Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Cammi
“Are you sure?”
Tess’s curls bounced with her nod. “I am sure. You look incredible.”
I turned sideways again, eyeing my growing belly in the mirror. I was having a shotgun wedding. Except no one had a shotgun. It’s just that I was pregnant. Elias didn’t want to wait anymore. I didn’t either. It wasn’t as if I’d been putting him off, but our lives had been incredibly busy.
With my expanded business situation, this year I’d felt like I was running a race every day. Thank goodness every night I got to fall asleep wrapped in Elias’s arms. Once we found our way to each other, we hadn’t wasted any time.
It became a running joke that he was spending the night at my place all the time, so I told him he should just move in. He did, only a month after we christened my new coffee shop.
Meanwhile, he was always flying while I worked like crazy, bouncing between my coffee truck and my new café. I loved our lives, because I knew he did too. The only part I didn’t love was when he had to do overnight trips. But that was life, and I would take it with all the blessings I had in abundance.
After I had my IUD removed, we thought it might take a little while to get pregnant. Apparently, in my case, my body was ready, or as Elias said, he had super sperm. Six weeks later, I was pregnant, and it turned out to be twins.
My wedding dress had had to be let out twice, and now I was worried it didn’t look all that good.
“You look totally sexy,” Susie said as she entered the room. “A pregnant bride is hot.”
“Really?” I asked as I once again inspected my round belly in the mirror.
“Yes. You’re in the perfect phase for this. You’re pregnant enough to still be cute. You just wait. By nine months, you won’t be feeling so hot, especially since you’re having twins,” Susie replied.
Hannah came into the room at that point and swatted Susie on the shoulder. “Really? No need to make her worry about it. Let her enjoy having an easy pregnancy.”
Susie rolled her eyes dramatically and brushed a curl off her forehead. “She’s already had an easy pregnancy. She’s not even having morning sickness.”
Emma came in. “Out,” she ordered. “It’s time for the ceremony.”
Emma was the best kind of friend. She was always a soothing presence just when I started to work myself into anxiety. In this case, I wasn’t anxious about marrying Elias, it was more of the enormity of the moment because for a while, I hadn’t thought I would find my person. I thought I might have to let go of my dream of having a family.
Only moments later, I was standing in front of Elias. We weren’t in a church. We were in the cathedral of nature. Although my parents weren’t here to see the ceremony, we were having it in a field on their old property, which I’d been able to purchase with Elias only weeks after he moved in. Along with friends and family, we even invited the doctor who’d mistakenly thought I was Elias’s girlfriend back when he was in the hospital. It seemed fitting.
The weather had cooperated beautifully. The sun was bright on this cool summer day, and there was only a little bit of an ocean breeze gusting through our small wedding party.
It honestly completely slipped my notice that anyone else was there. The moment Elias held my eyes and said “I do”, I was lost in the moment and in his ebullient gaze.
* * *
ELIAS
Nora caught the bouquet of peonies, Cammi’s favorite flower. The petals had fallen all over the place, because peonies were fragrant and a little messy, a lot like Cammi.
“What am I gonna do with these?” Nora said as she eyed them in her hand.
My sister, Faith, laughed. “I guess you’re gonna fall in love.”
Nora narrowed her eyes. “Fat chance of that. I don’t believe in love.” She and Gabriel’s sort of secret on-again, off-again thing had been decidedly off lately.
Diego happened to be approaching at that moment and pressed his fist over his heart. “How can you say that? Love is a real thing. Do you believe in Elias and Cammi?”
Nora stared, kind of hard, at Diego. “Of course, I believe in Elias and Cammi. It’s just love isn’t for me. I don’t think I have the right personality.”
Diego rested his palm on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “You’ll know when it’s right.”
Nora glared at him, but I didn’t dwell. It was my wedding day, and I had a girl to celebrate.
I sought Cammi out in the small crowd. We had our reception up at Last Frontier Lodge. There was enough space, and they refused to charge us, if only because we gave them so much business.
Cammi was chatting with my mother and Marley. I slipped my arm around her waist, unable to resist sliding my palm over the side of her round belly. She was fucking sexy as hell pregnant. Who knew I had a thing for pregnant women? To clarify, I didn’t have a thing for anyone but Cammi. Cammi pregnant? Holy smokes. My body thought she was made of fire.
My mother smiled between us. Her health was doing better, and she had actually quit her job, which was a huge relief to me and my sisters. “I’m so happy for you two.” She leaned up, cupping my cheek with her hand. “My boy was a little too cynical for a few years there.” Her eyes shifted to Cammi when she dropped her hand. “You took him out of that place. I’m so grateful for you.”
I felt Cammi’s arm curl around my waist, and she squeezed lightly. “I consider myself the lucky one.”
Two years later
A loud scream pierced the air. I was just coming through the front door, and my arms were laden with grocery bags. I braced myself. Sure enough, another scream followed and then the sound of two pairs of feet scurrying across the floor reached me. I smiled in spite of the chaos.
“Slow down!” Cammi called.
“No worries,” I called in reply.
Only last month I had built an extra counter right by the kitchen door. Pretty much for the sole reason of dumping grocery bags by the door, although I told Cammi it was because she wanted a lower counter for baking. True story, but it was also handy.
I immediately unloaded the grocery bags just in time for the first twin to collide with my knees. Leaning down, I swung Eli up in the air, laughing as he giggled. I had this down to a science and set him on the floor just in time to catch Darla.
We knew Cammi was going to have twins, but we’d decided to wait on finding out the gender, only to be surprised with fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Darla, who we named after Cammi’s mother, came out two minutes earlier, so she was technically older and was already bossing her brother around at two.
“Daddy, daddy!” she called, immediately reaching for the one grocery bag that was hanging half off the counter.
I quickly nudged it out of her reach with my elbow. “Yes?”
“Did you get ice cream?” Eli chimed in.
“Maybe. You’ll have to find out after dinner.”
Cammi came walking in the kitchen then. She crossed the room, leaning up to press a kiss on the side of my neck. As she stepped back, I moved to slide my arm around her waist and reel her back in.
She came easily, laughing as she tucked her head against my shoulder, asking, “How was your day?”
“I spent most of the day in the air, so it was good. Yours?” I nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent. “You smell like sugar,” I murmured as I lifted my head.
“We made sugar cookies this morning,” she said with a sheepish smile as she looked up at me. “It was kind of a disaster, but they taste good.”
She gestured toward the stove, and I looked over to see a unique collection of shapes, all of them melted together into one giant cookie.
“Ah, sliced cookies,” I said with a grin.
Our two-year old twins had already scampered back into the living room, which was conveniently through an archway so we could see what was going on. Twins were a handful and required almost constant supervision. There was the one bonus that they often kept each other occupied. Our house was entirely toddler proof, so for the most part we could steal a few minutes here and there.
I brushed Cammi’s hair back from her face. “So, you had someone cover this afternoon?”
“Yes! With your mom taking the twins this afternoon, I took care of all my orders, and I could breathe.”
Cammi was busy, all the time, with her coffee truck still in full swing from roughly March to November and the café year-round. With me flying, both of us were living at a breakneck pace, but it was a good chaos, and I wouldn’t change it for a second. The twins made our life feel overflowing. We had to steal moments alone. That was okay too, because then it felt special. With my mother moving up here, we had some breathing room for daycare, plus plenty of friends who helped out.
“Too bad she didn’t keep them for the night,” I murmured as I leaned down to trail kisses along Cammi’s neck. She giggled and arched into me before stepping back breathlessly. “Actually, she’s picking them up again in twenty minutes.”
“She is?”
Cammi stepped back just when I tried to kiss her again. “Yes. Remember? We have date night with Daphne and Flynn.”
“I think we should cancel,” I said flatly.
She cuffed me lightly on the shoulder. “No. We promised.”
“Can we come home early?” I pressed.
I caught her hand and reeled her right back up against me. She was laughing as she looked up. “They’re spending the night at your mom’s house.”
I stole a kiss while I could. Her eyes sparkled when she looked up at me as I drew away. “You’re impatient.”
“When it comes to you, always.”
Thank you for reading Evers & Afters - I hope you loved Elias & Cammi’s story!
Up next is Diego & Gemma’s story.
Diego is that kind of hero - smokin’ hot, deeply protective and with enough brawn to set the world on fire. Cue the melting.
He oozes the rugged hero vibe, rides a motorcycle and flies planes in the wilds of Alaska. He’s all man and then some. When he meets Gemma, he falls fast, and she might be in need of a man to catch her when she falls.
Turn the page for Come To Me!