Lost and Found

by Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough

  "What? Are you serious? Twins? Do you know how cool this is? I hope it’s boys. No. Girls. No. How about a little brother for me and a little sister for Eden. Oh, I don't care! Two babies? Oh my God! I can't breathe, I'm so excited!"

  The whole room broke out in laughter. Gideon always talks so fast when he's excited and it’s hard to catch up with what all he's saying at once. Eden is just sitting there, quietly smiling and reaches her hand out in front of my stomach.

  "You have two babies in there? Can I feel your bewy?"

  "Of course you can, sweetheart." I grab her hand and put it over my abdomen. "You won't be able to feel them for another couple of months, but anytime you want to feel them just let me know, okay?"

  "Okay. I want a wittle sister." This has me laughing, but she has such a serious face when she said it, I immediately stop laughing.

  "Alright, Eden. I'll see what I can do, okay?" She nods her head and smiles at my belly and sits down next to me and Cash, and I notice Cash is staring at me with the biggest grin on his face.

  "Why are you grinning at me like that, Mr. Kingston?" I lean over Eden to put my hand on his shoulder and start playing with the collar of his jacket.

  "Because I'm very happy, Mrs. Kingston. Are you as happy as the contented look that I see on your face?"

  "Oh, indeed I am. I'm so glad that we opted to not rush around and have to leave and go anywhere. Honeymoon at the house, while the grandparents watch the kids? It's a good thing you didn't take me up on the idea I had about staying at The Plaza."

  Eden gets distracted and goes over to disrupt Claudia and Caleb's conversation, asking Caleb to swing her around like an airplane, so Cash moves closer to me and pulls me next to him.

  "You didn't realize what a smart man you were marrying? Now, Mrs. Kingston. Whatever am I going to do with you? I knew that my bride would be too tired for anything more than what we have planned, which includes dining and bowling and honeymooning in the suite on the top floor. I even had Carmen fill up the tub, so that we can take full advantage of the room."

  A nice long bath with the man I love sounds really good right now and I can't wait until the entertaining is over, because he's right, I'm already absolutely worn out. The babies seem to be zapping the life out of me.

  "Oh, that sounds wonderful! I can't wait and yes, I knew exactly how smart you were. I mean come on, not only did we hit the jackpot when we met, but look around this room at all of the people that we love and love us back. I've never felt so much love in one room in my whole life."

  He looks around the room slowly and looks back at me with tears in his eyes and he leans over and kisses me.

  "It's all because of you, my Angel. It's all because of you, and I thank God every day that I have the rest of my life to thank him for it. I love you, Mrs. Kingston."

  I pull him on top of me right there in front of everyone on the couch and kiss him harder, which has Gideon giggling and before you know it everyone is laughing along with him.

  "And I love you back, Mr. Kingston, and you better not ever forget it!"

  ********************

  Cash blindfolded me after we said our goodbyes to everyone, as we got onto the elevator to go to the top floor that everyone is now calling the Honeymoon Suite. The kids begged us to let them spend the night with us, but Caleb and Claudia were quick enough to distract them into more bowling with them.

  Before he put the blindfold on me, I hugged our parents’ goodbye and both of our moms started crying again, because they were so happy for us. I can tell that my parents moving out here is going to be a good thing for everyone involved, because they have become instant friends with Amelia and Gideon Sr.

  Claudia was just as happy as I was about them moving here, because they have adopted her into their hearts as one of their own children. My parents are already on her about giving them more grandkids, which had Cash and I cracking up. If they only knew the predicament that she has put herself into.

  We finally arrive at the top floor and I've noticed that Cash is no longer standing by me, but I can feel how excited he is because he can't seem to stand still.

  "Okay. Don't you dare peak, alright?" I absolutely hate surprises, but he thoroughly enjoys them and loves to see my reaction every time he surprises me.

  "Okay. I'm not peaking, but would you please hurry up! You're going to cause me have a panic attack!" He grabs my hand and leads me off of the elevator and guides me into the room.

  "Okay. Here we go. I'm taking the blindfold off now, but don't open your eyes until I tell you to okay?"

  "Okay. I promise, I won't." He takes the blindfold off and gives me a sweet soft kiss on the lips and then I hear him walk a few steps away and then stop.

  "Okay. You can open your eyes now, Sweetheart."

  I open my eyes and the room looks like it has been turned into a fairyland. There are dozens of artificial trees with lights on them, along with tons of flower bouquets of lavender and roses of every color. The floor is covered in rose petals that lead to the bed. I look towards the bathtub and there are thousands of rose petals of every color floating in the water.

  I walk further into the room along the path that he's made and there are more on top of the bed and he has arranged them into our initials with a heart surrounding them in more petals.

  "Oh, Cash. It's so beautiful! How did you have the time to do all of this?"

  "Oh, I had some help from our moms and Caleb and Claudia, but what I really want you to see is over here along this wall. I really hope you like it and I didn't make a mistake with my idea. If you don't like it, I'll take it all down and we will deal with it when you're ready."

  "Okay. Now you're making me nervous. Why wouldn't I like anything that you've done for me?" He reaches his hand out to me to follow him and I take it.

  "Just trust me, okay? Come. I'll show you what I'm talking about." I grab his hand and he leads me towards the living area part where the big screen TV is. He turns on the light and my breath catches at the sight before me. I cannot believe that he's done this! He managed to do something for me that I haven't had the strength to do myself and I'm completely in shock.

  "Well? Was it to presumptuous of me to believe that you were ready for this?"

  Somehow he and Claudia had gone through my storage building and every one of my favorite pictures of Derek and the kids and family pictures that we had taken through the years are on this wall. School photos, sports pictures, candid photos that I took on my own that have been blown up and some that Claudia had taken of the kids.

  I look around the room and there is another wall that has pictures of Cash and Vanessa and some of her and Gideon. They're both memory walls and they are absolutely beautiful. I didn't realize that I was crying, until he said something.

  "Oh, Liv. I'm sorry. I didn't want you to cry. I'll take it all down. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted a place for you in this house to come look at them anytime you wanted to in private. It was Claudia's idea to make the memory wall for Vanessa and I can take that down too."

  "No. It's perfect! I'm not crying because it's made me sad. I'm crying because it's such an honor to them and lets me know that they're not forgotten. Thank you so much! You and Claudia did something that I just never had the strength to do and I appreciate it so much! It's beautiful, Cash. Really beautiful!"

  He walks up to me and pulls me into his arms and holds me and we both stand like that for a few minutes just wrapped in each other’s love and enjoying the moment.

  "I'm so glad you like it. Your mom made a comment yesterday when we got back that the house needed a more feminine touch in the living room and that we needed pictures of the kids in there. When she mentioned how your house had pictures everywhere of your kids, I just knew that I had to do this as part of your wedding gift. I want you to take some of them downstairs and put some in our bedroom and living room. You can put all of them in there if you want."

  "My wedding gift? Oh, Cash! It's been so crazy I hadn
't even thought about getting you a wedding gift! I'm so sorry"

  "Oh, sweetheart. There's nothing you could have given me that I need more than you. Don't you realize that? You're my gift. But I do have a couple more gifts for you, if you will sit down on the couch with me. They're on the coffee table."

  "More gifts? Cash, you're spoiling me way too much! Now I really feel bad." He chuckled and led me over to the couch and picked up an envelope and a wrapped box. He handed me the little box and held on to the envelope.

  "Here. I want you to open this one first." I sit down and realize that I'm still wearing my wedding dress, so I kick off my shoes and pull my legs up underneath me and scoot over as close as I can get to him and open the box. I start crying again when I realize what it is. It's a mother's ring with 5 stones on it.

  "Oh my God! It's beautiful! I don't even know what to say!" "I don't know what I'm going to do with you! This is our wedding night and you've got me bawling like crazy.”

  "I designed it myself and I had them put the stones in according to age. Jordan, Jeremiah, Gideon, Jenna and Eden and I made sure to make room for the twins’ stones. Do you really like it? I put all of their initials on the inside of the band." I don't have any words, because it's the most beautiful piece of jewelry that I've ever seen.

  “Of course I love it, and I'll never take it off. How did I get so lucky to find you? You amaze me more and more every day."

  "Oh, I beg to differ, because I'm definitely the lucky one. I love spoiling you, because you never ask for anything and you're so easy to please."

  "Are you saying I'm easy? Haha. I'm just kidding. Thank you so much. For loving me... For giving me two beautiful children plus the two we've created. For your faith and trust that everything will be okay. For everything! I love you so much and today is one of the happiest days of my life!"

  "Aw, Liv! You make me so happy that sometimes I think my chest could burst open, because there's not enough room to hold my heart that keeps continuing to grow from all of this love I have for you. I do have one more present for you and I know you're going to cry, because you're right, we should be happy right now and not crying. I hate to see you cry."

  "But happy cries are better than sad cries, so give it to me! Come on, what's in the envelope?" He put the envelope on the coffee table and puts his arms around me and pulls me into an embrace.

  "I'm just going to tell you what it is instead of have you open it and try to figure it out, okay? This is something that I've been working on since Eden's birthday and I finally got it finalized."

  "Um. Okay. But this is something that's going to make me happy, but cry?"

  "Yes. I believe it will, but I know that you're going to love what I've done."

  "Okay, I trust you. So, what did you do?"

  "Well, do you remember when you got your hair cut on the day of Eden's birthday party? You said something that day that made me come up with this."

  I think back to that day and I can't for the life of me remember what I could have said that might cause him to give me a wedding present.

  "Okay. And?"

  "Well, you made the comment that you were cutting the last link that you had to Derek and the kids and it really broke my heart for you, because even though I lost Vanessa, I still have Gideon and Eden as my last two links to her. Are you following me so far?" Oh my god! What has he done? I know it can't be a bad thing whatever it is, but I feel tears coming already.

  "Yes. What did you do? You're killing me here. Just spit it out. Please."

  "Okay, I called Gideon's school asking if they had a scholarship fund for kids that want to go to their school, but can't afford it and they said that they have a ton of kids that beg to go. Occasionally, they get an anonymous donor every once in a while that will pay for a year or two for someone to go there, but they usually don't follow through with it. I don't know if you realize it or not, but I pay $25,000 a year for Gideon to go to that private school of his and when he hits middle school, it will go up and will go up again when he hits high school."

  "So, you're going to start a scholarship fund? That's great, honey! What a great idea."

  "Well, yes... I am, but it's going to be a memorial scholarship fund. I've named it the Triple J Porter Memorial Scholarship Fund, in honor of Jordan, Jeremiah and Jenna. I'm giving you the option of what three kids you want the scholarships to go to every year. It will pay for everything they need for whoever you pick for as long as they go to that school. It will pay for their tuition, uniforms, and school supplies, sporting equipment if they want to play sports or band instruments if they want to join the band or whatever else they need to go to that school."

  "Cash. I don't know what to say. Just knowing that you've just given my babies a way for their names to carry on means the world to me. To be able to help other kids that deserve to go there when they can't afford it? Oh, honey! Thank you so much! You're right! It does make me happy and these are definitely happy tears on my face."

  "Oh, Liv. I can handle happy tears and I'm so glad that you love what I did. I thought about putting Derek's name in there somewhere, but Claudia thought that honoring the kids since it is a school would be the best way to handle it. I have also started a memorial fund in honor of Vanessa at Oregon State and I could do the same for Derek at the college he went to, if you want me to."

  "No, you don't have to do that. Claudia's right. I like the way you set it up, so leave it the way that it is."

  "Okay, but if you change your mind, all you have to do is let me know. I'm sorry to say this, but that's it. I don't have anything else for you. No more surprises." He pulls me onto his lap and starts nuzzling my neck. "Lavender. God, Liv. You always smell so amazing."

  "Cash. Honey. Can I ask you a question?" I rain him with kisses all over his face and start giggling.

  "Yes, you can ask me anything, but why are you laughing?" Now I've got him giggling like crazy.

  "I'm just so happy. And um, really ready to get our honeymoon started so that I can SHOW you how happy I am. If you catch my meaning. Can we start in the bathtub? It looks like it could be a lot of fun."

  He picks me up and starts carrying me to the bathtub, while unbuttoning his shirt. I didn't realize how well he could multitask, so I started helping him while laughing my head off.

  "OH MY GOD, Mrs. Kingston! I love it when you talk dirty to me. This is going to be the best night of your life, I can assure you."

  He put me down when we reached the tub and in less than a minute we are both naked and standing in front of each other. I walk up next to him and we are chest to chest. I graze his nipple with my teeth and run my fingers up his abs.

  "What are you going to do to me, Mr. Kingston?"

  "Oh, there will be screaming, I promise you. By the time I'm done with you, you're not going to remember your name. Get in the tub before I throw you in there."

  I step into the tub and slowly walk to the center of it, turn around and curl my finger at him to join me, and he growled at me as he got into the tub. Oh, the wondrous feeling I get at having power over him with that one simple gesture.

  When he reached me he kissed me so passionately and held me so tight, I thought my bones were going to break. Yes. This is definitely going to be the best night of my life!

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  *5 months later

  Walking back to my bed after going to the bathroom for the 100th time, which caused me to not get any sleep, has me jealous of my gorgeous husband as he peacefully slumbers in our bed. He must have sensed my jealousy as soon as I reached the bed, because he rose up rather quickly.

  "Oh, God. I'm sorry. I fell asleep, didn't I? I told you to wake me up when you have to go to the bathroom, so that I can help you."

  "Honey, I know I'm waddling like a duck right now and slow at that, but I can still manage to go to the bathroom by myself. Plus you needed to get some sleep, because I know how wore out you are."

  "Oh I'll be okay, but Sweetheart, you are on bed rest an
d I would rather carry you to the bathroom, so that you don't have to be on your feet for very long." The doctor never said that I couldn't walk myself to the bathroom. Yes, she did put me on bed rest, but told me that going to the bathroom was fine as long as that was all I did, but he insists on carrying me every time.

  "Cash, if I get any bigger, you're not going to be able to pick me up! I'm surprised you haven't pulled your back out as big as I've gotten! Look at me! I think my ass is the size of a barn door!" He scooted closer to me and pulled me into his arms.

  "There is absolutely nothing wrong with your ass! And as far as my back goes, I don't care how big you get; I'll carry you around everywhere, if I have to! I don't want you putting any added stress on your body and have the babies come before they should. Just wake me up next time, okay?"

  There's no point in arguing with him because he will kill himself I know to make sure that the babies and I are okay. I never knew that anyone could love me as much as he does which causes me to start crying.

  "I know you're just trying to protect me and I appreciate it, but I just worry about you doing too much for us and hurting yourself. I don't deserve you!"

  "Honey? Why are you crying? Come here and let me rub your back. Are you hurting anywhere? I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I truly don't deserve you! Please don't cry, Sweetheart. I can't handle it when you cry, because it makes me feel so helpless when you do."

  "I'm sorry. I think it's just hormones and I feel so huge and these babies are constantly kicking me. And I'm so tired, because I'm constantly going to the bathroom. I can't even leave this room and I think I've read every book that's in your library these past couple of months! I'm so depressed that the highlight of my day is screaming at the TV, while Maury Povich is on when those crazy women get on there swearing that he's the father, when 99.9% of the time he's not!" For some reason this had him laughing at me, which caused me to cry harder and hide my face in his chest.