Page 74 of Resolutions

Melanie

“Come on hon, let's go. We're going to be late.”

“I'm here, ready,” I hop around, slipping my shoe on. “It's not like they can start without us.”

“You look beautiful.” Cameron takes my hand and pulls me to him.

“Careful, I don't want to get wrinkles.” I protest, pulling back.

“Who cares? We'll have wrinkles together.” He leans down and kisses me deeply, passionately.

“I thought we had to go.” I raise my eyebrows. “Your mom is going to be calling soon.”

“She already has, twice.” Cameron lets me go. “Talking about his mom is the perfect way to kill a guy's mojo. Just sayin'.” Keys in hand, we head out the door, but not before he stops and removes Moses from the counter, putting him on the floor.

“We've talked about this counter thing, Moses.” Cameron scolds him.

“MEW,” Moses protests as he jumps back on the counter, maintaining eye contact with Cameron the whole time.

“Leave him, leave him. You can work on training another day.” I push Cameron toward the door.

Driving to his parents' house, I think back on how this day felt last time. The first ended with me feeling horrified. Today there's none of that—I feel loved. The two couldn't be any different. So much has changed since Evelyn showed up on my doorstep. I'll be eternally grateful to her for making me share everything with her and for her courage to act upon it. I'm an extremely lucky daughter.

Law sent a company to do a sweep of my aunt's house as evidence. They removed two cameras and five listening devices, as well as tracking programs on their phone and iPad. My aunt is still confused as to what happened and why Michael is a bad guy. But she trusts me and is glad I'm alright. Cameron and I are going there tomorrow to visit and help explain everything in person.

Pulling into Evelyn and Charlie's driveway, I see we are the last ones to arrive. The family welcomed me back with open arms. That first night after I explained the Michael situation from my side, we cried, hugged, and cried a lot more. I must have hugged Connie and Debbie at least twenty times. They apologized over and over for not busting into the room to make sure I was alright. But they're also grateful they didn't, afraid of what Michael would have done to their husbands. They commented several times that they wished it had never happened. I agree, I wish it wouldn't have either.

Tobias brought in a bomb alert dog and sure enough, true to his word, the dog found a homemade bomb hidden in floor joists of the basement ceiling. After a sweep, Law's men found seven listening devices and twelve cameras. That bastard had cameraseverywhere. Even in Evelyn and Charlie's bedroom. None of us have seen Charlie that mad.

Cameron holds out his hand to help me out of the car. We walk in silence, hand in hand, around the side of the house.

“You ready?” he asks me.

I smile up at him. “Let's do this.”

Reaching the rest of the family, I hug Evelyn. “Thank you again for believing me, Mom.” She wipes away a tear as she cups my face.

“Of course, love,” she smiles. “I always will.”

The family steps aside and I see an iPad set up on a tall stool. Walking over, I wave and blow kisses at Mom and my auntie. They wave back, my mom looking like an excited kid watching a parade. She points at me.

“Mel-Mel,” she says, using her childhood nickname for me.

“That's right, Mom. It's me, Mel-Mel.” I accept a Kleenex from Connie, blotting my eyes.

Mom waves again, then goes back to coloring, which is perfectly fine with me. She'd just given me the best gift I could have ever hoped for.

Cameron greets them with an arm around me.

“Ready?”

“Yes, I am.”

Arm in arm, we turn and face the minister.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here...”

Epilogue 3

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