FROM THEN ON

Chapter twenty-three

Washington

Cecilia's POV

I was busily, writing new recipes for the special Christmas menu for the restaurant when Sabrina called. ''Hello Mum,'' she said. ''Hi darling how are you? We can't wait to have you here for Christmas. Everyone at church is so excited,'' I said cheerfully. There was a period of silence before I heard Sabrina letting out a loud sigh. That wasn't the response I was looking for and why was she sighing. ''Mum......'' she said slowly in a wavering voice. ''Yes.......what's going on?'' I asked carefully. ''I........I can't come to Washington for Christmas this year,'' she answered and it was as if an arrow had been shot at my heart. My spirit was down and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. ''What? Why not?'' I asked confused. ''It's......complicated,'' she explained. ''What do you mean by that? You can't possibly be serious right now,'' I said starting to get angry. ''Mum do you trust me?'' she asked. ''Of course I do,'' I replied. ''Then you have to come to San Francisco for Christmas, all of you,'' she said. ''Sabrina did you get hit in the head?'' I asked starting to get worried. ''What? No,'' she answered. ''Then why are you talking like this? What's going on that is so secretive and so important that you expect us to just abandon all our plans here and just hop on a plane to San Francisco when we don't even know why?!" I asked angrily. ''Just.....think about it mum,'' she replied. ''Unbelievable,'' I said. ''There is nothing to think about mi hija. We aren't coming and by the time I open my eyes on Sunday morning, you should be here. Period!'' I commanded before hanging up. ''Unbelievable,'' I said as I dropped the phone on my desk.

Robert's POV

''I'm guessing it didn't go so well?'' I asked as Bree as she dropped the phone slowly from her ear. ''No,'' she said holding back her tears. I pulled her into a hug before she could even think about letting her tears loose and said, ''It's gonna be okay. We'll figure something out. I promise.'' The next day, I was finishing up with the work I had to do in the office when Sabrina called. Yhup, I had managed to fit in a whole month's work into one week and I was almost done. ''Hey babe,'' I said after picking her call. ''Hi baby, I have great news!'' she shouted on the phone excitedly. ''Really? What is it?'' I asked curiously. ''Guess,'' she said playfully. ''Bree you know I'm bad at this,'' I complained. ''Come on...just try,'' she encouraged. ''Uhmm....okay okay you're finally moving in with me?'' I joked. ''Hilarious,'' she said sarcastically and I laughed. ''Anyway.....so my mum called this morning.....and she told me that after a lot of thinking and praying, my family has decided to come to San Francisco for Christmas!'' she exclaimed. ''What? That's amazing,'' I commented. ''What changed their mind?'' I asked curiously. ''I don't know. She told me that wasn't important and so I didn't persist. Honestly, I'm just happy that they are all leaving Washington,'' she replied. ''Yeah me too,'' I agreed. ''So I'm guessing they'll be staying at the family mansion?'' I asked. ''Yeah I guess so. There's already a care taker there so I'll just call her so she can get the place ready for them,'' she replied. ''And will you be staying with them?'' I asked slowly and curiously. ''I don't think so. I like having my own place and being independent. Besides, I don't want to have to put up with all the questions my mum's going to ask once they arrive,'' she replied. ''Alright. Hey you know what? We, should go out and celebrate,'' I suggested. ''Oh yeah? What do you have in mind Romeo?'' she asked. ''Well...it's a surprise. But I'll pick you up at eight?'' I asked. ''Sure, I can't wait,'' she replied. ''Hey, I said when I arrived at Bree's house and she got into my car. ''Hi,'' she said giving me a peck on my cheek. ''It feels so good to finally be alone,'' she sighed with relief. I had decided to lay off the body guards and drivers for tonight so it was just me, and her. ''Speaking of which, they can't be around when my family get's here and neither can the car,'' Bree added. I said nothing for a while before asking, ''Then how will I know that you're safe especially after hearing about the dream you had?'' I asked worriedly. ''I'll be fine, and if anything happens, you'll be the first person I'll call. In fact, I'm putting your number on speed dial right now,'' she replied as she pulled out her phone. ''Okay fine, but promise me you'll be careful?'' I asked. ''I will,'' she smiled. When we finally got there, I turned off the ignition and said, ''Here we are.'' ''What is this place?'' she asked amazed. ''Come on, I'll show you,'' I urged as we both stepped out of the car. We were at a lakeside but not just any lake, the neon lake which was popular for glowing different colours of neon lights in the dark and today was no exception. ''Woah, this is beautiful,'' she said as she admired the display of colours of light the lake emitted. ''Welcome to the neon lake. Shall we?'' I asked stretching my arm out in a hooked shape. ''Yes we shall,'' she laughed as she slid her arm through my hooked arm. We walked to the dock where I paid for the boat ride and we were given life jackets. Then we walked to where the boats were. We got into one and set off on the lake as I paddled us away from the dock. Bree playfully placed her hands in the water as she kept admiring the beauty of the lake. When we got to a safe distance away from the dock, I stopped paddling and we both just sat silently in the boat, admiring the water. Bree could not stop smiling as she kept looking into the water and I could not stop admiring how beautiful she was. I was really lucky to have this girl and I wasn't planning to ever let her go. Ever. ''You're the most beautiful girl I have ever seen,'' I blurted softly as I moved closer to her and held her chin towards my face such that our faces were barely an inch apart. ''And you're the most handsome, funny, loving and the most amazing boyfriend I have ever had,'' she whispered and I smiled. ''I love you,'' I whispered. ''I love you too,'' she whispered back and suddenly, our faces began to move closer to each other and there was nothing I wanted more than to kiss her at that exact moment but just before my lips could touch hers, I was hit with a realization. ''Wait, what about your dream of having your first kiss on your wedding day?'' I asked and stopped. ''You're worth losing that dream for,'' she whispered and I smiled before our lips found each other. That was the most amazing kiss I had ever had in my entire life and there was no way I could forget it. We then withdrew from each other and smiled sheepishly and then we sat in silence again. A few minutes later, I finally broke the ice and asked, ''Hey do you think that when your family gets here, maybe one day they could meet up with my family and we could have dinner together?'' I asked hopefully. ''I don't know......I mean that spells disaster and all kinds of wrong and besides, I don't think my parents would agree to that,'' she replied. ''Hey, that's what you said about them coming to Washington and yet look what happened,'' I said. ''True, true. Okay I can't make any promises but we'll see,'' I laughed. We talked for a while and then I paddled back to the dock before taking Sabrina home.