Bleeding Hearts

Chapter 2

Leonardo's POV

1994

Why does no one ever talk about how stressful weddings are? Thankfully my father has agreed to run the business until we get married and get our first house. We have been looking at homes on the market for a few weeks now. We want something we can grow our family into. We just want to get one house and not do a starter home. We want a lot of kids maybe around 6 or 7. I know you may be thinking that's a lot but I wanna make her happy and having kids will bring us closer together. Plus I wanna show many people why life is so fucking great.

I think we may have found our forever home. It's about 30 minutes from my parents. It's a red brick house with big white columns around the front porch. It's absolutely gorgeous and it has a big backyard and lots of bedrooms too.

"Last one," she says as she puts the finishing touches on the venue. Everything is perfect. Now we just wait. Two more days. I'm as nervous as I was in the grocery aisle if not more.

——-

I woke up this morning bright and early to work out like I've done for the past 12 years. I did some work before heading into the kitchen.

"Morning," Amanda says. I respond with a kiss on her head. I walk behind her to the pantry grabbing some oatmeal. I sit down next to her once it's made and before I can take a bite my phone rings. I answer it without checking who it is.

"Hello," I say. After about five minutes I hang up. Amanda looks at me silently asking who it was.

"We got the house!" I tell her with a big smile on my face. She smiles back just as big.

"This is a sign of good luck," she says. After breakfast, we drive down to our new house. I park between the fountain and the front door. As we arrive we see our realtor standing at the door to welcome us to our new home.

"Hi, here are the keys to the outside doors, and here are the two garage openers for your car, but you can also program it into your car. You're gonna love it and call me if you have any concerns," he says.

"Thank you!" Mandy says. The realtor drives off as I unlock the door. We have only seen pictures, but never actually been here. The house was expensive because of the size but sold for a lower price because it does need some love. We walk around to each room planning out what they will be. My favorite is the soon-to-be playroom which will become a game room for our kids as they get older. We spend the rest of the day working on the house. Mandy gardened while I built a few wall panels from wood and painted some rooms. We did make a stop at Lowe's before arriving. 

"I'll have it furnished by the end of our honeymoon," I say as we leave our house. We already met with a designer to design our dream house. We're planning to move in after the honeymoon. It should be furnished and have all our belongings by then. Once we get back to my parent's house we go to bed barely able to sleep before the big day. 

I haven't seen Mandy at all today because it's apparently bad luck to see her before the wedding which is bullshit because I miss her. At noon my family and I left for the venue. When the clock hits 4 I begin to get ready. I'm all ready by 4:45 and wait anxiously for the clock to reach 5. Most of our friends and family are here so we are all good to start. At 4:55 I leave the back room and walk to the front of the chapel. The bridesmaids and groomsmen are all lined up as the bell on top of the chapel chimes five times. 

I see two little girls walk down the aisle throwing flowers. They are Mandy's friend's kids. I wish they were on my side of the family but we haven't had a little girl born in years. I look up and see Amanda and her father walk down the aisle. Her white dress makes her look like a princess. Every time I see her she's more pretty than the last. She takes my breath away as she meets me at the front.