Sure Feels Right

The time at home had flown by. I had been so busy with the final preparations, that I felt like I didn't have time to take a breath or just sit down for a few seconds. The day before the wedding, I was ready to just sleep for a week straight.
"Scarlett, get up. We have to go take pictures." I didn't understand why we needed informal pictures of our wedding party, but apparently my mom wanted them.
"No." I mumbled and rolled away from my fiance who was sitting on the edge of the bed all ready for the day. "Let me sleep."
"You have two days before the honeymoon to do nothing but sleep and you can take a nap after lunch but you are going to be late to get your hair done." So not true, Robert. He's trying to get me out of bed.
Best thing about being the bride? Everyone waits for you. Pictures can't go on without me. My sister has to wait to do my hair. It's awesome and stressful at the same time.
"Lilly can wait."
"I will lay on you."
"You will not." I protested, hoping he wouldn't.
Robert gave me a few seconds to get up before doing exactly what he said. He sat on top of me, making sure all of his weight was on my back. All 200 and some odd pounds of hockey player on my body was making it hard to breathe.
"Fine I'll get up." I somehow managed to get out. He proceeded to roll off me onto his side of the bed and lay there while I got ready.
My sister was downstairs, waiting with the curling iron already on. I didn't say anything I would regret because she was going to be extremely close to my head with a really hot hair tool. That just didn't seem like a fun time.
We were only five minutes late. Beau was ten. The two of us whispered about how we didn't want to be here. He was in for a reality check, especially since he was marrying Drew. Something about her told me that she was going to be not quite a 'bridezilla' but really uptight and controlling about everything. Luckily, I was not in the wedding but Robert was.
"As much as I'm excited for the wedding, sometimes I wish we would have just gone to city hall and got it over with." Robert started laughing with a half grin on his face, "What?"
He turned his head to look at me, "I'm so glad you said that first."
"It would have been so much easier and cheaper and-"
"But I wouldn't get to see you coming down the isle." He interrupted me. He was staring at the ceiling, probably imagining what I'm going to look like in a little over 24 hours. I as going to reply, but he looked so happy.
It made me feel much better about walking down the aisle tomorrow. There wasn't going to be any cold feet or him not reacting how I want him to.
"Aside from you know, actually getting married to you tomorrow, seeing you is what I'm looking forward to most." By the time he had finished what he was saying, I was asleep. Not a bad way to start a nap, I have to admit.
I woke up hugging a pillow. Apparently Robert didn't need a three hour nap like I did because I found him in the kitchen with my family.
"Hello beautiful," he kissed my temple as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
"How are you still tired?" My aunt Cheryl asked.
"Three hours is not enough. I needed four." I wrapped my arm around Robert's waist, cuddling into his side. I would be more social but my family had been here for almost a week and I had already answered all of their questions. Even the ones about children. Apparently everyone wanted us to have children as soon as we possibly could.
Robert reached into the bowl next to him and handed me an apple, "Eat this. It's gonna be a while until you get food."
"Thanks." I mumbled as I bit into the juicy fruit. It was kinda of small, but it would probably keep me from being crabby.
I pulled my hair into a slick ponytail, letting the curls fall down the middle of my back and put on the simple dress I had picked out for tonight.
"Ready?" Robert popped his head into my room.
"Yeah." I reached out my hand and grabbed his.
It didn't really sink in that I was getting married until we were at my aunt's place practicing how everything would go tomorrow. Everyone was in their street clothes but it just felt real to me. I had the butterflies in my stomach and everything.
Two years ago if you had asked me if I was getting married while I was in grad school, I would have laughed and said, "Funny joke."
Life changes so fast, I didn't know how I was able to keep up with it. But Robert, Robert made it look so easy. He was so laid back about everything. While it seemed like I was, I needed tomorrow to be perfect.
Whether they admit it or not, pretty much every girl knows almost exactly how they want their wedding to be by their second year in college. Luckily, Robert wanted a lot of the same things.
"You know, part of me wants to have an ass like Sid, but a part of me just wants his ass." Katie told me. Apparently the people around us didn't make her want to keep something like that to herself. I turned to her and gave a funny look. This wasn't something that I cared to hear about at my rehearsal dinner.
"A part of me wishes you hadn't said that. Wait, no. All of me wishes you hadn't said that." I finished off the lemonade in my cup. "Go talk to him."
"But I'm sober."
"Right." I rolled my eyes.
"He's intimidating."
"He's Sidney Crosby."
"Point made."
I rolled my eyes and walked away, "Whatever Katie."
The best part about having my family over tonight, was that I could get all my socializing done with them and not have to really worry about it tomorrow when all of Robert's family and our friends were here. Not to mention quite a few of his teammates.
"How are you feeling?" Rachel and Brad walked up to me.
"I'm really tired and I just want to go to sleep." I admitted. It was only 7, but I could sleep for twelve hours which would be nice. That's over twice as much as I have been getting.
"I think your parents are kicking everyone out by nine." While that was helpful, that didn't guarantee that I would be asleep by ten.
"Yeah, but I can't sleep without Robert." I bit at my lip, watching him talk to a few of my relatives. When he saw me looking at him, he walked over to us.
"You look tired."
"Thanks." I mumbled. Not exactly something I wanted to hear from him.
"No, I'm serious. You look like you're going to fall over and sleep."
"Probably because I want to."
"Just a couple more hours and you can go to sleep."
I was actually able to sneak off a little before 9 and get ready for bed. My wonderful bridal party said they would make sure everything was ready for the morning, that sleep was more important right now.
I woke up on my wedding day with butterflies. I couldn't tell you if they were good or bad. I was nervous, but only because with my luck, something would go wrong.
I rolled over to see a note by my phone. I opened it to see my soon to be husband's handwriting on the page.
The way you like to sing my songsYou always know when something's wrongThe way you say you miss me when I'm goneThe things you do to show you careYou're always down for "Truth or Dare"Freeze this moment, let me stop and startNothing before was realThis is the way I feelI can't wait for you to be my wifeTo live this life togetherAnd I won't let you goI need you to knowThat you are my heart forever
-Robert
He must have snuck in before heading out for the night. I think he stayed with Sid or Geno, but wasn't sure. All I knew was that he wasn't allowed to stay in this house.
I walked downstairs to grab a few pieces of fruit before brushing my teeth and starting my wedding day. Everyone else was up and getting things together.
"We leave in 15 minutes, Scar." Kenzie reminded me as she briskly walked past with someone's shoes.
"I lost an earring." Katie complained.
"I have a pair you can use." I told her as I poured some coffee and creamer into a mug before thinking about going to get ready.
"No need," Taylor laughed, "It's probably in Crosby's hotel room."
"Fuck off."
My dad walked past the two bridesmaids and laughed. I'm sure he would love being able to be in his house without a ton of girls running around complaining about an earring that may or may not be in the hotel room of a very, very good hockey player.
I could tell he was a little sad underneath all of his excitement. After all, he was giving away his little girl today.
"I'll always be your little girl."
"I know you will." He leaned over to kiss my forehead, "And I wouldn't want to give you away to anyone else. He treats you like the princess you never realized you were."
"Excuse me." I tried to remain serious, but cracked a smile. "I am the queen."
"Sure you are." He laughed and walked back to his bedroom.
After I got my hair done and put on the dress, everyone started to get emotional, including myself. I was glad they used waterproof makeup.
"Aren't you happy? You're getting married!" Rachel tried to make me feel a little better.
"I am. I'm just scared."
"Good. I felt the same way when I got married to Brad."
"Hudson wanted to come see the prettiest bride." Drew walked in with her little boy on her hip then handed him to me. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was saving all my stress for today."
"If it makes you feel better, Rob is even more nervous." He would make me feel better. Only a few more hours until I walked down the aisle. Only a few more hours until I would be married to Robert.
"Drew, we need you to- wow. Scarlett, you look. Amazing." Beau fumbled over his words as he took his child from Drew. He was wearing the suit Robert had picked out. All of the groomsmen were wearing a light grey three-piece suit, sans jacket, with the sleeves of the dress shirt rolled up. Beau had a navy blue bow tie and the rest wore yellow.
"Thanks Beau." I whispered, shoving my hands in the pockets of my dress.
"I'll see you at the reception, okay?"
"Bye Drew. See you in a while, Beau."
"Ready for more pictures?" The photographer had already gotten a ridiculous amount while I got my hair done and while I was putting the dress on, but that was just the start of it.
Robert's POV
I took a deep breath and walked out of the room I was getting ready in. The photographer told me where I was allowed to be and when so I wouldn't accidentally see Scarlett.
"Got the rings?" I asked Beau, hoping he at least knew where they were.
"The nazi photographer still hasn't gave them back. She looks amazing, by the way."
"Wow, she must really look good if you'll admit it."
Amazing was an understatement. My jaw dropped when I saw her walking towards me. I was speechless. I mean she looked great no matter what, but seeing her come closer, I realized how lucky I was to be marrying her today.
Sure, we fought more than we should. Especially over the stupid things. But I loved the way she would be dancing in the kitchen in just a t-shirt when I got home from practice. And how she always knew when to hug me and not say anything more. And the fact that she can't sing, but it doesn't stop her from putting on a concert in the car. And how she would go off on a rant and end up speaking Russian halfway through.
She took my hands once she was standing in front of me. I had to remind myself to repeat after the preacher because I was so focused on the woman in front of me.
"I do."
"You may now kiss the bride." Before I could do anything, her arms were around my neck pulling me towards her. I put one hand on the small of her back, steadying her and the other on her waist. Once we took a breath, I pressed my forehead to hers and took in the moment.
"I love you." She whispered.
"I know."
As much as I hated the pictures before the ceremony, Scarlett made the ones after much more bearable. The smiles seemed to come naturally. It was pretty obvious that both of us were on cloud 9 since the ceremony.
"You're good to go." The photographer finally said, "I'll be there when you arrive so I can get pictures of that."
Because the reception was only a few hundred yards away from where we were, but we took a while to get there. She was swinging our arms back and forth like a little kid would do as we moseyed to the place all of our relatives were waiting.
"Today has been perfect."
"It's not even close to being over." I reminded her. We still had a ways to go.
"Well, yeah. I know. That doesn't mean it hasn't been everything I imagined it would be."
"It's been what, almost two hours since I saw you?"
"Sounds about right."
"I've spent every minute since then to find a word, an expression, something that would explain how amazing you look, but nothing would do you justice."
"That's really nice and sappy, but I'm hungry. Can we go in now?"
We were standing outside the barn doors when "You Make My Dreams Come True" started playing. Scarlett had a lot of fun with our wedding playlist, but it did make walking into the reception better.
Beau was talking to me while everyone was either eating or waiting in line to get food. I looked to Scarlett and she was interested in something Kenzie had to say so I snuck a piece of cheese off of her plate.
"Just because we got married today, doesn't mean I won't stab you with my fork." I laughed because I wouldn't put it past her to do that.
When the time came, I led my wife onto the dance floor for our first dance. She placed her arms around my neck and we started swaying to the Keith Urban song we chose.
"Remember the first time we danced to this? It was pouring rain outside and you could hear the thunder in the distance."
"That was one of the first nights we spent in the house together."
"I used to hate this song. It came out when I was in middle school and I absolutely hated it. Then I grew up and fell in love. Now it's one of my favorites." I listened to her talk about anything that came to mind in those short few minutes, not taking my eyes off her.
Scarlett's POV
I couldn't stop smiling. Everything had gone by smoothly, that the day was pretty much perfect. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, so I relaxed a little after the first dance. There wasn't much left that could be ruined.
"Time for dollar dances." The DJ announced. I groaned as I got up from my seat once again. Beau made sure he was first in line for me.
"Oh God. Not you."
"Hey. You love me."
I rolled my eyes, grabbing his hand and wrapping one of my arms around his waist. "Yeah, only because I have to."
"So have you seen the new Keith Urban video? Drew made me watch it earlier."
"Umm.. No. I have not."
"It's like, really softcore porn."
"Beau!"
"It's hot. I think you'd like it."
"Remind me again why I deal with you?"
"I'm probably your husband's best friend." It was definitely going to take me a while to get used to Robert actually being my husband.
"Yeah, okay. New person." I pushed him towards the line of guys that was waiting to dance with me. "Geno, come on. Let's chat!"
"You make beautiful bride."
"Thank you." I blushed. No matter how many times different people told me that, they all got the same reaction.
I danced with quite a few people before Beau showed up again, "Why are you back?"
"Because I need quality bonding time with you."
"Okay whatever."
"So when are we getting little Bortuzzo's?"
"We? Since when are you involved in making little Bortuzzo's?"
"Well, I'm not. But Hudson needs a friend. Or a girlfriend."
"I am not pimping out my future daughter, Beau."
"Okay well can you at least make sure her name sounds good with Bennett?" He smiled, now he was just trying to see my reaction.
"Do you really want your son dating my daughter? I mean, you've seen how protective Robert is over me. Just imagine him and his daughter. He might make Hudson cry."
"You're right." He laughed, I wouldn't blame him for taking back his offer.
"Obviously."
"Mind if I break this up?" Robert tapped on Beau's shoulder, wanting to dance with me.
"No, go right ahead."
"So how are you feeling?" My husband held me close to him as I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Tired. Really, really tired."
"Not too much longer and we'll be going to the hotel."
"I don't want this night to end."
"I wanna call you mine, wanna hold your hand forever and never let you forget it." He sang along with Hunter Hayes.
Robert carried me into the hotel room and set me on the bed. I kicked off my shoes and fell back, he did the same.
"Are we having sex tonight or no?" I asked, not really caring what his answer was. I was down for either option.
"Yeah, we'll see. I'm a little tired."
We sat there in silence, taking in all the events of the day. In around 48 hours, we would be heading across the pond for our honeymoon. Or as I liked to call it, our first adventure as a married couple.
"And they both lived happily ever after."
I laughed and grabbed his hand, "If only it were that easy."

Notes