“I know, but I want to do it again. Marry me with all my friends there—my family,yourfamily. Marry me so I can show the entire fucking world how madly in love with you I am.” I bend at the knees until we’re eye level. “Marry me again, Clover, because I can’t imagine my life without you.”
Her mouth hangs open, then closes again, only for it to float back open. She looks like a fish, but I don’t care. All I care about is the single word she utters.
“Yes.”
There’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of: it’s better than winning the Cup.
When I was younger, I never really thought much about marriage. I figured it was something that might happen one day, and I’d cross that bridge when it came.
Then I met Chloe, and for the first time, Iknewit was inevitable, and I also knew I would only get married once. So why I’m shaking from head to toe as my bride walks down the aisle to me at my second wedding is beyond me, but here we are. Sure, I’m nottechnicallygetting married again, but I am saying my vows knowing their full weight in a way I never have before.
A hand lands on my shoulder, and I don’t have to turn back to know it’s my brother. “She’s a vision, bro.”
“Yeah, she is,” I reply, unable to take my eyes off Chloe.
Her dress is simple, almost understated, but it’s in no way any less stunning as she makes her way toward me. Her hair is swept up in a fancy updo, and the only piece of jewelry she’s wearing is a necklace that’s shaped like a clover. There’s a bouquet clutched tightly in one hand, and she’s holding her father’s arm with the other. Evenhe’ssmiling, but that’s not my focus right now. It’s her.
If you’re lucky, you get to marry the person you love once, but if you’rereallylucky, you get to do it twice, and I feel really fucking lucky right now.
Hi, Clover, I mouth, and she grins.
Her father “gives her away,” and after shaking his hand, I can’t stop myself from leaning in and kissing Chloe right on the cheek. Several people snicker, and her mother sighs dramatically, but I don’t care. All I can focus on is her.
“Thank you all for coming today,” Lawson says. “You may be seated.”
When he came to me with the idea of being our officiant, I gave him a fifty-item list of things I’d rather do than have him at my wedding. But Chloe loved the idea, so here we are.
“Today, we’re here to celebrate the vow renewal of Chloe—shit, I probably should have gotten your middle name, huh?” Lawson laughs uneasily. “Chloe Keller and my best friend, Cal—Keller!” he amends when I glare at him.
Chloe giggles, and I think if she weren’t here holding on to me, about to sayI doall over again, Imightbe jealous, but I can’t find it in me to be.
“My mother, who Keller is abigfan of, used to make me watch cheesy Hallmark movies with her. I hated it, naturally. It was pure torture for a young kid who just wanted to be out in the backyard playing hockey. But I did it because it made her happy, and to me, that was all that mattered.”
Several people in the crowd laugh andawwover his story.
“Then one day, I found myself watching them when she wasn’t around. Unknowingly, I had fallen in love with them. There was a sweetness that I enjoy, and they’re a comfort, because no matter what, you know the couple will find their way back to each other and they’ll live happily ever after. I felt that the second I saw Chloe and Keller together for the first time.”
I look over at Lawson, and I’m surprised there’s no smirk on his lips. He means it, and it’s the first I’m hearing this.
“You see, sometimes we meet people who are just supposed to be part of our lives. Sometimes it’s a teammate who claims to hate you but secretly loves you so much he trusts you to officiate his wedding.”
“Or is coerced into it,” I murmur, which earns me a glower from Lawson and a laugh from Chloe.
“Or sometimes it happens in a college classroom. Life might try to tear you away from that person on many occasions, but no matter what, you make your way back to each other. That’swhat happened here with Chloe and Keller. Life tried to stop them from being together, but they told life to kick rocks, and they fought for their love, just like those folks in the Hallmark movies. It’s why I’m standing here today as they say their vows once more. Because that’s what marriage really is—showing up every day, even if you don’t want to. It’s about being there not only for your partner, but for yourself too. It’s fighting, and not just in the traditional sense either. It’s fighting yourself, your doubts, and your assumptions of what the other person should be. It’s just being there, and that counts a hell of a lot more than most people realize.”
Lawson’s words are true in more ways than one, and I never thought I’d see the day when he brought tears to my eyes, but it’s exactly what happens. I blink them away, not missing how Chloe squeezes my hand with hers because she knows too. She feels the weight of his message just as much as I do.
Fighting is exactly what we’ve done over the last few months. Between coming back together, the Cup run, winning, and everything that came after, we’ve had to do just what Lawson’s said time and time again—show up, and it’s exactly what I plan to keep doing. I almost lost her once, and I’ll be damned if I ever let it get that close again.
Not that I’ll tell him, but Lawson wraps up the ceremony beautifully, and soon Chloe is slipping my ring onto my finger, though it’s pointless since I got it tattooed on me last week. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I couldn’t wait a second longer. I needed her to know just how serious I am when I take these vows.
We’re forever. The good, the bad…all of it. I’m going to be here, and I know she will be too.
When Lawson finally announces us as husband and wife for the second time, I dip Chloe back and kiss her long and hard and way past appropriate because I can’t help it. I’ve always been alittle out of control when it comes to her, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
We hold on to each other as we make our way down the aisle, and I don’t let her go as we take photos or even when we walk into the reception, all of our friends and family cheering for us. Not until we break for dinner do I finally let her go, and only after she promises to come right back.
“Dude, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much, and it’s freaking me out a little,” Hayes says.
