What would Cayden do when he saw me? I imagined the expression of anger on his face followed by the look of total disappointment. Perhaps he would be livid, furious? Possibly he’d yell because I lied, hid the truth from him about the baby? Maybe I deserved to be yelled at? Cayden might look at me and believe I was evil and cruel. Could he remember why he had ever loved me? Had I made too many mistakes?
Maybe?
Chapter Twenty
My Destiny
I made my way back to my flat, standing on my doorstep with my key in hand when I heard a strange buzzing of voices. The voices became louder, more distinct.
Ackerly said, “Philomena.”
I turned to see Ackerly and Philomena standing on the front stoop of their flat. Ackerly was smiling. Philomena was holding her hands to her heart. I froze for a moment. Cayden. I felt him. The pull. His gaze on me. I turned around on my stoop, watching as if the parting of the Red Sea. People were moving from the sidewalk. I glanced down the long span of concrete….
There before my incredulous eyes I saw Jayden and Langdon. They were flanking each side of Cayden, who was standing still, looking at me as though he had seen a ghost. I stood silent and stared at him. Cayden’s face flashed a new emotion. He smiled his most breathtaking smile. The white of his teeth glimmered at me. My heart sank through my feet, my heartbeat increased, and without thought as though it were a reflex reaction, I ran.
In that moment I found the man I loved, the soul that would always be a part of my soul, the beating of my own heart. I sprinted toward the man I loved, had always loved and would always love. As soon as I saw Cayden every fear, every worry, and every pain left as though we had never been apart. Our worlds, our spheres were finely one, no longer separate. I was whole again as if I’d never been broken.
I leapt. Cayden caught me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and my feet dangled from the ground. Placing my nose into the hollow of his neck, I breathed. Took in the luscious sent of him, springtime rain, fresh and inviting with a mix of sweet tempting musk and a bite of hot spice. I started to kiss his neck, his jaw, and finally kissed his perfect lips.
“I am so sorry, Cayden. I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me for what I have done to us?”
There in my ear was his voice that was smooth like silk, sweet like honey and warm like velvet. “Baby, you have nothing to be sorry for, there is nothing to forgive. I love you, Winter. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. You are the beating of my heart.” He removed the clip from my hair, allowing my hair to fall down my back. He combed his fingers through it and kissed me. My world spun….
“We are forever, Winter, remember?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “I remember.”
Cayden’s placed his hand to my chest, resting it upon my heart. “We are here,” he said as tears of joy rolled down my cheeks.
“Yes,” I agreed. I placed the palm of my hand to feel the beating of his heart.
He moved his forehead to mine. “And here,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
Cayden pulled back, gazed into my eyes deeply and said, “And we are here.”
“Yes.”
Cayden slid his hand to my belly. His large palm splayed across my stomach, covering the belly which belonged to me. “And now, we are here,” he confirmed.
“Do you feel that?” I asked.
He put me down. He allowed my feet to hit the ground but kept the palm of his hand to my belly. “Yes,” he said with a dazzling smile.
“It’s your voice,” I replied. “The baby knows you are here, recognizes your voice.”
Cayden smiled the bright wide smile of a seraph, holding his hand to my belly. He leaned down and placed his mouth close to my stomach.
“Hello.” The baby kicked. “I am Cayden Cain, and you are my baby,” he said in his smooth silky tones. The baby kicked again. “I love you, my little bit.” Cayden patted my belly before he dropped his hand. He looked up at me while he placed a kiss to the middle of my tummy. With a smile, he stood up. Cayden brushed his hand down my cheek and stood there, gazing deeply into my eyes.
I saw the clear never-ending blue of his eyes. They were bright sapphire. They were stunning, and they pierced me though as they always do. I was lost in this moment. I heard, seen, felt nothing but Cayden, my love and my life. The world stopped, narrowed to nothing but Cayden and me. He leaned down and kissed the tears from my cheeks. His thumb softly traced the line of my bottom lip.
“Now,” he said gazing at me with such joy and love it was breathtaking. “There is something else I need to do.”
He got down on one knee, pulled something out of his pocket, and placed it into the palm of his hand. Cayden held out his hand toward me. There sitting inside his palm was my ring, sparkling, shimmering in the sun.
“Winter Shae Perri, I love you beyond all reason. So here on this sidewalk, under the watching eye of God who I know made us for each other and before all these people who are now watching us, crowding the streets, I have something to ask of you. Winter, I have waited my whole life for you, will you finally marry me?”
“Yes, Cayden. I will marry you.” And Cayden slipped his ring back onto my finger where it had always been destined to belong.
Epilogue
I yelled out from the parlor, “Cayden!”
Within a second, he was at my side with worried lines crossing over his forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s time,” I said, trying hard to modulate my voice.
Cayden picked up the suitcase I packed in preparation of our impending trip to the hospital and took it to the door. He dropped it at his feet and pulled me into his arms with a passion.
“I love you,” he said. Cayden kissed me until my head spun.
He picked up the case, towing me in hand, and headed for the car. We must have taken the streets of London at a hundred miles an hour because within minutes we were at the hospital. The staff met me, waddling in. They placed me into a wheelchair before they transferred me to a bed. I rolled down a long white hallway, coming to a stop in a room the color of bluebells. I glanced up to see Cayden. He had his cell phone out.
“Chandler, it’s time. We are at the hospital now,” he said in a rush. “I’ve got to go.” He hung up and made six more quick calls. Cayden called my mother, Zander, Ackerly and Philomena, his Aunt Eslbeth, Jewel, and the Carlyles, taking a hold of my hand while the nurses prepared me for the birth of our child.
I laid in the confines of the hospital bed practically writhing in pain. I tried desperately not to show it. It killed Cayden to see me in pain but from time to time I had no choice but to make a noise.
He clutched my hand as he said, “I’m here.”
It seemed like I was in this transition of birth forever. The nurses popped in and out, checking to see how far along I was. The day turned into night, having seen the sky change from light to dark outside the window of the hospital. It began to snow. I watched the flakes fall. They were moving in slow motion before I started shaking with the pain I felt in my lower back. The overwhelming contractions started to change. They were getting harder and faster.
“What can I do?” Cayden asked. He looked at me with sheer panic on his face.
“Give me some ice,” I said. I grabbed onto his hands with a death grip as another ripping pain hit me.
Cayden’s voice was calm and soothing. “Baby, you need to let go of my hands so I can get the ice.”
That seemed to make sense. I let go of his hands.
He grabbed a few pieces of crushed ice and placed them onto my tongue. Another pain rocked me. Unable to hold it back, I groaned.
“Cayden, this hurts,” I admitted in a voice that was not my own.
“I know, I am so sorry,” he said. Cayden brushed his fingertip across my cheek. “Look at me, just stay focused on me and nothing else. Relax, breathe.” I nodded my head. I looked up into his face, into his eyes. His eyes were clear blue and calming. “I’m here, Winter. I will
never let you go. Just stay with me, baby.” I kept my focus on him.
“Mr. Cain, I believe your wife is ready to give birth,” the doctor announced as he took his squatting position at my feet as though he were ready to catch a stray pitch. “Now, Winter. I need you to bear down and push.”
I stayed focused on Cayden’s face and pushed. Cayden looked at me, his face straining as if he were pushing. “Push, baby,” he said.
I gave out, shaking. Not able to push any more. My face had broken out into a sweat. The beads of sweat broke over my upper lip, my forehead, my neck, and I started to cry.
“I can’t,” I whimpered.
“Stay with me. Look at me and focus, breathe. It’s almost over. Look at me, Winter, and push,” Cayden encouraged. He took his hand and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Winter, push,” the doctor instructed.
I bore down. I pushed….
Cayden squeezed my hand, “Winter, baby, you can do this. You have steel beneath that silky soft exterior.”
I smiled.
“Winter, one more large push,” the doctor said.
I readied myself for the final pain, took a hold of Cayden’s hand, gazed into his eyes, and pushed with every bit of strength I could muster. Then it was over. The baby arrived. The pain had left from me.
“You did it, baby. You did it!” Cayden’s voice was happy and relieved. He stood by my side staring down at me. He was smiling his most breathtaking smile as he brushed his fingertip down the surface of my cheek. “I love you, Winter Cain.”
“I love you.” I breathed.
I heard our baby cry, and the baby had a set of lungs. Maybe we had a singer on our hands?
“Mr. and Mrs. Cain, you have a beautiful baby girl.”
The doctor announced her arrival then placed the tiny little gift on my chest. I looked down into the face of my little angel. She was as stunning as her father with liquid blue eyes and his perfect lips. Cayden cupped my cheek within his palm. I glanced up at him. Cayden’s face shot the smile of dawn rising. It was actually like staring into the face of the sun. He was my own personal angel, my own personal miracle, my own personal sun.
Cayden sat down beside me on the bed. He placed his finger to our little girl’s hand. She curled her tiny hand around the tip of his finger. A tear of joy trickled down my cheek. My baby was holding her father’s hand.
“This is who I told you so much about. This is your father,” I whispered into the baby’s ear. “You finally got to meet him in person.”
I glanced up to see Cayden. A hundred emotions seemed to shoot over his face while he gazed at his daughter, our daughter, then back at me.
“You have never been more beautiful than in this moment,” Cayden said to me. He brushed his lips across mine.
I wondered about him, thinking the stress had caused him to snap. How in the world could he be talking about me? I was a mess I was sure. I thought about the first time I saw Cayden, I sodden and weak and he stunningly perfect. I remembered when he first asked me to marry him. He was flawless and I was water logged and quite hideous in comparison.
Here we are. Cayden still the picture of perfection and I was dressed in a fashionable puce color hospital gown with my legs propped up in stirrups. My hair was tangled around my face and neck, and I was soaking wet with sweat rolling off me. But I looked into his eyes. I saw myself reflected. My face was brilliant with happiness. My eyes sparkled emerald green with life and the color of my cheeks was the color of pink rose petals. I found the girl I once was. I was beautiful but it was because of Cayden and our lovely daughter.
“Do you have a name?” one of the nurses asked.
“Yes,” Cayden replied. “Her name is Summer Wells Cain.”
I smiled. Summer made sense to me. I’d always thought Summer was much more beautiful than Winter.
“She is ours,” Cayden said. He kissed me softly on the lips before he kissed Summer’s little forehead gently. “She is perfect and as beautiful as her mother.”
“Cayden, why did you pick Summer as her name?” I asked
“It’s simple,” he said. “I have my Winter, and now I have my Summer.”
The End
www.londonsaintjames.com
Other Books by London Saint James:
Master of Mine
Midnight Seduction
Stockings and Suspenders
Enchanted
Requiem
Revelation
Evernight Publishing
www.evernightpublishing.com
Eternal Page 23
