Another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.
“Beautiful, that woman… Ripper’s old lady… that’s your mother…”
Trev watched as Eden put her hands to her mouth.
A second later she was falling back to the ground, her head aimed to smash against a tombstone.
__
seventeen.
“Let me help her.”
“Hey, back the fuck up an inch. Give her some space.”
“Goddammit, she almost killed herself on the headstone.”
“I got her. Everyone relax. She’s afraid of cemeteries. I shouldn’t have brought her.”
“Is… is she okay?”
The last voice was a woman’s voice.
Jenn. Ripper’s old lady.
My mother.
Eden fought hard and her eyes popped open.
The first person she saw was Jenn.
It was the woman from the picture, just older. Much older. Her hair and eyes were the same. But her size, skin, they were different. She aged like hell… but what did that matter? It was Eden’s mother. Her blood mother. Her real mother. The woman who carried her for nine months.
She was also the woman who gave up Eden for adoption.
Slowly, Eden reached up for Jenn.
Jenn took her by the hand and Eden felt a surge race through her body. It was an instant connection. So intense that Eden started to cry.
“Oh, baby,” Jenn whispered. “No. Don’t worry. You’re okay.”
“Beautiful, look at me.” Trev’s voice.
Eden turned her head. “Trev…”
“I’m right here. You just got a little faint. That’s all. Do you want to sit up?”
Eden realized she was the center of attention. She felt embarrassed.
“I’m ruining the funeral,” Eden whispered.
“Hey,” Miller said. “Everyone back off her. Give her space.”
Everyone listened and Trev helped Eden up and to her feet. She collapsed to his chest and then made fists. She pounded against his chest and slowly looked up at him. She was enraged with Trev. He knew this all along. He knew what he was doing to her. Why didn’t he say something sooner? Why didn’t he prepare her for it?
Trev grabbed her arms. “Time and place, beautiful.”
“Let me get her a ride back,” Jenn said. “Take her to the house. So we both can catch our breaths.”
Jenn glanced at Ripper.
“Yeah, do that,” Ripper said. “Don’t need to be digging a second hole here.”
“I’ll go with her,” Trev said.
“No,” Ripper said. “All brothers bury the fallen together. Got it?”
Trev gritted his teeth. He glanced at Miller and then looked at Eden.
“I’ll be okay,” Eden said. “I hate cemeteries.”
“I know you do,” Trev said. He touched her face. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Do not ask questions. It’s dangerous.”
Eden felt her heart start to race. She watched as Trev pulled away and turned to face the funeral. Jenn touched her arm and that surge went through her again. She knew… they both knew…
“Come,” Jenn whispered. “Let the men finish their work.”
Eden went with Jenn. Every few seconds she looked to the woman and thought only one thing.
You’re my mother… but do you know it?
*
“West, get her a drink. Water with ice.”
“Any booze in it?” West asked.
“No,” Eden and Jenn said at the same time.
Eden grinned and Jenn winked at her.
West gave Eden a glass of water.
“Thanks,” Eden said.
“Sure thing,” West said.
“There,” Jenn said. “Get yourself some water and relax. They’ll be back soon. Don’t mind the activity as it rolls in. Hope you don’t mind seeing lots of tits.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s how they grieve. Enough strippers and glitter to last you a lifetime.”
“Strippers?”
“Not used to this life, huh?”
“No,” Eden said. “I’m… new? I mean, you know that though. Right?”
The door opened and in poured a group of women. They were all in robes and they wasted no time in stripping those robes off. They were in next to nothing and Eden gasped.
“Oh, good, the paid help is here,” Jenn said. She looked at Eden. “As long as he comes back to you at the end of the night, nothing else matters. They’re tough, but they’re like puppies. Show them your slit and they start drooling.”
Jenn walked away and Eden reached for her.
No… I want to talk to you…
But Jenn was gone, yelling orders at the women.
Eden turned and sipped the water.
“Now, a pretty thing like you drinking water. That could only mean you’re pregnant.”
Eden looked to her right and saw a tall guy walking toward her. He had a beer in his hand and put it down on the bar.
Shit.
“I’m not pregnant,” Eden said. “I just prefer water right now.”
“Good. Do you want to get pregnant?”
Eden gasped. She grabbed the glass of water and threw it in the guy’s face. The guy rubbed his face and then laughed.
“Okay then,” he said. “Now it’s my turn to make you wet, sweet thing.”
He took a step and then the pump of a shotgun clicked.
“Don’t fucking try it, Rocky,” West said. “That’s Trev’s old lady. From Frelen.”