The Right Bride

Chapter Thirty


THE KNOCK AT the door dragged her out of her head and work. She took off her smock and studied the canvas and the pictures she used as a reference. She had to admit it was a good likeness. A few more hours of work and she’d have it finished.

“Is that you, Sugar Bug?” Marti stretched her back before covering the canvas.

“Yes. Daddy, too.”

“I’ll be right there.” She went through the connecting door into her bedroom. She kept the door in the hallway locked, so no one came in that way. She liked her privacy and didn’t want Cameron to see the project she was working on for him.

She stepped out into the hallway from her bedroom and stared down the hall at Emma. She held out her arms and said, “Come here, Sugar Bug. Oh, how I’ve missed you.”

Emma ran to her. Marti scooped her up and hugged her fiercely.

“You saw me a couple of days ago.”

“Way too long to go without you. How’s school?”

“Fine. I can write my letters in lower case now.”

“Excellent. Pretty soon you’ll be able to write me letters.”

“Are you going somewhere?” Cameron couldn’t help but ask. He needed to know where she was always. He wondered if she’d be willing to check in with him once a week and tell him what she was doing and where she was. Irrational, but he wanted to know at any time he could find her.

“Eventually,” was all she said. “How are you, Cameron?”

“Fine. Just fine.” He wasn’t fine without her. He’d never be fine again.

“You look tired, Marti.” They were heading down the hall toward the east wing. He didn’t know where she was taking them. “George said you’ve been up the last two nights finishing Emma’s surprise.”

“I have been. Wait till you see it, Sugar Bug. I hope you like it. George had some men come and build something for you. It’s wonderful.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

Marti walked ahead of him. She lost her balance and almost dropped Emma. The hallway seemed to sway. Cameron grabbed her from behind, his big, warm hands clamped on her waist.

“Are you okay?” He held her hips and took the small step to her, pressing his body to hers. His throbbing cock pressed into the cleft of her bottom. She felt so good snug against his aching body. It had been too long since he’d felt her against him, since he’d touched her.

Disappointment lanced through him when she stepped away and continued onto the next door.

“I’m fine. Just tired. I haven’t been feeling well. It’s nothing. Probably just a touch of whatever Emma had.”

She made it to the door and put Emma down. When she stood back up the hallway swayed again. Cameron’s arms came around her and he pulled her back to his chest again. God, he felt good.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “What’s the matter with you, sweetheart?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” she said over her shoulder. He was too close. If she turned just an inch, her mouth would brush his. She wanted to kiss him, but knew it would only lead to more pain.

“You’re pale and dizzy. You’re not just tired. Are you ill?”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about your pregnant fiancé. I can take care of myself.”

She knew exactly what was wrong. Her period was a week late and she was pregnant with Cameron’s baby. At least she was ninety-nine percent sure. She’d bought a pregnancy test kit, several actually, and was going to take it, but she was afraid it would say yes. Hell, she was afraid it would say no. She was getting used to the idea. That’s all.

What would it matter anyway? He’d chosen Shelly time and again. Shelly was supposedly pregnant with his baby. He repeatedly said he wanted to make a life with her.

He hadn’t even considered he might have gotten her pregnant too. It’s not like she’d been prepared to make love to him. She’d woken up to him on top of her and she loved him so much she couldn’t resist him. She’d wanted him and damn the consequences.

The consequence was the sweetest gift. The one thing from Cameron she’d take with her when she left.

“I am worried about you. Please, if there’s something you need, let me help.”

“I don’t need help. I need some sleep. I’m just fine on my own.”

He released her and rubbed the back of his neck. She was pushing him away and he hated it.

“Okay, Sugar Bug. Are you ready for the best surprise ever?”

“Are you dying? George is dying. My mother died. Is that why everyone is telling me you’re leaving?”

Marti kneeled in front of Emma and took her shoulders in her hands. “You know I would never lie to you. I am not dying. I’m just fine. Do you believe me?”

Emma nodded yes.

“A lot of changes are happening in your life. Knight is dying and there is nothing we can do to make him better. It’s a part of life, people sometimes get sick and die.”

“Like my mom and Knight?”

“Yes, like them. I promise you, when it’s time for me to leave, I will make sure you can always reach me. I may not be with you here, but you’ll always be able to call me.”

“You promise,” she said, wanting it so badly.

“I promise you.” She kissed her on the forehead to seal the bargain. “Now, how about your surprise?”

Emma nodded and turned to the door.

“Cameron, cover her eyes.”

Cameron put his hand over Emma’s eyes and glanced at her questioningly.

“You’re going to love this. Even I’m nervous, and I’m the one who did it. Are you peeking, Emma?”

“No. Daddy has big hands.”

“Yes, he does.” Marti remembered every place on her body those big hands had touched and caressed. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. Her whole body echoed with the remembered sensation of their one morning together.

The blush rising up her neck and face told him what she was thinking. He was remembering too. The feel of Marti’s skin, the soft fullness of her breasts in his palms, the hot, wet, slick core of her sliding over his hard cock. Oh yes, he remembered it all.

She opened the door and stepped inside, grabbing her camera, which she’d left on and ready inside the room.

She glanced at Cameron, saw the surprise and shock on his face. He scanned the room and turned to her.

“You did this?” Choked up, all his emotions lodged in his throat. The room was spectacular. He couldn’t believe she’d done all this in two days.

Smiling, she told herself it didn’t matter what Cameron thought. It only mattered what Emma thought. But it did matter what Cameron thought. It mattered a lot.

She put the camera up to her eye. “Okay, Emma. You can look.”

As Cameron removed his hand and Emma stood stunned with a huge smile on her face, Marti snapped the picture to remember the moment.

“Oh my God. It’s a princess’s room. Just like in the medieval books you read to me. It’s just like the room in Tina’s Travels where she goes to England and visits the castles.”

“This is Princess Emma’s room.” She indicated with a sweep of her hand, drawing Emma’s attention to the wall behind her.

Princess Emma was hand-painted above the door, along with a vine of climbing roses trailing down the sides of the heavy wood doorframe. The entire room looked like stone block walls. Throughout the room, trailing vines of ivy and climbing roses in shades of pink.

Everywhere you looked on the walls there was something to discover. A bird and nest tucked in the vine and a fairy sitting on a toadstool. Dragonflies and butterflies fluttered among the flowers. A crowned frog hid in a hollowed-out tree stump.

The windows had roller shades. When pulled down, they looked like forests beyond a stone wall. Gauzy pink drapes would flow in the wind when the windows were open.

The hardwood floors bloomed with roses and pansies in pink and lavender carpet cutouts.

The dark wood armoire with double doors hid a TV and DVD player with every movie Emma liked. A wooden chest sat at the foot of the bed. Inside Marti had stashed costumes for Emma to dress up and have tea parties, or be a pirate, or princess, or whatever she dreamed up. A matching dresser stood against one wall with oil lamps converted to electric lights. A matching pair on either side of the bed sat on the marble topped nightstands.

The queen-size bed was the most spectacular piece in the room. A wooden box frame surrounded the bed with four posts supporting a top piece. Draped from all sides and tied back, white flowing gauze drapes completed the elegant look.

The spectacular part was when you laid on the bed, you looked up into the box above the bed and it appeared you were looking at the night sky. Marti had spent hours painting the top of the bed. She wanted it to be just right.

A special surprise waited in the night sky too. On a cloud brightly reflected in the moon’s rays, Emma’s mother gazed down. While Emma slept, her mother would watch over her from heaven.

She waited to see Emma’s reaction to the room. The little girl stood silent next to her father staring. Tears ran down her face.

“You don’t like it after all. I can change it if you want something else, maybe a jungle, or a forest? No theme at all. You want a grown-up room.”

She looked at Cameron and he shrugged.

“It’s just what I imagined. You asked me once what my favorite things were about the pictures in the books. There were lots of different pictures and I liked different things from them all, but none of them was exactly right. This is exactly right.”

Marti stood speechless and filled with pride. Her eyes glassed over. Leave it to a five-year-old to tell you the truth and knock you to your knees.

Emma wiped her tears and ran to the toy chest and threw it open. She hollered about all the costumes. She ran to the windows and pushed the shades up and looked out at the garden below. She chattered and touched the designs on all the walls.

Energy and enthusiasm poured from Emma and filled Marti’s heart with joy.

“Emma, the two empty spots on the wall are where we’ll hang some paintings. They aren’t ready yet, but I left the spaces ready for them,” she pointed to the two spots and the hooks on the wall. She would give the paintings to Emma and Cameron at the benefit. “Come here. Up on the bed.”

Emma used the step stool to get up on the high bed. She bounced up the steps and landed on her knees on the mattress. She’d look like a dwarf when she slept in the bed. Marti wished she’d be there to watch the little girl grow up and fit in the queen-size bed.

Marti lay down next to her, and Emma oohed over the sky.

“Cameron, would you turn off the light for a minute?”

Cameron hit the switch and walked over to the bed to see what held their attention. When he came close, he looked under the ledge and saw the inside of the bed lit up with stars. They’d been painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, and around the outside of the painting were little white Christmas lights.

“Emma, when I sail, this is the sky I see. When I’m on my ship and you’re in your bed, we’ll see the same night sky. Your sky has something very special. Look up on that cloud, the one closest to the moon. Who do you see?”

“Mommy,” she squealed.

“That’s right, Sugar Bug. Your mommy will watch over you every night. She does anyway, but now you can look up and see her. When you’re sad or lonely, you can talk to her. She’ll always be here for you.”

Cameron’s hand lay on her thigh, he squeezed, letting her know in a small way how much this meant to him.

“Someone signed their name up there. M. Fairchild,” Emma pointed.

“You have good eyes. She’s the artist who painted this for you. She thinks you’re a very special girl.”

Marti signed the mural in the corner using dark blue paint only a few shades lighter than the night sky.

Before either of them said anything about the artist’s name, she rolled off the bed and almost fell again. The room spun and settled when Cameron grabbed her. Again. Unsettled, tired to the bone, and feeling very sad, she gave in and leaned her forehead to his chest. God, he smelled good and felt even better. His big hands held her hips and pulled her close. His breath swept through her hair a second before he kissed her on the top of her head.

“Marti, let me take you to bed.”

She leaned back. Their gazes met, and she glared at him.

“I meant because you’re falling down tired. Literally.”

“Well, I hope it’s what you meant, darling,” Shelly said from the door, turning on the lights.

Marti stepped away from Cameron, away from where she most wanted to be, in his arms.

“Wow. Nice work, Marti. Must have taken you quite a while to oversee all this. Whoever the artist is, they do great work. Maybe we can hire them to do the baby’s room.”

Marti couldn’t listen to any more. She didn’t want this moment ruined too. She’d made this room for the daughter she’d never have, Emma. She wouldn’t listen to Shelly talk about her doing a room for her and Cameron’s baby. The only baby room she was going to do was for her baby, her baby with Cameron.

She went over to the bed and leaned over Emma and whispered into her ear, “I love you, Sugar Bug. I made this room for you. This room will always be your special place. I love you so very much.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she didn’t care. She walked out of the room without saying a word of goodbye to Shelly or Cameron. She went down the long hall and into her room.

She fell down on her bed completely exhausted with her feet hanging off the end. She sucked in a deep breath, hoping the extra air would push the hurt out of her chest. No such luck.

Cameron and Emma came in a few minutes later, saw her sprawled on the bed, and looked at each other.

“She’s sleeping, Daddy. We should leave her alone.”

“Why don’t you kiss her goodnight? We’ll thank her for doing the room another time.”

Emma went over to the bed and kissed Marti on the cheek. “I love you too,” she whispered.

Emma gasped when Marti scooped her up onto the bed. Marti held the little girl to her and let the rest of her tears fall. Emma patted her face with her little hand.

“It’s okay to cry,” she whispered.

Cameron took off her shoes and rubbed his hand over her ankle and foot. She pulled her feet away.

“Please, Cameron, take her home. I can’t take anymore.”

Cameron picked up Emma and kissed her cheek. “Emma, wait downstairs for me. Marti is very tired, and she’s already missing you.”

“I miss her too.”

“I know you do, sweetheart. Go. I’ll be there in a minute.”

He waited for her to leave the room and kneeled beside the bed and looked at Marti sobbing. He’d done this to her. Whatever the reason for all the tears, he knew they were his fault.

He brushed her hair away from her wet cheek. “Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m tired and it all just overwhelmed me. I can’t bear to let her go.”

He leaned over and kissed a tear from her cheek. “Then you know how I feel about letting you go.”

“Don’t kiss me. Don’t touch me. It hurts too much,” she sobbed. “Go. Leave.”

“I can’t leave you like this.”

“Shelly is waiting for you. Your daughter is waiting for you. Go be with your family. I’m just someone who had a moment with you. Our moment has passed.”

“I live in that moment every minute of every day. Never forget that, my love.”

She sobbed harder. If he cared so much, loved her so much, why wasn’t he marrying her?

She thought about telling him about the baby and decided it wouldn’t change anything. She was so tired. Her heart hurt and she just couldn’t listen to him tell her one more time he was marrying Shelly because of their baby. She couldn’t bear to hear him say his baby with her would come second, just like she had every time he’d chosen Shelly over her.

The door closed, Cameron left, and she continued to cry herself to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

Cameron leaned against the door, listening to the sound of Marti sobbing. It washed over him in a wave of pain. The pressure in his chest grew so tight, if he took too deep of a breath, he’d explode.

He turned to go back inside. He couldn’t leave her like this.

“Darling, it’s time to go home,” Shelly called from the stairs.

Cameron laid his palm on the door and dropped his head. Eyes closed, he silently said the words he had no right to say to her.

I love you.

He left with his family, hoping Marti had somehow heard him and it healed some of the hurt he’d caused. Nothing would, but maybe one day thoughts of him and their time together wouldn’t make her cry.