Chapter Sixty Seven
This chapter runs at the same time as Jim, chapters 63-65, and contains a red star link within.
Tiffany eyed her cousin.
“I think you should keep that dress,” she commented.
Aralyn looked up from zipping her boot up. “What?”
“The dress. Keep it.”
“But it’s yours!” Aralyn frowned.
“Trust me,” Tiffany said dryly. “It looks better on you.”
Natala snickered. “I bet it stays on five minutes after Cam sees you in it.”
Aralyn rolled her eyes, feeling heat in her cheeks.
“Total sexpot, cousin,” Tiffany sipped her coffee.
She had loaned her red sweater dress to her cousin. While it looked elegant and classy on her own slender frame, her cousin’s fuller figure turned it into walking sex. It clung in all the right places, showing off Aralyn’s curves, even with the long sleeves and turtleneck. With black leggings and knee high boots, minimal jewelry, Tiffany had turned her tomboy cousin into the next Marilyn Monroe.
Aralyn looked in the mirror and shrugged. She didn’t see it. She had been just about to ask if it made her hips look too big. But she trusted Tiffany’s fashion sense.
“Now if I could just do something about this wretched hair,” she muttered. After a couple of minutes, she threw her brush down in frustration and wailed, “It looks like I took an egg beater to it!"
“Let me try,” Tiffany took the brush and started trying to arrange the wild curls. Moments later, she sighed. “I don’t know how to handle curly hair.”
Aralyn got up and went to the door, and hollered, “Mooom!”
Trixie appeared in the doorway quickly, with a look of alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“My hair!” Aralyn pointed to the crazed curls. “I can’t go out with Cam with it looking like this!”
Trixie bit her lip to stop her smile. That wasn’t something she ever thought she’d hear from her daughter. She had always been grateful that Aralyn wasn’t a girly-girl, but an athlete. Having been a tomboy herself, it had been much easier to relate to a little girl who liked to play in mud and climb trees. “Let’s see what I can do,” she can soothingly. She picked up the comb instead of the brush and asked Tiffany to get her spray bottle of water from the bathroom.
Five minutes later, Aralyn beamed at the artfully done curls, now smoothed and calmed.
“That’s some magic right there,” Tiffany said in admiration.
“Combs work better than a brush,” Trixie said with a smile, spraying the hair lightly with hairspray.
“That’s so much better,” Aralyn sighed happily. “Thanks, Mom!”
Her cousins departed soon after, not wanting to embarrass Cam and Aralyn when he arrived.
Cam was already waiting for her downstairs, talking with Bo, after she made a final check in the mirror, when she hurried down the stairs.
“Hi,” she tossed him a brilliant smile, which he tried to return but his eyes kept moving over her.
Bo raised one eyebrow, not sure he liked seeing Cam’s speechless reaction to his daughter. He was pretty sure Dan had had the same look on his face the first time Dan laid eyes on Daisy. That I-swallowed-my-tongue look. And where on earth did she get that red dress? As man, he approved. As a father, he absolutely did not.
“Hi,” Cam found his voice. He removed her long wool coat from the rack next to the door and held it for her while she slipped on.
“Let me grab my purse.” Aralyn darted to the couch and grabbed them but she didn’t make it back to the entry before the twins came barreling down the stairs.
“Cam, old bean!”
“Good to see you, good to see you,mate!”
Cam smiled at them as they eagerly shook his hand, smiling and eyes glinting with mischief. He was startled to realize how tall they had gotten. They were juniors in high school this year, and he guessed they were both about six feet, they were almost eye level with Aralyn. He still couldn’t tell them apart, though one had a much closer shave to his hair, while the other still had his curls.
“Good to see you two. But we’re kind of in a hurry.” He smiled at the twins and reached out to ruffle their hair.
Shocked into silence, the twins gaped at him and Aralyn opened the door, dragging Cam out. “Bye, all!” she chirped.
Laughing, they headed for his Jeep. “I can’t believe you surprised them like that! It’s very rare to set them speechless.”
“Well, you know, keep them on their toes, and they’re easier to control,” he grinned.
*
“Did you talk to Ellen’s father?” Aralyn asked hesitantly, as they drove to the restaurant.
Cam nodded, his mood sobering. “The paramedics got there in time. Because I told them she was suicidal, they also alerted the cops, who busted the door down. She was destroying the place and when they busted in, and she uh, cut herself, which was what I was afraid of. They wrestled her down, and put her on a 5150 psychiatric hold. She’ll be all right but she’s under observation. She didn’t lose too blood and her parents got there soon after.”
“Criminy,” Aralyn breathed.
Cam nodded. “Her dad thanked me for calling them, but I know he’s upset I left her. I think he understands better than her mom though. But you know…I didn’t sign on for all of that. She needs help, and they need to deal with it, and get her the help she needs. I don’t have the kind of training to deal with it and truthfully, if I had known she had the issues, she did, I never would have gotten together with her.”
Aralyn nodded. They were silent for several minutes, the heavy and unpleasant topic of Ellen hanging between them.
“You couldn’t have known, Cam,” she finally said. “None of us did. She was focused on you in high school, but none of us ever realized she had that deep of an issue.”
“I know,” he said. “But I should have ended it sooner, instead of letting myself get drawn in further.”
Cam changed the subject abruptly, not wanting to talk about Ellen anymore.
Dinner was distracting, she’d think later, and unable to remember what she had eaten. The subject of Ellen was ignored though, and she soon lost herself staring into Cam’s eyes. Cam asked her questions about her trips, things she had seen and people she had met. She left out Jax Teller, keeping him in his little place in her heart. They didn’t talk about Texas, but she told him about Grand Canyon, The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine in Kansas, the Rockies, Yellowstone, and all the old diners they had stopped at around the country. There was teh backwoods bar in Bon Temps, Lousiana that had been charming, the Saturn V rocket in Huntsville, Alabama, and Hazzard, Georgia. She didn’t say much about her most recent trip, and he didn’t press.
They kept the conversation light, but sitting together in the dimly lit booth of the elegant restaurant, smiling at each other and staring into each other’s eyes, neither wanted the night to end.
As they were leaving, she felt Cam tense next to her. The couple walking in, around her parents age, stopped and stared at them. When the hatred flared in the snooty blonde woman’s eyes, Aralyn’s heart sunk.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Murdock,” Cam said politely.
“So,” the woman said in a tight voice, “this is the little slut you abandoned our daughter for, is it?”
Aralyn’s mouth fell open.
“Mrs. Murdock, Aralyn is not a slut and she had nothing to do with me and Ellen,” Cam snapped, his blue eyes dark with anger.
"She's even wearing a whore's color," Mrs. Murdock hissed.
Aralyn placed one hand on Cam’s arm and faced the woman.
“If you want to talk about slut-like behavior, look at your own daughter,” she said quietly, her calm voice belying the anger coursing through her. “I kept my distance but back in high school, she did everything but strip off her clothes and climb in Cam’s lap to break us up. Your daughter is mentally disturbed, and I’m sorry for that, but it’s not my fault, nor my problem, nor Cam’s. Maybe if you spent more time with her instead of leaving her to steal other women’s boyfriends and obsess over them, she wouldn’t be where she is right now.”
Taking Cam by the hand, she walked past the sputtering woman, and her pale-faced husband. Cam didn’t look back, letting the door close behind them.
He hugged her tightly when they reached his Jeep.
“Are you allright?” he asked. “I'm sorry, I had no idea they’d be here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting that.”
“You handled that really well,” he said. “I’m proud of you, I was afraid you were going to deck her.”
Aralyn chuckled, snuggling against him. “You don’t grow up with Honey and Tiffany Duke without learning something about handling a bitch without throwing a punch. Just usually, the punch is easier to throw.”
He kissed the top of her head.
“Still up for a movie?” he asked.
“Actually,” she wrapped her arms around him. “Why don’t we go back to your place? I feel like I’ve talked all night without hearing much about you. I want to hear about your classes, and Dean and everything I’ve missed.”
“Sure,” he smiled at her but he wasn’t thinking about talking. Dean was out at some gala playing photographer, escorted by Natala, and they wouldn’t be home until late. They would finally be alone, after all this time.
At his place, he took her coat, and showed her around.
“It’s nothing big,” he said, “but Dean and I make it work. And ever since he started seeing Natala, he’s not nearly as much of a slob.”
Aralyn smiled as he held her hand. They peeked in Dean’s room, the walls of which were covered in photos she suspected he took. Including a number of Natala.
“I’m not sure if that’s creepy or flattering,” she mused.
Cam laughed. “Flattering. She’s his favorite subject to shoot.”
“They’re beautiful pictures,” she said, studying them. Some of them, Nat wasn’t aware she was being photographed.
“He’s really got a flare for it,” Cam agreed.
He showed her his room, which was as neat as she expected it. He had always been very orderly with his belongings.
They returned to the living room. “Do you want some coffee, or hot chocolate?” he asked. He was trying not to stare at her in the red dress, trying not to focus on how her hips swung when she walked. Even with the high neck and long sleeves, it both hid and exposed so much.
“No, thanks,” she faced him and slid her arms around his waist with a smile.
Cam felt his brain starting to shut down as she pressed her body against his. She ran her hand through his thick dark hair and pulled his head down so their lips met.
Heat unfurled within him. “I thought you wanted to talk,” he murmured.
“Later,” she replied, pulling him to her.
*
Cam stirred sometime near dawn. He was aware of a body next to him. A warm, soft, female body that was not Ellen. He knew the shampoo scent. Coconut, mango. Mixed with the scent of sex. Sex? Aralyn.
His eyes flew open and he turned his head. There, laying on her side, backed up against him, using his bicep as a pillow—how could she be comfortable like that?— was the beautiful, sleeping, naked body of Aralyn Duke. With her tousled golden curls, and one leg sprawled out, her face was perfectly relaxed as she dreamt.
Cam smiled to himself, running one hand lightly over the curls. He hadn’t been dreaming after all. His hand slowly made it way down her side, enjoying the soft skin and body he had so long been denied.
She shifted onto her stomach, her hip rubbing against him, and making him groan as his body responded. Like he needed encouragement in the morning. After their repeated lovemaking the night before, and trying new positions, one would have thought he’d be too tired for more.
Then he saw her back. While she had had the “tramp stamp” since she turned eighteen, she now had two more tattoos. One on each shoulder. They looked Celtic, he thought, wondering what they meant. He had noticed them the night before but had been otherwise preoccupied and hadn't asked.
His fingers traced the pattern and her shoulder twitched. She wasn’t such a heavy sleeper anymore, he noted.
“That tickles,” she murmured.
“They’re nice,” he kissed each one. “What do they mean?”
“Later,” she mumbled.
She rolled over to face him, her eyes only partially open.
He rolled over so she was pinned under him.
“I love you so much,” he whispered.
“I know,” she giggled. “I think you told me about a hundred times last night.”
“I’ll tell you a hundred more,” he kissed her soundly.
His clock read 6:20 am. The last time he had looked at it, it had been after three.
Laying back in bed, she curled up against him.
“I thought it was all a dream until I woke up,” he said.
She chuckled. “I’m sore enough to know it wasn’t a dream.”
He was instantly contrite. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize last night—”
She laughed. “Don’t apologize. We needed it. I wouldn’t have stopped you.” Their pace had alternated between frantic, overwhelming passion and slow and sweet.
His hand played with the disheveled silky curls. He knew she'd freal if she had any idea how disarrayed they were. He thought it was adorable. “Can you stay for a while?”
“Mom said I shouldn’t worry about coming home.”
“She said that?”
“Uh huh.”
“I knew I liked your mom.” He kissed the top of her head, happy. He nuzzled her next to her ear, and smiled when she made a sound akin to purring. “The world can end now, I’m already in heaven,” he murmured. “Too bad we can’t freeze this moment forever.”
She turned her head so their eyes met, and hers were serious as she bit her lip. “I can’t promise you forever, Cam.”
“I know,” his finger traced her lips. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy every moment that we do have. Live for the present, Goddess, not what may come tomorrow.”
She was silent for a moment, then she propped herself up on one elbow. “There is something I need to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.”
“What.” His good mood evaporated instantly. Was she going to tell him about who had unlocked her sexually? Was he still in the picture? Was it this Duncan guy she had mentioned?
“I need to leave town for a little while.” She held up one hand to stop his protests. “Just for a few weeks, I promise. I need to go take care of some business.”
“You’re leaving?” Again? he thought.
She winced at the despair in his voice. “Not really. Well, yes, but just for a couple of weeks. I want to take Tiff down to North Carolina, to meet the friends that I mentioned at the dojo. Duncan did a lot to help me find myself again, and I think he can help Tiffany too.”
Cam hated the twinge of jealousy at the name of Duncan. Was he the one who had taught her the amazing positions they had done last night? He wouldn’t ask.
“What kind of help?”
Aralyn thought for a moment before she answered. “A lot of it was simply spiritual, a cleansing of the soul, so to speak. He’s studied with Tibetan monks, American Indian shamans, Jesuit priests, Celtic wise women. He’s a fascinating person but he has this amazing sense of inner peace, and when we weren’t working at judo, we working on the spiritual stuff. I feel so much more grounded than I did before. Like I have a really better sense of who I am now.”
He looked over at her, impressed and depressed.
“I hate the thought of you leaving when we just reconnected.” He touched her face.
“I know,” she leaned over and kissed him. “But I promise you, this is temporary. I need to finish my training and I think he can do a lot for Tiffany and Nat. I won’t be going on my own, and I won’t be staying for months. A few weeks, tops. I promise.”
“Who’s this Duncan guy, anyway?” He tried to keep the jealousy out of his voice.
“A really cool guy that you’d like a lot. And no, I didn’t have any kind of relationship with him, other than teacher/student, I promise,” she chuckled, tracing his jaw. “But it’s cute you’re jealous.”
That cheered him somewhat.
“When are you going?
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“And Tiff and Nat are going with you?”
She nodded. “Not only for their benefit, but to help convince my folks that I’m coming back. They’re not happy about this.”
“You can’t blame them,” he said gently, brushing her curls back.
“I know. But by taking the girls with me, they’ll know it’s just a visit. And I really do think it will help them.”
“Has Nat told Dean?”
“I’m not sure. Probably.”
“It’s so soon,” he sighed.
“Yeah. I had no idea this was going to happen between us, Cam, and I know it’s a bit of a shock, and I’m sorry for that. But it will only be a couple of weeks, I promise. I’m not going to disappear again.” She leaned over and brushed her lips against his.
He drew her close. “Where does this leave us? I told you, I didn’t want just a roll in the hay. I want the whole shebang.”
She propped herself up on one elbow and gave him a smile. “This isn’t a roll in the hay, I promise. We are starting over, Cam. I’ll text you every night while I’m gone,” she teased. She kissed him gently. “I spent a lot of time the last few months figuring out what I wanted and needed, Cam, and you’re at the top of both lists. But I do need to finish my work in North Carolina. Then I’ll be back and we can focus on us. We’ll be back by Thanksgiving.”
Cam nodded. “I’m not doubting you. I just hate to lose another minute with you when we’ve already lost so much time.”
“I know.” She snuggled up against him. “But I am curious about something.”
“What’s that?” If she kept nuzzling his neck, he wouldn’t be able to think rationally to answer anything.
“You did something to impress Tim. I’d like to know what it was.”
Cam looked puzzled. “I…don’t really know what it would be.”
She looked skeptical.
“I really don’t. He and Dean figured out where you had gone, and where Tiffany was being held. All I did was—oh. That.”
“That?” Aralyn sat up. “What’s ‘that’?
Cam sat up as well. “Tim said something and Natala figured out he had been helping you hide. She started to go off on him about it and I told her to back off. Tim…revealed more than I think he intended to about his loyalty to you, and why he helped you.”
Now Aralyn seemed puzzled. “He helped me because he’s one of my best friends.”
Cam smiled at her, wrapping one errant curl around his finger. “I shouldn’t tell you this.”
“You better,” her eyes narrowed. She moved quickly, rolling him onto his back and straddling him. “Tim doesn’t impress easily which means it was something big. So spill it, Kent.”
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Daisy told him this summer what you did for him, when Dan first sent him away.”
Remembrance flashed over her face. “Oh, shit. He wasn’t supposed to know about that.”
“Why not?” Cam asked. “Your loyalty means everything to him, Aralyn. Your letters, your lobbying with Dan—it’s what gave him focus, gave him hope that he hadn’t been completely abandoned by his family. He still has your letters.”
“He does?” She was startled.
Cam nodded. “You were his lifeline, Aralyn. When he thought everyone had turned on him, when he thought Dan had cast him into exile, you were his lifeline and beacon. He told us he’d always help his family but he’d go to the ends of the earth for you, because you made him realize that he wasn’t alone. You saved him.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “I missed him so much. Even with all the changes he had gone through, with all the jerk stuff he had done, breaking Dean’s nose, stealing from us—I couldn’t give up on him. He pulled me out of a hole in the ground, once, literally, when we were kids, Cam. We’ve been saving each other all our lives. Granted we got each other into a lot of crap that Tiffany had talk our way out of, but we never gave up on each other.”
Cam took her hand. “I had only just met you right after he left, but I knew even then that you were something special. This just proves it.”
Aralyn wiped her eyes. “This is what he meant when he said we were even. I told him I couldn’t repay him for helping me, and he said we were even. He said it was because I found Tiffany but I knew he meant something else. That’s what he meant.”
“Tim’s a really great guy, I think,” Cam said. “And I hope someday I can get to know him better. I’ll always be grateful to him for watching out for you. Dean was sure Tim knew where you were.”
Aralyn half smiled. “Dean knew? And he didn’t tell Nat?”
Cam shook his head. “Dean knows all of you pretty well. He knew the one person you would go to would be the one person not involved in your daily lives, that you could trust to keep his mouth shut. And he knew Tim would take the risk to protect you at all costs. Telling Nat would have only upset the apple cart, and Nat would have wanted to go to Annapolis and harass Tim, and try to find you-which Tiffany had already done. Bo and Dan were already wild, trying to find you, and Dean decided it was best to keep quiet for now. He knew Tim wouldn’t let anything to happen to you, and he knew you needed time alone, and if you got spooked, could easily disappear. Dean put his faith in Tim, and you, but yes, he kept it from Natala.”
Aralyn let that sink in. “Dean sure comes through for this family.”
Cam nodded as he thought about the secret he, Dean and Matthew Wheeler shared. That one went to the grave with them. “Dean adores you and Tiffany, and he always will. I think he still cares a great deal for Tim as well, and they’ve been mending their friendship. But whether he’s admitted it out loud or not, Dean is completely, head over heels in love with Natala, and he will do anything for her, to make her happy.”
Aralyn giggled. “All those years we thought he was in love with Tiffany. He always swore he was destined for a Belden-Duke girl.”
Cam laughed. “Looks that way, doesn’t it?”
He didn’t say it out loud but he thought the same for himself. Everything he ever wanted was in this bed right now. He could only hope it would stay with him.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
***
Author’s Notes
- A huge yeee-haa to Ronda, my lovely editor who helps keep me on track!
- Bout time they reunited, wouldn't you say?
- Word Count, 7,242
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