Chapter Twenty
Kemara
One Year Later
It’d been a long year and I didn’t know if I would ever get here. Rehab for Channing was a long road, but one that we fulfilled together. He had some recovery to do on his shoulder, but all in all, he was very lucky.
His father and brother were charged with a hate crime and attempted murder and went to prison. With all luck, they wouldn’t be bothering us for a long time. We owed his mother for that and thanked her every day for turning on her husband. It wasn’t easy for her to go through the divorce, but she said it was the only thing she could do. She had loved Chad through some painful times, and she wasn’t willing to overlook the hatred in his heart any longer.
Right after that nightmare at the abandoned building, I started to have nightmares about the incident. It was rough. Every time I closed my eyes, Channing’s father and brother were there degrading me and chiding me with nasty remarks. I loved Channing with all my heart for risking his life for me, but it was a struggle afterward to discover if I felt worthy enough for that love.
Through some perseverance on Channing’s part, he convinced me we always belonged together and I didn’t take any part of the day for granted. When a year passed, it was truly hard to believe that much time had gotten by us.
On the year anniversary of the shooting, Channing and I went out to celebrate that we made it this far and we made it this far…together. We went to the place that we called, our place, Moss Tavern. It felt good just to have the opportunity to be there together. Channing and I didn’t waste time talking about the hard times that occurred that attempted to tear us apart. Instead, we liked to focus on the good.
We were leaving the bar and going back to his truck, when he stopped me at my door. “I have something to show you,” he said.
I tilted my head. “You have something to show me? Like a surprise?” I asked.
He laughed. “Definitely a surprise.” He leaned in and brushed a soft kiss on my lips, then opened up the door to the truck. “Hop in. I can’t wait for you to see it.”
I smiled and was giddy to think about what he wanted to show me. We jumped into his truck and he drove me thirty minutes outside of town. We pulled into this developing community and I admired the houses in the area. They were all large and beautiful. I couldn’t imagine what he wanted to show me, because all I saw were miles and miles of expensive houses.
He turned down a street that led to a dead end and a large house at the end of the road. He stopped in front of it and I looked at him. He held a stupid grin on his lips. “What do you think?” he asked.
I turned to look at the house that we were in front of and there was a big red bow on the front door. I looked back at him. “Um…well, I think it’s unique to have such a large bow on the front door of a house. It’s not Christmas, so what’s going on?” I glanced at him and he laughed.
He opened up his door and I watched him, with confusion in my glance. He walked around to my door and opened it up, then held out his hand for me to take it. When I stepped out of the vehicle, he shut the door and started talking.
“Well, I have been working on this residential housing project for the past few years. I built this one for you,” he said. He grabbed my hand and we started walking the long path to the door as I tried to let the news settle inside of me. He then cleared his throat. “I built this one for us.” We stopped at the porch and he turned to me.
My mouth hung open. “You built this house for us? Are you kidding me?”
He reached into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys. He shook his head, dangling the keys in front of me. “Not in the least, Kemara. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have loved you more and more every day that you have taken care of me over the past year. When we start a family, I envision this as the place we would all live. But I need you to want that too. So…do you?” I couldn’t have been happier in that moment.
I literally jumped in his arms, and he twirled me around on the front porch of our brand new home. “Oh my God, Channing, this is amazing,” I said.
He lowered me to the ground and moved in. We kissed. The love I felt for Channing was something out of a romantic comedy. And this was exactly how the girl and guy in one of those movies would end their story, ready to live happily ever after. I moved in closer to him and wrapped my fingers around his neck, then kissed him softly.
“I love it.” I spoke between kisses. “I love you!”
As we kissed, he fumbled with the keys and opened up the door of our brand-new house. When he achieved that, we wrapped our arms around one another and he lifted me up and carried me over the threshold. He slammed the door behind us and carried me into the living room, where a large bay window overlooked the front yard, but it was the banner that hung from the ceiling that had me dazed and the rose petals that formed a heart on the living room floor. I looked at him.
“Channing?” I whispered. I looked back up at the sign. The banner read, Will You Marry Me? I couldn’t believe that my happiness was about to bring everything full circle. “Are you serious?” I asked, looking at him. He was down on one knee and a box was now in his hand.
“Kemara we’ve been through so much this past year and I don’t want this date to always bring sorrow and sadness. I want more than that. I want you to be my wife and marry me on this exact date one year from today. So, will you? Will you marry me?” I knelt in front of him and looked at the ring in his hand.
“Channing nothing would make me happier,” I said, between tears.
He smiled and pulled the ring from the box, then tossed the box to the side. He laughed as he put the ring on my finger and I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a hug. “I love you, Kemara,” he said between our passionate embrace.
“I love you!” I mumbled between his lips.
I snaked my fingers through the back of his hair as we parted from the kiss. “Do you want a tour first?” he asked, laughing..
I laughed and shook my head.
He wrapped his arm around me and lowered me to the floor of our living room. It wasn’t furnished, but that would soon be rectified. As we made out on the floor, with his large frame overpowering my body, my whole body lit up with warmth and affection. I grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up and over his head, then tossed it to the floor. This was definitely how I wanted to christen our home. I couldn’t wait to do that to every room of the house and I was anxious to get started.
“No, we can do the tour later. Right now, this living room floor is demanding some love and attention.”
Channing smiled as he kissed me. “I love you so much, Kemara. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much.”