“Oh, and little Dylan.” She pointed at another picture. It was another one at the hospital, except this time Jonah was four and Dylan was the baby in Cameron’s arms. “God, they’re a beautiful family.”
“I think that one was taken about two seconds before Jonah sneezed right on Dylan.”
“Just giving that immune system a kick start.” Isla pointed to another picture. “Talk about babies.”
Melanie followed where she was pointing. It was a picture of Melanie and Cameron not long after they met. She’d found the picture in a box of photos she kept in her closet. The date she’d scribbled on the back was 1999 and she remembered it as the Y2K party they’d had at the Mackenzies. Cameron and Melanie had spent most of the night attached at the hip, which wasn’t uncommon when they’d go to parties together.
“Was this the Y2K party?”
“Yep,” Melanie chuckled. “We thought the world was ending, so we were going out with a party.”
“Little did we know then that thirteen years later the party I would be having on New Year’s would be Everleigh.”
“But she’s such a cute baby.”
“She is pretty great, isn’t she?”
“Okay,” Vera sighed from behind them. “What is wrong with this picture?”
“Which picture?” Turning around, Melanie saw Vera had her hands on her hips as she glared at them. “Do you not like the ones I chose?”
“No, I mean this picture,” she dramatically pointed a finger back and forth between Melanie and Isla. “I’ve been slaving in the kitchen blowing up a million balloons with the world’s smallest helium pump while you two reminisce in here.”
“Actually,” Melanie smirked, “it’s only fifty balloons.”
Vera’s glare told her that didn’t matter.
“Sorry, baby.” Always knowing how to win her wife over, Isla went to her and kissed her. “But come here and look at these pictures.”
They all stood in a line as they took in the pictures. Melanie was proud of the eclectic collection of photos she’d accumulated. And judging by how Isla and Vera reacted to them, she knew they would be a hit with Cameron.
“Mel,” Vera pointed to a picture, “look at this one.”
Taking a step toward the photo, Melanie couldn’t help but smile. It was a picture of Cameron and Dylan on Dylan’s first birthday. Dylan was sitting in Cameron’s lap and had cake smeared all over her face. Cameron’s head was tossed back laughing, looking as happy as Melanie had ever seen her.
“Cameron only knows how to create babies that look exactly like her.”
“True, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” Vera took a step closer to the picture, motioning for Melanie to do the same. She pointed at the background. “Look right here.”
Leaning in toward the picture, Melanie could make out herself in the background. She was smiling at Cameron with so much love it almost radiated off the picture. Her eyes were lit up more so than in any wedding photo she had. The realization slammed into Melanie and took her breath away.
She’d always been in love with Cameron. Even if she thought they were just friends, deep down her heart held the truth. And it was as clear as day on her face and in her eyes in the captured moment from eleven years ago.
“You two have been in love with each other for so long,” Vera dreamily stated as she leaned into Isla. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice it at the time. I mean, look at you. You’re in love with her then.”
“Yeah,” Melanie nervously laughed, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Excuse me.”
Not wanting Isla or Vera to see her crying, Melanie quickly turned and headed into the kitchen. She knew her friends wouldn’t leave her alone for long, but she took the few minutes she had to compose herself. Melanie wiped her tears on the gray Yankees sweatshirt she’d worn to decorate for the party.
Why did I suppress those feelings for so long? Things could have been so different for us. God, I can’t believe I wasted so much precious time when I could have been loving Cam.
Melanie mentally beat herself up as she felt a sob bubble up and escaped from her lips. She hadn’t heard Isla come into the kitchen, but she wasn’t surprised when her friend pulled her into a tight hug. Wrapping her arms around Isla, Melanie let her friend comfort her.
“It’s okay.” Isla gently rubbed her back as she spoke in her calming mom voice. “I know it’s hard to think about what could have been. I do it all the time with Blake and it’s never easy.”
Blake was Isla’s eldest daughter who lived with her father after he was awarded full custody. Isla hadn’t seen her since she was five, and Melanie couldn’t imagine the heartache Isla felt on a daily basis because of that. She’d seen Isla on some of her darkest days in life and knew most of them were because of the pain of missing Blake.
“I’m sorry.”
