The End of Everything

ABOUT FIVE MONTHS LATER

DEREK POV:

I stood at the end of the aisle and worries started to creep into my mind. I nervously pulled down my sleeves and Ryan kept slapping my hands to stop them. He was still chuckling at me for thinking that she would change her mind and leave me standing here alone.

A warm summer breeze kicked up and brought the smell of the flowers and forest around us. With the breeze came the sound of the orchestra hitting their first notes. I folded my hands over each other and gulped.

There was a small shuffling as the crowd turned to face the beginning of the aisle. The music continued to pick up, as did my heartbeat. Then the door creaked open and there was a swirl of white.

A collection of gasps sounded as she eased out onto the back porch of the house and her dad came out following her. He linked their arms and together they walked down the white path that was littered with flowers.

She took what seemed like forever to walk down the twenty-five foot aisle, but once her father handed her off to me time slowed down even more.

“You look amazing, A.” I whispered and she blushed up at me. Her dress was strapless and clung until it hit a belt on her waist. There it flared out and hung around her brushing the ground slightly.

The priest began his drone and I started to zone out. Then the quiet baritone rambling ended. I felt Ryan slap my lower back sharply and quickly. Everyone was looking straight at me and the priest let out a little cough. I released her hands and reached into my pocket to pull out the vows I had written.

“Aella, I remember when we first met. Mac had thrown a party to celebrate a big win for our hockey team freshman year. When I saw you your beauty captivated me. Then we started talking and I was head over heels for you. You were smart, pretty and funny. I still can't believe a guy like me was lucky enough to be able to call you his all throughout college and now for the rest of my life. I know we've had some rough patches over the five years we were dating, but somehow we managed to work it out every time. As time went on my love for you only grew stronger and now I can't wait to be able to call you my wife and let my love for you continue to grow.”

I folded back up the paper and she was busy blinking back tears. Using the pad of my thumb I wiped up the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She smiled up at me and turned to her maid of honor. She exchanged her bouquet of roses for a piece of paper then turned back to face me.

“Derek, I don't even think that I can top that. When I first met you I honestly thought you were going to be one of those arrogant, self-obsessed, hockey jerks that thought they could get away with anything and could get any girl their hearts desired.”

The crowd chuckled and she continued, “Once I got to know you I learned that you were the exact opposite. You immediately started making jokes and tried to make me smile as much as you could. I still don't know how I was lucky enough to meet you and start dating you throughout college. Whenever I was down you'd be there with something to make me feel better even if it was just your presence. I can't believe that I'm standing here with you now. I always thought you'd learn you could do better than me. I love you, Derek, so much.”

The priest broke the silence that followed our vows by asking us to kiss. I took her up in my arms and pulled her against me before our lips pressed together. Her hands rested on my chest and after a few moments we broke apart to a round of applause.

Ryan hit my shoulder as I walked down the aisle hand in hand with my new wife.

ABOUT THREE YEARS LATER

DEREK POV:

Snowflakes lazily fell down as we skated around the rink. I was crouched over holding onto the little hands of my twin boys. Aella was next to us pulling our daughter in a little sled.

The boys kept slipping, but I always pulled them back up before they hit the ice. Their giggles filled the air around us as we kept chugging along the edge of the rink. The boys were dressed in matching Stepan jerseys except my number was replaced with the number 9 for their birth date. Aella had stuffed their hands in mittens and hats on their heads, so they resembled marshmallows more than children.

I looked over at my baby girl. She was wrapped up even more than the boys were, since Aella was freaking out that she would get a cold. The only bit of skin you could see was the bridge of her nose and eyes; all the rest was covered with a scarf and hat. Her chorus of giggles was barely audible through all the layers, but you could see the light in her eyes and her shaking in the sled.

I smiled at her and she stretched two tiny pink mitten-covered hands up at me. I redirected the boys over to her. I could easily see the stress in her little green eyes as she reached out for me. Little tears started to form in her eyes and tumbled down her cheeks. She wailed and I quickly released the boys’ hands then picked her up out of the sled.

“Shh, little Lily,” I cooed to her and carefully wiped her tears away. She started to bounce and clapped her fists together while laughing completely forgetting she had been crying only moments earlier. Her scarf slipped down revealing her bright smile as we skated. She kept squirming around in my arms whiles she was trying to look behind me and then in front of me.

After a few laps she got bored and started to fall asleep with her little head against my shoulder pad. I met back up with Aella and the boys in a corner and carefully laid her back in the sled. I kissed her cheek and then pulled back up her scarf.

Together the boys grabbed up the rope that was connected to the sled and wobbled away from us with their baby sister. Aella yelped next to me as they sped over the centerline almost falling with each step. Both of us began skating to try and catch the twins.

“Derek Kenneth Stepan Jr. and Cody Sarpedon Stepan you better stop right now!” Aella yelled over the ice.

“Did you really have to use middle names? None of the guys knew they had weird ancient Greek middle names.” I asked her and she rolled her eyes at me.

The boys kept skating faster and faster away from us. Periodically one of them would twist their heads around to check and see how close we were to catching them. I could hear their tiny maniacal laughs as I closed in on them. I circled around so I would be in front of them and dove down onto the ice to block their passage. The boys skated into me and fell across my back as the sled drifted to a stop in front of my face.

They kept giggling as I carefully rolled over making sure to not crush them beneath me. Aella skated over to us and tried to stop, but she didn’t have enough space. She spun around and fell over onto her tailbone. The boys started to laugh so hard they were snorting and coughing.

I started to laugh too and was met by a glare from Aella. I got up and skated over to help her up, but before I reached her something rammed me from the side and into the boards. There was even more laughter and I looked at my attacker.

Ryan was smiling widely as he held me against the walls. Behind him Aella was struggling to get up and the boys were sitting on the ice laughing silently. I saw his wife skate over to him and pull him off of me.

“Ryan McDonagh you do not just check people without helmets!” She was giggling as she reprimanded him.

“Thanks Sandy.” I smirked knowing she hated being called that.

“Hey how about you check him again now honey?” She innocently asked Ryan. I ducked under his arm and scooped up both the boys in my arms.

“You can’t hurt me I have children here!” He high-fived the boys and they both reached out for him. He took them from me and started to casually skate around the rink next to his wife laughing often.

I wrapped my arm around Aella’s shoulders as she bounced the newly awoken Lily. To stop her from crying I licked my nose and crossed my eyes at her. She replaced her cries with laughter and I kissed the tip of her nose.

Ryan came back with the boys, who were busying trying to catch snowflakes on their pink tongues, and put them back down at our feet. Cody latched onto my leg and refused to let go as Dan skated over with Landon. Derek Jr. went up to him and accidentally ran into him almost making him fall. Landon pushed him in return and made him fall onto his butt on the ice. Dan quickly helped up Derek and wiped the snow off his back before turning to Landon.

“We don’t just push people down. I will put you in the penalty box Landon”—He looked over at me—“I’m sorry, he doesn’t normally do things like this.” I just chuckled and shook my head as Derek latched onto my other leg.

“It’s completely fine.” Landon looked up at me sadly and I smiled down at him until he returned a smile.

A photographer quickly yelled for our attention from the right. He was holding up his camera and ordering us to ‘say cheese.’ The boys poked their heads around my skates screaming cheese and Lily just made a few baby noises. To the left of me Ryan and his wife stood and Dan stood holding Landon next to Aella. The flash went off and the photographer skated away.