Her kisses quenched a thirst unlike anything else could. After not touching Cree for almost a year, Cameron was so eager that he had to force himself to calm down. He would let her set the pace. He didn’t want to rush or scare her. They would do everything at a speed that was comfortable for her.
Cree’s kisses became more urgent, more demanding. Cameron pulled away. “I don’t want to go too fast or rush you.”
“Cam, I’ve missed you like crazy. You’re not.” She swallowed. “I’m more than ready and I want to be with you.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Please take me home.”
The sparkle was back in his eyes. “I can do that.” Cameron started up his car. “We can pick your car up in the morning.”
Cree shook her head “no” then snuggled into the crook of his arm. “It’ll probably be more like tomorrow afternoon.”
Epilogue
Two years later….
Cree and Melody were laughing as they walked down the street of the business district in Henrickson. Each were carrying a can of paint.
“You know that David is going to have a fit that you’re carrying that can of paint?”
“I know. He is being ridiculous. I’m pregnant not an invalid. This paint weighs almost nothing.”
Cree was still in shock that Melody was pregnant. “He’s going to be a first-time dad. Of course, he’s a little nervous about it.” She exhaled. “Isn’t it amazing how far we’ve come over the last two years? You and David are married and are now going to have a baby.”
“I don’t know if amazing is the right word. Maybe miraculous is a better fit!” Melody laughed.
Cree couldn’t help but laugh as well. Lately, they’d been doing that a lot. “It’s good to finally feel like my life is full of possibilities and not just me, but Cameron too.” “I never had any doubt.”
Cree gave her a skeptical look. “Really? Not even that day you threatened to throw me in the shower?”
Melody shrugged. “Not even then. You just needed some time to get your stuff together and a good kick in the butt.” She smiled at Cree. “What are best friends for if we can do that for each other?”
Grateful, Cree responded, “If I didn’t thank you for it. Thank you. You know, although I’m a survivor, it helps to know that monster is going to be in prison a long time. He’ll be doing ten long years for what he did to me. When you add on all the time he received for the other four other sexual assaults, he’ll be an old man, if or when he ever gets out.”
“Good. I hope they do to him in prison what he did to you and the others.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Now, that that chapter of my life is closed, onward and upward right? Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got an email from Gwen the other day. You will never guess what happened.”
Melody smirked. “What? She’s pregnant too?”
Cree laughed. “Oh no. She said Robert’s going to have to have the babies if he wants any.”
Melody started to giggle. “Stop, stop. I’ll have to go pee again!”
Cree smiled. “Okay, okay. No. Guess who Delia has been secretly dating?’
“Who?”
“Freddie!”
“No.”
“Yes, and from what Gwen said, she’ wouldn’t be surprised if they got married.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Since we’re catching up. Is Candice coming down for the grand opening?”
“Yeah. She said she wouldn’t miss it.”
Cree and Melody stopped in front of a storefront that had paper covering the windows. They pushed the door open and walked inside. The floors were covered in plastic. Cameron stood in a t-shirt and shorts on one ladder painting while David was on the other side of the large room in gray sweats and a black hoodie. Both men were speckled with paint.
The moment David noticed Melody carrying the can of paint, his eyes narrowed. “We only needed one can of paint, not two. Otherwise, Cameron and I would have gone to pick it up. You shouldn’t be carrying anything that heavy.”
Melody rolled her eyes. “I'm all right David.”
Cree casually took the can of paint from Melody just to keep the peace, and placed them both on the floor next to the other one that was already open. She looked up. “Hey, it’s coming along really nicely in here.”
Cameron huffed. “We would have already been finished if you hadn’t changed the color. I told you in the beginning salmon was an ugly color. It’s a fish. Not a paint.”
She looked sheepish. “I was trying to find a color that would suit both of our needs. I read somewhere that sick people feel better when they are surrounded by soothing colors. Salmon was one of the colors in the article.”
He shook his head. “So were about ten others.” He grinned down at Cree. “Tan. You can’t go wrong with tan.”
Melody started to giggle, then burst out into full-on laughter. Everyone turned to look at her as if she were crazy.
“Stop looking at me like that! It’s hormones.” She said, through her fit of giggles. “You remember that day we talked about this? I said that Cameron was going to open a practice here in Henrickson and you were going to be the office manager.”
Cree interrupted, “Oh yeah. And I said, you would sell your oils and candles and David was going to do building maintenance…”
Melody giggled again. “Two and half years later, here we are.
Cree put her hand up to her throat. “My god we did talk about this. It was a joke, of course, but it was almost spot on. Except, now it includes my dreams too.” Cree looked around the room. “Cameron’s practice will be on one side and my boutique will be on the other. I’ll finally be putting my degree to use” Cree grinned. “David we can’t afford you and your prices for maintenance right now.”
He smirked. “What free?”
“Hey! I told you a beer and pizza after we’re finished.” Cameron began to laugh.
David shook his head. “Great. Cameron’s been working me to death for slave wages.”
They were all laughing as the front door opened. The room quieted down.
“Hi, Cameron, Cree, David, Melody.” Annalise and Cameron’s dad stood at the threshold of the door, beaming and holding a big box.
Cree responded warmly, “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs.” The others welcomed them too.
Annalise looked around, “Where’s your grandfather? I thought he’d said he would be here.”
Cree smiled, “He was here earlier but had to rush off. He had a date with Violet.”
She was disappointed, “Well, I hate we missed him.”
Mr. Jacobs smirked, “We probably would have caught him if it didn’t take us so long to get here.”
Annalise ignored him.
Cameron climbed down from the ladder to greet his parents. Surprisingly, their reconciliation only grew stronger once he and Cree got back together. “What’s in the box?”
Annalise looked eagerly toward her husband. “Your mother and I wanted to do something nice for both of you as you set out to be entrepreneurs.” He handed the large box over to Cameron.
It was pretty heavy, so Cameron put it on the floor. He looked to Cree and asked, “Cree you want to open it?” She shook her head. “No. You can do it.”
Cameron shrugged as he removed the top off of the giant box wrapped in silver with a big red bow. Slowly, he pulled out an oversized mailbox that appeared to be a mini replica of their storefront.
Cree’s eyes grew large as she tentatively touched it. “Wow. That’s beautiful.”
Still giddy, Annalise spoke. “Now, open it. There’s something inside.”
Cree opened the little door, reached her hands inside and pulled out two envelopes. One was marked Cameron, and the other had her name on it.
They opened the envelopes at the same time.
His father spoke. “After talking to you two about it last week at dinner, we figured you could use it and that it would be a sound investment.”
Annali
se couldn’t contain herself any longer. “You can’t open a boutique and make all those wonderful fashions without having the best equipment. And Cameron, how can you help all of your patients if you don’t have state of the art equipment too. All you both have to do is call the numbers at the bottom of those cards, order what you want, and set up delivery.”
Cree couldn’t believe it. She and Cameron had already talked about getting a loan for what Annalise and his father had just handed over to them. She shook her head. “This is just way too generous. We can’t accept this.”
Cameron agreed. “Mom and Dad, Cree is right. This is an incredibly generous gift, but we can’t…”
His father’s booming voice interrupted. “You can and you will. Annalise and I missed out on so much over the last eight years. This is something we can do and want to do for both of you. Plus, it’s not like we don’t get anything out of the deal.”
Cameron and Cree looked at one another and spoke in unison. “Like what?”
Annalise clapped her hands together. “That’s the best part! With a fashion designer in the family, maybe I can get a unique piece here or there. If we’re sick, maybe we can be seen right away instead of having to wait weeks for an appointment.”
“Mrs. Jacobs, my boutique is homewares, not fashion.”
Melody chimed in. “Although, she did an excellent job on my wedding dress.” She glared at Cree.
Cree looked to Cameron for thoughts. She gave him a look that said it’s alright with her. He turned to his parents as they anxiously awaited his response. He stared at them for a moment before walking over and hugging them at the same time it was a group hug of sorts. “Thank you.”
Mr. Jacobs looked to Cree, “Get over here girl. If we’re having a group hug, that must include you. You’re family.” With glassy eyes, Cree went over into the warmth of the Jacobs circle. Finally, everything was in its proper place.
Author’s Note
According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) 1 sexual assault occurs every 107 seconds. Please, if you know someone who has been a victim of a crime, contact 1-800-656-HOPE.
I hope you enjoyed CREE. If so, please take a moment to leave a review.
Please look out for A Storm is Coming 2 – December 2015.
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