Wanna Get Married?

When Scott came to fetch them, he found the bride and groom smiling softly, eyes closed and foreheads pressed together, silently soaking in the moment, and he snapped a few photos before disturbing them.

They took a few dozen gorgeous sunset shots out on the rocks, with the surf crashing behind Jamie and Cara, and then the photographers made their way over to the party to get set up for their entrance, giving the newlyweds a few more moments alone.

“Can we just stay out here by ourselves?” Jamie asked softly. “I don’t want to share you.”

“Love, you have me forever. We can be sociable for a few hours.” Smiling, she leaned up to kiss him soundly, nails grazing the back of his neck and sending electricity down his spine.

“Jesus, Cara,” he groaned, “you’re not really selling the idea.” In response, she squeezed a handful of his ass and giggled wickedly. “Yeah, nope.” He shook his head. “That’s it. We’re going back to our room. Right. Now.” He followed up the declaration with his mouth on her neck, just below her ear, pulling a whimper from her.

“OK.”

“OK?”

“Yeah. I mean no. No, we can’t.” She batted at his chest, trying half-heartedly to push him away. “Jamie, stop — damn. No no no, we gotta stop. They’ll send someone after us. We’ll never get away clean,” she giggled.

Jamie whined into her skin. “Ugh, you’re right. Even if we made a run for it, they’d catch us at the ferry. Fine. We’ll go. But we’re so sneaking out when they’re not looking.”

“Deal,” she smiled. “Besides, you don’t want to miss your big moment with your baby, do you?”

Jamie giggled. “No, you’re right. I’ve been planning that for weeks. Let’s go.”

As they approached the tents down the beach, the DJ announced their arrival and started their first dance song. Cara had gone through hundreds of songs, narrowing it down to a handful before she and Jamie had settled on “Lucky” by Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat. They both loved the lyrics, and that it was a duet, and that they could actually dance to it, not just sway in place like awkward teenagers at prom. They had practiced a simple little swing dance in the living room for months (not that dancing alone together, with no one to judge their missteps or their silliness, had been a hardship) until they felt like they wouldn’t completely embarrass themselves when the time came.

So as their guests cheered them in, Jamie twirled Cara into the “dance floor” area of the sand, smiling and giggling, singing along, eyes only for each other.

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying

Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair

Though the breezes through the trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

When their song was over, Jamie kissed her softly and handed her off to her dad, who hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead as Heartland’s “I Loved Her First” started playing. Cara immediately teared up — she had let her father pick the song for this dance, but she knew it well, and though she was closer to her mom than her dad, she was still his baby girl. She put her head on his shoulder, and he held her close while they danced, ending the song with a big hug, kisses on the cheek, and tearful, murmured I love you’s.

A dozen or so songs later, when everyone had had a turn around the dance floor with the bride and groom — including incredibly adorable Jamie with his giggly one-year-old niece and Cara with silly but surprisingly good dancer Alex Radulov — the exhausted newlyweds collapsed, laughing, onto nearby chairs and were brought refreshments.

“I’m glad we came to our party,” Jamie laughed. “This is fun.”

Cara giggled and fed him a bite of her food. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I’m having a blast.”

They sat for a while, holding hands and catching their breath, and watched their guests have fun, chatting with a few friends who came to sit with them. Eventually, the music was turned down to background level, and champagne was handed out to everyone. Jamie and Cara meandered over to the cake table, where Jamie and a man who everyone assumed was a member of the catering staff hauled out a large trunk, carefully lifting out the treasure inside with their backs to the crowd. Guests glanced curiously back and forth from each other to the activity they couldn’t quite see, until a collective “ohh” went up as Jamie set the Stanley Cup on the closed trunk, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Cara smirking at his side.

Only Jordie and Tyler, who were in on the plan, weren’t surprised. Jordie stood chuckling at the DJ table, glass and microphone in hand, while Tyler poured a bit more champagne than necessary into the Cup.

“My baby brother, ladies and gentlemen,” Jordie began. “Who knew he could keep a secret this long?” Laughs rippled through the crowd. “Did you ask your fiancée if you could bring your mistress to the wedding the day you won her or did you wait until you sobered up?” More laughter.

“The day after!” Jamie shouted, giggling. Cara nodded, arms wrapped around him, an indulgent smile on her face.

“Such a romantic.” Jordie shook his head and continued, “Chubbs, I have known you literally your entire life, mine too really, and I have never seen anyone or anything — including that trophy — make you smile as much as Cara does.” Jamie looked at her and couldn’t help but beam, perfectly illustrating his brother’s point. “She is exactly the stubborn, bossy, crazy,” Cara shot him a facetiously shocked look, but Jordie just grinned mischievously and kept going, “silly, smart, sweet woman you needed in your life. When I went off to Montreal, I knew you were in good hands. CareBear, you’ve been a great dog sitter, relationship counselor,” Jess applauded in the background, “reality check, and friend to me since he first brought you home. I couldn’t ask for a better sister-in-law. I love you, kiddo.” Cara put her hand over her heart and then blew him a kiss.

“I’ve seen my brother, my best friend, do more sappy, romantic shit — sorry, kids — than I knew he had in him. I could tell you were head over heels for her like two months in. I don’t know what the hell took you so long to propose. I was beginning to think she was going to have to do it herself.”

Jamie flipped him off. “You’re one to talk!”

“Shut up,” Jordie grinned sheepishly. “We got there, ok? Cara, control your husband.”

“Fat chance, Jord. He’s right!” she called.

“See? They’re perfect for each other! Anyway. Ryan family, you have welcomed Jamie with open arms, even though he’s a dumb hockey player with a bunch of loud, disgusting friends.”

“Hey, you’re one of us, asshole!” someone called from the back.

“Which is why I know what I’m talking about!” Jordie protested. “Family is a big deal to the Benns, and I know I speak for the rest of them when I say we’re glad to make you a part of ours. Patrick and Colleen, I know he appreciates having you so close, especially since our folks are way up here. Sean, Molly, Brian, please feel free to big brother the shit out of him any time. If any of you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Back atcha,” Patrick saluted with his glass.

“To the bride and groom, may your lives be filled with love, laughter, patience, fun, and lots of kids for me to send obnoxious noisy toys to. Cheers!”

As everyone toasted them, Cara sat in Jamie’s lap, and Tyler carefully lifted up the bottom of the Cup so the bride and groom could drink from it together as Jamie held the top steady. When the trophy had been carefully set back down, Tyler raised his glass to them and took a sip, then sauntered back into the party.

Jamie and Cara kissed the leftover drops of champagne from each others lips, Cara still sitting on his lap. As he pulled her close, she held his face in her hands, tracing his clean-shaven jaw. She had asked him to be baby-faced for her today, promising he could grow whatever ridiculous beard he wanted for the rest of the summer, provided it didn’t reach the epic playoff disaster he had sheared off a month earlier. He had agreed with only minor protest. (“Not even a little shadow?” “No. Smooth. Please, Love?” “Anything you want, Baby.”) She didn’t mind him a little scruffy, but for their wedding day, she wanted a little piece of how he looked when they first met and he melted her heart. His face had matured since then, the lines of his jaw a little sharper, a few more little scars here and there, but it still made her heart flutter and her knees wobble. His hair was different too — still short at the neck, but sides not shaved and the top a little longer, giving her just a bit of the loose curls she loved to get her hands into (when he didn’t gel it into oblivion).

“Hello, wife,” he grinned.

She giggled. “Hello, husband.”

“My brother is lucky I’m so stupid in love with you or all that chirping would get him in trouble.”

“Oh just wait until his wedding. Vengeance shall be ours.”

Jamie laughed. “Plotting already. I love you.” He leaned in and connected their lips, forgetting where they were for a while, trading sweet, soft kisses, until Jordie cleared his throat loudly behind them. Giggling, they separated, and without looking away from each other, said in unison, “Yes?”

“The natives are restless. They want you to toss the bouquet and garter and cut the cake.”

“Oh. Right.” Cara gave Jamie one more peck on the cheek, close to his ear, and whispered, “And then we can run.”

“Fuck yes,” he whispered back as he helped her stand.

The unmarried girls gathered at one end of the tent, and Cara surreptitiously took aim at Kelsey, longtime girlfriend of the Benns’ pal Justin Courtnall, and nailed her with the bouquet. Then someone brought her a chair, and Jamie kneeled on the sand in front of her. With the crowd egging him on, he slowly ran his hands up under her dress to her thigh, brushing further up the inside teasingly, smirking up at her. In return, she skimmed her free foot all the way up between his legs, making him close his eyes and take a deep breath. He relented, pulling the garter down and off, looking at her in a way that made her mouth water. When he slingshotted the garter toward the waiting guys, he missed Justin and nailed Tyler right in the face. Tossing it away from himself like a hot potato, Tyler laughed “No no no no no.” Somehow, in the ensuing hilarity, Justin ended up with it, and he and Kelsey happily posed for pictures to the collective “awww” of the crowd.

Cutting the cakes, Cara warned him, “If you get cake on this dress, you’re a dead man.”

Jamie smirked as he picked up the piece of cake. “No promises.” But he only missed her mouth with a little bit of the frosting, using the excuse to kiss it off her face.

Cara, on the other hand, painted his lips in chocolate buttercream before smashing the cake into his mouth, and Jamie grabbed her hand, licking the mess off her fingers. Their friends and siblings whistled and cat-called, but Jamie was too turned on to be embarrassed, and Cara wasn’t exactly the shy type. Together, they raised their middle fingers at the hecklers and leaned in for a steamy kiss. They broke apart smiling and cleaned themselves up before mingling a bit while the cake was served to the guests.

When she thought they’d managed to spend time with each of their guests, Cara dragged Jamie off to dance, thinking they’d dance out into the dark and no one would be the wiser. As they danced toward the edge of the tent, they bumped into Brenden and Anne-Marie Morrow, who looked at them, looked toward the hotel, and smiled. Anne-Marie winked and said “We’ll create a diversion. You two run.” Brenden agreed. “Have fun, kids.” Jamie bro-hugged his friend and former captain, then went back to dancing as if nothing was going on.

The Morrows danced closer to the rest of the guests, and Brenden hip-checked Kari Lehtonen, sending him bouncing off a table and some chairs, drawing everyone’s attention away from the newlyweds. Jamie spun Cara out into the open sand, and after gathering up the bottom of her dress so she wouldn’t trip, she grabbed his hand and they sprinted down the beach and up the path to the hotel, giggling their heads off.

Notes