The Fleury Life

After the wedding, we stayed a couple days in Thunder Bay to hang out a bit, but soon enough, we were driving back to Pittsburgh to attend yet another wedding. This time it would be Ari’s and Nik’s wedding, which means not only will there be the Penguins there which is enough hockey players at one wedding, but the Blackhawks will be there as well. This will be...exciting. I absolutely cannot wait. Please note the heavy sarcasm.
However, I was excited to be going to yet another wedding. All of these events really have time flying by. It’s almost July, and in about a month, Marc-Andre and I will be welcoming our son into the world. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown since I found out I was pregnant.
Today was all about Ari though, and man was she sparkling in her wedding dress. Her brother, Tanger, walked her down the aisle since she didn’t quite get along with their step-father very well. The vows were priceless, since they both wrote they’re own, and each spoke a little bit in their own languages to compensate for the multi-lingual people in the church.
The reception, which I helped plan, was phenomenal. The food, spectacular and the DJ was carefully chosen. Again, I couldn’t really enjoy all the dancing like I really wanted to, but I had plenty of company.
And again, Sidney and Marc made dancing partners out of each other. This time, however, I took pictures to remind them of this day. When I showed them, they both laughed and each planted a kiss on my cheeks. I love them. I’m not sure what I would do without these two and their... shenanigans.
I talked with a lot of the Blackhawks that came. Jonathan danced with me a bit, a mirror to what went on at my own wedding, but I he mainly did the dancing while I just swayed back and forth, laughing at him. He’s such a good sport.
Max and Emelie both showed up to the wedding as well, so I caught up with them a bit as well.
But eventually it was all too much for me, so I sat down at a table and sipped the glass of water I had. My feet hurt and my head was spinning a bit from all the loud noise, but I ignored it the best I could.
I was sitting there for a while, Marc-Andre coming up a few times to make sure I was ok, which I was, when Kristopher Letang took a seat next to me. “What’s up, buttercup?” he asked playfully.
I raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. “Buttercup? You can do better than that.”
Tanger laughed. “I know, but that popped into my head first, so I said it.” We shared a grin. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He gave me a look and I pushed him lightly. “Hey, no using my own look against me. I am fine, really. Just a little sore is all.”
He nodded and took a sip of my water, which I yelled at him for, but he just laughed. He stood up and held his hand out to me. “You aren’t too sore for a dance, are you?”
I looked at him, shook my head with a sigh and took his hand. “So long as you’re ok with practically holding me up.” He pulled me to my feet.
“I’m ok with that. I’ll even let you stand on my feet if you want.” We both looked down at my already shoeless feet. I ditched my shoes pretty much as soon as we got to the reception hall. They were too uncomfortable for my swollen feet.
I shrugged as he led me out to the dance floor, carefully setting my bare feet on top of his black dress shoes. “I won’t turn down that offer.” I wrapped an arm around his neck awkwardly, laughing as my large belly pressed against him. “Although I don’t think you quite thought this through.”
Kris smiled lightly and angled my body slightly, so the side of my belly rested against him and I ended up close to him that way. “I think this works just fine.”
“Huh,” I said, blinking. He actually thought of something I didn’t. Shocking.
“Don’t look so surprised,” he huffed in French. “I have a brain too, you know.”
I laughed as he moved slowly to the music, my body following his steps. “You know I’m just playing with you.”
He winked. “I know.” He wrapped one arm around my waist, stabilizing my body against him. “How sick of talks are you?”
I raised an eyebrow again. “I’m sorry?”
He smiled lightly. “You had a long talk with Jordan at his wedding. Are you ready for another one at my sister’s wedding?”
I eyed him suspiciously. “It depends,” I said, my voice low. “What’s it about?”
Tanger laughed. “I’m not leaving or anything, so don’t look at me like that.” My face relaxed as he looked straight, over my head because I’m just that short.
“Then don’t scare me like that. I don’t think I can lose another member of my family until I have this baby, or the stress may put me into labor early.”
Kris looked down at me seriously before looking up again. “Don’t tease about that. Or you may give me a heart attack.”
I giggled. “Sorry.”
His chin rested on the top of my head, and this was oddly feeling like the dance Jordan and I shared just a week or so ago. Apparently all the guys are making habits out of dancing with me and sharing their problems with me as we dance. The dancing I’m cool with, but I’d rather the problems be shared at a different time so I could, you know, actually enjoy dancing.
“Will you just tell me what’s on your mind?” I mumbled.
“I don’t know. I feel weird saying it. It feels... wrong to say.”
I tried to look up at him, but he wouldn’t budge his chin from the top of my head so I was stuck in the position I was in. “Just spill already,” I growled. “Don’t piss off a hormonal, pregnant woman.”
“Then maybe I should keep my mouth shut.” I shoved my finger into his side, causing him to flinch. “Ouch! Ok, ok. Your nail is digging in. Stop it.”
I wrapped my arm around his back again in satisfaction, a wicked smile creeping on my face. My husband saw the smile as he glanced at me, and started laughing, pointing out what I had just done to my brother. They went back to their own dancing though, my evil deed quickly forgotten.
“I just... I have something I want to get off my chest. I should have told you a long time ago, but I was too chicken to do it.”
Oh boy, I have a feeling I know where this one was going. If I’m right, then Ari really was correct about her brother.
“Please don’t judge me,” Kris pleaded.
“When do I ever judge?” I scoffed. “I am the secret keeper. Everyone comes to me with their problems, and I fix them. Or at least I try to.”
“But this is different.”
“Just tell me already!”
“I was in love with you.”
Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting him to be that forward. My breath caught in my throat and silence met Kris. I swear, I could hear crickets over the loud music.
Kris tensed up as I continued to stay quiet, and eventually, he stopped dancing in a slow circle and gently pushed me off his feet and looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of me. “Oh, look up already.” Kris looked at me, confused by the casual tone in my voice. “I already knew that. A little birdy told me a few weeks ago that you and Luc had a bet that you’d ask me out, and since you didn’t you owed Luc a nice sum of money.”
Tanger’s cheeks flushed. “Ariana.” That was not a question, and as he said it, I burst out laughing. My laughter caused him to relax, and he even smiled. “I guess that saves me a lot of trouble from explaining anything, because I’m sure Ari told you some absolutely lovely stories of my, essentially, ‘fangirling’, or would it be called ‘fanboying’?”
I shook my head as I laughed. “Yes, she shared some delightful stories.” A wicked gleam flashed in my eyes. “And don’t think I’ll ever let you forget them.”
Kris moaned and put his head in his hands. “Lovely. I’ll have to repay my sister for that one.”
I cackled wickedly, and as Kris looked at me, I had to ask the one question on my mind. “What about now?”
He didn’t ask for clarification. He didn’t need it. “I love you, very much, but I’m not in love with you anymore. I saw the way you and Flower looked at each other from the beginning, and I knew I didn’t have a chance, and eventually I grew to love you in a different way.” He stepped forward quickly and wrapped a strong arm around my head, giving my a boogie. I shouted and tried to push him away, but he just laughed. “You’re like a sister to me now.”
Eventually I pulled my head free and I stuck my tongue out at him. “And I consider you a brother.” I tried to fix my curly hair. “But thank you for telling me the truth. I appreciate you stepping up and being a man.” I winked.
Tanger gave me a look, but ended up laughing. “Yeah, well, I just had to let you know. Luc would have wanted it that way.”
I smiled. “I’m sure he’s in Heaven right now, smiling down at you, and probably mumbling ‘about time’ to himself.” We both laughed. I looked at Kris and he met my intense gaze with a question. “I am not supposed to tell you yet, but Marc and I have decided to do something a little different with our baby.” Kris raised an eyebrow. “We decided our Luc will have two God-fathers, and we’ve decided that you will be one of them.”
My best friend, my self-proclaimed brother’s, jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes absolutely lit up. “Seriously?”
I smiled and nodded. “Yes. If something were to happen to Marc-Andre and I, it will be yours, Sidney’s and Marylene’s responsibility to take care of Luc.”
Kris let out a happy laugh and quickly enveloped me in a hug. “Thank you, Erra. Thank you so much.”
“It seemed only fitting.”
He smiled. “So I’m not just an uncle.” Again, not a question.
But I answered anyways. “Nope. But don’t tell Jordan you know yet. He really wanted to be a God-father too.”
Tanger laughed. “He will have to settle for being just an uncle.”
I glanced at the dance floor, where the majority of the Penguins were. “Hockey player’s kids really do have too many uncles.”
Tanger laughed again, this time harder. “What was your first clue?”
I rolled my eyes and headed towards the table. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get off my feet.”
I plopped myself down on a chair as Tanger took my hand, kissing it in a gentlemanly manner. “Thank you for that dance, madame. It was a pleasure.”
“Go suck up to Marc, Tanger,” I laughed. “He’s the one who thought of the idea because I was so torn between choosing you or Sid.”
Tanger immediately stood up straight and raced off towards my husband. “Thank you Erra! I love you!” He blew me an air kiss before attaching himself to Marc’s side.
Silly boy. I smiled to myself. I’m glad he came clean and told me how he used to feel. Ever since Ari told me, it was a little awkward because I needed to hear it from him, so now that I have, we can settle back into our lovely brother-sister, I-am-the-boss relationship.
And I know he will be the greatest God-father to my little Luc.