Love Is Enough

Chapter 3

When we get to the camp, I see the rest of the children along with five other adults. A tall guy with wavy brown hair and a kind smile walks up to us. "Hi. You must be Amaria. I'm Shawn. Welcome to our paradise." He says, shaking my hand. Conrad introduces me to the rest of the adults. Three more guys, Luke, Sam,and Maxwell, or Max. Then there are two girls, Janie and Julie. Then Lacey introduces me to the four other children. Lacey is the oldest, followed by Jack(11), Grace(10), Chloe(8), and little Ben(6). I spend some time with them, playing games, telling stories, and am surprised by how good I am with kids. I've always wanted a family, and now that dream is coming true. Not only that, but soon I'll be a mother. And I could not be any more excited.

"Breakfast is almost ready everybody!" I yell from the kitchen area. I go back to putting plates of food on the counter, buffet style. Suddenly, I feel arms around me. I jumped, startled. Conrad laughs, his cute dimples showing. "Don't do that Conrad!" I say, swatting him with a spatula. "Did you just hit me?" He says, his eyes wide. I giggle. I start running, shrieking as he chases me. He catches me, picking me up and spinning me around in his arms. I gaze into his ocean blue eyes, feeling as if I could sink and drown in them. He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his hand gently resting on my cheek. He kisses me like he always does, slow and deliberate. The kiss lights a most passionate fire inside me. I never thought I could be happy again, and yet here I am, happier than ever. As usual, I'm lost in his kiss after a few seconds. My mind empties itself of all its worries. His kiss is like a drug that I can never get enough of. "Ok you two, get a room!" We break apart and I see Shawn standing there, smiling while Janie rolls her eyes playfully.

They sit together at the counter, her head resting on his shoulder. They are such a solid couple, but they seem like more than that. They are best friends. Janie told me when I first got here that they were best friends for four years before Shawn asked her out. I asked her if she ever had any doubt about saying yes, and she just smiled. "He was my best friend, and I loved him for that. But I had always loved him more, I just never knew if he felt the same." After that, I knew me and Janie were friends. She reminded me a lot of my mother.

So kind to everyone, no matter what they said or did. She cared so deeply about others. Not to mention how smart and creative and beautiful she was. And so is Janie. No wonder Shawn fell in love with her. After my first few days here, I was worried that I wouldn't fit in. Janie and Julie were the only two women here, and I knew they had a close bond. What I didn't know was that they welcomed me into that bond. We became a trio. They helped me in so many ways, and still are. They were the first people I told about my pregnancy, and they were beyond supportive. After that, it was much easier to tell Conrad, and he was ecstatic.

The guys here are pretty cool too. Shawn is the funniest guy I've ever met, and is always good at cheering people up. Luke is different. He has a lot of confidence. He is a natural-born leader, everyone looks up to him. Sam is like a little kid. He is always good-natured, and is great with the kids(no surprise there). Then there's Max. He's the quietest guy in the group, but he's very smart and we rely on him for a lot. Not that he seems to mind. Everyone here has a purpose, everyone has a place. Everyone is important.

I feel like we have a family here, which is something I've never really had. But now, everything is changing. Now I have more family than I ever thought of, and soon I'll have a family of my own. A baby I'll take care of. A baby I'll be responsible for. It's pretty scary, but it's unlike anything I've ever known. It's unbelievable, and terrifying, and exciting, and wonderful all at the same time. And Conrad is amazing. Whenever I'm worrying too much or freaking out, he always seems to know what to say to calm me down, to make everything better. He seems like he's always calm and collected. And he always takes care of me. He really seems to love me. Actually, he kind of treats me like a china doll. I actually think it's adorable that he cares about me so much, that he worries about me so much.

Janie and Julie are always there for me. Janie used to work as a nurse in the western clan before she left, so she has a lot of information that helps me. She takes care of me, making sure the baby and I are both healthy.

I head over and sit next to Janie, setting all the food down. Janie smiles and hugs me. "So how are you feeling?" I smile, kissing her cheek. "I'm great, feeling amazing." "That's great, love." I smile, laughing as she feeds Shawn bacon. They are so cute together. Conrad sits beside me, his arm draping over my shoulders. I sat there, falling into him. Everything with him is so easy, so natural. I can't imagine my life without him, without anyone here. My past life in the northern clan seems so lonely, so dark. I realized something while being here. I realized that I wasn't really living in the northern clan, at least not in the way that counts. I was just existing. There was no joy, no motivation, no real happiness. I didn't know what I was missing until I came here, and found this beautiful life. And now that I have, I know I would never want to go back, I would never want to change a single thing.

After all the adults eat, I head over to the other side of the camp to wake the children up. Except, they're all awake already. Which is no surprise. These kids have the most energy I ever seen in my life, and more than I thought was humanly possible. "Ok kids, come on, breakfast is ready!" They take off running to the dining area, so fast I almost get knocked over. I laugh when I hear Conrad's voice over all the kid's chatter. "You guys better be careful, don't knock Ms. Amaria over or I will literally throw you all in that freezing ocean around us!!" This seems to fall on deaf ears though, which only makes me laugh more.

After we corral the kids and they have all eaten, we get started on chores. I give each of the kids a task. The girls go with Julie to do laundry. The boys go with Sam to gather anything we might need, like fruit or vegetables. Shawn and Conrad go to get ready for their dangerous trip into enemy territory. Luke does inventory and makes our plans for the next few days. Max gets everything he needs ready to teach the kids, since he is sort of homeschooling them. Janie and I clean up the kitchen area, and then head to the medical area for one of my sonograms. We scheduled it earlier at Conrad's inistence, as he claimed that he wanted to be able to come before he and Shawn headed out.

Janie takes care of everything, and we are all pleased to find out that the baby is perfectly healthy, not a single thing out of place. As usual, Conrad insists on keeping the pictures. Which honestly makes me smile every time he does. "Well, I'm going to go find Shawn." Janie cleans up everything and then leaves the room, giving us some time alone before Conrad and Shawn leave. Conrad pulls me into his arms, and as usual I inhale the scent of his cologne, the scent that is warm and comforting that I have come to love. He holds me for what seems like hours but must only be a couple of minutes. "Be careful, please come back." I whisper, tears threatening to fall from my eyes any second. He looks straight into my eyes. "I promise, Amaria." He says, before he leans down and presses his lips to mine. I close my eyes, taking it all in as if it is our last kiss, because it very well could be. But instead of choosing to think that way, I just focus on the kiss and the pure bliss it brings me. After a few more minutes of kissing, he gives me one more final hug before he heads out to find Shawn. I watch him go, desperately trying to put the worry far away and out of my mind for good, choosing to believe that he'll be back in an hour, choosing to believe his promise.