I just stared. I couldn’t get words past my lips had I wanted to.
“Eden,” Danny said, pinning me with a mirror image of my own eyes, “I lost your mother because I trusted my sister when she said she just wanted to meet Echo. I will not trust her again and lose you too. This is the only way to ensure you are safe. If it means rotting in a jail cell for the rest of my life, then so be it.”
Tony laid a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Okay, bud, it’s time to go I was only authorized a few minutes to bring you here and get you back. Eden will come to see you when she is feeling up to it. That’s if she wants to see you.” Tony shifted his gaze to me, “He was worried about you, Eden; he wanted to see you for himself. He had to see with his own eyes that you were still alive.”
As Danny got up and Tony started to lead him out, Echo’s words played back in my mind.
“Danny,” he turned around just feet before the door, “I need to give you something.”
I crossed to the door, so I could hug him. Before I pulled away, I turned and whispered, “That is from Mom. She told me to pass it on, I’ll explain later.” His eyes were saucers as I pulled away. As Tony led him out, the look of shock never left his face.
After they were gone, Dad took his seat again and grabbed my hand. “He changed his whole life and appearance so that he could blend back into our community and be close to you. As a father, I can’t fault him. I understand where he stands there. But he let his sister get away with murder, and the attempted murder of you for almost 20 years, I don’t know if I can understand that. She will be going away for a very long time. I was scared to death that I’d lose you too. When we responded to Porter’s field that day, I really thought you were going to die.”
Dad didn’t cry often, but for this, he teared up.
“It’s okay now, Dad. I am going to live—remember?”
He patted my hand and stood. Casting a concerned look at Drew, he glanced back at me. “I have to go file some paperwork, I insisted on handling it myself, I will be home soon. I’m glad you both came out of this alive. For a while there, I thought we’d lose both of you.” He lingered a moment longer and then left the room.
After the trauma of the whole experience had finally settled, Drew told me the extents of our injuries when he drove me back out to Elm Point. It turned out that Vivian had nicked a major artery when she shot me, and I’d lost a considerably larger amount of blood than Drew had, at a much faster rate. Two transfusions and almost a week later, I was feeling much better. I missed Echo more than I thought I ever could. It was like losing a sibling, but I more than just missed her. I genuinely mourned her loss. The weather was cooler than it had been the first time that Drew had taken me to see the space station cut its path across the sky. It seemed like forever and a lifetime ago. This time I didn’t need him to point out the fast-moving speck in the heavens. Instead, he held me close and drew my attention away from the sky and to his face. He looked at me like I was the most precious treasure in the world.
“I love you, Eden.”
It didn’t come as a surprise when telling him the truth of my feelings wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
“I love you too, Drew.”
“How are you doing—you know without Echo.”
I sighed and snuggled closer to him, seeking the extra warmth he provided to battle against the frigid surface of his car’s hood. Autumn was well and truly underway. The leaves littered the ground in a blanket of vibrant Fall colors.
“I miss her, you know, but she finally found peace, and that is worth the hole of emptiness I am trying to fill. She is where she was supposed to be all along, and we can finally explore what the future holds without an ever-present third opinion.”
“That’s true,” he chuckled.
“And when we are ready to cross the line and take it to the next level, we won't have to worry about any spectators, it’ll be a moment just for us.
Leaning in and tenderly cupping my face, he kissed me, and for the first time, we were alone in an intimate moment—completely alone.
