Yours Truly, Cammie

by S. J. Sylvis

  “Hey,” I grabbed her arm and she slung her arms around my neck. “I’m gonna head home, okay?”

  JoJo scrunched her eyebrows at me and looked down at her watch. Then she smiled at me and nodded.

  “What? Is it an acceptable time to let me go home now, Mom?” I joked.

  She nodded her head and grinned. Her eyes twinkled and my stomach lurched as alarm bells went off in my head.

  “JoJo…what’s going on?”

  She turned around and started to dance again. I stood there, confused beyond belief as she yelled, “Just remember to fall.”

  “What?” I called.

  My phone vibrated in my hand and I realized my Uber was waiting.

  I waved at JoJo, still confused about what had just happened. She wagged her eyebrows at me.

  God, she was so tipsy. Ryan really had to stop training in the field so much.

  * * *

  When the Uber driver pulled up to my house, I paid him and he grunted in response. Not the friendliest of Uber drivers, but whatever. I wasn’t up for a chat, anyway. I was too concerned about whatever JoJo had been spouting when I’d left.

  “Just remember to fall.”

  I mean, let’s get real for a second. I fell all the time. I was clumsy, so her advice kind of sucked.

  Out of habit, I looked at Luke’s house and felt the burning urge to bang on his door. Maybe it was the amount of alcohol in my system, or the long cab ride to think about how I wished he’d been at the bar with me tonight, or maybe I was just tired of waiting around for him to make a move.

  I was the one who basically said we were over. But he was the one who said that bit about bending rules. I thought he meant he wanted to bend the rules for me.

  Maybe he didn’t know whether I wanted him to or not.

  But I did.

  I really, really did. I didn’t care anymore. I wasn’t just bending my rule, I was breaking it in half.

  I’m in love with a Marine and I don’t care who knows it!

  My fist hit his oak door three times, flesh pounding harder and harder with each knock. I tapped my heeled feet on his porch and bit the inside of my cheek. I even walked over to his front window to see if I could make anything out inside, but I couldn’t. It was completely dark.

  His car was parked out front, but he wasn’t answering. Was he sleeping? Maybe? I pounded again and again until my hand literally felt like it was going to fall off.

  “What the hell!” I yelled, pissed he wasn’t answering.

  I huffed and threw my hands on my hips.

  “This would be a really good time to answer your door, Luke!” I said aloud and then I heard a loud noise from the direction of my house.

  Coming from my porch.

  I stepped back and peered around the tree—there was Luke, staring directly at me.

  I yelled, “What the hell are you doing?!”

  “Waiting for you…” His voice held laughter but something else was lingering, too; I just couldn’t pinpoint it.

  “Oh.”

  I walked slowly, trying to control my hammering pulse. Should I just blurt it out? Just tell him that I wanted to throw my rules out the window and give in to him? Maybe I should go with the punch-line, “I love you?”

  Eek. Maybe that was too strong. He did say he wanted to marry me…but let’s face it, that was a total exaggeration. Right?

  “What…” I cleared my throat. “What are you doing?”

  “Well,” he said and he laughed.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  He smiled widely and looked away. “I came over here to see your reaction.”

  My shoulders fell but my heart rose. “Reaction to what?”

  He fanned his arms out toward my door and I held my breath. I was beyond excited that he had taken the time to prank me. I was right after all. Things were getting better. He and I were getting better.

  When I pushed open my door, my mouth fell to the fucking ground.

  I didn’t know if I should cry, laugh, kiss him, or punch him.

  Then it hit me.

  The memory came at me fast, the words burning in my brain.

  To: l.Wells.@global.mil.net

  From: sexynursecam@heta.com

  Subject: Thinking about it

  Body:

  I want some flowers or something romantic…and a ring. Then MAYBE I’ll consider being your wife… ; )

  P.S. Sunflowers are my favorite.

  What filled my entire house, every inch of it…were beaming yellow sunflowers. There were so many, I couldn’t even walk inside my door. They were all over the floor, in bouquets and vases, some even propped up on my entryway table and all the way onto my barely visible kitchen island.

  When I spun around and looked at Luke, he was biting his lower lip. Teetering it back and forth between his white teeth.

  I whispered, “This is the ultimate prank, Lucas Wells.” Then JoJo’s words finally made sense: “Just remember to fall.” That was what she’d said to me when I first started to fall for this perfect, steady, strong-willed man.

  I didn’t know it then, but nothing could keep me from falling for him.

  Not his bantering personality, his lewd comments, the pranks, the insults, nothing. Because Lucas Wells, Marine or not, was worth falling for. Every. Single. Time.

  “So what do ya say, Doc?” Luke was standing in front of me, his white t-shirt illuminating his tanned skin. The scar between his eyebrows stood out to me and I reached my hand up and traced my finger along it, feeling his warm breath on my face.

  “Rules are meant to be broken, right?” I asked, my mouth turning up at the corner.

  “Damn straight they are,” he answered, and then he placed his lips onto mine, pushing me against the door frame. I felt sunflower petals brush against my bare ankles as his hands cupped my face, intertwining in my wavy hair. A small sound escaped me.

  “This is my proposal, by the way,” he said when he removed his mouth from mine.

  My eyes snapped up from staring at his full lips. “What? I can’t marry you!” Heat crept onto my cheeks. “You are not proposing to me right now!”

  He only grinned.

  It was way too soon for all of that…I think.

  I looked down at his lips again. “We haven’t even had a real relationship. Ever.”

  He shrugged. “Who said it wasn’t real? Are there rules to defining relationships, Doc?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I mean… not really.”

  He kissed me again, his tongue sliding over mine. I pushed my body up against his, ready to put this conversation aside for another time.

  “Will you at least be my girlfriend?” He kissed me once more, deeper this time.

  I smirked. “I’ll think about it.”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “I knew early on that you were different. I just knew.”

  “Just knew what?” I asked, against his mouth.

  “That you’d be the one to break me. You’ve had a hold on me from the moment I met you, Cammie.”

  My breath was stolen away from me. “How could you know that? I thought you hated me in the beginning.”

  His throaty laugh rumbled against my chest. “I hated you because I knew you’d be the one to destroy me…in the best way possible.”

  I took a deep breath, feeling my heart attach itself to his. “So, you’ve always known?”

  “Mmhm. You’re different,” he mumbled against my mouth.

  I placed my hands on his head, kissing him deeply. Pulling back, I asked, “Well what took you so long?”

  He looked down at me, searching every inch of my face. “I was afraid.”

  My eyes squinted. “Of what?”

  “Of losing you.” He let out a small laugh. “And to think, I basically lost you before I even had you.”

  I reached up again and pecked him on the mouth. “I’m right here…as long as you don’t have any more women running around with your last name…”

  His mouth tw
itched. “The only woman that’ll have my last name is you.”

  I grinned, shaking my head. “Let’s talk later…” Then I pressed up against his solid body.

  He pulled back quickly. “Not until you tell me you’ll be my girlfriend.”

  I smiled. “I’ll be your girlfriend because I more than like-like you.”

  Luke’s arms eagerly went underneath my legs and he carried me all the way back to his house. I giggled the entire way.

  “When I’m through with you,” he stated, walking towards his bedroom, “You’ll be begging to be my wife.”

  And there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he was right.

  Epilogue

  The lights in Las Vegas were literally breathtaking. They sparkled and shined and glowed like a million fireflies. I think they got even brighter with each hour that ticked by. Coming to Las Vegas for JoJo’s bachelorette party was the best idea I had ever had, in my entire life. Besides being with Luke.

  We decided a few months ago—actually, let me rephrase that, Ryan and Luke decided a few months ago when they’d caught wind of our mini-vacation that they were coming with us. It wasn’t so much a bachelorette party anymore as a pre-wedding celebration between the four of us, which was fine. It was better that way. The guys were the ones who had to deal with JoJo and me being drunken, annoying (yet still hilarious and adorable) idiots, anyway.

  The first night we spent over five hundred dollars each at the casino. I won three dollars, which I put towards buying JoJo a bride-to-be drink. She won a thousand dollars, which she said was good luck for her and Ryan’s marriage.

  I wasn’t worried. They would be just fine. They’d been in love for ages and it only got stronger with each passing year.

  Luke and I still hadn’t talked much about getting married. He’d mentioned it a few times in passing but every time, I only laughed. He wasn’t giving up on that. Not yet, anyway. I mean, we basically lived with one another but we were still arguing over which house we wanted to live in permanently. I liked my house too much, and he was just plain stubborn, so we were still technically paying for both of our houses—although we definitely spent more time at mine.

  We were trying to con Ms. Deacon out of her house because it was much bigger, but she wouldn’t give it up. She said, and I quote, “I’m not giving up my house so you two kids can have sex in every room…”

  I mean, she wasn’t wrong, but it was hilarious to hear it come from an 80-year-old woman while she held two cats who looked like they belonged on a throne in Egypt.

  “What do you say, Doc?” Luke came up behind me and wrapped his strong arms around my tight, shimmery dress.

  The street was glowing and bustling with people. JoJo and Ryan went inside a very erotic-looking store to buy each other a sex toy. Don’t ask; they had this ridiculously long list of things they wanted to do on this trip and buying each other a sex toy was one of them.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, leaning my head back into Luke’s chest, smelling his cologne.

  He chuckled, “Stop sniffing me.”

  I laughed and shook my head no.

  “I mean,” Luke spun me around so I was looking up into his eyes. Then he nodded to something across the street. “What do you say? Are you ready yet?”

  When my eyes caught the giant, blinking, white and blue sign that read “Little Vegas Chapel—Where your dreams come true,” my heart went soaring.

  “Wait…what?” I turned my head back around and Luke was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Are you ready to marry me yet?”

  I knew my answer right away. Each month with him was better than the last. I fell more in love with him every single day, but…was it too soon? What would our parents think?

  Before I could overthink it, I said, “Yes.”

  His eyes snapped to mine. “Really?”

  I nodded vigorously. But then I eyed him, suspiciously. “Do you have a ring?”

  A smile overtook his face. My eyes almost fell out of my head when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, black velvet box.

  I gasped. “Luke! I was kidding!”

  He flipped the box open and my mouth parted, leaving me completely speechless. The ring was simple but breathtaking: it was a thin, silver band with a beautiful, sparkling, oval-shaped diamond placed in the center.

  I grabbed the box, feeling the velvet along my fingers. My heart beat wildly in my chest. I swallowed before bringing my tear-glistened eyes up to his. “When did you get this?”

  He looked down at the box in my hand. “About a month after you’d agreed to be my girlfriend.”

  I laughed and looked down at the diamond again. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

  I snapped the lid shut and handed it back to him. His smile fell and he crinkled his forehead as he slowly took it back.

  Then I shrugged while forming a grin on my face. “Let’s make this trip even more memorable.”

  He let out a huge breath while un-crinkling his forehead. “So…you’re in this for the long haul? Even if I get orders to move to Japan or Hawaii? You’re coming with me?” His green irises showed a small amount of fear.

  I rose my eyebrows. “Especially if it’s Hawaii. You’re my home, Luke.”

  Luke’s lips captured mine with a throaty growl, “Then let’s get hitched, baby!”

  I squealed and he grabbed my hand, pulling me across the busy street.

  Before we walked inside, he looked at me once more. “You’re serious, right? You’re really going to marry me?”

  I reached up on my tiptoes, placing a small kiss on his lips. “Yes. Now stop worrying, let’s go!”

  He grinned, and pulled me the rest of the way in.

  After getting everything settled, I was ushered towards a back room that was tackier than all get-out—but that only made the experience that much better. I’d never considered myself to be a traditional type of girl, anyway. This was right. I could feel it all the way in bones. My face had literally begun to hurt after smiling so much for the last twenty minutes.

  Life with Luke was anything but ordinary. We were completely unorthodox. But, that’s why I loved us so much.

  “Wear this one!” JoJo exclaimed.

  She was over the freaking moon. As soon as Luke had texted Ryan, he and JoJo had come running through the door holding hot pink shopping bags with a very inappropriate logo on the front.

  She kept chanting, “I knew this would happen! I knew it!” Then she’d blurt, “Look at her ring, Ryan! Look!” Luke and I just laughed even harder.

  “That looks perfect,” I whispered, feeling butterflies whizz throughout my stomach. JoJo held up an ivory, lace dress that several other women had probably worn before me, but I didn’t care. I shimmied out of my gold, sequined dress and pulled the gown over my head. Its silk fabric slid down my body quickly, and JoJo buttoned up the back.

  Fiddling with the buttons, she paused. “Wait.”

  I waited as she unbuttoned the dress again, and then unclasped my bra. It slid off my shoulders and I threw it to the ground, where it fell swiftly to land beside my discarded dress. Once I was buttoned up and JoJo had adjusted the gown, a smile overtook her face.

  She stepped aside and my heart skipped a beat.

  Even though I was in a dingy, barely-lit dressing room with generic wedding photos of smiling couples lining the walls, I had never felt more right in my entire life.

  My hazel eyes shined with happiness, my cheeks were flushed with excitement. My hair could probably have looked better, but the overall effect was perfect. The ivory-colored dress hugged all my curves with its silky material, and a small bit of lace outlined the deep v that stopped just a few inches below my sternum. I looked like a bride, and I was about to marry one of the best men who had ever walked this earth.

  “If Ryan and I didn’t already pay a shit-ton for our wedding in a few months, I would totally do this, too.”

  “You still can! No one has to know that you two are alr
eady married when you have your real wedding.”

  She smirked and I could already see her wheels turning.

  “Are you ready, bride?” A shorter lady with curly hair and eyes lined in electric blue popped her head into the dressing room.

  I nodded my head enthusiastically, and she handed me the bouquet of light pink flowers I had picked out.

  JoJo grabbed my arm and led me down the narrow, hot pink hallway and before I knew it, we were at the altar, which was brimming with fake flowers.

  Luke appeared just seconds later and I squealed. He threw his head back and laughed at my high-pitched noise, but not before his eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face.

  He was wearing an Elvis-like tux with ruffles in the front and a small, blue bow tie just underneath his chin. His emerald eyes shined radiantly at me, and I could have sworn I saw tears glistening in them.

  Before the ceremony even started, I walked over to him and kissed him softly on the mouth.

  “I love you, Luke.”

  He smiled against my lips. “I know.”

  I smacked him playfully on the chest before he grabbed my wrists tightly. “I love you so much, Cammie.” Then he kissed me again, but this time I could feel the love flowing into my heart.

  Where it would stay, for the rest of my life.

  Epilogue Two

  (because, there’s just more to tell!)

  “Don’t you dare hang up, Doc.”

  “I won’t,” I groaned at the same time that the real doctor agreed, too. I laughed, barely. It was hard to laugh when you were in the most pain you had ever experienced in your entire life.

  My core was aching; sweat was dripping down the side of my face. My mom’s hand was in mine and I squeezed the life out of it.

  I looked at Luke’s face through the phone and I could tell he was driving like a mad-man to get here.

  Three months into my pregnancy, Luke had to deploy. I know, go figure. We had just moved to California on his new orders when I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Over the moon was an understatement.

  Our families were pissed when they found out that we had eloped, but when we told them not even a year later that we were expecting, they forgot all about being mad. Luke’s mom cried over and over again when we told her she’d be a grandma, and she has sent us so many gifts that I’ve lost count. She and Luke’s younger brother flew in on a red-eye last night when I went into labor.