If we never met

Chapter 12 - it all happened for a reason

I think we like to complicate things
when it is really quite simple;
find what it is that makes you happy
and who it is that makes you happy
and you’re set.
promise.

•••

Exactly one month later, Camila is in their room with Taylor, Hailee and Shawn’s younger sister while putting on a simple white dress pretty similar to the one she had on the video of their wedding. The three girls help her put her hair in an elaborated braid with a sunflower behind her ear before she walks out to the beach in front of their house. She holds a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand while the other settles on her very noticeable baby bump,  and walks down the short path they settled for the ceremony.

 There’s barely anyone there, just their close group of friends and Shawn’s family that flew all the all from Canada for the occasion. Camila looks at the small group of people, not even ten of them in total, before landing her eyes on Shawn standing next to the officiant, who happens to be Taylor’s boyfriend. They didn’t really need someone to actually marry them, it was just a symbolic ceremony since they already did it before, so no reason to have an actual officiant.

 Shawn has black pants rolled up under his knee with a white dress shirt, leaving half of the buttons open to show off his chest. Camila almost has to control herself at the sight of him, his now kind of long hair falling in curls as he looks at her with that smile that never fails to make her melt. He has no shoes on just like her, and Tarzan is sitting down next to him wagging his tail with a little yellow bow tie. The puppy was supposed to walk with her, but he refused to stay away from Shawn, so they decided to let him do whatever he wanted.

 She doesn’t even register everyone’s smiles, focusing only on the man waiting for her and taking his hands when they’re face to face. The fact that he did all of this just so she could have the whole wedding experience again in case she never got her memories back just confirmed to her what kind of person he is. He’s the most caring, kind and beautiful soul she had ever met and she didn’t need those four years of memories by his side back to tell her that.

 She doesn’t even register what Taylor’s boyfriend is saying, just saying the words “I do” when she needs to and feeling her heart skip a beat when those words also leave Shawn’s mouth. They decided not to write vows themselves because Camila didn’t think they could top the ones she watched on the video from their actual wedding, but that didn’t make things any less special, it actually made her even more emotional to remember Shawn’s words from before.

 They lean in for a long kiss when it’s time, and the second he rests his forehead against hers with a smile on his lips, Camila feels her whole world flipping around. A small gasp leaves her lips as she looks at him in shock, seeing him in a new light all of the sudden. Her hands grasp his shirt thighly as tears run down her face, looking at him like she’s seeing him for the first time ever.

 “ Mila, are you okay?” Shawn whispers with concern as their friends and family cheers on them.

 Camila nods her head and moves her hands to cup his face, caressing his cheeks as her mind plays tricks on her. An image of Shawn playing and singing in a coffee shop pops up in her head, his smile when he notices her staring at him while drinking her green tea. Then she sees him laughing before they exchange numbers, followed by the image of them in a movie theater, then a picnic date at the beach and finally on the top of a ferris wheel as he asks her to be his girlfriend and gives her a candy ring. Suddenly she can see them at her old apartment downtown, tangled between sheets before her roommate banged on her door and told them to shut up and be quiet. The mortifying feeling of accidently asking him to marry her while naked cuddling in bed was very vivid in her mind, then the surprise of seeing him getting a ring out of his top drawer and proposing to her right after. Even moments like buying the house and adopting Tarzan made their way into her mind as she looked him in the eyes, wondering how could she have ever forgotten any of that.

 “ Shawn…” Camila whispers back after a few seconds. It was crazy the amount of things that made their way back into her mind as everyone was still clapping and cheering, unaware of what she just went through. “ Shawn, I remember.”

 Shawn looks at her with hesitation for a second before he understands what that means, looking at her with questioning eyes before she nods her head and kisses his lips again. She’s suddenly being lifted off her feet as he carefully spins her around, both of them laughing and crying all at once.

 “ I love you, Shawn.” She says against his lips as he places her back down, his hands on her stomach as tears fall freely from his eyes. “ I’m so sorry I forgot about you, baby.”

 “ Shh.” Shawn says, placing a finger over her lips. “ Don’t ever say that again. It was a challenge having to make you fall in love with me all over again, but I wouldn’t change a thing, honey.”

 Their lips find their way to each other again, making the small group of people cheer even louder as they share a quite heated kiss. All of them seem still unaware of Camila’s regained memories, thinking they're just emotional because of the redoing of their wedding day. Neither of them say a thing about it and just enjoy the rest of the day with their friends and family while eating and talking. Shawn and Camila sit together at the beach by the end of the day, watching the sunset and the waves as she tells him everything she remembered. He already knew all those stories, but it was like a breath of fresh air to hear them from her point of view and realizing he could fall even more in love with the woman in his arms.

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A/N: This was going to be the end, but I thought it was kind of mean to leave it like that, so there's an epilogue coming you're way later...