After spending as much time as possible with Cairo before he became fussy, Rome finds Eden. As he holds his son, he quietly watches her sit in the windowsill and sketch. She looks so beautiful and truly at peace. As mad as he wants to be with her, the love he feels for her is immeasurable.
The utter selflessness she displayed coming back to River Run, after the way he hurt her, makes him love her even more. Yes he is truly crushed to know she hated him so much that she kept her pregnancy and their son a secret from him, but truly after the horrible parting they had, what could he expect?
Hell after days of arguing, she walked in on him after cheating on her. And with the person that hated her the most and for literally no reason other than Eden was arranged to him. Watching her chew her lip, he remembers how she used to do that out of nervousness when he used to gaze at her intensely. And he notices that she's absentmindedly playing in her curls.
Those thick cashmere like curls he used to love running his hands through. She's utterly perfect and gave him the most perfect son known to the world. Both by wolf and human standards.
"He, uh. I think he's hungry."
Looking up from her drawing pad, Eden nods and stands up. Walking over to Rome, she waits for him to hand Cairo to her.
"Can I, um, have him when you're done?"
Nodding, Eden kisses the baby's cheek before turning around to sit back in the windowsill.
"I can have them make one of the rooms into a nursery. It can be the middle distance between our rooms."
Nodding again, Eden begins nursing Cairo.
"Eden, tal-."
"I don't have anything to say to you. You denied our son, Rome."
"Because you popped up outta no-fuckin-where with a five month old!"
"And why did I?! Because you couldn't keep your dick in your pants! Be honest for once, before I caught you, when was the last time you slept with Blake?!"
"Eden th-."
"Don't even try to say it's irrelevant! Because it is completely relevant! When?!"
"About a week or a little more before we started sleeping together."
"My fuckin point exactly! I was living here already! For a month and a half! I don't care that we were on shaky ground, you should have stopped! What if it took me like 6 months to fully warm up to you?! Would you have kept fuckin her?!"
"I don't know."
"And that's bullshit! Because you would have just been confirming for both she and I that no matter what comes out of your mouth about you and I, it was all bullshit."
"That's not true! The moment we started sleeping together I didn't do shit with her! I fucked her after the Ty shit!"
"So nothing happened when she popped up at dinner?! I know it was her!"
"She kissed me."
"Exactly, Rome. You kept leading her on. You're just as bad as her! Both of you said fuck me and continued to do what you wanted to do. So I'm glad I caught you because I deserve so much better."
"I didn't say fuck you, Eden. I was tryna figure out how to te-."
"Tell me?! That's always your damn excuse! Just fuckin say it! It's easy!"
"So you just say it! When's the last time you fucked Ty?!"
"Three years ago! I don't know what your obsession is with him, but unlike you, after I realized it was getting too deep with him I cut it off when I left BlackWolf Canyon and never spoke to him again. Until we ran into each other. His pack is literally 4 hours away! Why would I keep trying to have something that I know will never work?! That's just dumb!"
"So answer me this cause there obviously were strong feelings there, did you love him? Cause you showed him a lot more of the inner you than you showed me!"
"I don't know if I did. I tried not to dwell on that cause I knew it couldn't be. And no I didn't. I may not have done it in the most conventional way with you, but it wasn't bullshit for me. Now you on the other hand, you played the game and congrats...you won." Walking past Rome with a sleeping Cairo, Eden heads to her room.
When she gets there, she just paces back and forth. She knows that she wants to try and raise Cairo with Rome, but if she has to deal with this everyday, she'll surely go crazy. So trying to avoid him and fall back into life there is the only thing she can attempt to do for the next few weeks.
"Hola, puta!" Snatching Cairo, Lily sits on Eden's bed. "Hola mi guapoooo!"( Hello my handsome!")
"Hi Lils! How are you? Any progress?"
"Bitch just about as much as you and bendejo!(asshole!)"
"Ahaha you're too damn much! But that makes me soooo sad! I never wanted you and Isy to have a falling out because of me. Like he won't even talk to you?"
"Acts like-. Acts like I don't exist." Shrugging sadly, Lily plays with Cairo's thick silky curls. "Pero, no me importa( but I don't care.)"
"Lils?"
Coming to sit next to her, Eden wipes away a stray tear.
"Lil luna where's my nephe-?!" Walking into Eden's room he sees Lily. "Nevermind, I'll get him later."
"No you won't."
"What? Why not?!"
"Cause you're not treating his aunt right! Isy, just talk to her!" Pointing at Lily, Eden puts her hands on her hips.
"Nah we good, it was just sex anyway." Shrugging, Israel furrows his eyebrows in a duh manner.
Hearing him, Lily tries not to cry harder.
"No it-. No it wasn't."
"Had to be! If it wasn't you wouldn't have just deaded my ass like that, Lily!"
"I'm sorry! I don't know what more you want me to say! I found you and it was perfecto and then a day later my best friend, poof, desaparecer(disappears?!)?! Pero no, not like the first time, no she fuckin vanished! Estaba devestada, Israel!(I was devastated!) Losing Eden to me was like what your family would have experienced if it was Rome! Me apago!(I shut down!) I even stopped working for a while! I. Am. Sorry!"
Wiping the tears cascading down her face, Lily just looks at a seemingly unphased Israel.
"Say something to her, Is. It was my fault she pulled away so if you're mad at anyone, be mad at me. Not her for hurting."
"But how can I be mad at you?! You got hurt worse! You caught him after cheatin on you! C'mon, E! Who would stay after that?!"
"Wait what?! He did what?!"
"Yeah, I went to go be with him. My stupid hopeless romantic ass. To try and see if we could salvage whatever it was. And plain as day there he is shirtless and her pulling her clothes on. I went totally berserk." Smilingly sadly, Eden shrugs. "I mean I wanted to kill her. Him too. I hated him at that moment, but I'm glad he stopped me. They weren't worth ruining my life over."
"Ayy, Edee. Lo siento, mi amor!" Scooting over, Lily hugs Eden and Cairo. "I'm so sorry, mi muñeca."
"It's whatever. But enough about me. Please talk you two. You have to! Gosh you two are perfect together."
"I really am sorry, Israel."
Looking at Lily cry absolutely breaks his heart. Walking over to her, he grabs her face and kisses her deeply.
"AHHHH! YAY! Now gimme my baby before you squish him, but go make up! Go make like ten months worth of nasty sex!" Taking Cairo from Lily's arm, Eden stands there clapping as they kiss passionately. "Ok, get out! Stop tryna sex on my bed!"
"That ass is mine, mami. Don't ever do no shit like that to me again. You understand me?" Whispering in her ear, Israel picks Lily up off of Eden's bed.
"Mmm, si papi." She whispers against his mouth.
"Eww, nasties! I LOVE IT!" Dancing stupidly, Eden is just happy her best friends made up in spite of all the trouble her disappearance caused.
"Umm, Eden?"
"Yeah?" Turning to see Dahlia, Eden runs over to hug her. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Where did that come from?!" Rubbing Dahlia's protruding belly Eden squeals in joy.
"Nico finally marked me." She blushes shyly.
"Awww, Lia I'm so happy for you two!"
"I know! I was like oh I want to tell Eden so badly!"
"I know and I'm so sorry I left everyone like that. But now you have two amazing things to tell me! You're marked and fully mated with a little pup on the way! How far along are you?! Is he excited?!"
"Three months, so only two more months! And oh my gosh yes, we're gonna wait to see what it is! We even live together now!"
"Yay! I'm so happy for you and Nee!"
"And this little man is gorgeous, Eden! I can't believe you and alpha have a baby! But I shoulda known it was gonna happen when I saw y'all that night!"
"Isn't he?!" She kisses Cairo. "Oh God, that was you that saw us in the hallway!" Covering her face, Eden laughs.
"He's an amazing blend of you two."
Playing with his little fingers Dahlia smiles at Cairo.
"Yeah he actually is."
"Oh yeah, alpha needs to see you in his office."
"Ugh, I'm only goin cause I know he'll try to start with you askin if you told me. But I can't wait to throw a baby shower!"
"You and Denise can have at it!"
"Yay!" Kissing Dahlia's cheek, Eden heads down to Rome's office.
Walking in, Eden ignores that he's on the phone and sits down.
"Yes?"
Squinting at her in annoyance, Rome shakes his head.
"Uh, gentleman I'll have to call you right back, something came up." Hanging up, he sucks his teeth. "I obviously was on the phone. Why would you inter-?"
"Well if you were so 'busy', why have Dahlia ask me to your office? I have better things to do than play games with you. What, Rome?"
Sighing and rolling his eyes, Rome gets up and takes Cairo from Eden. Sitting on the edge of his desk, he rests his nose against Cairo's head and just smells it.
"He smells so good. He's such a big, healthy, strong boy." Legend hums proudly. "Tell her thank you, for naming him after me."
"He's perfect." Rome nods, but rolls his eyes at the last part.
Sighing he looks up at Eden.
"Legend said thank you for naming him after us."
"He's very welcome. It was Nile's idea."
Hearing that makes Legend howl in glee.
"So why Cairo?"
"I, in no way, was going to name him Rome. But to match the whole place name like you and Brookie I wanted to name him after a place. And for the C in your middle name I wanted to match that. Plus when I left I lived in Egypt, so I chose the capital, Cairo."
"Like in a pac-?"
"No amongst humans."
"Seriously?! Why?!"
"I liked it and knew I wouldn't be found."
Hearing her answer truly breaks his heart even though it was his fault. Just the fact that she moved to a whole new continent to be away from him, kills him.
"Uh-um. Well word spread like a wildfire that you're back, so my mom and some older pack wives want to do a little return festival."
"Where do they think I went?"
"To do a pack territory rebuild for an ally pack after a natural disaster." Caught off guard by her laughter, Rome stares at her. "What is so funny? Why do you laugh at unfunny situations? You did that about Brooklyn."
Controlling her laughter, Eden sighs.
"Well one, that was a pretty good lie. But that's what you're good at. Two, it's hilarious that you were so confident that I was coming back, to even say it was a simple rebuild project, but whatever. And yeah I did laugh about both because they're both unbelievable fuckin situations that I keep being roped into because of your poor choice making."
"So you would have never come back? With my son?!"
"Stop yelling. And no I wouldn't have, IF, I thought that was the right thing to do. However it wasn't."
"No the fuck it wasn't, Eden!"
"I clearly acknowledge that, Rome!"
Staring at her sitting on his office couch, floods his brain with the first real time they spent with each other. Just replaying the entire weekend they spent holed up in his office. Even in the midst of them arguing, he can't push those thoughts to the back of his mind. Just image after image of watching her sleep, laugh, orgasm, smile; just be her.
So staring at her in all of her gorgeous chocolate beauty makes his angry heart flutter. The way the black and white polka dot spaghetti strapped maxi dress contrasts so beautifully with her flawless skin. When she laughed how her dazzling white teeth rivaled the soft silk of her dress. And that lion's mane of glorious satiny ringlet curls. She is his ideal dream girl; attitude and all.
"Stop staring at me."
"What?"
"Stop staring at me. Is there anything else you need?" Beyond annoyed, Eden scowls at him.
"Uh, just that I think they wanna do the festival or whatever two weekends from now, so ask my mom."
"Ok."
Standing up, Eden smooths her dress. As he watches her turn around, Rome notices that the fabric is bunched. Possibly in her pantyless behind. So before he can stop himself he blurts it out.
"Do you have panties on?"
Completely taken aback by his question Eden turns around and gawks at him, wide eyed.
"What the hell? That's the least of your worries."
"Fuck. I didn't mean to ask you that. Never mind." Chuckling awkwardly he walks around his desk and sits down with Cairo. "Does he have milk?"
"The fridge." And with that Eden saunters out of Rome's office.
"Nah, she definitely doesn't have panties on!" Legend howls.
"Knew it!" Laughing, Rome looks down at his smiling son.
Studying his little face, he has truly fallen in love with him. From his stunning toasted almond colored skin, that is the perfect blend of Rome's caramel and Eden's milk chocolate. To his round expressive eyes like his mother. His beautiful little fine nose like Eden's. Long jet black eyelashes, like both of them. And his head full of silky curls, just like her's. But thick and onyx like the two of them. He is literally the most beautiful little boy Rome has ever seen.
"Daddddddyyyyy!" Running into his office, Brooklyn goes speeding towards him. "Ohhhhh! Bruber is here!"
Squealing she climbs into his lap to play with the baby.
"Brookie, where did you come from? Who had you?!" Rome laughs as he tickles her and she kisses Cairo.
"Nana, but she say-ed for me to go-ed to you real quicks. So I runned!" Smiling at him, she nods matter of factly. "Daddy where's my Edee? I soooo happy she back withs me! You happy too, right?!"
Grinning widely at Rome, Brooklyn waits for his answer. Smiling back deeply, he nods.
"Yeah baby. Daddy's very happy that Edee is back."
"Annnnnnd she bringed me my beau-a-ful bruber! I loves him too much, daddy! You loves him too much, too?!"
"I do Brookie, Cai is perfect. Just like you!"
"Legend loves him too?! Edee say-ed they has the same name! Cai and Legend!"
"Yeah mama. Cai's middle name is Legend. So Cairo Legend Haven."
"Yep, and I Brooklyn Ciera Haven!"
"Yes perfect girl you are. And how old are you, Brookie."
"I four now."
"You're so big and smart. Hey Brookie?"
"Hmm?"
"You love Edee?"
"Yesh! She's a best mommy to me and Cai! And I missed her sooo much when she went away! I was sooo sad and mommy was sooo happy. But I no liked it. And when Edee went away my inside hurt." Pointing to her heart, Rome has a feeling she meant Twilight.
"Like, Twi?"
"Yeah. She cried all the nights, daddy. I heared her. And when I say it to mommy she say, 'Brooklyn stop talkin bout her....NOW!' So I stopped, but I cried bad. But it's ok. Cause it all better now, cause Edee back and Twi is so happy! 'Specially when we shleep withs Edee and bruber!" Giggling, Brooklyn continues making silly faces at Cairo.
"Wait how do you sleep with Edee?! I put you to bed in your room!" Laughing he looks at the mischievous smile she gives him.
"I just waits for you to leave and thens I go gets in bed withs Edee and Cai. And we snuggle soooooo good, daddy! I loves Edee soooo much! You loves Edee, daddy?"
Hearing how Eden has secretly fallen right back into the role of mothering Brooklyn and loving her without hesitation or bias, makes Rome love her that much more. To willingly put aside her hatred for both he and Blake to take care of Brooklyn and Twilight, shows just how truly selfless Eden is. And just how selfish Rome was.
"Yeah, Brookie. Daddy loves Edee more than anyone will ever know."
_____________________
Aww Lily and Israel made up!
Eden is back to secretly being an amazing stepmother!
Rome admits to loving her!🤗
Thoughts?🐺
💗A.J