Golden Hearts | Rafe Cameron

52

July 27

We're heading home again, or well, almost there. Kelce parks the car outside his house, and we all get out. It's been a cozy vacation despite that I'm still walking around thinking that I might be pregnant. But I've taken Sarah's advice and try not to think about it too much. I don't want to ruin this summer.

We bid goodbye to each other, and Rafe gives me a kiss on the cheek and smiles, 'Can you meet me tonight outside the surf shop?' he asks.

"Sure," I say, smiling, wondering what he wants to do with me. Is he already going to miss me? It's actually quite cute.

"Come on, Addie," Nathan shouts, already heading down the street towards our house. I catch up to him, and we start walking home again. I wonder how our mom has been feeling now that she's been alone.

We don't say anything as we walk back, just silently walking with each other until we reach the house. Nathan holds the door open for me, and I go in. He sighs behind me. 'Don't I get a thank you?'

"Not really," I say, turning towards him with a smile, which makes him roll his eyes.

"I hate you," he says.

"I know you love me," I say, heading to the living room but stopping as soon as I see what's in front of me. It's messy, papers scattered everywhere. What happened here?

Nathan comes in behind me, and his expression changes quickly when he sees the state of the living room.

"What happened here?" he asks surprised before he starts picking up all the things scattered around.

"Where's mom?" I ask, and Nathan shrugs.

I start anxiously looking for her, and now it's bad to have such a big house because it takes forever to search. I start downstairs before going up to the landing and into the bedroom where my parents usually sleep. I gently open the door and see her lying there fast asleep.

"Mom," I whisper. She opens her eyes and looks at me. I've probably never seen my mom so tired before. Has she been here all this time? I thought she'd manage if we left her. But apparently not.

"Adeline," she says and smiles.

"How are you, Mom?" I ask as I sit beside her on the bed.

"I'm fine, darling. Don't worry about me, it's really just fantastic," she says.

"What happened downstairs?" I ask.

"Your dad was here looking for something. He didn't say what, but he was quite aggressive," my mom says, and that's when I realize it. She has large bruises on her arms and leg.

"Mom.."

"It's okay, darling," she whispers.

Nathan enters the room and his mouth drops in surprise when he sees mom. He hurries to her. "Let me take care of you. Adeline, go."

"Why?"

"Because you shouldn't have to see this. Let me take care of Mom," he says.

"But.."

"Adeline!" Nathan says loudly, and I nod before leaving the room and heading to my own instead. I mean, there's no point in arguing with Nathan because he always gets his way. Instead, I go to my room.

I meet Rafe behind the surf shop just as we agreed. He smiles at me when I arrive, and the first thing I do is give him a hug, which he surprisedly hugs back. "Excited to see me?"

I nod and hold him tightly. I'm so happy and grateful that I can feel so safe with him. There aren't many people in my life right now that I can actually feel truly safe with. That I can really trust.

"Come on," Rafe says, releasing the hug to take my hand instead, and we start walking at a slow pace. We don't say anything on the way, which I'm grateful for. It's nice to just walk in peaceful silence and be in our own thoughts.

We arrive at the cut after a long walk, and that's when I realize that we're heading back to the old abandoned house again. The house I thought I would be kidnapped in, with the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen behind it. I smile as soon as we pass by the house and the flowers start to appear.

"Oh," I say, smiling more, "Rafe, you don't know how much this means to me."

"That's why I brought you here. Sit down," Rafe says, sitting on the bench in front of the house. It's getting dark, but there's still some light left illuminating the large meadow in front of us.

Rafe takes something out of his pocket before clearing his throat. "So, I wanted to give you this," he says, holding out a necklace with an R on it.

R for Rafe.

"It's so beautiful," I say, smiling as Rafe leans forward to put it on me. He also takes out a necklace with the letter A on it.

A for Adeline.

I'm so happy, and it's so cute that I almost start to cry. "Rafe.." I whisper.

"I know," he whispers back, placing his hand on my cheek so his thumb strokes my cheek. I put my hand on his hand, and we sit there, looking into each other's eyes for what feels like eternity.

"I love you," Rafe says then, which truly makes me start crying tears of joy.

"I love you too," I say before leaning in to kiss Rafe. He's quick to respond to the kiss and holds me in an indescribable way while kissing me slowly.

I never want to let go of him. I want it to be us two forever.

We break the kiss, and Rafe laughs a little. "There's no one who makes me as happy as you, Adeline Morgans."

"There's no one who makes me as happy as you, Rafe Cameron," I say.

It's dark outside now, and the stars shine brightly in the dark night sky. I lean my head against Rafe's shoulder and look up at the beautiful sky.

"That looks like a heart," I say, pointing to a constellation of stars that almost forms a heart.

"And there's the Big Dipper," says Rafe, pointing.

"You can," I say, smiling.

"It's the only one I know," says Rafe.

"There's Orion's Belt and there's Ursa Major," I say, pointing to the different constellations.

"You can," Rafe says.

"My dad and I used to look at the stars almost every night when I was little, but that was before he became so aggressive.." my voice almost disappears as I talk about him. Rafe squeezes my hand tightly.

"It's okay. I'm here," he says.

"I'm so in love with you," the words just fly out of me without me hardly noticing.

"Then let's be together," Rafe says while looking straight into my eyes.

"What?" I look at him in surprise.

"Yeah, if you're so in love with me," he says, smiling broadly.

"Then ask," I say.

"Adeline Morgans. Will you be my girlfriend?" he asks, placing both his hands on my cheek. Before I can answer, he quickly kisses me, making me laugh.

"Yes," I say, smiling widely.

Never. Never would I have thought that I would be able to call Rafe Cameron my boyfriend. My own boyfriend. To be able to call him mine and no one else's. That I belong to Rafe. Never. Yes, I never expected it before, but I guess people change over time.

I change over time.