“That you’re having his baby.” She shook her head like it was ridiculous she had to answer that question. Arson choked and had to cough out his surprise.
“How did you know?” My voice was a little loud, but honestly, I was shocked she knew. She rolled her eyes.
“You left your stick on the counter in the bathroom. Not very discrete, babe.” Well, there you go. I blushed a little, remembering how I had completely forgotten about the stick and freaked out about getting her to the hospital. Everyone in the room laughed. Which made little Cameron wake up. He squealed and Rayne took him to her breast to feed. Jake discretely averted his eyes and we all started chatting about babies, the rescue, and just enjoying life together.
At this moment, besides waiting to have our own little bundle of joy, I couldn’t imagine life getting any better.
About a month had passed since I came back to the rescue, and man I had been so unbelievably busy. After much consideration, I had come to the conclusion that while I still loved my salon and everything that it entailed, it was no longer my passion.
Mary mentioned that she would love to buy it from me, and I agreed. Together we worked out a plan where she would rent to own with me. I taught her well and I knew she would do my baby right. It was hard to come to that final decision, but I knew it was the right one. I wanted this life. I wanted to be here on the rescue, making a difference and raising our child. One day while I was perusing through the gift shop looking at all the things I wanted to buy the baby, an idea hit me. An idea that was all me and was close to my heart, so I went back to the lodge and drew out my thoughts.
Three bananas, and one pee break later, I looked over my design.
It was a T-shirt with a tiger head on the front; underneath the tiger it saidI am their voice. I was going to start a movement. On the back of the shirt it had #CaseysLegacy. I would tell Casey’s story and create awareness to end cub petting. It was a start, and I wanted to do it. I would have the girls brand it, and we would have everyone tweeting, instagramming, and sharing the hashtag worldwide. Jake looked over my drawing later that night and thought it was a great Idea.
He was a happy man that I was here with him, in his life, a part of this mission to help the animals, and with his child growing rapidly in my belly. Before we fell asleep, we started talking about building a house back by the edge of the property, near the shed that housed his sexy beast of a car. I wanted a little more privacy, and a pool. We lived in Florida. I wanted a pool.
The next day I woke up to a note that told me to meet Jake out by the cheetah’s enclosure. It was around 8:30 in the morning, and I figured I might as well get up. I dressed quickly and walked out to the habitat, but not before grabbing a granola bar on the way out. There was a camera guy set up again for another YouTube video, with Jake ready to be filmed. I noticed something green hanging from one of the trees and the cat was in its little nook.
“What’s this video about?” I alerted everyone to my presence with a question. When Jake’s eyes met mine, he smirked. Oh, that smirk. So hot and so infuriating at the same time.
“Piñatas,” he finally answered. I looked over towards the green thing in the tree and noticed it was indeed a piñata. One in the shape of an M. Weird, but okay. I would have gone for a unicorn, personally.
“Ready to shoot?” the camera guy asked Jake, and he nodded. He made a quick joke about how the cats like piñatas and celebrating a special day. I ran through my mental list of holidays and came up with none for today. However, maybe it was a feline version of Cinch de Mayo or something. Or maybe someone’s birthday? We walked around to all the enclosures that had the piñatas set up and I realized that they were all letters.
M.
A.
R.
R.
Y.
M.
As we watched the lion about to attack the last piñata of the day, something in my mind made me purse my lips. Why all the letters? I went through them in my head and took in the one that the lion had knocked down.
E. A fucking purple E.
Shock ran over my face and then I saw that the camera was no longer on the cat, but on me. Oh my God. I looked at Jake just as he took a step towards me, and bent down onto one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.
“Cammy sweetheart Jennings, will you be the Nala to my Simba and marry me? Be my wife, my mate forever?” He smiled, obviously very proud of his little joke, but I laughed and lunged for him.
“Yes, you ridiculous man!” I kissed him and he slid the ring on my finger.
Our life was perfect. No wall we needed was to welcome our baby into the world and complete the puzzle in our perfect life.
** To date, the video of Jake proposing to me with the big cats’ piñatas was on YouTube’s top 100 most viewed videos of all time. *
