Words and Music by Cameron David (8 page)

             
“You have?” Her excitement was paramount and she bounced where she stood.

             
“I just have one question.”

             
He was such a drama queen. “What is it?”

             
He dropped to one knee on her kitchen floor. “Megan Price, I’ve loved you since I was six years old. You alone make my world stay right side up. I want to watch you catch all of your dreams. I won’t get in the way, but when you need help with the lasso…I promise to be here. Will you marry me?”

             
She was gasping through her tears. His words gutted her. “Oh, my God. Cam. Yes…yes, I will marry you.”

             
He pulled a red box from his pocket and cracked the top. “I was hoping you’d say that. I had these rings made. The inscriptions are Celtic. Mine says
a day lasts until it’s chased away, but love lasts a lifetime
.”

             
He chuckled nervously. “That’s beautiful.”

             
“They also have our names on them.” He showed her the printed name on his ring. “If you compare this to the symbols from the tattoo that is on my chest, over my heart, then you’ll know you’ve had my heart for a long time.”

             
Her hands cupped her face. A torrent of tears came down and she worried her makeup was all over her face. He pulled her hands away so that he could look at her. “What is it, Meg?”

             
“That was the first tattoo you got. You were like eighteen.”

             
“That’s right. That’s why your ring says
my heart is in you
.”

             
She took the red box and brought it closer to her eyes. “They’re beautiful. The diamond cuts and the settings match. I love that.”

             
“Let’s put them on.”

             
“Now?”

             
“Yeah, I don’t want to wait any longer. In fact, I’d be all for getting married asap. However, I understand if you have ideas of grandeur—six-foot veil, mile long train. It’s your rite of passage and all as a woman.”

             
He was teasing her. He knew she hated weddings. “I vote we give like ten grand to charity and get married at the courthouse.”

             
“Seconded.”

             
“The ayes have it.” He placed the ring on her finger. “Do you want to get off the floor and kiss me?”
             
“I want to do more than kiss you.”

             
“That will have to wait…I promised my neighbor I’d bring him some pancakes.”

             
“You mean Owen?”

             
“You met Owen?”

             
“Oh yes. Chatted him up while we watched your Christmas special. I immensely enjoyed it by the way. Man, you can put away some pancakes.”

             
She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, God. I couldn’t stop eating them. They’re so good. I mean Nutella stuffed in a pancake. Plus I was kind of feeling sorry for myself because I thought I’d be spending Christmas with my eighty-year-old neighbor.”

             
“I hate to break it to you, but you
will
be spending Christmas with your eighty-year-old neighbor. I kind of promised him we’d eat with him. He’s prepared a ham with all the fixin’s.”

             
Confused she asked, “He said fixin’s?”

             
“No that’s my word, but he described a spread that back home we’d call the fixin’s.”

             
She giggled. “It sounds perfect. Let me just grab the pancakes and we’ll go over.”

             
“Not before I get my kiss.” His lips claimed hers with force, sucking the air from her lungs. His kiss lingered and she savored his flavor. She’d missed him, but their separation had made them both realize what it was they couldn’t live the rest of their lives without. She loved him. There was no way she’d be letting him give up his music, but she’d leave her demands for another day. Today was Christmas and she wanted to spend it with him…and Owen.

             
She gave Cam a University of Toronto sweatshirt to wear. “What is this creature on the back?”

             
“Oh, that’s the mascot. Go beavers.”

             
“Beavers…that’s funny.”

             
“Hey, on the way over to Owen’s what do you say we make a pit stop and take a look at the other gift I brought you?”

             
“But Owen lives next door.”

             
“The gift is just right outside.”

             
Puzzled, she followed him outside carrying the plate of pancakes. He reached into his pockets, and then she heard electronic beeps radiate from a white Ford Mustang. He dangled the keys in her front of her face. “Merry Christmas, Meg.”

             
“Oh, my God. You did not buy me a Mustang.”

             
“I so did. It’s got about fourteen hundred miles on it since I drove it here from Baton Rouge, but I had it cleaned when I arrived. What do you think?”

             
“I think you’re mad.”

             
“I am mad. Madly in love with you.”

Epilogue

The lights went down at Duke’s and out walked Cameron looking like a sex sandwich. Meg wanted to eat him up. His black tight denim hugged his muscular thighs and the V-neck threadbare T-shirt he wore exposed his tattoos in the most provocative way.

Screams, whistles, and cheers bounced around the club as he approached the mic. “First things first”—he held up his ring and pointed at it, wiggling his fingers. His smile was face splitting, “I’m a happily married man.” More cheers rang out. “I want you to meet my lovely.” He squatted and helped Meg onto the stage.

Despite her disgruntled pleas, he’d hired bodyguards. They currently flanked the stage. “Meg, tell ‘em hi.”

Meg waved and approached the mic. “Hi, I’m Meg. Thank you for tolerating this,” she giggled. To her shock, the women in the crowd cheered.

Cam led her to a chair that had been set up on the stage, and then picked up his guitar, looping the strap over his shoulder. “This song is dedicated to Meg. I wrote it at three different emotional times in my life: indifference, mind-numbing depression, and unparalleled joy. Consequently, there are a couple of transitions, but I’m just so thankful she stuck with me through all of my craziness.” The crowd laughed until he struck the first chord. He strummed and said, “
Beautiful Girl
.” He turned his eyes on her and sang.

A bad day at work, a sad bit of news

Wish I could have been there for you

But I failed to recognize the muse

My dreams are all that’s left of you

I missed your birthday

But what can I say

And we can’t go back anyway

Wish I could have seized the day

I’d give all of my talent

For a chance to make it right

If you’d let me repent

Eternal dark turns to light

Beautiful girl

Where did you go

Beautiful girl

I need to know

I hear you’ve met somebody new

Thoughts of you with him sting

I’m undeserving, but he is too

One day you’ll rate a king

You’re hundreds of miles away

If I were there with you I’d be okay

But late at night when I’m sleeping

A vision of you comes drifting

I’m the greatest fool I know

           
Pushing back, I let it all go

           
I wanna be with you

           
Just need to be with you

             
Fourteen hundred miles

             
Fast car, proposal, smile

             
Now we’re together

             
Happily forever

             
Why did it take us so long

             
To right everything that was wrong

             
It was so easy

             
We made it so hard

Beautiful girl

Happily yours

Beautiful girl

             
Eternally yours

When the song finished, Cam kissed his wife on the stage in front of the patrons. It was a sweet kiss that had tears falling from each of their eyes. He whispered in her ear so that only she could hear, “Together, forever—not on the road, but in our home."

***

Cam found Meg at her laptop at the dainty white desk he’d purchased for her. He’d had a home built for them. He hadn’t known if she’d ever live with him in it, but he’d hoped. It was on the plantation property, just out of sight of Ashton and Harmony’s little cottage. Since he’d built from scratch, he designed the home to be a livable fifteen hundred square feet. It wasn’t entirely finished yet, but enough so that they could live comfortably in the space.

He walked up behind her and put his arms around her. Leaning his head on her shoulder, he asked, “Almost ready to head over?”

“Hey, do you remember the bull rider?”

“Mr. Cooper. How could I forget?”

His son just won the professional bull rider’s world cup. The prize is one million dollars. Anyway, he’s agreed to let me have exclusive access to his story.”

“Because you’re awesome.”

“We’re going to film from the Cooper Ranch.” She turned wide eyes on him.

“What?” he asked, desperate to know what she was hiding.

“It’s going to take a few days. It’s outside of Austin.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Well, of course you are.”

“You’re cool with me going?”

“I was gearing up to beg you…if you couldn’t tell.”

Marriage to Meg had been natural. He hadn’t expected a union with her to be difficult, but her relaxed nature continually surprised and calmed him. He hoped her demeanor would hold. “And now I have to tell you something, but you can’t get mad at me.” He shifted his weight as he waited for her reply.

“I can’t possibly know if I’ll get mad.”

“Promise to try.”

She smiled at him. “I don’t think I can get mad at you so I’m thinking you’re good.”
             
He took a quick, deep breath. “I know you said you didn’t want your parents at our wedding celebration”—

“That’s because I don’t.” He bit his lip and frowned. “You invited them?” He nodded. “And they’re coming?” Again he nodded. She shrugged, “I don’t know why you bothered, they’re just going to ignore me like they always do.”

“One day you may wish you’d invited them.”

She stood in her plum-colored
peplum
dress. She’d taught him about peplum. Actually, most of her shirts and dresses were peplum and he’d asked, learning of her obsession. She added a black satin sash to her waist. Cam followed her into their bedroom where the floor was currently made of plywood. In two weeks, it would be covered in bamboo.

“Do you hate me, Meg?”

She grabbed a pair of suede pumps. Walking up to Cam, she placed her hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she stepped into her shoes. “No, baby. It was a kind gesture.”

He placed his hands on her waist. “I love you and I want your parents to know you’re going to have the best life anyone could.”

She smiled. “I like that.”

They kissed and forgot about the rest of the world. She was his and he’d show her parents how wrong they’d been to ignore her.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“What’s that?”

“That’ll be Ashton and Harmony with the mule. You ready?”

She skipped to the front door, stopping just short of her target to turn around and skip back to the room, “My purse.”

“Babe, we’re going like fifty yards. I don’t think you need your purse.”

She stopped again, turned, and skipped back to him. “When did you get so smart?”

“I’ve always been smart, you just haven’t noticed.”

She huffed and playfully swatted his chest.

Loading into the mule with his guitar required a little lesson in geometry, but he managed.

“You gonna play
Beautiful Girl
?” Ashton asked.

“Always.”

Harmony smiled at him from the front of the Kawasaki. “Cam, will you play the song you wrote for me and Ashton?”

“
Day One
. Sure.”

Meg and Cam married on New Year’s Day. It was now the end of March, and since their cousins owned a pavilion, they hosted the post-wedding celebration.

As the ATV approached the party area, Meg gasped, “Oh my God! Look how pretty everything is. And it’s purple!” Excited, she jumped from the mule before it had reached a full stop. They walked hand in hand toward the entrance to the tent. Inside round tables with cloth linens, purple of course, pervaded. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling and twinkly lights dripped from the walls, giving the place an ethereal quality.

“I feel like Cinderella.” She kissed Cam’s cheek. “That makes you my prince.”

A camera shot candid photos of their exchange. His cousin Ari smiled. “Congrats. There will be many more pictures.”

They greeted the room as a couple and made rounds on each table. When they sat at her father’s table, she rested her head on Cam’s shoulder, intent to not speak.

He cleared his throat, “Mr. Price, Meg and I are glad you could make it.”

Patricia answered, “This is way over the top as always, but that’s how the David’s do things isn’t it?”

“Of course it is. Meg will only have the best there is.” He held his wife’s gaze. “Plus, I wanted to marry you as soon as possible.” Meg nuzzled into his neck. Patricia looked sick. “Well, you understand Patricia. I couldn’t be unwed to Meg for another second. We gave the money for our wedding to charity, and then ran off to the JP.”

“It all looks very nice, Megan,” her father offered. She nodded.

“Time for you guys to cut the cake.” Harmony pulled Meg from Cam’s lap. “Come on, Cam.” She placed a slicing knife in his hand. The handle of the knife had been decorated with a lavender ribbon.

They walked to the cake. “Hey you,” Meg whispered in his ear. Under the large chandelier they cut the three-tiered white cake covered with lavender fondant and filled with blueberry jam. “Purple on purple. Yummy!”

They each cut dainty pieces and Meg fed Cam cake in a nice orderly manner. He, on the other hand, smeared blueberry jam all over her nose, cheeks and chin. “Hey! You promised.”

“No, I only promised not to get it on your dress.”

She looked down while licking the corners of her mouth. Cameras snapped all around them. He leaned in and kissed her, and then helped her clean her face. He giggled. “You look so cute.”

“Oh yes, blueberry is great for the complexion.”

The DJ started a zydeco beat. “May I have this dance?”

“Is my face good?” She turned from one side to the other.

“Yes.”

The dance floor filled with family and they danced into the night, Meg even sharing a dance with her father. Cam, in turn, danced with Meg’s mother.

“Cam, I always knew you two would end up together.”

“I never had any doubts either, Mrs. Roy.”

“Well, she’s happy. I hope you two kids are happy for many years.”

Mrs. Roy’s eyes never traveled far from Meg’s father, Mr. Price. Cam knew the look of a woman in love. He’d be willing to bet money that Meg’s mother was still hopelessly in love with her father. At that moment, Cam thought about the many reasons for her indifference toward her daughter. “Do you like seeing Meg dance with her father?”

“Oh, sure. Why wouldn’t I?’

“It seems you’re crying.”

“Maybe a little bit. It reminds me of a time when we were all happy. It was so long ago. Loss hurts.”

“Your daughter thinks it’s her.”

“What?”

“Meg thinks you’re indifferent around her because she is a constant reminder of that loss.”

They froze on the dance floor. “That’s not it at all.” She shook her head. “I miss the family we made when the three of us were together. No one else…just us.”

“Make a great wedding present if you were to tell her.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Roy. You look so much like her you could pass for her sister.”

“You’ve always been a real charmer, Cam.”

Around midnight when the energy in the tent had become lazy, Cam played his guitar and sang. When he performed the song he’d written for Meg, he had her stand next to him. They cried and others did too, but at that moment they were the only two souls in existence. He’d sacrificed who he’d been for her. Once he’d done that, he’d truly started to live. Rock star status was great, but if he’d known what being loved by her as his wife was like, he wouldn’t have hesitated giving up everything for her. Her love permeated his words and music until only the sweetest tune remained. Cam would give his whole life to experience one minute of her sweetness.

He smiled at Meg. “I’m happy.” It was a phrase he wasn’t used to saying, but he couldn’t wait to live it.

“I love you, Nutmeg.”

“I love you, Cam. And don’t call me that. You know I don’t like it.”

“Okay.”