The Tales of a Professional Hockey Player

Chapter 58: I Do

~Ben~

She's crying. Tears have been flowing down her cheeks since the second sentence of my vows. God, she's beautiful. I couldn't help but stare at her since she started walking down the aisle with Ophelia and her father. I was nervous before I saw her, but when the music started playing, and I saw her, all my doubts went away. She was here, she was beautiful, and she was about to marry me. I couldn't feel anything but pride in that moment.

"Eleanor?" the officiant asks, turning towards her. We chose a neutral officiant for our wedding. He doesn't represent any religion because it wouldn't have been true to who we are. We met with him a few times to prepare the ceremony since we came back to BC about six weeks ago after the season ended. I focus back on Eleanor who wipes another tear before talking.

"Before I met you, I had promised myself I would never date a hockey player. I hated hockey and I wanted nothing to do with it. But then I met you and I realized you were so much more than just hockey. And when I fell in love with you, I promised myself I would do anything to support you. But now, I am promising it to you. I vow to love you a little more every day, to be there for you just like you always are for me. We didn't always have it easy, but that's what makes us beautiful, that's what makes us real and strong. I promise to follow you everywhere physically or mentally. I promise to make you read everything I write and to attend every game possible. Thank you for explaining hockey to me all those years ago, while we were sitting on a bar stool and drinking beer, because you changed my life. Being with you is the reason why I am so strong today and I thank you for that. I promise to support you like you support me. I promise to always come back the same way you did. All of me belongs to all of you and it forever will. I love you Benjamin Johnson." It's my turn to shed a few tears. I look into her eyes, and I want to kiss her. I really want to kiss her, but I can't just yet.

"May I get the rings please?" The officiant's voice is blurry in my head. I am too focused on Eleanor to pay anyone else attention. Alex walks forward to hand me a ring. I see Olive doing the same to Eleanor before the officiant speaks again: "Benjamin, do you wish to take Eleanor as your wife, to love and to cherish her day after day as long as you both shall live?"

I nod. "I do."

"Repeat after me: I give you this ring as a reminder that I will love, honor, and cherish you, In all times, In all places, And in all ways, forever." I repeat the words, still looking at Eleanor, and slip the ring on her finger, just above the engagement ring we ended up buying together the day after I proposed. "Eleanor, do you wish to take Benjamin as your husband, to love and to cherish him day after day as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Eleanor repeats the words and slips the ring on my finger.

"And now, by the power vested in me by the province of British-Columbia, I declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." And I do. I let go of her hands to grab her face and pull her towards me. And I kiss her like I need her to breathe because I do. I do need her to feel complete.

"Me too, daddy!" We pull away when we hear Ophelia's squeaky voice and I feel her pull on my pants to get my attention. I lift her in my arms so she's resting on my hip in between Eleanor and me and we both give her a kiss on a cheek at the same time, making her squeal. I put her back on the ground, Eleanor and I holding her hands as the officiant speaks for the last time tonight.

"May I present, Mister and Mrs. Benjamin and Eleanor Martin Johnson." We start walking down the aisle, together, the three of us, as a family.

***

We invited about fifty people to our wedding. We wanted something small, but we also wanted everyone to be there. After the ceremony, Eleanor and I thought it was important to say hello to everyone, so we spent close to an hour of the reception, just going from table to table to talk to our guests. We started with our friends, Olive and Alex, Tracy and Nathan, Connor, Matthew, and Hannah who Eleanor became friends with  during our time in LA, who are all sitting at the same table. We then moved to my family. At first, I didn't want to invite all my aunts, uncles and cousins because I don't have such a good relationship with them, but I ended up inviting them so my parents would have people to talk to other then each other and Megan who brought a girl she says is just a friend but I saw the way they looked at each other. We finished with Eleanor's family, the ones who drain the most energy. I am talking to Will who just got offered a new position in a clinic in Vancouver that specializes in schizophrenia and he's debating whether to take it or not when I hear Eleanor's voice becoming firmer as she talks to her mother.

"I told you, mom, we don't want articles published about our wedding. We want this to stay private, don't you get that?" Stephanie offered many times over the past year to write an article about our wedding in her magazine, but we refused to not draw to much attention on ourselves. We already have enough with our jobs. It was a mutual decision and it was the first thing we decided about our wedding.

"But the photographer is already here, he would just have to send me the pictures and it would look so sweet in the summer special." Eleanor and her mother have done a lot of progress in their relationship since last year, but this is something they don't agree on: Eleanor's need for privacy and Stephanie's to show off. I decide to intervene to not have a mother-daughter fight to deal with.

"We refused everything Stephanie. Tracy and Nathan offered to bring their camera team to film the wedding for their TV show and we said no, so it's not personal. We really just want this day to belong to ourselves and to no one else." Nathan and Tracy have been appearing on a new TV show that started the year we moved to LA called The New York Hockey Wives that follows the same idea as The Real Housewives of wherever. They offered to film our wedding to show how strong relationships between hockey wives are, but we refused for past-stated reasons.

"I can't believe you refused to be on TV, but ok then. No article." And she walks away as if none of this really mattered.

"Thank you," Eleanor says as she walks up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing a kiss on my cheek. "I can't wait to go to Greece with you." She lifts her head to look at me and I bend mine down to press my lips to hers.

"Me neither," I whisper against her lips. Our honeymoon will be our first trip together ever. We moved a lot and saw many different cities, but it was always for work. This two-week trip to Greece will be the first time we go away together for fun. We chose a trip that will allow us to visit the most places. We start with Athens and stay there for a few days until we take a boat that will take us from island to island all over the country. We'll see Mykonos, Paros, Ios, and Santorini before coming back to Athens for our flight back. It'll be warm, sunny, beautiful and fun. It will be the first time we leave Ophelia alone for this long without one of us present. She will stay with Thomas and Stephanie but will see my parents too when Eleanor's will need a break.

This trip is exactly what we need before having to move all over again. The Kings didn't extend their offer for one more year, but I got an interesting one from the Montreal Canadiens. It's a two-year contract so it will give us the stability we crave after three years of constantly moving. It'll be a challenge, mostly because of the language. People speak French in Montreal, but neither of us say more than "Bonjour, comment ça va?" which is the most basic thing to know. It'll be our biggest change because of it, but it will also be good to learn a new culture and expose Ophelia to a new language. Eleanor arranged something with her editor back in LA to allow us to move there and keep her agent in the US. She will write her next book and send pieces by e-mail to her editor who will FaceTime her to give him his opinion. It's unconventional but it will work, it has to.

I am excited for what is to come, but, for now, I want to take advantage of every minute of my wedding. Our plane leaves early tomorrow morning, so we have to spend as much quality time with Ophelia as we can.