A/N: Okay, so I don't own Miracle. What else is new? Well, this chapter is new.
Indiangirl2008: One vote for Logan David
Meadow567: Sweetness!
Darkdestiny2000: Another vote for Logan David, you're the third.
Staceygirl: Jack's family is based on mine; his sister's "County morgue, you stab 'em; we slab 'em" is how my sister and I answer the phone.
Prettypinkcheer5: Vote number four for Logan David, I'm glad you think Jack and Ellie are perfect for each other.
Shelbers: It's looking pretty unanimous for Logan David. Thanks for the encouragement.
Ellie's POVWhen I woke up the next morning, I was still in shock over my dad's news. Ever since he left Mother, I knew that the day was coming when he would eventually divorce her; I just didn't think it would be now. It was all real now. Mother and Dad as I had known them since childhood were over. My parents weren't going to be this united pair I'd thought of them as since the day I was born. Going to my parents' house for Sunday brunch was over; now I would go to one parent's house one week and the other parent's house the next week. And to top it all off, I had to keep this a secret from my siblings until after the Olympics were over. Thank you dearest parents; I think you may have completely decimated my sanity for the rest of my born days.
Oh what I would give to be able to at least tell Jack about this. But I didn't need to be bothering him with that kind of thing during the Olympics. He was already dealing with rehabbing his leg in a week. And I'm flipping out! Even Heidi knows something is up; when I retrieved her from Mrs. O'Callahan last night, she was giving me funny looks. Maybe she had gas; that must have been it.
After breakfast, Heidi and I met Gabby, Emily, and Gayle to do a little shopping. "I need a wedding dress!" Emily moaned as we walked past a dress shop. "But I'm so fat that no one would ever even think of selling me a wedding dress."
Gayle smiled and patted Emily's back. "Honey, your wedding isn't until September and you're due in early April. We can find you a dress after the baby comes. If you're really worried, I'm sure that you can wear my wedding dress; it should fit you."
"Gayle, you're a twig; I'm an elephant," Emily exploded. "I'm not going to fit into your dress."
"Correction, Emily," Gabby told her calmly. "You're pregnant and you're going to have that baby in less than two months. I can almost guarantee you that Gayle's dress will fit you by September."
"You can ALMOST guarantee?" my brother's fiancée bellowed. "ALMOST? Are you saying that I'm going to stay fat after the baby comes?"
"No," I interjected. "That's not what she's saying at all. She's saying that she's stupid and uses adjectives in circumstances in which they don't apply."
"Exactly," Gabby said. "And besides, if you need anything done to Gayle's dress, all you have to do is ask Ellie and she can do it for you."
"What would I need done to the dress?" Emily asked.
"Umm, well, for starters, you'll probably need it lengthened; you are taller than Gayle after all," I pointed out. "And you might want to put sleeves on it because Minnesota Septembers are considerably cooler than Minnesota Junes."
Emily nodded. "That's true and I could just have you do all the alterations."
"It would give you an excuse to come visit me in Chicago," I told her.
"What?" Gabby practically screamed.
"Why are you going to Chicago?" Emily asked in a barely controlled voice.
"Umm, Jack," I said.
"Honey, Jack's from Boston," Gabby told me.
"And the Blackhawks have been recruiting him for the past year," I told her. "He's going to sign with them over the summer and we're both moving there over the summer."
"But you'll be in Minnesota in April when my baby comes, won't you?" Emily asked worriedly.
"Of course," I told her. "I'm not moving until June."
"Okay," she said slowly. "It's just I'm going to need you with me when I have this baby. I can't do this by myself and I don't know how much Rob will be able to handle."
"Yeah, he has a problem with blood," I said. "It wouldn't be pretty if you had him in the delivery room."
"Let me get this straight," Gayle interrupted me. "Rob is a hockey player and he's scared of blood?"
"Yep," I told her. "He's been scared of blood since we were kids. When I broke my leg my junior year of high school, it was bleeding like crazy and he passed out."
"You broke your leg and it was bleeding?" Gabby said. "I'm confused."
"The bone broke through the muscle and tissue," I explained. "It was pretty gross; I couldn't even look at that leg for like three months after they took the cast off."
Emily smiled. "And Rob passed out when he saw that leg when you broke it. That's great; I'm going to have to tease him about that."
I smiled and hugged her. "You're going to be the best sister-in-law ever."
The team had the evening off, so Jack, Heidi, and I went out for dinner with his family to tell them about our engagement. We were planning on telling my sisters later that evening since Rob and my dad already knew. "I'm worried," I said.
"Why?" Jack asked. "My family loves you."
"I know," I said. "But still we're telling people that we're getting married. That's making it official."
"You told your dad and the whole team saw it; I gave you the ring. We've made it official already, sweetheart."
"I guess you're right," I sighed. "It's just we're getting married and my parents are separated. It's just kind of ironic."
Jack hugged me. "We're not your parents; we're going to make it."
"How do you know that?" I asked him.
"Because this is true love, I'd die for you; we're not getting married because of societal expectations or having our reception in a country club."
"Where are we having our reception?" I asked him.
My gorgeous fiancée shrugged. "I don't know, just not in a country club. Maybe we'll get married in my parents' church in Boston and then have our reception in my parents' backyard."
"That sounds romantic," I said looking off into the distance. "But what about my relatives in St. Paul?"
He shrugged. "We'll figure things out; we've got a year and a half after all."
"It's so strange," I said. "We're engaged, but we're not getting married for another year and a half."
"Yeah, but we don't want to steal Rob and Emily's thunder this summer and then we'll simply have no time to get married until next summer."
"And Anne of Green Gables was engaged for three years."
"Why?"
"She was waiting for Gilbert to finish medical school."
Jack nodded. "Well, you have it easy; you only have to wait until the end of the hockey season next year."
"And then we'll be the two happiest people in the world."
He smiled. "Are you ready to face my family now?"
I nodded and we went into the restaurant where his family was waiting for us.
Jack's POV
We walked into the restaurant and joined my family at a large round table. My sister immediately took Heidi from Ellie and started playing with her. Nora was exclaiming about how cute Heidi was and all I could do was smile proudly. As far as I was concerned, Ron was out of the picture and I was Heidi's father.
"So, Jack," my father asked. "How's the leg?"
"It's getting better," I told him. "I'm hoping to be able to play in the medal round. My therapy is progressing well, which is mostly due to the work of my excellent physical therapist."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ellie blush and I smiled at her. She could be so shy at times and I loved it; actually, she was the shy quiet one and I was the loud, outgoing obnoxious one. But it worked for us and we were happy.
Just then my mother's voice burst into my reverie about my lovely fiancé. "So, Ellie, is that a ring I see on your left ring finger?"
Ellie smiled shyly and looked at me, so I answered, "Yeah, Ma, that's a ring all right. Two days ago, I asked Ellie to marry me."
Ma gasped and Dad stared at me. "Are you serious?" James asked. "That's so great. Ellie, I'd like to welcome you to the family."
"When's the wedding?" Annie spurted. "Can I be a bridesmaid?" Annie may have been a month away from turning eighteen but some days she refused to behave it. Being six years old was her area of expertise.
"You're getting married!" Ma gasped. "My little baby boy is getting married."
"Ma, he's almost twenty-three and he's your oldest," Annie pointed out. "He's not exactly anyone's little baby boy."
"And he's Ellie's now anyway," James pointed out.
"But he was my first baby," Ma sighed. "I remember wiping his little behind; oh, it was so cute and soft."
I sighed and Ellie giggled. "Really?" she said.
"He was so much fun to bathe," Mom recalled.
I looked at the table and started examining the pattern on the tablecloth. "Do we have to discuss this now?" I muttered.
James laughed. "Jack, you know that Mom only does things like this to make you squirm."
"Yeah, but I still hate it."
Dad hadn't spoken yet and I was worried about his opinion, so I looked at him. He looked me in the eye and nodded. "Jack, I'm proud of you, very proud of you. Ellie, I'm very glad you'll be marrying my son and joining our family."
I smiled. "Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate it."
"Thank you, Mr. O'Callahan," Ellie said.
"Ellie, I've known you were the girl for my son since I met you in Cambridge last fall and I'm very pleased that you'll be marrying my son."
It was Ellie's turn to blush and I had to smile. I had fallen in love with her and now my family was falling in love with her. I know they say that there's no such thing as the perfect woman, but I had a found a woman who was perfect for me.
"When will the wedding be?" my younger sister begged eagerly.
"We were planning in the summer of 1981," Ellie said. "My brother's fiancé is having their baby in April and then they are getting married this September, so we don't want to steal their thunder."
"And then I'll be busy with the Blackhawks until late spring," I added. "So we thought that next summer would be the best time for our wedding."
My parents nodded. I guess since we'd pretty much made up our minds already there wasn't much they could say. "Can I be a bridesmaid?" Annie asked. "Please?" She was making puppy eyes, big pitiful puppy eyes that had given her whatever she wanted when I baby-sat her when she was a kid.
"That's Ellie's decision," I told her.
Annie turned to my fiancée and smiled. "Please!" The puppy eyes and six-year-old attitude were back.
Ellie smiled at her. "I'll have to think about it; I haven't thought about any of that yet."
"Just remember, I'm Jack's sister," my sister pointed out.
"And just remember that I have sisters of my own as well as friends."
Annie sighed. "Fine, I'll wait and see."
My mother looked at us. "Do you two know where you want to have the wedding?"
"We're not sure yet," I said. "Either Boston or St. Paul."
"You could get married in the church where your father and I were married," Mom suggested. "I'm sure that Fr. O'Connor would be more than happy to marry you two."
"It's a possibility," I said. "But Ellie's father will be paying for the wedding, so we thought he should have some say in this."
My father looked at us. "Ellie, your father has agreed to pay for the whole thing?"
She nodded. "He wants to do this for me and he can more than afford it."
"All right," my mom said. "Then I guess we can't argue with that."
"My father wouldn't let you argue with that," Ellie said lightly. "He's very set in his ways and he believes that it is a father's duty to pay for his daughters' weddings."
"Rose and I will find something to do to help with the wedding," my dad told us.
"We'll decorate the church or something," my mom said.
Ellie and I smiled at that. The idea of my parents decorating an entire church by themselves was laughable. But that's the way my parents are; if something needs to be done, they'll find a way to do it.
After dinner with my family, Ellie, Heidi, and I went to meet Jennie and Natalie for desert. Jennie had brought along Charlie, of course. The kid was still terrified of me, which made me laugh. Ellie and I ordered coffee while the other three ordered hot chocolate; then we turned to the desert menu to contemplate our choices. While we were looking, Charlie kept shooting me suspicious looks. Ellie must have noticed this as well because she asked him, "Charlie, are you all right?"
Charlie completely ignored her, so I decided to try. "Charlie, are you okay?"
There was no response and Ellie patted his arm. "Charlie? Are you all right?"
Jennie's boyfriend looked up at my fiancée. "Huh?"
"Are you all right?" she asked him. "You keep giving Jack funny looks."
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," he stumbled over his words. "It's just kind of weird being here with my girlfriend's family. None of my friends or family is here except Jennie; it's just weird. I've never been in a situation like this."
"Oh, okay," Ellie said. But I could tell that his response had left her with more questions than she'd had when she first asked him her question.
"So, why'd you two decide to have dessert with us?" Natalie asked.
"Oh, we just wanted to spend time with you and talk to you," Ellie said casually.
"What do you want to talk to us about?" Jennie asked eagerly.
Ellie looked at me and smiled. I reached under the table and started stroking with her left hand, the hand my ring was on. She looked up at me and nodded; then she put her hand on the table.
"Holy cow," Jennie muttered. "Are you serious?"
Natalie stared first at Ellie's hand and then at me. "Whoa."
"Two days ago, Jack asked me to marry him," she began.
"And this wonderful woman said yes," I added. My fiancée smiled up at me and I kissed her nose.
"When's the wedding?" Natalie begged excitedly.
"Is this for real?" Jennie asked. "Are you two really getting married?"
Ellie nodded. "We are; we're talking about a summer 1981 wedding."
Both her sisters smiled immediately. "We get to be in the wedding, right?" Natalie asked.
Ellie shrugged. "Probably, I haven't made any of those decisions yet."
My reaction to that question was why does every teenage girl immediately ask that question? I knew that Emily was only having her sister and Ellie in her wedding party which probably meant that Jennie and Natalie were feeling a little left out of that wedding. I knew Ellie would find some way to have them in the wedding, but they would probably be something like junior bridesmaids.
Charlie was just sitting there not really paying attention to the girl until he looked at me. "You realize that you're going to spend the next year and a half listening to Ellie plan this wedding."
I shrugged. "I know, but you only get married once, so I'll put up with it."
"Some people get married more than once," he replied.
"Ellie and I aren't going to be one of those couples," I protested.
"You may not want to be, but I'm sure that Ellie's parents were planning on being married forever when they got married."
"Look kid," I told him firmly. "Ellie and I are in love. Unlike Ellie's parents, we are not getting married to suit societal expectations; we are not being superficial about this relationship. We know what we're doing."
Charlie shrugged. "All right, I just don't want to see Jennie's family getting hurt."
I tried to hide a laugh. "Neither do I, Charlie; that's why I'm being so careful with Ellie and Heidi. I've been involved in their lives for the past seven months and I will not hurt them."
Jennie's boyfriend shrugged. "Okay, Jack, I'll just trust you on this. You are older than me."
Ellie smiled at me. "And we will make it; I just know it. And I love you so much."
I kissed her ear. "I love you too."
A/N: I know this is shorter than what you're used to but I wanted to get something up before I took off.