by Brooke May
I continue to cry, barely paying any mind to everyone talking around me. That is until I feel Marissa’s little hands on my bare legs. “Mommy?”
I pull back just enough to look down at her when Fiona lets out her own startled gasp. “Come here.” I pick her up and turn to Fiona. “Marissa, I would like you to meet the lady who raised me.”
“Like you mommy?”
I look at Fiona, who is trying to wipe her own tears away and is shaking at the sight of my daughter. “Yeah, like my mommy.”
Marissa wipes my eyes and looks at Fiona. She doesn’t even question if she is really my mom or not, especially since our skin tone is so different. I’m basically pale even though I’m tan now, and Fiona is a beautiful dark caramel. Marissa smiles brightly at Fiona before reaching for her. “Hi, Grandma.”
“Oh!” Fiona cries and wraps her arms around the both of us. “You, sweet little girl!” She places a kiss on Marissa’s cheek and repeats the same with me. “I’ve missed you so much, baby doll,” she cries.
“I’ve missed you, too,” I whisper, laying my head on her shoulder and just basking in the honey smell that I missed.
“Baby doll?” Marissa’s lips pucker, and her brows furrow. “Mommy call me that.”
Fiona smiles warmly. “That’s what I called your mommy when she was growing up. She looked like a little doll to me.”
“And you’re my little doll, Marissa.” She beams at the both of us. I turn my head and find Chamberlain leaning against the back of the couch, arms crossed, and one of his thumbs rubbing back and forth on his bottom lip.
“Thank you,” I mouth to him. He has given me my family back.
With a sad smile, he nods. I turn back into Fiona’s embrace and sigh in relief.
XOXO
“YOUR PARENTS HAD someone watching you for a while, and that same person was watching the house after they left that night.” Fiona sets a kettle of tea between us. After the tears had dried, Chamberlain and Scott said they had to run an errand and left Fiona, Marissa, and me to talk. Marissa settled into a spot next to me and was coloring. “They fired me when I got back from my sister’s for keeping things from them. I didn’t, as you know. They claimed I knew about your pregnancy. I admitted I had a feeling but wasn’t certain.”
“I wish I had known.”
“I do too. When I came back, I rushed to your room when I saw your car was home and found your room empty of everything. They wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“Did you tell Chamberlain that I came to his fight?”
“K.C., I didn’t know you went. After I had packed my belongings up, I tracked him down. Neither of us knew what happened to you. That poor boy tried everything to find you.”
“And I was sent away angry and hurting.” I feel ashamed.
“Stop that!” Fiona scolds. “That Gwen girl was something; I’ll tell you that.” She shakes her head.
“When did you start working for Chamberlain?”
“Right away. We thought we should stay close in case we ever found you. It took four years, but I’m glad he finally found you. I was so worried about you.”
“I was with my aunt and her partner. They helped me raise Marissa until today.” I lean down and run a hand over Marissa’s head; she doesn’t even look up at me.
“We were really worried they did something to you. We all know how cruel they were toward you.”
“I knew before I was ever pregnant that I would never treat my children the way I was.”
“You are doing great, baby doll. She’s beautiful and happy. She’s got a great mommy.”
“Thank you.” I choke on the emotion.
“And now, she has her daddy, too.” Fiona pats my hand. “She is so precious, K.C. She looks just like you did when you were little.”
“You think?” I have some clues from the pictures I scanned onto my computer years ago and put onto a jump drive I managed to pack when I left, but I never really thought Marissa looked like me. She is uniquely her.
“Minus her eyes, she’s a copy of you.”
“I ...” I really don’t know what to say.
“I’ll show you some of the pictures I have once we get back to Boston. I have albums full of you.” Fiona sips on her tea.
“You do?” I never realized Fiona took pictures of me growing up. I remember a few pictures my mother had taken, but the rest were professional.
“Who else was going to keep track of you growing up?”
“True.” I sip on my tea. “Where are you living?”
“At Chamberlain’s warehouse; the second floor is divided into two apartments. One side is Scott’s, and the other is mine.”
“Chamberlain mentioned something about that …”
“He did it in the hopes of finding you someday. The third floor is his, and it is breathtaking.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he is already working on decorating the ultimate princess room for Marissa.”
“Probably.” I laugh at the thought. Chamberlain has taken to his role as Marissa’s dad like I dreamed he would. He is all about his little girl.
I look back at Fiona when her hand finds mine again. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get you away from them, K.C.” Tears threaten to fall from her eyes.
“We can’t help the hand that is drawn for us in life. You couldn’t help what happened to your husband or daughter, and I couldn’t really help having parents like the ones I have.”
“No excuse. We should have just left after you turned eighteen and never looked back.”
“I would have never found Chamberlain or had Marissa then.”
Fiona opens her mouth to say something but stops when the guys come in.
“Daddy!” Marissa jumps off the stool and runs straight to her dad and jumps into his arms.
“Done with your errands?” I ask. Fiona smiles and starts to shuffle around in the kitchen. “Let me help, please?”
“As if I could refuse your help?” She smiles warmly at me.
Chamberlain walks over with Marissa on one shoulder and a paper bag in his opposite hand. “Sure did.” He finally answers me, setting down the bag and Marissa next to it on the counter.
“What’s ya got, Daddy?” Marissa tries to peek into the bag, but Chamberlain pulls it away.
“We are going to do a lot of fun things this week between my meeting, interviews, and fight.” He taps her on the nose.
“What about Mommy?”
Chamberlain looks up at me.
Oh, the predator eyes.
“Mommy will be with us. Did you pack swimsuits?”
“Yes,” I confirm.
“The black and white one from the other day?” His eyes grow darker.
“It’s the only one I own.”
“I pink one, Daddy!” Marissa dances in her seat, turning his attention back to her.
“Really?”
“Yes. We goin’ to the beach?”
“Of course, but not for a couple of days.”
“Oh.” She pouts.
“Tomorrow, I need to do some training. Mommy and Uncle Scott are going to go with me. I thought you could make some goodies with Fiona. That way we have snacks while we are here. It’s a big job. Are you the girl for it?”
“Yes!”
“All right. I have one more question.” He squints and holds up a single, thick finger. “Who is your favorite Disney princess? Elsa? Anna?”
“Silly Daddy! Too girly.” She giggles.
“Who is your favorite then?” I love watching this exchange.
“Merida!”
“Who?”
“The princess from Brave,” I answer him.
“Really?” I nod. “She does?”
“She is a little tomboy. Yes, she dances and does girly things, but she is more of a tomboy.” I shrug. I love her how she is. I’m actually grateful for it; she won’t be like her aunt.
“All right.” He looks in his bag. “
Looks like I need to go find a different dress.”
I grab the bag away and look inside to find an Elsa dress and an Anna dress. “Chamberlain, these look …”
“Beautiful?” He grins.
“I was going with expensive.”
“Anything for my little girl.” He rubs Marissa’s head before placing her on the ground for her to go play. He rounds the counter and wraps me in his arms. “And same for my woman.” He kisses my temple. “Anything you want Katie, it’s yours.”
I turn in his arms and place my hands on his chest. “Your heart?”
His look smolders me. “It’s been yours for years, baby.” He pulls me flush against him as his lips descend to mine. His kiss isn’t anything more than to reassure me of his feelings for me. It is powerful yet sweet, and it still consumes me, making me tingle from head to toe for him. A dull ache slowly grows between my legs. I break the kiss and move to help Fiona. I don’t want to push us too fast.
Chamberlain kisses my shoulder. “You’re sharing a bed with me tonight.” I shiver at the promise behind his voice.
Chapter Nineteen
Katie
MY LOWER STOMACH coils tightly when I crawl into the bed I’m sharing with Chamberlain this whole week. Marissa is cuddled into the bed right next door to us, sound asleep. Scott is across the hall in one room, and Fiona is next door to him. As happy as I am that I have them back in my life, I still miss Beth, Jackie, and Karmin. This is both my and Marissa’s first time away from the place we called home.
“She’s out.” Chamberlain closes the bedroom door behind him and starts to remove his shirt and shorts. The butterflies I feel intensify at the sight of his fine muscular body. His obliques are far more defined than they used to be, along with his abs, the rest of his upper body, and even down to his legs.
“You okay?” He frowns when I don’t break eye contact with his chest and more importantly, the tattoo on his chest that now holds another name.
Marissa.
He added our daughter, only days after knowing about her, to his chest with my name. He pulls the covers back on his side, the same side he slept on in his bed back at his apartment when I stayed with him, and slides in.
The bed sags, dropping immensely with his added weight. I pull my arms away from my legs as I lie down with him. “I’m a little nervous,” I tell him honestly; he would know if I’m lying.
He comes closer to me, holding out an arm for me to lie down on him in my spot. “Come here.” I crawl over to him and lay my head down. This king-size bed is massive, even with him in it.
“What are you nervous about?” The gentle giant runs his fingers through my loose hair.
“Us.” I take a deep breath. “Everything.”
He pulls me tightly against his chest; I relax when I hear the steady beat of his heart. “You have nothing to worry about, Katie.”
“You know my dad is running for president, right?”
“Unfortunately,” he mutters but continues to soothe me with his fingers in my hair.
“I’m worried about the media finding me, and worse, Marissa, while digging through things to get to my father.” I trace circles on his chest.
“I won’t let them get to you or Marissa.” He plants a kiss on my forehead, his lips searing my skin.
“You can’t control the media, Chamberlain.”
He moves to his side so he can look at me better. “I know one way to fix all of that.”
“How?” I cuddle closer and close my eyes. My anxiety about being in bed with him again is dissipating. It feels right as his warm body heat encapsulates me.
“We get married.” Chamberlain’s calm, collected voice jerks me right out of my content state.
I push away from his chest. “What?” I laugh nervously.
He can’t be serious!
“Chamberlain ... we’ve only ...” I release a haggard breath. “I would love ... but not yet...” I look around at nothing, wide-eyed, and I. Just. Don’t. Know.
“I’m completely serious, Katie.” He reaches over me and down to the floor where his shorts are, trapping me against his nearly naked body. “I’ve been carrying this for four years now.” He comes back, rolling off me, and I see a white velvet box in his hands.
I gasp because how else am I supposed to react to this.
“I knew the week I left for the first fight that you were the one.” He kisses my nose. “I bought this in the hopes of asking you to marry me sometime that summer.” He opens the box. A tiny diamond ring sits in there, looking as lonely as the person who bought it. The light from the lamp catches it just right and shines before me. “You wouldn’t be K.C. Cunningham but Katie Lawrence. I would protect you and our daughter from any harm.”
“Chamberlain.” I breathe his name, peeling my eyes from the beautiful ring to look up at his handsome face. “You’re serious?”
He nods. “I’ve never been more serious in my life. I have kept myself from all others in the hope of finding you one day.” He places a kiss on my right cheek. “You are the only person I want to marry.” A kiss on my left cheek. “You are the only one I want a life with and to have more kids with. I want to give you the family you’ve always wanted.” His lips ghost across mine.
He pulls back to focus on my eyes. His are predatory while mine well with tears of happiness. He pulls the ring out and gently, shakenly, pushes it onto my ring finger and kisses the top of my hand.
“Chamberlain.” My chest tightens, and my nipples tingle; he pulls me up against his chest roughly. I’m hungry; hungrier that I’ve ever been for him.
I reach up and thread my fingers in his hair. My lips seal with his in an all-devouring kiss. Chamberlain runs his hand down my side until it is hooked behind my knee and hikes my leg up over his hip …
“Mommy!” Marissa runs into our room, crying, and jumps on the bed, breaking between Chamberlain and me. She burrows herself into my chest but grabs her daddy’s hand to pull it over her.
“What’s the matter, baby?” I ask her as she continues to cling to me.
“Room scary,” she cries. I look up at Chamberlain. He looks very uncomfortable, but he nods his head in answer to my unasked question. “You can sleep with Daddy and me tonight, okay? Daddy will keep us safe.”
“Willy?” Her tear-stained face looks up from my chest at me and then behind to Chamberlain.
He smiles at her and kisses her head. “Of course, I will always protect you.” I roll over and shut off the light and then cuddle back into Chamberlain’s arms with Marissa tucked tightly between us. When their quiet, steady breathing comes, I lay awake, transfixed on the ring on my finger, and smile. He still wants me, I still love him, and I plan to marry him … soon.
XOXO
Me: How is everything?
Beth: Sucks =( Haven’t found a job.
Me: =( We miss you.
Beth: I miss you, too.
Me: Have you tried all the schools?
Beth: Yes, but no one needs anything in sports med right now.
Me: Poo!
Beth: Agreed …
Me: Bob still bugging you?
Beth: Yes, he won’t leave me alone. I want to run away.
Me: Run to me!
Beth: There’s an idea.
Me: I’ll call you later, okay?
Beth: OK
I set down my phone and look back up at the makeshift ring in the hotel gym. Chamberlain is shadow boxing while Scott is gone. We got up extra early this morning to get training done before our meeting with the league coordinator.
Marissa was still asleep in bed when we got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed out. I have no worries about her when she gets up because she has taken to Fiona so well. I smile at how she calls Fiona Grandma, and I know it thrills Fiona. It is something she never thought she would get in life, and I’m glad she has it with my daughter.
“Do you need someone to spar with while you wait for Scott?” I walk up to the ring and fold my arms. I finished my worko
ut a half-hour ago, and now, I’m bored. I haven’t hit anything in a few days.
Chamberlain drops his hands and peers down at me. “Are you offering, panda?” His dimple pops out when he grins, making me want to wipe it right off with one of my hooks.
I walk around to where the tape and my bag are since I remembered to pack my own gloves. I stare blankly at Chamberlain while I tape up my hands and put on my black and white Everlast gloves. His grin slowly fades as I hop into the ring with him.
“Nervous about getting your butt kicked, stud?” I boxer shuffle back and forth; my ponytail swings with my movements.
“What are you doing?” I flash him my own grin when I put my mouth guard in. His blue eyes fill with surprise and wonder. Instead of answering him, I rush in and deliver him a high roundhouse kick, which he quickly reacts and blocks my leg like it was nothing. I know this isn’t his fighting style, but it makes it fun for the both of us.
When I draw back, Chamberlain rushes to put his mouth guard in and continues to block me as I come at him over and over again with different kicks and punches.
“What the fuck?” Scott’s voice echoes through the gym and over “Black Betty” by Ram Jam on the sound system. Chamberlain must have thought I would back off once Scott came back because he drops his arms and looks at his friend when my right hook comes swinging and catches him right on the chin.
He stumbles back a couple of steps before he catches himself and looks at me in complete surprise. “Shit.” He rips off one of his gloves and rubs his chin. “Damn, Katie.” He opens his mouth and moves his jaw around. “That’s …” He shakes his head and walks back to me.
I smile proudly around my mouth guard and bounce up and down on the balls of my feet.
“Where did you learn to kickbox?” Chamberlain runs his gloveless hand down the side of my face.
I pull my guard out. “Beth and I kind of bonded over it after I had Marissa. It gave me a rush and was a great post-partum workout.”
God, I miss Beth.
I frown at the thought. This is the longest I’ve gone without seeing her. I also feel bad; she has no one outside my aunts, Marissa, and myself.