Mending Heart |18+|

Bonus Chapter 1 🔥

Mine

"Two souls don't find each other by simple accident." – Jorge Luis Borges

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[1 Year Later]

"It's still not too late for you to back out," Ethan chuckled beside me as the two of us walked hand in hand down the busy street. We had just finished our rehearsal dinner, at the instance of Ethan's mother and mine of course, and now we were headed home.

Our home.

Two months ago, Ethan surprised me with the keys to a brand new house. Although I loved the one we lived in before, he said he wanted us to have something that was both of ours. I protested at first because we didn't need a new house, but once I saw the property, I fell in love. It was bigger and cozier, with an even larger backyard. Everything I ever dreamed of.

"Don't tempt me," I smirked, bumping my shoulder with his.

"Very funny." He playfully glared down at me, making me laugh.

My bachelorette party had been last weekend, and of course, Megan had gone all out. Although, I'm pretty sure it was as much for me as it was for her. She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy – Noah – about six months ago, and ever since then, her life has revolved around breastfeeding and changing diapers.

The invites had been sent, and the venues had been paid for. Now, all that was left, was to get married.

Our engagement hadn't been long, and our wedding wasn't going to be anything extravagant. If I had it my way, we would have just gone down to city hall and gotten married but Ethan quickly shut that idea down. For me it wasn't about the venue or how many people I invited, it was about the person I was marrying. Marriage used to be this concept that made me shudder. But with Ethan, I had no doubt. He was the one for me.

"You walked right into that one, babe." I shrugged, laughing. I was about to add how he always got butt-hurt when I said stuff like that, but something caught my eye a couple of feet straight straight ahead.

A pet shelter.

"Ethan she's so cute!" I snatched my hand out of his, hurrying my last steps until I came to a stop in front of the large window. A golden retriever, probably two or three months old, was running around in circles and playing with an older black tri-American Bully.

Before Sweetie, I didn't realize how much it was possible to care for an animal. I remember when she got food poisoning last year and didn't eat for a few days – she just sat on the floor, dry heaving and staring off into space. The vet told us it was normal and gave us a bunch of meds to give her until her follow-up visit. However, after the second day of seeing her like that, my heart couldn't take it anymore and I made a makeshift bed next to her on the floor out of a bunch of blankets and pillows.

Ethan said I was crazy, but she had become my baby just as much as she was his. I'd also like to point out that he slept right next to me that night.

"Do you want to go inside?" Ethan teased, amusement seeping through his voice.

"Yes!" I replied, already pulling on the door. As soon as we stepped inside, a young volunteer no older than twenty greeted us. But, my attention was drawn to the same golden retriever I saw through the window. She was charging towards me at full speed, her light golden fur coat shining under the fluorescent lighting.

"That's our newest addition, Goldy." The volunteer – Hannah, according to her name tag – said. I kneeled down, just in time to have Goldy stop in front of me and begin to wag her tail like crazy. "She's been with us for about a week now, and is definitely the most energized out of everyone here."