"Oh my god, honey! This is so exciting! When are you planning on telling him?" Camila heard Karen's voice speak into the phone.
"I don't know," Camila happily sighed. "I hate keeping it a secret, though. I've almost just told him so many times but I want to do it in a special way. It's killing me to keep it from him."
"Well you've gotta do it soon! Now that I know I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep it a secret for much longer either!"
"I know, I know," Camila chuckled. "He's at the studio all day today so I might put something together and tell him tonight. I'm weirdly nervous for some reason, though."
"Well you shouldn't be. You know he's going to be thrilled."
"I know he will be." Camila looked over at Quinn who was sitting on the floor of the living room playing with her toys. "I know Quinn is gonna be so excited too, even if she doesn't really understand what's going on."
"Oh my god, I can't wait to see that little sweetheart! How is she?"
"She's good," Camila answered. "Very talkative. It's adorable."
"I imagine she still has Shawn wrapped around her finger?"
"More and more every day!" she laughed. "He's so good with her. He's such an amazing dad."
"Speaking of...how's the surrogate hunt going? Any luck?"
"There are a few women who seem like good contenders but we haven't made any major moves yet. We want to wait until after the holidays to really dive into that world."
Shawn and Camila were hesitant at first to share their surrogacy journey with their families but the more they thought about it the more they realized there were more benefits to them knowing than not knowing. Obviously they were thrilled to hear that they planned to expand their family, as any grandparents would be.
Camila continued talking to her mother-in-law before hanging up and trying to find a way to surprise Shawn with his early Christmas gift. As cheesy as it might sound, she even wound up on Pinterest searching for cute ideas she could use. At the end of the day, the perfect idea didn't come from Pinterest or any other Google search she had made; the perfect idea hit her when she was sitting on the back porch hugging her almost-sleeping daughter against her chest. She went back inside and put Quinn down for a nap before sneaking back out to the kitchen to prepare for the surprise. She pulled down a basket that she had sitting up on a shelf and began filling it with everything they would need for the perfect picnic: a bottle of wine and two glasses, some fresh bread, raspberries, cinnamon rolls...definitely not a typical dinner, but it sounded good to Camila and therefore that's what they were going to eat. She put the basket back into the fridge decided to pass time by attempting to give the cat a bath. She ended up with a water-splashed shirt and a few minor scratches but overall it went better than expected.
S: Hey hottie. On the way home now. Want me to pick something up for dinner?
As Camila was reading the text that had just come through from her husband, she also heard Quinn awake in her room. Perfect timing. She quickly replied to Shawn before going to get their daughter.
C: No thanks! I've got it tonight. See you soooonnnn!!! <3
Camila grabbed a notepad and a pen, writing Shawn a note to discover when he got home. She picked up Quinn in one arm and grabbed the picnic basket from the fridge with the other. She carefully grabbed a blanket before sliding open the backdoor and stepping out off of their back porch and onto the warm sand. Camila loved their new house but her favorite part by far was the fact that it sat right on the beach. She set up a cute little picnic right in front of the ocean; she spread the white blanket out over the sand and set the basket down on top of it. Quinn absolutely adored playing with sand, so it didn't shock Camila at all that she immediately started doing just that as soon as she set her down.
"Are you excited baby girl?" Camila said. Quinn said yes, but Camila knew she was still unaware of what exactly she should be excited about. To be fair, she was always excited. About everything. It was one of the countless things they loved about their daughter. "Daddy's gonna be so surprised..."
Shawn got home and walked into an empty house, with the exception of Pip—whose fur was now looking exceptionally fluffy. He looked around curiously for his girls before his eyes landed on a small piece of paper sitting on the counter. He picked it up and immediately smirked, knowing his wife must be up to something.
Meet us by the sea.
xoxo, C + Q
He walked over to their backdoor and instantly smiled when he saw his favorite girls sitting on the beach with what looked to be a picnic. He slid the door open and trudged through the sand to join them. Quinn quickly spotted him and squealed 'daddy' as loud as she could while clapping her tiny hands together in excitement.
"What's the special occasion?" he asked as he approached the blanket. He sat down next to Camila and before she could even answer his question he was leaning over to kiss her. Quinn interrupted their kiss by crawling onto Shawn's lap and pulling him away so she could hug him instead.
"I have a surprise for you."
"This isn't the surprise?" Shawn asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"No. This is just the presentation of the surprise. Consider it an early Christmas gift, I guess." Camila poured them both a glass of wine. Quinn tried to steal a sip of Shawn's but he pulled it away and handed her the bottle with juice in it that Camila had brought out for her, which she seemed to be content with. Camila reached into the picnic basket and pulled out the envelope she had tucked away within it. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth nervously as she handed it to him. Realistically she knew she had no reason to be nervous; but for some reason she was. Shawn took the envelope from her and wasted no time in opening it; he might've just found out about this surprise but his patience was already running thin when it came to finding out exactly what it was. He opened the envelope and pulled out the contents, his eyes scanning the piece of paper and widening when he realized what it was.
"We're going to Canada?" he asked in shock. Camila smiled proudly and nodded.
"We leave on the 23rd. We'll be there through New Year's."
"Are you kidding me? Babe! This is so insane! We're actually spending Christmas in Canada?"
"We are!" Camila reassured him. "And it better snow while we're there. I'm dying to see Quinn's reaction to snow."
"Oh my god, I hadn't thought about that." He looked over at their daughter who was attempting to mold the sand with her tiny hands. "I think she's gonna like it."
"I think so too," Camila giggled. Shawn looked down at the tickets again in disbelief, a wide smile on his face as he shook his head.
"I can't believe you planned this without me knowing."
"It was a pain in the ass to keep it a secret from you!" she laughed. "We're staying with your parents. I actually talked to your mom about it this morning."
"Oh god, I bet she's thrilled."
"Extremely," Camila chuckled.
"Thank you so much, baby," he said quietly. "I'm so excited."
"I hoped you would be." They leaned in and kissed again, using Quinn's entrancement with the sand to their advantage and lingering longer than they initially had. He pulled away and smiled softly at his wife, his thumb brushing her cheek gently before he gave quick pecks to her neck and shoulder as well.
"What else is in the basket?" He pulled it over and laughed when he saw the interesting arrangement of food. "Cinnamon rolls and raspberries?"
"They sounded good," Camila shrugged. Shawn pulled out the raspberries and fed her a couple before eating a few himself. They ate for only a bit before putting the food back into the basket and setting it to the side. Shawn laid down on the blanket and Camila quickly followed suit. Quinn herself was running out of energy so she ended up laying between them. The three of them cuddled up on the blanket that was sprawled over the sand and stared up at the stars as the sound of waves crashing echoed around them. "I wrote another poem about you today," Camila whispered after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"Yeah? A dirty one or a normal one?"
"A normal one, weirdo."
"Who are you calling a weirdo? You're the one writing horny poems..."
"Shut up!" Camila laughed. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and opened up her notes app to the piece she had typed out earlier in the day. Shawn took the phone from her and eagerly read through the words she had written about him.
No one else
has been able to make me feel
so strong and vulnerable,
while just as safe
[and equally as humble].
And who else
could reassure me that although
I may fail a thousand times more,
someone might still
be crazy enough to love me
just the same?
It is in no one else, but you,
whom I willingly surrender
myself to.
So take this as a subtle plea
[in fact, I beg of you]
never to let go
of me.
Shawn stared at the screen for longer than she knew it would take him to read the poem. She looked up at him and melted when she saw his eyes glassed over with tears.
"I didn't mean to make you cry," she cooed as she reached over and wiped a tear that had made its way down his cheek away.
"I'm not crying. I don't know what you're talking about," he choked out. Camila giggled.
"Okay, tough guy. Whatever you say." Shawn chuckled and wiped a tear away.
"This is what I get for falling in love with a New York Times best-selling poet..." Camila rolled her eyes at his flattery. "I'm serious though, baby. This is beautiful. One of my favorite things you've ever written." Camila rolled onto her side and kissed him.
"Can we go inside now? It's getting chilly out here."
"Oh my god," Shawn laughed. "There's no way you're gonna survive two weeks in Canada."
A/N: I tried to look up the poet who made this poem but I can't figure it out so I'm just gonna put the picture I got it from right here. If any of you know who this signature is from please let me know so I can give proper credit!
Also, did I fool any of you with the phone call between Karen & Camila?? No?? Alright that's cool