Monster(26)

Settling Liam inside the ridiculously fancy and undoubtedly expensive stroller, Eden was faced once again with Dominic’s increasing influence in Liam’s life, and she wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not. First the crib and now the stroller, these were two of hundreds upon hundreds of things Dominic had had purchased for Liam over the last few weeks. There were the abundance of clothes and shoes that were nearly as costly as Eden’s car and then there were the toys, so many of them they had a room of their own. Eden wasn’t sure exactly what it was Dominic was trying to accomplish, but she knew it was too much too fast. But then, wasn’t this the only way she knew him to be? His wealth, his power, this was the only form of affection there would ever be from Dominic Armstrong. He’d showered Eden with materialistic things at first, too, but then had deprived her of the one thing she’d craved far more from him than the endless parade of trinkets, but that craving had ebbed considerably over the years, soured even in the face of his debasement and cruelty. Now all she wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible and attempt to protect Liam as much as she could from the inevitable disappointment.

God, she was starting to sound bitter. Eden sighed, she wasn’t this person. Too much had happened in the last five years, but she couldn’t allow her resentment and bitterness to eat away at her like this. It wasn’t good for either herself or Liam. Determined to start their day off on a better note, Eden applied the brakes to the stroller and jogged to the living room to grab Liam’s diaper bag, her wallet, and the small basket she’d prepared earlier, then hastened back to the foyer. She loaded Liam in the car seat first, making sure he was well and truly strapped in before putting the rest of the items she had in the ample truck space of her car, including the stroller.

She drove to a local flower shop and spent some time picking out a few arrangements, and with the salesperson eager to help her find whatever it was she was looking for, Eden was out of there in no time. After four months of motherhood, she was damn proud of herself in being able to multitask with an infant constantly vying for her attention. Case and point, readying the stroller, taking the car seat out with Liam in tow and locking it in place, all the while carrying the baby bag and the bouquets was one hell of an accomplishment. Feeling decidedly proud of herself, Eden smiled broadly as she pushed the stroller through the open wrought iron gates of the cemetery. It was peaceful here, quiet, and as they steadily made their way to her mother’s grave, the warm summer breeze gently swept through the trees above, and Eden believed it was her mother welcoming them.

Too soon they were at Helen Mercer’s grave, and Eden was taken aback by the beautiful flower arrangement that was already there. They certainly weren’t from her, seeing as she hadn’t visited in quite some time, so she was rather curious as to who might have left them. Her mother hadn’t had many friends, and the few she’d had, Eden knew wouldn’t be so generous as to do this.

“Hi, Mom,” she greeted, smiling as she took Liam’s car seat out of the stroller and set it beside her as she took a seat. “I’m sorry I haven’t come to see you in a while. Life’s been crazy.” Setting down the three arrangements she’d chosen earlier, Eden raised her hand to the thick, marble headstone, tracing the engravings of Helen Parker, Beloved Mother, with her fingertips. “I brought someone very special to meet you,” she said with a watery smile, reaching for Liam. “Mom, this is Liam, your grandson.” Eden raised a hand to swipe at the tears on her cheeks before releasing a sound that was both sigh and laughter. “He’s four months now. He’s such a sweet baby boy, Mom. He reminds me of you sometimes. There’s so much I want to tell you about him, about me…just everything.” And she did; she spoke of her pregnancy and delivery, and how she’d wished that she’d had her there to share the joys along with the pains of motherhood. How she’d wanted guidance, especially in those first few precious weeks when hormones, emotions, and fatigue had run extremely high. She refrained from divulging her marriage issues and how, hopefully by the end of the year it would all be over, nothing more than a bad memory. She kept to the subject of Liam, spoke of the simple things he did that awed her and made her smile and laugh for no particular reason sometimes. Eden spoke of nothing and everything that encompassed her child and expressed how desperately she was missed and loved.

“I promise to come see you more often. I’ll bring Liam every time I come.” With a sigh Eden rose to her knees and set Liam back into the car seat. “I love you so much, Mom, and I miss you. But I know you’re in a better place and probably looking down on us. I know you’re probably worried sick about me, but I promise I’m okay, Mom. I have Liam now, and he and I will be just fine.” With a silent prayer, Eden came to her feet and commenced her trip back to her car.

Sometime later, after a long leisurely walk around the park Eden found a nice shaded spot beneath a tree to set up her little blanket. The weather had grown increasingly warm over the last few hours, so the tree provided ample shelter from the scorching sun and had the added benefit of concealing Eden as she nursed Liam. But for added protection, she’d taken his swaddling blanket out of his bag to cover herself. While he fed, Eden sat back against the tree and amused herself in people watching. There were joggers, mothers walking with their children or pushing their strollers, elderly couples walking hand in hand around the park or sitting on benches feeding the geese over by the pond. There were others, like herself, who’d found prime real estate beneath other trees and had laid out blankets for picnics.

It was while her gaze veered back around that she saw him and tensed; even at a distant Eden was instinctually aware of him. She had only moments to assess him while his long, even strides brought him that much closer to her. Eden wasn’t even sure the word jeans and casual was part of Dominic’s extensive repertoire of vocabulary, but then if one could wear a tailored suit as well and impeccably as he did, one wouldn’t bother with such menial things. Grey sharkskin suit, royal blue silk tie, pristine white shirt, and trousers that accentuated his long, powerful legs that reeked of wealth and power made him look wholly out of place. More than a few heads turned to look at him, but it seemed he only had eyes for the lone woman seated beneath the tree, holding a covered bundle in her arms.

He was breathtakingly handsome and her heart skipped a beat as he drew nearer, thudding in her chest when he finally came to stand before her. She was at a complete disadvantage seated as she was on the ground with her child nestled to her chest, but Eden would not crane her head back to stare up at him, and he instantly figured that out as seconds later she found that he’d lowered his immense frame to the blanket, not quite sitting but poised on his haunches. “Hello,” he greeted after a moment.

“How did you find me?” she fired back, angry, but not at all surprised that he’d recanted on the promise he’d made of not following her. “You told me you wouldn’t follow me.”

“We agreed that my security wouldn’t follow you,” he countered smoothly. “We said nothing about me doing the following.”

“It’s always a technicality with you,” she said reproachfully, glaring at him.

“The devil is always in the details, my pe…Eden.”

Eden looked at him for an eternal second after that, and he stared back at her evenly, not entirely open with emotion, but showing enough that she knew the utterance of her name had been done to please her. “What do you want?”

“Far more than you’re willing to currently give me,” he murmured, reaching out involuntarily to tuck a tendril of hair behind her ear, his index finger lingering on a caress down her cheek. “But for now, I simply wanted to spend time with my son.”

Eden tilted her head away from his touch. “You could have waited until I got back to the mansion.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders, finding interest in the picnic basket she’d packed. “I lost patience.” He retrieved a roll of crackers and went on to tug it open. “How is he?”

“Sleeping,” she said curtly. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“Not just yet, no.” And just to prove his point, he sat down on the blanket. “When was he born?”

The unexpectedness of the question surprised Eden but she quickly recovered. “March, twenty-third,” she answered quietly.

“Tell me about him.”

“I’m sure you have a folders filled with information about him.”

“Yes,” he admitted, “but not with what matters. I want to know more about him. Tell me.”

Forced to look beneath the order to the quiet desperation she heard in his voice, Eden sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you wish to tell me.”

“He was born on March, twenty-third, at five-thirty in the morning. I was induced and ten hours later he was born. He weighed just under six pounds, but he was very long. He was very colicky at first, but we got through it. The thing with the hospital…” Eden swallowed hard, looking at everything but him, “it…it was an accident,” she murmured. “It was a few weeks after I had him. I was still trying to get used to being a mother. I was exhausted and I…I would never do anything to purposely hurt him.”