An Unexpected Something New

CH 29

I was starting to get nervous. No, that’s a lie. I was already nervous but now it was becoming visible. I could feel my heart pounding and my palms sweating. Luckily enough we had been blessed with gorgeous sunny yet cool weather, the thing was I had a lot more on my plate than met the eye. I looked in the mirror and checked my tie before letting out a deep breath and glanced down at my watch for the millionth time.

“You okay bro?” Jordan asked which kind of shook me from my little world of panic.

“Yeah,” I nodded not really paying attention. “I’m fine.”

He let out an amused sigh and squeezed my shoulder. “You know everything is going to turn out great, right? Stop worrying. You went over everything obsessively and I helped so I know everything is right where it should be. Stop worrying. You have me and Phoebe. All you need to be thinking about right now is how gorgeous your girl is going to look.”

Every time I thought about Hannah and what she’d look like in the Vera Wang gown that I insisted she buy, I smiled. I had no clue what she picked, what it looked like, or what to expect, I just knew it took some persisting for me to get her to agree to spending that kind of money. I wanted to do that for her and once she picked the dress I knew she was happy about it. I let out another deep breath, “I know, I just want it to be perfect for her man. For me too I guess. She deserves that.”

“Crosby it’s going to be fine. Breathe. Just take a deep breath and calm down.” He checked his watch looking dapper in his tux. “We gotta go man. Are you ready to go marry the girl of your dreams?”

As soon as I heard those words escape from his lips I felt myself relax a bit as I smirked. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

It was finally the day of our wedding. I was marrying Hannah and there was no longer a countdown. Jordan and I were on our way to meet her and Phoebe where we would say our ‘I do’s’ – we had came to a compromise after much discussion of what we wanted out of this affair, and I knew it was perfect. We were getting married in a field. It was so secluded, flowers everywhere…I guess you could say it was more of a garden but I really don’t know the specifics of it. I couldn’t explain it without minimizing how beautiful it was. All I knew was that we found it by accident while we took a walk to have a picnic and we looked at each other and I saw the sparkle in her eyes. It wouldn’t have mattered where the hell we were, for her to be that happy and know that was the place for us to get married, I would have said yes no matter what.

That was nearly three months ago, right after the playoffs ended. The good thing about being knocked out so early was that I had all summer to spend with her. We spent every second together. I slept in with her, held her and didn’t have to go anywhere. It was nice and for the first time I really felt home. We spent time with her family, we spent some with mine and we really talked about and finally planned our wedding. It was us, just us, in this beautiful meadow with Jordan and Phoebe as our witnesses. The only other people aside from the four of us to witness our nuptials were a pastor who agreed to marry us in our location and a photographer and videographer that I’d hired to capture the memories. Well....among other things.

It was a beautiful early September day and with each second Jordan and I were getting closer and closer to my beautiful bride-to-be. I couldn’t wait to see what she looked like. I had so many things running through my brain but I knew when I saw her it all wouldn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t help going over every detail of this day and how it was meant to play out. I wondered if she got the flowers I’d sent her earlier in the morning. I was going nuts and Jordan could see it. As we pulled in to the secluded location Jordan patted my shoulder, “Let’s go, are you ready to get married?”

“I’ve been ready since the day I met her Staal. Believe it or not.”

“Oh, Crosby man, I believe it. Trust me. I was there too,” he laughed. “Don’t worry about anything,” he said more seriously and reassuringly. “I got it all covered.”

I nodded my head and got out of the car greeting our hired photographer and videographers, making sure the arrangements I’d made with them were taken care of. They’d spent all morning with Hannah as she got ready and now it was go time. I walked over to the pastor and stood at the designated area decorated with more flowers and the fold of the trees that the ceremony was to take place. I had gone with Jordan earlier that morning and set up a little sound system for Pachebel’s Canon was to be played as Hannah walked down the aisle to me.

I took a deep breath as I heard the music start and Phoebe came walking out of the clearing wearing the floor length ice-blue bridesmaid dress and holding the bouquet of flowers that Hannah had picked out for her. I glanced over at Jordan who was smiling like a fool watching his lovely girlfriend walk towards us. Their eyes were locked on each other and I smiled to myself knowing one thing Phoebe didn’t know. Their relationship had blossomed so much more over the summer and the transformation I saw in my buddy was encouraging. I also knew he was planning on buying a ring and giving it to her before the end of the year.

Phoebe reached us and took her place across from myself and Jordan. I inhaled deeply and almost jumped out of my skin I was so excited to see Hannah. I saw the white from her gown come through the clearing and when she was finally in full view my heart literally stopped beating. My mouth fell open and I felt the tears poke through. She looked…there are no words. She was a princess. She smiled back at me as she walked over the rose petals in her chantilly and lace strapless ball gown carrying her bouquet of white roses.

I saw her eyes glistening with tears as she got closer with each step. When she finally reached me Phoebe immediately took her bouquet as I reached out and placed Hannah’s hands in mine. “You look so beautiful Hannah,” I practically sighed out.

It was obvious she was trying to keep her composure. “I love you,” she said despite her tears.

The pastor got going and it didn’t take long considering the simple ceremony we had wanted. The videographers circled and caught every second as Jordan placed Hannah’s ring in my hand and Phoebe placed mine in hers. We considered traditional vows but ultimately decided to write our own.

I put Hannah’s ring at the tip of her finger. “Hannah, I love you because you make me smile,” I genuinely said as I looked into her eyes. “You’re patient with me, and so kind. You changed me for the best in ways I didn’t even know until it was too late. You saved me from emptiness and instilled values in me I didn’t know I had. You’ve made me a better person; you’ve brought out so much good in me that I couldn’t have without you. I promise to spend my life making you smile and laugh as much as you make me. I promise to cherish your heart and never break it, and most of all I promise to love you above everything, through the good and the bad for everyday I’m on this earth,” I said as I pushed her eternity band on her finger. I was more choked up than I was when I started speaking and the tears freely fell down her cheeks as I stared into her eyes.

“Sid,” she took a deep breath and placed my ring at the tip of my finger. “I didn’t know you could be best friends with the person you fall in love with until I met you. You’ve fought for me and gone above and beyond for us. You’re so caring and I feel so secure with you. I can’t be myself with anyone but you and you make me so happy. No matter what we go through, at the end of the day I look at you and I’m just happy to be yours. I promise to spend the rest of my life reminding you why you fell in love with me, and to spend the rest of mine remembering why I fell in love with you. I promise I’ll always be here for you, supporting you, loving you, every second until death parts us.” She pushed my ring onto my finger and looked up into my eyes with a smile.

The pastor was grinning obviously happy for us when he turned his attention to me. “Now, Sidney. Do you take Hannah to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold from this day forward? For better or for worse? Through sickness and in health? For all the days of your life, until death do you part?” I smiled like an idiot and nodded my head. “I do.”

He turned his attention to Hannah. “And Hannah…” He asked her the same questions and with each word my heart beat a little faster. She looked at me when he finished asking these important, life changing questions. “I do,” she squealed out excited.

I wasn’t sure what the pastor was saying next all I heard was “You may now kiss the bride,” and I lost myself. I threw my arms around her; one grasping her waist and the other on her cheek and pulled her into me for our first kiss as a married couple. Jordan and Phoebe cheered as I pulled her closer to me into a hug. “I love you. Were you freaking out before the ceremony?” I whispered into her ear.

“Not even a little bit,” she answered genuine and confident. Knowing her trust in me and seeing the look in her eyes I couldn’t resist going in for seconds. When we pulled apart, we were joined by our friends who congratulated us with hugs.

I glanced over at the videographer quickly and he shot me a head nod before I turned to my new bride and two friends. “Let’s take some group shots now-- you guys can head out before us, then Hannah and I will take our pictures alone. We can take some more when we get there later on.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that. That sounds good. Let’s start over here by those trees and flowers,” she directed before turning to me. “I can’t wait to go to our little reception! But I just want to stop and enjoy every second. I know our day kind of just started but it’s going by so fast!”

“It’s going to be great baby! But let’s enjoy taking pictures first, you’re right. Slow it down a bit. Jord and Phoebe are going to make sure we get in, no hassle, so that everything’s good to go when we get there,” I said before kissing her on the forehead.

“No I know that. I just can’t imagine it being a long affair…I mean, it is just the four of us…” she trailed off and almost exploded with happiness, “but my God this was perfect. Our ceremony, our wedding was incredible. It was simple and so, so beautiful.”

“Yeah we made the right decision, huh?”

“Heck yes we did!” She practically jumped up and kissed me. “Do you like my dress?”

“Hannah you look like a princess. My heart literally stopped beating when I saw you.”

“Really?” she looked up into my eyes so innocent and vulnerable. “You don’t think it’s too much? I mean, it’s just us. Normally the dress is big when the wedding is big and well, it’s not. You don’t think it’s silly?”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. “Not at all,” I chuckled. “I wanted you to get what you always dreamed of. Who cares who’s here and not here? You look more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen before, and I can see how happy you are, so to me it’s worth it. It wasn’t for anyone else, it was for us.”

After we spent some time taking pictures with Jordan and Phoebe it was time for them to head off to the place that we’d booked for our little reception. It was a huge private estate that looked like a castle and though Hannah hadn’t seen it I had tried to describe it to her—and I made her swear she wouldn’t google it. She couldn’t understand why I’d go all out for a small thing but I reassured her it would be perfect. Before Jordan and Phoebe hopped in the limo that he and I had driven in just a little while earlier I pulled him aside.

“You’re sure everything’s covered?” I asked quietly with my hand on his shoulder. It was clear I was totally panicking over this but I had good reason. I also knew it was going to work out great as I had gone over it a million times but with each passing second I got more antsy.

“Don’t worry.” Jordan said sternly but not angrily. His tone was what I needed in this situation, on this day. “Stop asking, seriously. We got this. You go take pictures with your new bride. When you get there, text me.” I took a deep breath but before I could say anything he continued. “Seriously, stop. Everything is under control.”

I nodded and exhaled, “I know, I know. We’ll see you shortly.”

I walked back over to Hannah and kissed her before we started to take our personal photos posing and smiling however the photographer told us to under the trees surrounded by flowers and happiness.

*****

We finally finished up and were in the limo that Hannah and Phoebe had been in earlier, heading to the private estate that I had reserved for the evening. I had begged Hannah to let me take the reigns on this one; I wanted to surprise her. I had pull and I could make it magical for her. I told Phoebe when she had told me of Hannah’s initial concerns over the dress that she wanted to make sure she went for it. There was more than one reason for that.

I took a deep breath as she and I stepped out of the limo hand in hand. Her eyes popped open seeing how right I was; it was like a castle and it was stunning. She turned to me with the biggest smile, “Oh my God, are you serious?” she gushed.

“Wait until you see the inside,” I said with a cocky grin, I took my phone out and sent Jordan a quick text letting him know we had arrived and were walking in before taking a deep breath, Hannah’s hand, and leading the way. The staff was already waiting for us and opened the door to the entrance when we arrived with a quick “Congratulations.” Hannah smiled and thanked them before setting her eyes on the interior of the building. Her jaw hung open and I smiled to myself pleased. We weren’t even close to where we needed to be and she was already floored.

“Wow,” she breathed out as she her eyes rose to the ceilings, passing the staircase, gazing over the walls and back down to the floors. “You were right, this place is beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I said softly as I leaned in and kissed the side of her head. “Come on,” I gently tugged on her hand and led her to the staircase. As we walked up I saw the sparkle in her sapphire eyes examining every crevice. We walked down the hallway and finally arrived at the two huge fancy doors. I let out a deep breath and before opening them I turned to her and gently cradled her face in my hands. “I love you.”

“I love you too. This is so much more than I ever hoped for,” she said softly.

I turned around and grabbed the door handles pushing them open and letting her walk just in front of me. When she walked through the doors she immediately was standing on a kind of balcony type platform that overlooked the main room and was connected to a spiral staircase that was to lead her down to the main floor. She wasn’t able to move though because she was in shock from the massive applause and hollers she heard as she stared down over the railings.

It was just Hannah and I…for the ceremony. I’d gone on my own and planned a reception with all our family and friends. My parents, her parents, her family from Buffalo, my teammates, Kaleta…they were all there. With the help of Jordan and Phoebe I kept it completely under wraps and it was a complete and total shock to her. Hannah turned to me with tears in her eyes, “I don’t believe this,” she gasped. “How…?”

I leaned in with my hand on her lower back and looked at the crowded room below us. “I had a little help from a very good, close friend of mine.”

“You mean Jordan?”

I laughed at her response, “Well, yeah, but that isn’t what I mean. My close, personal friend named the Nondisclosure Agreement.” I turned my attention to the huge white screen and pointed, “You see that?” she nodded. “Our guests had the privilege of watching our ceremony live. I arranged it with the videographer a while ago. It was a live feed so it was almost like they were there.”

She let out a little laugh as she wiped away her tears. “You did all this for me? I’m…I can’t even find the words. As amazing as this day has been I couldn’t help but wish I had my family there and now…” she trailed off as she cried harder in a half weeping, half giggling fit.

“I knew you would.” I leaned in and ran my fingers down her cheek before leaning in and giving her a kiss. “I was so nervous you would be angry with me for going behind your back…”

“No! This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me and I love you so much for this. It would have been amazing if it was what we originally planned but this…this is so much better.”

I felt the butterflies course through my body and grabbed her hand. “Ready to go down and see everyone?”

Hannah gave me a genuine huge smile and nodded. We walked down the staircase together and when we got down to everyone we raised our connected hands in the air. The music started to play as the cheering died down. Everyone could see how surprised and ecstatic she was. Her parents came up to her and so did mine. As her mom and dad greeted her with joyful tears of pride she broke down more as she hugged them. I could see the naïve, innocent girl I’d fallen in love with totally relishing in the moment, so happy that the parents she loved so much were sharing in this event.

Hannah looked around the room as her eyes fell on all the surprising friends and guests that she never expected to see. She wanted to go from table to table greeting everyone but before she had the chance our dj called us to the floor, joking around about the surprising and emotional events that had just occurred. Before we knew it, the wedding song that we had picked out that night we danced in the arena started to play and it was our time to shine as we were surrounded by so many people who loved us.

“I can’t believe you pulled this off,” she whispered into my ear.

“I was panicked that it wouldn’t, I won’t lie,” I said with a laugh as I nuzzled my head against hers only momentarily afraid I would mess her perfect soft curls.

“I feel like Cinderella,” she gushed. “This is too much. Just, I lied before,” she said with a laugh. “This is so, so, so much more than I ever hoped for.”

“I wanted it to be perfect for you, something you would never forget.”

She pulled back and looked into my eyes. “I couldn’t forget this night even if I wanted to.”

I spun her out and watched as her ball gown twirled with her before pulling her back into me. “I love you Mrs. Crosby.” I saw her face light up and that pristine smile take over. “I love you,” she shot back before sealing it with a kiss. “I haven’t seen some of my family, well most of my family and friends since I was in Buffalo. I can’t believe they’re here. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this. And did I even see Patrick?” I nodded my confirmation. “My God Sid,” she gushed out laughing. “You really pulled out all the stops, huh?”

Our song came to an end as everyone applauded us. I led Hannah over to our sweetheart table for the night when Jordan and Phoebe finally made their way over.

“Well are you surprised?” Jordan looked at Hannah with a knowing grin.

“I had no idea!” she gushed. “And you guys were in on this?” she turned to Phoebe. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I couldn’t,” Phoebe shot back. “He made me swear. Don’t get me wrong I wanted to! But your husband would have killed me!”

“Thank you guys,” Hannah said more serious as she hugged Phoebe followed by Jordan. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“I have an idea. If it’s anywhere as much as you mean to my friend here,” Jordan said sincerely, “then I have an idea.”

Hannah leaned into me then turned and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you.”

“I love you,” I breathed out as the bridge of my nose rested against hers. “Let’s go say hi to everyone. It’s going to take some time to make our way around the entire room.”

“Yeah tell me about it, and I’m starving!”

“Me too, trust me. The food is awesome too, believe me.”

“Oh I’m not doubting. I’ve never doubted you before why would I start now?”

I kissed her quickly as I grabbed her hand and we walked to the first table to greet our guests. Her family was so thrilled to see Hannah so happy. Interacting with everyone and seeing her hug everyone as we made our way around the room was exactly what I was hoping for when I decided to do this for her. We chatted with everyone, she caught up with her family, met a lot of mine, joked with Kris and Geno and the guys…it was perfect. When we finally were done and made all our rounds it was time to enjoy the evening, finally eat and dance the night away. I held her close to me all night and even if I wanted to I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Hannah barely left my side and frequently gave me sweet, tender kisses. Our friend’s danced all night, as did we, and it was every bit as magical as I knew it would be. When the music was getting ready to die down and a slow one came on I pulled Hannah into me and held her close as we swayed back and forth.

“So,” I said as I looked into her eyes. “Tell me. Was this how you imagined your wedding day would be?”

“No. I couldn’t have dreamed this up even if I tried. You’re incredible and I really can’t believe you did this. I know I’ve said it a thousand times but it’s just so perfect and I love you so much.”

I leaned in and kissed her cheek softly before whispering into her ear, “Thank you for marrying me.”

Hannah hugged me tighter. “Thank you for showing up into my life when I least expected it. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”

“Hey lovebirds,” Phoebe made her way over and we turned our attention happily over to her. “Congratulations on today,” she said clearly a little tipsy. “I talked to the photographer and he got some great shots of you guys walking in. I can’t wait to watch the video and see the wedding photos and we aren’t even done yet!”

We both laughed. “Yeah give us some time to enjoy this! Or at least wait until next week when we get back from our honeymoon,” Hannah giggled.

“Oh I can’t wait until you’re back and we can talk about everything! I’m so happy you guys finally tied the knot! So when are we going to pop out the babies?”

We both laughed and looked at each other. “Don’t get ahead of yourself Pheebs,” I said as I shook my head. “Not anytime soon. I’d like to enjoy being newlyweds first.”

Hannah turned to me, “You want to wait a long time? I wouldn’t mind it. I mean, it’s not like we’ve ever done anything to prevent it.”

“Can we talk about this later? Maybe you know, sometime not tonight,” I said humorously.

“Sure,” Hannah said slightly disappointed.

“Hey,” I lifted her chin up. “Are you upset?” I asked sincerely. “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

“No,” Hannah shook her head and let out a laugh. “No, I’m not pregnant. But I’d like to think that if I were you wouldn’t be upset about it.”

“I wouldn’t be disappointed. Are you kidding? I’ve banked of having kids with you since like, our third date. I just want to take it one event at a time. Can we enjoy tonight before we talk about babies?” I wasn’t mad at all, I was joking around. I just didn’t think she’d take it so personally.

“Fair enough,” she smiled. She wasn’t angry or unhappy, in fact quite the opposite. “We can work on it tonight too,” she flirted.

“Damn right we’ll work on it tonight, we’ll just keep practicing until we get it…and you know we won’t be doing anything to prevent it,” I breathed into her ear before kissing down her neck. Surprisingly, I was actually a little nervous about making love to her tonight of all nights, though I wasn’t about to tell her that. It was like she was a virgin again. It was so special and now we were married, it was huge and it changed everything. With her looking the way she did and the fact that she was now my wife it was hands down the most important day of my life.

After saying our goodbyes we went back to our house, the house I’d bought over the summer for us to start our life in, where we would spend our first night as husband and wife before leaving for our honeymoon in the morning. I took her by the hand and led her, in that beautiful white gown, up the stairs to our bedroom. When we walked in she let out a little gasp at the dim lighting from the tea light candles and the white rose petals everywhere. “Don’t ever change,” she said softly as she shook her head with a smile and leaned in for a kiss.