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Peter was depressed. Kelly was confused and sad. Melinda was excited beyond believe about the wedding. Paula pretended to not notice her husband's behaviour. David was still waiting in Canada.

After the phone call with Melinda Kelly felt slightly better. Melinda's excitement was almost contagious and Kelly couldn't help but think that it was maybe really time for Peter and her to end this - whatever it was. He told her that their relationship wasn't as much for him as she thought it was for her and it was probably good this way- now she finally knew who was the right man for her, knew where she stood. And more important she knew where she was going to stand in 8 days : She was going to be at David's side - the man that loved her and wanted to spend his whole life with her- The man that had enough courage to really be with her and show the world that Kelly was his - and only his. In 8 days.
Until then Kelly had a lot to do and she was more than glad that she had such a good friend as Melinda. She could really tell her everything - or almost everything. She trusted her - Melinda undertood her - she was just the best maid of honour Kelly could ever hope for.
Melinda told Kelly they should better start tomorrow with all the stuff they had to do because it wasn't easy and knowing that Melinda was really experienced with wedding-organisation she made her to her official "wedding-planner". They made a date for tomorrow to start deciding on things like her dress, the cake, flowers and so on...
Kelly couldn't help but smile when she went to bed that night - she now was almost excited about marrying David - or at least she told herself that she was every secound since the moment Peter Gallagher had broken her heart.
-
Peter felt like crying when he drove home alone. Reaching his house he left the car and took a moment to just look at the house he had spent his whole life in. With his wife. With his kids. With his family. He thought about all the moments he had shared with his family there and had to smile through his tear strained face because he realised that his family wasn't just his family anymore - they became his life. He still couldn't believe what he said to Kelly and how he had hurt her but when he whiped his cheeks and looked up and saw Jamie smiling and waiting for him at the window, he knew he had done the right thing. The right thing for his family. The right thing for his life.
And probably for Kelly's as well. Even if David was really the ass Peter thought he was - he'd never hurt Kelly as much as he had.
When he entered his house Jamie and Katherine came running towards him and gave him a huge hug - the best medicine there ever was for Peter.
"Why are you crying daddy?" Katherine asked and kissed his cheek. Peter just smiled at her and whiped his cheeks dry once again while saying "i'm just so happy that i'm finally home with you two". And it was true. It was one thing Peter was really sure about: Peter did the right thing for his kids.
-
The next day Kelly was in the bathroom getting ready for her important shopping-date with Melinda. She looked into the mirror and was trying to fix her hair when she caught the shower in her eyes. She smiled slightly but then looked down when she remembered Peter sneaking into the shower the morning she had to fly to Canada to meet David. She remembered how happy they were. How good his arms felt around her. She shook her head slightly and looked back up, continuing with doing her hair because she knew she had to get past this man as soon as she could to be truly happy.
When Kelly suddenly heard a car horn she smiled, remembering how excited Melinda and her were yesterday on the telephone- that day was gonna be fun and it was definitely the best distraction from Peter there could be.
-
"Good morning, may I help you" a shop assistant greeted Kelly and Melinda the minute they entered the bridal-shop.
Melinda grinned and answered "Yeah that would be fanatastic cause my friend here" she motioned to Kelly "is going to get married next week and needs a dress that makes her look like the most beautiful women in Canada! Or say she needs a dress that shows how beautiful she already is.
Kelly smiled and rolled her eyes.
The shop assistant smiled politely and then led the two of them to the dresses "Have you thought about how much your dress should cost, miss?" the assistant asked.
Kelly just shook her head, that wasn't really something she had to worry about "No..I think..." she started but Melinda interrupted "Please show us the best you have, we really don't have to worry, she is going to marry David Thomp..." Melinda said but Kelly hit her ribbs with an elbow so Melinda would stop. Melinda just said 'ow' and looked at Kelly who mouthed an "so modest" and rolled her eyes which caused them both to giggle.
"Yeah just show us the ones you think are best for me" Kelly smiled politely and the shop assistant nodded.
-
"KELLY DO YOU NEED ANY HELP?" Melinda yelled impatiently. Kelly disappeard at least 10 minutes before in one of the cabins to try on her first dress.
"No thanks, four women are enough to help me to get in one dress but thanks Mindy" Kelly replied lightly and Melinda giggled along.
5 Minutes later Kelly finally yelled "okay are you ready" and Melinda sighed "ive been ready for 15 minutes, sweetie" and laughed.
Kelly waited for a dramatic pause before she nodded so the two assistants opened the curtains of the cabin and Kelly stepped out carefully to not fall over her long dress.
Melinda gasped when she saw her "oh my god, girl, you look gorgeous".
Kelly smiled and turned around "I feel like a princess. I used to love trying on mum's dresses when i was a little girl".
Melinda smiled and got off of her chair to take a better look at her best friend "you are a princess".
Kelly felt great and now was even more excited about the wedding- David told her he hoped it was worth picking a dress out here in LA and he was going to be stunned when he was going to see her walking down the aisle.
One of the shop assistants soon joined them in admiring the dress and helped Kelly to move a few steps, while asking "Do you like the material, miss?"
"Yeah i love it. It's really comfortable and soft" she said and slid her hand up and down the material while returning the smile that she saw in the mirror.
"If you are not happy with the dress' lengh or size we can easily change it" the assistant told Kelly and she nodded.
"Would you like to try on the next one, miss?" the shop assistant asked after a while and Kelly was about to say "no" because she was more than happy with the dress she was wearing when Melinda answered for her "yes".
Kelly just looked at her "Don't you...like that one?".
Melinda smiled and shook her head "honey i love that dress but you should try a few dresses to decide what's best for you, believe me! Sometimes you love the material of one dress but don't like it's shape. Sometimes a dress shows too much cleavage and the other one too less. You can easier tell what you want your dress to look like in the end the more dresses you try on"
Kelly nodded understanding and then followed the assistant back into the cabin to try on the next dress.
-
Peter spent the whole day at home, playing with his kids, cooking for them, just trying to spend as much time with them as he could to think less about Kelly and the decision he made and if it was right or wrong.
He was glad that it was still weekend and that his kids were home and could spend time with him for so long but they eventually had to go because their friend's birthday-party was today. Great, Peter thought but didn't show how sad he was because he didn't want to ruin their happy mood.
He offered Paula to drive and she happily agreed with his suggestion and let him drop their kids off.
Later when he returned home he thought he was alone at first but the minute he closed the door behind him he heard his wife yelling from upstairs "Honey?".
Peter sighed. He had hoped to have some minutes of peace to himself so he could think about what to do. "Yes, I'm back" he yelled back and made his way into the kitchen when he heard her once again "Come up honey, we need to discuss something".
"Could the day be any better?" Peter muttered to himself but then made his way upstairs and into his bedroom.
He saw the door was closed so he took one last deep breath and then took the door handle in one hand and turned it to enter the room.
Peter slowly opened the door and entered his bedroom. He was shocked when he saw his wife lying on their bed - only wearing lingerie.
"Hi" she said seduceviley and pulled at his hand so he had to rest on his knees on the edge of their bed.
"What are you doing?" Peter asked. He couldn't remember the last time Paula wore lingerie for him or even WANTED to have sex with him
"What does it look like i'm doing?" she said and pecked his lips.
Oh my god, Peter thought. What am i going to do now? She made all these efforts just to make me happy and to spend time with me, Peter thought sadly, I can't just reject her. She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve me - an unfaithful man that betrayed his family.
"Everything okay, honey?" Paula asked when he didn't move from his position "Don't you want m..." she tried to say but Peter already covered her lips in his "Of course i want you".
He knew he had to try it. Not only for Paula but for his sake as well. He knew if he wanted to spend his life with his kids it was always including Paula- that was the reason he had to leave Kelly in the first place. Kelly. Another reason why he had to try and hope it was going to be like it was earlier with his wife- when they first started dating - the first years of marriage- the first times he made love to her. So he tried not to think about Kelly when he let his wife opening his shirt buttons one by one and felt her kissing his neck.
He tried his best to please her and maybe even please his own body but he couldn't concentrate just on her like he could earlier in his life. Everytime his wife kissed his neck and he could just see her mass of blonde hair, he thought about Kelly and imagined her doing these things to him. Everytime he closed his eyes and felt tiny hands, slipping into his boxers, he thought it was Kelly touching him. But still - he knew he couldn't and didn't want to sleep with Paula, pretending it was Kelly. He couldn't and that wasn't meant in the way he didn't want to - he truly couldn't sleep with her so he put her hands away and softly pushed her head out of his neck to make her look into his eyes. He saw the hurt in her eyes when she asked "Is something wrong". He saw her looking down to his boxers that didn't show any sign of a bulge.
He thought once again about Kelly. One passionate kiss from her was enough to turn him on to the point of no return.
And Paula was here, wearing sexy langerie, kissing his neck, touching his most sensitive spots...and he felt nothing. He really couldn't sleep with her. Before anything happened with Kelly, he never had a problem to sleep with her (maybe once a month). But now it was so hard for him to concentrate so he just answered "Sorry. It really has nothing to do with you" he explained, trying everything to not hurt her feelings.
Paula just looked down "What's the matter then Peter?.
Peter brought his fingertips to her cheek- he felt really bad now. "It was just a hard day and i'm.." he started but Paula interrupted "I understand i just thought we could...spend some time together".
He brushed some strands of hair behind her ear and then said "I know and im sorry".
She still looked down and took the hand that was brushing the hair out of her face in her's "You just worked so much and we didn't really have time for each other in a while...".
Peter once again looked down. He hurt a woman he loved (in a special way) again and he felt like crap for it. Everything he did was hurt the people he loved most.
Here she was lying and really wanted to have sex so he thought if he couldn't, didn't mean she didn't want to so he decided to be not selfish for once and slowly kissed her.
Paula was surprised but definitely wasn't complaining. Peter slowly kissed down his wife's body until he reached her sexy thong, pulling it down.
He then pleasured his wife in the way he new she needed without betraying himself. He saw it as a new start. A new start with his wife and a new start of a life that didn't include Kelly Rowan.
-
"Oh my god a piece of heaven" Melinda moaned jokingly.
Kelly giggled and tasted a piece of the cake herself "Mhh that's wow".
Melinda smiled and said "I think if we try another one i can roll to work tomorrow so we should probably stop". Kelly once again giggled along and nodded agreeing "yup definitely. I think i want the last one" she said and looked at Mindy who had her eyes still closed. Kelly laughed "i take your expression as a yes i love it too".
Melinda nodded and said "so.. we are done for today aren't we?".
Kelly nodded "Yes we have the dress, now the cake, we looked through some magazines so David can pick out his suit and we picked out the flowers. I think we did a good job today, Mindy, thanks for your help, you are the best" she said and kissed her friend's cheek. Melinda grinned "ohh i had fun, too, Kel and im so looking forward to the wedding- it's gonna be awesome".
Kelly just smiled back at her. It will be awesome. Everything was right: she loved her dress, she loved the flowers, she loved the suits she picked out for David, she loved the decoration and colours and she loved the food and cake. But there was one thing she didn't love about her wedding: Her soon-to-be husband, but she would never admit it to herself or anyone else.
-
Later that night Peter was sitting on the couch, pretending to watch telly. After Paula was satisfied he was glad to have an excuse to leave the room: He had to pick up Katherine and Jamie. When they returned home they had dinner and then Paula and him took them to bed. Both kids fell asleep soon after and Paula went to bed herself after giving him a long good-night-kiss. At least she was happy with the way the day went today.
So now he was sitting there, not knowing what to do. He felt so torn. It was just one day and he missed Kelly like crazy. He felt like he couldn't breathe without her - couldn't live without her. But on the other hand he always had the images of his kids in mind- they'd be so disappointed and sad if he'd leave their mother. He knew he loved Paula in a way he couldn't really explain but he knew he wasn't happy with her anymore. A single tear prickled down his cheek when he thought about his life.
He made Paula and his kids happy with his choice, but he had hurt Kelly and in his eyes it was just as bad as if he would've hurt his family. Kelly now felt like she wasn't worth to be the woman on his side. The truth was he felt like he wasn't worth to be the man on her side - at least not anymore.
He got a fright when he saw a shadow at the wall suddenly but quickly whiped his cheeks when he saw it was his daughter.
"Kathy, sweetie what are you doing up so late?" Peter asked and welcomed his sleepy daughter on his lap who cuddled into him.
He put his arm around her and then heard her answer "couldn't sleep".
Peter kissed her hair and then lay his cheek on her head "nightmare?" he guessed and she nodded.
"Why are you sad daddy?" his daughter asked and Peter just said "ohh it was nothing, baby, don't you worry".
Katherine looked up at him and kissed his cheek "you sure? if it is a something...just make the problem go away because i hate seeing you unhappy. Everything i want you to be is happy, daddy".
Peter just smiled at her and kissed her small lips "I know sweetie and now we are going upstairs to get you tucked up in bed or mummy will be not really happy in the morning if you are tired".
Katherine nodded and took his father's hand to lead him back upstairs.
-
That night Kelly and Peter went to bed pretty late, both having so much going on in their head that it was hard to just sleep.
Both rolled over in bed for hours, both thinking about each other.

But one thing was different in the way both fell asleep that night. Peter cried silently next to his wife while Kelly's lips were curled into a light smile. Peter thought he made one of the most horrible mistakes he ever made. His daughter just told him she wants him to be happy. Happiness meant Kelly. And he had just hurt her so it was probably too late for him to talk to her and tell her that he was scared but that he loved her more than anything and couldn't live without her even if it meant leaving his family and seeing his kids not every day.
Kelly was still hurt and missed Peter so much but on the other hand she thought about her day with Melinda - it felt great and she was truly happy - even without Peter.
Maybe it was the sign that showed her that Peter and her did the right thing even if they fought. It was right that way, she told herself.

So they fell asleep in a different way: While Peter cried because he thought he made a mistake and thought about how he was going to fix everything, Kelly fell asleep with that smile plastered across her face, thinking she was finally ready to marry the man that was meant for her and that truly wanted and needed her the same way she needed him: David Thompson.

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