Chapter 20

***Better late then never...right? I got caught up in all the hockey games tonight :)

Enjoy!

~J

“So do we know what’s happening for your bachelorette party?” Vero asks while having breakfast with Kelsey and Miranda

“No, I told Ashley to hold off on planning it…I’m kinda wondering about what the guys are going to do though,” I say

“Jay, you shouldn’t be worrying about that!” Kelsey says

“I know, but I mean everything’s going to happen back home, the guys don’t know anything out there!”

“Oh, yeah I could see that being a problem then,” Miranda says

“So I was kind of thinking of an idea, that I’d run by the guys obviously, but how random would it be to do a combined bachelor and bachelorette party?”

“Not completely random, it’s been done before,” V says

“And I mean, I thought we could do our separate dinners, and then meet up for dancing or something,”

“That’s actually sounds like a good idea!”
“I’m totally not saying this because I’m worried about what the boys are going to do, I would just feel bad if they went golfing or something and then we were out all night, you know?”

“Well, run it past James and see what he says?”
“Do you think your men would be cool with it?”

“I think Ty would like it, he loves country dancing!” Kelsey says…her and Tyler were added to our wedding party; James & I came to terms that we wanted to include them J so that made the entire wedding party to 12 people.

Later that night, I ran the idea by James, and he thought it was a great idea; the rest of the guys did too. So with that, we would plan our own dinners, then go dancing at Dirty Bourbon, and last minute things were being set in stone. All the family members had rooms booked at the casino where the reception would be & all the wedding guests would be in town by Friday the 6^th.

I was shocked at how fast the time had gone by that I was almost too busy to notice that the boys had made it through the first 2 rounds of the playoffs and were nearing the finals. Almost. Ok, so not really, with the fiancé I have and the environment I was in, I’d probably get fired if I forgot.

We beat Tampa Bay, then Toronto, and tonight was game 4 against the Hurricanes in Carolina…with the chance to sweep them. YEAH. Like I couldn’t notice that. At least the Hurricanes fans were welcoming, maybe cause we were like family…we both have a Staal.

GUESS WHOSE GOING TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS?  Yep, we are! We had to wait to see who we would be playing, as the series between the Predators and the Avs was tied at 2 apiece, but the guys were glad for that because it meant a few days off for them to gear up and get prepared.

“Are you guys ready for the finals?” I ask my mom as I’m grocery shopping

“Yeah, we’ll be home for the games, so we will be watching them,” she responds

“Ok, good. James wouldn’t let you live it down if you missed it,”
“We know, dad is kind of bummed that we can’t make it out there,”
“I know, I wish ya’ll could too,”
“Yeah, he was like my son in law is playing in the finals and I’ll be watching it from my couch,”
“Aw, well next year, you guys will be out here,”

“He’ll hold you too that!”
“Oh, I know! But mom I gotta go and finish at the store,”
“Ok, bye sweetie, talk to you soon,”
“Ok, bye,”

Last night was game 6 between the Preds and the Avs, which had the series win from the Predators, our opponent for Lord Stanley. Game on.  Once again, we had home ice advantage.

The next day, James and I go to lunch with Sid and Janelle at the pizza parlor in Sewickley.  James seems distracted the entire time through lunch, but I was figuring it was just nerves for the game, so I blow it off.  After lunch, we get back home and decide to pick something for our wedding that we haven’t done yet…pick our first dance song. So we sit on the couch with my laptop and iTunes and get to work.

Our list included:

“The Way You Look Tonight”

“I Could Not Ask for More”

“You Had Me From Hello”

“My Best Friend”

“Me & You”
“I Love You This Big”

We narrowed it down to “My Best Friend”, “Me and You” and “I Love You This Big”

“I think I like the Kenny Chesney song the best,” James says

“Me and You?” I ask

“Yeah, and remember, he sang it when we saw him at Heinz Field,”
“Oh yeah!” I say as he stands up

“So, can I have this dance?” He asks, putting his hand out

“Absolutely” I say, gladly accepting

[[Here's the video of the song in case ya'll haven't heard it...I absolutely LOVE it! I actually want it for my own wedding song :)]]

Cheesy, I know, but moments like this, when it’s just the two of us, are what I love the most, just us together. And there we were, dancing away in the middle of our living room. Perfection.

“I think it’s perfect,” he says, looking down at me

“I love it,” I respond, smiling

“Then it sounds like we found our song,”
“Definitely,” I say before he leans down to kiss me

Just then the doorbell interrupted us

“You expecting anybody?” I ask

“It might be Jordan, he was dropping off a video game,” James says as I walk to the door

“Oh my God!” I'm shocked to see my parents on the other side of the door

“Hi!” my mom says

“Hi! What…how did…when did this happen?”

“Dad had airline points, so we used them to surprise you!”

“And now were here,” dad said

“Well come on in! How did you plan this?” I ask

“We had a little help,” mom said, looking at James

“You did?” I ask him

“Yeah!”

“I tell ya, he’s amazing at keeping secrets!”
“What can I say,” James says

“What a beautiful house you guys got!”
“Thanks! Want a tour?” I ask

So we give them the tour of the house, and spend some time catching up.  It was a gorgeous day outside, so we decided to throw some burgers on the grill and eat dinner outside on the porch.

We start cleaning up and decide to go to Bruster’s for some desert, when Jordan calls me

“Hi Jordan!” I say answering it

“Hey Jay, how’s it going?” Jordan says on the other line

“Good, just hanging out with my parents, and you?”
“Just relaxing, hey listen, I need your help with something,”
“Ok, what’s that?”
“I need help picking out…an engagement ring…”

“AH! You’re going to propose to Heather?”
“Yeah, I am!”

“Oh my gosh, I’d be more then happy to help you!”
“Ok, so she is back in T-Bay, she will be back on Wednesday before the game, so any chance we could go tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that should work, my parents are here, but I’m sure they can spend a few hours with my aunt and uncle, or around town,”
“Ok, awesome, I’ll call you tomorrow then, ok?”
“Sounds great, talk to you then!”
“Oh and Jay, don’t say anything about this, not even to Vero…because I know how you girls are,”
“You got it Jordan,”

Oh boy...secrets are SO hard for me to keep. But I'm not going to disappoint Jordan, and I'm going to stick with his promise.

Chapter 19

It’s March? Holy cow, where has the year gone? James was completely recovered from his concussion, no more headaches or anything. The first road trip of the month was against the Blackhawks and the Devils; I had a few days off, so Kelsey, Vero, Miranda and I decided to tag along…Chicago, here we come! J I was beyond excited because I love Chicago and the United Center is definitely one of my favorite arenas. 

We got into Chicago the day before the game. The team stayed at the Sutton Place hotel, while the girls and I decided to go all out and stay at the Trump Tower…we thought we deserved it with as hard as we worked, and our men agreed, TK also said that we “should be in the middle of everything on the Magnificent Mile”, yeah TK, in the middle of all the shopping is the PERFECT place for us.  

We were heading out to go shopping, when we ran into none other then Patrick Kane near the elevators. Vero and I know countless stories about him, so we weren’t surprised when he tried to hit on us.

“Hey ladies, I’m Patrick Kane the II,” He says, trying to work his charm

“Hi Kane,” we respond

“What are you all doing today?”

“Shopping on the mile,” Kelsey says

“Then going to watch our men kick some Blackhawk ass tonight,” Vero says proudly

“Oh, so you’re the beautiful ladies of those men,”

“Yep,” I respond

“Well, me and some of the other guys would be more then happy to show you a good time after the game tonight,” …oh here he goes

“I don’t think they would appreciate that,” Miranda says

“Yeah, besides we have better things to do,” I say

“And we know all about you and your whoreish ways” Vero says

“Well what they don’t know won’t hurt them, lets just go up to my condo, 5 minutes, max.”

“& Have what, a 5-some? Hell no” Kelsey says

“Your sick, we’re not cheaters, nor do we plan on it, because we love our men, and we stick beside them,”
“Wait, so there’s men that play for the Penguins? I thought they were all just little boys, cause they sure act like it.”
“Woah, Kane. You don’t even know them, and from what I know they are all more of a man then you would ever be,” I snap at him

“Um, doubt that. You probably don’t even have reliable information,”

“You don’t need to worry about that. If I were you, I’d worry about how your girlfriend even trusts you, hitting on us who are all taken,”

That did it, Kane was speechless, and you could see it in his face

“Have a good day, Patrick. Hope we didn’t bruise your ego too much,” I say with a smile

The team split up for dinner that night, Vero and I went with Marc Andre, James and a few other guys to Rockit, while Kelsey and Miranda went with another group to a sushi restaurant.

Game day!  We got to the arena and sat in the box with Kris and Dustin, who were nursing injuries.  At some point in the game, Kane ran Geno into the boards and Engelland wasn’t having it, so he stepped in, which (of course) led to a fight between Engo and Kane…who was clearly on the wrong end of that fight, and lost. We won that one 5-2, with a goal and 2 assists from James, and as much fighting and shoving as we could handle.

The Devils definitely gave us a run for our money in the game the next night, they were a better rested team coming off of a 2 night break, but the boys didn’t let any tiredness show.  We left with a point in the standings on a 3-2-overtime loss.

Back in Pittsburgh, I was cleaning around the house, when Ray Shero called me

“I have a job offer for you,” He says

“Really?”
“Yeah, Danielle is leaving her position with the marketing and promotions department because Alexi is going to play for KHL. I wanted to offer the job to you before anyone else, mainly because I know how good of a worker you are, and also because you’ve already done a lot of work for us,”

“Oh wow!”

“It would be full time, and paid obviously. Now, I know it’s another big change for you; so I’ll give you some time to think about it if you want, and talk to James as well,”
“Ok, I think I will do that, he should be home soon, can I give you a call in about an hour?”
“Yes, definitely, I look forward to hearing from you,”
“Thanks Ray, I’ll talk to you soon,”

James gets home and I tell him about the conversation I had with Ray. He thought it would be a good fit if I took the job, minus it being my dream job; I’d also be working for one of the best teams in the league.  Since it was full time, I would have to leave my job at Joe’s, which I was sad about, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I turned it down, so it was meant to be.

I called Ray back and told him that I would love to accept the job and he was thrilled to have me with the organization. We arranged for me to go in the next day to fill out paper work and get everything situated, before going to Joe’s to put my 2 weeks notice in. I then called my parents to share the news.

We went out to the grocery store, then invite Miranda and Max over for dinner.

“First you move away from me, now your leaving me at Joe’s!” Miranda says as we start cooking

“I know! I’m sorry,” I say sadly

“Your cheating on me aren’t you?” She cries

“Yes, Miranda, I’m cheating on you with my fiancé.” I respond laughing

“So typical,” She fires back

“It’s not like we wont see each other still, I mean, if we should worry about any cheating it should be the bromance between my fiancé and your boyfriend,” I say

“Yeah, true.” She says, as we both turn to see them playing video games

My bridal shower is today and I was beyond excited.  Vero and Anne had planned an amazing party at the Adams’ house.  Vero put together a type of Jeopardy game, with help from Marc Andre, there were questions about James that I had to answer, yeah ladies, way to put me on the spot. Needlessly to say, I did good! I only missed 2…oops!  James and I had gotten so much stuff! More then we would know what to do with, especially since we already had a lot of stuff, but some things were due for replacement.

“This one is a late arrival,” Anne says, handing me a box

I open the box to see a bracelet with 3 charms on it: a little penguin, a hockey stick and #18 in the middle of it.

In the box was a letter from James,

“Baby, everyday I am thankful for that one night we started talking, I’m so glad that Max broke me out of my shell to get to know you.  I love waking up to you in the morning and going to sleep with you at night, you make each day even better, and I truly cherish those days. Lord knows how I would have dealt with my concussion if you hadn’t been here to help me. You’ve made me a better person, a better man. I couldn’t see myself spending the rest of my life with anyone else but you.  Words can’t explain how much I love you. I’m so excited to see what our life has in store for us. You’re the missing piece to my puzzle, and I can’t wait for the day that I can call you my wife. I love you so much!

Xoxo James”

Awe! I never knew that he was such a hopeless romantic; I really do love that man.

Chapter 18

 ***Sorry for the delay! Ive been so busy with school assignments and making sure Im getting everything together as I get closer to graduating! :) & on top of that Ive had writters block so....here's the next chapter! Enjoy 

~J

Almost 3 weeks had gone by, James was doing amazing in his recovery, and he started his on-ice workouts again.  Between working, packing up the old house plus my apartment, moving into our new house (so exciting to say OUR house) AND planning a wedding on top of that…I was such a busy girl.

[[This is the house...def not the house by the Lemieux's...but just imagine it to be...and gated too :)]]

I had already been preparing for another trip home by myself, before we went to another appointment for James. The doctor walked in with the look on his face saying, “You’re not going anywhere,” and that really bummed me out.  Then, out of nowhere, he said that a wedding should be planned by the bride AND the groom, so James was cleared to travel.  I was so excited that I jumped out of the chair to give him a hug.

“Hello?” I say, as I’m doing last minute packing

“Ello! Are you guys ready?” Vero says on the other line, her and Marc are taking us to the airport, before they head to Ottawa for All Star Weekend

“Almost! Are ya’ll outside?”
“Yep,”

“Hurry up!” I hear Marc yell in the background

“Is someone a little impatient today?”

“Yes and I have no idea why,”

“Tell him to take a chill pill, we will be out in 2 minutes!”

Our flight back to New Mexico was the fastest flight ever, seems like we got there in no time, I guess it did help that we flew nonstop too. We got our luggage and walked out to the pick up area to find my parents waiting for us.

Even though I knew it was going to be a somewhat stressful weekend, it was good to be back home again, with my fiancé this time. All my friends here would be meeting him, so it was a pretty big deal.

Today is the day that James and I would be going to the casino so he could see where the reception would be.  I called Nicole in advance so she knew we were coming. We were able to pick out the centerpieces; they were vases of blue and yellow flowers. The food was an easy decision, a steak plate or a salmon plate; both would be served with green beans and a salad.   I was glad that we were able to get that taken care of.  We were also able to give her the final number of 218 guests.  And James loved the casino and was glad that we could work it out. 

I had sent an email to an old high school friend who has a photography business with her sister-in-law to see what their wedding packages included and if we could book them, so meeting up with them was our next stop.

When we got to Starbucks, Amanda & Nicole were already there with coffee in hand.  After everyone meets, we all sit down and figure things out.

“So when’s the wedding?” Amanda asks

“July 7^th,” James responds

“And where is it going to be?” she asks again

“At my church, down on Montano, then the reception is going to be at Sandia Casino,”

“Good choice!” Nicole exclaims

They went over the list of what they do and ran prices by us, which was pretty decent; it would be $750 for all day, plus a CD with the edited pictures, and 120 prints. Plus I had seen their portfolio, and all their work is amazing.

After that, we went home for a while, James took a nap & I decided to knock some more things off the planning list.  The DJ was booked; and appointments were made for our hair, makeup and nails. More check marks on that list=1 happy bride-to-be.

Before we knew it, it was Sunday, last on our list was to go to church.  James loved the look of my church and thought it was the perfect place for us to get married.  He also met my pastor, who added that once we got our marriage license to bring it to him and he would keep it until the ceremony.

We spent our last night in, watching the All Star Game, before turning in to catch an early flight back to the Burgh.

“Hey guys!” Mario says as him and Natalie greet us at the airport

“Hi!” we say

“How were things back home?”

“Good! We got a lot of stuff done!”
“That’s good! Bet it’s taking some stress away?”

“Definitely!”

The boys were back in action on Tuesday against the Predators. Even though James had been progressing, he still wasn’t cleared for contact, and he still had to attend games. It was weird being at home and not going through his game day routine; it was also weird not going to the arena 3 hours before the game.

It was a close game the whole time, Engelland got in a fight (yeah, so what else is new) with Mike Fisher! Somewhere Carrie Underwood was probably wincing, no offence Carrie, but fighting Engo is never a good idea; and we won 4-3.

Doctor’s appointments had been going well, I was getting back into the swing of working.  It was hard going almost anywhere without someone asking me how James was doing, but I said what I was told to say (instructions from Ray, Dan and Mario), that James is progressing well, and that was all.

We were able to find a cute little store in downtown to do the wedding invitations, they looked amazing and I couldn’t be happier with the people we chose. The package we got included the invitations, reply cards with an envelope and our engagement photos that we will be taking next week.

To say the next week flew by and had better news everyday, well if I didn’t say that, I’d be lying.  The team photographer knew another local photographer that agreed to take our engagement photos for us.  We chose to take them at the arena, got a good wide range of different shots and we were happy with them all.  The one we chose to add with the invitation was a shot of us one the bench and James is down on one knee, tightening my skates while we’re looking at each other.

The other good news that had happened that week was that James was cleared to play in games again, we were so excited for him to get back into action. 

I was so busy again, to even realize that it was almost Valentine’s Day; the boys were off that night, with a road game the night before and a home game after.  The WAGs had given out roses on the game around this time before, but this time, we picked 100 roses to tie yellow ribbons around, and the women that got those, got free tickets to an upcoming game of their choice.

Valentine’s day was amazing to say the least, James and I went to my favorite restaurant, and one that we usually only go to for special occasions, The Melting Pot. We spent the rest of the night in our new hot tub at the house and it was so relaxing after the last couple weeks.

James first game back was against the Blue Jackets. He was excited because his best friend Jared plays for them and he hadn’t seen him in a while.  I finally got to meet him, before the game, when him and James were talking about going to dinner afterwards.

Pens got the win with the help of James’ 2 assists, and then we met up with Jared for dinner.  James and Jared together were so funny, and it was good to see James coming back to being himself again.  Jared was excited to come down to New Mexico for the wedding this summer, and that made us happy too.

Chapter 17

I woke up the next morning, pretty tired from tossing and turning the night before.  I wanted to go back to sleep but I knew I wouldn’t be able to, so the girls and I went to church with my parents so I could talk to my pastor about the wedding.

We got there early enough that I was able to catch him before the service started.  He checked the church calendar and crossed off July 7^th for the wedding, which lifted a bit more stress off my shoulders.  He also said he would be honored to marry us, so I was happy about that too.  He opened the service by announcing that he would take part in the wedding of a church family member and was more then happy to be a part of it.

I got a call from Natalie in the middle of the service, and ran out to answer it.  She told me that James had done well in all the tests they had done and was in the process of getting discharged. He would be leaving with a bag of essentials, such as special sunglasses to wear outside, an eye cover to wear and earplugs to wear on the plane. They were Pittsburgh bound within the next hour.  Natalie knew how much I wanted to come home, but she told me to get wedding stuff done and that she would be taking the best care of James until I got home. I was unbelievably thankful for her. 

After church, we all went home to change, my mom, the girls and I went looking for a place for the reception. I had a list of places that I had in mind, and it didn’t take long to scratch off the first one, it was a 30 minute drive and at least $11,000 to rent a banquet hall.

Sandia Casino was next on the list.  It was in a gorgeous location, almost as nice as the first resort I was thinking about.  Nicole was our wedding planner/helper; she was very informative, adding that she has been throwing receptions for 10+ years. 

She gave me a price list for everything, the hall rental would be $8,060, and it would include the catering, a bar, as well as tables, chairs, centerpieces, all that important stuff, which was not included in the package at the first place. That left us to find the music, photography, cake, plus deciding on what centerpiece we wanted, and the kind of food and any extra stuff for the wedding party.  It was a lot of information to take in, but thankfully, Nicole had given me a folder full of all the information to take home with me.

Another thing to get was the cake.  We decided to have a vanilla cake, I found the perfect picture of what I wanted, so I had it with me when we decided to go to the cake shop to see if they could do it, which thankfully they could.  

The long and relatively stressful weekend was coming to an end, but I was thankful for being able to get a lot of stuff done and taken care of.  I mainly needed to talk to James so we could get a final number to give to Nicole, and figure out everything else.  I know that would have to wait a while, with James recovering, but I was ok with that, I wanted him to be back to 100%.

The girls and I were sitting in the airport waiting for the plane so I decided to call Natalie and see how James was doing.  She said he’d been sleeping off and on, and the team doctor went to see him and he was happy to see how well James had been progressing.  She also told me that she would be picking up Vero and I, while Max would be picking up Miranda.

*

Back in Pittsburgh:

“Well James, I’m really proud of how well you’ve been progressing,” Dr. Burke says

“Thank you,” I respond

“How are the headaches?”

“Still get them, but they aren’t as bad as they were,”

“That’s good, they will continue for a while, but will lessen in pain as time goes on,”

“Dr. Burke, how should we prepare his fiancé to take care of him when she gets back?” Mario asks him

“I’ll give you some information on that, but basically the same as here, keep the light to a minimum, no TV, or reading,”

“And Natalie is going to pick Jay up from the airport, is it ok that I go with her?”

“Absolutely, just make sure you wear the sunglasses I gave you,”
“Ok, and what about traveling? I won’t be going to Ottawa for All Star Weekend, but can I go anywhere else?”
“Let’s see how your doing when the time comes, but I don’t see it being a problem,”
“Ok, thank you,”

*

2 flights and 1 layover later, we land in Pittsburgh, and I never thought I’d be so excited to be home. I get up right away and impatiently wait for people to exit the plane. 

We make our way to the baggage claim, right away I see Natalie standing with Max, Marc…and James. Was this seriously happening?

“Oh my gosh!” I say running up to him

“Hi baby!”

“Hi! What a surprise! How are you feeling?”

“A lot better actually, Dr. Burke was just at the house to check up on me and he said I’ve been progressing really well,”
“Yay! Oh I don’t think I can explain how excited I am right now to see you!”
“Yeah, you should have seen her, she shot up in her seat right as the doors opened, she was a woman on a mission,” Vero says, laughing

“True story, but I had to make sure my baby was ok!”

“Let’s go home baby,”

While Natalie is driving us home, she tells me about James’ appointment this morning, how he’d still get headaches, which was expected; he would be sidelined for 4 weeks to be on the safe side, oh and not to mention those ridiculous sunglasses that he had to wear, I tried not to make fun of them but he looked adorable with them, I don’t think I’ll let him live that one down.  Unfortunately, it was still unknown if James would be able to come home with me, that would have to be a last minute deal.

I had been unpacking and doing laundry while James took a nap, “Sleep is the most important thing he can get right now,” I hear Natalie saying in my head, so I let him sleep. As I’m doing things around the house, I get a phone call from our realtor that we had been talking to.

“So, the house that you and James are interested is on the market, and your paper work is in the process of being cleared,” Danielle tells me

“Cleared? But we barely saw the house last week!” I say, shocked

“James faxed over everything to me, between the both of you, your line of credit is amazing, and it also helped that James had shown interest in that house the first time it went on the market,”

“Oh wow! I didn’t know that, so when will we know for sure if we got it?”
“Well right now I’m 90% sure it’s yours, but it should be official by Monday,”
“Oh my gosh, that’s so exciting! We couldn’t ask for better news right now,”
“Absolutely, I saw the game the other night, how’s he doing?”
“Better, it was only a grade I concussion so it’s not that bad, but he’s progressing really well,”

“That’s good. Ok, well send him my well wishes, and I will be calling you on Monday, ok?”
“Ok great, thank you so much Danielle!”
“Absolutely! Talk to you soon,”

James wakes up not much longer after I get off the phone, so I tell him the news and he’s excited to hear the official word next week.  It was a perfect location too, it was 2 houses down from the Lemieux’s, and it was security gated 4 bedrooms, 2-storys with an amazingly remodeled back yard, had a new swimming pool and hot tub, plus a mini kitchen to grill outside. I fell in love the minute I saw it.

Chapter 16

***Hey yall! just wanted to see what yall think of the story and if you like it or not? Im still writing it b/c as my major I love to write, its therapeutic haha....so let me know!
Enjoy!~J

“So where are we going to watch the game?” Vero asks

“Buffalo Wild Wings, my old manager is the manager there and she’s a hockey fan too, so I texted her to see if she would have it on, she said yes, and I told her we were coming in,”
“Sweet! Then we’re going dancing after?” Miranda asks

“Yeah, Dirty Bourbon, it’s a country bar, it’s a lot of fun,”

So we go with my parents to watch the game, after changing into our jerseys. I invite the other girls in the wedding party but they had other plans, but Bailey said that her and her husband would be joining us afterwards.

“Hi Jamie!” Katie says as we walk in

“Hi! How are you??” I ask, giving her a hug

“I’m great, how are you? I didn’t know you were in town!”

“Yeah, just for the weekend... doing some wedding planning stuff,”
“Seriously? Congratulations! Who’s the lucky guy?”

“His name is James, he plays for the Penguins,” I say, showing off my jersey
“Oh my gosh, that’s awesome! So I’ll have the game on this big screen and then that one over there, so sit wherever!”

“Thanks!”

“Oh absolutely! I’ll come back and visit in a few,”

Our table only gets bigger as time passes until puck drop, my best friends Ashley and Laura join us, Laura is in her Kane jersey, much to my dismay, and clearly seems irritated to be there, but I wont let it get in my way, we came to watch our boys and have fun.

It’s a good start to the game. Sid scores 2 minutes in, which I was excited about, because James got his first assist of the night. We all had to admit, that top line with James, Sid and Geno was undeniable.  That was the lone goal of the first, and the 2^nd one didn’t come until the Panthers were on a power play, with Jordan in the box. Not too long after that though, we were back within one, thanks to TK. 

And that’s when it happened.

I saw the play.

I saw the hit.

It was a nasty hit delivered by Tomas Kopecky; the man was a beast.

Within seconds, James was laying on the ice, motionless.

I was tearing up in no time, hoping and praying that my fiancé would get up.  He eventually did, only to fall back down, he got a concussion; I’d seen hits like that enough to know.  Sid and Jordan skated over with the trainers to help him off the ice. He didn’t look too good, I felt so bad and didn’t know what to do.  So I grab my phone and call the one person I knew was there

“Hi Jay,” Natalie says

“Natalie, please tell me he’s ok,” I try to say, through the crying

“Mario, Ray and I are going down there right now,”
“I’m scared, I don’t know what to do,”

“Sweetie, it’s going to be ok, he’s in good hands,”

“Ok, I just knew right when I saw it,”
“I know, we all did.  I’ll call you as soon as I get an update ok,”
“Ok, thank you so much,”
“Absolutely, talk to you soon,”

“Natalie is with Mario and Ray, they are going into the training room to check on him.” I tell everyone

“Honey, that was a bad hit, is he going to be ok?” Katie comes and asks me, so I tell her what Natalie said

“Ok, she’s right, he’s in good hands,” She says

At this point in time, I’m glad to have my close friends with me to help me with this.  The anxiety was killing me though. Waiting for Natalie to call me back seemed like it was taking forever. While I wait, I call Sharon to tell her, she was worried sick too, which I didn’t blame her, I told her I felt bad because I wasn’t out there, she told me not to blame it on myself, it could have happened at anytime.

It’s half way into the 3^rd when Natalie calls me back, I decide to go outside so I can hear her better,

“Hi Natalie,”
“Hey Jay, so we’re actually at the hospital near the arena,”
“Oh my god,” I say, freaking out again

“James suffered a grade I concussion, which is the lowest grade of a concussion, he’s still confused as to the events of today, but he has been asking for you,”
“Really?” I thought of good signs

“Yes. As soon as he saw the 3 of us, the first thing he asked was where you were, so the doctor asked who you were, he said you are his fiancé, so the he kept asking James about you, like your wedding and such and he said you guys are getting married in July in New Mexico, and you were looking for dresses,”
“So him asking for me is a good sign?” I ask

“Yes, and his symptoms aren’t as bad now, with this grade of concussion, symptoms generally only last 15-20 minutes,”

“Ok, so what’s going to happen now?”

“The doctors want to keep him overnight to do a few more tests and additional observation due to post-traumatic amnesia. Mario, Ray and I are going to stay here while the guys go to Raleigh, then we’ll take him back to Pittsburgh,”
“Ok, should I come home? I feel like I need to be there,”

“I think so too, but no honey, it will be ok, he’s progressing very well,”
“But what about when ya’ll get back home?”
“He can stay with us for a few days, then we can get you adjusted when you get back,”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely! We did this when Sid got his concussions, we’d do it for any of the other guys, including James,”
“Thank you so much, Natalie,”
“Oh sweetie, it’s no problem at all,”
“Is there any possibility that I can talk to him?”
“As much as I know you want to, it’s probably not good with his headaches, and we just got him checked in, so I would imagine he’s asleep right now,”
“Ok, well as long as he’s getting his sleep, can you tell him something for me?”
“Of course! What do you want me to tell him?”
“Tell him that I love him so much and I hope he’s getting better and I’ll see him back home on Tuesday,”
“Will do, sweetie, I’ll keep you posted with updates ok?”

“Ok, thank you again,”

“Your welcome, we’ll be in touch,”

So I go back in and inform everyone of what’s going on.  They are all as worried as I am, and I wanted nothing more then to be back there with him.  I text some of the girls and told them what happened and that I wasn’t feeling up to going dancing.

The boys won the game 3-1, most of the guys were too worried to do any post-game interviews, and Dan left right away to go to the hospital. 

My parents took us back to the house and I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I sat on the couch and cried. I had the worst scenarios running through my head.  The girls helped me calm down and my mom brought me some hot tea in hopes that it would help me sleep, because we all knew I needed it.

Chapter 15

***I know it's been forever....but I thought Id post this, in case any of yall are still reading it. Enjoy :)

~J

The house was cleaned up, so James and I decided to lie on the couch and watch movies.

“So, I was thinking something,” James says

“Uh oh, that can’t be good,” I joke

“Oh but it is,” so I say ok and let him continue,
“Your lease is up soon right?” he asks me

“At the end of May,”
“Well, remember when I told you that if I was staying here longer that I wanted to upgrade?” I nod my head

“I was thinking about looking for a house, for us,”
“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, we are engaged after all. Our houses are so far away from each other. So why not start our life right and get a house?”

“I’d love that!”

“I’m glad you like the idea,” he says, kissing me

“But would you want to move in the middle of the season?”
“Sure, we could hire movers,”

“And when I’m not working, I can unpack stuff,”
“See! So now I have to ask, how big? How many bedrooms?”
“Um, 3-4,”
“2 story?”

“Yeah, pretty sure that’s the majority of houses here,”
“Can we stay in Sewickley?”
“Absolutely, I wouldn’t want it any other way,”

“Ok good, well let’s start looking!”

“Looking for a new house and planning a wedding. Good thing I’m not in school!”

“I know, and I’ll help with whatever I can of course,”
“I’d hope so,” I respond, smiling

“Why don’t you grab a notebook, and we’ll knock out some wedding details,”
“Sounds perfect,”

Turns out we knocked out a lot of wedding details, we decided to have the wedding back in New Mexico. I wanted somewhere in Canada, but I didn’t know who has passports and who doesn’t, and everyone that James could think of had one.  We figured the wedding party would consist of: Ashley, Miranda, Bailey and Vero, with Mike, Max, Sid and Marc. We even got colors picked out, blue and yellow. James thought black and yellow would be cool, but I thought it would be a little stereotypical of our wedding, so we decided to do blue and yellow, us girls would carry yellow flowers, while the guys would have blue vests with yellow boutonnieres . The color scheme of it all looked really good.

Since we were planning on getting married in New Mexico, I had to plan time to go down there to look at dresses and ideas for a location of the reception…the ceremony would be at the church where I grew up.  I ran some dates by Vero and Miranda to see if they would make the trip with me.  Thankfully, Joey and Daniel are nice enough to give us both a few days off to go home.

We planned to leave for New Mexico on Friday before guys left for Florida, so our men decided to take us all out to dinner before we leave. Then they take us to the airport the next morning.

“You ladies going to behave in New Mexico?” Max asks us as they walk us to security

“Oh absolutely,” we all respond

“Yeah, you better,” James tells me

“Of course I will babe” I reassure him

“I trust you,”
“And I trust you,” I tell him with a kiss

“Call me when you get in?”

“I will, I love you,”

“I love you too, have fun,”

A few hours later, we land in New Mexico; thankfully it’s not as cold as it was back in the Burgh. My parents greeted us on the other side of security, before we grab our bags and head out.  I had called a few bridal stores the day before, and thankfully, I was able to get some appointments for us tomorrow afternoon, and it worked out perfectly with Bailey and Ashley. 

After dinner with my parents, we settled into my old room right when we got home, my dad had put 2 mattresses on the floor so we could crash there.

“Good morning girls,” My mom greets us in the kitchen

“Morning,” We respond

“There’s a couple football games on, dad and I were thinking about ordering some pizza and watch a few before we leave?” she asks

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I say, with the girls agreeing

“Bailey and Ashley are going to meet us there, right?”

So after lunch we head to the first bridal store, Alfred Angelo.  There were so many gorgeous dresses, and I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed with the time I had to find a dress before having to go back home.

I tried on 8 dresses before I finally found THE ONE. It was one that I had an idea about for as long as I had been looking at dresses. Brandi, who was helping us, could see it in my eyes that it was the dress for me. 

“You ready to go out and show off your dress?” Brandi asks as she secures the back of it

“Absolutely!” I anxiously say as we walk out

“Oh my gosh!”

“Jay, you look amazing!”

“It’s beautiful!”

That’s all I needed to hear to know that I had their approval and I was a happy girl. 

“So, is this THE dress?” Bailey asks

“Yep. This is THE dress!” I say, smiling

“Jamie, Sharon is going to call back, since we had her on face time, she wants to talk to you ok,” My mom tells me, as she calls again

“Hi Sharon,” I answer

“Hi honey, I must say that the dress is absolutely beautiful on you!”
“Thank you!”
“I also wanted to say that I was talking to your mom, and she did notice that the dress is a little out of your price range. So I wanted to tell you that, Dave and I are going to help with the dress for you, it will be a present from us, and your parents,”
“Really? Oh my gosh, Sharon, you don’t have to,”
“No, we want to, once I saw your face light up in that dress, I couldn’t see you marrying my son in any other dress,”

“Wow, I can’t thank you enough, seriously, this is my dream dress and…I don’t know what to say, I’m speechless. Thank you so much!” I say tearing up a bit

“It’s our pleasure! We wouldn’t have it any other way,”

“Well I really appreciate it, did you want to talk to my mom again?”

“Yes, please,”

[[they are the 2 middle dresses! but in blue]]

So the dress had been picked out, the girls and I decided on bridesmaid dresses, which were going to be blue, with black heels. My stress level went down a bit once we got all that taken care of, my next step would be to figure out when to come down here again before the wedding for another fitting.  But finding all the dresses was good for today.

I had briefly talked to James, told him we found all the dresses and the shoes, he asked if his mom called me and I said yeah, we were both shocked that her and Dave were helping with my wedding dress. I told him we were going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game, before going out to Dirty Bourbon for a while.