Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eden
“You’re sure it’s not too soon?” Milo asked for what had to be the tenth time in the past two days.
“It’s fine, Milo. I told you it was fine when you called to check. I told you it was fine when you started worrying it was too soon an hour after that. I told you it was fine this morning, and two minutes ago, and I think you know where I’m going with this.”
He grinned. “I’m thinking you’re gearing up to kick my ass if I don’t stop asking.”
“You’d be right.”
Despite my annoyance, I appreciated his concern.
I was the one who’d flipped my lid when he first brought it up—I couldn’t blame him for being cautious now.
The Davies family already had one perfect daughter-in-law and one epic failure.
Milo had as much right to be nervous about my reception as I did, no matter how many times he insisted they would love me.
We eventually moved on to eating our lunches behind the counter at Garden of Delights in comfortable silence, until Addie burst through the front door. There was an expression on her face that I couldn’t quite place, but it didn’t look good.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, rising from my seat.
Addie made her way toward us with her hands raised like she was trying to calm me down before she’d even said a word. Milo stood, wrapping an arm around my waist, his gaze locked on my cousin.
“You know how I was checking up on your parents, to make sure they weren’t secretly stalking you and interfering with your life now that you’re finally free of them?”
I blinked at her in confusion. “Yes.”
“I found out something and I think you might want to sit down for this, babe,” she said gently.
Milo’s arm tightened, then he guided me back down to my chair while Addie circled the counter. He stayed standing, his hands on my shoulders, and Addie lowered herself into his seat.
When she didn’t speak right away, I snapped, “For fuck’s sake, what is it?”
Addie pulled her phone from her purse, unlocked the screen, and passed it to me. The page she’d pulled up showed a picture of my parents, unsmiling as ever. I glanced at the web address and saw it was their church’s page.
“I’m sorry, Eden,” Addie whispered.
I scrolled down and read the announcement. My parents had sold everything they owned, donated the money to their church, and left for a missionary trip overseas. They were scheduled to be gone for five years, and the date on the announcement was almost three years ago.
Around the time Isaiah had called me. I wondered if that was why he called, but he hadn’t said a word about them.
“They’re gone. The house, all of it. It’s gone,” I said flatly.
Milo’s fingers tensed on my shoulders, then he rubbed his hands up and down my arms and asked, “They left without trying to get in touch with you?”
I lifted my head just in time to catch the look Addie gave Milo. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re selfish assholes, babe. I’m sorry,” Addie said.
“No, I know that. I don’t understand why you wanted me to sit down for this.”
Both of them were silent, so I handed Addie’s phone back to her and stood again, feeling suddenly restless.
“Thank you for telling me, but it’s fine. I took everything that meant anything to me when I left home at eighteen. This is news, but it’s not upsetting. They’ve been gone from my life a lot longer than a few years, Addie. You know that.”
“There’s more,” Addie said quietly. She switched to a different screen and passed the phone back.
Reverend Isaiah Campbell, pictured with his wife and daughter, announced as new head of Binghamton’s Church of Eternal Light.
“Wife and daughter,” I read aloud, staring at the photo.
It was dated several years ago, also around the time my brother had called me to try to convince me to rejoin the church.
The woman was covered neck to ankles in the kind of ugly, shapeless dress my mother favored and the dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl—my niece, apparently, looking younger than Carter in this picture—was wearing a long skirt and high-necked blouse. None of them were smiling.
Unlike the news about my parents leaving the country, this hit me like a cannonball to the chest, knocking the breath straight out of my lungs.
“That’s your brother?” Milo asked, shock evident even in his soft tone.
“He got married and they didn’t tell me,” I said slowly, my voice coming out strangled and rasping. “And then he had a child and didn’t tell me that, either. Even when he called me a few years ago, he didn’t mention any of it…”
Silence stretched around me as I studied the photo, focusing mostly on the little girl. Maybe I was projecting, but I thought there was a spark of defiance in her eyes despite the expressionless facade.
After all, I’d perfected that mask of compliance myself, back when I was her age.
“Addie,” I whispered.
She moved in, wrapping her arms around me even when I couldn’t tear my eyes off my niece. “I know. I’m still digging. I’ll find out everything I can.”
Of course she understood exactly what I wanted to know—was my brother a good man? A good father? Was his daughter loved and cared for? Or was this a new generation of the same old thing?
No matter how much Addie joked about my sleuthing skills, I’d never dug into my own family—never wanted to. I slammed the door on that part of my life long ago.
And maybe I was afraid that opening it again would lead to the same heartache that a lifetime of being an utter disappointment, an outsider among those who should’ve loved me best, had wrought.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Milo murmured.
His comment snapped me out of my panic over history repeating itself with my niece. Finally shoving the phone onto the countertop, I lifted my gaze to the two of them. “I’m not.”
“Eden,” Addie said slowly. “They left the country without a word to you.”
I tidied up the wrappers from my lunch and shrugged. “How would they tell me? I made sure they didn’t know where I was living. They haven’t tried to make contact once since I left home.”
“They could have reached out to my parents,” Addie replied, still frowning.
“They could have, but they didn’t. Have you told your mom yet? I hope she’s not too hurt by it.”
“No, not yet. I’ll go over there now. Eden, babe, are you sure you’re okay?”
Milo set a hand to the small of my back, a silent act of support, and Addie caught his eyes, still looking confused by my lack of reaction.
Between Milo’s concern about family dinner and Addie acting like the world was going to fall apart because my parents had proven once again to not give a shit about me, I lost it.
“Will you both stop asking me that? I’m fine!” I snapped, jerking away from both of them. “I have work to do, if you don’t mind. Milo, thank you for lunch. Addie, thanks for the update. Now please, just let me get back to work.”
There was no missing the flash of hurt across Adelaide’s face or the quiet shock in Milo’s gray eyes, but I couldn’t deal with either of those things right then. A heavy weight settled in my chest, pressing inward until I felt like I would be crushed by it.
With one last glance at Milo, Addie mumbled a farewell and left the store. Milo caught my chin in his hand and stared hard into my eyes before dropping a light kiss on my lips.
“You know where I am if you need me,” he said gently, then he left, too.
Alone with my thoughts and the invisible boulder pressing the air from my lungs, I sank back down into my chair, dropped my face into my hands, and breathed deep as I tried to quell the rising wave of emotion that threatened to burst out of that heaviness in my chest.
As I blinked to clear my stinging eyes, I told myself it was only the upcoming dinner with Milo’s parents, the prospect of belonging to a family like his, that made me feel like this news was anything more than confirmation of what I already knew.
I’d been on my own for a very long time. Nothing had changed.
Over the few days between my outburst and the upcoming dinner at his parents’ house, Milo treated me like I was made of glass. Inside the bedroom, he was as meticulously attentive as ever, but outside of it, he acted like I was one second away from losing my cool or completely falling apart.
Even if I couldn’t really blame him, it was getting on my nerves.
Fortunately, dinner with his parents proved to be a distraction and a balm toward settling both of us back into our previous state.
“Eden, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you,” Milo’s mom said as she opened the door for us. She was tall and statuesque, with laugh lines around the same gray eyes she’d given to her sons and the warmest, sweetest smile I’d ever seen.
“Thank you, Mrs. Davies. It’s great to meet you, too.”
She laughed, ushering us inside. “Please, call me Terry, and this is Tucker.”
While Milo’s mom was blonde, Tucker’s dark hair was peppered with gray, and there were hints of red in his goatee. He was as tall and handsome as all three of his sons.
“We’re so glad you could make it,” Tucker said, smiling broadly at us.
Given the awkward silences of the last few days, sacrificing part of our lazy Sunday had been no hardship. Still, I smiled, thanked them for having us, and made small talk like it was my job.
Which, coincidentally, it seemed to be. Milo was quieter than usual, answering whenever he was directly addressed, but apparently content not to direct the conversation.
Eventually, both of our hosts retreated to the kitchen to check on dinner, leaving me and Milo on a loveseat in the family room.
I tangled my fingers in his and lifted his hand to my lips.
For some reason, that simple touch seemed to soothe him.
His gaze moved over my face, reading whatever was written there—hopefully the depth of my regret for shutting him out.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He reached up with his other hand to cup my cheek. “Me too. I’ve been awkward as hell and it was stupid. Your feelings, no matter what they might be, are totally valid, Eden.”
“You are extraordinarily well-adjusted, did you know that?”
“I try,” he replied, grinning. “I’m sorry I was tiptoeing around you this week. I thought you might need that caution while you processed, but I think I went a little overboard.”
I shifted so I could drop my head against his shoulder. “I feel like an alien sometimes.”
“Good thing you’re dating the owner of a comic book store.
Half my merch is filled with aliens.” Though I laughed, he kissed my forehead and said, “Eden, you’re very much human.
I know how lucky I am to have come from all this—parents who love each other and never hid how much they love us, brothers who drive me crazy but always have my back, a town that’s not Pleasantville but was pretty great to grow up in. ”
“I’m glad you had that,” I said softly.
“I’m glad, too. I wish you’d had even half of it.”
“My parents don’t matter, I just…I want to know my niece is safe and happy.”
His lips brushed lightly over my hair. “Then we’ll do what we can to find those answers. I’ll help in any way I can. Addie said you’re a super sleuth.”
I grinned. “That’s true. I never had a reason to delve into my family after I left. I thought about it back when Isaiah called, I was afraid to open that door again.”
“And now?”
“That little girl is reason enough to get over my fears.”
“My brave Eden,” he murmured.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel,” I admitted. “I think that’s what freaks me out the most. Like Addie expected me to start crying or something. I thought she was going to show me an obituary when she walked into the store.”
Milo stroked his thumb over my knuckles.
“There’s no right or wrong here, beautiful.
My mom’s dad died when we were teenagers—he was an emotionally abusive narcissist and they weren’t close.
No one cried at the funeral, not even her.
I once overheard her telling Dad that she felt sad about all the things that could have been, but not about losing the man he was. ”
“I think…that sounds close to what I’m feeling.”
“A couple months later, when Christmas rolled around, I walked into the kitchen and found her sobbing, because every year, she held out hope that he’d get his shit together and act like a good father, a good grandfather, instead of letting everyone down again.
That was when it hit her that there was no chance of that ever happening.
As far as I know, those were the only tears she shed over him,” he finished quietly.
I drew a breath, still leaning into him, absorbing his warmth and his strength, and whispered, “I’ve always been afraid that I wouldn’t know how to be a good partner or a good parent, because I came from that house. Even around Addie and Rob’s parents, I wondered if I could ever find that.”
“And now?”
“If your mom grew up with that and became the person she is, maybe there’s hope for me.”
Milo drew back, smiling at me with a tenderness that beat back the weight I’d been carrying around since Addie’s revelation, then slid his hand along my jaw and kissed me until everything else fell away.