I thought I knew heartbreak.
I thought I knew what it meant to feel unimaginable loss.

When Harper Richardson walked away just before I was drafted into the league, my world shattered. I wanted a future with her more than I wanted hockey. She was the one. I would have chosen her over everything.

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But she didn’t give me that choice.

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Ten years later, she’s standing in front of me like we’re strangers. Just a devoted mother to a boy in my youth hockey program. A ten-year-old boy who, come to think of it, looks an awful lot like…me.

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Her confirmation hits me like a punch to the chest.
Ten years gone.
Ten years of missed firsts, of being a father I never knew I could be.
If I had only known…

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But I can’t rewrite the past. All I can do now is fight for our future.
For the woman I love.
For my son.
For the family I didn’t know I was meant to have.

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This is my second chance. My chance at a love I never wanted to let go of,
and a chance at a family I will fight for every single day.