40
THE SUN IS SHINING and there’s not a cloud in the sky. I even hear birds chirping. I guess it’s kind of perfect for a day like this. The heel of my shoe presses against a soft patch of grass. I’m dressed in a cute white and yellow sundress that falls just above my knees. My hair is braided around to one side, how Andrew always insisted I wear it. My hands are folded together down in front of me as I stare down at the gravestone that reads: PARRISH in big chiseled letters across the back. It was hard to come here, but it has been a long time coming.
I keep my eyes down, staring absently at the mound of clay-like dirt that still seems fresh after two months since the burial. Not even the rain pounding on it over and over again seems to help flatten it any. I glance out at all of the other graves, most of them already covered by grass and I can’t feel sad, only comforted as though these people here, although long gone to all of us, have each other’s company.
A pair of hands slip around my waist from behind.
“Thank you for coming here with me, babe,” Andrew says into my ear and then kisses my cheek.
I take his hand and pull him around to my side and we look down one last time at his father’s grave together.
We leave Wyoming later that night, but we go by plane. Our plans to travel around the world have only been put on hold. After Andrew’s coma and surgery, he began to recover within three weeks. The doctors were as surprised as the rest of us, but he still has needed time to recover fully and so I’ve been with him ever since, living in Galveston. He goes to physical therapy once a week, but already it seems as if he doesn’t need it.
Andrew insisted that we get up off our asses and get on the road like we planned—he’s suffering from that elated second-chance-at-life feeling which makes him more eager than ever to do just about everything. Hell, he enjoys washing dishes and doing laundry. But his mom, Marna, and I have strictly forbidden him to do too much, or to over exert himself. Andrew doesn’t like it, but he knows better than to stand up to both of us at once.
We will, quite literally, kick his ass.
But Andrew and I still plan to travel the world and keep our promise not to stay grounded to the monotony of life. None of that has changed and I know that it never will.
Natalie went back to North Carolina and we talk every single day. She’s dating Blake now, the guy Damon attacked that night on the roof. It makes me smile to know they are together. When I talk to them on Skype, I can just tell they were made for each other. At least for right now; with Natalie, one never knows what’ll happen. Damon, on the other hand, ended up getting busted for drug possession. It’s his second offense and he’s probably going to be spending a year in prison this time. Maybe he’ll learn from his mistakes, but I doubt that.
My brother, Cole, however, I think Andrew was right about him. Andrew and I took a plane to North Carolina to visit my mom and while there we went with her to see Cole in prison. He seems different, sincerely remorseful. I could see it in his eyes. He and Andrew hit it off really well. I think maybe my brother will be like the big brother I used to know once he gets out. And with Andrew’s help, I have forgiven Cole for what he did. I’ll always hurt for that family he destroyed when he killed that man in the wreck, but I’ve realized that forgiveness cures a lot of things.
My mom is still dating Roger. In fact, they’re getting married in the Bahamas in February. I’m so happy for her. I did manage to meet Roger and run him through my douchebag inspection and am happy to say that he passed with honors. Mom is rarely home anymore; he’s always sweeping her off to somewhere.
And she deserves every bit of it.
Andrew’s mom and brothers welcomed me into the family with open arms. Asher and I are really close. And regardless of how standoffish I always thought Aidan was, I love him to death. He was never really a jerk to Andrew. Honestly, Andrew deserved it. Aidan and his wife, Michelle, talk to me and about me as if I’m Andrew’s wife. It always makes me blush. More importantly, Andrew and Aidan have been getting along. Before Aidan and Michelle went back to Chicago after a quick visit last week, I just beamed watching them mess with each other and wrestle in the living room. They almost broke the television, but me and Michelle just sat back and laughed and let them show each other up with their alpha male testosterone.
And today…well, today is going to be a little different than Andrew is used to.
I walk into the living room where he’s kicked back on the couch watching Prometheus.
He reaches out for me as I walk toward him.
“No,” I say, shaking my head, “I need you to get up.”
“What’s up, babe?” He lifts from the couch and reaches up to scratch his head. His hair has started growing back, but he’s still not used to how it feels, especially around the scar where he had the surgery.
He drops his legs onto the floor to sit upright fully and I step in-between them, running my hands over his head. He kisses one of my wrists and then the other.
“Come with me.” I nod my head back, take his fingers into my hand and he follows me to the bedroom.
As always, when I take him into the bedroom he automatically thinks it’s sexual and his sexy green eyes light up like a boy.
“I just want you to lay down with me for a little while,” I say, taking off all of my clothes.
He seems a little confused, but it’s so cute.
“OK,” he says, smiling. “You want me naked, too? I’ll definitely get naked. What the hell am I asking for?” He starts to strip.
He lies down next to me and we face each other, pulling our bodies close and tangling our legs. He wraps his arms around me and then his fingers trail across my tattoo of Orpheus that I got two weeks ago. It’s perfect, lined up with Andrew’s flawlessly. When we lie next to each other like this, the two pieces become one.
“Are you OK, baby?” Andrew gazes at me curiously, his fingertips brushing softly across my ribs.
I smile and kiss his mouth.
Then I pull away just a little and take his hand, sliding it to my tattoo, toward the area that extends over onto my belly.
“I love my tattoo, baby,” I whisper into the small space between our faces, “but I think in about seven and a half more months, Orpheus might be a little bit stretched out.”
Andrew blinks confusedly and it takes him a few seconds to understand what I’m saying.
His head draws back in a slightly stunned motion and then after a pause, he lifts up.
“I’m due in May.”
His eyes grow wide first; he’s stunned and wordless, but then he manages to say, “You’re pregnant?” His hand immediately goes to my stomach.
His reaction makes me smile even bigger.
His dimples deepen as he looks down at me and the next thing I know his tongue is in my mouth. His kiss steals my breath away and he lifts me into his arms in the center of the bed.
“Marry me,” he says and now I’m the one stunned wordless. “I was going to ask you tomorrow night when we went out, but I can’t wait now. Marry me.”
I start to cry and he wraps me in his arms again and kisses me some more.
When he finally pulls away and looks into my eyes again, I answer: “Yes, I’ll marry you, Andrew Parrish.”
“I love you so f*cking much,” he says, kissing me again. He grabs my face. “Now let’s have pregnant sex.”
What can I say? That’s Andrew and I wouldn’t want him to be any other way.
To see more of Camryn & Andrew, visit the author’s Pinterest page:
PINTEREST.COM/JREDMERSKI/CAMRYN-ANDREW-THE-EDGE-OF-NEVER/
OTHER BOOKS BY J.A. REDMERSKI
***
—THE PRAVERIAN CHRONICLES—
-THE DARKWOODS TRILOGY-
#1 – THE MAYFAIR MOON
#2 – KINDRED
#3 – THE BALLAD OF ARAMEI
-COMING SOON 2013-
THE DARKSOULS TRILOGY
***
-STANDALONE NOVELS-
DIRTY EDEN
THE EDGE OF NEVER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Ann Redmerski was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 25, 1975. She lives in Arkansas with her three children and a Maltese.
www.jessicaredmerski.com