Chapter 76

Emma Mitchell-Volkov pulled her coat tighter against the October wind as she watched her four-year-old daughter Charlotte glide across the ice like she’d been born wearing skates. Which, Emma thought with a smile, she practically had been.

“Mama, watch this!” Charlotte called out, attempting a wobbly spin that ended with her tiny bottom hitting the ice. She bounced up immediately, grinning.

“Beautiful, sweetheart!” Emma called back, her breath forming clouds in the crisp air of the Toronto community center.

Three-year-old Frankie sat beside her on the bleachers, completely absorbed in a picture book about dinosaurs. He’d inherited the Mitchell love of learning but seemed immune to the family obsession with hockey. Emma was perfectly fine with that.

“She’s got real talent,” said Jennifer, another hockey mom. “My Tommy’s been skating for two years and can barely stand up that long.”

Emma nodded politely but felt the familiar tightness in her chest. Charlo