I’ve Got You

Opening the door greeted her with Cameron Lovell, who smiled sheepishly from the entrance. Rain trickled down from light gray clouds, leaving spots of damp on his floral-patterned shirt. “Hey. Do you have any visitors now? Do you mind if I come in?”

“Come in. Come in. I’m expecting mother and Vaneese around later. I think mother’s been shopping around Miami, trying to pick out new baby clothes for Ezra. I also believe Vaneese has been assisting.”

“That sounds like quite the undertaking,” Cameron said with a grin, stepping inside. When he saw Aleshia sway slightly, he instantly stabilized her by the shoulders.

“Thanks. I’m gonna go and make you a coffee, if you want…”

“No, please. Sit down. I’ll make it myself. One for you, too?”

“Please.” Aleshia didn’t protest the gesture. She sat back down on the sofa, where an impression of her previous sleeping position had crinkled into the leather surface. She watched Cameron patter around, neatening things and sorting out the drinks in lazy joy. She loved the sight, and hoped they would share many more days like this. Seeing him here made her feel complete.

Why had she ever tried to push him away? Why did she allow the doubts to consume her?

“Aren’t you supposed to be working, today?” Aleshia continued scrutinizing Cameron, once again noting the delicious contours of his body, the way muscles flexed and moved under his shirt. His hair appeared damp, along with a stain on the top of his shirt, and the flecks of damp. She glanced outside the balcony, reflecting the light drizzle of rain in the warm, tropical day, which had the peculiar effect of pulling down her mood. She wondered if she would feel this tired if the sun blazed like a beacon, instead of hiding behind gloom clouds.

“I’ve taken two weeks off. I’ve not booked any holidays, yet, so I have a few to use up,” he said.

Aleshia took the opportunity to take her son to his cot upstairs, away from the boiling kettle, and tucked him tenderly into his covers. She took the baby monitor from the side, to help check on him even when she wasn’t in the same room, kissed his forehead, and re-entered the living room.

“That makes you sound like a workaholic,” she observed, placing the active baby monitor on the coffee table. Quiet breathing could be heard if she placed her ears close enough to it.

“Not really. How’s everything been so far? How’s your family been dealing with you since you got back?”

“They’re all over me,” Aleshia said sourly. “Vaneese insists on cooking for me each day, wanting the best for mother and son. My mother has brought me about a million different supplements which she expects me to chug down three times a day. And due to the frivolous nature of my freelancing position, Vaneese practically wants me to live at her house for the next year. My mother’s even offered to arrange things to stay here for a few months so she can help me with her considerable experience of how to survive motherhood. I love my mother, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

“It’s brilliant,” Cameron said, his rugged, movie-star features becoming animated. “I love that your family is willing to go to the moon to make sure everything works out. It’s a blessing.”

Aleshia blushed. “It is. I sometimes feel like they’re just nosing around, making my life a lot busier and complex than what it would be, without them. But, if I fall, they’ll be there. Always.”

Bringing two complete mugs of coffee, Cameron rested them on two Wayward Boot coasters – given as a kindly gesture from the owners of the establishment. He sank next to Aleshia, and she cuddled up to him, breathing in his salt-air scent, triggering all the pleasure synapses in her brain. Oh, how she had missed his presence, his scent, his feel! She mentally kicked herself for denying this slice of happiness.

She had a lot to make up for.

“I wish the child was yours,” Aleshia said, suddenly. “Biologically yours.”

Cameron twitched one eyebrow in an unspoken question.

“I feel like things would be easier, then. It worries me that I’ll look at little Ezra, and I’ll keep wishing that he was yours. Because I feel like this is where I’m meant to be. Where I should have always been.”

Blowing on the steaming mug of coffee, Cameron took his time to answer. “Ezra may not biologically be mine, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a father to him. You shouldn’t need to worry about how he came here. You should only worry about whether we’ll be good enough parents to deal with him.”

“But why?” Aleshia gave him imploring eyes. “How can you be so fine with this? I still can’t wrap my head around it. We just collided into each other and didn’t want to break apart. I almost fu*ked that up, but we’re here, and you’re fine with this. Why?”

The realtor suspected the question was more rhetorical, but he gave voice to it anyway. At this point, Aleshia’s head rested on his lap, and he twirled her hair around his finger, smiling in a dream-like way, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening, either.

“I can’t possibly describe it as anything else but like a key fitting into a lock. Like everything that didn’t make sense before is better for everything, now. I, uh, broke the news to my parents as well.”

“Oh? Did you? How did that go?” Aleshia reached up to stroke underneath his chin, not bothering to move out of her comfortable position to get her beverage. She imagined the experience as being awkward for Cameron, wondered if a look of horror might have scrawled itself across his mother’s face, or whether his father had shook his head, lamenting his son’s choice.

“They took it… better than expected,” Cameron admitted. “I had to talk things over with them for some hours. I think my mother’s just relieved I’m gone from a lothario to someone who will try out the happy family card. My dad is struggling to understand why I would commit to you and a child in such a short amount of time. He wooed my mother the traditional way – proposing to her after two years of dating. Neither of them are treating me like a pariah, so that’s something.”