Second Chances (12 page)

She grabbed a red peasant top and layered it over a white camisole. Stacy threw on a pair of khaki-colored trouser shorts and finished the outfit off with red espadrilles.

After putting her jewelry in her makeup case to bring along, Stacy locked up her house and headed towards the river to spend the day with her family.

***

When Stacy pulled into the parking lot, she smiled. Her uncles and cousins were all waiting in the lot and started unloading her stuff before she could even get out of the truck.

Her dad came over and pulled her into a hug. “Hi, baby girl.”

“Hi, Daddy.” She looked around and then up at the sky. “Perfect weather for pictures, isn’t it?”

Gary was dressed in a blue button up shirt and chinos. Stacy smiled when she saw he was wearing Chuck Taylors the same color as his shirt. He’d even shaved for the occasion and looked so handsome. They all did. The others were all dressed similar to her dad, except the cousins and her uncles, Garrett and Ian, who were wearing sandals.

After she hugged all of them and grabbed her camera bag, they headed to the gardens where everyone else was waiting. Her mom was dressed in a pretty blue sundress the same shade as her dad’s shirt.

Again she was swallowed up by hugs from everyone, but she didn’t mind. Her family was everything to her and without them she’d be lost.

The squeal she knew all too well caused her to turn and hunker down as Chloe and Carter ran toward her at full speed. “Tay Tay!” they screamed in unison. Luckily, they were both peanuts, so she didn’t fall when they hit her arms.

“Hi, guys, you both look great. Oh, look at your hair, Chloe. Did Grammy do it?” Stacy asked.

“Yep. Papa tried, but then he started saying bad words,” Chloe whispered, but her whispers were loud enough everyone heard and started giving Ian shit.

“Well, you look beautiful. Carter, you’re looking so handsome.” Stacy kissed them both on the cheek, admiring how beautiful they both were. Chloe was wearing a pink sundress with flowers all over it and white sandals. Carter was in blue and white plaid shorts, a white polo and, like all of his uncles, he was wearing a pair of Chuck Taylors. “Did Uncle Gary get you those shoes?”

He shook his dark hair. “No, Auntie Ren did.” Stacy laughed and then decided it was time to get busy because they could play the “how y’all doing” game all day because her family could talk.

“All right, everyone, let me get set up. We’ll start with Garrett’s family so the little ones don’t get impatient.”

Stacy opened her camera bag and pulled out her birthday present from her entire family. It was an EOS 5D Mark III. She’d been so shocked to receive such an awesome gift. The camera wasn’t cheap and she’d wanted to get it for herself, but money was tight while she tried to save for a space for her studio.

Stacy walked over to where Garrett and his family stood awaiting her direction. Once she had them all set up she started snapping pictures.

They were such a gorgeous family. Ian was the opposite of Garrett. Ian’s hair was strawberry blond, his eyes were a dark blue, and his skin had a natural glow to it. He had the more preppy look out of the two of them.

She did a couple of fun shots first to get the kids agreeable and interested. The rest of their family watched on with love in their eyes. Garrett and Ian had fought to get those babies when they were almost turned down for their sexual orientation. The family had rallied around them until they brought their children home.

With the last picture taken, she told Garrett and Ian she was done with them for the time being and then proceeded to take the pictures of the rest of her uncles, then finally her dad.

When it was Stacy’s turn with her family, she set up her parents first, then went to her camera on its tripod and made sure it was lined up, grabbed her wireless controller and went to sit with her parents. Once she was set up the way she wanted to, she hollered to her uncle Dan. “Will you make sure we look okay?”

He went over to the camera and looked at the screen. “Well, honey, you and your momma look beautiful, but that eye sore next to you needs to go—he’s ruining the picture.”

Stacy’s dad flipped his brother the bird and her uncle winked at Stacy as he walked back over to stand by her grandma.

She told her mom and dad that she’d count to three and then take the picture. Stacy did it twice and then repositioned them and did it again. She went to the camera and looked at the pictures. “Awesome! Okay, now it’s time for all of the brothers alone, then we’ll add Grandma and go from there.”

An hour later she took the last picture, which was one of the entire families. When she checked the picture Stacy felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. The picture was perfection, her grandma stood proud right in the middle with Carter and Chloe both holding her hands. The look of love shining in her eyes as the two youngest grandchildren snuggled up to her.

Once everything was packed up except for her camera they all went to the picnic area where Stacy’s aunt Carly was setting out the food along with Dan who was married to the fiery redhead.

They talked and laughed as they started to eat together. Chloe was snuggled to Stacy’s side while Stacy tried to eat. She rubbed a hand through Chloe’s hair, and when she looked up, she saw Dustin slowly walking towards her. She’d told him that morning before he took her home that she’d be there taking pictures.

Stacy had Chloe move as she got up and walked towards him, not even trying to hide the fact she was glad he came by.

“Hey, you, I’m glad you stopped by,” Stacy said.

“I wanted to see you,” Dustin said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his hard body. He cradled her chin in his hand as he bent to kiss her nice and slow on the lips.

***

Dustin had sat in his truck watching Stacy work for a while before he came walking up. It caused an ache in his chest to be able to watch her and to see the love her family had for her.

When she’d posed with her cousins, he smiled at the easy relationship she had with all of them. He knew her cousin Sebastian was the next closest in age, but he had just turned twenty-one. The rest, besides Chloe and Carter, were aged from fourteen to eighteen.

Now standing there kissing those sweet lips was pure heaven, but the chatter that had been going on around them had ceased. Dustin pulled away from her lips, resting his forehead against hers. “I think they’re watching,” he whispered.

Stacy gave him a smile that was part embarrassment and part mischievous. “Um, yeah, I’m sure they are,” she whispered to him.

He turned his head and smiled at everyone, hoping they couldn’t see the nervousness he was feeling. Chloe broke the tension when she launched herself at Dustin. He scooped the little sprite up and greeted her with a smile.

Chloe looked behind her at Stacy and it almost looked like the little girl was giving her the once over. She turned back to Dustin and asked if he wanted dessert.

“Sure, kiddo. Let’s go.” He carried Chloe as Stacy walked alongside him.

***

Neither of them was aware of their picture being taken. It wasn’t obvious to them that they looked like a little family. Chloe’s coloring was so much like Dustin’s and Stacy stood close to their side and smiled up at them both as they all talked.

Her baby girl had been through a lot in her twenty-six years. It still saddened Renée to think about whenever her little girl would come home crying because girls started calling her a slut and a whore when she developed before any of them.

By the time Stacy had turned fifteen, Renée and Gary were afraid they were going to have to send her to a private school. The boys had started sniffing around too. Just because Stacy had always had a curvy body didn’t mean she slept around.

That summer, Stacy went to stay with her aunt, uncle and cousins. Being surrounded by them, Renée had thought Stacy would be protected, but then Stacy met Chad. At the time, he was the younger brother of one of Garrett’s friends.

Stacy had told her mom over a year later that he was the really cute all-American type boy who had been just shy of his eighteenth birthday. He’d worked his magic on Stacy, and by the middle of the summer she was in love and had given him her virginity.

It was hard to hear your own flesh and blood tell you how, in front of a room full of kids, the bastard called Stacy a slut and told her that she gave it up too easy and maybe she should take care of his friends, too. By the time Stacy made it back to her uncle’s, she had been hysterical. It took her Uncles Dan and Tommy to stop Garrett from going after the guy.

Gary would’ve killed the boy had they’d known what had happened. The year following, Stacy had started to live up to the names the girls had called her. It still pained Renée that she had no idea what her daughter had been up to.

Stacy had managed to keep good grades and had still danced with Bellamy, but somehow she managed to sneak around. By the middle of Stacy’s junior year, things finally came to a head.

Bellamy had confronted Stacy about her behavior. They’d had a huge fight, and luckily for Renée, Ruth, Bellamy’s mom, had overheard the entire fight. She got Stacy to talk, so she poured her heart out about everything.

Ruth had called her and told her to come over. Stacy sat out on the Carmichaels’ deck waiting for her. They talked and cried for a long time. She’d made an appointment for the following day with her own OB/GYN. They’d tested Stacy for everything even though she swore she’d been safe.

Renée had been relieved that Stacy hadn’t gotten anything or gotten pregnant. After Gary had found out and ripped into his brothers for keeping something like that from him, they’d gotten Stacy to speak to a counselor.

Things had been great until Brian, her longtime boyfriend in Chicago. Had it not been for Gary’s heart attack, he might’ve gone up there to kill him. Then there was Mark, who Gary had never liked, but Renée had given him the benefit of the doubt.

She liked Dustin, though. Of course, she’d heard the rumors that he was a player, but since last year he seemed different with her baby. Hopefully Stacy wouldn’t rush in to anything too quickly, but as she watched Dustin watch her daughter, she had a feeling his heart already belonged to Stacy.

Renée sighed and put her camera away and went to help dish up dessert.

Chapter 10

When Stacy got home after the photo session and picnic, she threw a load of laundry in, straightened up, and then started loading all of the pictures onto her computer.

She and Dustin were supposed to have dinner at her parents, but everyone was worn out after their day at the park, so they decided to do it the next night before everyone went home.

Stacy had changed as soon as she’d walked in the door. Now, as she sat down to start working on the pictures, Stacy was in cut-off sweats, a neon-green tank top and a black bandana tied around her head. She had so much hair that sometimes the bandana was just easier to tie her hair back with.

She took a sip of the beer she grabbed out of the refrigerator before she sat down and started to work.

Picture by picture, Stacy scanned them until she found the right one of each pose. She saved it and then would start making edits.

Over an hour later, Stacy stood to stretch her back. She’d made good progress.

Stacy had gotten through her Uncle Garrett and Uncle Tom’s families. This left the whole family, the brothers and grandma, the cousins, and hers and her Uncle Dan’s families.

She sat back down and quickly checked her e-mail. Stacy had a couple of confirmations on packages her clients bought, the normal sales ads and correspondences with friends from Chicago.

Stacy read each one and quickly typed a response. She was getting ready to log out when her messenger window popped up. Stacy smiled when she saw the name.

Dustin78: What r u doing?

Photoaddict1: Just editing pics from today. U?

Dustin78: Work I was checking my emails and saw that u were on line. What’s ur schedule like this coming week? Date????

Stacy couldn’t contain the smile when she read that.

Photoaddict1: Hmmm…a date you say. Well, I teach tues and thurs. I bartend wed and Friday, but I could try to be available to you after work Friday or Saturday ;)

Dustin78: You’ll try??? How about Saturday? Dinner, a movie or whatever you want to do.

Stacy still couldn’t believe it. He was actually asking her out on a date. Sure, he’d taken her out before, but it had always been a friendly thing, nothing more. She’d have to go shopping, which meant dipping into her savings, but she needed a new outfit.

Photoaddict1: That sounds fun. I’ll talk to you tomorrow??

Dustin78: Great. Of course we’ll talk tomorrow. Remember I told you I’d go with when you filed the complaint against Mark.

Photoaddict1: Shit! I forgot. How about lunchtime??? After we’re done I could take you to lunch. My treat.

Dustin78: Lunchtime. Yes. You’re treat, no way. I’ll pick you up at noon.

Photoaddict1: You’re a dork, but noon sounds good I’ll be ready. Night.

Dustin78: Goodnight Stacy. :)