Chapter 21

Next morning

8:06 am

Tommy woke up to find Kimberly stroking his shoulder and chest. It was pretty early in the morning. The alarm wasn't gonna go off for another hour. Kimberly laid awake staring at her 4.2 carat pink diamond ring. It was huge, too much for a couple so young. Kimberly and Tommy are far too young to be thinking about marriage one would assume.

Flashback a few hours ago
Tommy rubbed Kim's back as she slept on her side. He would often kiss her head. Kimberly started to stir. She moaned and pouted. Tommy smiled and kissed her head again. Kim groaned and rubbed her eye and felt something cold to her forehead. She slowly brought her left hand down into vision and there was on her ring finger the pink diamond ring. She gasped.
"Wha..what is.."
"I love you. I have and I will always love you. Now, I'm not saying we have to get married tomorrow morning, a week from now, a month even a year. But, we will be married, eventually. I need you, I want you. I want us, I want to marry you, Beautiful. Will you marry me?" Kim looked at her ring then Tommy. Tears rolled down her face. She quickly grabbed his face and kissed him.
"Of course! Of course I'll marry you! God! YES!" They kissed again. Tommy and Kimberly rolled around the bed simply kissing, before making love and falling back asleep.
Flashback end

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar," Tommy said taking her hand. "Come on, Kim. I know you. Whatcha thinking about?"

"I think...I feel like, I don't know." Tommy reached over and clicked the lamp on.

"Beautiful, talk to me. You're not rethinking about us and getting married, are you?"

"NOOO! I love you! I love this ring! You're not getting this back, mister." They kissed. "Tommy, this ring must have cost you a fortune."

"Not really. I paid nothing. Not one cent."

"What?"

"It was my mother's. My real mother's. David, my brother, he believes my father gave it to her, you know one of the last gifts he gave her, besides me."

"I'm sorry." Tommy shook her head with a smile. He kissed her forehead. "Could you tell me the whole story? You never told me the whole story about your mother."

"I know."

"Will you now?"

"Of course." Tommy laid back holding Kimberly to his chest. "My mother's name was Rose Trueheart and she was engaged to a Mr. Andrew Martin. He was a cop from New York City. He met my mother on the Indian reservation when he was passing through Nevada on some case...they met, they fell in love...so, there was my mother, 8 weeks pregnant with the father killed. David was too young to truly understand, but he says he remembers how sad our mother was. She was never the same...she died after giving birth to me. Mom worked in the hospital and was the first one to hold me up to her before my real mother died. Mom says she never saw something so beautiful until she laid eyes on me. The way Mom looked at me, I guess my real mother knew, her last wish was for Mom to take me and raise me. She never mentioned about David. Somehow David got sent to live with our grandfather, Sam Trueheart, I guess when he found out my mother had died he assumed the baby was lost too. So, now I get a brother and a grandpa after all these years."
It wasn't until last spring when Tommy found his brother and grandfather. David always believed Tommy was alive, and started his own search as he got older. David gave Tommy many of their mother's things, the pink 4.2 carat diamond ring being one of them.

"I'm soo sorry, Tommy. Your poor mother and your father...to lose them like that."

"Hey, it's a sad story, but it had mostly happy stories. I love my Mom and Dad, all 4 of them, they gave so much for me. I would have loved to have time with my real mother and father, but I wouldn't give up Mom or Dad. They were the best things to happy to me." He looked down at her. "Besides, you." They kissed. "I am blessed." Kim kissed him again. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kim whispered before kissing him again.

"So, tell me, what were you thinking about earlier?"

"It seems all too unimportant now."

"No, tell me."

"I just...I miss it, I miss gymnastic, but...do I really miss it?" Kimberly asked, not just Tommy, but herself.

"You miss the drive, competition, right?"

"I think so. I sure don't miss the constant aches and pains." Kim laughed.

"I know what you need."

"What?"

"This meet."

"Wha?"

"We need to push and make this meet next Thursday."

"I don't have any programs or..."

"So!"

"I need3 exercises and2 vaultsdone by Monday!"

"We can do this."

"Tommy, I couldn't possibly..."

"Yea, you can and you will. I'm gonna make sure."

10:15 am

Tommy had returned from a quick walk with the puppies. Kimberly was awaiting on the printer, as she blow dried her hair. Already dressed, in white shirt, butterfly embroidered jeans and natural braided platforms. Her paper for Writing class was taking longer than normal to print.

"Gosh, come on!" Kim yelled. Tommy came into the room, nearly ready to go.

"How's the paper?"

"Still printing, we need to upgrade baby."

"Hey, I got that printer free with my computer."

"Figures." The last page came out. "Finally!" Kim stapled her paper and put it inside her bag. "Dash and Napoleon, stay. Did they go?"

"Yep, 2 number 1s and Dash did a little number 2." Kim smiled. The door bell buzzed.

"I'll get it," Kimberly said carrying out her bookbag. She opened it and gasped. "Tyler?"

"Hi, someone was coming in, so I just came up. Hey."

"Hi. What's are you doing here?" He pulled out some keys and dangled them.

"Brought your car."

"My car? My Car! Oh, come in!" Tyler laughed as she hugged him. "Come in! Tommy! Tommy!" Tommy came out stapling his paper. "Tyler is here and he has Betsy!"

"Great." Dash and Napoleon came running out and around.

"Dash down!" Kim reached down and pulled him off Tyler's leg. "Sorry, he's still a pup."

"It's okay. He's is cute." Tyler took the puppy and gave her the keys.

"Oh, this is great! I wasn't expecting this for weeks!"

"I made sure they worked faster than the norm for you."

"Thanks. Did you bring the bill?"

"No, sorry."

"That's okay. I guess they will send me one."

"Not exactly."

"Why not?"

"I sort of paid it already?"

"What? Why?"

"Because, it was my fault about the car, everything."

"Hey, man. I was the one driving. If anything, I should be the one paying the bill,"Tommy said.

"Nah, I know you wouldn't have left if it was wasn't for me." Kimberly picked up Napoleon.

"Can I see her?"

"Parked her out front."

"Great!" Kim hopped out with Tyler and Tommy following. Tommy grabbed Tyler's keys on the way out. Kim walked around her car. It looked brand new. She hit the alarm and got inside the car. She started it, all windows rolling down. "Oh wow! It's like new! The stereo! Tinted windows. Thank you." Kim got out and hugged Tyler. "Thank you soo much."

"No problem. I'm glad it's too your liking." Tommy dislike the way Tyler held on to Kimberly.

"So, I'm guessing you will be heading out now?" Kimberly pulled away and checked over her car again. Tyler caught the keys Tommy tossed to him.

"In a little while. I haven't seen LA in years, since I dropped out of UCLA."

"You went to UCLA?" Kimberly asked taking Dash from him.

"Yea, 2 years, but I didn't like it so I left. College, not my thing. I love the mountains, snow. City life, hot weather, you can have it. I'll just vacation here."

"And we go to mountains to vacation," Kim said smiling. "This is just...so wow."

"How long are you staying?" Kim looked at Tommy.

"For a while."

"Great," Kim added. "We all need to hang, show you how much it has changed."

"OH, I would love that."

"Kim, we have class."

"Right. Once again, thank you, Tyler." Tyler pulled his few bags from his car after they hugged again. Tommy and Tyler shook hands, though Tommy held his hand a little tight. Tyler got into his car and watched the couple walk back toward their door. Tommy had his arm over Kim's shoulders as she turned to wave goodbye to him.

"Soon, very soon..Kimberly."

oooooo...the plot thickens...here's a taste of the drama ahead

Teaser: Tommy ended up getting into a fight with Kimberly. That was the quietest ride home ever. Tommy got his door slammed in his face. He opened it and found Kimberly pulling off her wet hoodie and shorts. Tommy quickly touched and grabbed her waist from behind. His face went into her neck, where he kissed several times before turning her around to face him. He held her face.
"I'm sorry."
"You should be." Her hands went to his wrists and pulled his hands away. "Dickhead." She went to walk away.