Kate

Megan, of course, had a complete meltdown when I told her that Cam wanted to stay by Lizzy’s bedside for the duration of our stay in Venice, which, per doctor’s orders, meant two additional days at the hospital for observation. We were advised that it would be best if Lizzy didn’t travel for a few days more to be safe. As a result, we extended our stay at the hotel, and the Latin American leg of the tour had been canceled for Cam.

Matt, however, had to agree to carry the torch for the team in order to get the studio off of our backs and did so begrudgingly, not wanting to leave Lizzy’s side either. Desperate to get back in Cam’s good graces, though, he finally acquiesced.

Cam and I had practically camped out at the hospital, bringing Lizzy games to play, magazines to read, even a few DVDs to watch on the decrepit TV in her hospital room. Cam, fussed over Lizzy something awful, continually fluffing her pillow and refilling her water glass in an effort to aid her recovery and no doubt feel useful in a situation where he was decidedly—not.

After a day and a half of helicopter brothering, Lizzy had grown tired of Cam fussing over her and insisted that he at least go to the festival screening of Due North that night to do the red carpet with the rest of the cast before they left for Brazil the next day. Initially, Cam had resisted vehemently.

“Lizzy, I have absolutely no desire to go to a red carpet this evening. Matt and Alexis can handle it. I just want to be with my two favorite girls.”

I eyed Lizzy, who looked as though she was going to die of irritation with her brother.

“What if I went with you, Cam?” I asked.

“You always go with me.”

“Not as your publicist–as your date.”

Cam stared at me for a long moment. “Seriously?” he said cautiously.

“Yeah, I mean, not that it really matters at this point, but I’m not your publicist anymore.”

“Will you stop with that? We need to get that sorted because you are definitely continuing on as my publicist. There’s no one better for me, Kate, and I want the best for that job. End of story.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. We’ll discuss that when we get home.”

“That’s fine, but I’m already decided, so…”

“So, like I said, we’ll talk about it when we get home,” I said giving him an unamused smile.

It was Cam’s turn to roll his eyes now as Lizzy chuckled at our dynamic. It was as though Cam and I had known each other for a lifetime and not just a month. There was no denying that despite the fact we argued on occasion, there was no one better suited for either one of us than the other.

“Will you wear a gown and everything?” Cam asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

I grinned. “I will call Evander right now and have him pick out something just insanely devastating for me to wear this evening.”

“And you don’t mind being seen with me? That’s a pretty public coming-out party.”

“I hate to tell you this, Cam, but we already had our coming-out party in the lobby of our hotel the other morning. That ship has sailed, and I’m good with it,” I said with a coy smile. “In fact, Vanity Fair called me a ‘goddess’ and you ‘lucky’. I could get used to that.”

Cam smirked as he warmed to the idea of the two of us hitting the red carpet together that evening. I grinned as I watched a slow smile blossom on his face.

“Fine. I’ll pick you up promptly at 6:30 then,” he said, trying not to give away his total excitement, but I could tell.

“Fine,” I said nonchalantly as I picked up one of Lizzy’s issues of OK Magazine from her massive stack of reading material.

The room was quiet for a moment as Lizzy and I eyed each other.

“Katie, if we’re going tonight, do you think maybe we should go back to the hotel now? Perhaps talk to Evander so he can start getting things in order?”

“That sounds like a great idea, love,” I said, allowing him to believe that he hadn’t just been led to this conclusion by me.

“Good,” he said, holding out a hand to me, which I took as I gave Lizzy a wink.

“We’ll come for you in the morning to take you back to the hotel,” I told her.

“Sounds great. Have fun, you two!”

---

That night, Cam picked me up at my hotel room door promptly at 6:30 pm just as he had promised. My heart had nearly stopped when I opened the door. My man was drop-dead gorgeous in a tux. I couldn’t believe he was mine, but from the look in his eyes, he was having the same thought about me as he took in the sleek, silver, floor-length halter-dress that Evander had chosen for me. The gown fit me like a second skin and flowed like sparkling water at the bottom as it grazed the ground, just allowing a pair of jeweled silver Manolos to peek out from the bottom. Evander had pinned my hair back in an elegant chignon. For the first time in my life, I had felt in the mood to turn heads that night, and I had just the partner to help me do it.

“Fuck,” was all Cam could say when he looked at me, which made me chuckle.

“So eloquent, love.”

Cam grinned. “I’m sorry, but you are fucking stunning,” he said shaking his head in amazed wonder. “I can’t believe you’re finally mine.”

“I’m fully crying back here, okay?” Evander said from somewhere in my room, breaking the moment and making us both laugh.

“Shall we go then, Atwood?”

“I would love nothing more, Prescott,” he said, extending his arm for me to take like the true gentleman he was. Before I knew it, I realized that Evander was taking a picture of the two of us from behind, and I knew instantly that it would be just beautiful in a frame one day.

“You two are fierce! Have fun. I’m gonna hit up your mini bar, sweetie.” And with that Evander pushed us both out the door, and we were off.

---

That night, Cam and I hit the red carpet for Due North, hand in hand, and it seemed we had dazzled the crowd much to the studio’s great joy. Generally, I stayed out of the shot when Cam did his interviews, just as I had done as his publicist, but when a reporter asked that I be in the frame, as well, to show off my fabulous dress and our new couple status, I obliged. I was slowly feeling out the ropes of being both publicist and significant other, and I had to say it was kind of working for me. I was still able to control what was happening as I had done for years in my job. More importantly, though, I now had the most wonderful man in the world by my side who I knew loved me all the way. For the first time on this insane press tour, I had to admit, life was pretty damned perfect.