There's Things That Aren't Worth Giving Up

“You what?!” Natalia heard Summer scream into the phone, and she had to pull the phone away from her ear in fear that she would go deaf.

“I said ‘almost’, Summer. We almost eloped. We didn’t actually go through with it. Marty stopped it at the last minute, reminding me that this isn’t how I wanted to get married. I was only doing it because of my dad,” Natalia explained.

“Still, you two almost eloped. You almost got married, and none of us would have been there to see it!” Summer reminded her.

“So, you really would have been upset if we had gotten married,” Natalia said quietly.

“No,” Summer sighed. “I would have been happy for you two. Yeah, I probably would have been a bit disappointed, but I never would have told you that,” she admitted. “So, are you two still planning on getting married at the end of the season?” she asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we?” Natalia inquired.

“Well, it’s just, you almost eloped. I figured that meant that you two wanted to get married sooner. I thought maybe you were going to move up the wedding or something,” she commented. Natalia was quiet for a minute, causing Summer to worry. “Nat?” she called out.

“Sorry,” Natalia apologized, realizing she had spaced out for a moment. “I was just thinking that maybe that’d be a good thing, to move up the wedding. I mean, we both want to get married, and there’s no reason why we need to wait until the end of the season,” she began thinking out loud. “But, when could we move it up to? Marty’s in the middle of the season. It’s not like we can just pick a random night and say we’re going to get married,” she continued as the front door to her house opened, and Marty walked inside. She smiled at him, mouthing that she was on the phone with Summer. He nodded his head, walking into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water before coming back out into the living room where Natalia sat. “Sum, I’m going to let you go, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Natalia said.

“Sure,” Summer told her. “I’ll talk to you later,” she said before hanging up the phone.

“How’d Summer take the news?” Marty asked with a small laugh, knowing Summer would most likely overreact to the fact that Marty and Natalia had almost eloped.

“She only freaked out a little bit,” Natalia smiled. “But, she did bring up a good point, and I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Okay,” Marty began, putting his glass of water down on the coffee table in front of him and turning around on the couch so he was facing Natalia.

“I want to move up the wedding,” Natalia told him, and Marty just stared at her, waiting on her to continue. “I don’t want to wait until the end of the season. And, I know that’s going to be hard with you focusing on hockey all the time, but I was hoping we could figure something out.”

“Nat,” Marty interrupted her, and she took a deep breath, while waiting to hear what he had to say. “I think we should move the wedding up,” he told her, and a smile spread across her face. “I don’t want to wait until the end of the season, either. Let’s take a look at the schedule and see if we can try to fit a wedding in sometime,” he said.

“Okay!” Natalia said happily, jumping off of the couch and grabbing her laptop that sat on the table, running back and sitting down next to Marty once again. She opened her laptop up, typing in the Wild’s website and going to their schedule. They both stared at it, trying to figure out when they could possibly fit a wedding in. “Marty, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” she spoke, and Marty could hear the disappointment in her voice.

“What about Christmas?” he suddenly asked, and Natalia looked up at him curiously. “We could do it Christmas Day. No one plays that day, which means you can get Sum and Liv up here for it.”

Natalia thought about it for a moment. She knew it was completely ridiculous to try to plan a wedding in less than a month on Christmas Day nevertheless, but she knew that she could do it. “We could do it in the morning,” she began thinking aloud. “That way everyone can leave and get back to where they needed to be that night. And, you’d be ready for your game the next night. God, Marty, this is ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “We can’t have a wedding one day and the next have you playing in a game. That’s just asking for trouble!”

“Nat, we can do it,” Marty promised her. “I mean, it’s probably not going to be a big wedding,” he began.

“I don’t want a big wedding,” Natalia interjected. “I just want our friends and family there. I don’t want this huge ceremony.”

“Then we can do it Christmas Day,” he assured her.

“You really don’t think it’s ridiculous?” she asked him.

“Oh, sure it’s ridiculous,” he laughed. “People are going to think we’re crazy, but people probably already think that about us,” he smiled.

***

With only a week left until the wedding, there was still one last thing on the list that Marty wanted to accomplish. Knowing that Natalia was going to be gone all day with Alexandra, having her last wedding dress fitting, Marty decided now was as good of time as any to try to get it done. He sat down on the couch, grabbing his phone and slowly punching in the number, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

Listening as the phone continued to ring, Marty wasn’t sure if he wanted the person on the other line to pick up or not, but he couldn’t dwell on it any longer as he heard the person say, “Hello?”

“John, it’s Marty,” he began, taking a deep breath before continuing.

“Marty,” John said lowly, shocked to hear from his daughter’s fiancé. John hadn’t talked to Marty for as long as he could remember, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he was calling him now. “Why are you calling me?” he questioned.

“I don’t know if Natalia’s called you recently or not,” Marty lied. He knew that Natalia hadn’t called John, even though Marty had begged her to. He didn’t want Natalia and John’s relationship to continue like it had been. “But, I just wanted to make sure that you got your invite to the wedding,” he told him. Marty had decided to send John an invitation, even though Natalia had told him not to.

“Yes, I got it,” John spoke.

“Are you coming?” Marty asked cautiously.

“You have got to be joking right now,” John said, outraged. “You think I’m going to go to your wedding? A wedding that I do not approve of. There’s not enough money in the world that would make me go to that wedding!” he exclaimed.

“I thought the fact that your daughter is getting married would be enough to make you come to the wedding,” Marty argued.

“She’s getting married to a man that I do not approve of,” John pointed out.

“I don’t understand why you hate me so much!” Marty said. “You were fine with our relationship earlier this year. I’m suddenly traded to the Wild, and you now hate me. Is it just because I play for a team other than yours?” he questioned.

“There’s more to it than that,” John said.

“Then explain it to me!” Marty yelled, tired of everything. “Explain to me why you hate me so much, if it’s not just because I play for a different team. I mean, it’s not like I even had a choice in the matter. I never asked to be traded! I wanted to stay in Chicago!”

“Natalia should not be dating you, much less marrying you,” John said, still avoiding the question.

“Who should she be marrying then, John?”

“Not you.”

“John!” Marty exclaimed.

“I’m not coming to the wedding, and that’s the end of this discussion,” John stated, hanging up on Marty.

Marty stared at the phone in disbelief. He couldn’t understand how a man could be so cold to his daughter. How could John not even care that Natalia was getting married, even if he didn’t approve of Marty. He couldn’t believe that John wasn’t even considering showing up to the wedding, even if that would make his daughter happy. Marty shook his head, not understanding John at all, but he was determined to make Natalia happy with this wedding one way or another.