Five months had passed since Leon proposed to Sharon, it had been an ordinary day Leon stayed at home while Sharon took Nicole with her, Karen and Mrs. Carter's bride dress searching. This gave Leon an opportunity to check on the guest list for his side that he wanted to ask to come to the wedding. Leon knew obviously that his sister, her family and his Aunt Ruth would show up for the wedding since they sent in their RSVPS the week before. It's only his friends that he knew from the wrestling days which was the hardest task to figure out despite the fact that Leon sent their invites around the same time but hadn't heard anything back.
That is until Leon got a message from Shawn Michaels on his phone. "Sorry that I haven't responded to your RSVP yet, but I did get it a few days ago about the same time Hunter did. Leon, my friend, as far as I know me, Hunter, Kev, and the other DX guys are going to your wedding. However, Hunter said that some of the executives that work around Vince you sent invites to have mailed their RSVPS back and should be on your way." Shawn's message stated. Leon then proceeded to check off the aforementioned names on the guest list for RSVP reasons. Then Leon replied back with a simple thank you message and see them all at wedding time.
Once Leon put his phone down, he noticed the mail car just past by the house. Then Leon stepped outside to check the mail to see a stack of letters all in a rubber band. "Hmm…this could be the multiple RSVPS answered back Shawn was mentioning about earlier." Leon thought to himself while holding the letters in his hand. By the time he made it back to the living room, Leon put the letters next to the guest list. Then Leon began to the process of sorting out the RSVPS. While sorting out the letters, Leon noticed that Sharon and Nicole came back from their dress searching.
"Hi, daddy. What are you doing?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
"Hi, sweetie. I'm sorting out this stack of RSVPS that literally just came in the mail today and making the guest list for me and your mom's wedding not as hectic." Leon answered honestly.
"Nicole, sweetheart, can you go play in your room for a while. "Sharon said in a calm tone.
Nicole nodded before heading to her bedroom while Sharon went into the living room to sit to Leon. Sharon then massaged Leon's shoulders while he was double checking the list and the stack of letters.
"That feels so much better. Thank you for doing that, Sharon." Leon said with a sigh.
"No problem, Leon. I figured a massage would help you ease the stress of what you're doing now. Mind if I take a look at the guest list?" Sharon said with a smile.
"Sure, Sharon. I mean we sent out the invitations like three weeks ago and now we're getting all of the responses just like that." Leon said once he handed the guest list to Sharon.
Sharon was glancing through the list and came up with the same observation that Leon did. Then Sharon put the list back on the table next to the stack of letters like Leon had them. Leon then placed the guest list and stack of letters in the spot of the bedroom where he had been storing wedding planning information. Before heading back into the living room, Leon poured two cups of water for him and Sharon.
"So, how was you and Nicole's time with Karen and your mom?" Leon asked once he handed Sharon her cup of water.
"It went good we found two places that fit in our price range. Just that we go to back in a week for fittings. This made my mother pleased especially on the fact on how budget conscious I am about this momentous event." Sharon answered honestly.
"I am glad to hear that. But now that we have the guest list situation dealt with. There is something else that we need to consider." Leon said in a calm tone.
"Is it about the Maid of Honor and Best Man decision making? Yeah, I was wondering when we were going to get that discussion." Sharon said based on a hunch.
"Yes, it's about that. I mean I have strong faith in whomever you choose as Maid of Honor. It's just that the Best Man is the toughest decision I have ever made." Leon said with a calm tone.
"That's for sure, Leon. I mean would it make it you feel comfortable if you told the person directly instead of them finding out last minute." Sharon said in a comforting manner.
"Yes, that would make me feel better. I mean…..wait just out of curiosity did you even think of this for yourself?" Leon said in response.
"Not really, Leon. You see the person that I chose to be the Maid of Honor is Karen and it was a promise that we made back when we were kids if one of us ever got married that we would be each other's prospective Maid of Honor." Sharon said with a smile on her face.
"That's very noble of you to remember a promise like that. To be honest with you I was leaning towards her as Maid of Honor because of how important she was to not only both our lives but our daughter's as well." Leon said in an honest tone.
Sharon then proceeded to kiss Leon on the cheek before heading upstairs to get Nicole. "Oh, this is really tough for me to pick either Bret or Shawn since they are both planning on attending. I don't know which one to choose as my best man. I mean I know they have patched things up after the incident in Montreal all those years ago. The only thing is that I am afraid that whomever I choose might resurface those tensions again. Well, there is only one option that I can do and that is talk to both of them before making my decision." Leon thought to himself before picking up the phone. Leon proceeded to dial the phone to call Bret Hart, one of his wrestling mentors.
"Hi, Leon." Bret said on the other line.
"Hi, Bret. I got your RSVP today. But there's was something that I wanted to ask you since I'm in a bind. I was considering on asking you and somebody else to be my best man for the wedding." Leon said in a calm tone.
"That's a distinct honor, Leon. Who's the other person you were considering?" Bret asked out of curiosity.
"I hope you're not bitter with this one, but the person was Shawn." Leon said with a sigh.
"You know that he and I patched our differences a long time ago, Leon. I mean yes we were aware of his issues back in the day, but he was there for the majority of your career than I was. You seen the changes in him up close and vice versa. So, I wouldn't be mad if he had the full honor." Bret said in response.
"Wow, thank you Bret. Well, I'll see you at the wedding then." Leon said before ending the phone call.
"No problem. See you then." Bret said before hanging up the phone.
Leon then took a breather before stepping outside to make his other important phone call to his friend, Shawn Michaels. While hearing the dial tones on his phone, Leon took a sip of his water before placing it on the steps leading to the front door and sat on the lowest step.
"Hi, Leon, my friend." Shawn said once the call went through.
"Hi, Shawn. I was calling you to ask you something." Leon said in response.
"Sure, what is it." Shawn said in response.
"I was wondering if you could be the best man at my wedding. It's because you've known me for so many years and were one of the first people that knew of mine and Sharon's relationship on both occasions." Leon said in a calm tone.
"I don't know what to say…..Leon. Did you ask anyone else?" Shawn said in response.
"I had asked Bret to but when I mentioned that I was going to ask you he didn't get mad about me for making the move." Leon said honestly.
"That means a whole lot. Yes, I will most certainly be your best man at the wedding, Leon. That would mean I have to show up a couple of days before everyone else." Shawn responded back.
"Thank you for accepting Shawn. If you want to show up a couple of days before hand, you can but notify the others they have that option too." Leon said with a smile on his face.
"Of course, I will. Anyways I better get going since PC recruits that Hunter told me about just arrived at the PC." Shawn said before hanging up the phone.
Then Leon hung up the phone and placed it in his pocket; he gazed at the sky with a smile on his face before hearing the front door open behind him to see that Sharon was standing there. Getting ready to stand up Leon was motioned by Sharon to stay since she was planning on sitting right next to him.
"You seem to be in a cheerful mood, Leon." Sharon said upon noticing Leon's facial expression.
"As a matter of fact, I am. It's because I took your advice on the best man thing earlier and made my decision." Leon said in response.
"Oh, really. That's wonderful, Leon. So, who did you pick to be your best man?" Sharon asked out of curiosity.
"Shawn. Well, it was a toss up between him and Bret, but I called them both. However, Bret wasn't upset that I picked Shawn over him even though I knew them for the same length of time." Leon said with honesty.
"So that was why you had a hard time picking but I'm glad that you got that sorted out. I mean Shawn's known about our relationship the longest, let's not forget he was the one that introduced you to me all those years ago after a pay per view." Sharon said with a smile while looking at the sky.
"Yeah, I'll never forget that day. I mean this is one of the reasons why Bret though Shawn would be the perfect guy for best man is because he's known us longer than anyone." Leon said with a smirk on his face.
"Hmmm…I figured as much. But at least we got that out of the way. We know the flower girl is Nicole but what about ring bearer." Sharon said out of curiosity.
"Hmm…that brings up a good point. I mean my nephew Lincoln is twelve so he could be it. Knowing that most ring bearers are young people anyways I figure why not." Leon said in response.
"Okay sounds good. Then I think a couple of bridesmaids should be your older nieces, Leon." Sharon said with a smile on her face.
"Yes, that's great. Then the groomsmen should be some of my closest friends in the wrestling world." Leon said in response.
"Sounds like a plan to me, Leon. Wow I can't believe we got so much wedding planning done in one day." Sharon said with a sigh.
"Yeah, me too. So, want to spend some time with our daughter?" Leon said with a smile.
Sharon nodded as she and Leon looked through the window to see Nicole looking sad in the living room. This prompted Leon and Sharon to enter the house in the direction where Nicole was to sit right by her.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Sharon asked out of concern to Nicole.
"No one wants to play with me. You and Daddy are always busy." Nicole said in a gloomy tone.
"Oh, sweetie. We're sorry for not paying attention to you. It's that me and Mommy were finishing up the important parts of planning our wedding that we got distracted from devoting time to you. We've decided now that the important parts are done with, your mother and I will spend time with you on what you want to do." Leon said with a smile on his face.
"You mean it, Daddy." Nicole said in response.
"Yes, sweetie. Is it ok if we tell her now, Sharon?" Leon said with a calm tone.
"Tell me what." Nicole said out of curiosity.
"Your dad and I chose you to be the flower girl at our wedding." Sharon said with a smile on her face.
"Yay, wait. What's a flower girl?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
"Sweetie, a flower girl is the person that sprinkles the aisle with flowers from the basket she carries with her. Don't worry though you'll have a run through on how it's done." Leon answered honestly.
"Oh, okay." Nicole answered as she began to understand her duties.
Leon then rubbed Nicole's head which made them even including Sharon smile. Suddenly Nicole had a curious look on her face which turned the moment into another direction.
"Daddy, how did you and Mommy meet?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
Leon and Sharon were amazed to hear Nicole asking that question, but they got a little nervous on who should go first.
"Well sweetie since you're old enough now and that the weddings not far away. I suppose it's time that me and your mom told you on how we met. It started about twelve years ago, I was still in the prime of my wrestling career. One day after a pay per view that was held in Detroit, I decided to go to a celebration dinner with a couple of close friends of mine at this steakhouse. It turned out that there were two ladies waiting for a table like us. However, I didn't know that the second woman was taken a liking to me until my friend pointed it out and told me to go talk to her." Leon said with nervousness in his voice.
"The second girl that was?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
"Yes, that was me, sweetheart. Your father when he noticed that I was making signs for him to come over he was nervous all over. Once he came over it took him about a minute to introduce himself to me even your Aunt Karen can attest to that because she was there as well. Anyways after we introduced ourselves we started talking for a while, that's when I knew there was something special about your dad that wanted me to fall in love with him. However, after he told me he was a wrestler and would be on the road, I understood that was his passion and told him that we would keep in contact somehow. Because he felt the same way about me." Sharon said with a calm tone.
"So, how did you and Daddy keep in contact with each other?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
"Look through this shoebox, sweetie. It contains all of the love letters that me and your mom sent each other after that first time we met." Leon said after pulling the shoebox from the storage room.
"Oh, wow. This is neat, you wrote to each other whenever you possibly could." Nicole said after looking at the letters.
"Yes, sweetheart. There was a time when your dad had to be off work for injury, and I traveled up to see him. We took a trip to Calgary like the one all of us did about a year ago, but your dad wanted to go since his mentors' father was going to be inducted into the Hall of fame at the time and there was a party celebrating the honor that he got invited to, so I came as a guest. So, a couple of months after that party, your dad was back in wrestling and I found out I was pregnant with you. This turned out to be a tumultuous time for your dad and I's relationship. Is it ok if we mention this part now, Leon?" Sharon said in a calm tone.
"It's ok with me, Sharon. Well, what your mother is trying to explain sweetie is that there was a humiliation angle that I had been a part of once my injuries healed up by the time your mom found out she was pregnant. I was not in the most stable of moods at the time where it was agreed upon that your mother and I separated for a while until I got myself back to normal. However, by the time I came back to normal that was when I found out the sad news that happened with your mother if you looked at the article on top of those letters." Leon said with a sympathetic voice.
"But why didn't you come and get me right there and then, Daddy?" Nicole asked with a tear in her eye.
"I know I should have been there as soon as it happened. But I was at a house show on the other side of the state when I found out. On the day of the service, your Nana and Papa came up to me to tell me that they would raise you until the time once I got done with all of my wrestling commitments. Your Aunt Karen got upset at me for not being there for your mother and you before I was escorted out of the parlor. She regretted doing that to me once we reconciled and let me reunite with you, sweetie." Leon said with a calm tone.
"But how come Mommy survived?" Nicole asked out of curiosity.
"Nicole, sweetheart. I survived that accident was because the injuries weren't as severe as that paper article turned out to be and the hospital knew about this. So, I waited for a while before I could sue them in court for wrongful death and won my case. Then I heard that your dad got custody of you so one day I walked to your Aunt Karen's house and knocked on her door. She was pale as a ghost when she saw me and notified your Nana and Papa the good news. After chatting with her for a while, that's when your aunt told me what you and your dad were up to. However, she had told me that your dad was back to the same normal humble man I met at the steakhouse all those years ago and to go after him." Sharon said honestly.
"Wow, Mommy. I guessed you learned some things from Daddy." Nicole said in response.
"Yes, I suppose so and vice versa." Sharon said while nudging at Leon.
"Most certainly. Well time to put this shoebox back in the storage room." Leon said after putting the letters and paper article in the shoebox.
"Mommy, Daddy. Thank you for sharing that story with me." Nicole said as she hugged her parents.
"You're welcome, sweetie. Just always remember this." Leon said before kissing Nicole on the forehead.
"Remember no matter what me and your father will always love you, sweetheart. Despite what anyone says." Sharon said with a smile on her face.
Nicole had a huge smile on her face upon hearing her parents' statements. Then Leon checked the time on his phone and realized that it was a little past one in the afternoon. This prompted Nicole to get something from the fridge.
"There's something else that I forgot to tell you, Leon. Me and Nicole already had lunch from our outing earlier but that didn't stop us to pick up something for you. Hope you like it." Sharon said with a smile once Nicole brought a bag of food into the living room and placed it in front of Leon.
"That was sweet and thoughtful of you guys. Thank you." Leon said before he pulled the contents out of the bag to begin eating lunch.
While Leon was eating lunch, Nicole went upstairs to her bedroom to play with her stuffed animals, but Sharon remained by Leon's side. Once Leon put his lunch in the trash after eating the majority of it, he went back to the living room right by Sharon.
"Leon, do you think we did the right thing by telling Nicole the circumstances that led her to being raised by my parents all those years?" Sharon said as she put her head on Leon's shoulder.
"You're feeling down about it aren't you. In a way I think it is the right thing to do because I really don't know what anyone else said about it so this way our daughter got the actual truth from us." Leon while massaging Sharon's arm.
"Yeah, I am feeling a little down talking about it. Now that you mentioned the reasons why it was the right thing to do then I can see it making complete sense." Sharon said in response.
"Sharon, we know how that subject is extremely sensitive to both of us and how it hurt us badly. I mean it makes me sad a little reflecting back on how I almost lost you back then. Did I ever tell you what helped me cope with my sadness during my rehab stints?" Leon said while looking at Sharon.
"No, I don't think you've ever told me. Other than that, you were in those facilities to get yourself straightened out." Sharon said in response.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Leon said as got up to look for his guitar in the storage room.
It didn't take Leon long to find the guitar in its case and brought a music folder along with him to the living room. Once he sat back down Leon noticed the awe-inspiring look Sharon had on her face.
"A Guitar, Leon. This is what helped you in rehab." Sharon said with the awed look on her face.
"Yes, Sharon. This guitar was given to me by a legend in the wrestling world who didn't need it anymore and came up to me while I was in the facility one day telling me that playing some music could make you feel good about yourself. I would wind up finding the guy once I got out and thanked him personally." Leon said with honesty.
"That's pretty neat, you know. So, what about the music folder?" Sharon asked out of curiosity.
"Well, the folder has some compositions I've written and a few that the guy who gave me the guitar told me keep for reference if I ever needed practice or for new ideas." Leon said in response.
"That's amazing, Leon. Can you play one of your compositions for me?" Sharon requested in a calm tone.
"Of course." Leon said as he was getting his guitar on his lap and pulled out the second composition from the music folder.
Then Leon took a deep breath before letting his fingers gently pull down the strings of the guitar as he was playing the composition. Sharon who had been listening attentively noticed that Nicole was watching from the top stair. Once the composition had reached its final note, Leon let his fingers go from the guitar and noticed how happy his fiancée was.
"That was splendid, Leon. Even our daughter watched it from the stairs." Sharon said with a smile on her face.
"Thank you for the compliment, Sharon. How did you think of it, sweetie?" Leon said in response.
"I thought it was wonderful, Daddy. I never knew you played guitar." Nicole said in a calm tone.
Leon then had a huge smile on his face and proceeded to put his guitar back into its case and placed it in a corner of the living room along with the music folder. A short time later, Leon went upstairs to hug Nicole as a way to thank her for the statement she made, and she went back to her room while he went back downstairs to rejoin Sharon in the living room. By the time he made it back to the sofa, Leon notices that Sharon was taking a nap while sitting up.
Once he sat down on the sofa, Leon looked at Sharon to see that see had her eyes opened halfway looking at him with a smile. This prompted Sharon to move closer to Leon to lay her head on his chest. Leon's face was beat red when this happened and remained calm.
"Can you pull the blanket up a little closer?" Sharon asked in a groggy voice.
"Hmm-Hmm. Here you are, my love." Leon said once he got the blanket on both him and Sharon.
"Thank you, honey." Sharon answered before falling back asleep.
Leon took this opportunity to check not only his phone but Sharon's as well for any messages and there weren't any. "Sharon, I understand what you're feeling right now. These past few months of planning out our wedding have been extremely grueling and exhausting. It's only closer now till our big day." Leon thought to himself before he too took a nap.