All Grown Up (Eden High)

I ran us both a bath and found myself grinning at the fact that I’d already become that guy. Can’t laugh at the others for being saps for their women anymore since I’d so easily fallen into their ranks. I was pouring the bath salts into the water when it hit me that I didn’t feel even an ounce of sorrow that a human life was gone. I felt worst about that than about the fact that she was no more.

When I think about all the shit she’s done, especially the way she terrorized my baby, I can’t say that she’d be missed. I know there are a lot of people who will be sleeping better tonight, that’s for sure. I’d wanted to ask a whole lot more, but I didn’t want to do that in front of Cassie. Keeping shit like that away from her is now my job. Something else I’d learned the reason for in the last forty-eight hours.

I’ll admit I’ve sided with my sisters a lot in the past because I didn’t understand. How was I to know that loving her will put the biggest fear in me I’ve ever known? That I’d lay awake all night watching her sleep, my only wish for her to always be as happy and at peace as she is while sleeping with that half-smile curving her lips.

We’re here together, but already I’m dreading the day we go back, and life intrudes again. I get it now. I get why men I’ve come to respect act like cavemen when it comes to their wives and kids. And I’m not just talking about my brothers here.

I don’t know why I thought I’d be any different, why I was so sure that they all had it wrong. One thing’s for sure; I won’t be letting her run me the way their women do them. “Baby, why aren’t you in here?” I walked back into the bedroom, where she was still lying in bed. She held out her arms, and I walked over and lifted her. “Carry me.”

“Spoilt.”

After our shared bath, we had breakfast together, looking out at the morning sun and waves. She was even more relaxed now than the day before, and I loved to see it. I realized as I watched and listened to her that my keeping things from her and wanting to protect her isn’t because I want to keep her weak and dependent on me, far from it.

I want her to be strong, sure of herself, with a confidence that cannot be beaten. But I want her to do all of that with me at her side, shielding her from the worse the world has to offer. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if there is, too damn bad because that’s the way it’s going to be.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Alex?” Can she be any more adorable? I pretended to turn my head this way and that as if studying her profile which made her laugh.

“I think you’re the most beautiful creation ever made. I’m looking at you because I want to remember how you look right this second with the sun in your hair and eyes for the next fifty years.”

She blushed like I knew she would and didn’t know what to do with herself until I pulled her from her seat and onto my lap. “You don’t have to worry about telling your parents about our engagement; I’ll handle that. Your mom already knows I’m taking you back to school with me; in fact, your school situation should already be taken care of by the time we get back.”

“If there’s anything else bothering you tell me. If it’s the notes, I wouldn’t worry too much about them; the guys have pretty much figured out who was leaving them.” I figure I can tell her that much to put her at ease.

“Really? Who?”

“Liz!” She looked rather contemplative at my answer.

“I thought of that, but didn’t she testify at the trial against Mandy?”

“Yes, maybe in a moment of clarity, she did that, but let’s not forget how many things she did with Mandy that we don’t know about. Maybe Mandy’s blackmailing her.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds more like it.”

She didn’t ask any questions, didn’t probe how we figured it out, and instead went back to nibbling on her toast. Just to be sure her mind was filled with only me, us, and the island, I took her back to bed and kept her there well into the afternoon.

By the time the sun was going down, we were now coming up for air, and it was time to get ready to greet the others who should be here in a little while. I was grateful for the two days we had to ourselves, but with the new development, I can’t wait to see the others and get to the bottom of what might’ve happened to Mandy. Since we’ll have the rest of our lives together, I wasn’t too worried about losing time with her now, and she too seemed more excited to see her girls.