The Final Chapter
Natalie went to her room and pulled her suitcases out, filling them with all of her clothes and her scant belongings. It was hard for her to leave, knowing that it would be breaking more than her and Cameron apart. In a very real way, it would be breaking the whole family apart.
When she was all packed, she took her bags out to her car and loaded the trunk with them. Then, she went back inside and looked for Charisse and Wilson. They were sitting on the sofa in the den watching an old Vincent Price movie together.
“Mom, Dad. I need to talk with you please,” she told them anxiously. She had no idea what she was going to say to them, but she knew that she couldn’t just walk right out of their home without a word.
They paused the movie and gave her their full attention. “What is it, sweetie?” her mother asked, looking at her curiously. Wilson’s eyes were on her as well.
She cleared her throat and then sat down on one of the sofas near them. “I wanted to tell you that I’m leaving,” she began, waiting to see what their reaction would be.
“Leaving?” her mother asked in surprise. “Whatever for? What’s going on?”
“Are you all right?” Wilson asked her, leaning forward as if he was ready to spring into action to help her if she wasn’t.
She drew in a long, deep breath and tried to find some courage within herself. “Yes, I’m fine. There’s some work that I want to do north of here, so it’s just easier on me if I go up that way and stay there. I really don’t want to commute,” she lied. She had her chance to tell them the truth, that she had fallen for her stepbrother, and that she had been having a hot affair with him, but he was too busy being a playboy to commit to her, so instead of having to deal with him under the same roof, she was leaving. She had considered telling them that, but it hadn’t come out.
“Oh, well if it’s a good story that you need to get, then I certainly understand, although I’m so sad to see you leave. I’ve just gotten used to having you around here, and I was gone for the honeymoon, so that was extra time that I didn’t get to see you while you were here.” Her mother looked positively heartbroken, though she was trying her best to remain supportive and encouraging.
Wilson sighed and looked sad as well. “What about weekends? Can you come home on weekends or something?” he asked hopefully, trying his best to lessen the blow.
Charisse turned to look at him with an adoring smile as she placed her hand on his knee. “Oh, it doesn’t really work like that, darling. She doesn’t work Monday through Friday and have weekends off. It’s more like a day to day thing.” Charisse turned and looked back at Natalie then.
“You could come home in between stories though, right?” she asked, following Wilson’s train of thought.
Natalie shrugged. “If it’s possible and it works out, I could try to.” It was her way of saying no. No, she could not come home in between, because then she’d have to see Cameron, and there was no doubt in her mind that her parents would be telling both boys and Theresa anytime Natalie was going to visit so that they could all be home to see her. That wasn’t going to work, but she couldn’t tell her parents that either. So, she lied again, hating every word that was coming from her mouth and hating the fact that she didn’t have the guts to tell them both the truth.
Her mother stood up and walked over to her, and Wilson followed. Charisse stood before her, and Natalie rose from the sofa to hug her mom. Wilson wrapped his arms around them both.
“I love you, baby girl, and I know that you are doing whatever it is that you need to do. So, go do it, and no matter what, you will always have a place here, a home, and you will always have a family to come home to. I’m so proud of you and of all the work that you do. I know that it takes enormous sacrifice to do what you do, and though it’s a sacrifice that we all make, it’s always worth it. It’s definitely worth it, my dearest,” Charisse told her in her ear, and the words cut Natalie to the quick, because she knew that her mother meant them, and in certain times of her life, those words would be true, but they weren’t true just then. Her mother was pouring her heart out to a daughter who was lying to her because her affair with her stepbrother hadn’t worked out. Natalie was sick with herself.
Wilson let them go and looked intently at Natalie for a moment. “Don’t go just yet; I have something for you. I’ll be right back. Wait here.” He left them, and Charisse looked at her closely.
“Is it only work? Is that all that it is?” she asked, and Natalie realized that her mother knew that it was more than what she had said. It was a little bit of a relief to know it and to feel the comfort that came with someone knowing her so well that they could see through anything she said. The only people in her life who could do it were her mother and Ophelia, and it was astronomically rare that she ever lied to either one of them, which made it hurt just a little more this time.
“Yeah, it’s just work. There’s nothing else,” she told another untruth. “Don’t worry, Mom. Everything is okay. Thank you, though.” Natalie wanted to punish herself for what she was doing.
“Besides, I’ll be able to get some visits in with you here and there. I don’t want to be too far away from you because I haven’t spent nearly enough time with you, and I really want to, so maybe on my light days you could meet me halfway, and we could have visits then. Would you be all right doing that?” She was going to have to drive north a little herself on those days to make her mother believe that she had driven south to meet her halfway.
“Yes, darling. Of course. I’d be glad to meet you anywhere, anytime, and I will. Just let me know when and where.” Charisse gave her a heartwarming smile and wrapped her in another hug. “Just when I got you back, I’m losing you again. Ah, me.” She sounded so sad, and Natalie knew that her mother would never tell her just how sad that she was; she would keep it to herself so that Natalie would feel less guilt.
There was no measurement for the guilt that Natalie was feeling just then. She did her best to stand her ground and look like she was telling the truth. Wilson came back to them then and walked up to Natalie. He handed her an envelope.
“Here, this is a little going away gift. Use it for whatever you want. Come home anytime, and know that you are always, always welcome here. We are all your family, and this is your home for the rest of your life. Good luck, daughter.” He gave her a smile, and she realized that he must have given her some money to help her get by. Just when she thought that she couldn’t feel worse. He was being generous with her while she was lying to him about why she was leaving. It was almost more than she could take.
“Thank you so much; you’re much too kind.” She knew that she couldn’t hand it back to him there, so she tucked it into her purse and gave him a big hug. “I’m lucky to have you both. I love you. I hope I get to see you soon,” she said, and then she turned and walked out of the room, leaving them behind as they watched her go.
She made one more stop before she walked out of the door. She went to the library and sealed the envelope of money. Taking a pen from the desk, she wrote ‘Dad’ on the envelope, and left it sitting right on the middle of the desktop. He would get the money back, and there wouldn’t need to be an explanation about why she didn’t take it. It would be swept under the rug over time, and all would be okay, at least that part of it would be okay.
The rest of it was beginning to feel like a dangerous game of chess to her, and she felt like she was losing at it. Natalie walked out of the house and closed the door behind her, with one last saddened look at it.
Then, she got into her car and started it up, pulling it down the long driveway to the street outside of the property. The further she got from the house, the freer she felt, but there was so much pain in her that tears stung at her eyes and threatened to fall. She held them back as long as she could, but when she got to Ophelia’s front door and knocked, she couldn’t hold anything back anymore. Ophelia knew the truth. The whole truth. When her best friend opened the door, Natalie burst into tears and collapsed into her friend’s arms, weeping and sobbing until there was not a tear left in her, and she had cried herself to sleep in the guest room of Ophelia’s house.
When morning came, she stayed in bed until Ophelia came to get her out of bed.
“What are you doing in here still? It’s ten in the morning. Come on, get up. You can’t start a new life laying on your back in bed like that. Besides, it’s a gorgeous day, and you and I are going for sourdough bread bowls at lunchtime, so get up and get ready to go. Come on.” Ophelia wasn’t taking no for an answer.
Natalie obliged and pushed herself unwillingly from her bed and her tear-stained pillow. With a sigh, she reached for her cell phone to see if the world had collapsed while she was sleeping.
There was a text from her mother and Wilson, wishing her the best of luck. There were nine missed phone calls from Cameron. She sighed and swiped past them. Just as she was about to check her email, Cameron called her again, and she knew that this was only the beginning of his persistence in getting in touch with her. He was more stubborn than she was, and she knew that if she didn’t take the call, it could wind up being a big problem later, especially if he went to their parents about it.
“Hello,” she said in a low voice, wishing that he hadn’t called her at all.
“Where are you?” he shot out at her immediately in a panicked voice. “I got up this morning to find out that you left last night? You didn’t even say goodbye! Mom and Dad said that you left to work, and they actually believe that! You can bet that I don’t. Now, where are you?”
She furrowed her brow and frowned. “I left,” she said simply, not wanting to have to explain anything to him at all.
“I know you left; I want to know where you are!” he demanded.
“I’m not telling you where I am because it doesn’t matter where I am; I’m not going to be seeing you again for as long as I can make that happen.” She was going to be honest with him, because there was no good reason not to be.
She heard him gasp on the other end of the line. “You… you left because of us, didn’t you? I knew it! Why did you do that? I explained everything to you yesterday! We talked about all of this, and I explained everything!”
“No, you didn’t explain everything. You said you wanted me in your bed and in your arms. You didn’t say that you were going to stop seeing other women or be monogamous with me. You didn’t even say that you want anything with me other than sex, so what I’m understanding here is that you’re upset that your part-time sex partner left you. Well, you have a long line of other women just waiting to throw themselves at you, so you’ll have to forgive me, but I have no sympathy for you. I’m sure you’ll be fine in no time.” She hadn’t meant to sound catty, but being straight with him hadn’t worked, so she was hoping that the sarcasm might sink in a little deeper.
He hesitated a moment and then spoke again with a serious voice. “What other women? Is this about Kat picking up her clothes? Is that what this is about?”
“That’s one of the reasons, yes,” she replied simply.
“Well, that’s just great. She left her clothes on the boat during the party because she put her swimsuit on and then wound up leaving with it on when she went out with Neil. I brought her clothes home and left them in my room for her. She’s not a lover of mine; she’s a friend. I didn’t have sex with her. I’ve never had sex with her, and I never would. She’s not my type.” Cameron was more adamant and serious than she had ever heard him, and when he gave her his explanation, she realized that what he said was probably the dead-on truth, and she closed her eyes, feeling awful that she had misjudged the situation so entirely. It was completely unfair to Cameron.
“Well, she might not be your type, but you’re not my type either, so that was another reason that I left. You won’t make a commitment to me, and I don’t want to be intimate with anyone who won’t give me everything that I deserve to have, and by that, I mean loyalty, honesty, monogamy, commitment, and real love. I deserve the real thing, and I’m not going to settle for anything less.” She paused, and she could hear that he was listening to her.
“I left because I can’t stay close to you and want you the way that I do, all to myself in a one on one relationship, a real relationship. I had to leave. I have fallen for you, and I have to find a way to get over you somehow and move on. I can’t keep going back and forth with my feelings for you, being confused, being hurt, and wanting someone who doesn’t want me back the same way. That’s not right and it’s not fair to either of us. I’ve got to get over you and you have to do the same. We will undoubtedly see each other now and then in the future because we are family now, but we are never going to be together again the way that we have been. We are never going to be intimate again, lovers or even close that way. We need to be for each other what we are: stepsiblings, and that’s it.”
“That’s all that there is really. I have to go. Please don’t call me again,” she pleaded softly, and then she ended the phone call and closed her eyes as they flooded with tears again.
Ophelia came into the room then and sat down beside Natalie on the bed. “Poor thing. Was that Cameron?”
“Yes!” Natalie sobbed.
“Did you tell him goodbye?” Ophelia asked gently.
“Yes,” Natalie answered quietly as she wiped at her eyes. “I had to. I’ve fallen for him much more than I thought I did, and I have got to find a way to get over him!”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes. So very much, and it’s just not right. I can’t be with him. I can’t love him. I’ve got to find a way to get over him and get on with my life somehow.” She wept a little more and then dabbed at her eyes again.
“Then, do whatever it is that you need to do to be all right, and if that means staying here out of sight for a while as you heal, then that’s fine. You stay as long as you need to, as long as you like. This is always your home, anytime you need it.” Ophelia hugged her close and tight, and Natalie cried herself out again and then dried her eyes and pushed herself up off of the bed.
“Okay. I can’t sit here and sleep in all day, and I can’t cry my eyes out nonstop. I’ve got to try to move forward. One step at a time. I think you said something about sourdough bowls for lunch, right?” Natalie asked with a thin and slightly hopeful voice.
“Yes. Sourdough bowls. Let’s go.” Ophelia stood up too, and they walked out of the room together.
A few days passed, and Natalie was sitting in a café working and sipping coffee when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw that it was her mother.
“Mom! Hi! How are you doing? I miss you already,” Natalie began, beyond glad to hear from Charisse.
“Oh, honey! I miss you too! I’m good. I’m glad you miss me, because I’m calling to invite you to dinner at the house. I thought that maybe you could drive south and stay the night, and then drive back up in the morning. What do you think?” Charisse sounded more than hopeful.
Natalie closed her eyes and winced. “Ah. Mom. I can’t do that. I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of a piece I’m working on and I have a deadline. I’m so sorry. I could meet you halfway for lunch though, if you like. What do you think?”
“Lunch?” Her mother paused a moment. “Let me check…” She was gone a moment, and then she came back to the phone. “Yes, lunch works. Let’s meet up today at Chez Antonio’s. How does one o’clock sound?”
Natalie looked at the clock on the wall. It was ten thirty in the morning. “Yes, that’s fine, Mom. Thank you! I can’t wait to see you!”
“I can’t wait to see you too, honey. Bye for now.” Charisse ended the call, and Natalie smiled to herself. She was going to get to see her mother, and that one thing was so wonderful to her that it made her whole day.
She went home and dressed nicely, and at one o’clock that afternoon, she walked into Chez Antonio’s and gave them her name. She was taken to a table in a private room, and when she walked into the room, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Her whole family was there. Her mother, father, Adam, Theresa, and Cameron. Her heart froze in her chest and her eyes grew large. She couldn’t begin to think how she was going to handle it, caught so far off guard. She hadn’t been at all prepared to see him, though she was happy to see everyone else.
“Oh! Mom! Everyone… everyone is here,” she stammered and began to take a few steps back out of the door. “You know what, I can’t…” she began, but Cameron rose from his seat and went straight to her, taking her hand in his and making her stop.
The feel of his skin against hers sent the sweet familiar fire through her, and she bitterly resented it. She knew that it was going to take a long while for her to get over him, and she prayed with everything in her that it would happen soon.
“Natalie, no! Stop. Please don’t go. I have to talk to you, and I knew that you wouldn’t see me, so I asked your mom to invite you to lunch. I knew you’d come to see her.” He was at least being honest with her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That was a lousy trick, Cameron.”
He didn’t stop. “Listen to me. I’ve only known you a short while, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Her heart nearly exploded out of her chest as her jaw dropped open. She could not believe that he was saying anything like that in front of their whole family. No one in the family appeared to be surprised, and she realized then that he had already told them. She wondered with a flash of panic just how much he had told them.
“You left because you thought you couldn’t be mine, but you can be. I can’t lose you, Natalie. I want you with me. I want you with me for the rest of my life. I know that I can be the man that you deserve, true to you and only you. I don’t need or want any other woman in my life except you.”
Cameron pulled a ring out of his pocket and lowered himself to one knee, holding the ring up to her. It was the biggest diamond that she had ever seen in her life. She gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth. He couldn’t be, she thought in utter disbelief, there’s no way that he could be…
“I want to ask you to commit to me, to be my wife. I know it’s fast, and I’ll understand completely if you want to have a long engagement. It can be as long as you want it to be, but just say yes to me. Don’t make me live my life without you by my side as my wife. I want you. I need you. I love you. Please… Natalie, please marry me. Say yes.” He paused then, waiting and holding his breath as she stared at him, and as their whole family stared at the two of them.
She didn’t have to think about it. He had solved all of their problems. He had been the courageous one and taken the step of telling their family that they loved each other. He had taken all of the risk, and now he was kneeling before her, his heart in his hand, waiting for her to promise that she would love him for the rest of her life.
Feeling her head nod slowly, but almost as if it was in a dream, she began to smile and then to laugh and cry all at the same time, totally overwhelmed by emotion. “Yes, Cameron, I will marry you.”
Cheers sounded loudly from every member of their family who erupted from the table and came rushing to them to hold them both together in a big and strong embrace. At the center of that huge hug was Cameron, with his arms around Natalie as she looked up at him. He had tears in his eyes, and he shook his head and bent down to kiss her.
“I love you, Natalie. Always.”
“I love you too, Cameron.” She kissed him back, and their family cheered again. It was going to be a happily ever after for Natalie and Cameron, and for all of them.
THANKS FOR READING!
This book is part of a bestselling series called “United States Of Billionaires”. Every book features a different billionaire in a different city and very soon we could be coming to your home town!
Below are all the books currently available, is a city you love in there? Download now and check it out. (Be warned, all these books are extra STEAMY!)
AN DIEGO
Collect the whole series!
Peace, love and high heels!
Lena & The Simply BWWM Team
p.s
if you already have the ab