CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
"Cash? What are you doing here?"
"Are you going to let me in or not, because I think your dad is going to kick my ass if you don't let me in." I look behind him and my dad is standing there and he looks furious.
"He knocked on our door first and we had some words. What do you want me to do, Sweetie?" I'm shocked and proud that my dad seems to still have it in him to pick a fight to defend me.
"It's okay Daddy. I'll let him in." I hug my dad and quietly thank him for defending me. He gives Cash a stare down before he walks away. I open the door further so that he can come in.
"Well, that was a great introduction to your parents. What exactly have you told your parents about me? Your Dad slammed me up against the wall and asked me who the hell I thought I was to hurt his baby girl the way I did!"
Just the visual has me turning around and quietly giggling. I wasn't about to let Cash know how funny I thought it was. Talk about having the best dad ever.
"I've only told them the truth and if you've come here to have an attitude with me, then I'm going to open the door and let my dad kick you out of here."
"You wouldn't?"
"I would! Why are you here? I don't need this right now. What part of I needed some time to think did you not seem to understand?"
"I was worried about you. Why do you think I'm here?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe to try to convince me into having an abortion? Which isn’t happening by the way!" I grab my stomach as a form of protection.
"Liv... That's not what... I don't..."
"What Cash? You don't what?"
"Would you please calm down? Why are you yelling at me? Your father is going to be banging on that door any minute now, if you don't quit shouting at me!"
"Fine. I'm going back to bed. I don't feel like talking to you anyway." I go back over to the bed and pull the covers up over me and lay down.
"Seriously? What do you want me to do?" I shrug my shoulders at him and close my eyes.
"Do you mind if, well, do you mind if I crawl into bed with you? I'm so tired, Liv. I've been looking for you everywhere and have been going crazy with worry." He still hasn't answered my question about how he found me.
"How did you find me, Cash? Only your mother knew and I know she didn't tell you."
"What? My mother knew? Oh my God! She could have saved me some worry. What is it about you women and your secrets?"
"We are all in a secret society. It's about time you figured that out. So, how did you find me?" I look over and he's taking his clothes off and stops at his boxers.
"Have you forgotten what I do for a living? I'm a computer software programmer. I waited and waited until you turned your phone on, so that I could track it. I didn't think you were ever going to turn it on! And to think, my mother knew this whole time!"
Good Lord! I should have known that's what he meant by his text. He walks to the other side of the bed and pulls the covers back and lies down. I'm not budging an inch, wondering if he's going to stay on his side or not. I really want him to just hold me until I fall back to sleep, but I won't dare ask.
"Liv? I'm sorry, but I can't be in the same bed with you without touching you. Please don't make me stay all the way over here. I'm not wanting sex or anything like that, but please. Do you mind if I just hold you?"
I don't even have the strength to turn my head, so I just nod my head for him to come closer to me. He slowly comes towards me from behind and when he reaches me, he is a little hesitant when he moves his hand under my neck, wondering if I'm going to raise my head.
I raise my head up and he pulls me closer to him and I feel so safe in his arms. This is how we fall asleep every night usually, spooning with me in front of him. He has his right hand cradled over my hip and lowers it to caress my belly, and goes even lower and extends his whole hand out across my abdomen and gives me a small light squeeze and whispers in my ear.
"I'm so sorry that I made you feel that you had to protect them from me. I don't know what was going on inside my head. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me, Liv."
I feel a tear slide down my neck and realize that he's crying and is genuine in what he is saying. I lean back against him and entwine my fingers with his across my abdomen that is finally starting to show signs of pregnancy, and all I feel is our love pouring out of both of us and I was silently praying that our babies could feel as loved and safe and secure as I did at this exact moment.
"Cash?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Does this mean that you've changed your mind? About, well, thinking I'm going to die and that they're going to kill me?" He sighs against my neck.
"Yes. I had the weirdest dream last night when I got to the Plaza and well, let’s just say that I woke up feeling better about things and had a clearer head, and was so excited to see you the next morning and to tell you that I knew that everything was going to be okay, but you were gone."
I'm wondering if he had the same kind of dream that I had before he showed up at my door. I'm having problems concentrating between the dream with Derek and him showing up right after.
"What was so weird about your dream? Oh, and why, were you at the Plaza?" Another long sigh.
"Liv, please. You'll just think I've lost my mind if I tell you and after the party I was taking you there for the night, instead of going home and since it was closer to the hospital I decided to stay there, since you wouldn't let me stay in the room with you.
Ouch. The Plaza? I would have loved that! I think back to my dream about Derek that didn't really seem like a dream at all, but seemed more real than anything.
"I'll tell you my dream, if you tell me yours."
"You had a dream?"
"Yes. A really weird but good dream, if that makes sense."
"Mine was a really weird but good dream, too." I turn around, so that I can face him.
"Then tell me what your dream was and I'll tell you what mine was." Geez, he's sighing a lot tonight. Or I guess this morning.
"Okay. Can I kiss you first? I have missed you so, so much!"
"But you saw me a little more than 24 hours ago."
"38 hours and 27 minutes to be exact. It's the longest we've been apart since we got together. Can I PLEASE kiss you?"
I nod my head and he swoops in, and very lightly presses his lips against mine, gently opens my lips with the tip of his tongue, slowly enters my mouth, and searches for my tongue, which starts a slow dance with his around and around until he pulls his tongue away and lightly brushes my lips with his again. It was the sweetest, tenderest kiss he has ever given me.
"Oh, how I've missed just being able to do that one simple thing that makes the world disappear. I love you so much, Liv. Please don't ever leave me again. I can't bear it. I felt like you had died and I was never going to ever see you again, and you took my heart away with you."
"You know I had my reasons. I just can't fight with you anymore. I'm completely exhausted and I mainly came here to rest and visit my parents. Are you going to tell me about your dream or not?" He seems to be avoiding the question.
"Do you promise that you'll tell me yours?"
"I already said that I would. Come on, Cash. I want to know what caused you to change your mind about everything."
"It was Vanessa."
"Vanessa?"
"She was in my dream, but it was way different than I've ever dreamed before."
"Reeeally? Hmmm. Okay, tell me the dream."
"Wait a minute. Why did you say it like that?" He has a thoughtful look on his face. "When you opened the door, you called me Derek, didn't you?" I nodded my head and grinned.
"Okay, I guess my dream goes first then. Alright, it took me forever to fall asleep when I got to my room, because I actually had a special night planned and well, let's just say there was champagne, roses, chocolate covered strawberries, whip cream. I had a great night planned for us, but the first thing I did was destroy everything, because
I was so pissed about how I found out about you being pregnant and was worried about you." This makes me wince.
"I'm sorry about that."
"No, don't apologize. I was an idiot and I don't blame you for lying or the reason why. Just don't lie to me ever again, okay?"
"I won't. I promise."
"Okay. So, back to my dream. I finally fall asleep and well, this is kind of weird, but at some point I roll over and reach for you and you're there beside me. Only it wasn’t you, it was Vanessa in my bed!"
Okay. Jealously hits me at once, but I realize she was his wife first and had every right to be there and honestly, it's just a dream. I nod for him to continue after I compose myself.
"She asked me how you were doing. She spoke to me and I could hear her and even touch her. I'm not going to lie, I held her and told her that I missed her and still loved her, because I do. I always will." He is arching his brow, wondering if I'm okay with this.
"It's okay, Cash. I get it. What did she say?" And I do get it. I was just as excited to see Derek as he was Vanessa.
"I told her that I didn't want to talk about you, because it seemed too weird and she said that she understood, but knew that I loved you and that you and I were meant to be together. She also said that I needed to straighten up and that just because she died the way she did, didn't mean that you were going to."
Wow! It's as if she and Derek had a talk in heaven about us and both of them came down here to straighten the both of us out.
"She even went on to say that we were going to have the most beautiful and healthy babies, and that you would survive and that I needed to find you and grovel if I had to in order to get you back, because I had broken your heart. I really didn't know what she was talking about when she said "find you", until I got to the hospital and read the Dear John letter you addressed to me AND Claudia."
"Oh, Cash! That's pretty much what Derek said to me in my dream!"
"What?"
"You heard me."
"So, do you think that...?”
"Yes I do. I don't know how, but I think they were truly talking to us. I'm not saying that they weren't dreams, but for both of us to have a dream about our dead spouses telling us to live and move on and to have them both tell us that our babies were beautiful and that we were good for each other? I don't think I've ever felt as alive as I am right now."
"I don't know what to say, Liv."
"I do! Kiss me!"
And he did again and again, and we started laughing and repeating the dreams to each other all through the night, because we were in shock that we of all people were given a second chance at love and happiness after all of the turmoil we had to go through to get there.
********************
I get woken up by sweet kisses from Cash. I stretch out on the massive bed, and open my eyes and see that he's already dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning from ear to ear.
"Awwww. if this is my morning wakeup call, I think I like it." I reach up and put my arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
I'm not going to lie, I was mad when he showed up early this morning, but after our talk and sharing our dreams that we had that were so similar, I really couldn't even remember why I was mad at him in the first place.
"It might be if it were still morning. Liv, you've slept the whole day. Its five o'clock and I've had a wonderful day with your parents. Your dad's not too bad once you grovel at his feet and tell him what a sorry piece of excuse you are for being alive."
"What? It's 5 o'clock? Oh my God! You spent the day with my parents? My Dad didn't hit you, did he?" I look at him to see if there's any bruising to make sure and he starts laughing.
"No, and you can thank your mother for that. I think she loves me as much as you do. You remind me a lot of your mother, ya know. Not only is she a beauty like you, but she's got a heart of gold as do you, my angel. Do you feel rested?"
"Actually, I do. I can't remember the last time I've felt so rested. I can't believe I slept that long! Where are my parents now?" He gets up and walks to the table and I see shopping bags covering it.
"They are getting ready for dinner, because we are all going out to celebrate us. Your mother went shopping for you and if I'm not mistaken there's a dress in one of the bags that I cannot wait to see your gorgeous body in!"
"You won't be saying that a few months from now. I never got huge with my pregnancies, but with twins I can only imagine how big I'm going to get."
He bends down onto his knees in front of me, while I'm sitting on the edge of the bed. He pulls my tank top up to bare my belly and kisses me and looks up at me with nothing but love in his eyes.
"I'm sorry to disagree, but there is nothing sexier than a pregnant woman with life growing inside of her belly, especially knowing that you helped put that life there. I don't think I'm going to be able to keep my hands off of you."
I'm quite taken aback that he feels this way considering how he felt about pregnancy a few days ago. He leans forward and whispers in my ear.
"I could start now, ya know. I could show you exactly what I mean about not being able to keep my hands off of you."
The light circles he's drawing with his fingers around my lower back and my neck has my heart racing.
"What time is dinner? Do we have time for you to show me?"
I've missed our intimate moments without worrying about him figuring out that I was pregnant or me somehow accidentally telling him. He's kissing me slowly all up and down each side of my neck, which has me not caring if we make it to dinner or not.
"Considering that you're a natural beauty and it only takes you twenty minutes to get ready, we have plenty of time. So, Liv? What will it be? Are you going to let me show you now, or do you think you can wait? Whatever you want from here on out, I'm yours to command."
The way he moaned the word command had me pulling him up on top of me and tossing the blankets out of the way. The way he makes me feel drives me to distraction, to where I just want to shut the whole world out. He starts chuckling under his breath and starts kissing and licking me from the top of my shorts and slowly works his way up to my mouth.
"I guess that lets me know what your answer is. Just lay back and relax, Honey, and let me do all the work."
*****************
Cash amazes me sometimes with his ability to be able to pull strings that normal everyday people can't pull. I'm not meaning because he's a multimillionaire and that he acts like he should be treated like royalty, but it’s his charm and how he uses it.
When we left our room to leave for dinner and met up with my parents, you would have thought that he knew them all of his life. Not only was he right about my mother already loving him, but I could tell that he somehow had charmed my dad as well.
"Hello, Sweetheart! I must say, you were right about Cash here. He really is a great man and we couldn't be any happier for you two. Did you get plenty of rest?" Dad pulls me into his arms to give me a big bear hug.
"Yes I did, Dad, but I feel bad that you've been waiting all day for me to wake up. I should have set an alarm, so I wouldn't have slept the whole day away."
"Olivia, we haven't been waiting for you to wake up. Cash has entertained us today, not that we have to be entertained, but you needed your rest and we needed to get to know him better and Honey, you did well! We love him already."
I look at him and he is actually blushing at what my mother just said. I don't think I've ever seen him blush, because nothing seems to embarrass him. He walks up to my mother and kisses her hand.
"Mrs. Patterson, you're going to make me blush. You are the one that I owe everything to for giving birth to such an exquisite beauty that most definitely took after you in beauty and brains." As I said, quite the charmer. Now my mother is blushing and I'm laughing, while she shoos him away.
"Down boy, she belongs to me and we've already told you to call us Henry and Elizabeth. I appreciate your respect, but stop with the Mr. and Mrs., okay
son?" My Dad leans down and gives my mom a kiss on her forehead.
Son? The only person my father has ever called son was Derek. He really has accepted him. I don't think I could be any happier than at this very moment.
"Yes, Sir." He winks at me and grabs my hand to lead me to the front of the resort. I see a limo in front and I'm wondering if it’s for us, because he loves to be driven around. I look back at him scrunching my brows, because he stopped walking, and he laughs.
"That's not for us, I swear! That's our ride." I look over to where he's pointing and it's a golf cart. We are going to dinner in a golf cart? My parents start laughing and get into the back to leave the front open for Cash and I.
"What are you up to, Cash?" He grabs my hand and leads me to the front passenger side of the golf cart.
"Now what makes you think I'm up to something? Did you not know that this place has a 5 star restaurant? We are going to eat dinner. Geez! Where's the trust in this relationship? If you want to ride in the limo we can, because I KNOW how much you love limo rides, but I thought with your parents around it wouldn't be appropriate."
Now I'm the one blushing and I look behind me to see if my parents have paid any attention to our conversation, but it doesn't seem that they had.
"Um. The golf cart is fine, but I still think you're up to something." He pulls my hand up to his lips and kisses it.
"Honey, the only thing I have planned is to have a wonderful dinner with the woman I love and her parents."
A few minutes later we arrived at the restaurant that ended up being behind the golf course. I couldn't believe I didn't pay attention to the resort having a restaurant but then again I wasn't paying much attention to any of the sights and scenery but it is absolutely gorgeous and is still lit up with Christmas lights.
We walk in and the hostess' eyes light up as soon as she sees Cash.
"Good evening, Mr. Kingston. We already have your table already set up. If you all would follow me, I'll take you to your table."
"Mr. Kingston? Does everyone know who you are, Cash?"
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