Hey guys, here is the last chapter of MCKB! I can't believe the end has come 😭 hope you enjoy! Comment, vote, and share 💕A/N AT END (not edited)
Chapter 46
"Tatuuuummm." I whined as he interlocked our fingers together. The long drive back to Georgia made me grumpy and quite tired.
We had decided to spend our last month together down in Georgia. That way Tatum would be able to spend time with his father as well.
Coming home to Georgia was not as easy as I had hoped though. When Tatum and I walked into his house, the look on his fathers face was scary. Not only did his father look physically sick, with hollow cheekbones and sunken in purple eyes, but his facial expression became almost sick looking at his son in the kitchen.
It was then that his father told us that he was sick with lung cancer and was diagnosed a month ago. At first Tatum was angry at him for not telling him. He was so angry and he started yelling and even threw a glass at the wall. Tatum stormed out of the house, the door smashing against the threshold. Out of the kitchen window above the sink, I saw him quickly walking to the barn.
The tears quickly welled up in my eyes as I looked at his sickly father who was holding back tears of his own, "I'm sorry." I choked before running out of the house towards the barn.
"Tatum!" I had yelled.
The sound of the horses being stirred led me to the inside of the barn where I found Tatum leaning against the wooden wall, pounding on the wood. His eyes were clenched closed as he looked down, his jaw locked in tension.
He looked at me with water in his crystal blue eyes, "Why!". He continued to yell, "I know he has screwed up, but why does it have to happen to him!? Why didn't he god damn tell me!?" He grabbed tuffs of his thick hair, hitting the wall once more with his fist.
I slowly walked over to him and lightly grabbed his cheeks, "Hey," I said softly, "It will be okay baby. Your father is going to be fine."
"How am I supposed to leave now!? My father is dying and will die alone, I'm not even going to be on American soil! It's bad enough I'm leaving you, but I can't do that to him knowing he's sick!"
The tears have started falling down his prematurely aged skin. Seeing this side of Tatum was something I'd never seen, and it was beautiful no matter how bad the circumstance.
I rested our heads together against each other, "Hey, hey, hey." I whispered, "I will move in with him, okay? I will hire a manager at the bar full time and I can move back to Georgia and take care of him, okay? He isn't going anywhere until you come back to us, got it?" I patted the side of his face.
Tatum slowly nodded, wiping the wetness from under his eyes, "Thank you Addison..." He kissed the center of my forehead, "I will send you some money each month to help pay for things here, okay? I want you to hire a hand to help man the ranch. There is no way you can do all this alone."
A small, sad smile played at my lips, "Baby, you don't have to do that I have money of my own still. Not only do I have my inherited money in savings, but I also have income from the bar. If I really needed some cash, I would see if I could work part time at the bar down here again. Everything is going to be fine, your daddy is gonna be fine!"
Tatum shook his head and grabbed a hold of my hands, "No. As long as I'm away, I don't want you to use your money, I want to take care of you and my father by myself."
I nodded, "Fine. You can send some money, I'll hire a farm hand, and I will still take care of your father. But if I get bored, I will be going to get that part time job. I will make sure that your dad has a quick way to contact me if something happens though so you don't need to worry. I love you Tatum, we will make this whole ordeal work one way or another."
Tatum pulled me in a tight hug, "God damnit Belle, I love you so damn much."
~*~
Tonight was Tatum and I's last night together. This morning we ate a late lunch with Tatum's father. I wish I could lie but the chemo treatments he has been going through are really taking a toll on him. As if the pale skin and under eye bruises weren't a dead giveaway to his health, the fact that he puked up his lunch as soon as we got home made me realize how bad his condition was.
I could see the pain on Tatum's face as he watched his father hovering over the toilet. Not only was pain in his eyes but guilt; it was eating him from the inside out. He knew he has to leave but knowing that his father is sick scared him. Beside me and his brother, he is the only family Tatum has left.
As soon as the sun started to set, Tatum took my hand and insisted that we go someplace.
"Tatum we can't leave, let's just stay home with your dad."
Tatum kissed my forehead and gave a sad smile, "As much as I want to stay with my dad tonight, I've had these plans with you already before I knew pops was sick. Now come on, we are leaving."
I nodded, "What the hell do you have up your sleeve Mr. Boyer?"
He smirked, "Wait and find out."
"I don't need to change right?" I said looking at my light blue sun dress that I wore to lunch.
Tatum was still wearing a plaid blue button down tucked into his belted Levi's from lunch, "No baby, you look beautiful. No need to change."
We hopped into his black truck and started driving. We passed by acres of growing corn and wheat with the windows down and the fresh air blowing around the cab. I smiled as Tatum reached over the center console and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly.
"Are you going to tell me what we are doing??"
He looked at me and smirked, "Nope."
I sighed and shut my mouth knowing he wasn't going to answer me. Instead I let more of the beautiful scenery pass by. It was actually kind of peaceful. However after a few more minutes of driving, I realized where we were going.
I turned to Tatum, "Are you driving us up to the mountain???"
His face lit up, "Maaaybeee."
Pretty soon we started driving through the old campground which only had a few sites with campers or tents parked on them. We slowly crept our way up the mountain until Tatum slowed down a the dimly lit pavilion all the way at the top. He parked the truck towards the side and helped me out.
I've seen this view a bunch of times before however tonight's view was different. Sure there was the beautiful view of the valley in Georgia residing many cities and small towns. Miles of farmlands and backroads, but under the pavilion was a picnic table set up all beautiful with cream tablecloth, candles and roses. On top of the table was covered plates of food.
"Oh my god Tatum. This is beautiful..." I said with my eyes starting to water.
He gave me a tight hug before ushering me over to the beautifully decorated table. The lights in the valley flickered along with the candles on the table making it a very romantic night.
"What did you make for diner Chef Tatum?"
"Well you see, I didn't really have time to make dinner today so I asked Mrs. Harper to help out. She's my best friends momma who runs the campground. She did a good job. But I set up everything yesterday like the table and the lights."
I gently nudged my foot on his leg under the table, "Not too shabby for a hick boy."
Tatum uncovered the food to reveal a lovely looking, home cooked pasta dish. The tomato sauce smelled so sweet and yummy. "Oh god. What a foodgasm. This looks so good!"
Tatum let out a beefy laugh, "You did not just say foodgasm..."
I spit my tongue out at him, "I think I did."
He chuckled again before grabbing a pitcher of sweet tea and pouring us both a glass, "This is also Mrs. Harper's homemade sweet tea. Best you'll ever get."
I put the cup up to my lips and took a small sip, "Wow. Double foodgasm."
"Don't you mean drinkgasm?" Tatum asked taking a few gulps.
"No. Tatum, you killed it." I dead panned before totally laughing my butt off.
The rest of the time on the mountain we spent it eating our food, talking, laughing and listening to the crickets in the background. We talked about what it will be like with me moving into Tatum's house.
I already had some of my things shipped back to Georgia. Mostly my clothes, that was all I really needed. I also bought a round trip plane ticket to New Jersey to hire a full time manager for the bar. That mission was successful so now all I have to deal with in Georgia is doing payroll every week along with a conference call with the manager just giving me a run down of sales and how the days went.
Tatum grabbed my hands after we finished eating and asked me to dance. He walked to the truck and turned the radio up and luckily it was a nice slow song. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head in his chest and we slowly swayed the the beat. God damn this was perfect.
"I know I tell you this all the time but I love you so much Tatum." I spoke softly.
Tatum grabbed my cheeks, "I love you to the moon and back..."
After a few more songs Tatum and I decided it was time to head back home. After all we would have to get up early to catch Tatum's plane.
"Thank you for tonight Tatum. It was absolutely beautiful..."
Just as we were about to pull into Tatum's long dirt driveway, he quickly jerked the wheel forward. "Tatum what are you doing??"
The clock on the dash said 11:35 pm and I was curious as to what else Tatum was up to.
He stayed silent. Yep, he was really up to something..
After a few more minutes of driving I seemed to remember where we were. My mind traced back to one of Tatum and I's first adventures together.
The Night Train.
Laying below us at the bottom of the hill were the train tracks that I was almost killed on.
I smiled at the memory.
Tatum sat me down next to him on a blanket about ten feet away from the track and for a few minutes we just sat there.
And then the blaring train horn sounded probably about a mile out coming In from our right.
"Do you remember the time I took you here? The first time I ever took you out thinking I could turn you into a bad girl in boots?"
I looked at him and smiled, "How could I forget this Tatum?? I will never forget the picture of those horses on that train. I'll never forget how you knocked me out of the way and saved my life."
The train horn blew through the night air again, this time closer. Tatum grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet. He walked us down to flat ground maybe only about 5 feet away from the train tracks.
The train was going oddly slow tonight. The first time I'd seen it, it had flew by making the pictures on each car look like it was moving.
Tatum looked down at me and smiled, "I knew that night that I was a goner for you Addison. For whatever reason you had me wrapped around your little finger. I didn't know it them, but the more I fell for you, I knew I'd marry you someday."
I had tears in my eyes by now. He was absolutely perfect.
The ground started to shake and the lights of the train started to come into view.
"Addison- I, I hope you know how much you truly mean to me. You are the absolute love of my life..." He pointed to the train about to pass us.
The night train was going slow and as each metal car passed, I noticed there was no moving picture on the sides.
This time there was words and I read them out loud, "Will-You-Marry-Me-Addison?"
My hands covered over my mouth in shock and when I looked back at Tatum, he was kneeling holding open a box with a ring inside...
"Addison Marie Miller, I'd be a damn fool if I didn't spend the rest of my life you you. Will you marry me?"
The tears escaped my eyes, "Yes, of course." I managed to blabber out.
He put the ring into my left hand as quick as he could before grabbing me into a big hug kissing my cheek. "I love you so much Tatum." I choked out as I looked at this beautiful engagement ring twinkling under the moonlight.
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YOU GUYS THIS BOOK IS PRETTY MUCH OVER 😭😭😭 there will be an epilogue though in case you were wondering.. I can't thank you all enough for sticking around and reading my book completely. You all mean so much to me! I hope you liked this last chapter please COMMENT and LIKE 💕💕
Xoxo- Shannon