Finding Eden(43)

I winked at her, determined to make this a decent first date. "Yeah," I leaned in and kissed her quickly on her smiling mouth, "but things can only go up from here."

She raised a brow. "Or you could get a gutter ball."

I chuckled softly. "Very pessimistic. I won't."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "How can you be so sure?"

I smiled. "Because I learn from my mistakes."

Then I strode up to the lane and lined up my shot. Only this time, I started the ball all the way at the very right edge of the lane so that when it made the sharp turn at the end, it hit the center pin and they all went flying. Spare!

I heard Eden whoop behind me and turned around to her grinning and clapping. I laughed and walked back to her. I picked her up and spun her once and then kissed her hard.

"Dance with me," I mumbled into her hair after I'd broken from her mouth and hugged her to me.

She looked up at me and then seemed to hear the music coming from the sound system. The lyrics sang of loss and something about all of the stars, which seemed apropos.

"Since when do you know how to dance?" she asked teasingly. I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it, not wanting to bring Madison up. Her face fell slightly and she said, "Oh," her eyes darting away from mine.

I took my fingers and put them under her chin, turning her face back to mine. "I've never danced with you. I want to change that. Dance with me."

She licked her lips. "I'll probably step all over your feet."

"That's okay," I said, taking her in my arms and pulling her close.

Our bodies started to sway to the music, the boisterous noise of the bowling alley fading away for me as the song seemed to rise in volume and it was only me and her, our bodies moving as one, her sweet softness pressed against me.

"Come home with me, Eden," I whispered into her hair.

She exhaled a sharp breath and leaned back, her large, deep blue eyes looking up at me with love and tenderness. She nodded her head, yes, but didn't say anything. Joy pulsed through my body. We continued dancing until the song ended and then got back to our game. We laughed and had fun through the next nine frames. Eden was even a pretty good bowler after she got the hang of it. Mostly though, I just enjoyed sitting back and watching her have fun. Other than that long-ago game of Kick the Can, I'd never had the privilege of watching Eden play. I was going to give as much of this to her as I possibly could. It was going to be my life's goal to make up for everything she'd lost.

As we were getting ready to go and changing shoes, a little girl around three or four ran by, giggling and being chased by her mother who was laughing, too, and calling, "Get back here, you!" I smiled and looked back over at Eden who looked up at me with sorrow in her eyes. She seemed to catch herself and her expression brightened and she looked down, adjusting the back of the shoe she'd just put on.

"Eden," I said softly, going over to her and sitting down next to her. She turned toward me, the look of sorrow back in her eyes. "I know. They told me about the baby. Someone slipped me a note while I was in the cell in Acadia."

She blinked at me and bit her lip. Tears sprung to her eyes and they grew large. She shook her head slowly. "I wasn't going to say anything," she said. "I didn't want you to have to carry that, too."

I took in her pained face, sadness filling my chest at the realization she was going to bear that burden all alone to save me the pain. "My Morning Glory," I whispered. "I'm so, so sorry you endured that. It killed me to imagine what you must have gone through." I let out a breath, attempting to compose myself, to be strong for her. "We'll remember that small life together, and someday when we're ready, we'll make another."

Her brow furrowed and she looked up at me with sad eyes. "Calder," she started, my name seeming to catch in her chest. She stopped and bit her full bottom lip.

"What is it?" I asked, my eyes moving over her sad expression.

Eden took a deep breath. "When I first came to Cincinnati, I had a lot of pain and Marissa took me to a doctor and . . . he told me that I have scarring from the miscarriage. Hector gave me some kind of tea and it . . ." She shook her head again, furrowing her brow. "The doctor didn't think there was much chance I could get pregnant ever again," she finished softly. "I can't have any more babies."

Pain hit me straight in the gut like a body blow. "No," I choked out.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have told you now. It's just—"

"Shh," I said, pulling her in to my body and gripping the back of her head with one hand. Sorrow pulsed through me in waves. I pulled back and rubbed my nose along hers and then put my forehead against hers. "We'll get a second opinion when we're ready, or we'll adopt, or . . ." I shook my head, "whatever you want."