Finding Love - A Kate & Leo Fanfiction

Chapter 35

"What's that ring on your finger mummy?", Bear asked curiously as I tied his shoes. He was almost ready for school and as excited as every day. I always wondered how long it would take him to change his opinion on school – Mia and Joe both loved it until they went to secondary. Then all the sudden they were constantly complaining. But little Bear had only just started school half a year ago, he had a few more years ahead of him.
"If I tell you about the ring now, you have to promise me not to tell anyone. Because no one knows yet, and I want to keep it like that for a little longer, okay?"
"I promise!", he said as, reaching out his tiny hand and we interlocked pinkies.
"So this ring. Uncle Leo gave it to me last weekend when you were staying and grandma's. Can you guess what kind of ring it is?"
He thought about it for a moment, regarding my finger fixedly. "Did uncle Leo ask you to marry him?", he finally said, a tiny smile playing around his mouth.
"You're such a smart boy! It's an engagement ring. Mummy and uncle Leo are getting married!", I exclaimed excitedly, turning the big diamond ring on my finger.
"When?", he looked up at me, his blue eyes wide.
"Oh we don't know yet. Probably some time next summer. But we'll see. Are you excited?" I ran my fingers through his curly hair. Those cute curls that would soon be as straight as Mia's hair. Hers used to look just like Bear's when she was his age.
Bear nodded as he stood up and put on his jacket, then he strapped on his little backpack. "Can uncle Leo drive me to school today, mummy?"
"Oh we're both doing the school run today. Uncle Leo and mummy have some errands to run. Where is he? He should've been downstairs ages ago!" I sighed, looking at the clock hanging on the living room wall: 8:20. "I bet he slept in again. I told him not to go back to sleep"
Bear sprinted towards the staircase, "I wanna wake him!", he yelled, already scooting up the stairs.

After we'd dropped Bear off at school, we went to get Leo some coffee since he could barely keep his eyes open. The poor man was so excited about the wedding (which was still very far from then) that he couldn't fall asleep at night because all he ever thought about before going to sleep was how we could make our wedding perfect. I found it quite hilarious, being the one who should be worrying about the planning. An awfully exhausting time lay ahead of me. Months of crying over imperfections. Months of trying to get back in shape. I didn't want to rush it, though, so we decided to wait until the following summer because of the baby. I was aware of all the stressful things we were soon to face but nevertheless I was as calm as I could be.
I decided to wait in the car while Leo went inside to buy some coffee. We tried to avoid unnecessary public appearances as often as we could. Looking out the window, I watched the traffic, or rather the lack of it. There were few people driving or walking by - our town really wasn't very big. But it was perfect for kids and it sat neatly by the sea, which was something I personally appreciated a lot.

☙

I startle at the sound of my phone ringing on the coffee table. I must've fallen asleep, I think to myself. When I pick up the device to see who disturbed me in my sleep, I am surprised to see that it's Leo. I try to figure out what time it is in LA. Six in the morning. What could possibly be so important that he can't wait to tell me?
"Leo? Why are you up?", I ask, sitting back on the couch and rubbing my eyes.
"Yeah, hi babe. I'm good, thanks for asking," he jokes and I can't help but smile when I hear his voice. I'm a lot more awake already. "Listen, Katie. I have amazing news!" He doesn't even try to hide his excitement and I have to admit, he has me intrigued.
"Okay so tell me, did you finally decide to settle down and resign from the model-dating business?" I'm laughing a little too hard at my own silly joke but to my surprise, Leo is not amused at all. Instead, he remains serious.
I hear him take a deep breath as though he was extremely nervous and had to get it together in order to find the right words to say. Then there's a painfully long moment of silence on the line before he speaks up and drops the bomb: "Actually, you're kinda right about that," he takes another deep breath, "Nina and I got engaged last night. We're getting married."
My seemingly consistent laughing face is gone in a matter of seconds and I feel like crying rather than smiling and congratulating him like he would've done if I were in his situation. There is a burning sensation creeping through my entire body and it's clinging on to me like never before. It is pure and utter jealousy and if it wasn't for him, I would have thrown my phone against the opposite wall. I try hard to fight the tears that are welling up in my eyes but of course I can't conquer myself.
The silence on the line is getting more and more awkward and the longer I try to think of something to say, the more I fear that he might hear me crying.
I exhale when he finally speaks up, "Kate? Are you there, honey?" He sounds worried and if I'm not mistaken, I can even hear a tiny bit of regret in his voice. He probably wishes he hadn't told me.
Taking a deep breath, I try to keep it together. He must not know that I'm crying. He must not know about my feelings, "Yes. Yes, of course I am. Umm...," I stammer, "Wow... This is great news indeed, Leo! Congrats!" I am trying so desperately to sound convincing and happy, perhaps a little too much. The tone of my voice when I was stammering out those few words to congratulate him was merely a high-pitched squeak. At this point, I consider myself a pathetic mess.
"Thank you, baby. I'm so glad I have you to talk to right now. You're the first one I'm telling this, you know?", he says in that sweet familiar voice. His voice used to be the most soothing thing to me. It never failed to comfort me when I was upset, but now it's making matters worse.
I swallow so hard, I am almost convinced it's audible at the other end of the line. "Well, I'm certainly glad I'm the first one to know. It uh... really means a lot to me." I have got to stop stammering, I scold myself. To my surprise, the tears have stopped falling - for now, at least. But it doesn't stay that way for more than a minute because that's when Leo drops another bomb.
"Listen, Kate. I thought about this all night and I'm sure Nina will be fine with this. I'd love your help with all the planning. Nina and I could never do this alone and I thought - well..."
"I advise you to choose your words very carefully," I say maybe a little too forcefully, because I already know what he was about to boil down to.
He sighs and continues, "I just thought you were somewhat... experienced with the whole wedding thing." He says it like it was nothing, clearly has no idea just how much his poorly chosen wording hurts me.
"Well, thank you very much. What a compliment, DiCaprio"
"Oh Katie. Please don't take this the wrong way, okay? I just really think you would make an excellent wedding planner. Hey, maybe you could make friends with Nina, too! You two haven't really gotten to know each other and I'm sure you would get along well." He goes on and on about how he thinks Nina and I could make friends and we could all hang out together sometime. I stop listening at some point. Every single word coming from his mouth is another tear shed, and to my dismay, he won't stop talking.
"You know, Leo, I really have to go now. Bear needs me," I lie. Anything to escape this conversation.
"Oh I would love to talk to little Bear! I haven't seen him in too long!" The excitement in his voice breaks my heart even more. He really is genuinely happy. If only he knew how hurt I am.
"Sorry, Leo. Maybe next time. We'll talk about your wedding soon, I promise." And with that, I hang up. Neither a 'goodbye', nor a 'love you' like we always used to say to each other.