So, here it is, chapter 6...its not the greatest so I'll warn you all ahead of time. Had to wrack my brains to decide what to write, lol. Anyways, have a good weekend everyone :)
"So, does that mean we are officially together?" Ruthie whispered.
Martin touched his nose to hers and wrinkled it as he smiled at her, "Mmm, I think it does."
Inside the Camden home…
"Well," Annie smiled, hugging the fragrant baby to her, "I think its time we went and had some dessert."
Mac rubbed his hands together and grinned wickedly first at Maggie and then towards the dining room. "I can go for a big piece of…"
"Chocolate cake. Come on handsome, I'll cut you a big piece," Maggie winked at Annie and smiled back at her as she led Mac towards the French doors.
"And ice cream? I love ice…" their voices faded as the doors snapped shut silently behind them.
Annie started to follow and stopped when she realized that Eric hadn't budged from the window, his nosed glued to the glass, his breath fogging it in front of his eyes.
"Eric, honey?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes dear, I'll be there in a minute."
She wrapped her hands around his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "Come on; let's let those two have some privacy."
"Sure, in a minute…I…it's just that…" he protested feebly as Annie led him away from the window. "Annie, what if…"
She grinned at her husband and laid a loving hand on his cheek. "Nothing will happen Eric; they are just in the back yard. We have to trust that they'll have enough sense not to do anything."
They both jumped guiltily as Martin and Ruthie came through the back door and almost bumped right into them. Absorbed in smiling at one another, their fingers laced tightly with goofy looks of pure adoring on their faces, they didn't notice Eric's hands shoot up to stop them from knocking him and Annie over.
Eric cleared his voice once, then again, this time much louder sounding almost like a hacking cough. Ruthie's face flamed a bright red, a sheepish grin matching Martin's spreading across her lips.
"Uh, hi dad, mom. Where'd you come from? Sorry we didn't even see you there."
Eric frowned slightly "I noticed. We almost became teenage love road kill."
Annie tsked and elbowed her husband in the ribs.
"Ouch, what'd you do that for?" Eric whined, rubbing his side.
She ignored him, put Savannah in her extra high chair and turned to her daughter with her arms out ready to hug her. "Oh, Ruthie, we haven't seen you this happy in such a long time."
"Mom," she complained loudly as her mom squeezed her in a joyous hug.
"And you Martin…"
His lips curved into a beautiful half smile and stepped slightly behind Ruthie in quiet embarrassment as Annie tried gathering them both in her arms. She settled on cupping his cheek and patting it with affection. Mac and Maggie joined them, settling their backs against the kitchen's island.
"Mr. and Mrs. Camden, I promise to take really good care of Ruthie," he smiled and twined their fingers once more, his thumb stroking her knuckles.
"Martin, you know you can call us Eric and Annie. Actually, we insist upon on it. Don't we Eric?" she asked, nudging him again.
"Yeah," he said and was rewarded with another jab, "Of course we do." He assured him and then smiled at the glow of happiness surrounding the two teens.
"Well its about time. I tell you waiting for the two of you getting together was like waiting for bad movie to end." Mac slapped Martin on the arm good naturedly. "Congratulations man, you deserve to be happy. You ever decide to leave this shlub Ruthie, you know my number." His eyebrows wriggled comically.
Maggie smacked him on the arm before turning to Martin. "You better take good care of her Martin. We don't want two broken hearts do we?" she threatened, grinning at the look of astonishment on Martin's face.
"It's time that we get going. Thank you for having me over for dinner Mr. and Mrs. Camden; it was quite a…interesting night. Come on Romeo, you can walk me home."
She hugged Ruthie tightly and whispered in her ear, "I'm glad your dreams came true."
Ruthie sighed happily, "Thanks Mag's. You and Mac seem pretty cozy, any chance that…?"
Maggie pulled away and flushed a deep red and shrugged, clearing her voice before speaking, "Good night everyone."
"Thank you for coming over Maggie, it was our pleasure. And Mac, it's always interesting when your around," said Eric, shaking Mac's hand heartily.
Linking their arms together, Mac tipped an imaginary hat as Maggie tugged him out the door. Annie feigned a huge yawn, stretching out her arms widely, looking at her watch quickly before turning to Eric.
"Well dear, its been a long day, let's say we put Savannah down and call it a night?" she said, scooping up the baby delicately.
"What? Oh yes, it was great seeing you again Martin. Don't stay up too late Ruthie," he kissed her cheek, following Annie up the back stairs.
Ruthie rolled her eyes and sighed, leaning against Martin's warm chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Finally alone. Can you believe dad, I mean…"
A deep chuckle in her hair warmed her neck and ruffled a few strands. "He's only looking out for his youngest daughter. You can't blame him; I'd do the same thing." He eased her around so that she was facing him, dropping a soft kiss on her upturned lips.
A wary look showed in her eyes. She tried turning her face so that he couldn't read her look. He lifted her chin to look at him, a concerned note entering his voice, "Ruthie, what is it? What's wrong?"
Untangling herself from his arms she suddenly felt cold and held her hands out to stop him from pulling her back into his arms. "What about Aaron and Sandy? We can't just ignore that part of your life and pretend they don't exist."
He sucked in his bottom lip and nodded, understanding that she was speaking out of fear and concern. "Aaron is my son and I love him. I will always be in his life no matter what. As for Sandy, she and I are just friends and for the sake of Aaron we get along. That's a part of my life that I want you to be a part of too. I want you to get to know Aaron. I'm not so naïve as to think that it'll be easy for us, or that you'll want to be his mother…maybe one day you'll be ready for that, but for now, let's just take it one day at a time okay?" he asked stroking her arms, "Okay?"
She nodded and looped her arms around his neck on her tiptoes and kissed him gently, as if sealing a pact. He ran a hand through her hair and cupped the back of her head, deepening the kiss til they were both breathless.
"I want us to work this out Martin. I love you so much; just promise me that we'll work on this together?"
"We just truly found each other; I'm not ready to give that up for anything. I'm addicted now." He chuckled, grasping her hand when she playfully went to hit him and ran his warm lips across her palm.
A sensuous tingle went up her back, her brown eyes darkening with awareness at the passion she read in Martin's eyes. Ruthie tried stifling a yawn, not wanting Martin to see or their time together to end.
"I think its time someone went to bed, you're falling asleep standing up. Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow morning, I promise," he whispered huskily when she tried to protest. "I'll stay the night at dads and I'll be back over bright and early…if you want, I'd like to take you to meet Aaron."
"I would love to. Your sure Sandy won't mind?"
"Not at all, in fact she'd probably like the break so that she could go visit Simon and Rose. I love you Ruthie, we'll figure everything out, together. Good night…" wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her tightly to him, feathering kisses over her eye lids, her nose and her cheeks before settling on her lips.
He gazed back at her as he closed the door and waved before going through the back gate. Ruthie tenderly touched her lips with her fingers before sighing happily and running up the back stairs to her attic bedroom.
