Three Weeks Later

Randy stood in the guest room of John and Mallory's house getting ready for Hope's christening. He was excited that they had asked him to be her godfather. He took a deep breath and turned to walk out the room. He headed downstairs and saw Mallory with Hope.

"Wow, Randy, you look so handsome." Mallory said to him.

"Thanks." He laughed and kissed her on the cheek before taking Hope from her. "And how is my favorite girl?"

"She is good. I think she is excited about today too."

"Well she is a lucky little girl to have two godfathers and two godmothers."

"That she is." Mallory laughed as John walked in with Matt and Jennie.

"So, everyone ready for this thing?" John asked them.

"We are ready." Mallory said taking Hope from Randy and they all headed out.

They soon arrived at the garden where the christening would take place. The guests were already there. Mallory saw that a lot of John's coworkers were there. Everyone took their place at the front of the guests and the minister started the ceremony.

"Welcome everyone to this beautiful setting. John and Mallory have chosen this day to introduce their daughter to you and to god. They along with Randy, Matt, Jennie and Kinley will be responsible for the well being of this child both physically and spiritually. Randy and Jennie and Matt and Kinley do you promise to be responsible for the well being of this child?"

"We do." They all answered.

"John, Mallory, what name have you chosen for your daughter?"

"Hope Elisabeth Cena."

"Mallory please hand Hope to Randy." The minister said to her.

Mallory handed Hope to Randy and then turned to the minister.

"We christen you Hope Elisabeth Cena." The minister said pouring the water over Hope's head. "Welcome to this world."

After the ceremony, everyone headed to a nearby hotel for the reception. Everyone brought their gifts for Hope and enjoyed the day.

"Randy, I wanted you meet someone." Mallory said walking up to him with a friend.

"Okay." Randy said not sure it was a good idea. The last two friends he dated of hers ended in a break up.

"This is Erin." She said introducing them.

"Nice to meet you Randy." Erin said shaking his hand.

"You too." He said to the pretty brunette.

"Well I will leave you guys to get to know each other. I'm going to find John and my daughter." Mallory laughed and left the two.

Randy turned to Erin once Mallory had left. "So, what do you do?"

"I'm a writer. I travel everywhere writing different things."

"You like to travel?"

"I do."

Randy smiled as they continued to talk. He was beginning to think he had finally found someone who would understand about his job. The two continued to talk over the afternoon. They exchanged numbers and promised to call.

Mallory was smiling when she saw how well Randy and Erin were getting along. She should have introduced them to begin with but Erin was out of the country on assignment.

"There's my family." She said walking up to John who was showing Hope off to so co workers.

"Gail, Eve, this is Mallory, my wife." John said when she walked up.

"It's nice to meet you." Eve said shaking Mallory's hand. "You have a beautiful daughter."

"Thank you." Mallory replied with a smile.

The remainder of the evening Mallory and John introduced everyone to Hope. Soon the party was over and everyone headed to the hotel they were staying at. Mallory was excited that Randy and Erin seemed to have hit it off. He deserved someone who would understand his job and that was definitely Erin.

After everyone left, Randy retired to the guest room and John and Mallory headed to their room after putting Hope down for the night.

"That was a beautiful ceremony." John said as they got ready for bed.

"I hope so. I wanted it to be beautiful but not overdone."

"It was that." He said kissing her. "I love you Mallory."

"I love you too." She said with a smile. "What's on your mind?"

"So I was thinking about getting back in the ring soon."

"Well do you feel that you are ready?"

"I do. Do you think I'm ready?"

"I think you are. You have made excellent progress. You have handled yourself good in the ring with Randy and I think you are ready."

"Mallory, I love you so much. I never thought that having a stroke could be a good thing. But it was. It led me to you and then that led me to our daughter. I couldn't ask for anything more than you and our daughter."

"I love you too. I'm so thankful that you were brought into my life even though it was through a stroke."

"I never thought I would say this but having that stroke was the best thing that could have happened to me." He kissed her again.

"You know we have to wait another three weeks." She said pulling away.

"I know." He said with a laugh.

"Let's get some sleep." She kissed him goodnight and they were soon asleep.

It had been a wonderful day for them as a couple and a family. Life was wonderful for them and now John was set to make his return to the ring.

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