by R J Scott
Everyone clapped. Jared reached up to give Trent a hand down from the chair. We both got kisses on our cheeks. Then Trent scurried off to snuggle with Dieter.
“Okay, so I feel no pressure at all from that pep talk,” I said to Jared.
He chuckled a bit, then took my hand, sliding his fingers between mine, leading me out to the side lawn where caterers were setting up buffet tables. Stan was taking his role as friend-of-honor and wedding host very seriously. And so far, there had been no signs of sequins or pompadour hairstyles.
“Just when you think you’re over the jitters, the wedding planner reminds you that everyone and their poodle will be watching your every move.” He led me past the catering staff as they hurried around placing dishes and flatware on the tables.
“Not helping,” I groaned. The sweet smell of roses from the perfectly manicured flower beds swept over me, and I breathed deeply. “I never wanted to be the poster boy for gay hockey. I just—”
“Wanted to play the game you adore and love who you want,” Jared finished for me, making me chuckle as we strolled past a small fountain that splashed merrily. “How many new fountains did he buy?”
“Don’t ask,” Jared commented dryly, leading me down a small knoll and through the arch—also new—that we would walk through tomorrow. The flowers for the arch would be put on early in the morning by the florists. Green roses and white baby’s breath or something along those lines. The details were starting to blur a bit. We stood by the arch, hand in hand, looking out at the lush green grass where, in less than twenty-four hours, he and I would become husband and husband. “He’s quite the lifesaver.”
“Oh, no doubt, but he didn’t need to spend so much on the grounds and the food for the dinner. I mean, donating his place was enough.”
“Nothing is too good for best friend Ten,” Jared replied in his best baritone Stan imitation.
“Ah, man, he’s the best.”
We lingered there, resting against each other, the sun setting, but night still a few hours away. Bumblebees and hummingbirds flitted from one vibrantly colored flower bed to another, the low sounds of people filing out to eat floating down to where we were stealing a few moments of couple time. The past two days had been packed with appointments, drama, fittings, lost earrings, grumpy kids, family flying in, reporters tracking us around, and siblings. Far too many of those. We’d barely had time to wave at each other.
“Okay, don’t think badly of me for this, because I love everyone so much for all the hard work they’ve put into our wedding, but I cannot wait to get on that plane tomorrow night and fly off to Greece.”
“Mm, yeah. I cannot wait to make love to you under a Greek sunset as the waves of the Mediterranean lap at our toes.” I turned to face him, eager to press my body tight to his as he whispered soft, sweet things about our upcoming trip. “Touring white-washed villages, then touring the ancient wonders of Athens.”
“Sex in luxury villas that overlook Santorini and Delphi.”
He licked at my lips, his hands sliding to my ass. “Touring the museums.”
“Fucking under the stars as we cruise through the Saronic Gulf.”
“Will three weeks be long enough?” He lapped into my mouth, cutting off my reply with a kiss that left me hard and breathless.
“No,” I purred, grabbing his hair. “No amount of time will ever be long enough. I love you so much I just… words. Doh.”
He peppered my face with tiny kisses. “I know exactly how you feel. Thinking of you as my husband leaves me speechless as well.”
“Here they are, making out under the arch!” I tensed at the bellow from my eldest brother. “Not much longer now, guys. Keep them in your pants.”
Brady slapped Jared so hard on the back I felt the vibrations. Then Jamie arrived, and Adler, Stan and two dogs, my father, my mother, two Lisas, and one howling baby. Guess couple time was officially over. I ached for Jared, even as I was led back up the hill by my brothers and shoved into the line for pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad.
I glanced back. Jared stood between my mother and Galina, plate in his hand, smiling as the women chatted with him. His gaze met mine. I felt the jolt of love and passion all the way to my toes. We couldn’t say our vows and get on that plane fast enough.
Jared
If pacing was an Olympic sport, then I would’ve earned a gold medal by now.
“Dude, you’re making me dizzy,” Adler said from the chair by the door. He’d been sitting there since it was decided I needed to be in a separate room from Ten. I’m not sure if he’d been asked to stop me from leaving or whether it was just a super-comfy chair, but I swear at one point, he looked as if he was going to fall asleep.
“This is stupid,” I muttered and executed a quick turn by the wall, pacing back across the wooden floor of Stan and Erik’s dining room. It was a very nice room, a mix of old and new, paintings that I recognized to be by the boyfriend of someone who played for our feeder team adorned the walls, two huge candelabra sat at each end of the big table. Eight chairs ranged around it. Make that seven because Adler had scraped chair eight over to the door when he’d been put in charge of me.
“Bag skates.” I pointed out to him when he tried to stop me as I passed. I’ve never seen someone pull their hand back so damn quickly.
“You will have forgotten that threat by the time we’re back on the ice,” Adler said and smirked. I stopped very deliberately in front of him and glared down at him.
“I remember everything,” I said.
He wriggled a little at that and dropped his gaze, but he didn’t budge from his chair. I quite enjoyed intimidating Adler, or indeed anyone on the team, with the ultimate threat of the worst kind of practice ever imagined. A bag skate is any kind of exercise on ice where a coach pushes the team until he thinks they’ve had enough. I had a lot of different ideas about what I would put Adler through, and I hoped that was conveyed by my cross-armed stance.
“I’m still not letting you out,” he said and tipped his chin defiantly. “Jamie said he would kill me if you got out.”
I raised a single eyebrow. “Jamie is not a coach with the Railers,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but have you seen the dude follow through on his checks?” Adler shuddered visibly, but he did not move his foot from against the door, and I subsided into brooding at the window.
From here, I could see the entirety of the wedding setup. One hundred and twenty chairs in two groups of sixty, a walkway between them, and at the end, the arch where Ten and I would say our vows. I watched as a huge fluffy cat wound its way through the chairs before leaping to the top of the arch, planting its furry butt, and staring out toward one of Stan’s fountains. Sunlight sparkled from the water spray, and beyond that, I knew thousands of tiny fairy lights had been twined through the trees. Stan and Erik had gone overboard with every suggestion Trent had made, and I loved them for it. I wanted the best day for Ten, but I also wanted the celebration to start.
“Fifteen minutes still,” Adler said as if he’d read my mind.
This was going to be the longest quarter-hour of my life. It was going to feel even longer than when Ryker was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Time was damn well standing still as I watched people begin to walk in. Ryker’s mom was first, with her husband and daughters in tow. Then there were the team members who didn’t have a part in the ceremony, managers, hockey friends, more family, Ten’s sisters-in-law. It was a kaleidoscope of color, all placed according to a plan that had been in Trent’s head. I was actually surprised he didn’t get people to coordinate outfits in some kind of rainbow.
The door opened. Someone cursed in Russian, and Adler nearly went flying off his chair.
“Adler, no foot for prisons,” Stan declared, “time for marrying.”
I was out of that room like a shot, careening into Ryker, who was walking in the opposite direction. He steadied me and grinned.
“In a hurry, Dad?”
“Maybe I am.”
He looked me up and down. “Okay then, last checks. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” He straightened my tie. “Blue tie, so we’re good there. The suit’s new.” He brushed the lapels of my navy suit jacket. “Something old? You don’t need that—you’re old all by yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I let out a noisy sigh. Given I’d been a teenager when he’d made his appearance in the world, I wasn’t that old, but he did love to say things like that.
Of course I was older than Ten, as well.
Am I too old? Why am I thinking that? What is wrong with me? Is it just me, or is it hot in here? I want to marry Ten. Can’t we get this started now? Why am I—?
“Earth to Dad?” Ryker shook me, and I snapped out of my spiral. “I bet you don’t have anything borrowed.”
“I don’t have… I didn’t think…”
“Chill. Mom gave me this for you to take.”
Casey gave him something for me?
He held out his hand, and sitting in his palm was a pebble. Smooth and round, it was the pebble Ryker had found on his first trip to the beach. He’d only been three, and so proud of his find, even more so when Casey affixed googly eyes to it and called it Fred. When we split, I guess it had been one of the things that had gone to her. “She wants it back, though.”
I picked up the googly-eyed Fred and smiled as memories of Ryker as a little boy, all fire and fun, flooded me. I’d split amicably from Casey, or at least as harmoniously as my asshole of an ex-father-in-law had allowed it to be. All the way through, we’d wanted to give Ryker a happy, stable upbringing, and I think Casey and I had done right by him.
“Did we do okay?” I asked before my mouth caught up with my brain. Ryker looked at me with expectation “With you. Did we always let you know we loved you?”
Ryker’s eyes brightened, and he swallowed hard. “Always, Dad, always.” We hugged, and when he stood back, he was smiling so hard. “Come on, let’s go do this thing.”
We met Ten at the wide patio doors, and he reached for my hand as soon as he saw me.
“Hey,” he whispered.
I pocketed googly-eyed Fred and took his hand.
“Hey, back.”
We didn’t kiss, but our fingers laced together so perfectly, and in a weird-ass processional way, we made our way to the start of the path to the arch.
Ten crouched down to look Pavel in the face. “You okay, little dude?”
Pavel’s chest puffed up with pride. “Not to lost the rings,” he announced and shook the tiny pillow they sat on. Thankfully, they were held in place with ribbon because otherwise I could’ve seen them ending up in the grass somewhere. Then Ten turned to Eva, who was so sweet in her bridesmaid dress.
“Wow,” Ten said and let out a low whistle. “Look at you, gorgeous.”
She blushed and wrinkled her nose. She adored Ten, and he adored her right back. Maybe one day we would have kids of our own, get a bigger place, build a small rink, build a whole new franchise of players.
Wow, where did that come from?
“Thank you, Uncle Ten,” she murmured, and then, shoulders back, she followed Pavel down the path, throwing rose petals to the ground. Then it was just me, Ten, and the people standing up for us. Ten had his brothers, I had Ryker, and the group stood in a loose huddle. I could imagine us doing some weird handshake thing with a loud “team, let’s go!” at the end. Instead of that, Brady went into big brother mode.
“Not too late to change your mind,” Brady faux-whispered to Ten. “We have a fast car out front, ready to run.”
“Brady, take this seriously,” Jamie whispered back.
“It’s brotherly advice.” Brady smirked when he knew I could see him. Then he grew serious and turned to face me. “Hurt him, and I will hunt you down,” he threatened and looked deadly serious.
“I will never hurt him,” I promised, and we shook hands.
Then it was Jamie’s turn. “Brady might hunt you down, but I’ll be the one with the box and the shovel.”
“Noted,” I said and shook his hand.
Jamie cleared his throat, “See you at the arch.”
They followed Pavel and Eva, and then it was Ryker’s turn to go. He hugged me, pressed a kiss to my cheek, and did the same to Ten.
“Go get married so I can say I have two dads,” he deadpanned. Then he followed Ten’s brothers. Finally, it was just the two of us, and we laced fingers again. Trent had come up with all these marvelous ideas of how we were going to get to the arch, but at the end of it, both Ten and I wanted to walk together.
The short distance seemed to take forever. People smiled, there were pictures, some spoke to us as we passed, and I saw Stan holding the cat that had been sitting on the arch. The sky was the brightest sapphire, a faint breeze brought with it the scent of the flowers Trent had organized, and everything we’d been through to get there, crystallized in this one moment.
I was marrying the man I loved.
Everyone sat when we reached the end as Jamie and Brady stood back from Ten, and Ryker took a few steps away from me. I scanned the group of people there to help us celebrate, and my eyes landed on Casey. She smiled at me and then made circles of her hands and placed them around her eyes just like googly-eyed Fred. She would always be my friend, and together we were Mom and Dad to Ryker.
Jeez, I am getting so emotional.
There were words spoken, talking of what marriage meant, and most of it was a blur, a beautiful love-filled haze, and then it was time for me to speak. We’d agreed I would go first. I hadn’t thought at the time we’d talked about it that the words I wanted to give to Ten right now would be some of the hardest I’d ever spoken. I knew Ten had written things down and I knew he’d thought long and hard about what he wanted to say. I bet his vows would be full of flowery words that could express love in more poetic ways than the things I could say. But I wanted to speak from the heart, and that was where I started.
I faced him head on, and we held hands. My breathing settled, and the gentle noises of the beautiful summer day slipped away.
“When I fell to the ice, it was because my heart had broken. I fought so hard to deny that the one thing I relied on had failed me. Then, as I got better, I realized that I had Ryker in my heart alongside that broken part, and when I thought of him there, I would start to calm and feel peaceful. I could face the entire world if I could just make Ryker proud.”
Ten worried at his lip with his teeth, and he watched me closely. Did any of this sound right?
“Then I met you, and the other bits of my hurting heart slowly began to heal. It didn’t take me long to fall for you, and I’m the luckiest man alive that you noticed me and wanted me back. Hell, I can remember that first morning, when you were at the glass, doing an interview, all shiny-new in a Railers’ sweatshirt. You were the hockey phenom, one of the best of your generation, and in the locker room, we knew that if you fit in with us, the Railers could grow as a team. That was how I was supposed to see you, as a player, as a skater. But I think that from day one, I saw you as something else, and only my stubbornness stopped me from realizing it sooner.”
I paused again. This wasn’t supposed to be a recounting of how well Ten fit in as a Railer. But I had to stick with the conviction that I needed him to know this.
“I fell in love so fast, so hard, and from sneaking into tree houses to getting punched by your brother, you were the best thing to happen to me. Ten, I have you in my heart right next to Ryker. You know that, right?”
He smiled at me, and his eyes were bright, and I thought I must be making some kind of sense. He didn’t have to answer. I could see his smile.
“And then you fell to the ice”—I was choked, and I swallowed to clear my throat—“and every part of me hurt with you when they picked you up and took you away. I can’t imagine a life without you, so please know that if you ever fall on the ice again, I will always be there for you, bringing you home wh
ere you belong.”
I gripped his hands a little tighter; I just had one more thing I wanted to say.
“Ten, I love you, with all my heart.”
The incredible happiness that curled inside me was making me feel lightheaded, and I wanted to scoop him into my arms, hold him tight, and never let him go.
I’d found my forever person, and we had a lifetime of love to share.
Then it was his turn, and I didn’t know how I was going to stop myself from crying.
Tennant
There are things that stand out in your memories.
First time on skates, first goal, first kiss, first love, first realization that the first kiss shared with Becky Addison from next door paled in comparison to the first kiss shared with Dylan Doyle, the fullback for your high school football team. First signing with a professional team. First trade. First time hoisting the Cup.
All of those “first” memories were special and important. Things that stood out and had molded me into the man I was now. But none of them could compare to the memory that this day—this moment—was going to be. Nothing would ever compare to knowing that I’d found my soulmate and that he and everyone else sitting here on these meticulously sculpted grounds were waiting for me to say something memorable. I squeezed the fingers meshed with mine. His gaze caressed my face.
“A week ago I was playing Pokémon Go with a kid named Kyle,” I began. Jared’s eyes flared a bit. Someone who sounded like Adler Lockhart hooted. Dork. Still, the shout made me smile and eased the tight band around my chest. “He’d been searching for this special kind of beast and hadn’t had any luck finding one. See, they’re rare.” Jared nodded but was confused. I wanted to kiss the furrows on his brow away. “Sometimes you have to look a long time to find the seldom-seen treasures. Sometimes you seek and you search, you walk for miles and miles, you cross mighty oceans, and you scale killer mountains to find that remarkable and precious gem. Sometimes you dig deep into the earth or soar into the sky to find that richness. And then, sometimes, you’re giving an interview, and you turn around to find that the splendor you seek is just on the other side of the glass.”