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Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Keep his breath steady. That’s what Sammy had to remind himself to do as he held onto his father’s arm. The more than three hundred pairs of eyes that stared at him as he and his father skated toward the end boards made that difficult to manage. All Sammy wanted to do was melt into a puddle and become one with the ice surface of which he was currently atop.
When he arrived at the end boards, his father kissed his cheek and whispered a soft word of encouragement before he skated to stand over to be with the groomsmen. Sammy looked over his shoulder at the groomsmaids; his mother smiled from her position at the end of the group and gave him a thumbs up. Sammy nodded at his mother, swallowed his nerves, and turned his attention toward the other groom.
Vince had a nervous smile on his face as he held his hands out for Sammy to grab. Sammy smiled nervously in return as he grabbed Vince’s hands and smoothed his thumbs across Vince’s knuckles. Sammy felt Vince relax somewhat; Vince’s nervous smile changed to something slightly more content.
The minister smiled at them both before she began her spiel. Sammy mostly tuned her out; he instead focused his attention on Vince. Vince’s expression had shifted back to one of pure raw nervousness. Sammy smoothed his thumbs across Vince’s knuckles again. Vince looked down briefly before he looked at Sammy. He had an awkward smile on his face but he mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to show his appreciation. Sammy smiled and nodded as innocuously as possible to show that he accepted Vince’s thanks.
“Mr. Dunn,” the minister said. “Do you have any vows you’d like to say to your groom?”
Vince dropped Sammy’s hands and ran both of his through his hair. He exhaled shakily before he nodded. The minister smiled before she handed Vince her microphone. Vince tapped it a couple of times to check that it worked. When it echoed through the arena, a collective groan could be heard from the three hundred plus guests.
“Sorry,” Vince mumbled into the microphone. Sammy reached over and rubbed Vince’s upper arm. Vince smiled softly, placed his hand over the top of Sammy’s hand, and interlaced their fingers.
“I’d like to start by saying,” Vince paused and took a breath, “we can do this on our own. We don’t need anyone’s help.” Vince stopped and looked at Sammy. Sammy had a pleasant smile on his face and was on the verge of tears and Vince had only just started his vows.
“If I just decided to lay on the ice right now,” Vince said as he motioned to the ice, “Would you lie on the ice with me so we could forget the world?” Sammy nodded as he squeezed Vince’s upper arm. Vince squeezed Sammy’s hand as thanks.
“I’m not sure how to say this properly.” Vince bit his bottom lip as he looked at Sammy. Sammy tilted his head in confusion as he stared back. “The three words we normally say don’t feel like near enough right now because we say them too much.”
“Let’s forget everything we’re been told about love.” Vince exhaled shakily. Sammy squeezed Vince’s upper arm and ran his hand across it gently. Vince squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled shakily. He took a moment to compose himself before he continued to speak. “Before we get old, I want to see our garden burst to life.”
At that point, Sammy felt the tears fall down his cheeks. He took his free hand and wiped them away. Sammy let his thoughts wander at that point. They wandered to places of happiness and bliss. Places where he and Vince got to lift the Stanley Cup as a married couple. That made the tears fall harder because that had been a dream of Sammy’s since Vince proposed at the Cup party last summer.
Sammy heard a sniffle and looked up from where his thoughts had made his eyes wander. It was then that Sammy saw that Vince had started to cry. Vince had his own eyes squeezed shut and his bottom lip clenched between his teeth. Sammy reached over and wiped some of Vince’s tears away. Vince unclenched his teeth and released his lip but his eyes remained squeezed shut. Sammy gently smoothed his thumb across both of Vince’s cheeks. Vince sighed and opened his eyes to look at Sammy. Sammy smiled encouragingly at Vince and smoothed his thumbs across Vince’s cheeks one more time. Vince leaned into the touch before he smiled weakly.
“We should waste time chasing cars,” Vince said after regaining his composure, voice shaky from his emotions. “But in our heads so we never have to leave each other’s arms.” Sammy smiled and nodded encouragingly to let Vince know he approved of everything Vince had said and that it was okay for him to keep going.
“You’re my saving grace.” Vince managed a happy smile despite his clear nervous demeanour. “Because you remind me to find my grace.”
“The first thing that drew me to you,” Vince paused to take a steadying breath, “was your perfect eyes. Even now, they’re still perfect. They’re my favourite thing about you.”
Sammy felt more tears fall from the eyes Vince had declared to be perfect. Vince let go of Sammy’s hand and brought his hand over to wipe away Sammy’s tears. Sammy hummed and leaned into the touch. Vince smiled softly and smoothed his thumb ever so gently across Sammy’s cheeks. Sammy shivered and tried to chase the feeling when Vince moved his hand away. Vince chuckled and gently patted the top of Sammy’s head so as not to disturb the hairdo he had worked all morning on perfecting.
“I don’t know where we’ll be in the future,” Vince said. “Or how we’ll do things. But I want you to know that nothing will ever change for us. I’ll always love you. No matter what.”
Vince heaved a heavy sigh as he handed the minister the microphone. The minister smiled, thanked Vince for making his vows to you, and turned to you.
“Mr. Blais,” the minister said. “Do you have any vows you want to exchange with your groom?” Sammy nodded and the minister handed him the microphone.
“If everyone could direct their attention to the Jumbotron,” Sammy said as he motioned behind him.
Not a moment later, the Jumbotron lit up with flashy text. Sammy heard a collective groan rise from the three hundred plus guests. The loudest groan Sammy heard was from Vince. Sammy grinned cheekily as he turned to Vince. He leaned into Vince and whispered the words that were displayed on the Jumbotron.
“ Winner, winner, chicken dunner.”