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 growmore 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’reengaged.”
“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 apart 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.
