Chapter 100 Part 100
Emerson
“Eden, do you love him?”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and she sniffed. “Yeah, I love the idiot.”
“And he loves you back, right?”
Eden shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t said the words, but it doesn’t matter now. His engagement party is tomorrow night, and he meets this woman tomorrow morning.”
Eden sighed, and wiped her eyes. Her hand went to her lower stomach, and Emerson gasped softly. She sat staring at Eden with wide eyes. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she thought of the right words. Eden shook her head, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Tell me you’re not pregnant.”
Eden looked down briefly, squared her shoulders, and looked up. “I’m not pregnant.”
“You suck at lying,” Emerson said.
“I know,” Eden said, and lowered her head into her hands.
“Does he know?”
“No! And I’m not going to tell him!”
“Oh, Eden, I’m so sorry. You’re going to keep the baby, right?”
Eden smiled. “Of course, I’m keeping the baby. I’m just not sure how, or what, I’m going to tell my dad.”
“Your dad loves you, Eden. You’re by far his favorite child. It might be a shock at first, but you know he’ll dote on that baby.”
“He’s going to want to know who the father is,” Eden said, and her eyes widened. “You can’t tell Asher, please, Emerson. You have to promise!”
“I won’t tell him, I promise,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“You’re only worried about Asher?” Emerson chuckled.
“They’re all hotheads, but Blair will bide his time, Dylan and Colt will be mad, but they’ll respect my wishes. Finn doesn’t like him, says he’s too rich to be a nice guy; that leaves Asher, he’s the wildcard.”
“In what way?”
“Asher will drive over to his house and demand answers, maybe even punch him.”
Emerson thought about Eden’s words for a bit. “You’re right. I can see Asher doing that. He loves you guys so much, and you’re his only sister. I bet he’ll lose his head over this.”
“I’ve really messed this up. We were careful, every single time. I guess this baby really wants to be here.”
“How far along are you? Have you been to the doctor? Do you have vitamins?”
Eden chuckled. “I’m 9 weeks along, and I went to a doctor three towns over. Look at you all excited. You probably won’t even be here when the baby arrives.”
Emerson blinked her eyes. Eden was right, she probably wouldn’t be there, but she wanted to be. Eden narrowed her eyes; she didn’t know what she saw, but she saw something.
“You got naked and dirty with my brother!”
“No, I didn’t!”
Eden pursed her lips. “I know that look. You’ve got little hearts in your eyes, Emerson! You fell for him, didn’t you?”
Emerson looked down, her turn to be in the hot seat. “It’s not like there was a lot to do with the storm going on.”
Eden facepalmed herself. “He’s been through too much. I’m not trying to be mean, but I can’t take it when my brother’s hurting. You’re going to hurt him, Emerson.”
“I don’t want to hurt him,” she said softly.
“I know, but at some point you’re going to leave and go back to your city life, and he’ll stay here with a broken heart.”
“What about my heart? Do you honestly think I’m just playing with him?”
“Aren’t you?” Eden looked her squarely in the eye.
“No. Asher is…he’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. I don’t think there’s a word for what Asher is.”
“You’ve got it bad. I’m sorry I said you were just playing with him.”
Emerson smiled sadly. “You're his sister. I know you’re just looking out for him. I’d probably do the same if I had a brother.”
“I guess I wasn’t lying when I introduced you as Asher’s girlfriend,” Eden said, and they both started laughing.
“You know, there might be something really wrong with you, too,” Emerson said.
“Hey! I’m sweet and stuff.”
“And stuff,” Emerson added, with a grin.
They both turned their heads when they heard Asher’s voice yelling at someone. The both took a deep breath and waited as his footsteps neared Eden’s office.
Her door opened and Asher glared at them. “Whose idea was this?”
“Whose idea was what?” Eden asked him.
Asher’s steely grey eyes were now focused on Emerson and she almost shivered. “I gave you a phone. I got back to the house for lunch and nearly had a damn heart attack! I told you not to leave the house without telling me!”
“I’m sorry, the phone was dead, and I didn’t think it would matter that I was here with Eden.”
Asher shook his head, his hands now on his hips. “Not good enough. It doesn’t help when I put all these measures in place if you’re just going to disappear. What if Grover’s watching the place, and he finds you alone somewhere and just takes you? What then? Where do I start looking for you?”
“Geez, you’ve both got it bad,” Eden said.
“Excuse me?”
“The hearts in your eyes, Asher. She’s fine, and she won’t do it again, okay?”
“I don’t have hearts in my eyes. What the hell are you talking about? Don’t you have work to do?” Asher turned on his heel and walked down the hallway. Both women looked at each other and burst out laughing. “I can still hear you!” Their laughter doubled in volume.
“You just can’t help yourself, can you? Why did you call him out like that?”
Eden laughed, and wiped another tear from her eye. “I’m sorry, he makes it so easy.”
“I guess I’ll be apologizing tonight,” Emerson said.
“I don’t want details! He’s my brother!”
“Eden! By saying sorry. You have a dirty, corrupted mind!”
“Have you met my family? One brother is a romantic, the other one is as serious as can be, then I have a brother who thinks romance is something you can order from a menu, the other one’s a ladies man. And Finn, I’m not sure yet what category Finn falls under.”
“How does that explain your dirty mind?” Emerson asked, with a laugh.
“I don’t know, it just does.”