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I wanted to defend my wife. I wanted to stop Geoff Jenkins from placing doubt in the minds of all my girls. Saying a small prayer that God would make sure that both Mazie and Mandy knew how much Kelly and I love them, I continued to hug my bride.
Sighing in resignation, Kelly pulled away and wandered over to her laptop to close it down.
"I need a distraction," she whispered.
"Well, I can think of one way to distract you, but unfortunately it's only 2:00 pm and the kids are too wound up to be amused by the TV for 30 minutes."
Rolling her eyes in playful annoyance, Kelly said, "Always with the sexing, Mr. Wilson. One more month of this behavior and I will have officially had more relations with you than any other man before you."
I don't think she meant to say the last part out loud.
She couldn't be serious?
Wanting to relieve her obvious embarrassment I said grinning cheekily, "So you're saying, if we continue having sex at least two times a day for the next month, I'll be the high scorer."
Turning towards the sink to grab my water and doing the math quickly in my head, that meant that Kelly had sex less than 100 times before our meeting. That's less than once a month in the seven years they were together physically.
How many times would I estimate I've had sex?
"You make me sound like a pinball machine," Kelly declared, trying to banter unsuccessfully.
"Baby, don't feel upset about your admission. If I were to calculate, I wouldn't be far behind you in experience. I had sex four times with my first college girlfriend, once with my lab partner junior year, and then once a month with Molly till we were married ten years and then once every few months after that till the kids turned three. "
Shocked at my confession, Kelly asked timidly, "Do you think maybe the reason that first night was so mind-blowing was that we had been so neglected in our marriages?"
"A part of me wondered that at first, but I know now that's not why. I truly believe that you have always been my soul-mate Kelly Wilson, we were just not ready to meet yet," I said kissing her lightly on the lips.
As if on cue, our ragamuffin gang of five-year-olds suddenly overtook us, followed by a squealing Mandy in tow.
Kelly had told me once that Mandy always seemed bored until my kids came into her life. Now, she had constant entertainment from at least one of the children at all times.
After a quick snack to occupy the rugrats, we decided to spend the rest of the day at the local jump zone. This way, Kelly and I could sit in the parent's section and discuss our upcoming wedding while the kids burned some much-needed energy.
Within two hours, Kelly and I had our list completed, and we had finally decided on a wedding party. Kelly would have Joanie as her Matron of Honor and Kevin would be my Best Man. If we didn't limit our party, it would have gotten ridiculous considering besides our parents, the Sadlers, and 10-15 close family friends we couldn't have 25% of our guests be attendants.
With our lists ready, and a plan of action in mind, the following week was quickly filled with wedding appointments and errands. Since Kelly wanted to include them as much as possible, we did many of these with the kids, which was both fun and trying at the same time.
Monday, after picking up the kids from school and taking them to the park to burn some energy, I met up with my family at the baker's who was so in love with our children, that we ended up walking out with 12 extra cupcakes and a 20% discount.
Tuesday, Kelly took the girls to pick out dresses, and I took John to get fitted for his first tux. I wanted to say it was a great time filled with male bonding, but John was so upset that the girls were having fun without him that I had to cut our time short. His sensitivity at being left out had been increasing over the last week, especially after the girls moved into their room together.
I needed to make sure that enrolling him in cub scouts was a priority for this coming Spring. This way he could make some friends apart from his sisters and maybe not feel left out when they unintentionally excluded him.
Once we arrived home, John's gloominess evaporated as soon as Mazie and Katie presented him with a special badge that Kelly had found at the bridal salon. It read, "Official Ring Bearer," and he became so attached to that little badge, that I caught him tucking it under his pillow when I went in to say goodnight later that evening.
Wednesday was the day Kelly had scheduled to meet with the florist and our first meeting to go incredibly wrong. Apparently, the florist's husband worked with Geoff, and after making Kelly feel unwelcomed in front of the children, I put a stop to the meeting. By the time we walked out of the shop, I could tell that Kelly felt wholly defeated and knowing that we were under a time crunch, I decided to call in a favor.
Thankfully, Kelly and I had driven in separate cars, and as we left the shop, a resolution began to formulate in my mind.
Not wanting to get her hopes up, I asked if she would drive our family home in the van so that I could check the air in her tires on the way home. Wrapped up in her own internal struggle, Kelly quickly agreed with a kiss to my cheek before she took my keys and began to head towards the van.
"Hey!" I said as she walked away with a little of her usual pep deflated.
"Yeah?"
"I love you, Mrs. Wilson."
Mirroring the smile currently plastered to my face, she said. "I love you, Mr. Wilson," before turning away with a little more vigor.
With my family safely in route to our home, I quickly dialed my mother from the parking lot before getting back on the road.
"Dale, this is a pleasant surprise! How are my favorite newlyweds fairing with wedding planning?"
"That's actually why I called you."