Alberta was more beautiful than Olli and Hannah imagined. There were mountains, and rivers, and as they got closer to the Sutter farm, luscious fields that were starting to turn with the end of the summer.

"Oh my God," Hannah's eyes trailed over the landscape as they drove toward Brandon's. "This looks much nicer than when I was here last winter. It was cold, covered in snow, and I was....a little distracted." Hannah twisted her mouth into a grimace as she remembered the events that started with her crying on Brandon's shoulder while he was ice fishing, and ended in Sochi.

"I see why they decided to have an outdoor wedding," Olli remarked. He really hoped this would trigger Hannah's interest in planning their wedding again. He'd tried to talk her into just hiring a wedding planner but she shrugged it off. 'We haven't even picked a date yet,' she said, and always managed to change the subject.

After checking into their hotel Olli and Hannah got ready for the rehearsal dinner/party. It was more like an after party for the rehearsal dinner (since that was boring), like a 'last hurrah' before the wedding tomorrow afternoon. As soon as they got there Hannah realized she didn't know anyone. For some reason, she expected the whole team to be there. But Olli was the only other Penguin, and he was Hannah's guest. Perhaps teammates aren't really as close as Hannah thought they were. However, that did make their own guest list a lot shorter.

The only other person Hannah and Olli recognized was Brandon's uncle Darryl, the LA Kings coach. They decided to sit at an empty table and tried to go unnoticed, but Brandon's sister remembered Hannah from her visit last winter and rushed over to sit with them.

"There are so many relatives trying to talk to me right now, please just let me sit here a bit and hide from them," she whispered as she sat down and Hannah nodded. "It's just been one after another... I don't know how they haven't lost it," she looked up toward the front where Brandon and Rachel were sitting. The couple was smiling as they greeted yet another guest -something Hannah cringed at even the thought of doing. She couldn't imagine having her entire family in one place, let alone having to talk and be civil with them. Especially with the Beth situation growing more and more out of control. "You look fabulous, by the way. Nice dress Hannah."

"Thank you...It's Britney, right?"

"Sarah. Sadly, that's not the first time I've been called Britney tonight. I have far too many relatives...." Sarah rolled her eyes and again scanned the crowd. "I'm going to get a drink. You guys want anything? Beer? Okay!" She darted off across the room before Olli and Hannah even had a chance to respond.

"Wow. She seems on edge," Hannah remarked to Olli.

"Maybe she's nervous about public speaking," he replied. "You don't have a problem with that, do you? With talking in front of a crowd?"

"Nah, it's easy," Hannah shrugged. The hard part was remembering a funny story she could tell about Brandon that was appropriate enough to say in front of his family. Both he and Rachel had asked a bunch of people to talk at the party, just short little stories about the two of them, and Hannah was glad he'd asked her. However, she didn't know Rachel , and honestly couldn't think of what to say. Sarah returned with three beers and sat down with them for a minute before hopping up again to skip to another table.

"I hope she gets to speak first, and just get it over with," Hannah commented and opened her beer. "At least we have alcohol now." She smiled.

"Yeah, which I can legally drink here," Olli said before taking a sip, causing Hannah to laugh.

"I almost spit out my beer. I sometimes forget you can't drink. Not yet," she raised her eyebrow. "Two weeks and you'll be twenty one! I can't believe it; it's like you're all grown up."

Olli blushed and was about to retort, but a tapping on a microphone interrupted him.

"Is this on? Oh, I guess it is!" A voice echoed across the room. "Hi, father of the bride here. I couldn't be prouder of these two and I'm so happy they're finally tying the knot! I won't say too much, since I'll probably get choked up if I keep talking, so I'm going to pass the microphone on to our first speaker tonight. Brandon's brother, and best man, Mark; looks like you're up first!"

Hannah remembered Mark from her visit last February and knew they were in for an interesting story. However, as soon as he started talking, she realized she had nothing to say. As person after person spoke and had great stories about Brandon and Rachel , she tried to come up with something to say.

Olli nudged her. "It's your turn," he whispered. She stood up and smoothed out her dress before walking to the front. She stood on her tippy toes and tried to reach the microphone before lowering it a few inches. That drew a laugh out of the crowd, so at least she was off to a good start.

"Hi, I'm Brandon's friend Hannah," she started. "I guess you're wondering how he ended up with a friend as short as me. Well, it all really started after he got traded to the Penguins." There was a murmur across the audience and Hannah realized she'd mentioned something she shouldn't have. "We were both in the same situation, really, and kind of became friends since we both didn't want to be in Pittsburgh at the time. Obviously, we've both changed our attitude and learned to love the Penguins organization, but it was that initial day that solidified our friendship. It was the summer, I had just graduated from film school in Los Angeles, and my first job was working for the Penguins film crew. My first day of work I had to do an interview with someone who had just been traded to Pittsburgh, and that person was, of course, Brandon. Although we were not instantly friends, we bonded over the fact that neither of us really wanted to be there. But that was almost three years ago! Now we are practically going to be neighbors in Sewickley. I look forward to knowing Rachel will be just down the street, and we can watch games together while our husbands are off on road trips." Hannah smiled turned to the couple before adding, "Congrats you guys, I couldn't be happier for you. It looks like the next speaker is Rachel 's cousin Mandy." She left the microphone before Mandy even had a chance to get out of her seat.

Sitting down next to Olli, she felt his hand on her shoulder as his arm wrapped around her back. "Your husband, eh?" He smiled teasingly.

"Well, you will be eventually. It's close enough," she replied.

Hannah had no idea how much this confirmed what Olli already knew: Hannah wasn't just putting off the wedding because she didn't want to marry him, she just didn't want to have a wedding. And he didn't blame her; looking around at all the planning that must have gone into this one event tonight, he couldn't imagine what the wedding would be like tomorrow. It wasn't too over-the-top lavish, but it must have taken a lot of preparation and planning. Planning that Olli didn't imagine Brandon was a part of.

A few drinks later, the night actually became a little fun. Hannah and Olli enjoyed some embarrassing stories about Brandon, and his sister even came back to sit with them again after her time to talk was up. She'd definitely had a few more drinks at that point and certainly made a fun conversation partner.

Olli and Hannah left feeling happier than they imagined, and once they got back to the hotel room, Hannah finally admitted it: "That was great, really awesome; they have such a wonderful family and group of friends. But, I don't want to do anything like that at our wedding. In fact, do we even have to have people at our wedding? Why can't we just have a bunch of house plants, or animals, things that don't talk?"

Olli fell onto their bed laughing, and pulled Hannah with him. "I don't think we can have house plants at our wedding, but that's a wonderful idea...and if you're concerned about your family coming to the wedding, we could just get married in Finland. I'm sure you're great-aunt whatever won't want to fly that far."

"That's true," Hannah snorted a laugh. "I don't think even my mom would want to fly all the way to Finland. And I'm 100% okay with that."

"So, getting married in Finland it is. At least one things final, maybe we can focus on a date next," Olli suggested and Hannah curled closer to him.

"How about your birthday," she said, nuzzled between his arm and his chest.

"My birthday? That's over a year away!"

"Nah, it's next week."

"Hannah, we can't get married next week. That's....just not possible." Was it?

"Shh, it's now or never," Hannah mumbled as she fell asleep.

Now or never? Olli's mind was a bit blurry, but he was pretty sure she was drunkenly rambling, right? The two drifted off into sleep with no plans of getting up early.

"Brandon must be nervous as hell," Hannah remarked as she fixed Olli's tie. The next morning.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know, did you see him last night? He looked so... on edge, or something. A little off."

Olli shrugged. "I guess he would be a little nervous. It's the most important day of his life."

"I guess it is. We're a little early, but we should go. I want to get a good seat in the shade." Hannah was not about to get a sunburn at Brandon Sutter's wedding.

The Sutter farm was very nicely decorated for the wedding. Hannah took the last spot in the shade and hoped it wouldn't be in sunlight once the ceremony started. Leaving Olli to save their seats, she looked around to see if the bar was already open. To Hannah's luck, it was and she talked to bartender into giving her a drink, something other than the water he was serving everyone else.

"Here's your drink. If anyone asks- it's water. I'm going to look around a bit, okay?" Olli nodded, so Hannah left to explore. She knew they had animals here, but she wasn't sure what kind. Hannah wandered into the nearest barn hoping to find some cute baby sheep or something, instead she found something else.

At the end of the barn were what looked like the groomsmen, and they appeared to be discussing something heatedly. As Hannah crept closer unnoticed, she picked up that something was lost, and Mark looked very upset. Maybe it was the ring?

"Sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!" She said as she got closer. "I got lost coming back from the, um, bathroom. We're you looking for something? I could help if you wanted..."

She trailed off as she got closer and saw how agitated they were.

"It's not something, and he isn't lost," Mark replied. "We just can't exactly locate him right now."

"Who?"

"Brandon."

Hannah's heart sank. For a second she thought she'd walked in on a bit of drama, but this was a little more serious. "And you thought he'd be here?"

"No, I don't know. I'm looking everywhere really," Mark rubbed his forehead and tried to think.

"Does he have any favorite spots he likes to go around here? Or a quiet place to think?" Hannah suggested.

"I've looked everywhere I can think. Maybe the old barn?" He looked up and a few of the other guys agreed. "He always used to hide out there when we were younger. Let's check there." The group left before Hannah could add anything else, so she continued wandering through the barn. She had no idea where Brandon could be, or even where he was supposed to be, but she took out her phone and texted him. She realized how stupid it was, because if he'd had his phone they would have found him by now. But she'd already sent him a message, and continued wandering down the rows of livestock deep in thought.

*I'm upstairs

She stared at her phone in shock. 'Where?' she replied and looked around.

*Go back the way you came in, staircase is on the left

Hannah quickly walked back toward the door she'd walked in, and found the staircase on the left. It looked rickety, but she grabbed the railing and climbed up anyway. Sitting on an overturned wooden box near a window, but far enough away that he wouldn't be seen, was a very well dressed Brandon. Walking carefully across the uneven floor in her high heels, Hannah made her way toward him. When he turned to look at her, she almost gasped.

"What is going on?" She asked, trying to sound more concerned than accusatory. She looked for somewhere to sit, but the only thing she could find were bales of hay. Brandon moved over enough that she could sit next to him on the box. It was close, but they both fit.

"I just saw your brother downstairs and they've looked everywhere for you. What's wrong?" She asked again.

He was quiet for a moment. "What if she's not the right one?"

"What do you mean? Of course she is!"

"But how do I know? She's the only girl I've ever dated. How do I know...?" He turned to look at her for the first time, really look at her, and stopped talking. "What if there's someone else for me?"

"Brandon, this must be hard, but you have to follow your heart." Hannah was terrible at giving advice, and she knew it sounded lame. "Why would you think there would be someone else? If you love her, isn't that enough?"

"Because..."

"Do you mean...has there been someone else?" Hannah was a bit shocked to even think that Brandon might have been cheating.

He swallowed and looked out the window. "Yeah," he looked down at his hand, the hand that would soon have a ring on it. "You."

Hannah jumped up, unable to sit next to him anymore. "Brandon Sutter you had better be joking. You are not in love with me!"

"No, but," he sighed. "There was only one person I ever thought of leaving her for, and that was you. After getting traded to Pittsburgh I was really down, and you stuck out to me somehow. And then we became friends-"

"And you realized you could never leave your girlfriend for me."

"Well, yeah kind of. But I was so ready to dump her and start over...what if that happens again?"

"I can't say that it won't happen, but haven't you learned anything from that? You were in a tough situation, but you got through it and in the end you made the right choices. You had a moment of doubt and you got through it without doing anything you'd regret."

Brandon nodded as he considered her words.

"Don't go through with this just because you feel like you have to. Do it because you want to, because you love her," Hannah put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her with confidence again. "Okay?"

He stood up and gave her a hug. "Thanks. I never imagine you'd be the one to talk me out of leaving someone at the altar."

"Honestly, you wouldn't have the balls to do that. Not in front of your entire family," Hannah smirked. "Let's go, you're making me late for a wedding."

As they parted ways at the end of the barn, Hannah made sure he was ready.

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm not going to run off, if that's what you mean."

"Good. Now go find your brother, and tell him you couldn't get your bowtie tied or something. No one else needs to know about this." She gave him a nod and made her way back to Olli. He looked concerned that she was gone so long, and wondered what was holding things up. The wedding should have started by now, and some of the guests were starting to wonder what was up. Hannah thought of telling Olli what had happened, but out of consideration for Brandon, she didn't. Really, it was just some pre-wedding jitters, something many people probably experienced.

When the ceremony finally did start, Brandon looked much more relaxed. He gave Hannah a discreet nod when he found her in the audience and she smiled back. As the music started and everyone stood up to watch the bride walk down the aisle, Hannah gave Brandon one last glance. He looked happier than she'd ever seen anyone look, with a smile so big she thought he would cry, and she knew they'd be okay. This was not the Brandon she saw less than an hour ago in the hay loft of a cattle barn; no, this was the Brandon that was about to marry the love of his life.​​

A/N: Want to keep reading? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7DW6JS?*Version*=1&*entries*=0