Status: Reviews/Comments = Love. Please leave one. I'm catching this one up to One More Year so it will be easier to write for both.
Leaping for Your Dreams
Unorthodox Wedding
After a few days of sorting paperwork out and getting Guardianship for Anna sorted out, it was finally Game One for the 2012 playoffs.
I thanked god for my wonderful crew as I came in with Nikolai and Anna. They made them all feel welcome, even Lou. Lou took Anna on a personal tour of where he and I worked during the game.
Nik sat in my chair as I looked over tonight’s guests. “Wow Sis, you got it all under control don’t you?” He looked around my office and marveled at its organization. “So when are you two going to truly tie the knot?”
I stopped and looked at him. “Will you stop? God Mom and Dad are bad enough but you too now?” Ok so I was wearing my ring, no one else knew what it really meant. I’d even gotten some compliments on it. He just laughed at my pain; I’d missed my little brother.
Moka poked his head in. “Hey Boss Lady.” He said in his way, and then he noticed Nik. “Hellooo there. I’m Michael and you are?” He came in and offered Nik his hand.
I just sighed. “Moka stop trying to hit on my brother or I’ll tell Angel. Nik don’t tip that far back or you’ll…” The chair crashed to the floor. “Fall over.” I went over and offered Nik my arm. “You ok?”
“Pfft. Fine, I’ve been through worse.” He grabbed my arm and hoisted himself up. His phone went off and he went outside the office to answer it.
Moka looked at me. “You never said you had such a fine looking brother Mari, holding out on us you were.” I punched him. “Ok fine, but he’s still good looking that little kid his too?”
“Anna? Yeah she’s 4 almost 5. This is actually the first time the rest of the family knew about her. Nik’s bad with showing things that he considers failures. Not that Anna is, more like him being a dad so young when he had plans. She’s ours though and we’re not letting her go now.”
Nik came back in pale. “Sis I’ve been recalled. We ship out in 2 days.” Moka left to give us a chance to talk, closing the door behind him. “Mar, I got a bad feeling. Do you know of anyone who could help draw up some legal papers quickly? If the worst happens I want Anna to have a stable loving home, I think you and Geno can do that.”
“Nik you can’t be… No you are. What do you want us to do?” I knew him well enough to know that if he had a bad feeling, even if he was wrong it was safer to go with him.
“I want, in the event of my death, you two to adopt Anna. Mom, Dad and I talked about it last night you guys are the best option I’ve got. I _know_ this is a lot, but…” I put a hand over his mouth.
“Evgeni and I would be honored to adopt her in that worst case scenario. We already said we’d do whatever it takes. Actually I thought about this before when I spoke to the legal department and,” I took out a folder. “I had them draft up adoption paperwork just in case too. All it needs is your signature and in the event of your death she’s already in a home. The social worker is coming tomorrow to check out the house for safety. We should pass that easily and then it gets filed.”
I watched as Nikolai’s eyes filled with tears. “ ‘Chaela.” He pulled me close and hugged me tightly. He was shaking, I couldn’t tell if it was with relief or fear or both. I wrapped my arms around him and didn’t let go.
“Ohana, ‘member Nik.” I mumbled as we held on. “No one gets left behind.” We stayed like that until we heard a knock at the door and Geno opened it. “Hey babe.” I had tears on my face.
Geno took my hand, pulled me in close and wiped the tears off my cheeks. “No crying.” He saw the paperwork on my desk and nodded. “I see. One question Nikolai, if we adopt her, can we change name too?”
Nik looked up at Geno. “There’s plenty of Krejci’s in the world.” He wrote on the paperwork, ‘change legal last name to Malkin’, signed and dated it. “Not so many Malkins, especially in the U.S.” He put a hand on Geno’s shoulder. “Just take care of them and I don’t care what you do.”
“He’s shipping out in 2 days.” I said, fear creeping into my voice. I’d never seen Nik so complacent about someone he cared about before.
Geno went over and picked up my phone. I don’t know whom he dialed but he was talking to someone very quickly. “Hi, yeah you say if there is anything you can do to help me you would do best. Need to get married tonight after game. My family here, her family here; her brother being deployed in 2 days. Do not know when he come home again. After game yes. What we need?” He wrote down a few things on the pad of paper I had next to the phone. “Ok I call when we get there, maybe an hour?” He hung up the phone and grinned at me.
“You aren’t serious?” I asked. “Aleks isn’t even here and can’t be here due to her own game.”
“She not mind if for good reason. You know that.” He said. “After lunch we got license, need passports.” He looked at me. “Maybe dress too.”
I glared at him. “There is _no_ way you’re getting to see my wedding dress before we get married. We’ll have Anna in it too, if that’s ok.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After morning skate we dashed back to the house and grabbed our passports. Well in my case I grabbed BOTH of mine. We had lunch as normal and then dashed to the City-County Building downtown. Geno called as we were walking in and we were met by a judge friend of his. He walked us straight into the correct offices and helped us fill out the paperwork. Fortunately with neither of us every being married before it was simple. He then took it and did a quick computer search to double-check what we’d written down. When we stepped up to the counter finally he nodded to the clerk who nodded back. She handed him some extra paperwork to do, which he quickly did. “Judge Hamilton when do you need this ready?”
He looked at us. “Get it done by 6:30 so I can take it with me for them at the game if possible.” The clerk nodded and put ‘Rush’ on the packet.
Once we walked away Geno shook hands with him. “Thank you. Would have waited if we had more time.”
Judge Hamilton smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Are you going to be telling people or just have it be a small affair?”
“Small,” I chimed in. “In fact no one knows yet, it’ll be a surprise for the guys after the game. Speaking of, do we want Max and maybe Bryz there too?” I looked at Geno.
“Max is family yes. Bryz, he would silence Ovi. Maybe if they all there, they all shut up.”
I leveled a glare at him. “I _am_ _not_ having that ginger bitch at my wedding.” We heatedly discussed it all on the way home, coming to an agreement as we pulled into the driveway. “Go nap. I’ll call V and take Anna with me.” I said giving him a light kiss and pulling out my phone. “V, hey I need your help. Can we meet somewhere like yesterday? You’ll come over, that’s great.”
Within minutes Vero and 4 mothers were in my living room. My stomach flipped nervously as they eyed me. “I need help. I have,” I checked my watch and sighed, “about 4 hours to find a wedding dress.” Once it was translated for Mama M all of them began asking all sorts of questions all at once. “Hush! Geno’s upstairs. Nik is being deployed in 2 days so we got special license to have it tonight after the game. No one else knows yet but I really want as many of the girls who can to be there.”
Vero grinned. “Seeing that Aleks can no’ be ‘ere I shall stand wit you. Let’s go to David’s and find t’at dress.” We piled into a couple cars and went off to find my dress. As promised we took Anna along cause she’s family and did not have a dress worthy of the occasion. We found her dress first, she _insisted_ it be purple. We didn’t want or have time to argue so purple it was, we did however find a lighter purple as she was a young girl.
Vero and I talked about what kind of dress I wanted on our way over. Feeling like a Princess was deemed right out cause every bride should feel that way. I wanted to be a little sexy and not have a big poofy dress. I wore a lot of things that didn’t show off my figure; tonight I wanted to. She led me to the mermaid section and began looking at them. Most of them were ugly to me, too many ruffles; too much lace or too many beads. We narrowed it down to two and I found what _should_ be my size and went to try them on. The one with a sweetheart neckline looked great but I didn’t _feel_ great in it so I tried the other one.
“This is it.” I said in a hushed tone. Everyone was nodding in agreement.
Anna came up and held my hand. “It’s so pretty.” She was in her dress to make sure it fit as well. We looked very nice standing together. “What’s a wedding?”
I smiled. “It’s where two people who love each other very much promise to stay together forever. From then, they have the same last name too. After tonight’s game you’ll see.”
We carefully took off the dresses and paid for them, well I tried to but Nathalie insisted on buying both for us. “Think of it as _our_ gift as we can’t give you time off.” Never argue with the boss’s wife, Rule #2.
We then got bundled off to get ourselves ready. They had called ahead to make sure we could get in for makeovers without a hitch. I tried telling them that I had a game to get ready for but they all scoffed. I called Moka who informed me that my job was to NOT be nervous this evening, he’d take care of the Suite tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was put into a room I hadn’t ever been in before. I looked very nice right now but I was not yet in my dress. Unfortunately the guys were losing, this might put a damper on the wedding. I tried to put that out of my mind as I pulled on a heavy robe. I heard the last buzzer and the crowd was upset. Yep, we’d lost. I made my way over to the Flyers’ room and waited to grab Max and the handful of other Flyers we were inviting personally.
As I waited I heard their Win Song kick off. I shook my head and stood my ground. The first person I found was Sergei Bobrovsky. I know it might be odd to invite the opposing team but if we wanted word to get around the Russian half of the NHL we needed witnesses who _were Russian. “Сергей, вы бы сделали Евгений и я имею честь прихода к нашей свадьбе? (Sergei, you would have made Evgeni and I have the privilege of coming to our wedding?)”
He stopped and moved out of the way of everyone else. “Вы уверены, что хотите меня там? Скажите, когда и я буду. (Are you sure you want me there? Tell me when and I will.)” Ilya was now standing behind him looking interested.
I chuckled. “Не приглашают только два русских, которые не являются семья? Мы не настолько глупы. Это примерно 45 минут Я не знаю, где еще. (Do not invite only two Russian that are not family? We are not that stupid. This is about 45 minutes I do not know where.)” I was looking around for the other 4 Flyers who were to be graced with an invitation.
Bryz leaned over. “Мы бы за честь быть там. (We would be honored to be there.)”
I saw Max and Danny Briere coming up the carpet. “Max! Danny! Can I have a word with you two?”
They came over with big grins on their face. “Sorry Mari, not their night.” Max said.
“That doesn’t matter now. Look there’s my wedding is going to happen in about 45 mins and I’d really love it if you two were there.” Their jaws dropped. “I know it’s _really_ short notice but just think I’m getting the easy job. Geno is having to tell the guys they are staying but not why.”
Danny took off his helmet and scrubbed his hair briefly. “Who all else is coming from us?”
“Bryz, Bob, you two, Jags and Lil if I can catch them quick. No gingers, sorry.” I kept my voice low so it wouldn’t carry too far. Max leaned over and kissed my cheek.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, right man? A select few, rarified air you might say…” He got that look of waxing poetic.
I punched him. “Shut up. Jags! Jsem vdávat asi 45 minut a chci tě tam. Prosím. (I am married in about 45 minutes and I want you there. Please.)” I then caught Lilja by an elbow and grinned.
“Jste vdávat? Samozřejmě, že tam budu! (Are you getting married? Of course I'll be there!)” Jags said happily as he kept on his way into the locker room.
Andreas just grinned at me. “Should I just follow jags and grin a lot?” I nodded and he kissed my cheek. “Then of course.”
I raced back to the room I had been in and slipped into my finery. I then repaired what little damage had been done to my face by those sweaty kisses. Now it was time to wait. I hated waiting.
Soon enough my papa knocked on the door and came in. “It’s time. You can still back out you know.”
I shook my head. “No papa, I have loved him too long to break either of us now.” I took his arm; I was nervous and excited. He took me out of the room and then out to center ice. Oh someone was gonna die. I was in 4 inch heels on ice. Then I saw that there was a carpet, ok I might not kill someone.
We walked out to center ice where Geno and all of our collected family waited. Once we were there I noticed that they were situated all around us; that made me tear up. Once Papa and I were within the circle they filled in behind us.
The ceremony was short and sweet. I _loved_ what Judge Hamilton said before he pronounced us husband and wife. “As a Native American tribe says ‘Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
‘Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives- - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.’"
Then came the fateful words I was so excited to hear. “By the powers vest in me by the State of Pennsylvainia and Allegheny County. I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Geno’s smile couldn’t get brighter as he pulled me in close to a tender kiss with much whooping and hollering from our surrounded family.
The Pens photographer was nice enough to stay around and take some pictures for us. We found one we liked a lot and transferred that to my computer, then sent it out to everyone who could not have been with us in person with the captions ‘Мы сделали это! We did it’. It was a shot of the two of us shortly after we broke the kiss, still at center ice and everything. It was clear it was a wedding.
Everyone, while bummed about the loss still, was happy for us. We promised that we wouldn’t have a huge reception until the next year so that those getting married this coming summer wouldn’t feel pressure to ‘top’ it. We all made sure that those Flyer who were there got fed and back to their hotel before curfew.
I sighed and curled into my husband’s chest. We were content in our life now. He held me tight as we fell fast asleep.
I thanked god for my wonderful crew as I came in with Nikolai and Anna. They made them all feel welcome, even Lou. Lou took Anna on a personal tour of where he and I worked during the game.
Nik sat in my chair as I looked over tonight’s guests. “Wow Sis, you got it all under control don’t you?” He looked around my office and marveled at its organization. “So when are you two going to truly tie the knot?”
I stopped and looked at him. “Will you stop? God Mom and Dad are bad enough but you too now?” Ok so I was wearing my ring, no one else knew what it really meant. I’d even gotten some compliments on it. He just laughed at my pain; I’d missed my little brother.
Moka poked his head in. “Hey Boss Lady.” He said in his way, and then he noticed Nik. “Hellooo there. I’m Michael and you are?” He came in and offered Nik his hand.
I just sighed. “Moka stop trying to hit on my brother or I’ll tell Angel. Nik don’t tip that far back or you’ll…” The chair crashed to the floor. “Fall over.” I went over and offered Nik my arm. “You ok?”
“Pfft. Fine, I’ve been through worse.” He grabbed my arm and hoisted himself up. His phone went off and he went outside the office to answer it.
Moka looked at me. “You never said you had such a fine looking brother Mari, holding out on us you were.” I punched him. “Ok fine, but he’s still good looking that little kid his too?”
“Anna? Yeah she’s 4 almost 5. This is actually the first time the rest of the family knew about her. Nik’s bad with showing things that he considers failures. Not that Anna is, more like him being a dad so young when he had plans. She’s ours though and we’re not letting her go now.”
Nik came back in pale. “Sis I’ve been recalled. We ship out in 2 days.” Moka left to give us a chance to talk, closing the door behind him. “Mar, I got a bad feeling. Do you know of anyone who could help draw up some legal papers quickly? If the worst happens I want Anna to have a stable loving home, I think you and Geno can do that.”
“Nik you can’t be… No you are. What do you want us to do?” I knew him well enough to know that if he had a bad feeling, even if he was wrong it was safer to go with him.
“I want, in the event of my death, you two to adopt Anna. Mom, Dad and I talked about it last night you guys are the best option I’ve got. I _know_ this is a lot, but…” I put a hand over his mouth.
“Evgeni and I would be honored to adopt her in that worst case scenario. We already said we’d do whatever it takes. Actually I thought about this before when I spoke to the legal department and,” I took out a folder. “I had them draft up adoption paperwork just in case too. All it needs is your signature and in the event of your death she’s already in a home. The social worker is coming tomorrow to check out the house for safety. We should pass that easily and then it gets filed.”
I watched as Nikolai’s eyes filled with tears. “ ‘Chaela.” He pulled me close and hugged me tightly. He was shaking, I couldn’t tell if it was with relief or fear or both. I wrapped my arms around him and didn’t let go.
“Ohana, ‘member Nik.” I mumbled as we held on. “No one gets left behind.” We stayed like that until we heard a knock at the door and Geno opened it. “Hey babe.” I had tears on my face.
Geno took my hand, pulled me in close and wiped the tears off my cheeks. “No crying.” He saw the paperwork on my desk and nodded. “I see. One question Nikolai, if we adopt her, can we change name too?”
Nik looked up at Geno. “There’s plenty of Krejci’s in the world.” He wrote on the paperwork, ‘change legal last name to Malkin’, signed and dated it. “Not so many Malkins, especially in the U.S.” He put a hand on Geno’s shoulder. “Just take care of them and I don’t care what you do.”
“He’s shipping out in 2 days.” I said, fear creeping into my voice. I’d never seen Nik so complacent about someone he cared about before.
Geno went over and picked up my phone. I don’t know whom he dialed but he was talking to someone very quickly. “Hi, yeah you say if there is anything you can do to help me you would do best. Need to get married tonight after game. My family here, her family here; her brother being deployed in 2 days. Do not know when he come home again. After game yes. What we need?” He wrote down a few things on the pad of paper I had next to the phone. “Ok I call when we get there, maybe an hour?” He hung up the phone and grinned at me.
“You aren’t serious?” I asked. “Aleks isn’t even here and can’t be here due to her own game.”
“She not mind if for good reason. You know that.” He said. “After lunch we got license, need passports.” He looked at me. “Maybe dress too.”
I glared at him. “There is _no_ way you’re getting to see my wedding dress before we get married. We’ll have Anna in it too, if that’s ok.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After morning skate we dashed back to the house and grabbed our passports. Well in my case I grabbed BOTH of mine. We had lunch as normal and then dashed to the City-County Building downtown. Geno called as we were walking in and we were met by a judge friend of his. He walked us straight into the correct offices and helped us fill out the paperwork. Fortunately with neither of us every being married before it was simple. He then took it and did a quick computer search to double-check what we’d written down. When we stepped up to the counter finally he nodded to the clerk who nodded back. She handed him some extra paperwork to do, which he quickly did. “Judge Hamilton when do you need this ready?”
He looked at us. “Get it done by 6:30 so I can take it with me for them at the game if possible.” The clerk nodded and put ‘Rush’ on the packet.
Once we walked away Geno shook hands with him. “Thank you. Would have waited if we had more time.”
Judge Hamilton smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Are you going to be telling people or just have it be a small affair?”
“Small,” I chimed in. “In fact no one knows yet, it’ll be a surprise for the guys after the game. Speaking of, do we want Max and maybe Bryz there too?” I looked at Geno.
“Max is family yes. Bryz, he would silence Ovi. Maybe if they all there, they all shut up.”
I leveled a glare at him. “I _am_ _not_ having that ginger bitch at my wedding.” We heatedly discussed it all on the way home, coming to an agreement as we pulled into the driveway. “Go nap. I’ll call V and take Anna with me.” I said giving him a light kiss and pulling out my phone. “V, hey I need your help. Can we meet somewhere like yesterday? You’ll come over, that’s great.”
Within minutes Vero and 4 mothers were in my living room. My stomach flipped nervously as they eyed me. “I need help. I have,” I checked my watch and sighed, “about 4 hours to find a wedding dress.” Once it was translated for Mama M all of them began asking all sorts of questions all at once. “Hush! Geno’s upstairs. Nik is being deployed in 2 days so we got special license to have it tonight after the game. No one else knows yet but I really want as many of the girls who can to be there.”
Vero grinned. “Seeing that Aleks can no’ be ‘ere I shall stand wit you. Let’s go to David’s and find t’at dress.” We piled into a couple cars and went off to find my dress. As promised we took Anna along cause she’s family and did not have a dress worthy of the occasion. We found her dress first, she _insisted_ it be purple. We didn’t want or have time to argue so purple it was, we did however find a lighter purple as she was a young girl.
Vero and I talked about what kind of dress I wanted on our way over. Feeling like a Princess was deemed right out cause every bride should feel that way. I wanted to be a little sexy and not have a big poofy dress. I wore a lot of things that didn’t show off my figure; tonight I wanted to. She led me to the mermaid section and began looking at them. Most of them were ugly to me, too many ruffles; too much lace or too many beads. We narrowed it down to two and I found what _should_ be my size and went to try them on. The one with a sweetheart neckline looked great but I didn’t _feel_ great in it so I tried the other one.
“This is it.” I said in a hushed tone. Everyone was nodding in agreement.
Anna came up and held my hand. “It’s so pretty.” She was in her dress to make sure it fit as well. We looked very nice standing together. “What’s a wedding?”
I smiled. “It’s where two people who love each other very much promise to stay together forever. From then, they have the same last name too. After tonight’s game you’ll see.”
We carefully took off the dresses and paid for them, well I tried to but Nathalie insisted on buying both for us. “Think of it as _our_ gift as we can’t give you time off.” Never argue with the boss’s wife, Rule #2.
We then got bundled off to get ourselves ready. They had called ahead to make sure we could get in for makeovers without a hitch. I tried telling them that I had a game to get ready for but they all scoffed. I called Moka who informed me that my job was to NOT be nervous this evening, he’d take care of the Suite tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was put into a room I hadn’t ever been in before. I looked very nice right now but I was not yet in my dress. Unfortunately the guys were losing, this might put a damper on the wedding. I tried to put that out of my mind as I pulled on a heavy robe. I heard the last buzzer and the crowd was upset. Yep, we’d lost. I made my way over to the Flyers’ room and waited to grab Max and the handful of other Flyers we were inviting personally.
As I waited I heard their Win Song kick off. I shook my head and stood my ground. The first person I found was Sergei Bobrovsky. I know it might be odd to invite the opposing team but if we wanted word to get around the Russian half of the NHL we needed witnesses who _were Russian. “Сергей, вы бы сделали Евгений и я имею честь прихода к нашей свадьбе? (Sergei, you would have made Evgeni and I have the privilege of coming to our wedding?)”
He stopped and moved out of the way of everyone else. “Вы уверены, что хотите меня там? Скажите, когда и я буду. (Are you sure you want me there? Tell me when and I will.)” Ilya was now standing behind him looking interested.
I chuckled. “Не приглашают только два русских, которые не являются семья? Мы не настолько глупы. Это примерно 45 минут Я не знаю, где еще. (Do not invite only two Russian that are not family? We are not that stupid. This is about 45 minutes I do not know where.)” I was looking around for the other 4 Flyers who were to be graced with an invitation.
Bryz leaned over. “Мы бы за честь быть там. (We would be honored to be there.)”
I saw Max and Danny Briere coming up the carpet. “Max! Danny! Can I have a word with you two?”
They came over with big grins on their face. “Sorry Mari, not their night.” Max said.
“That doesn’t matter now. Look there’s my wedding is going to happen in about 45 mins and I’d really love it if you two were there.” Their jaws dropped. “I know it’s _really_ short notice but just think I’m getting the easy job. Geno is having to tell the guys they are staying but not why.”
Danny took off his helmet and scrubbed his hair briefly. “Who all else is coming from us?”
“Bryz, Bob, you two, Jags and Lil if I can catch them quick. No gingers, sorry.” I kept my voice low so it wouldn’t carry too far. Max leaned over and kissed my cheek.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, right man? A select few, rarified air you might say…” He got that look of waxing poetic.
I punched him. “Shut up. Jags! Jsem vdávat asi 45 minut a chci tě tam. Prosím. (I am married in about 45 minutes and I want you there. Please.)” I then caught Lilja by an elbow and grinned.
“Jste vdávat? Samozřejmě, že tam budu! (Are you getting married? Of course I'll be there!)” Jags said happily as he kept on his way into the locker room.
Andreas just grinned at me. “Should I just follow jags and grin a lot?” I nodded and he kissed my cheek. “Then of course.”
I raced back to the room I had been in and slipped into my finery. I then repaired what little damage had been done to my face by those sweaty kisses. Now it was time to wait. I hated waiting.
Soon enough my papa knocked on the door and came in. “It’s time. You can still back out you know.”
I shook my head. “No papa, I have loved him too long to break either of us now.” I took his arm; I was nervous and excited. He took me out of the room and then out to center ice. Oh someone was gonna die. I was in 4 inch heels on ice. Then I saw that there was a carpet, ok I might not kill someone.
We walked out to center ice where Geno and all of our collected family waited. Once we were there I noticed that they were situated all around us; that made me tear up. Once Papa and I were within the circle they filled in behind us.
The ceremony was short and sweet. I _loved_ what Judge Hamilton said before he pronounced us husband and wife. “As a Native American tribe says ‘Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
‘Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives- - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.’"
Then came the fateful words I was so excited to hear. “By the powers vest in me by the State of Pennsylvainia and Allegheny County. I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Geno’s smile couldn’t get brighter as he pulled me in close to a tender kiss with much whooping and hollering from our surrounded family.
The Pens photographer was nice enough to stay around and take some pictures for us. We found one we liked a lot and transferred that to my computer, then sent it out to everyone who could not have been with us in person with the captions ‘Мы сделали это! We did it’. It was a shot of the two of us shortly after we broke the kiss, still at center ice and everything. It was clear it was a wedding.
Everyone, while bummed about the loss still, was happy for us. We promised that we wouldn’t have a huge reception until the next year so that those getting married this coming summer wouldn’t feel pressure to ‘top’ it. We all made sure that those Flyer who were there got fed and back to their hotel before curfew.
I sighed and curled into my husband’s chest. We were content in our life now. He held me tight as we fell fast asleep.