Last Chance

"Okay! Well then let's get started!" Kelly tried got up and I pulled her back down onto my lap.

"Not yet." I whispered. "Let's stay out here for a little longer. Who knows when we will be able to do this again."

She leaned into me. "Okay, I guess I can wait a couple hours." She reached over and picked up our glasses of wine. "To the start of forever." She clinked her glass with mine.

"Forever" I repeated

We sat on the roof until well over midnight. Talking about our future and making plans for the wedding.

"You know what everyone is going to think right?" She said

"Yup. Shotgun wedding. You're obviously knocked up. You really should have been more careful Kel." I teased.

"Well, I think you'd be just as much to blame if that was indeed the situation. I wonder how many times I'm going to have to explain to people that I'm not pregnant."

I laughed. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Easy for you to say." She muttered. "I'm cold. Can we go inside now?"

"I am sure I can warm you up." I grinned. I stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her up with me. I picked up the cooler and hung it off my arm as I helped her climb down the lattes.

There was nothing I wanted more at that moment to take Kel and Christen every single room in my house - our house. For tonight though, the bedroom would suffice. And we Christened the hell out of our bed.

I woke up the next morning feeling more at peace than I had in years. To see her messy curls splayed out on the pillow as she took shallow breathes, took my breath away. "My fiance" I whispered to myself. She stirred at the words and snuggled in closer to me. She looked to peaceful to wake up so I closed my eyes and tried to imagine how she would look on our wedding day.

An hour later she finally started to stir, and I gently brushed the hair back from her face.

"Good morning beautiful" I whispered. A smile spread across her face as her eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning to you too."

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked. Knowing that she was bursting at the seam to get the ball rolling on wedding plans.

"Hmm, let me see. We need to book a Justice of the Peace, I need to find a dress, we need to tell our parents, oh, and we need to go get a marriage license." She laughed and sat up in bed. "Pass me your laptop."

I reached over to my bedside table and passed her my computer. She opened it up and eyed me. "Password?"

"Stanleycup2009 - and don't laugh. It's hard to find passwords with upper case and lower case and numbers. I knew I wouldn't forget this one."

She quickly typed in the password, opened up the browser, and started to Google local JP's. We sent a few emails, left a few voice mails and were now playing the waiting game. The waiting game, something we had both played for way too long.

"So, you're mom or my parents first?" I asked.

"My mom. There's something I need to ask her as well." She got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom.

"Shower?" I asked.

She grinned. "Care to join me?"

I took in the sight of her and slowly nodded. I pulled the blankets back and followed her into the bathroom.

**********************************************************************
"Ready?" I asked. I took her hand in mine as we approached her mom's front door.

"Yup." She gave my hand a squeeze. "She is going to lose her mind. In a good way though." She slid her key into the lock and slowly opened the door.

"Hey mom. You home?"

"Up here!" We heard her from the landing. We kicked off our shoes and climbed the stairs. I don't know why, but I was suddenly nervous. We found Mrs. Nelson in the kitchen reading the paper. Claude was sleeping quietly on her lap. "Good morning you two. With what do I owe the pleasure of this unannounced visit?"

Kelly leaned over and gave her mom a hug. "What, we can't stop by for breakfast without giving you notice?" She teased.

"Well if I had known, I would have made sure I had enough to feed you two. Anywho, it's nice to see you honey. You too Sid."

Kelly and I sat down at the kitchen table while her mom poured us some coffee.

"So really, why are you guys here. Don't tell me you are just coming to say hi."

"Okay fine. We're not here just to say hi." Kel was beaming, I'm surprised she had held it together this long without blurting it out. "I came to ask you if I, I mean, we, if we could have yours and dad's wedding bands?"

Mrs. Nelson stopped mid pour and looked at us. "What? I mean, yes of course honey. I've always told you they were yours should you want them. Does this mean what I think it means?"

Kelly and I looked at each other and nodded, and then back at her mom. "Yes, we're getting married!" She squealed and was out of her chair and hugging her mom before I knew what had happened.

"Oh Kelly, this is the best news I could have ever expected! I'm so happy for you! Did you guys set a date? Let me see your ring."

I got up from the table and joined them. "We don't have a ring. Yet." I said. "We'll go shopping soon though. It was kind of something that just happened. I wasn't really prepared with a ring."

"And as for the date." Kel said. "It's Monday."

"Wha-?" Her mom said.

"It's not what you think mom. I'm not knocked up. We just don't want to wait."

"No, no. I didn't think that at all. It's just so soon. But I totally understand why you wouldn't want to wait. So, I guess I should take Monday off of work then eh?"

"I guess that would be a good idea. Oh, and mom?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Will you be my maid of honour? There isn't anyone else I want up there with me but you."

I saw the tears come to her mom's eyes and she quickly nodded. "Yes, of course I will. I'd be honoured. Now hold tight, I'll be right back."

A minute later she returned with a blue velvet bag in hand. "They will probably need to be sized, and maybe refinished. They are yours to as you please, I know you'll wear them with as much love as your dad and I did."

*****Spring 2005*****

I could hear my phone ringing in my bag, and I tried desperately to get to it before they hung up. I breathlessly pulled it out of my bag to see Kel's number on the screen. "Hey. What's up?"

"How soon is too soon to remove the one thing that keeps you attached to someone?"

"What?"

"She took them off Sid."

"Who did what? Slow down Kel. What are you talking about?"

"My mom. She took of her wedding rings. It's like she's just forgotten about him."

I sat down on the rink bleachers. "She hasn't forgotten about him Kel. She's just trying to move on. It's been almost a year."

"I'm not ready for her to heal and be over it! I'm not over it!"

"Calm down Kel. I'll be there as soon as I can."

**********

When I looked down at the simple gold band I remembered that day like it was yesterday. Kelly cried on my shoulder for over an hour. And then, it was like the damn went up, the tears stopped, and she moved on. She never cried for her dad again.

"Thank's mom." Kel said and I was suddenly shaken from my memories. "Get ready, I'll be back in a couple hours, we gotta go dress shopping!" She slipped the small bag into her purse and embraced her mom in a hug.

"Okay. You guys are taking off so soon?"

"Yeah, we are going to go tell Sid's family and then I'll be back."

"Alright honey. Sounds good."

"Bye mom." Kelly grabbed my hand and started heading towards the stairs. "Oh and mom?"

"Yeah."

"This is on the down low. Please don't go calling every person in town that you know. We want it to just be you and Sid's family."

"You have my word. I won't tell a soul."

Kelly turned back to her mom. "Thanks. I love you."

I opened the door for her and followed her. Ready to break the news to my family. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I still couldn't get the smile off of my face as we drove towards my old house.