiously waited in the driveway of Kendall's parents' house. After an hour of convincing and pleading, he managed to get Kendall to agree to bring Liam to meet his family. Once he got home to Saskatoon, he couldn't keep Liam quiet anymore. He figured his parents deserved to know that they had a grandson – and a pretty awesome one at that.
"Hey," Brayden smiled when he saw Kendall approaching the truck with Liam on her hip. As soon as she was within arm's length, he wrapped his arm around her waist and placed a quick kiss to her lips.
"Hey yourself," she smiled as Liam reached out for his father.
"You ready?" he asked as he buckled Liam into the car seat he picked up once he got back.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Kendall confessed nervously.
"If anything, you shouldn't be worried. My parents are excited to meet their first grandchild." he said as he placed his hands on her hips.
Kendall bit her lip as she looked up into Brayden's eyes. "It's not just about your parents. I think we need to talk about the other night." her bright blue eyes sparkled as they looked into his.
He nodded knowing exactly what Kendall wanted to talk about. "We can talk about it later." Brayden cupped Kendall's face in his hands before placing another kiss on her lips.
"Okay," she said quietly before allowing Brayden to open the door to his truck for her.
The car ride was pretty much silent for the most part, but it was a comfortable silence. The only sound came from the faint sound of the radio playing on some country station.
"You're still nervous." Brayden smiled as he turned onto a street that lead into a nice looking neighborhood.
"I have this feeling you're parents are going to think that I'm some sort of slut because –"
Brayden was grateful he finally pulled up out front of his parents' house so he could reach over the center console and stop her rambling. His lips pressed firmly to hers and he couldn't help but feel a wave of content wash over him when he heard her take a sharp intake of breath.
"Relax." Brayden told her in one last effort to help calm her nerves. "If anything they want to meet you too."
Kendall gave him a small smile before they both got out of the car. When Brayden opened the back door to get Liam out of his car seat, he couldn't help but chuckle. Liam laid in his car seat already passed out from the car ride over. His little mouth hung open slightly as a small line of drool came from his mouth.
"I still can't believe home much he resembles you. It's ridiculous." Kendall said with awe in her voice.
"He's not as chubby as I was." Brayden noted making Kendall laugh.
"You were cute regardless." She assured him before kissing both Brayden and Liam on the cheek.
Brayden smiled as they started walking up the driveway. It was a nice night out tonight which most likely meant his parents fired up the barbeque.
"I can only imagine my mom's reaction when she actually sees him." Brayden said as he and Kendall approached the front door. The big chandelier was on in the front foyer so Brayden didn't bother knocking or ringing the doorbell.
"Mom, Dad, Mace, Mads, we're here!" he screamed figuring everyone was scattered throughout the house.
"Where is he?"
Kendall smiled hearing the matronly tone that came from the kitchen. From the sounds of it, Brayden's mom dropped everything she was doing to get her first glimpse of her grandson.
"Oh my gosh," she gasped when she first laid eyes on Liam. "Brayden, he looks just like you when you were a baby!" she gushed as Liam started to wake up from the sudden commotion going on around him.
"Mom, this is Kendall. Kendall, this is my mom." Brayden watched as his mother stopped ogling over Liam long enough to give Kendall a warm, welcoming hug.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Schenn." Kendall said trying to be polite.
Brayden's mom shook her head. "Please, call me Rita."
"It's nice to meet you, Rita." Kendall watched as Brayden handed Liam over to his other grandmother. He grabbed her hand and reassuringly stroked the top of her hand with his thumb. As Brayden tugged on her hand to lead her into the kitchen, a string of squeals greeted them as soon as they rounded the corner.
"And these two would be my little sisters, Maddie and Macy." Brayden said as he was ignored by the two girls who were too busy admiring their little nephew.
"He's way too cute to be yours." Maddie joked making Kendall laugh.
"Clearly he gets his looks from Kendall." Macy said with smile.
Kendall looked up at Brayden. "I like them already."
Brayden simply rolled his eyes before feeling a strong hand grab his shoulder. "Hey bud, glad you made it home safely."
"It's great to be home." Brayden and his dad shared a brief hug before their eyes landed on Kendall.
"And I imagine this is Kendall." Brayden's dad smiled and shook Kendall's hand before saying, "Please call me, Jeff."
"It's nice to meet you." Kendall returned his firm handshake.
"But seriously," Macy interjected, breaking up their small conversation. "Liam's way too cute to be yours, Bray."
"Ha-ha," he let out a sarcastic laugh before throwing Maddie over his shoulder before proceeding to walk out toward the backyard.
Kendall couldn't help but laugh as she watched Brayden parade right out the door with his sister slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Brayden, put her down!" she called out to him, but he proceeded to keep walking down the stairs of the deck until he was out of sight.
"I'll put her down alright."
A few seconds passed and Kendall still had no idea what Brayden exactly meant. That was until a shrill scream pierced everyone's ears. Moments later, Brayden walked through the door with a pleased grin on his face.
"Let's eat!" he said with a big smile on his face.
Kendall looked at him and laughed. "You're horrible."
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"If you two want to go out, your father and I wouldn't mind watching Liam." Rita offered.
Brayden wrapped an arm around Kendall's waist before slowly starting to walk backwards toward the front door. "Sounds great, mom. We'll be back later!" Brayden yelled when he rounded the corner with Kendall still well in his arms.
"We can't just leave your parents to babysit." Kendall looked up at him over her shoulder.
"Kendall, they want to watch him. It's their first time meeting him and I'm sure my dad would love a little buddy to watch NHL network with him."
She shook her head. "I'm surprised you haven't tried strapping some skates on him yet." she joked while Brayden opened the door for her.
"In due time." he simply answered before closing the door behind Kendall and hopping into the driver's seat.
Brayden turned the keys in the ignition and the engine roared to life. Placing one hand on the wheel and the other on Kendall's knee.
"So where exactly are you taking me?" Kendall asked curiously as he pulled out into the street and away from the house.
"Out for some ice cream." he smiled over at her as she shook her head.
"Of course," she giggled when his hand gave her knee a playful squeeze.
"So is this when we talk?" Kendall asked resting her head against the head rest of the seat, turning her head to look at Brayden whose attention was on the road.
"I thought we could do it over ice cream. Everything's better with ice cream." Brayden stated making her laugh.
"You are such a child."
"But I'm your child." he teased.
"Liam's my child too." she joked.
"You mean our child?" he corrected her.
"That's right. Our child."
Brayden smiled as he pulled the car into a parking spot out front of a small ice cream shop. He eagerly hopped out of the car followed by Kendall. The smell of sweet cream filled the air as soon as they stepped foot into the small ice cream shop. Brayden's eyes immediately studied the menu as Kendall stood beside him glancing up at the menu switching her gaze to him every few seconds.
When she was least expecting it, Brayden took hold of Kendall's hand before intertwining their fingers. She blushed as she looked at their hands. Brayden looked down at her with a smile on her face.
"So what did you want to talk about?" he asked as he and Kendall walked out of the shop.
"Remember the other night when I told you that I think I might love you?" she asked as she stared down at her ice cream.
"Yes," he smiled recalling that night perfectly. "I think I remember saying it back to you."
Kendall nodded. "Do you think it's – I don't know – too soon? I feel like I hardly know, but at the same time I feel like I know you so well."
"Well we have spent the past few months together." he pointed out.
"Good point."
"I understand where you're coming from though. And if it's alright with you, I'd love to try a relationship. I know you're still trying to figure out your feeling for me, but I can honestly say that I love you." A tear rolled down Kendall's cheek which Brayden quickly wiped away.
Kendall turned her head to look Brayden in the eyes. "How can you be so sure?"
"We've spent the past few months together and every time we were together I felt like it was right."
She gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry, I'm just still wrapping my head around the fact that Liam finally has both his parents in his life and I don't want to mess that up."
"How could you possibly mess this up? I'm in this relationship too – if you want me to be."
Kendall looked at Brayden who looked at her intently waiting for her to say something. She blushed and looked away. "It's stupid."
"No, it's not. Please tell me." Brayden pulled Kendall closer to him by her waist.
"I'm just scared because I've never been in a serious relationship before. Hence why I'm scared I'll mess this up."
Brayden smiled. "I assure you, you could do nothing to mess this up. You're perfect."
Kendall blushed. "Oh yeah, I'm so perfect." she says sarcastically.
"Whether you want to believe it or not, you're perfect to me."
Kendall leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks Bray,"
Placing his empty cup on the hood of his car, he wraps both his arms around Kendall's waist. "Can I ask you one more thing?"
"Yeah," she tilted her head back to look up into his eyes.
"Are you going to eat that?"
Kendall laughed and smacked his arm playfully, but she handed over the small cup of ice cream. "You are such a dork."
"Yeah," he said between mouthfuls of melted ice cream. "But I'm your dork." he said with a proud smile on his face before placing a wet vanilla kiss on Kendall's lips.