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“Perfect.” Eden nods. “That’s what we want.” She holds my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Isn’t that right, dear?” She smiles lovingly at me, morphing back into the sweet girl from Holtsville that I ran into on the streets. “Everything else is perfect—the menu, the flowers, the music. There’s no need to change a thing.”
Nina nods, displaying a look of surprise. “Well, that was easy.” She looks at Eden. “And smart; security is rarely the concern of the bride.”
“Nor of yours, if I recall correctly.” Eden’s voice is hard, and Nina recoils as if she’s been slapped in the face.
“And I do apologize for everything that has happened, but?—”
“You can stop there, Nina,” Eden says. “Thank you.”
Nina’s smile is tight as she loops her purse on her shoulder. “I will set up a final meeting when you confirm the date. I do need an updated guest list.” I nod my understanding, and Nina quickly leaves. The receptionist walks over to the double doors leading into the gallery and locks them with her keys. I motion to her, and she disappears into a back room.
Eden and I sit in silence until we’re alone. Her grip on my hand tightens. “Are you going out today?” she asks. It’s code for something else.
“No.”
“But you’ll go out tonight.” Eden sighs when I look away. “Look, it’s not about Zakhar. I just don’t want to wake up alone and wonder if tonight is the night you don’t come back.”
The desperate look on her beautiful face makes me reach out and take her cheeks in my hands. I kiss her hard, feeling her lips press against mine. I drink in her innocence before it entirely disappears into a tough shell in order to survive.
I pull back, Eden sighs, and then a giggle rips out of her lips. There’s dreamy admiration in her soft gaze, and I wish it didn’t have to go away.
“I’ve noticed you call him Zakhar now,” I say quietly.
Eden tugs herself out of my grasp. “Because my father would never have done this to me.”
“Has he tried to contact you since?” I ask, failing to sound casual.
She shakes her head while staring hard at me. “You know he hasn’t, Nikolai. Am I still being used as bait to catch him?”
“No,” I answer honestly.
“When you asked me to marry you the first time, I said yes because I had to.” She pauses. “But now, I want to. We’re having a baby.”
“And that changes everything?” I ask.
“Yes, it does,” she says. “At least, it does for me.”
I reach for Eden and pull her onto my lap. “I’m doing this to protect us,” I explain. “The past remains in my mind but is no longer my motivation. Do you understand?”
She leans her head on my shoulder, maybe to avoid my gaze. “I think I finally understand it now. The past is still there, but it’s never going to change. The future can, and that’s what I’m looking forward to. The future with my own family. Not the past, where all I had was a broken one.”
I grasp her chin and she stares back at me. I canfeelher innocence slipping away from my fingers like water, and I desperately want to cling to her. I want to scream and shout at her that she’s walking down a path into becoming something that she’ll hate. Something that she won’t be able to forgive.
Something like me.
But I know there’s no way I can stop her from doing that. The old Eden died the moment Zakhar pulled the trigger.
And the new Eden standing in front of me … Sometimes, she’s not even recognizable.
“Eden, I know what you think.” I finally say. “But it’s changed. I may not have changed, but my feelings for you have. Or at least, I’m willing to admit that now.”
“Admit what?” she asks softly, her fingers softly stroking the back of my neck.
“That I want you.” I look her straight in the eyes. “And the baby.” I smile when she giggles again. “You almost look as happy as when you found out about the tickets to the Met.”
She shoves my shoulder playfully. “Shouldn’t I be happy for getting what I want?”
“Am I what you want?” I ask.
