Camryn's POV

"Will you marry me?"

What? Am I hearing him right? Of course I am, he's holding a beautiful diamond ring in his hands. Where did he get it? What is he doing with it?

"What?" I croak. My tears stopped as soon as he asked the question, but my throat is killing me.

"I know this is crazy and we're young and we've only been together for a short amount of time, but Camryn I love you. I'm in love with you and I've never been more sure of anything in my life. You're the only person in this world who makes me want to be better. You make me want to do something with my life, you make me want to stand up to my abusive father and tell him to fuck off, you make me want to get to know my mother again. You make me want to be a better person and most of all, you make me want to spend the rest of my life with you."

To go from hearing the worst news of my life to this, how much someone in this world actually loves me, is a lot to take in. I can't help that I begin to cry again.

"Baby no, this wasn't supposed to make you sad, it was supposed to, dammit!" He curses to himself as he pulls me into his arms. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I should've waited for a better time. I..." He rambles. I pull away from him and take his face in my hands.

"Colton relax," I tell him. it must be all of my emotions but I can't help but laugh now.

"What's so funny?" He asks, sounding a little hurt.

"No baby I'm not laughing at you," I say, laughing loudly again. "I'm sorry, it's just... I'm 16!"

"I know, but..." he doesn't finish his sentence because he begins to laugh too. "So you just let me waste that whole speech just to reject me huh?" He laughs.

"It wasn't a waste! I love you too, but I just don't want to marry you.. right now, we're way to young," I explain and he sighs.

"I know, I know. So how about this," he takes my hand and puts the ring on my middle finger of my left hand, "why not just wear it as a promise ring."

"And what's your promise?" I ask with my eyebrow raised.

"I, Colton Sommers, promise to love you and only you, and to marry you, whenever you're ready of course," he smiles.

"I'll agree to that," I laugh, but it's cut short by a knock on Colton's window that makes me jump.

Since it's dark out we can't see who it is. Colton rolls his window down and we see that it's Sam.

He leans down so he's eye level with us. I have nothing to say to him so I wonder what he's doing out here. He's looking at me oddly, studying my face.

"We were about to leave," Colton says, "what is it?"

Sam turns his attention to Colton. "Oh, I um, I brought this out for Camryn," he says, handing Colton a piece of paper. Colton doesn't look at it, he hands it straight to me.

I take it from his hand and realize it's actually a picture. I turn on the cars light so I can examine the photo.

In the picture is a young Jaimie, she looks almost exactly the same, just a softer looking face. She's sitting on a brown sofa with a baby in her lap. In front of her on the floor is a little boy playing with a toy car.

"You know I never knew who she was holding in that picture," Sam says, but I keep my eyes on the photo. "But now I know it's you."

I look at the baby's face. That is me. I've never seen a picture of me this young, but I just know it's me.

"Did they, um, tell you?" I ask.

"As much as they could before I walked to my room to bring this out to you."

"Oh," is all I could say.

"I'd like a chance to talk to you Camryn, are you guys going to be in town for a while?" He asks.

"We were gonna stay in a hotel tonight, then head back home in the morning," Colton says.

"Can we meet for coffee in the morning before you two take off, this has been a crazy night and it's a lot to take in. I'd just like to get to know you," he asks. I look to Colton, then back at Sam and nod. "Cool, there's a coffee shop right down the street, we can meet there at 8?"

I nod again as I hand him back his picture. "No, you keep it," he says and turns away, walking back to his house.

"Are you sure you want to talk to him tomorrow," Colton asks.

"Yea, I need to. That's... my brother," I say. It amazes me how different Sam was acting right now compared to when we first got to the house.

I want to get to know him too and find out what his life was like. What are your hobbies? Do you play any sports? Was money ever an issue? What kind of parents were Timothy and Jaimie? Are they happy together or do they hate each other?

So many questions run through my head as Colton pulls out of the driveway and heads towards the nearest hotel.

"Are you okay?" Colton asks.

"I think so," I respond. he grabs my hand and kisses my ring. This night has been full of surprises, more bad than good, and I'm exhausted. I lean my head against the cool window and drift off to sleep, only to be woken up by Colton when we get to the hotel.

I stand in the middle of the lobby as Colton gets us a room. I'm not sure what the name of the hotel is, but it looks really nice... and expensive.

We make our way up to our room and I immediately fall onto the white king sized bed. The pillows are so soft that I could fall asleep on the spot, but I really want to shower first.

Colton opens up the curtains to show the beautiful night sky and the city lights down below. "Nice," he says under his breath.

"I'm going to shower," I tell him.

"Mmkay," he says as he jumps on the bed and turns on the tv.

I close and lock the bathroom door and turn on the shower, making sure the water is warm. I strip out of my clothes and step into the shower.

I begin to sob silently as I slowly sink down to sit in the tub, hugging my knees tightly.

I don't think I'm okay.