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 timesince 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.
Whenwegottomy 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.”
