Finding Eden(84)

I held Eden's warm hand in mine and we lingered over our food. The dread of the nightmare released its grasp in the bright light of day and I was feeling hopeful. It had to be normal that I would have a few bad dreams, that the nightmares would come back temporarily. Eden had given me some big news and it had rocked me, and naturally it brought up memories of the first time we'd created a life, and how cruelly that life had been taken from us.

"We should think about leaving today or tomorrow," I said, glancing at Eden. She had her hair pulled back from her face and her sunglasses were resting on top of her head. Her thick, black sweater came all the way up to her chin and the dark knit right up against her skin made it look ever creamier than normal. Or maybe she was just glowing. "I think you should go to the doctor as quickly as possible to make sure everything's all right."

Eden's eyes met mine and she nodded.

"As soon as we get back, I'm going to ask the police to help me get a social security number like they're doing for Xander. I can't wait forever for someone to come forward. It likely won't ever happen, and I have a life to build for us." Marrying her was even more important than ever to me now. I wondered distantly how Carolyn was going to take this news.

Eden nodded, glancing at me worriedly. "Okay."

I watched her pick at her food and after a few minutes, she said, "I have an idea." She looked at me a little nervously.

"Uh oh," I joked, one side of my mouth quirking up.

She laughed. "I know, right? No, really," her expression went serious, "I know we haven't had much opportunity to talk about that water thing from yesterday, and chances are it's a coincidence, I guess. But I can't help but wonder if Hector not only passed through here, but . . . oh, I don't even know." She pursed her lips. "I thought maybe we could go to the local library and just look up a few things."

I frowned. "What kind of things?"

Her expression became pensive and she chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't know. But I think it's worth a try. If nothing comes up, nothing comes up. But we're the only ones who know about this possible connection to French Lick, Indiana. The police aren't going to look into a hunch about spring water. If we don't try, no one else will. And who knows if we'll ever be back here."

I smiled across the table at her. "My little knowledge seeker," I said.

She let out a breath and then laughed softly. "That's your fault." She winked. "What do you think?"

I considered it for a minute. "Yeah. Okay." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. It suddenly felt chillier.

My phone dinged and I looked at the text:

Xander: Dude, Pluto Water? Sounds like our holy water. ???

Me: I know. We think so too. Not sure what to make of it. Looking into a few things. Will let you know.

Xander: Okay. You all right?

Me: Better than ever. You good?

Xander: Yeah

Me: Talk soon

Xander: Later

We asked the waiter about the nearest library and then gathered our things. It was within walking distance.

Less than ten minutes later, we were walking through the doors of the public library.

"What are we hoping to find here?" I asked in a hushed tone as Eden looked around.

She headed toward a librarian unloading a cart and I followed. "I'm not sure," she said. "Like I said, maybe nothing. I thought we'd look back at some newspapers from the time when Hector took me from Cincinnati and brought me to Indiana, maybe even someplace close to here."

I furrowed my brow, but followed her.

Thirty minutes later, we were looking through the library's internal computer system, going through the local paper for what, I wasn't sure. The librarian had explained that back copies of other papers could sometimes be found online, but they were such a small town, the newspapers were only catalogued there. Eden sat and scrolled through the top stories as I sat beside her, just watching. I was happy enough just to sit and stare at her. Plus, the quiet was nice as I considered the many things we'd need to do when we got back to Cincinnati.

After a while, Eden huffed out a breath and turned to me, a small, embarrassed smile on her face. "I don't even know what I'm doing, or what I'm looking for. I'm wasting our vacation."

I leaned back in my chair, taking in her disappointed expression. I shook my head, thinking for a second. "Okay, wait, let's go over the timeline. That one you had on the back of your door? Do you have it memorized?"

She laughed a soft laugh. "Sadly, yes. Why?"

"Okay." I leaned forward and put my elbows on my thighs. "So, we're looking at articles that came out about the time you were abducted. But," I considered things for a minute, "Acadia was formed years before that. Wouldn't it be safer to assume if something happened that, I don't know, inspired Hector to form Acadia, that that event would have happened right before?"