Page 36 of Only in Our Dream (Moonflower Cove #15)

Melanie

H ow a year had passed since her first Christmas with Cameron, Jonah, and Dylan was beyond Melanie. It seemed like time had gone by so fast and yet slow at the same time. She’d been sure to savor every moment with her new family over the last year.

Since moving in over the summer, Melanie had never been happier.

She loved spending so much time with Cameron, Jonah, and Dylan every day.

Melanie loved being able to take the kids to school with Cameron as they rode to work together.

Family dinner had become the highlight of her day.

Listening to everyone talk about their days always made Melanie happy and thankful for her family.

Melanie treasured all the memories they’d made together and was excited for all the new memories yet to be made.

Especially the one that was going to be made later in the day.

Melanie had purchased the silver engagement ring a few weeks ago.

They had been in a jewelry store for Cameron’s watch to be repaired when she saw the ring.

She knew instantly Cameron was in love but tried not to make it obvious that she was making a mental note of exactly which ring it was.

She’d kept it in her locker at work to ensure Cameron wouldn’t find it.

It had been harder than Melanie had ever thought to keep it a secret.

Which was precisely why everyone in her life but Cameron knew about the pending proposal.

Jonah and Dylan were the first ones to know. She’d sat them down after buying the ring to ask them if it was okay with them if she married their mom. They had, of course, said yes. Dylan was so happy she cried and she even noticed some tears ready to fall from Jonah’s eyes.

After the kids knew, Melanie had spilled the beans to Vera.

Then Isla.

Then Palmer.

Then pretty much anyone she talked to. It was a miracle Cameron was still clueless that a ring was waiting for her under the tree.

But Cameron wasn’t the only one getting a special gift in her stocking.

Melanie had also added two small gifts for the kids under the tree as well.

She’d done so stealthily in the middle of the night, using the guise that she needed to get some water as she snuck out of bed.

Her heart had been beating fast in her chest as she carefully placed the three most important gifts of her life under the tree.

Now all she had to do was wait for them to open it.

With breakfast behind them now, thankfully she wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

The four of them gathered around the living room as Hank and Lucy inspected the presents.

Hank seemed intrigued with a particularly shiny bow on one gift while Lucy expertly sniffed out her gift bag full of treats.

As the kids started opening their presents, Melanie brought fresh cups of coffee into the living room for her and Cameron.

She handed one to Cameron as she sat beside her on the couch.

“Thanks, baby.”

“You’re welcome, love.”

They’d all worn matching pajamas for the day, which Melanie loved.

She’d always dreamed of a Christmas just like the one she was lucky enough to be a part of.

A classic Christmas album played on the vinyl record player while the Christmas tree lights sparkled.

Outside, a layer of fresh snow had brought a winter wonderland feel to the day.

Melanie tried to focus on the moment instead of overthinking proposing to Cameron in a matter of minutes. She’d done practice rehearsals with an empty chair too many times to count so she was comfortable in what she wanted to say. Now she just had to not forget the words. Or drop the ring.

At least I can’t lose it in the house. Unless Lucy or Hank eat it.

Shaking the thought from her head, Melanie focused back on Jonah and Dylan opening their gifts.

She and Cameron took photos on their phones as the kids excitedly unwrapped all their presents.

Instead of gifts for each other, she and Cameron had decided to go to an all-inclusive resort in the spring for their present.

Melanie was already counting down the days until that vacation arrived.

After all the presents were opened, Dylan pointed to the three small presents tucked under the tree.

“What about those?”

“Those are special gifts.” Melanie winked at her. “Why don’t you give Mom the one with her name on it and then you two can open yours, okay?”

Dylan did as she was asked and Melanie watched as Cameron took the small gift from her. With tears in her eyes, Cameron looked at her.

“I don’t remember seeing these under the tree.”

“Santa must have brought them.”

“Yeah, a Santa named Melanie.” Cameron carefully untied the ribbon on the small gift. Melanie’s heart was in her throat as she nervously watched Cameron unwrap the ring box. Gasping, Cameron covered her mouth with her hand as she looked up at Melanie. “Mel…”

Tenderly taking the small box from Cameron, Melanie got down on one knee in front of her.

“I love you so much, Cameron. This last year has been the best of my life because of you. You’ve shown me what true love looks like and feels like.

You’ve made me a part of the family I’ve always wanted.

” Melanie quickly smiled at the kids before turning back to Cameron.

“For the longest time, I thought getting to love you as more than a friend would happen only in our dreams. But you’ve made all my dreams become a reality. Except one.”

Slowly opening the box, Melanie held the ring out to Cameron. Their eyes locked as tears flooded both of their eyes. Melanie wasn’t even sure she could get the question out of her mouth with how desperately she wanted to just kiss Cameron already.

“Cameron, I want to spend every moment of the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Cameron squealed as she got to her knees in front of Melanie and kissed her. Keeping the ring box in her hand, Melanie wrapped her arms around Cameron’s neck. “Oh, my god. We really do things exactly alike.”

Melanie cocked her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

She watched as Cameron reached into the pocket of her pajama pants and pulled out a ring box.

“Oh, my god,” Melanie laughed, hugging Cameron again. “Great minds.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Jonah chimed in with a laugh. Melanie looked over at him and Dylan and was glad to see them just as excited as she felt.

“Oh, hush. We just love each other.”

“So much.”

“Mom, are you going to propose to Mel now?” Dylan asked as Cameron nodded.

“I am.” She took Melanie’s hand and squeezed it. “Mel, I love you so much. I’m so thankful to be in your life and have you love me and my kids as much as you do. We’ve always been a family, but I’m ready to make it official. Will you marry me?”

“Hmm,” Melanie teased, “let me think about it.”

Cameron playfully shoved her shoulder as they all laughed. Kissing again, Melanie couldn’t believe how perfect the proposal had ended up being. She and Cameron exchanged rings, carefully putting them on each other’s fingers. Melanie hugged her again, never wanting to let go.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Over Cameron’s shoulder, she admired the beautiful silver ring. It had a round diamond with three smaller diamonds on either side. Melanie began to laugh as she realized they’d also gotten the same rings. Pulling back from Cameron, she held up her left hand to show her.

“We got each other the same rings.”

“Oh, my god.” Cameron busted out laughing. “I was just looking at it and thought I’d given you the wrong one.”

“I guess we really do think too much alike.”

“I think it just means we were meant for each other.” Kissing Cameron again, Melanie tried to commit every single detail of the moment to memory.

“Are these rings too?” Dylan asked, holding up the rectangle-shaped present with her name on it. Melanie and Cameron sat on the floor across from them as they kept their hands intertwined.

“Sort of.” Melanie smiled at her as she took hold of Cameron’s hand. “Why don’t you and Jonah open them together?”

With possibly more nervous excitement than before the engagement, Melanie watched Jonah and Dylan open their gifts.

They weren’t the same thing exactly, but close.

Each was a picture frame with Melanie with each of them in their respective frames.

Under the photo, Melanie had gotten me and Mama Mel engraved on them.

It took both the kids a second to notice the name. Jonah was the first to look up at her.

“Wait,” his smile spread wide, “does this mean what I think it means?”

“What?” Dylan looked at Jonah, then at Melanie for answers. “Mean what?”

Squeezing Cameron’s hand, she began the second part of her proposal.

“I always knew when I started dating your mom that you two would always be a part of that picture. I’ve known you two all of your lives, so that was just a bonus for me.

I’ve always thought of you two as more than just my best friend’s kids.

You two are my family. And that’s why I’d like to adopt both of you. ”

Jonah and Dylan squealed with excitement as they hopped up and hugged Melanie.

“Are you serious?” Dylan excitedly asked.

“Totally serious. Mom and I talked about it and it’s what I want to do. I want you both to officially be my kids and for your mom to be my wife.”

“About damn time,” Jonah joked as Melanie ruffled his long hair.

“Jonah,” Cameron rolled her eyes. “Don’t ruin the moment with your language.”

“Sorry, Mom.” He turned to Melanie. “And sorry, Mama.”

Melanie’s heart might as well have leaped out of her chest. Her happiness was so overwhelming that she couldn’t say anything.

She held her arms back out to Jonah as he went back to her for a hug.

At seventeen, she knew the hugs would grow more infrequent so she would take them as long as she could get them.

As the day went on, the four of them watched movies and made Christmas cookies together.

They had Christmas dinner around the table as Dylan excitedly chatted about all the places they could get married.

After dinner and another movie, the kids retreated upstairs to their rooms for the night.

Alone with her fiancé for the first time, Melanie couldn’t help but giggle as she snuggled closer to Cameron under the blanket on the couch.

“I can’t believe we’re engaged. ”

“I can’t believe we kept it a secret.”

“Only from you,” Melanie laughed. “I’ve told everyone else. Even the kids knew.”

“I told the kids, too! Should we be worried they’re really good at keeping secrets?”

“Nah,” Melanie jokingly waved her off, “it just means we have two kids that love us.”

Cameron sat up slightly on the couch, turning to look at Melanie.

“I know we’d talked about you adopting the kids before, but I need you to know how much it meant to me that you made the moment so special for them.

Including them in on the proposal all the way around was beautiful. Thank you for loving them.”

Her voice faded as her emotions got the best of her. Melanie gently rubbed her back while Cameron composed herself.

“I know I made the decision to have them on my own, but I never truly did it alone. You have always been there for me and for them, and I cannot tell you how much that means to me. I know we’ve talked about how we would have loved to have gotten together sooner, but I think there’s something sweeter about it happening the way it did. ”

“I agree. And it means so much to me, too.” Melanie tenderly tucked Cameron’s hair behind her ear. “I’ve loved getting to be a part of your life and their lives. And I’m so glad we get to spend the rest of our lives as a family of four.”

“Or more.”

Cameron’s comment made Melanie cock her head.

What had she just said? They had mentioned having a baby only in passing, never anything serious.

Besides, Melanie couldn’t have a baby, and Cameron vowed after Dylan that she was never doing it again.

And even if they wanted to, their age could easily make that hard, if not impossible.

“I applied for my foster license.”

“Really?”

“That way, the door is always open if we want to foster or even adopt down the road.”

“Cam.” Putting her arms around Cameron, Melanie nuzzled against her neck. “Thank you.”

“I was going to wait and tell you after it was approved, but since this day has been so happy already, I wanted to tell you now.”

“This has been the best Christmas ever.”

“I completely agree.” Standing, Cameron held her hand out to Cameron. “Now let’s go see if engaged sex is better than dating sex.”

Melanie let Cameron lead her up to the bedroom as they locked the door behind them. It only took one time for a kid to walk in on them to learn that lesson the hard way.

Sex with Cameron was better than anything Melanie had ever experienced before.

Cameron knew her body so well and was so intuitive of her every desire.

And Melanie was the same way with Cameron.

She credited the closeness to the fact they’d been friends for so long before they were lovers.

That and almost a year of practicing had made them a well-oiled machine.

After they were both finished, Melanie lay in the bed with Cameron’s head on her stomach. She played with her hair as they both fought sleep for whatever reason.

“Cam?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you ever think this time last year that this is where we’d be now?”

Rolling over, Cameron propped herself up on her elbow as she looked down at Melanie. “Only in our dreams.”

“Thank god those dreams have become a reality.”

“Amen to that.” As Cameron leaned down, she kissed Melanie again. Melanie wrapped her arms around her neck as their legs intertwined once more as they celebrated all the happy events of the day again.