“How?” Eden whispered. “Just…”
“After I left the hospital, Ripper had me in an apartment. He didn’t want me back until I looked pre-baby. He and Griffin had some kind of fight about guns. He accused Griffin of getting too close to me. Of course, I couldn’t have sex for a while after having a baby, right? But Ripper just wouldn’t have it. So Griffin took off again. That began a really long and lonely road for me. I only saw Griffin when it was necessary through the club. We never talked. I never knew much about you. He managed to pull me aside to tell me about what happened to your parents. He assured me you were in good hands again. He watched over you, Eden. But then a couple years ago he arranged for us to be alone. The years had beaten me as bad as Ripper. I drank, smoked, did things to my body that I should have never done. I hated myself, Eden. Maybe I still do. But knowing you’re here and you’re safe, I feel relieved in it all.”
Jenn squeezed Eden’s hand and tears filled her eyes again.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” Eden said.
“You don’t have to say anything. It was a couple years ago. Ripper was on a run. Griffin heard about it and snuck away. I made up some bullshit story that my sister was in the hospital with a gall bladder issue. We were in the woods, in a private cabin, just me and him. It was the first time we were really alone like that in… like forever…”
Eden watched the way Jenn’s eyes glazed over and she looked away. A genuine smile crept across her face. She really loved Griffin and Griffin really loved her. So at least that was something Eden could take with her - her birth parents really did love each other. It was just the outlaw life that kept them apart. The life that kept them apart was the life that kept Eden and Trev together.
“I mean, I don’t have to tell you what we did, right?” Jenn asked.
“Again, gross,” Eden said.
They both laughed.
A tear fell from Jenn’s eye. “He was the only one who could do it for me. Even after all those years, he touched me like it was the first time. He made me feel alive and wanted. But I knew we weren’t together then just to roll around in the sheets. Gosh, look at me. I sound like a whore. In front of my daughter.”
“No. It’s kind of romantic. In a weird way. I just wish you two could have been together.”
“Me too,” Jenn said. “But I was claimed by Ripper. And Ripper would rather make me suffer in misery than just let me go. He fucked anything he wanted, but I wasn’t allowed to look at another man.”
“He sounds like an asshole,” Eden said.
“That’s exactly what he is. That’s why I’m here. But let me finish this first. We were in bed together. I know, I know - gross. We had to break apart. Somewhere in my heart I thought it could all work. We could keep sneaking around together. But Griffin looked at me and I just knew. I knew right then I’d never see him, touch him, taste him, ever again. I started to cry. He touched my jaw and told me he had something for me. He said he dreamed of giving me a ring and riding off into the sunset. He didn’t give me a ring. He gave me the letter to you.”
Eden gasped. “He… you…”
Jenn nodded. “He said that if he was to ever get killed he wanted me to send you the letter. Because then you’d go to the club and they’d protect you. I think on some level he thought by being alive it kept all enemies away from you. Maybe he thought Ripper knew the truth. I don’t know, Eden. I really don’t know. But he said it and I respected it. When I heard that he was killed, it destroyed me. I couldn’t show any emotion either. Think about that. The man I loved and I couldn’t even weep for his death. I sent the letter and waited. I figured news would have to push through the MC about you. But it never did. Until I saw you at Giovanni’s funeral. I could’ve collapsed…”
“I didn’t come for a year,” Eden said. “I didn’t know what to make out of it all. Then I was attacked. I worked at a tattoo parlor. The owner was shot in the head right in front of me. Then the guys came after me. They burned the letter. I managed to save the picture that you sent though. But the guys wanted me dead. So I came here and… then I found out my father was dead.”
Eden started to lose it. Jenn wrapped her arms around Eden and hugged her. It was the first time Eden got a hug from her birth mother. Eden hugged back and started to cry. Jenn started to cry.
Mother and daughter stood there, crying. For everything lost. For everything gained. All the anger Eden felt slowly washed away. She wasn’t sure if she loved her mother or not but the woman proved to be brave. Making such a difficult decision… and her father always protecting her…
The door to the apartment opened.
Eden saw Trev standing in the doorway. “Hey. I heard noise…”
“Just a good cry,” Jenn said.
Trev looked at Eden. “Everything okay?”