Carmen wanted to take him to the beach within a few hours, but Nick explained that he needed a round of shots before we could take him for walks. It would be a couple more weeks, but we’d have a lot of fun with him inside. She decided that he could go into her bedroom and playroom, with a warning that she needed to keep an eye on him.
Mom cooked a ham for dinner along with several sides with the help of Rebecca and me. I sensed that Nick wanted to spend a lot of time with Carmen, given that this was her first Christmas without her mom. She seemed to be happy, but even I knew that she had to miss Melanie. He was up in her room with the dog setting up toys for Carmen while I heard him telling Cocoa to stay out of something from time to time.
I got some lovely gifts from everyone as well as having a great time shopping for them. Boston seemed like another lifetime as I celebrated the love in my life now even though it was just months ago, that I came back to California. My room on the third floor was still set up for me, and I brought the items up there as I looked around slowly. I had vague ideas for this room now that I was sleeping nightly in Nick’s room, such as a reading room or an office for me. The loft would be great with a TV and some couches just so Carmen would have a place for when she was older, and I walked to the window to look over the ocean for a moment.
This room needed to be enjoyed somehow if I wasn’t living here. It might be a good guest room for Rebecca rather that the second floor one near Carmen’s room. My mind wandered as I thought ahead to having more kids and even Rebecca doing the same. This house was big enough for that and I turned to leave, heading to the lower floor to check in on my loves.
It was the year to the day that I arrived that Nick proposed to me on the beach near our home, with Carmen and Cocoa a few feet away from us. I was divorced and happier than I’d ever been and I dropped to the sand to hug him as I screamed that I would marry him. By this time, Rebecca, and Ryan, the hockey player were living together and headed in the same direction. I adored them together and knew that Nick did too, even when he teased his sister.
We planned the wedding for the upcoming Fall in a beautiful chapel that offered a gorgeous view of the ocean and would protect us from any inclement weather if necessary. Carmen was going to be the flower girl while Rebecca would stand in for me, and Nick selected one of the guys that he worked closely with and respected deeply. We also started talking about my stopping all birth control so we could try for a baby or two in the next year. Nick loved to joke that he was getting older and I just wanted to expand the family.
I knew that Sean was a father now and I was happy for him. I wished him well and knew that I found the man I was supposed to be in a place that I was probably never meant to leave in the first place. I didn’t look back with any regret, though. I had Carmen because of the delay.
I kept the wedding small and intimate, only inviting close friends and our little family to watch as we exchanged our vows. My dress was cream colored and hung over my curves in a straight line, with sweet cap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. It dragged behind me in a silky train, and Nick looked like he wanted to eat me alive as I walked towards him. He was equally edible in a tuxedo, and his tousled hair arranged messily on his head as I stared into his beautiful eyes.
He spoke to me in a hushed voice as his written words moved through my heart and soul, making the tears slide down my cheeks as my mother cried in the front row. I had some of my own, telling Nick that he was everything that I ever wanted in a partner before we kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
I wore the wedding set that Mom had gotten at her own wedding, cleaned, and sparkling on my left hand. We left the chapel to go to a nearby restaurant that was closed for our party, dancing the night away in between a delicious meal and a lot of drinks. The people in town were initially surprised by Nick and I being together, but they all loved Carmen and wanted her happy. She looked beautiful today in a sage green dress with a constant smile on her face as she moved from person to person to talk to them. Her teachers had seen an impressive jump in her grades in the last year and Nick and I encouraged her growth.
The days were busy with a dog and a daughter and a house to take care of, but I had an incredible chef and maid to help me. Once the new year started, Nick told me that he knew I wasn’t a nanny anymore. We were a family.
I announced my first pregnancy with Nick three months after the wedding and gave birth to a son six months later. Cameron got a sister a year and a half later named Alyssa, and we were a big and busy family by that time.
Rebecca got married shortly after us, staying in Chicago to raise her twin boy and girl that were just a bit younger than Cam. Ryan played there though there was always the possibility of a trade. She didn’t work for the paper any longer, choosing instead to write as a freelancer and raise Nolan and Nellie. They often visited, though, and Mom loved to be with all the kids at once. Holidays were loud but amazingly fun with the two dogs that we now had as well as a lot of little legs running down the beach.