Gen 1, Chapter 8 - Follow your heart

It was Gracie's birthday today - she was going to age up into a child! We didn't throw a party for her, but we still got her a birthday cake as she has such a sweet tooth!

I was a little sad to see her grow up as now she would have to start going to school, but I reassured myself that she wouldn't be leaving me for quite a while yet.

She turned to be such a gorgeous little lady. She still looked exactly like her father, which wasn't a bad thing of course.

Gracie had such a infectous bubbly personality. Her smile lit up the room, and she put grins on the faces of everyone she spoke to.

Despite this, she was still a little apprehensive to go to school on her first day. But she settled in very well, and even brought her new friend Yvette Kennedy (daughter of Erin Kennedy) home with her.

Gracie asked to me to help her with her homework, and seeing as Romeo was the 'creative' side of the family and I was the 'smart' side, I was more than happy to help.

Speaking of Romeo, life really couldn't get any better. Me and Romeo were still very much in 'honeymoon' phase of our marriage, even though we didn't go on a honeymoon, due to Gracie and how terrible expensive holidays are abroad.

I didn't care a bit though. Just sitting there and spending time with him was enough for me.

Little did I know that something was going to seperate us big time..

One day, Romeo got a phone call. I just was sitting nearby, just flipping through a magazine and I became intrigued on what the phone call was about.

Romeo came over to me. "Violet babe, I got something to tell you."

The way he said it made me just a little bit nervous. "What's the matter?"

"Well.. that was my band's manager. He just told me that he's set up a year worldwide tour for us!"

"WHAT?! Oh my God Romeo!" I screamed.

"Yeah, I know it's amazing right?! We'll be touring over the world! From Asia to Austrailia, Africa to Europe and everywhere else between!" Romeo exclaimed.

.

"For a year?" The intical excitement I had felt was slowly subsiding as realisation set in.

Romeo nodded. "Yeah a year.." he voice trailed off. "That's the only bad thing about it."

"So what did you say to your manager?"

"I just told him that I had to think about it. I mean, it's a lot to take in."

I nodded. That was exactly how I felt.

"I really don't want to leave you and Gracie. Especially for a year. But it's such a great oppotunity. We'll be stopping at Spain too, so I can see all my family. I haven't seen them since I left to come here 6 years ago. They haven't seen our daughter, or seen our wedding pictures. It would be amazing if I could see them again." He sighed.

"My heart's telling me to go, but my head is telling to stay."

I took his hands. "Listen babe, if there is one piece of advice I could give you, it would be to follow your heart. I had just that when I left Riverview, and it was the best thing I ever did. Look at me now!"

I half-smiled, looking back on the memories.

"So go. I can manage. Gracie can manage. Sure, we'll miss you like hell, but you should follow your dreams." My heart ached as I said it.

Romeo took hold of my shoulders. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I'm sure."

He pulled me into a hug. "I don't know what I'm gonna do without you, Violet."

"Me neither."

He phoned his manager, and just weeks later of packing, it was time for Romeo to leave. The tour bus was there, waiting for him. We went outside for our final goodbye.

He wrapped me into an embrace. "I love you, you know that don't you? You won't be outta my mind while I'm away."

"I know that. I love you too."

We had a final kiss, a long bittersweet kiss. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I willed myself not to cry, not here, not now.

Gracie and Romeo had a long hug too. She was upset too, but she was strong enough to handle it. She knew he would come back at the end of the day.

Then he took his luggage to the coach and got in. He waved as it pulled away.

Only when the coach was out of sight, and Gracie was in her room, did I let the tears fall down my cheeks.

Gen 1, Chapter 7 - "You now may kiss the bride."

I opened my eyes. It took me about a minute to realise what day it was. The biggest day of my life.

Gracie was already awake, quietly gurgling and giggling in her crib. She seemed contented enough in her crib, so I decided to make my favourite food to help settle my nerves.

I als had a nice warm shower. Gracie started wailing so I gave her breakfast and washed and dressed her into her cute fluffy dress.

Time wet very fast. At this point it was 2 hours to go before we had to leave. I had to get myself ready - fast. I did my hair and put on my gorgeous dress on. I had to make sure I looked good before I left. I remembered doing this just before me and Romeo went on our first date and now three years down the line we were getting married!

We went to get into the car that Romeo had arranged for us (I'm no good at car stuff!), and I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. The "car" turned out to be his band's coach. I loved it though, it was so thoughtful. I wouldn't have minded going in a taxi if I had my choice!

The journey there was awful though.

I kept thinking "What if he isn't there? What if he's just left me?"

I knew deep down in my heart though, that he would never do such a thing to me.

I knew that he would always fight to protect me and our little girl.

I knew we were his life.

Still, I wondered if every bride felt like this on their wedding day.

After a lifetime it seemed, we arrived at the pretty little chapel.  Luckily for us it was a bright, sunny morning. At this point my heart was racing 200 beats a minute. I knew that if I saw Romeo standing there, all my nerves would vanish instantly.

I sent Gracie into the chapel. That was the sign that I was here and ready, and that it was time to start the song.

I opened the door..

..and he was there. The butterflies in my stomach disappeared. 

He turned to look at me. Our eyes met. There was there instant connection, the connection we had the first time we laid eyes on each other.

He smiled. I smiled.

The chapel was done up beautifully. All my favourite flowers were there - pink and white lilies.

I wasn't surprised there was no guests of course, as we agreed to have a quiet ceremony and a big reception. We still wanted to do the whole "bride walking down the aisle" thing as he knew I had always wanted to do it.

It was perfect.

I started to walk.

He helped me up the steps.

"You look beautiful." he whispered to me.

My eyes began to well up - with joy of course.

"Before we exchange the rings, I have something to say. I have to let you know this." Romeo said.

"I promise to stay by your side,

in sickness and in health,

in joy and in sorrow, as well as

through the good times and the bad.

I promise to love you without reservation,

comfort you in times of distress,

encourage you to achieve all of your goals,

laugh with you and cry with you,

grow with you in mind and spirit,

always be open and honest with you,

and cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

You know that, don't you?"

It was beautiful. And that was when I burst into tears.

A couple of minutes later, and half a dozens tissues later, we were on to exchanging the rings.

"Do you, Romeo Garcias take Violet Hope  for your lawful wife?"

"I Romeo Garcias, take you Violet Hope for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

I do."

"And do you Violet Hope take Romeo Garcias for your lawful husband?"

"I Violet Hope, take you Romeo Garcias for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

I do."

"You may now kiss the bride."

And he pulled me in for a kiss. The first kiss of a long, happy marriage.

"My wife.." He trailed off like he couln't believe it. Then he smiled, a huge smile. I couldn't help smile back.

He was all I wanted and more.

Now it was time to celebrate! The guests started to arrive. I of course invited Morgana and Geoffrey (who brought his little granddaughter Julia - sure to be a great friend for Gracie when she grows up!). Romeo invited his friends Stiles, Zelda and Agnes.

Everyone was having a pretty good time. We had a nice buffet, and lots of dancing.

Gracie was having a good time too, and was looking gorgeous in her bridesmaid dress.

The time hit around 11pm when the reception finished. We said our goodbyes and headed home. I put Gracie in her crib as she was exhausted.

As for me and Romeo..

We enjoyed our first night as husband and wife.

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Sorry this took me forever to put this chapter up! So much has been happening in real life it's exhausting!

Just a note to let you know the chapel featured in this chapter is by rinirae (I modified it a little bit though) and you can download it here.

Thanks for still reading, and hope you enjoyed the wedding! :)

Gen 1, Chapter 6 - Busy, busy, busy..

It had been a very busy couple of months in the Hope household. I'll start at the beginning, where I left off; my gorgeous baby girl had her first birthday! We didn't throw a party for her, we just had a nice quiet affair in our house. And she turned out to be such a cutie!

We looked just like her father! She had his golden brown hair and his green eyes, and his tanned skin. She's literally her father in a female form; a carbon copy of him. She's so gorgeous though.

See the resemablance?

Since it was my last day of maternity leave and Romeo had a day off work, we decided to go to this lovely little family park. There was chessboards, barbeques, a fish pond and even a playground for kids. Gracie was happy enough playing with the toddler toys though.

She also took her first steps with her father while we were there! It was such a milestone.

She also starting to say her first words - "Dada" and "Mama". I'm a very proud parent!

Gracie is such a daddy's girl. She loves nothing more than to snuggle on to him, or for him to tickle her until she shrieks.

The next day I had to go to work, but luckily Romeo had still had another day of work to look after her.

I have news for you guys..  I got promoted to a doctor! Finally, after all this hard work, and all my dreaming, I've acheived my biggest goal. However, the hours are very difficult and they involve me getting home at 3am! Still, I'm estatic that I'm a doctor.

When I finally got home on my first day as a 'trauma surgeon', the house was sparkling clean, and Gracie as sound asleep like an angel thanks to my lovely fiance. I wanted to kiss him, to thank him, but he too was asleep. Oh well, what could I expect, it was 3 in the morning!

  

There was lots of wedding planning going on too. We had booked this stunning little church to get married in, and I had already sorted out the catering, guest list and invites, the flowers and music. I had even gotten Gracie a cute little bridesmaids dress. The only thing I hadn't gotten was my own dress!

"That dress is gorgeous!" I said to Romeo as we were watching a romantic film one day. "I bet it's so expensive though.." my voice trailed away at the thought of how much that dress would cost.

"If you like it Violet, we're going to get it for you." he said determinedly.

"But Romeo, what about the money..?"

"Don't worry about the money Vi. It's the biggest day of your life, and you've got to look stunning. Mind you, you would still look stunning walking down the aisle in a binbag!"

Thanks to him, I got the dress of my dreams. I love Romeo, I love him so much.

A couple of months had past and the evening before our wedding had loomed. Romeo was going to stay at his friend Stile's house for the night.

"The next time I'll see you, you'll be standing at the alter." I whispered.

He smiled. "I can't wait."

I didn't do a hen night. I just stayed at home with Gracie, and I watched some kids programs with her.

I put her cot in my bedroom so I wouldn't feel so lonely. I put her to bed, and I just sat down and read a book for a bit. I was a bag of nerves. I couldn't stand it any longer. I decided just to go to bed.

The next time I would be woke up, it would be my wedding day.

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Hope you liked the chapter! I got a few notes here.

1. I had so many pictures of Gracie and since I couldn't put them all in the chapter, I made a slideshow. Please take a look at the pictures here!

2.The family park that was featured in this chapter was made by Polly75. You can download it here.

3. Sorry it may take me a little while to get the new chapter up, because I've started school again. >.<

It will definately be up by the end of the week though.

Most importantly, thank you for still reading! It means the world to me! :)