Found by Love (42 page)

"I was looking for this." No sense in hiding it because he knew what I was looking for. Olivia gasped and started jumping up and down.

"Is that what I THINK it is?" She looked at Cash and walked over to him and put her arm around him letting him know she wasn't upset with him anymore and he finally let out a long breath of air. I looked at Caleb and he hadn't moved a muscle and I can't seem to read what he's thinking.

"So... You had already seen it before you came in here to beg me back huh. Is that why you came in here to grovel the way you did?" I deserved that.

"It was the reason in a way. I was headed to find you BEFORE I tripped over the box that was on the floor. It must have fallen out of your pajamas that you were hiding it in." I walked closer to him and he didn't move. "When I saw what it was I can't tell you how long I bawled at the realization that not only were you TRULY in love with me but that I had broken your heart. I knew that I had to find you and realized that I would do ANYTHING to get you back."

"Wait a minute... How did you break his-"

"Not now Liv. Let her finish." I looked at Cash and nodded my head in thanks for quieting her down.

"As soon as I walked into this room and saw you.... Grieving the way that you were, I never even thought about the ring until you started looking for it in the drawers. Everything I said and did last night was from my heart and definitely not over this beautiful ring." I shook it in front of him with tears in my eyes and looked into his that had tears pooling into them. I choked out, "it is truly beautiful and I would love it if you still want to give it to me." I wasn't expecting it but he picked me up and kissed me and I kissed him back and didn't want to end it. He finally pulled away and whispered in my ear.

"I love you Cru! You're really gonna be my wife?" I looked at him and nodded and grinned at him and he hugged me again but even harder this time and twirled me around in a circle. "Woohoo! Give me the box." I laughed and handed it to him and he put me down and got down on one knee.

"Oh Caleb, you don't have to do all of that." He shook his head at me and grinned.

"Be quiet Cru. You have no idea how many years I've wanted to get down on one knee and slide a ring onto your finger so let me do this the way I want to. Okay?"

"Yes Nerd Boy." The way I answered him had us both shivering and remembering our night together. He looked up at me with so much love in his eyes I thought I could die happy in this very moment.

"I give you this ring as a token of my love for you and you would make me the happiest man in the world if you would marry me as soon as possible." I nodded my head and grinned while a faucet of tears fell down my cheeks.

"Of course I will!!" He jumped up and picked me up again which had all of us laughing and giggling.

"Okay. We are going to go celebrate right now! Cash, Olivia, keep Grayson and Mattie entertained for an hour or two while we do just that okay? Okay! See ya!" I never heard their response because we kissed all the way to the bedroom and was naked before we hit the bed.

*******************

"Mrs. Caleb Kingston. Man that has a nice ring to it ya doesn't it?" I looked into the rear view mirror from the back seat unable to take my eyes off of his beautiful blue ones. Grayson rolled his eyes at me and made the crazy signal against his head which made me giggle.

"Yes Caleb. For the thousandth time it sounds beautiful. Would you please pay attention to the road and quit sneaking peaks at me through the mirror or I might make you take my last name. Mr. Caleb Porter. Yep! That sounds good to me! Haha." Mattie was the first one to chime in.

"You'd be surprised by this Caleb but a lot of men actually love their women enough to do just that. Especially the ones who think they'll get further in life with their wife's last name instead of their own." Caleb seemed to think about it for a second but shook his head.

"Nah... Maybe if Cash does something really embarrassing I might think about it but I like my last name."

"I like my name too. I've had it my whole life and here you are trying to make me change it. A lot of professional women keep their last names when they get married." I winked over at Grayson letting him know that I was just messing with Caleb and he laughed.

"Dad, if she wants to keep her name, are you going to let her?" I reached my hand over to give him a knuckle bump and then looked into the mirror to see Caleb's reaction. He didn't seem to happy anymore and actually pulled the truck over to the shoulder and put it in park and turned around and looked at me and then Grayson.

"Okay. Here's the deal, both of you. When we marry we will become a family, the three of us." He pulled one of Grayson's tiny hands into his and then mine and was holding both of our hands in his humungous ones and looked over at Grayson. "Grayson, I know your mother and I haven't had this talk but it's time. I plan on adopting you. That is if you will allow me to be your dad. Not only the dad of your heart but on paper as well and I'm really not that crazy about the three of us all having different names when we don't have to. Now, if you both prefer the last name of Porter? Well. I guess I'd have to get used to it and I'm not forcing my name down anyone's throats but… that's how I feel about the topic."

He grinned and turned around and put the truck back into drive and pulled back onto the highway not even waiting for our response. I looked at Grayson and he seemed rather deep in thought. I laughed at Mattie and thanked him for breaking the silence.

"Well if you two don't want to take his name I think I'll marry the big guy after that speech. Mathias Kingston! Yep! It has a nice ring to it." He reached over and slapped Caleb on the shoulder and gripped it. "You're a standup guy Caleb. Ya know that? It's an honor to call you my friend." They both grinned at each other and I smiled and was thankful that they're finally forming a friendship and have gotten over their jealousies of each other.

"Thank you Mattie. Same to you man same to you. Would you like for me to go buy you a matching friendship bracelet? Do you prefer gold, silver or platinum?" Oh now they're just messing around but I'm loving the banter.

"Bracelet? I just told you I'd marry you and you're offering me a bracelet? I want a ring Bro! Platinum of course with a couple of little diamonds in the center; I don't need anything as flashy as Claudia's." They both busted up laughing which caused Grayson and me to start laughing. Picturing Caleb giving him a ring had me rolling and believe it or not, knowing Caleb the way that I do, I bet he buys him one for Christmas just to get a laugh out of everyone.

"Oh wait until you see the inscription I'm going to put on it!"

"Haha! I can't wait!" Every one of us had tears from laughing so hard. I noticed we had arrived at our office and I leaned over and unlatched Grayson's seatbelt.

"Okay we are here buddy. Ready to see where we work? I'll even let you turn off the alarm." His eyes lit up and he ran to the office door.

"Cool! I love playing with alarms!"

"Haha, we aren't setting it. We are turning it off so that we can walk around." I put my key in to unlock the door and walked over to the keypad with Grayson right beside me. “Okay Gray. Press 7103 and that'll turn it off." He got a shocked look on his face and looked at me but punched the code in and shut it off.

"That's my birthdate! You use my birthdate as your code?"

"Well of course I do. I use it for a lot of things. It has always been my way of never forgetting the day you were born. I mean. Not that I ever would but-"

I couldn't finish what I was saying because the air was knocked out of me by him squeezing me to death. I put my arms around him and ran my fingers through his hair until he let go and looked up at me with the biggest grin on his face.

"I love you Mom." I never get tired of hearing that and his declaration is sweet music to my ears.

"I love you too Baby!" Caleb and Mattie finally joined us.

"So... The alarm has been off for a while. What's so interesting over here?" I laughed because he's always trying to keep me from crying and knew I was on my way.

"Dad? I've been thinking about what you said in the car."

"Oh yeah? Which part? Mattie and I were only joking about getting married. Well, unless you really want us to." He looked at Mattie and pointed at himself and Mattie. "I could maybe do it. Mattie? What say you?" Oh my God! Let's call comic relief!

"Oh I'm all about keeping people happy because I'm a people pleaser. Always have been and if that's what it takes. I mean, if I was into guys you're not too bad looking. A little tall for me but you're decent. I like to be the tallest in the relationship though." Caleb seemed offended and Grayson kept shaking his head but was enjoying the entertainment.

"Not too bad looking? Excuse me? I bet I could get a date before you if we went to a bar right now Mr. Matthias!"

"You might possibly but I bet I could get more than one because Claudia would have you knocked out once you got that date." Mattie smirked and winked at Caleb which had him rolling.

"Okay guys. That was funny but could we get serious for a minute here?"

He was standing in front of them pointing his finger at them and I was amazed at how mature he gets sometimes. They both zipped their lips with their fingers and nodded their heads. Grayson turned around and held in a laugh that only I could see and continued with his discussion.

"Dad, I would love to take your last name when you two get married but if you and Mom don't mind I'd like to keep Brown as my last name too. I love you guys but I don't want to forget about my other parents either."

Aww... My baby boy is already sounding like a grown man. My heart seems to beat faster when he's around at the awesomeness of his true genuine spirit. I take a step closer to him and pull him to me from behind and lift his head up.

"Are you sure you're not twenty? Let me see your driver’s license? Haha. We would never want you to forget them and keeping their name would be such an honor to them. If you're willing to take Caleb's name I think I can too."

"Okay, okay... Group hug! Come on Mattie, you too buddy!" The four of us hugged each other and then started swaying as Caleb had us all cracking up by humming ‘Kumbaya’. We broke apart and continued to show Grayson and Mattie around the office and I showed Grayson how to set the silent alarm if the event ever arose and that he needed to and then we all decided to go eat.

While I was walking behind Grayson to the truck I felt eyes on me and I looked around and I saw a little sports car driving by really slow and I started to panic. Surely it's not Roger or Meredith but I would think they'd be driving a less conspicuous vehicle. The car stopped before Grayson got in and my heart stopped. It was Jason! He looked directly into my eyes and then shock when he looked at Grayson and back at me. Caleb finally came towards the driver’s side where we were standing and Jason drove off shaking his head with anger in his eyes. Grayson looked at me and Caleb sensing something had just happened.

"Who was that Mom?" I didn't know how to answer his question so I grinned at him.

"Hey. Let's get you in here and put your seat belt on okay?" He didn't seem to notice I didn't answer him and reached for his seat belt and I shut the door and turned around and looked at Caleb.

He whispered, "Was that who I think it was?" I wasn't sure if he had seen him or not but I could see the anger in his eyes. I nodded my head.

"Yes. He stopped and stared at Grayson and me for a few seconds. What do you think we should do?" He could tell that I was scared so he pulled me into his arms and whispered in my ear.

"Don't worry about it baby. Let me know if he tries to contact you but in the meantime I'm going to get some extra security, better to be safe than sorry."

"Extra? Do we have someone following us around right now?" I started looking around but Caleb kept me in his warm embrace.

"Of course we do Cru. Do you think I'm going to take a chance at anything happening to either of you?" I smiled knowing that he truly was our protector.

"Well aren't you as sly as a fox. I didn't realize you had it in you. And here I thought it was just you protecting us. By the way I feel safe with you but wow! I feel even safer now." I gave him a quick peck on the mouth.

"It turns you on doesn't it?" I nodded my head and winked at him and walked around to my side of the truck and got in.

"Okay, where to now lady and gents?" Grayson has definitely come out of his shell because he was the first to respond.

"Wherever they have the best pizza… Oh and a game room!" He kicked his feet from the excitement.

"Haha… Okay. I know the place for that and they have a race track as well." Oh boy! Caleb finally has a reason to go to his favorite place to eat. I guess there are definitely perks to having kids and never outgrowing your childhood.

"Sweet!" Grayson couldn’t hide his excitement and bounced in his seat all the way to the pizza joint.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

After getting back from our adventures in town with Mattie and Grayson, Caleb demanded me to take a nap because he had a surprise for me that evening. Take a nap knowing that I had a surprise coming my way? Was he kidding?? I decided to take a stroll inside the house to see what everyone was up to. I found Olivia and Josie in the living room getting acquainted with one another so I decided to join them.

"Claud? How come you're not asleep? Caleb said you were taking a nap because you didn't get much rest last night." I didn't miss her smirk and I blushed.

"And why exactly did you not get any rest last night Claudia?" I noticed Josie wink at Olivia after her comment which had me wondering how close the two of them were getting already. Olivia isn't the kind of woman to tell a complete stranger the goings on with her friends so I'm quite shocked.

"O? Are you down here spreading gossip with the newcomer? I'm quite surprised to be honest." I must admit my feelings are a little hurt that she would share with Josie what all went down this morning. She must have realized what I was getting at because she seemed offended.

"Gossip? I would think you knew me better than that Claud. If you must know, Josie happened to stay here last night instead of going home with Amelia and Gid and happened to stay in the room next to yours and Caleb's. SHE was filling me in on what all went down between you two last night. I heard your pregnancy test came up negative and you were happy about it." I shot daggers towards Josie because it wasn't her job to tell Olivia private conversations between Caleb and I and especially THAT part of the conversation.

"Oh. So you're the one down here gossiping. Did you ever think about keeping your mouth shut? Did you ever think that since she's MY best friend that maybe I wanted to tell her what happened? That is if I wanted her to even know." I was shaking I was so mad. How dare she come into this family stirring up drama?

"Claudia? I'm not sure what exactly your problem is but you're really acting like a bitch right now. Maybe you do need to go take a nap! I was having a polite conversation with Josie asking about her stay here and I asked her if she had a good night’s sleep and she said she was up most of the night. When I asked her why, she said it was because she heard yelling, so I prodded her into telling me what she heard. She did not willingly just come right out and tell me what she overheard." I looked over at Josie and she had her head down and was looking at her hands resting in her lap but she finally looked up.

"Listen. I know you two are besties and all and I'm not here to get in the middle of y'all. I should have just gone home with Uncle Gid and Aunt Amelia but when Cash extended the olive branch and invited me to stay I accepted. I'll leave you two alone so that y'all can talk amongst yourselves." She stood up after nodding at Olivia and started to walk away but I grabbed her arm to stop her.

"No, don't leave. I apologize for my..." I looked over at Olivia and grinned. "My bitchy behavior. O's right. I am a little sleep deprived and I was acting like a total bitch. Please sit back down Josie because you are family after all. Besides, I need another person to rant to besides Caleb when Olivia and I are on the outs, haha." I sat down onto the plush couch and put my feet up on the coffee table and let out a long sigh. I looked over at Olivia and she had a look of concern on her face. "What?"

"There's something wrong. I can see it all over your face. You're worried about something. What is it?" I really didn't want to talk about this is front of Josie but oh well. An extra set of eyes to be on the lookout will help anyway. I looked around to make sure there weren't any kids around and told her.

"When we were all leaving the office this morning I felt someone staring at me. Or us I guess you could say, staring at Grayson and I. I'll give you a hint on who it was. College professor." Olivia gasped and put her hand to her heart in shock.

"Are you serious? Oh my God! Did he talk to you? Oh God! He saw Grayson too?" I shook my head and nodded.

"No talking and yes... He saw us both standing outside the truck and got a good look at the both of us. As soon as he saw Caleb he drove off shaking his head." I pulled a blanket over me and leaned my head back onto the cushions of the couch to try and relax while Olivia took in what all I just said. I looked over at Josie and she was looking back and forth hoping one of us would explain who we were talking about. "Okay Josie. Long story short, Jason is Grayson's biological father who thinks I got rid of him via abortion with the money he threw at me when I told him I was pregnant. He skipped town, with the wife and two kids, I didn't know that he had, the next day." She mouthed a big O silently and sat back in her seat.

"Yeah, the same douche bag that ended up having MORE children with his wife that he's currently getting divorced from and has been trying relentlessly to talk Claudia into being his divorce attorney. The same douche bag that doesn't want custody of any of the kids that they have together." Thank you Olivia for filling her in because I couldn't do it. She leaned over and patted my knee. "What are you going to do? Has he called you since he saw you?"

"No, he hasn't called and I don't know what I'm going to do. Legally I could be in some big trouble because I never named him as the father when I put Grayson up for adoption. I told them that I got pregnant by a one night stand and was drunk and didn't know who his father was." I snuggled in closer to the couch and started relaxing my body and I could feel my eyes drooping. Olivia's voice pulled me awake.

"Claud, everything will work out and you go ahead and take a nap in here. Josie and I were about to go find a movie to watch. Don't worry sweetie." I nodded my head and heard mumbling as they walked away and finally relented and started drifting off amongst the fluffy pillows and fell asleep feeling like I was floating on a big soft cloud.

"Hey sis! Wake up sleepyhead."

I open my eyes and I'm sitting on a bench in the most beautiful garden that I've ever seen in my life. Standing in front of me is Derek. I jump up and leap into his arms and hold onto him as tight as I could with tears falling down my face.

"Oh Derek! Oh my God I've missed you so much! You finally came to see me! Oh my God! I don't ever want to wake up again." He pulled away from me so that he could look at me and chuckled under his breath.

"Oh now that's crazy talk Sis. You've got too much going on in your life right now to stay here with me. We'll be together again someday but way, way, way down the road. Don't rush life girl. Enjoy it."

He reached down and wiped the tears from my cheeks with both of his hands and pulled me down onto the bench to sit by him. He wrapped his arm around me and it took me back to when we were younger when my heart was broken by my first boyfriend and it was then that he told me he'd always protect me and would always be there for me whenever I needed him. If only he could have done that forever.

"I've missed you so much. You have no idea how much I've missed you. As weird as this is right now I hope I never forget this moment or I guess, dream. You seem so... Peaceful. Do I get to see the kids, too? Oh please let me see the kids!"

"Haha... Calm down Claud... Not this time. I wanted to see you myself and try to get you to stop worrying so much."

"Yeah right! I've always been a worrier. I wouldn't be me if I didn't worry about something. You have to admit that I have a lot to worry about right now though." He chuckled and nodded his head at me.

"In a way you do but everything is going to be fine so don't worry as much. Trust your big brother okay?"

Hearing him say those words seemed to bring peace into my heart. When Cash found out Olivia was pregnant and freaked out in thinking that she would die the same way that Vanessa did in childbirth; it was because of Derek and Vanessa that everything worked out. Because of their dreams from Derek and Vanessa telling them both that everything would be fine they got back together. If he is telling me everything is going to be fine then it will. I sheepishly grin at him and say what's on my mind.

"So.... Is this when you tell me that you were right and that I made a mistake in giving Grayson up for adoption? It was killing me ever since you died to not have anyone to talk to about him." He looked down at me and gave me his best condescending big brother look.