The Three C's

After my father’s speech, the DJ announced that it was time for the first dance, Pat and I looked at each other and smiled. In the end, I had caved and decided to let Pat decide what our song was, and then agreed that I would wait until it was time to hear the song.

A lot of people stood up and wrapped themselves around the dance floor, I waited for the music to start playing as Pat and I had stood in the middle of the dance floor, but I was shocked when I heard a piano playing and looked to see my brother smiling towards me, he was playing the piano and Emma was standing in front of the mic.

“So lately, been wondering, who will be there to take my place, when I’m gone, you’ll need love, to light the shadows on your face, if a great wave shall fall, it would fall upon us all, and between the sand and stone, could you make it on your own? If I could, then I would, I’ll go wherever you will go, way up high or down low, I’ll go wherever you will go…”

I held onto Pat and he chuckled and kissed my cheek, “I thought you’d like that song.”

“I like it even more because you got them to play it,” I said, knowing that Emma and Nick had just sang a cover of Wherever You Will Go by The Calling.

When Pat and I finished our dance, we heard clapping and then smiled towards everyone, more music continued to play and a lot of people came and started to dance on the floor. Soon I was being thrown all over the place, dancing with everyone I could because I was having a blast at my wedding.

After a while of dancing, the DJ announced that it was time to cut the cake, Pat found me in the ground and drug me over towards where the cake was set up, it was a beautiful plain white tower cake with Hawaiian flowers on it and then a bride and groom at the top. My mother handed Pat and I the knife and we both cut the cake, and then placed a piece on a plate for both of us. We fed each other cake and then everyone laughed when I wiped some icing on Pat’s cheek.

“Hey, hey, don’t be getting kinky in front of everyone,” he said and it made a lot of the guys around him howl with laughter, where I just giggled and kissed it off.

Cake was passed around to everyone and when Pat and I knew that everyone had a piece of cake and some Champagne, we stood up complimented people, Pat made sure the bridesmaids felt pretty, and then thanked everyone for coming to our wedding and definitely thanked our parents, “Because of mine and Maggie’s crazy schedule, if it wasn’t for our mothers’, this wouldn’t be happening right now, so thank you so much, we owe you a lot.”

“Just not the bill!” Pat’s dad yelled out and we all laughed.

“Yes, you can keep that!” my dad yelled and I looked at Pat and giggled.

“They’re going to be best of friends.”

“Without a doubt,” Pat said and then hugged and kissed me. Pat and I sat down and then watched as Jon stood up and got everyone’s attention, “Oh no,” he muttered and I giggled, it was time for the best man speech.

“Speech, speech, speech, speech!” some of my teammates cheered as they looked at their Captain.

“Make it painless, Tazer!” Pat said and Jon just laughed.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jon, and as is traditional on these occasions, I’m here to welcome you all to this very special day, point out the fire exits and for those of you who don’t already know Pat, give you a little bit of a background on why Maggie would put up with him the way she does,” he said and we all laughed, and I could tell this was going to be good, “Firstly, on behalf of the Bridesmaids, I'd like to thank Pat for his kind words. I think everybody will agree that the bridesmaids look absolutely gorgeous and Maggie, can I just say you look stunning. Whereas Pat just looks stunned.

“When Pat asked me to be his best man, part of me was honored, part of me was terrified, but mostly I was laughing inwardly that he’s finally admitting what we’ve known all along, that I am, in fact, better than him,” Jon said and Pat scoffed playfully and waved him off as everyone laughed, “Having never been a best man before, I had to spend several hours, like Maggie’s father, surfing the interweb to try and find out exactly what my duties would be, because all I knew was that I was in charge of the bachelor party,” he said and a lot of guys cheered, “However, I also came across several pictures of Britney Spears, but that’s by-the-by.

“So apparently the most important thing I had to do was make sure Pat got to the alter on time, looking presentable, clean-cut and sober. Given how nervous he was this morning, the sober part was a minor miracle, and as for the rest, well, I got him there on time,” Jon said and I giggled and kissed Pat’s cheek, “Some of you, incidentally, may have been surprised by how calm and collected Pat has seemed today- He seemed to have avoided the wedding day jitters and kept insisting ‘I’m fine, really’ all day.

“However, that’s probably because none of you saw him at ten o’clock this morning when he was lying faced down on his bed in his hotel room, in shorts and a t-shirt, with his mom rubbing his back and trying to get him to eat just a few more cornflakes- Sorry, buddy, you know I had to mention it,” Jon said and everyone was laughing and Pat just covered his face, elbows on the table.

“Anyway, where was I? Oh right! Pat was born on November 19th, 1988; and shares a birthday with such celebrities as Jodie Foster, Calvin Klein, Tyga, and Larry King. None of these, however, have had any noticeable effects on either his literacy, physical stature or hockey skills,” he said and we snickered.

“I’ve known Pat for approaching eight years now, we didn’t like each other at first, always competed against each other, but somehow, someway, the little bugger got to me and we became the best of friends,” he said and Pat smiled towards Jon and held up his beer and took a sip, “Since our friendship started on and off the ice, he’s proven to be the best friend a guy could have. From doing charity events together, going to a pub for the first time with him, carrying him home when he’s become a little too... ahem... emotional,” I burst out laughing for that, as well as others.

“While drunkenly singing various Motown hits, he’s been a true friend, like a brother to me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him, and likewise, nothing he wouldn’t do for me. In fact we spend our whole lives doing nothing for each other. By the way, when he gets drunk, he gets weird, so I should just say that if he challenges anyone to arm-wrestle later on, use your left arm. And if he grins and asks you to pull his finger, I’d advise you to leave quickly and quietly by the nearest available exit.”

“Dude!” Pat said and we were all laughing and Pat was just covering his head with his hands and trying to sink deeper into his chair.

“When Pat first met Maggie back at the All Star, he of course was Pat and his cocky little jerk face that I somehow became friends with. But for some reason, the day that he met Maggie Marshall, was day that something in his head clicked and he began to change. I noticed it, our teammates noticed it, and it wasn’t until our Coach said something that Pat noticed it. We all formed a friendship with Maggie, granted she was in a different state and Pat couldn’t see her a lot, but they stayed in contact. It wasn’t until he was talking about her non-stop did I notice that our Kaner was falling head over heels for Maggie.

“Tragedy brought them closer together, and now they’ve been together for a while, and I can’t think of a single couple more perfect for each other. She brings out the good side in him, which takes a lot of effort; in fact I’d say she’s made him a better person since they’ve been together. Maggie, I’d like to thank you on behalf of humanity for that,” he said and I giggled and nodded my head towards him and smiled towards Pat.

“So to wrap this up, I’d just like to say that marriage is not about finding someone you can live with, it’s about finding someone you can’t live without. So if everyone would like to join me in a toast to the new Mr and Mrs. Kane, Maggie and Pat. May your love be modern enough to survive the times, and old fashioned enough to last for ever. Ladies and Gentlemen: The Bride and Groom.”

After Jon’s speech, he and Pat hugged and then the DJ announced that it was time for the father/ daughter dance and then the mother/ son dance. We each had our own song and I enjoyed dancing with my father and then Pat’s father. After those dances, everyone went back to dancing and having a great time. Some of the older family and friends decided to leave for the night, so Pat and I made sure to say goodbye to them.

Towards the end of the night, it was getting late and it was announced for the bouquet and garter toss. I laughed as Jon drug a chair in the middle of the dance floor, Beau and Olli made me sit down and then Shaw and Saad were standing on each side of Pat rubbing his shoulders.

“Really? You’re really getting him pumped up for this?” I teased and Saad waved me off as Shaw patted Pat’s stomach. I laughed and watched as Pat walked over, knelt in front of me, lifted up my dress enough to see the garter and started to pull it down with his teeth while the guys around us howled and I just shook my head and laughed.

When Pat held the garter in his hand, he stood up and then picked me up and kissed me hard, I giggled and kissed his cheek. It was time to go, Pat and I were going to head back to our hotel and have the night to ourselves, because the next day, we were jumping on the plane and going someplace Pat wouldn’t tell me for our honeymoon.

We walked outside and I held my bouquet and Pat had the garter, we stood next to each other with our fingers laced together, looking at everyone as they came out of the reception hall, “All right! Are you ready?!” Pat asked and then we turned around and counted down from three and then tossed back the bouquet and garter.

I turned back and laughed at the fact that Allison had caught he garter and Jamie Benn caught the bouquet. They quickly switched and then blushed towards each other, ‘…Hmmm, so much for Nealer…’ I thought as I saw the way the two looked at each other.

“Come on, Mags,” Pat said and I looked at him, smiled and nodded my head.

Everyone was yelling goodbye to us as Pat and I headed for our car and then drove off back to our hotel. We had the pent house room, on the top floor, there was a beautiful view, a lot of room, and the best part, no one to bother us as Pat and I tossed our clothes on the way to the bedroom and were happy for no one else on the floor to both of us enjoying being married to each other.