Page 97 of Don't Cross the Blue Line
Last Saturday I was trapped in a building during a blizzard. Some of you saw the coverage. A lot of you have questions.
Here’s what I’ll say: I have three names. The first two are well known. Everly Hart, Coach Hart of the Minnesota Blue Ox’s daughter. Go Blue.
The second is E.J. Hartley. That may come as a surprise to some, but it’s not something I was trying to hide.
And the third…well, we’ll get to her.
I wrote under pen names because I spent a lifetime being told I didn’t belong. That my look didn’t fit the genre. That my story didn’t matter. I was a girl on the other side of the glass. An outsider looking in, wondering if I’d ever be accepted or loved.
It’s funny—it took someone trying to kill me to make me see how much I am loved.
Coach Hart—or as I’ll refer to him here, Dad—shared a hymn with me growing up, and I’ve only just learned what it means.
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” A reminder that there is nothing in this life I could do to earn God’s love—that all those things that charm us are meaningless compared to the love God has for us. That I can stop trying to be worth being loved and just be loved.
Which brings me back to person number three. Her name is Sutton Blake. She writes hockey romances because she grew up around the ice. Because she saw what her father loved about the sport—the courage, the determination, the loyalty. And she wanted to tell those stories.
But I’ll tell you a secret. The greatest heroes aren’t the ones we meet on the page. They’re the ones who show up when nobody else will. Who fight for their teammates, no matter the circumstance. The greatest heroes are the ones we meet in the real world.
My name is Everly Hart, E.J. Hartley, and Sutton Blake. I’m Coach Hart’s daughter, and I’m not going anywhere.
Puck’s in your zone, Batman.
I read it three times. My cursor hovers over the button.
Ready or not…here we go. My lying days are over.
