Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Author’s POV

Three months later…

“Do you Cara Anderson take Chase Adams as your lawfully wedded husband?” The reverend asked.

“I do” Cara responded giddily with a soft smile dancing on her lips and tears flowing on her beautiful face.

She had decided that she won’t cry today, no matter what. She didn’t want to ruin her make up, you know.

But the emotions that has been coursing through her entire body since the moment she started walking down the aisle, while staring into the gray eyes of the love of her life, were too much to handle for her.

As a result here she is standing holding hands with the man who is her husband now, keeping her teary eyes locked with Chase’s glassy ones.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife” he announced. “You may seal your marriage with a kiss”.

It was as if Chase was just waiting for him to say these words because as soon as he said that, Chase pulled Cara towards himself by her waist and took her lips in his mouth for a deep and passionate kiss.

His strong arms wrapped around her lower back as he pulled her more into himself, as if staying away from her was killing him.

God, only he knows how he was controlling himself for this long.

He knows his Cara is a beautiful woman and whatever she wears, it’s always going to look gorgeous on her beautiful body.

But man this woman surprises him every single time.

When both of them were choosing the wedding gown for her, he had imagined how she would look in this floor length ivory gown.

But is she looking how he imagined she would look? The answer is a big No.

Don’t take him wrong, the image he was picturing of her in that dress was already beyond beautiful.

But she took his expectations and blew them out of proportion.

Because she looked ethereal in it to say the least.

The moment his eyes had fell on her when she was walking towards him on the altar, all air had got knocked out of his system.

He had literally forgot how to breathe at that time.

After kissing her to his heart’s content, well, it’s a lie because there is no way he would ever feel content while kissing her. He always wants more.

But the point is, after kissing her for a while, he left her lips and told her, “You are looking breathtakingly ethereal”.

***

The reception party was now in full swing. Everyone was laughing, dancing and having a good time.

Not many people were invited to their wedding event as both Chase and Cara wanted more private and intimate event.

But still there were significant amount of people present to congratulate and celebrate this day with the couple.

Everything was decorated so beautifully. Everything looked glamorous even with the simplest of settings.

Frank was the one who worked as an event manager in his son’s wedding. The ideas that he was coming up with when they were planning everything were perfectly in sync with Cara’s taste and she wanted him to plan and arrange everything for them.

Over the past five years the relationship between Chase and his father has slowly developed a lot. Now they actually act like they are father and son whenever they are together, which Chase never thought could ever happen. Cara was happy for both of them.

Both Aria and Sapphire came running to Cara when she and Chase entered the back yard of the hotel where the reception party was going on.

“Finally, you are a married woman. I can’t believe it. I am so happy for you” Sapphire squealed happily pulling her friend in a bone crushing hug. Aria also wrapped her arms her friends making it a group hug.

Chase smiled at them and decided to leave them alone. He walked towards his friends, George and John who were standing with Mark at a little distance from dance floor. He never thought that he and Mark could click together but it happened and now both of them have become a good friends.

Cara pulled away from the hug and said, “Right, I am married now. But when are you two planning on joining the club huh?” Cara asked both of her friends.

It made Sapphire giggle in excitement as if she is ready to get married right at this moment.

On the other hand Aria’s smile disappeared and a pang of hurt hit her heart. But she tried her best to hide it.

But couldn’t hide it from Cara’s sharp eyes. Cara wanted to know if she was okay. But before she could ask, she got distracted when Sapphire said,

“I will have to pursue George a bit more. But I am almost there. You can start preparing to attend the wedding” She joked making both Cara and Aria laugh.

No one had ever imagined that George and Sapphire would become a couple and fall head over heels for each other. But it happened.

“What about you Aria?” Sapphire asked in teasing tone with raised brows.

Again the feeling of hurt flashed in Aria’s eyes as her eyes travelled through the room to glance at John for a second. She swallowed the lump which was forming in her throat and forced a smile.

“I plan to remain single for now”.

Cara noticed that there was something wrong with her friend, Aria.

'Is it something related to John?’ she wondered but she is not sure.

It’s because she is meeting her almost after five years. Right after completing her freshman year at college, Aria moved out of town after her grandmother passed away.

She never visited the town again. She was in contact with Cara but it’s just that they never had a chance to meet, as the place where she moved to was almost on the other end of the country.

Cara’s track of thoughts was broken when she heard Addy talking in the mic, “So now it’s time for the special dance of bride and groom”. She glanced in the direction of her friends Addy and Sarah who were giving her thumbs up, showing their support and she couldn’t help the giggle that left her mouth.

Chase walked up to her and extended his hand for her to take, “May I?” he asked like a gentleman he is, but only for her. Otherwise he is still the same even after so many years.

Cara smiled and slipped her hand into his. He walked her to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her. She placed her palm against his chest and they slowly started swaying to the music.

Soon other couples joined them on dance floor but by now both of them were already in their own world.

Their eyes were locked, small smile plastered on both of their lips as they could feel love hanging in the air around them.

“I am feeling very happy Chase” Cara whispered while staring into his eyes making his smile to widen, “Not more than me” he whispered back.

Cara’s eyes drifted from his and fell on the diamond ring which was adorning her finger. It was glistening due to the white light hanging above them.

Chase saw her eyes drift away to it and leaned forward to press a soft but lingering kiss on her forehead.

“I can’t believe we are actually a married couple now” she said.

She felt a light chuckle come from his chest as they danced back and forth. “Should we do it again? So that you know that it’s real. I don’t mind marrying you again and again and… again” he suggested with a shrug.

And now it was Cara’s turn to chuckle at his words. “What I meant is, I never thought that we would end up getting married in future when I met you for the first time in that café” she said as her mind drifted back to their first meeting. She was so scared to even look in his eyes at that time.

She was pulled back to the present with Chase’s next words when he said, “Actually… that was not our first meeting Cara”.

Cara frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Chase smiled softly at her expression of confusion. In past he always hesitated and even feared telling her about it. That is why he never said anything about it to her.

But not anymore. Now he has learned to embrace all parts of himself, even the ones he detested so much in the past.

Also this is not just anyone who would judge him because of what he is lacking. It’s his Cara who knows him better than he knows himself.

So now he doesn’t have the fear where he thinks that she would be disappointed in him for any reason. That is why he decided to tell her about it.

“I don’t know if you remember or not but we had met for the first time when we were kids” Chase said and it made Cara even more confused.

“What are you talking about?” she questioned. Chase chuckled again at her reaction. Then he started quoting something like a dialogue or a conversation.

‘Do you want to know a secret?’

‘What secret?’

‘My mommy told me that when someone dies, they become stars in the night sky and watch us from there’.

‘Really?’

‘Yes. So whenever you miss your mom and want to see her, just look up at the stars and smile instead of crying'.

Chase quoted the whole conversation while staring into Cara’s eyes which became wide as saucers by the end he was done with all those dialogues.

She shook her head in complete shock. “Don’t tell me…” she was too surprised to complete her sentence but Chase answered her unasked question to confirm her doubt.

“I am that kid, Cara”.

Flashback…

Six years old Chase who lost his mother a week ago was sitting on a bench in front of the police station.

Actually Frank was picking Chase from school as Valerie was missing out the school today because of high fever. He was driving him home when he got a call from police officers regarding the case he was working on as prosecutor.

He urgently had to drop by the police station and didn’t have time to first drop Chase at home so he took the kid with him.

He made Chase sit on one of the bench in the compound of police station and went in to talk to the officer.

Chase who was sitting there alone saw a boy almost same age as his crossing the road holding his mother’s hand.

Tears pooled in his eyes and started streaming down on his small face as he started missing his mom.

“Why are you crying?” he heard a voice of a girl asking from behind him. He turned around after wiping his tears with the back of his palms to look at the little girl standing there.

It was Cara. Just like Chase, the five years old Cara had also lost both of her parents in an accident. Currently she was living in an orphanage.

The police was still investigating the case of her parents’ death so for that they wanted to take a statement from the girl. That is why she was here in the police station with one of the nun in orphanage.

“Don’t bother me” he said angrily not liking being caught crying like this.

“I was just asking” the girl pouted and sat down on the other end of the bench he was sitting on.

“Go away, I don’t want anyone to see me crying” he shouted.

“Why? Are you a crybaby?” she asked.

“I am not a crybaby” he protested immediately.

“Then why are you crying?” she asked again in confusion.

“Because my mom died and I can’t see her anymore” the boy who didn’t even know the meaning of death told her so she won’t bother him by asking so many questions.

“Oh, then we are same. My mom and dad also died. And I won’t be able to see them again” she said sadly.

Chase’s eyes widened. “You must be more sad than me. Don’t you want to cry?” this time he asked, again wiping his tear stained face with his small hands.

Cara leaned a little forward to say something in his ears so that no one could hear her, “Do you want to know a secret?”

“What secret?” He asked curiously.

“My mommy told me that when someone dies, they become stars in the night sky and watch us from there. So now whenever I miss them I look at the sky and watch them shining brightly”

“Really?”

“Yes. So whenever you miss your mom and want to see her just look up at the stars and smile. And also you shouldn’t cry like this. Because my mommy told that the people who become stars, don’t like seeing tears in our eyes”.

“I didn’t know that” Chase said completely convinced with whatever she told him.

“It was a little secret between my mommy and I. That is why no one knows about it” she said proudly.

“So why did you tell me?” Chase asked with frown on his face.

“Because I like your eyes” she replied with a smile and the little boy blushed.

“My name is Cara. Cara Anderson” she said and forwarded her hands to shake hands with him. He took her hand in his and started,

“I am…” but was cut off when a lady called out, “Let’s go Cara”.

“Okay bye, bye” the girl hopped off of bench and ran away from there leaving him staring at her retreating back.

Flashback end…

Cara was still wide eyed. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t recognize him.

Well, she is not to be blamed here to be fair. Because everyone knows she has very faint memories of her childhood. She doesn’t even remember anything about her real parents.

“This is why your eyes seemed so familiar when I first saw you” she exclaimed making Chase smile at the fact that at least he seemed familiar to her during their first meeting, even though she didn’t have her memories.

“I am sorry Chase I didn’t recognize you” she said apologetically.

“Don’t be. I didn’t tell you about it to make you feel guilty. I just wanted both of us to share same memories about one another. This one, only I had it so I wanted to share it with you” he whispered.

“When did you recognize me?” she asked curiously.

“The moment I saw you” he told her.

“Then why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked exasperated.

He didn’t know how to say it but still went with it, “Because I was not the same boy anymore that you met back then” he paused to see the feeling of sadness flash in her eyes.

She understood why he didn’t tell her anything and it made her sad. Sad for him. Chase continued.

“The boy you met in past was innocent, he had feelings, he knew how to cry, he knew the pain. But the guy you met in café six years ago was very different than that kid”.

“The guy was an unfeeling bastard. He was a monster who only knew how to give pain to others. He had no emotions, he had nothing”.

Cara wanted to stop him from saying all this bullshit about himself. But she didn’t. Because she knew this is what Chase used to think in past. But now he doesn’t do that anymore. He doesn’t blame him for everything. He doesn’t think that he is a monster. He has changed a lot, for better.

That is why she didn’t cut him off and let him say everything that he wanted to say in this moment.

“I knew deep in your mind you had memories of that boy and I didn’t want to taint those memories. I thought you would be disappointed in that little boy if you found out how he turned out as he grew up. That is why I didn’t tell you anything” he told her everything.

With this out there was no other secret that he was burying inside him and he was happy that now she knew everything about him.

“I am happy that you told me everything Chase. It’s not like I can turn back time but still I want to let you know that even if you told me everything since the beginning, I would not have gotten disappointed in you. Because if you forget about our first two meetings, I knew since the beginning that you were not a bad guy like you used to describe yourself to be”.

Chase had to swallow hard to push down the lump that was forming in his throat.

“But still thank you for sharing this beautiful memory with me” she said and tip toed to give him a light peck.

He tightened his hold around her and leaned forward stopping just an inch away from her lips

Their eyes were boring into one another. Their breaths were intermingling together. A beautiful smile was dancing on both of their lips which were barely an inch apart.

“I still remember how I was controlling myself from kissing you on the night of our first date because I wanted to take your permission before pressing my lips on to yours. But in the end I ended up kissing you without permission” he recalled another sweet memory causing a soft giggle leaving her mouth.

“I didn’t know about this either” she said.

“So let me take permission this time” his voice dropped to mere whisper, “May I?”.

“Yes” she breathed out after gulping slightly, with a pounding heart and the next moment his lips were pressed against hers. After devouring it he left her mouth but didn’t pull away. Both of them breathing heavily.

“I love you Chase” she whispered once her breathing evened a little and her lips brushed against his. His curved up in a small smile as he whispered back,

“I love you to the moon and back”.

*** The end ***