a/n: OK, the title of this chapter is LAME-O, but it's actually kind of fitting! This chapter is mainly a transition between the last chapter and the next chapter. Enjoy!
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Kat's POV

Sean and I were engaged!

I knew it was quick – we’d only been back together for a few weeks – but when he’d asked me to marry him I felt like I could breathe right for the first time in years; like I’d been without oxygen all this time. It just felt… right.

We’d rushed right home to share the news with my family. Of course, Sophia had spotted the ring on my finger the moment we’d walked in the door.



Pete immediately started freaking out at his wife’s outburst. He was completely oblivious to my diamond, of course, and thought that maybe Sophia was having a stroke or something. The poor guy looked so helpless because Sophia wouldn’t be quiet long enough to tell him she was okay.

Once we got Sophia calmed down, Sean and I officially announced out engagement.

Many “congratulations!” later, it was bed time for the girls. I walked them upstairs and helped them get ready for tuck-in.



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Gabby and Izzy sat on their beds and waited for me to pick a bedtime story. Finding a book about a brave prince and a dragon, I sat down on the floor near their beds and started to read.

“Once upon a time, there was a young prince named Brendan –“

“Mom, what does en-caged mean?” Gabby interrupted, sliding off her bed and joining me on the floor.

“It means that Prince Charming wants to marry Mommy and live happily ever after with her,” Izzy announced proudly, before I could answer. She joined us on the floor too.



“Is Sean your Prince Charming, Mom?”

“Yes, he is,” I smiled. “Engaged means that you have promised someone you will marry them. And I have promised to marry Sean.” I closed the book; there would be no bedtime story tonight.

“Is there going to be a fairytale wedding?”

I laughed at Izzy. “Yes, there will be a wedding, with flowers and dresses, and dancing.”

“Can we come too?” Gabby asked, excited.

“Of course you can, honey! You two are going to be the prettiest girls there,” I said, squeezing her tightly.

Izzy shook her head. “You’ll be the most prettiest, Mommy.”

I dropped a kiss on her forehead and sat there for a moment, thinking about how things were going to change for us. I hadn’t realized it, but I was turning my hand so the diamond ring cast dancing sparkles on the floor near us.

“After the wedding, the three of us get to go live with Sean at his new house, how would you girls like that?”

“That’s good,” said Gabby, “I like Sean.”

“Me too,” chimed in Izzy. “Now our Mommy and Daddy will be married, just like everyone else’s parents at school.”

I frowned. The girls had started Kindergarten this month and were meeting kids from all kinds of family backgrounds. I knew the questions about this would come sooner or later. Sean was a dad to my girls in every way possible, but he wasn’t their father. It wasn’t that easy.

“Girls, do you remember me telling you that your real father lives very far away?” They both nodded their heads. “Well, he’s coming to visit us next week. Just for a little while, but he wants to spend some time with you. Maybe we can go to the zoo. That would be fun wouldn’t it?”



Their looks of confusion mirrored each other. I knew they didn’t remember very much about Emilio, other than knowing his name and that we used to live with him a long time ago. I could tell that they were apprehensive about meeting him.

“Is Daddy coming too?” Gabby asked, breaking the silence.

It took me a moment before I realized she was referring to Sean again.

“Why do we have two daddies?” asked Izzy.



“Well, some families are special like that. It doesn’t matter how many Mommies or Daddies you have. What matters is that you are loved. Sean and I love you both very much, and I suppose that Emilio does too since he’s coming all this way to see you.” I wondered if he was even capable of love. I’d seen it once, and I hoped that by some miracle he could find it in himself to be respectful of the life I had made for our children. He must love them, how could he not?

“Now, I think it’s time for bed. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

Judging by the yawn that Izzy let out, she was too tired to complain. Gabby, however, wasn’t as content to end the questioning. I could tell she had more on her mind, but she obediently climbed into bed.



“Goodnight my loves, sweet dreams,” I said, as I turned off the light and headed to my own bed.

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The house was unusually quiet the next morning. Pete was at work, and the kids were at school, so Sophia and I had the house to ourselves. She had chosen to spend her morning by the pool tanning, while I was putting away laundry.



I was putting away socks when one slipped out of my hand, landing on my jewelry. As I picked up the wayward sock, something sparkly caught my eye. At the bottom of my tangled mess of necklaces was a familiar heart shaped locket. I hadn’t thought about the locket in almost 10 years. Sean had given it to me when we’d gone off to separate colleges. It seemed almost fortuitous that it should catch my attention now that our lives had come back together. Without hesitation I dug it out and untangled it from the many other chains so I could put it on.

I went to my mirror and touched the heart shaped pendant that rested at my throat.

As I was staring at my reflection, my cell phone rang. I grabbed it out of my pocket and saw Kelli’s name on the caller ID.

I flipped open the phone. “Hey Kelli? What’s up?”



“Where are you?” her voice replied on the other end.

“At home, in my room, why?”

“Go downstairs.”

“Why? Kelli, what’s going on?”



“Just do it Kat!”

Confused, I made my way to the foyer.

“Okay, okay, I’m downstairs. Now what?” I asked, waiting for my next command.

“Go to the front door and open it.”

“Kelli, you know I hate surprises, tell me what’s going on.” I demanded.

“Geez Kat, you’re ruining this for me! I sent you a package okay; just go open your freaking door!”

“Alright! Sheesh!” I walked to the door and opened it expectantly.

I looked down, expecting to see some sort of box on the front stoop. But there was nothing.



“Kelli, are you sure it’s been delivered? I don’t see anything out here.”

There was no answer.

“Kelli? ... Kelli are you still there?”



“SURPRISE!!”

I gasped as Kelli jumped out from behind the bushes in front of me.

“What are you doing here?!” I exclaimed as Kelli launched herself at me for a hug.



“I have really big news! But –“ she held her palm out toward me before I could ask what the news was, “I want to tell you and Sophia at the same time. Is she here?”

I nearly sprinted through the house to the back door.

“Sof! You’ll never guess who’s here!” I said excitedly, running out onto the porch.

“Hmm? What’s going on?” she replied lazily.



“Get up and come inside, we have a visitor!” I turned my back on her and dashed back into the house where Kelli was rummaging through our fridge.

“Just looking for some iced tea or something,” she said.

“OH. MY. LORD!” came Sophia’s surprised voice from behind us. “Kelli Cole! What are you doing here?”

She hastily ran forward and embraced our friend.

“Forget the tea,” Sophia said, walking to the pantry and pulling out a bottle of champagne. “I couldn’t find a better time to open this if I tried.”

“Breaking out the good stuff on my account?” asked Kelli, taking a seat at the breakfast table.

“Oh of course, but haven’t you seen this huge rock yet?” Suddenly, Sophia snatched my hand and held it up in front of Kelli’s face.

Kelli’s eyes darted up to mine, with full understanding. “Well, it seems I have not been kept in the loop.” She gave a defeated little huff, trying to pretend like she was mad at me.

“Oh knock it off, it only happened last night. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. Are you mad?”

“Honey of course I’m not mad! It’s about time you saw what’s been right in front of you.”

I rolled my eyes. It was true that I had been blind and stupid about Sean before, but I still hated having my nose rubbed in it all the time.

Sophia popped open the champagne bottle and found us some glasses. We sat down at the table with Kelli.

“To the future Mrs. Riley!” Kelli said, holding up her glass. Sophia echoed the toast.



“So tell us what you’re doing here,” Sophia insisted, setting down her glass.

“Well…” Kelli said slyly, “I have some exciting news! My department at work is transferring me to the Dan Center for the Visual Arts.” She looked at us pointedly. “That means I’m moving back home!”

“Oh that’s wonderful!” Sophia and I exclaimed at the same time. It would be so great to have our oldest friend in the same town again.

“Yep. I am the newest art restorer in Danview Valley. Damion and I are actually here today to scope out a few houses. We need to sign quickly because I only have a month until the new position starts.”



“Which means,” she continued cheerfully, “I’ll be in town for this fabulous wedding! So what do you have planned? What color will our dresses be?”

“Um, I actually haven’t thought about it much yet,” I replied.

“Oh but come on! We all knew you and Sean would end up together. It was only a matter of time. Quite frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken you guys so long to get back together. What has it been… almost two years since he came back to town?”

She was right, it had been a year and eight months since the day I’d run into Sean at the market. It had taken us a long time to get to the point we were now at.

“I know this isn’t a good excuse,” I explained, “but I was so caught up on Emilio. Not him, per se, but how deluded I was by him. I really fell for him. And after I found out his true nature, I was crushed that I had left a good man for him. What I did to Sean was just as bad as what Emilio did to me. I left him for someone else. And when Sean came back into my life, I couldn’t let myself get close to him for fear of hurting him again, or worse, that he hasn’t forgiven me.”



“Ah sweetie, that’s understandable,” Sophia said, reaching across the table to pat my hand. “We’re just glad you’re happy now. You and Sean are good together. You have the rest of your lives to be happy and forget what’s happened in the past.”

“Kat, do you remember in college, when I was struggling with forgiving Damion? I got some good advice from a couple of friends,” she smiled, remembering the time Shawna and I had convinced her to give Damion a second chance. “Now I need to be that friend for you. You have to forgive yourself and get on with your life.”



I smiled.

“Okay, so what do you think you’d be more comfortable in? Strapless or halter dresses? I still love blue, but… been there done that. Maybe green? Oh, and I was thinking a garden ceremony!”

They smiled back at me, knowing that the turn in conversation was my way of telling them that I was moving on.

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For the comments: How do you feel about Emilio coming to town? How do think his visit will go? What would you do if you were Kat? (Not going to affect what happens in the story, I am just honestly curious to see what you think about this since it has been giving me alot of difficulty.) Much love! Thanks for being patient with me. :bag:
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