Two Wrongs Make a Steele?
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
After her parents got married, Kali decided it was time to get out of the house. Despite all the years they'd spent prior building a family together, Sunny and Liam were in a blissful honeymoon stage after the wedding. Kali felt it was finally time to give her parents the space they needed to just enjoy being along together - no kids, no pressure. So, she set out own her own, looking for whatever opportunities might come her way.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Kali found a great opportunity in another town. They had some nice, furnished apartments for cheap, and the neighborhood was small, but growing and she new she could find a job quickly. So she packed everything up, moved all her stuff and settled into her new apartment. The day she moved in there was a lot of activity, with some neighbors hanging around in the main room of the complex, so she spent a lot of time outside, seeing the sites, watching the birds, and meeting new friends.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Someone was even nice enough to get her started with a new computer, so she spent the evening putting the finishing touches on her apartment, and settling in online to apply for some jobs. She got a call back that same night for a job as a Record Store Clerk, and she took it.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
She realized pretty quickly how lonely it was in a big apartment by herself after living in a busy house with four other people for so long. So she made two calls the next night. The first was to the pet adoption service down the street to get a small furry friend to share the place with. And the second was to the newspaper to place an ad for a roommate. Her job at the record store wasn't exactly high paying, and despite the small stipend she had saved up, she new it was going to run out before too long.
Max showed up that same night, and they were instant friends. The newspaper said it would probably be a little while before she got any calls from prospective roommates, so she'd just have to sit back and wait.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Unfortunately, things got a little worse, before they could get better for Kali. Despite having a rudimentary knowledge of cooking - at least enough to know how to work the stove for baking, she started a fire trying to prepare a large dinner that she could store in the fridge and eat all week in order to save money. That plan didn't work so well, and she spent all night cleaning up and figuring out another meal plan for the week.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
But like the adage says, things get worse before they get better, and Kali quickly learned that lesson when she invited over her first potential roommate to check the place out. His name was Craig Ray, he's a local stand-up Comedian, and there were instant sparks between them.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Kali hadn't dared to hope she might find someone so right for her so quickly, but she felt the flutters as they stood in the entryway to the apartment for minutes, hours the entire night talking and flirting. Craig didn't even get the tour of the apartment before Kali asked him to move in, to be more than just a roommate. Craig was happy to accept.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
It didn't really occur to either of them what was happening, or how fast it was happening. Before they knew it, they were upstairs and in bed, heads light with thoughts of romance and neither of them even pausing for fear it might all fade away.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
The next day, as they were moving the rest of Craig's stuff into the apartment, Kali couldn't contain her happiness. She was struck with the instantaneous knowledge that Craig was the one for her. She thought of her parents, and how long they had waited to take that final plunge to marriage, and she didn't want that to be her. Immediately, she dropped to a knee and asked Craig to marry her. There was a long silence between them, but Craig's eyes held a sparkle that told her everything was going to be just fine, and then he reached down and pulled her up into a kiss. "Of course" he said. "I was going to ask you the same thing."
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Things fell into an easy rhythm between them in the days and months that followed. They talked about wedding options, and decided that a small home wedding was all that they needed. Kali couldn't get her parents to come all the way out her, and she hadn't heard from Kato or Calen since she'd moved. And Craig was an only child who's parents had died years before, so it seemed right that things would just be between them.
As it happened though, their marriage plans were a little late in coming, as Kali discovered that she was pregnant. The agreed that it could wait until after the baby was born, as getting the second bedroom ready for their little one's arrival was more important.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Kali's pregnancy was extremely easy, and most time's she didn't even notice she was pregnant, aside from how big she continue to grow. She had to take time away from her job as she entered the last month of her pregnancy, and that meant spending a lot of time with Craig, and Max, and staring at the empty nursery wondering what her little one would be like.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Max eventually grew out of his puppy stage, which Kali counted as a blessing since it was getting harder and harder for her to carry the little guy down the stairs as she trained him to be housebroken.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
The day finally came for the little one's arrival. Kali struggled to help Craig prepare dinner as the pangs of labor came over her and she had to stop and wait for the baby to be born.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Despite his excitement, Craig continued to fix dinner, knowing that both mother and child would be hungry when it was all over. And Kali wouldn't be able to feed to the little one, if she didn't have anything to eat.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Finally, all the pain and waiting was over and little Veronica came into the world. Skin to match her mothers, and grey eyes, just like both of her parents.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
Little Veronica proved to be as easy of a baby outside the womb, as she had inside. She was content to stay by herself in nursery in the bouncy chair, or goo-ing to herself in the crib while her parents traded shifts at work, and at home. By this time Craig had climbed up the entertainment industry ladder just a little, and was now a Birthday Party Mascot. Luckily, Kali still had a little time she could be away from work, so that he could work hard to move out of the clown suit.
From TWMAR Legacy (Kali)
And, finally, after a long wait, a long if pleasant pregnancy and some job changes, both Craig and Kali were ready to make things official. It meant a lot to Kali that their daughter grow up knowing her parents as Mr. and Mrs. Ray. She couldn't fault her parents for the way their lives had progressed, but she wanted hers to be different. And as they said their vows on a quiet night while Veronica slept, she knew that it would be.