A Walk to Eden

9

"Have a good day!" I smiled while handing the bags over. The man nodded and left. It's been a few days since Mr. Picks stopped by the house. I hated what he said, but maybe he was right. Hardly anyone has come in. I sighed and walked to the back of the store. Still going through boxes of unopened records and music.

"Jeez." I said.

"Mama!" Eden said running towards the back.

"Yes love?" I asked.

"Mama! Sam's here!" Eden appeared with Sam holding her hand.

"Hey Sam. How ya been?" I asked.

"Good. We've been working on a lot of music stuff." I smiled.

"That's great to hear." I said.

"Thank you." He paused. "I uhm. The boys and I were wanting to know if you and Eden wanted to come over later?" He asked. "We want to show you guys something."

I looked at Eden and she nodded her head and smiled.

"Okay." I laughed.

He said goodbye and left. While I was sorting through the boxes I peeked over at Eden and saw her drawing pictures.

"Whatcha doing missy?" I asked.

"Oh ya know. Doodling." She giggled.

I laughed and shook my head.

"Well. It's almost time for us to close up. Wanna go lock the door for me?" I asked.

"Okay!" She jumped up and took off. I loved my Eden. She's so smart, and even though she's tiny, she's a little firecracker. Having the doctors tell me she wasn't going to be able to keep up with everyone her age when she was born, really makes me proud that she proved them wrong. She was born early, with a lot of lung problems. Sometimes I check on her at night just to make sure she's breathing. Before I knew it she was standing in front of me.

"Mama! Let's gooo!" She said pulling my sleeve.

"Okay okay. We're going." I laughed.

The boys lived in a house in town, I knew that. But the address they gave me was out of town. Hm. I follow the maps and pulled up to this long drive way. It had a decent sized house, surrounded by woods and a small little creek. Me and Eden were getting out the car when I heard the front door open. And not to my surprise, josh walked out. Smiling. He was holding flowers and ran over to us.

"Josh!" Eden yelled running to him. He bent down and picked her up carrying her back to me.

"Hey little bird. How ya been?" He asked.

"Good." She giggled.

"That's good to hear." He laughed. He looked at me and smiled, and looked back to Eden. "Here ya go." He said handing her a flower. Then looked over at me and handed me one. "A flower for each of my girls." He grinned. I blushed.

"Thank you." I said. Leaning to kiss his cheek. He blushed.

"Well. Let's get you two inside." He smiled. We followed him inside, with him still holding Eden.

We walked in and smelt something delicious coming from the kitchen. We followed josh, and when we looked we saw Jake cooking on the stove. To the left we saw Danny and this woman chopping vegetables and laughing. Over on the other side of the kitchen, Sam was making cocktails.

"Sam!" Eden yelled. Sam spun around and looked at Eden. A big grin grew across his face.

"Eden!" She ran to him and he picked her up.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked.

"I'm making drinks for the adults." He said.

"Can i have one?" She asked. He looked over at me.

"I can make her a Shirley temple?" He asked. I nodded.

The laughed and they turned back around to make drinks. I felt a touch on my arm and looked up and saw Jake.

"Hey." He said leaning in for a hug. I hugged him back.

"Hello." I smiled. He let go and Danny was there leaning in for one too.

"Great to see ya." He said.

"You too." I said. Then the woman came over and grabbed my hands.

"Hello dear. I'm Karen, the boys mom." She smiled.

"All of them? I thought-" I mumbled.

"Oh no no. I'm momma Kiszka." She giggled.

"Ah. Well, it's nice to meet you." I grinned. She hugged me and went back to cooking. I peeked over my shoulder to see Josh leaning against the door frame. I turned to him and pointed to another room. He nodded and followed me in.
We went into the living room.

"Why didn't you tell me I was meeting your mom?" I spun around and loudly whispered.

"I'm sorry. I forgot to mention it." He sighed looking down. I stared at him until he looked up. When we met eyes I saw how sad he looked. He felt so bad. I brought my hand to his cheek.

"It's okay." I smiled. He held my hand to his face and kissed my palm. I felt my chest tighten and the blood rush to my cheeks.

"Let's go eat." He said. He let my hand go, but as we started to walk grabbed it again lacing our fingers together.

Never in my life has someone, other than Eden, felt like a missing piece to me. I pray to what ever is above, let this be my missing piece.