«I never meant to start a fire. I never meant to make you bleed. I'll be a better man today.»
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Eden's lips turned into a smile as he observed his mother playing in the living room with one of his kids. As much as he didn't want, his conversation with Jenna kept coming to his mind, and the following days after she discovered he was getting married.
His mother never told him anything about suspecting he held a relationship with someone else in London. It felt like a thorn in his flesh, and it was bothering the hell out of him.
"Hey mom," He said, getting his mother's attention almost immediately. "Can I ask you a question?" She nodded. Her eyebrows slightly frowned. She didn't understand why he was acting so suspicious. "Did you ever come to think I didn't want to get married?" The question seemed to have taken her aback. "Please, tell me the truth."
Her eyes fell on her grandchild, then went back to Eden. "Yes, I might have thought marriage was not on your plans on more than one occasion." She tilted her head. "Was it like that? You didn't want to get married?"
Eden chuckled, then proceeded to shrug. That didn't answer her question. "It turned out fine after all." His eyes drifted to his son.
"Eden," She narrowed her eyes. Eden's attention came back to her. "Is there something I don't know?"
He hesitated. Those were old news. Explaining everything to his mother wouldn't bring him back in time to save what he had with Jenna.
However the damn feeling bothering him was still there.
"There was this girl. Her name is Jenna." Talking about her as just 'this girl' didn't seem right to Eden. She was so much more than that for him. "I met her when I kind of stole her in the middle of a date." His mom raised both eyebrows. Eden chuckled. "She was not feeling her date; though now I think Jenna would have been better if I never interrupted."
"Why?" It didn't make him proud that he was about to tell his mom how much of a piece of garbage he was to Jenna.
He breathed deeply before continuing. His mother's curious gaze made him slightly nervous. "I lied to her. I hurt her a lot when I discovered I was going to be a father; I pushed her away, made her feel bad. When I got engaged I decided to stay with her, because my love for her was so strong I couldn't picture myself without her." By this point his mom's expression was hard to read. "I didn't want to lose her, even though I knew I had to let her go at some point."
She cleared her throat. "I suppose you told her everything."
"That's where the irony comes in." She frowned. "I didn't tell her anything; you told her." He was not blaming her for anything; he was not a coward. "You confused her with the wedding planner." His mom seemed to be having some sort of throwback. "After that she moved to France. I knew nothing about her for five years. Never went after her because I knew I had my responsibilities somewhere else. If you had ever met her in other circumstances, I'm pretty sure you would have loved Jenna."
Perhaps it was the way he expressed how he felt about Jenna, or whatever it was, but his mother gave him a soft smile. She took her grandchild in arms and walked towards Eden. As soon as she stood in front of him, she placed her palm on his cheek.
"Jenna." He nodded. "I've never seen you express yourself with such sincerity." He wished he could have given that to Jenna. "Eden, you should have talked to your father and me. I'm sure there was more than one solution." She swallowed hard.
