"Look! Our book is finally here!"
Reina took out a hardbound book from the cardboard box and put it on the table. We were having our morning tea when it was delivered to our door. The title: Cross Pollination: Complete Study Vol 1, was written beautifully in embossed brown color. The book itself was dark green with a picture of our favorite lavender hybrid we named Cameliard on the cover. It had a beautiful purple color with frilly petals instead of the tiny spike-like shape lavenders usually were.
"Volume one. Next we'll be publishing the volume two," I sighed in disbelief.
Almost two years have passed since I proposed to, now wife, Reina Licorice Siseli. We went back to our hometown to announce the news and ask Eileen to design our new home that we were going to build in Oak Tree. I don't need to explain how Howard reacted upon hearing the news. All the girls were teasing us, saying things like "Finally!" or "I've been waiting for this," and "Y'all took yer sweet time!".
We had a Spring wedding; before we got busy with client orders, on the mountaintop where the Goddess' pond was. We invited our friends from Oak Tree town, of course, and created new bonds of friendship. Mikhail played a song for us. Laney and Yun handled the desserts while Howard went all out with the food. Raeger offered to help and learned a few recipes from him. Lillian gushed over all of the different farmers that lived in Oak Tree Town while they shared their amazement at her ability to handle two separate farmhouses (and the fact that they didn't need to rent a farm lot). Doctor Marian was busy admiring the fashion style of Konohana and even asked Nori to design four clothes for him, one for each seasons.
The whole event was very intimate even though there were a lot of guests. When Reina threw her bouquet, it fell on Nori's lap who confessed that she, too, had been proposed by Hiro. Kana and Georgia provided the cart that we rented to drive us back to our new house in Oak Tree Town. We stopped by the Safari for a short honeymoon and explored the area with Agate as our tour guide. We didn't really have time for an extravagant honeymoon anyway.
We were really glad that we got Eileen to design our home. She knew exactly what we needed; being a fan of Konohana's house style, she managed to combine both Bluebell style together to create a beautiful hybrid house made of wood. She also built a small garden / greenhouse at the back for our workshop. After saving up for three seasons, we bought the plot next to us and expanded our workshop and hired a few understudies from Mako's university. Apparently, our crossbreeding method was proven successful once we managed to find the right mix of fertilizers; we worked closely with Mako for that and it paid off.
Reina decided to compile our research into a book during our winter vacation and we, the newlyweds, made ourselves "busy" with other things. By spring time, Doctor Marian congratulated us for our baby that was due in summer. Which brings us to where we were.
"Do you think when book two is published, we'll have another bundle waiting?" I pulled my wife into my arms, as I carefully placed my hand on her stomach. I had felt the baby kick before and it made me go beyond happy, so I always tried to steal chances feeling the baby since Reina complained that I made her feel too hot when I get close.
This time, I didn't feel the baby kick, but instead I heard my wife yelp in panic.
"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?"
"… I think my water broke?"
We both stared at each other, recognizing the warning sign but was still too shocked to react. Finally, Reina let out another yell and grabbed—no—crushed, my arm in the process.
"G-get to … the doctor … NOW!"
I wrapped Reina's hand around my shoulder and carefully led her towards the clinic (which was thankfully close by) as she grimaced in pain every few minutes. By the time we got there, my arms were full of her nail marks and we were both exhausted. Doctor Marian led us straight to the bed and coached Reina to breathe.
"When you feel the pain, just keep breathing. I'll check and see if you're ready," he said, before preparing some weird contraption where he placed Reina's legs. It was a disturbing sight, seeing another male looking at my wife's … area, but I had no rights to complain. Reina, on the other hand …
"Why! Is it! So! PAINFUL!" she winced some more, letting out screams as she felt another contraction coming.
"The good news is, you're ready to push any time," Doctor Marian's cheerful attitude helped make me feel a bit at ease despite the discomfort that my wife was in. Angela was assisting the doctor, giving encouraging words to Reina.
"Alright. Here comes the big one, are you ready? Just push!"
"AARGGGHHH!"
"Ow! S-should I really be here?"
"That's it! Push!"
"HNNNNGGGHHHH!"
"Hand! My hand! Reina!"
"I can see its head!"
"MOTHER OF NATURE! AARGGGHHH!"
"WAAAAAAAAAA!"
The scream that ended all screams was the cry of our baby as Doctor Marian passed it to Angela to be cleaned and prepped. Reina's grip on my hand slackened as she was overcome with joy. She started sobbing, both for joy and relief when the nurse handed her the baby.
"Congratulations. It's a girl."
"She's so beautiful," Reina cried as she kissed the tiniest forehead.
I joined the two, kneeling on the bedside, unsure where to touch her for fear of breaking the fragile creature. "Hey," I whispered.
When her crying stopped, she opened up her little mouth to yawn and reached out for my hand. I greeted her with my finger and she immediately wrapped it with her tiny hand. I was rendered speechless. I wanted this moment to stay forever.
"Do you have a name for the baby yet?" Angela softly asked, pen in hand to write on her clipboard.
I looked at this beautiful, sleepy treasure that was resting in her mother's arm. Our work has allowed us to create hybrids that won awards and recognitions from around the world but … this, our first human hybrid, takes the cake. No, she took the crown. She was the perfect flower.
"Her name is … Camellia Shiroi Siseli."
Meaning: Perfection.
AN:
And there you have it. The "epilogue" ending.
I'm sorry for rushing the flashback of their wedding, but Cam being Cam probably wouldn't have been able to observe everyone during his wedding. He'd be too preoccupied.
A few explanations: the timing of the birth ... is very Harvest Moon quick. I made it into only a season, instead of 9 months or a week or so in the real game. The name of the baby means White Camellia which really means perfection. Siseli is the family name of Cam that I made up; meaning meadow in latin. Even the flower picture on their book is something that really exists called "delphinium cameliard" that I read was a hybrid flower (I hope). It is apparently toxic if eaten.
I'm really sad that this story is ending because I have to say goodbye to these two. I'll really miss them especially since I haven't played the game and even if I do, they don't end up being together :(
I am also very thankful for those of you who are reading, new readers or even old (not age-wise *wink) original readers that has such a beautiful patience to wait for me to finally finish it.
Please do leave a review, a short message of what you think the story was like. Did you like my characterisation of the two? Are you disatisfied with something? Do you want to see me write stories between a certain two pairing? Do you want me to write about Ibuki next? He is still single in this story, lol. Do you want to have Cam and Reina appear in a one-shot NorixHiro? I'm open to suggestions! Though I don't think I'll be writing them as a series. It'll just be a compilation of oneshots.
Once again, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this short Two Acts journey. I hope my writing has improved somewhat. I hope you'll love these two characters as much as I do. I hope Marvelous will keep making Story of Seasons games.
With love,
Purpleshell