Eternal (34 page)
Authors: London Saint James
“We are forever, Winter, remember?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “I remember.”
Cayden’s placed his hand to my chest, resting it
upon my heart. “We are here,” he said as tears of joy rolled down my cheeks.
“Yes,” I agreed. I placed the palm of my hand to
feel the beating of his heart.
He moved his forehead to mine. “And here,” he
whispered.
“Yes.”
Cayden pulled back, gazed into my eyes deeply
and said, “And we are here.”
“Yes.”
Cayden slid his hand to my belly. His large palm
splayed across my stomach, covering the belly which belonged to me. “And now,
we are here,” he confirmed.
“Do you feel that?” I asked.
He put me down. He allowed my feet to hit the
ground but kept the palm of his hand to my belly. “Yes,” he said with a
dazzling smile.
“It’s your voice,” I replied. “The baby knows
you are here, recognizes your voice.”
Cayden smiled the bright wide smile of a seraph,
holding his hand to my belly. He leaned down and placed his mouth close to my
stomach.
“Hello.” The baby kicked. “I am Cayden Cain, and
you are my baby,” he said in his smooth silky tones. The baby kicked again. “I
love you, my little bit.” Cayden patted my belly before he dropped his hand. He
looked up at me while he placed a kiss to the middle of my tummy. With a smile,
he stood up. Cayden brushed his hand down my cheek and stood there, gazing
deeply into my eyes.
I saw the clear never-ending blue of his eyes.
They were bright sapphire. They were stunning, and they pierced me though as
they always do. I was lost in this moment. I heard, seen, felt nothing but
Cayden, my love and my life. The world stopped, narrowed to nothing but Cayden
and me. He leaned down and kissed the tears from my cheeks. His thumb softly
traced the line of my bottom lip.
“Now,” he said gazing at me with such joy and
love it was breathtaking. “There is something else I need to do.”
He got down on one knee, pulled something out of
his pocket, and placed it into the palm of his hand. Cayden held out his hand
toward me. There sitting inside his palm was my ring, sparkling, shimmering in
the sun.
“Winter Shae Perri, I love you beyond all
reason. So here on this sidewalk, under the watching eye of God who I know made
us for each other and before all these people who are now watching us, crowding
the streets, I have something to ask of you. Winter, I have waited my whole
life for you, will you finally marry me?”
“Yes, Cayden. I will marry you.” And Cayden slipped
his ring back onto my finger where it had always been destined to belong.
Epilogue
I yelled out from the parlor, “Cayden!”
Within a second, he was at my side with worried
lines crossing over his forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s time,” I said, trying hard to modulate my
voice.
Cayden picked up the suitcase I packed in
preparation of our impending trip to the hospital and took it to the door. He
dropped it at his feet and pulled me into his arms with a passion.
“I love you,” he said. Cayden kissed me until my
head spun.
He picked up the case, towing me in hand, and
headed for the car. We must have taken the streets of
within minutes we were at the hospital. The staff met me, waddling in. They
placed me into a wheelchair before they transferred me to a bed. I rolled down
a long white hallway, coming to a stop in a room the color of bluebells. I
glanced up to see Cayden. He had his cell phone out.
“
it’s time. We are at the hospital now,” he said in a rush. “I’ve got to go.” He
hung up and made six more quick calls. Cayden called my mother, Zander, Ackerly
and Philomena, his Aunt Eslbeth, Jewel, and the Carlyles, taking a hold of my
hand while the nurses prepared me for the birth of our child.
I laid in the confines of the hospital bed
practically writhing in pain. I tried desperately not to show it. It killed
Cayden to see me in pain but from time to time I had no choice but to make a
noise.
He clutched my hand as he said, “I’m here.”
It seemed like I was in this transition of birth
forever. The nurses popped in and out, checking to see how far along I was. The
day turned into night, having seen the sky change from light to dark outside
the window of the hospital. It began to snow. I watched the flakes fall. They
were moving in slow motion before I started shaking with the pain I felt in my
lower back. The overwhelming contractions started to change. They were getting
harder and faster.
“What can I do?” Cayden asked. He looked at me
with sheer panic on his face.
“Give me some ice,” I said. I grabbed onto his
hands with a death grip as another ripping pain hit me.
Cayden’s voice was calm and soothing. “Baby, you
need to let go of my hands so I can get the ice.”
That seemed
to make sense.
I let go of his hands.
He grabbed a few pieces of crushed ice and
placed them onto my tongue. Another pain rocked me. Unable to hold it back, I
groaned.
“Cayden, this hurts,” I admitted in a voice that
was not my own.
“I know, I am so sorry,” he said. Cayden brushed
his fingertip across my cheek. “Look at me, just stay focused on me and nothing
else. Relax, breathe.” I nodded my head. I looked up into his face, into his
eyes. His eyes were clear blue and calming. “I’m here, Winter. I will never let
you go. Just stay with me, baby.” I kept my focus on him.
“Mr. Cain, I believe your wife is ready to give
birth,” the doctor announced as he took his squatting position at my feet as
though he were ready to catch a stray pitch. “Now, Winter. I need you to bear
down and push.”
I stayed focused on Cayden’s face and pushed.
Cayden looked at me, his face straining as if he were pushing. “Push, baby,” he
said.
I gave out, shaking. Not able to push any more.
My face had broken out into a sweat. The beads of sweat broke over my upper
lip, my forehead, my neck, and I started to cry.
“I can’t,” I whimpered.
“Stay with me. Look at me and focus, breathe.
It’s almost over. Look at me, Winter, and push,” Cayden encouraged. He took his
hand and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Winter, push,” the doctor instructed.
I bore down. I pushed….
Cayden squeezed my hand, “Winter, baby, you can
do this. You have steel beneath that silky soft exterior.”
I smiled.
“Winter, one more large push,” the doctor said.
I readied myself for the final pain, took a hold
of Cayden’s hand, gazed into his eyes, and pushed with every bit of strength I
could muster. Then it was over. The baby arrived. The pain had left from me.
“You did it, baby. You did it!” Cayden’s voice
was happy and relieved. He stood by my side staring down at me. He was smiling
his most breathtaking smile as he brushed his fingertip down the surface of my
cheek. “I love you, Winter Cain.”
“I love you.” I breathed.
I heard our baby cry, and the baby had a set of
lungs.
Maybe we had a singer on our
hands?
“Mr. and Mrs. Cain, you have a beautiful baby
girl.”
The doctor announced her arrival then placed the
tiny little gift on my chest. I looked down into the face of my little angel.
She was as stunning as her father with liquid blue eyes and his perfect lips.
Cayden cupped my cheek within his palm. I glanced up at him. Cayden’s face shot
the smile of dawn rising. It was actually like staring into the face of the
sun. He was my own personal angel, my own personal miracle, my own personal
sun.
Cayden sat down beside me on the bed. He placed
his finger to our little girl’s hand. She curled her tiny hand around the tip
of his finger. A tear of joy trickled down my cheek. My baby was holding her
father’s hand.
“This is who I told you so much about. This is
your father,” I whispered into the baby’s ear. “You finally got to meet him in
person.”
I glanced up to see Cayden. A hundred emotions
seemed to shoot over his face while he gazed at his daughter, our daughter,
then back at me.
“You have never been more beautiful than in this
moment,” Cayden said to me. He brushed his lips across mine.
I wondered about him, thinking the stress had
caused him to snap.
How in the world
could he be talking about me?
I was a mess I was sure. I thought about
the first time I saw Cayden, I sodden and weak and he stunningly perfect. I
remembered when he first asked me to marry him. He was flawless and I was water
logged and quite hideous in comparison.
Here we are. Cayden still the picture of
perfection and I was dressed in a fashionable puce color hospital gown with my
legs propped up in stirrups. My hair was tangled around my face and neck, and I
was soaking wet with sweat rolling off me. But I looked into his eyes. I saw
myself reflected. My face was brilliant with happiness. My eyes sparkled
emerald green with life and the color of my cheeks was the color of pink rose
petals. I found the girl I once was. I was beautiful but it was because of
Cayden and our lovely daughter.
“Do you have a name?” one of the nurses asked.
“Yes,” Cayden replied. “Her name is Summer Wells
Cain.”
I smiled. Summer made sense to me. I’d always
thought Summer was much more beautiful than Winter.
“She is ours,” Cayden said. He kissed me softly
on the lips before he kissed Summer’s little forehead gently. “She is perfect
and as beautiful as her mother.”
“Cayden, why did you pick Summer as her name?” I
asked
“It’s simple,” he said. “I have my Winter, and
now I have my Summer.”
The End
www.londonsaintjames.com
Other Books by London
Saint James:
Master of Mine
Midnight Seduction
Stockings and Suspenders
Enchanted
Requiem
Revelation
Evernight Publishing