Chapter 2

Lee slowly walked out to the patio with a blank expression, feeling completely overwhelmed after finishing his phone call. He sat down beside Amanda but didn't say a word. Amanda, Dotty, and the boys glanced back and forth before Amanda broke the silence. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Who was on the phone?"

Lee stared straight ahead as he looked at nothing in particular. As much as he tried, he couldn't get anything to come out of his mouth. Finally, he mumbled, "We got it."

Amanda placed her hand on Lee's arm. "Sweetheart, I don't understand. You're not making any sense, and you're scaring us."

Lee gazed around the table, making eye contact with everyone. He stopped when he found Amanda, as a tear began to fall. "Honey, we got it! That was John. They accepted our offer. The house is ours!"

"We got the house?! Are you serious?!" Amanda questioned.

"Yeah! We got the house. And they want to close quickly. John said he would meet with us on Monday to start to finalize everything." Lee and Amanda hugged while Dotty and the boys quickly got up and ran around the table to join in. As they all broke apart, Lee continued, "I was thinking, since we had plans to go out and get the boy's school shopping done today. Dotty, why don't you join us? And we can start making plans for the house."

"That's a wonderful idea, son. We could even do some window shopping for the wedding at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I'm going to get ready right now." Dotty turned and rushed into the house.

"Mother has a great idea. Fellas, let's go get ready to start our new journey."

Everyone headed back into the house as Lee grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her back against his chest. His left hand reached for the back of her head and kissed her passionately. When they broke, Amanda gasped and asked, "What was that for?"

"For everything. I've never been happier in my life, and it's all because of the night my walls fell in Paris. If you hadn't taken the chance and spoken up about your feelings for me, I'm sure we wouldn't be here today. Thank you!"

"Well, Big Fella, you're welcome. But I have to disagree with part of that." Lee leaned back to gaze into her beautiful brown eyes with confusion. "I truly believe we would've gotten to this place. It just might've taken us a while longer, that's all. Nonetheless, we would have gotten here."

"What, you mean something like fate would have brought us together, eventually?"

"Exactly that!" They shared a sweet, soft kiss. "Now, before we completely gross out our little fellas, let's get back into the house and get ready to go."

"You bet. I love you, Amanda!"

"I love you too, Lee!"

A couple of hours later, the family sat at a table in the local mall's food court to take a few moments to rest and grab a bite to eat. Dotty was animatedly talking to Amanda. "Amanda, did you see those crystal vases I was looking at? They would make lovely centerpieces for your wedding reception."

"Mother, don't you think they were a little expensive? I mean, we could get the same look with some nice glass vases. We don't need to spend that much money on those types of things. Plus, Lee and I haven't even sat down to figure out what exactly we want."

"Darling, don't you think you should probably start? With less than four months until your big day, you need to start making some decisions. Especially when you throw in the fact you're moving along with it. Do you even know where you're going to have the wedding ceremony yet?"

Amanda took a cleansing breath since she knew her mother wouldn't be happy with her answer. "No, we haven't. But we have a meeting with Pastor McCormick later this week."

"Well, at least that's a start. I think the five of us need to sit down and finally make some decisions soon. I have so many ideas and options to show you. I'm sure we can make a good dent in the plans. But, right now, I want to talk about our new home. Where are we going to put everything? Are we moving everything? Getting new items? Oh, and we have to see what Lee has and what he wants to move."

"Geez, Grandma, take a breath. You sound just like Mom," Philip retorted.

"I'm sorry about rambling on. I'm just so excited. I think the next thing we need to do is go over to Lee's apartment and see what he has and make a list of what he wants to move."

Lee choked at Dotty's suggestion. "My place! You want to go to my place, now?!"

"Yes, dear. What's wrong with going over to your place? We need to start organizing for the move, and we can't do that without knowing what everyone has and wants to take. We can make a list of what's moving and what's not. And with everything we aren't moving, we can have a huge garage sale. Won't that be fun?"

Lee gazed at Amanda, begging for help. However, Amanda had other ideas. "I think Mother has an excellent idea. Don't you think so, Lee?"

"Um, sure, I guess. I need to warn you, though. My place is not very clean at the moment. Can't we do this tomorrow? I'll have a little time to straighten everything up."

"Nonsense," Dotty brushed off. "All we need to do is inventory all your items, and then we can decide from there. It can't be that bad. After all, Amanda's been there, so how bad could it be?"

"Mother, it's been a while since I've been to his apartment. It doesn't take very long for some kind of science project to start growing. I know, I've seen the penicillin he's tried to grow."

"Hey," Lee protested with a slight grin.

Philip looked at his mom with wonder. "Why would Lee be working on a science project? He's not in school anymore."

Jamie slapped his head while shaking it at the same time. "Philip, you're such a doofus. Mom is talking about mold growing somewhere because he didn't clean something up."

"Jamie! Don't call your brother a doofus. But, yes. That is what I meant," Amanda clarified.

Lee burst back into the conversation, "I don't think this is necessary. I already know what I want to take and where I would like to put it. There is no need to go over to my apartment."

"No, Lee. I think Mother is right. We need to get started on this. With everything we have going on right now, we can't put anything off. The next time you'll have a free moment is when we're on our honeymoon, so get used to it."

Lee saw the determined look in Amanda's eyes and knew he didn't have any way of getting out of this. He raised his finger in a teasing motion and stated, "Just remember, I tried to warn you."

"Yes, sweetheart. Consider us all warned," Amanda acknowledged while lovingly patting his arm. She shifted her attention over to the boys as she continued, "Before we leave, did we get everything you needed for school?"

Jamie remarked as he peered down at the several shopping bags sitting on the ground beside him. "I have all the clothes I need and all the supplies I had on my school supply list. But Pops said he would help me shop for a camera for the photography club I'm in."

"Yeah, the only thing I have left on my list is a pair of high-tops for basketball. But we can go shopping tomorrow for my shoes. I really want to see Pop's place!" Philip added with a mischievous grin.

Dotty smiled at her grandsons' comments and announced, "Perfect! Lee, you and the boys can go out tomorrow and get the last items on their lists. So, shall we head to your place?"

Lee shrugged his shoulders in defeat and answered, "I guess there's no way out of this. Let's clean up here and head over." They all rose from the table and cleaned up the remnants of their meal, grabbed all the shopping bags, then headed for the parking garage.