Finding Eden

  Tears were coursing down Carolyn's cheeks and she was nodding her head. "Thank you," she said. "And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never considered that you need a mother, too. I'm here for you." She reached her hand across the table and I took it, smiling, relief filling my chest.

  "I'm going to try to stop treating her like a little girl and see her for who she is," she said. "I'm going to try my very best. I'm going to focus on what I have, not what I don't have."

  I smiled again. "I know Eden will be thankful for that." I paused. "Just so you know though, there's no reason to stop making those fluffernutter sandwiches." They were damn good.

  Carolyn laughed and wiped her tears and that's when Eden walked into the room. She stopped and took us both in and a huge smile took over her face, making her look radiant with happiness, as she rushed forward and draped one arm over my shoulders and reached one over Carolyn's. She leaned in and kissed my cheek and then leaned over and kissed Carolyn's. We laughed and something inside me clicked into place. It was as if the mix of colors on the canvas was finally perfect for the picture I wanted so desperately to create.

  **********

  Later, up in Eden's room, we opened her laptop and began figuring out where we were going.

  We looked through a couple Indiana tourist sites and each one recommended the same resort again and again – French Lick Springs Hotel. We couldn't resist choosing the one place we found that had the word “springs” in it. It seemed too perfect a choice as a getaway for us. We had gone to another spring to get away once upon a time, too. It felt right. Plus, it was only a three-hour drive. We wouldn't have to risk too much by being on the road for very long. Neither one of us had a license, although Molly had agreed to loan us her car.

  "Carolyn said we'd need to open up an account in your name to cash the check from my showing so I can finance our trip," I said as Eden entered in the information on the computer, booking our hotel.

  She nodded, creasing her brow. "I have another account in my name, too, that Felix left for me." She looked up at me. "We can access that, too, now that I have a birth certificate."

  "Okay, but I'm paying for this trip."

  She put her hand to my cheek. "Okay. Still, Felix left me that money because he wanted me to have it. It wouldn't be right to leave it there."

  I nodded, thanking Felix in my head each time his name came up. I would be forever in his debt for taking care of my girl when I hadn't been able to.

  The next day, we both accompanied Carolyn to the bank where Eden's mouth fell open when we learned that Felix had left several hundred thousand dollars for her. When we got home, she dropped down on the couch, her face in her hands, choking out sobs. I pulled her close and held her as she cried. I could hardly believe it either. What an incredible, generous man. Thank you, Felix.

  And so it came to be that Eden and I were driving out of Ohio in Molly's car just as the sky began to dim. We had successfully snuck out through the back bushes while Xander made his first statement to the press in front of Carolyn's house. It was the perfect diversion.

  As the miles flew by, my shoulders began to relax, and I felt like I was finally able to draw in a full breath for the first time in a little over a month. Eden shot me a flirty smile and winked, putting her feet up on the dashboard. My heart flipped in my chest and I almost laughed at myself. Would I ever stop being a lovesick schoolboy around her?

  Her smile faded and she squeezed my hand. "How are you feeling?"

  "Better." I smiled over at her. "It's a lot easier now that we've got a little bit of freedom." I looked at the road in front of us.

  "Yeah," she agreed, squeezing my hand back. "Everything feels more hopeful when you're free. Who knows that better than us?"

  I nodded my head slowly, keeping my eyes on the road and glancing at the speedometer to make sure I was going the speed limit. I wasn't going to risk that freedom for anything.

  She was quiet for a minute. "Think the media will look for us?"

  "They won't know we're gone. We haven't been outside your mom's house in a month, so they'll think we're still holed up. And even if they did know we left, by the time they knew to look for us, we'll have Molly's car parked in a parking garage somewhere. The news plays the same fuzzy pictures of us coming out of my building again and again. The only other one they have of you is from when you were a kid. I don't think anyone will recognize us, especially if I put a ball cap on and you put your hair up." I grinned over at her and she smiled back, nodding.

  We were quiet in our thoughts, just watching the scenery go by. After a few minutes, I said, "You know what I keep thinking about, Eden? You know what I've thought about off and on all these years?"

  "Hmm?" she looked at me and leaned her head back on the seat.

  "Me kicking over that water system was just chance—a random, unplanned act that ended up flooding the cellar."

  "Yeah," she said softly.

  "Yeah. So how did Hector know? All those years, how did he know that there would be a flood on that day, under an eclipse? If he didn't plan it, how did he predict it?"

  I glanced at Eden and she was studying me quietly, her brow furrowed. "I don't know," she finally said. She tilted her head to the side. "Do you think, I mean, is it possible Hector had some kind of psychic gift and that he . . ." She sighed, looking frustrated before continuing, "I don't know . . . thought it was the voices of the gods speaking to him?" She turned more fully toward me, getting that bright look in her eye that made my chest feel tight—my knowledge seeker.

  "What if Hector had some sort of," she waved her hands around, "precognition? I don't know. I'll have to look it up, but what if he had that and he was slightly crazy and so he misinterpreted it as some sort of message from the gods?" She frowned. "Is that . . . does that sound totally crazy?"

  I sighed. "I have no idea. Yeah, it sounds kinda crazy, but that doesn't mean it is, you know? I don't have a better explanation. Unless he planned to kick over my system and I just coincidentally happened to do it for him."

  "Or that all the factors came together in just the right way. Coincidence all around—the rain, the eclipse . . ." She bit her lip not looking convinced. She turned around in her seat and looked out the window. "I guess we'll never truly know."

  "No, we won't. And somehow, I guess, that has to be okay."

  Eden sighed. "Yeah, that's the hard part. I still can't believe they exhumed his body." She shivered.

  We were quiet for another minute. Eden turned to me again. "You know what else I wonder about?"

  "Hmm?"

  She bit her lip. "Well, Hector always proclaimed that the foretelling said I would become his only legal wife. But at our marriage, I never signed anything. And I didn't even know my last name at that point. He couldn't have made it legal. Could he?"

  I thought about that. "I don't know a lot about the laws of marriage, but, no, I can't see how he could have made it legal considering the fact that you were a missing kid." I paused. "One of the council members was a judge in Arizona, though. Could he have planned a way to forge documents?" Something came to me. "Or, maybe it was just a way not to have to marry Miriam or Hailey. He was using a false name. He couldn't really marry anyone. Maybe he used the gods' foretellings as a way around things that just wouldn't fit in with his lies."

  Eden's eyes looked sad when I glanced at her. "So many lies," she whispered. "It's so hard to differentiate sometimes."

  I grabbed her hand. "We know what's true and what's not, Morning Glory." I paused. "It sounds like something between a feeling and a whisper. Remember?"

  Eden smiled softly at me and squeezed my hand.

  After a minute, I said, "On a more casual note," I grinned over at her, "guess who I caught making out on the side of the house when I went around to the garage to get your mom's suitcases?"

  Eden's mouth opened and she stared at me for a minute before her eyes opened wide. "Bentley and Molly?" she said excitedly.

  I frowned. "How'd you know?"


  "I knew it! I had a feeling. Did they see you?"

  "No, I ducked back around the house. I felt like a peeping tom. I've only met the guy once."

  She laughed, but then her face went serious. "Wait, are you sure he wasn't taking advantage of her?"

  I glanced at her, smirking. "If a woman being accosted wraps her leg around a man's hip, then yes."

  She laughed, throwing her head back. My heart flipped over. Just laughing with her, talking about casual things felt like a small miracle. In one sense, I hoped that feeling would lessen, and in another sense, I hoped it'd never go away.

  After a minute, Eden mused, "There are stories everywhere, aren't there?" She leaned back, looking happy about that.

  We arrived in French Lick, Indiana, at about eight o'clock that evening and followed the directions we'd written down to the resort where we had reservations under Molly's name, along with her identification.

  "Oh wow," Eden whispered when we pulled through the gates and drove up a long, winding road toward West Baden Springs Hotel, just up the road from the French Lick Hotel and Casino.

  Even though it was dark, I could see the grounds were landscaped perfection, featuring shaped shrubbery and flowering bushes, and an abundance of huge, ancient trees.

  We were silent as the hotel came into view, a massive, historical resort painted a soft yellow, with a circular building in the center featuring a colossal, glass dome. All the tourist sites we'd looked at said the building was fashioned after the most luxurious spas in Europe. I'd never been to Europe, but I could agree with the luxurious part.

  I pulled into a parking lot just down the hill and parked in the corner, next to some large shrubs. We got out and I retrieved our bags from the trunk and took out a baseball cap and stuck it on my head. Eden got some kind of hair band out of her purse and put her long, blonde hair up in a tight bun at the back of her head. We walked hand in hand the short distance to the hotel.

  "Oh," we both said when we'd stepped through the main doors. I looked over at Eden and we both laughed softly. From the inside, the dome was even more breathtaking. We walked through the large atrium with our heads swiveling in every direction. There were hotel room balconies surrounding the perimeter of the dome with wrought iron gates to make them look old fashioned. The huge open room had large sitting areas sprinkled everywhere, a bar, and a couple shops on opposite sides. I'd never seen anything like it. I felt like we were in another world altogether, or at least another country. This was exactly what we needed.

  I sat on a small couch in the lobby area and pretended to look through a brochure as Eden went to the front desk to check in. A few minutes later, she was coming my way, grinning with a key card in her hand. We held hands as we went up the elevator to our room and I couldn't help the smile that took over my face and the emotion that welled up in my chest. I felt like we'd come full circle.

  We followed the signs to our room and when I spotted a Coca-Cola machine down a hallway, I pulled Eden with me, dropping our bags, taking out a couple dollars and purchasing two cans. I handed one to her and then popped open the other one, and leaned against the wall as I downed the whole entire thing in long swallows, the sweet fizziness filling my mouth, the taste that I still associated with forbidden happiness. When I looked back up, Eden was watching me with a huge smile on her face. She laughed out loud and winked at me, leaning forward and kissing me quickly on the mouth.

  "Good?" she asked.

  I took a deep breath. "So good."

  Five minutes later we were safely locked inside our hotel room.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Calder

  "It says here there's a small museum in town that tells the history of the hotel," Eden said, taking a bite of buttered toast with jelly with one hand and holding the brochure with the other.

  I leaned back in my chair, sipping my coffee and letting my eyes roam over her. "Whatever you want to do," I said, "I'm game." I cocked one brow. "We could just stay in bed for a couple days."

  She grinned, but didn't look up at me. "Haven't you gotten enough of me yet?" she asked, still reading the brochure.

  "Never."

  She raised one brow and finally brought her eyes to mine. "We did that once before, remember? It was . . . sticky."

  "It was wonderful."

  Her eyes grew tender. "It was. And necessary. But this week I want to get out and walk around with you, feel the sunshine on my face."

  I smiled. "Then get your perfect little butt in the shower."

  She stood up and walked toward the bathroom, shooting me a look over her shoulder. "Aren't you going to join me?"

  I didn't need to be asked twice. I was up and out of my chair before she could take another step. Her laughter rang out as I came up behind her and scooped her up so we could get in the shower as quickly as possible. We left the bathroom door open and didn't try to be quiet. Not sneaking around felt so damn good.

  An hour later, we were dressed and hand in hand as we looked through the shops in the lobby. Eden had her bangs brushed back, held by a wide, pale pink scarf tied in a knot at the back of her neck and sunglasses on. People still glanced her way, but I realized it was only because she was so pretty, not because anyone recognized her.

  I had the same baseball cap on, but not much else in the way of a disguise. It seemed like enough. No one looked twice at me.

  The weather was cool and crisp and we'd both brought jackets, but on that particular day, the sun was shining and it was warm enough to stroll to the casino a little ways away and eat lunch on the porch of a local restaurant.

  My body relaxed, and so did my soul, finding peace and serenity in just being with Eden, enjoying our freedom. It'd taken all this time, and we finally had a small measure of it. Despite everything we'd lost, despite all the ways in which we'd both been stripped bare, we had each other and we could finally celebrate that. I could finally start letting myself believe that life held promise—for me, for her, for us.

  That entire week we relaxed. We walked around enjoying the small town sites, we picked through tourist shops surprising each other with small trinkets we thought the other would like, we went horseback riding once, we made love whenever we wanted to, and we woke up every morning tangled in each other. It was heaven. Eden went to the spa once, and we swam in the large, picturesque indoor pool. As we lounged at the side, Eden pulled out a book and I squinted over at her, looking at the cover.

  "His Rockin' Heart?" I asked, raising one brow.

  Eden giggled, putting the book down on her stomach for a minute and looking over at me, her cheeks taking on a pink tinge. "It might sound like a silly title, but it's so good. And I haven't been able to read romance books all this time." Her expression took on a brief hint of sadness. "I just couldn't." She shook her head. "It hurt too much. That one I read at Kristi's, it was the last time I remember having hope." She paused for so long I wondered if she'd go on. "But now," she laid her head back on the lounger and bit her lip, "I can, and I enjoyed that first one. A lot." She smiled a flirty smile at me.

  I thought back to that day at Kristi's apartment, to the sweet look of hope on Eden's face . . . our last truly happy moment before we were dragged back to hell. Looking at the same gentle, hopeful expression on her face now, caused gratitude to slam into my heart with such sudden force, I almost jolted. Somehow . . . somehow, we had found our way back. And I never, ever wanted that look to disappear from her beautiful face. I smiled back at her. "Oh I remember that book," I said. "It was a masterpiece."

  Eden laughed. "Actually, after reading quite a bit these last few years, I've come to realize that was actually a really bad book." She brought her voice to a dramatic whisper on the last three words.

  I cocked one eyebrow. "Who says? Not me, that's for sure. Whatever the highest rating is, that's what I give that work of art."

  "Five stars." She grinned.

  "Five life-changing, extremely satisfied stars," I said, smirking and raising both brows.


  Eden laughed. "We'll have to hope this one measures up, then." She smiled flirtatiously at me again and went back to reading.

  Later, we strolled the grounds and talked about where we saw our life going. I would call a couple galleries when we got back and Eden would pick up her piano lessons. We'd buy a new Bed of Healing and we'd hire someone to clean up and repair my trashed apartment so I could hand it back over to the guy who'd rented it to me. Then we'd find a new one in a better part of town, one we both picked out together. I'd buy the most high-tech alarm system on the market. And I'd marry my girl. I didn't mention that part to her again, but in my mind, it was my first priority when we got back. I wouldn't be able to afford a very fancy ring right away, but I didn't think Eden would mind.

  We texted Xander, Carolyn, and Molly frequently updating them on what we were doing and sent them lots of pictures.

  On the fifth day we were there, Molly sent Eden a text that sounded important and so Eden called her back. I was lying back on the bed flipping through the movies. It was the day we'd gone horseback riding and so we were both tired and sore and looking forward to relaxing for the evening.

  "Hey, Molly," I heard Eden say.

  She listened for a minute and when I saw her face drain of color, I sat up, watching her.

  "Okay," she said quietly. "Thank you for letting us know . . . No, I know . . . Yes, I'm fine. We're fine." Eden glanced over at me and then away. "Okay. I love you, too. ‘Bye, Molly." She hung up and stood staring straight ahead for a minute.