Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Milo
Eden was no more good-natured a patient than she was a caregiver when I was hurt. It took threatening to tie her to my bed to get her to grudgingly agree to relax and let me look after her—and even then, I was certain she only caved because she was too sore to make better use of my threat.
On the morning of her birthday, she woke up to breakfast in bed—coffee and the custom cake I ordered from her favorite food truck baker, decorated to look like the Garden of Eden.
“Milo,” she breathed, blinking sleepily at the gorgeous design.
I had given the baker full creative freedom and she had come through beautifully. A tiny, shiny apple adorned one corner, and a golden snake was hidden among the leaves in another.
“Happy birthday, my love.”
She pivoted and threw herself into my arms. “Thank you. I’ve never…”
I waited for her to continue, then drew back just enough to study her expression, but I couldn’t interpret the mixture of joy and sorrow. “Please don’t cry on your birthday,” I begged her, peppering kisses across her cheekbones.
With a shaky breath, she said, “I’ve never had a birthday party before. Addie and I have gone out to dinner or whatever, but I never had a cake. Not like this.”
“Then we’ll make a toast.” I handed her a coffee mug, made just the way she liked it, and tapped my own gently against it. “To new beginnings.”
The smile that spread slowly across her face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “To new beginnings.”
To my surprise, she insisted we still go over to my parents’ house for dinner, but we spent the morning eating cake, drinking coffee, and watching Jiji chase after balled up wrapping paper as Eden opened her gifts.
I’d decided to swap out the dragon statue she’d admired, though I had it hidden away in case I was able to feel her out about it in the future—it was a work of art, and I didn’t want her to hold one woman’s violence against the sweet little dragon, but it definitely felt too soon to appreciate the sculpted pewter.
Instead, I’d found her an old-fashioned filigree locket and added tiny portraits Carter had painted of the two of us.
Inscribed on the back of it were the words, Welcome to Paradise.
Eden threw herself across the couch and into my arms, where she cried into the crook of my neck until I thought my heart would break.
“Baby, please,” I whispered. “This is a joyful day. Please don’t cry.”
“I love you. I love you, and I need time, but I want it. I want it all.”
I stared at her in confusion. “You want what?”
“Everything. Marriage, babies, employees to watch the store while we’re on vacation. I want all of it.”
My grin grew so big, it was hard to kiss her, but I managed it. Several minutes later, I was still kissing her, soaking in the beauty of all that was my sweet Eden, when her phone rang in the kitchen.
“I’ll get it,” I told her, planting one last kiss on the side of her neck before jogging to grab the phone from the counter.
Even if she insisted she was fine, I knew she was sore from yesterday, and I needed those moments of taking care of her after the entire ordeal—to remind myself we’d all survived and to show her the depth of my appreciation for how she’d gone to battle for me.
For us. For our future.
“Who is it?” she asked as I returned to her side.
I frowned down at the screen and passed it to her. “It’s your brother.”
For a moment, she just stared at the device in her hand like it might jump up and bite her, then she hit the button to accept the call and put it on speaker. “Isaiah? Is everything okay?”
“Hey, Eden. Happy birthday. Everything is fine, I just…I wanted to call and see how you are. Simon was in a panic yesterday when he called. I’ve been worried sick about you.”
She lifted her eyes to mine, shock and uncertainty shimmering in the golden swirls. “Oh. Thank you. It—a lot happened, but I’m okay.”
“Would you tell me if you weren’t?” he asked, his voice gentle.
Shit, he sounded just like my own brothers would after something bad happened, that same warm thread of concern edging the words. I lowered myself back down to the couch beside Eden and tugged her onto my lap, wishing I could magically smooth things over for her sake, if not her brother’s.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I…this feels weird.”
“That’s my fault, Eden, and I’m hoping to make it up to you, if you’ll let me.” The words rang with sincerity, and Eden’s eyes glistened as she cleared her throat.
“I’d like that.”
“I dropped the ball years ago and should have made more of an effort to pick it back up again. That’s why I called you, back when Mom and Dad were leaving. I hoped I might be able to mend some of what they’d broken.”
A shaky breath slipped past her lips. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you that chance.”
“I should have fought harder for you, Eden, then and now, and I’m sorry I let you down.” He paused, then added, “The police will probably be in touch with you again, but Sandra’s accomplice has been arrested.”
My body jolted as Eden gasped, “What?”
“Mary was up half the night doing some digging. She feels responsible for not recognizing what Sandra was planning. We both do. Anyway, she found Sandra’s phone and went through it before we turned it over for evidence this morning.
There was a…a boyfriend, I suppose. A man she was involved with.
He confessed to letting the air out of your tires, Eden, because they believed the car was Milo’s—something about a parking spot everyone knew was his? ”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, and Eden shot me a warning look.
“He also confessed to throwing the brick through that window,” Isaiah went on.
“Oh, what a relief. I was afraid she’d made Eve do it,” Eden whispered.
He gave a soft laugh. “Eve would no more hurl a brick through a window than she would set that store on fire. She reminds me so much of you, Eden. Fierce and determined and full of love. She’s been asking about you.”
Eden’s lips curved upward. “She has? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Asking when we can come out to see you, so she can be properly introduced. Eden, I’m so sorry. The wedding, Eve’s birth. I wanted to tell you, but Dad—”
“It’s okay,” Eden said, and miraculously, it was clear that she meant it. “It’s okay. I’d just really like to get to know her. And you.”
“We’d like that, too. This was our fault, all that happened to you.”
Eden started shaking her head even before he finished speaking. “No, it’s not.”
“Eve used to spend an evening each week with Sandra,” Isaiah said quietly.
“They’d have dinner together, that kind of thing, while we went out on a date.
Eventually, as Eve got older, she wanted to be with her friends instead.
They started playing Dungeons & Dragons and when Sandra found out that’s why Eve wasn’t spending time with her, she lost it.
I should have realized it was going to lead to something like this. ”
“You didn’t know,” Eden insisted. “And if you had known, you would’ve stepped in. This isn’t your fault.”
“I think it will take some time before I’m able to accept that.”
“You’ll get there. I didn’t get you back in my life just to lose you because you’re feeling guilty over something out of your control.”
“You’ve grown wise,” Isaiah said, his voice teasing in a gentle sort of way. “I can’t wait for Eve to get to know you, Eden. She needs another strong woman in her life.”
I stroked her hair as she and her brother discussed plans for a visit once the weather improved, listened as a piece of her heart clicked back into place, and wondered—not for the first time since meeting Eden at Comic Con—about the hand of fate in everything that had happened.
By the time the siblings hung up, Eden was glowing, though she blinked back a sheen of tears as she dropped her head to the cushion behind her.
“You doing okay?” I asked, brushing my thumb over her knuckles.
“Definitely, but what do you say to a normal couple of weeks? Maybe we should take up knitting or cribbage or something.”
I snorted a laugh. “Normal is overrated, but I wouldn’t turn down some rest and relaxation with my girl.”
Her eyes twinkled at me. “Your girl, huh?”
“My rockabilly goddess,” I growled, catching her at the waist and rubbing her neck with my beard. “My temptation and my paradise.”
She sighed and wound her arms around my shoulders. “Rest and relaxation sounds perfect.”
“Doesn’t it? What do you say we go relax in the bedroom until it’s time to head to my parents’ house?”
“I think I could be convinced.”
Before releasing her, I dropped my head and kissed her, savoring the sweetness of frosting still gracing her lips.
Whatever residual soreness plagued her muscles after that fall last night seemed to melt away under the power of that kiss, and when I cupped her ass with my hands, I was startled when she hopped up without flinching, wrapping her legs around my waist.
“Paradise,” I whispered against her mouth.
From the contented sigh that slipped from her lips, I knew she agreed.
When we got to my parents’ house that evening, my mom immediately sent us both out of the kitchen to relax on the couch. Eden, wearing soft black pants and that blouse with the floppy bow at the neckline, the pink daisy clipped into her hair, nestled into my side like she was meant to be there.
And she absolutely was.
Carter joined us and, for the first time since Eden’s escapade yesterday, she laughed outright when he slipped us each a cookie he’d tucked into his sleeve.
“Now, that is my favorite kind of magician,” she told him.
Carter grinned. “Uncle Milo got me a magic kit for my birthday one year. He helped me learn all the tricks.”
“You’ve got a couple pretty cool uncles, I guess.”
“And aunts,” Carter added.
I watched a soft smile bloom across Eden’s face at that. “I’ve never had a nephew before, so you’ll have to let me know if I’m doing okay.”
“I will. But you know, I still don’t have any cousins,” Carter said.
It sounded offhand, but I caught the sidelong glance he sent me. “Nope, no cousins yet,” I replied, widening my eyes at him over Eden’s head.
“Sure wish I had some,” he mused. “Cousins, I mean.”
“When my brother comes to visit this spring, you can meet my niece, Eve,” Eden offered. “You guys are kind of like cousins.”
Carter hummed, sounding impressively dejected despite the impish light in his gray eyes. “I really wish I had some baby cousins, though.”
Eden looked first to him, assessing his attempt at innocence, then to me, eyebrows raised. “Babies, huh?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I love babies.”
“Is this some kind of ambush?” she asked.
“No!” I protested.
“Yes!”
I dropped my head to the back of the couch with a groan as Carter’s shouted affirmative drowned out my response, but Eden burst out laughing.
For a second, we both watched her, Carter looking both relieved and hopeful—the exact combination of emotions tangling in my chest. That full-throated laughter was too much for us to resist, however, so we both ended up laughing alongside her.
Eden slumped against my chest, still giggling, when my mom poked her head into the room. The smile that moved across her face was so sweet it made my chest ache, but she lifted a finger to her lips so as to not interrupt the moment.
When Eden finally caught her breath, she tipped her head to look up at me, the joy still dancing in her eyes. I couldn’t help myself—I leaned down to kiss her, ignoring Carter’s exaggerated gagging sounds from the other end of the couch.
“Consider the subject under advisement, kid,” Eden said.
“Don’t encourage him.”
She cupped my cheek in her hand, ruffling her thumb through my beard. “I love you.”
I nuzzled her jaw and murmured, “I love you back.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carter sneaking back into the kitchen, so I kissed her more thoroughly while I had the chance. We were still locked together when Maverick came in to announce it was time for dinner, heaving his own disgusted groan.
“Is this what life is going to be like now? Couples making out all around me?”
“Yes,” Eden said primly.
I threw back my head and laughed, tucking her against my chest. “What the lady wants, the lady gets.”
Maverick just shook his head as he turned toward the dining room and muttered, “Welcome to the family.”