“Naturally. I’m glad you see it my way,” Julia said, causing Eden to huff and throw her hands in the air. “Listen, I just wanted to give you a bit of shit before I actually congratulated you on your happy ever after. They don’t come along too often in a lifetime, believe me I would know. You better call and fill me in on all the juicy details.” Her voice became small and had an air of sadness about it, “And you know, don’t leave town without coming to say goodbye to me and all.”
“Jules…” Eden conceded.
“Bye, babe.”
Eden slowly pressed the speaker button on the phone and left her head hanging low; I knew she was feeling a mixture of a lot of different emotions, from happiness and pure elation, to having your friend guilt you into wanting to stay. I moved closer to her slouched form and just placed my palm in the middle of her back, “Edie, I understand if this is moving a bit too fast, but I missed out on fifteen years with you and I really didn’t want to waste another minute.”
She raised her head and swiveled her chair to face me before yanking me down to my knees so I was eye level with her. “Baylor, don’t mistake my sadness towards my friend for being regret at what is happening here.” She looked down at her hands in her lap as they fiddled with the bracelet that I had given her just a few weeks prior then returned her gaze to mine. “I love you, Baylor Jenkins, I always have. You were my first and only true love and I wouldn’t want any of this to take place any differently than it is now. If you hadn’t come to get me, I was going to end up coming to my senses and going after you myself. We were meant to be, I can’t fathom to think otherwise.”
I continued to toy with the small square box within my pocket and even with my heart racing with nerves and my palms breaking out in a sweat, I knew that if I didn’t go for it I would regret the missed chance. I cleared my throat, wishing I had a bottle of water to furiously gulp down before proceeding, “I wanted to give you something that made everything a bit more permanent. I consulted with the only other woman I trust besides you and my mother. Norah agreed that it was a good idea. But if you want to wait a bit, I completely understand.”
I knew I wasn’t making a lick of sense, but true to Eden and her sweet, caring self she placed a hand on my forearm which immediately made all of my nerves dissipate. “Baylor, you’ll never know what I think unless you let me know what it is.” The side of her mouth raised in a small smile right before she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth. I was suddenly certain that I was doing the right thing.
She was right, I needed to just get my point across the best that I could and see what she had to say about the entire thing. It was a scary moment for me, but being with Eden made it more bearable.
I looked her deep in her chocolate-brown eyes and just let my heart do the talking. “Edie, when I first saw you in the airport after all of that lost time the only word to describe what I was feeling was stunned. I had instilled it in my brain that you weren’t ever going to return to Cottage Grove. I wanted to believe in my heart that someday you would but it just wasn’t logical thinking. Then I found out what had happened between us so long ago and that it was nothing that we each intentionally did. You have the best heart and are the absolute easiest person to fall in love with. I know we each need to work on our communication, because it’s been twice we’ve missed out on open opportunities but I’m not letting it slip by once more. Eden Nicole Richardt, would you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?” I pulled out the black velvet box, cracking it open to reveal the diamond solitaire engagement ring. Her eyes glistened with tears and I had one more thing to say before she revealed her answer. “I know that it was Norah who wrote the letter that was the deciding factor of your return home, she’s much smarter than me. But if I had known that was all it took I would’ve done it years ago. Norah is so much more than my amazing daughter now; in my eyes she was my saving grace. She wanted her dad to be reunited with his first and true love and she set out to make that happen. She definitely had more guts than me.”
The tears began rolling down her cheeks, so I took my hand that was entwined together with hers and swiped it across her skin trying to clean off the salty droplets, still awaiting her answer.
“Baylor, there is no question in my mind. I would absolutely love to marry you,” I was ready to celebrate and lift her high up in the air but she continued on with a bit of hesitation, “as long as you’re all right with me not having a job for a while. I have some money saved up but I’ll need to sell my condo. The last thing that I want to become for you is a burden.”
“Baby,” I started, keeping my eyes locked on hers, “you could never ever be considered a burden to me. It wouldn’t matter to me if you never worked again, but with that being said, I know how much you valued and loved your job, which is why I secured you an interview at a station in Eugene. It was a bit presumptuous of me and while it’s only part-time starting out, it could eventually lead to a full-time position. Now, they are a much smaller station and aren’t as prestigious or well-known as the station here, but with you possibly on their team some big opportunities could arise.”
Eden paused a moment to bring one hand to her chest and braced her head with the other, “I can’t believe this is all happening and you are going to such great lengths for me.”
Wow, she really just must not get it. “There is absolutely nothing that I wouldn’t do for you.”
A glimmer appeared in her eye and an evil smirk on her face; I was beginning to rethink the exact way I put that statement but in the end it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. It was true, there wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t at least attempt to do for her.
“You know,” she said, “I may take you up on that because I just may have an idea up my sleeve…” She wouldn’t elaborate further on her phrasing so I had to drop the subject for a while.
I took her hands in mine and helped bring her to her feet from her sitting position. “Let’s pack up your desk so you can show me your bed,” I winked and in that moment she was complete putty in my hands. The same level of desire that I was feeling was reflected back to me tenfold from just the glint in her eyes.
She looked around and picked up a small trophy in the shape of a microphone and a picture of her and a blonde woman, which I would assume to be Julia, opened her bottom drawer to yank out her purse, then turned to me, slinging it over her shoulder and slamming the bottom drawer closed with her foot. “I’m done.”
I gazed around the mostly empty space that she called her office and realized that she really didn’t have much in there, especially for as long as she had worked there. “That’s all you have?” I questioned.
She took one last glance around, making sure she had collected everything, and shrugged, “I just never felt the need to clutter my desk, so yeah.”
As she drove us to her condo she took a little extra time showing me her favorite hangouts. The coffee shop she would frequent most mornings and where they knew her name and drink order by heart, the local music store in which during her early days as a radio DJ she would broadcast live from inside. She even took me down Broadway Street and showed me some of the best bars that she and Julia would make appearances at on Saturday nights. Eden was taking a chance and leaving behind a huge portion of her life; after college all of her adult life was spent learning the ins and outs of this beautiful city. I needed to consider myself a lucky man and count all of my blessings that she was taking such a giant leap just to be with me. If that didn’t tell me that she loved me, then I didn’t know exactly what would.
Once we arrived in front of her condo and she pulled into the driveway she sat there a second with the biggest smile on her lips, holding her hand out to admire her new piece of adorning jewelry. She was practically glowing and was the most breathtaking woman I’d ever seen.