Burning Eden (6 page)

Chapter 17

             
I cast one sad longing look at Jesse and my family making their way into the modest farmhouse. I really didn’t feel much up to arguing I just wanted to be where Jesse was, even though I knew that would be a bad idea, especially right now. I looked down at my feet as I began to walk slowly towards the RV. I stepped up the two short steps and grabbed the small door handle pausing slightly, hoping this conversation wouldn’t last long. I finally took a deep breath and entered the darkened RV. We liked to keep all the shutters closed during the day as it kept it much cooler without wasting a lot of much needed energy. I was taken aback when Cain suddenly appeared making me jump.

“A bit jumpy are we?”

“Well I mean it is a sort of dark in here, you startled me. You could have at least turned on a light or something,” I said softly.

“Of course I could have turned on a light my naïve little Edie. I could have and wasted more of the gas the generator needs. You do realize the gas will eventually run out as well as the food. We will have to go back out into hell to
scavenge for the things we need, and now since you invited someone whom you only know from the internet and their family these things are going to dissipate much faster. Not your most brilliant moment Edie. We should be looking out for our family, Edie, not someone else’s. Why would you do this? What makes this Jesse was it, so special?”

“He’s my friend, Cain. He really is a nice person. If you’d just give him a chance and try to get to know him you might like him,” I said trying to be the voice of reason.

“I don’t want to get to know him, Edie,” he yelled and I jumped again. “You don’t get it, do you? When is it going to sink into your thick skull? It was fine when you wanted to chat with this fellow all day long on the internet, it was fine when you all were best chat room buds, it was fine when he had his life up in wherever the hell he came from and you had yours down here. But things have changed, there is no internet anymore, there are no chat rooms, and the world is not fine. This isn’t virtual anymore, now we have three more people to feed, house, and look after. What will you think when it comes down to your children eating or his? Do you think he will be so nice then? Do you think he will put your children’s needs before his own? Do you think he will put his needs before you, Edie? Because I do. This was a very big mistake and you won’t realize it until it comes to bite you right in the ass. You think you’ve done the right thing by looking out for your friend, I say you just added a whole bucket more of shit to the shit fest we already have,” he said looking at me with disappointment.

I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t put up too much of a fight with Cain
. Defending Jesse would only make him question my motives more. I couldn’t say Cain I told him to come here because I love him and I wanted to make sure he was safe that would cause more drama, so I did what I knew would end the argument for now.

“You’re right. I made a mistake, I’m sorry,” I said quietly. He didn’t come to
me; he made his way back out of the RV. He paused when he got to the door.

“I really hope you don’t grow to regret this decision. I’ll be out in the barn taking care of the horses if you need me,” he said coolly as he slammed the door shut behind him. I turned away from the door to go and switch on a light when I heard the door open again.

“Cain, please, I don’t want to argue anymore,” I said.

“It’s not Cain,” said a familiar voice as I heard him snap the lock on the RV door, my heart began to pound.

Chapter 18

              “Jesse,” I gasped as I quickly turned around to look into his beaming face. This was the first time we had ever been alone, face to face, and I started to tremble as he slowly made his way over to me smiling playfully. “You shouldn’t be here, what about your wife?” I asked as he finally came to a stop standing right in front of me. I suddenly found it hard to breathe as he reached up and gently pulled my hair free from the pony tail holder and ran his fingers through my dark hair still gazing deep into my eyes.

“Oh Eden, I’ve waited for this day for so long. You’re even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. God, I love you,” he said making my heart beat so fast I thought surely it was bound to explode.

“Jesse, your wife”- I started but he cut me off by pulling my lips to his and kissing me so deeply that I instantly melted into him. Butterflies exploded in my stomach and my skin tingled all over. I wrapped my arms around him and pushed myself closer into him, feeling his hardness against me made me moan in my throat. He backed me up to the small bed in the back of the RV and I lay down hoping he was going to give me what I so desperately wanted. He began to kiss my neck as I pushed myself up against his thickness. “I want you so bad, Jesse,” I pleaded and as he went to slide my shorts off there was a knock at the door and we both jumped. He quickly got up and looked at me with his arms spread open silently asking me what he should do. I put my finger to my lips to let him know to remain quiet; he rolled his eyes at me to let me know he wasn’t stupid. I had to stifle a giggle that was bubbling up inside of me. There was another knock at the door.

“Mom, are you in there?” Kairo asked. I quickly motioned Jesse into the small bathroom shutting the door behind him and then going to unlock the RV door as fast as I could.

“Yes I am, Kai. What’s up?”

“What’s up, indeed,” he said smiling. “What’s up with your hair? Is dad in here with you? Did I interrupt a little something, something?”

“No, your dad is in the barn. I was…uh…napping,” I lied quickly feeling a slight pang of guilt for being able to lie to my son so easily. I tried to brush my hair back with my fingers realizing I must look like a complete mess.

“Oh, well sorry for waking you. Uncle Dave wanted me to come get you for lunch. He said he was making some electric lemonade and he knows how much you love it so he asked me to come find you.”

“Ah, yes electric lemonade. I think I shall partake in a few of those,” I smiled. After what just happened I could definitely use a few drinks.

“Ok, let’s go then,” Kai said as he started bounding down the RV steps.

“I’ll be there in a minute, Kai.”

“What’s up, now?” he asked. He stopped halfway across the yard to wait for me.

“What’s up, indeed,” I said pointing at my messy head of hair. He laughed loudly then nodded his head and made his way back to the farmhouse. I quickly closed the RV door and let out a huge sigh of relief.

Chapter 19

             
I picked up my hair tie from the floor where it had fallen from Jesse’s hand and pulled my hair back into a bun. I walked over to the bathroom door and opened it to find Jesse hiding in the small shower stall. When I opened the stall door and saw the sheepish grin on his face I had to let my laughter out.

“It’s ok, it was Kairo letting me know lunch is ready so we should probably head to the house but I really don’t think we should show up together,” I said.

“You’re probably right. That might look a bit suspicious, huh?”

“Just a little,” I said holding my thumb and forefinger close together. “I guess you should go first and tell them that you were checking out the grounds or something. I’ll wait a few minutes and then head over.” He quickly grabbed my hands and my heart started pounding again.

“When do you think we can be alone together again, Eden?  I need to know because I so desperately want you and I have to know how much longer I have to wait,” he said, his eyes so full of pleading that it made my heart hurt.

“Soon, I promise
, as soon as we can. We have to be careful though. Could you imagine what would happen if that would have been Cain at the door? He would have killed us both.”

“I know but being with you, seeing you, touching you, and showing you how much I love you is worth the risk. Please say you’ll meet me tonight after everyone is sleeping.”

“Um, I don’t know if that”- he quickly cut me off again by placing his hands on the sides of my face and looking so deep in my eyes I thought I might drowned in the depth there.

“Please, Eden. I need you, just say you’ll meet me.” I was hypnotized with this man so how could I say no. I couldn’t lie to myself I wanted him too.

“Yes, ok,” I said and he smiled so brightly that it melted my heart completely. He quickly kissed me on the lips.

“Thank you. Thank you so much my beautiful Eden.”

I sighed deeply as I knew we were about to say goodbye and have to go back to wearing our masks of being “just friends.” I hoped we would still be able to pull it off. I kissed him again before I let him go. The minute I did I felt empty inside and instantly wanted to reach back out to touch him again but I knew that would be a bad idea. If I did we would be back on that bed in a matter of minutes and people were already waiting on me for lunch.

“Meet me in the loft of the barn a little after
two; everyone should be asleep by then, except whoever has watch. Watch tends to stay up on the porch so go out the back door and stay close to the fence so they can’t see you.”

“Ok gotcha, barn loft, a little after two, go out the back door and stay close to the fence, will do
,” he beamed.

“And for God’s sake be careful. Those things are still out there, you know?”

“I will be, I promise. I love you, Eden,” he said gazing deep into my eyes and I knew he meant what he said.

“I love you too,” I said softly. “Now go before they start looking for you.”

He quickly made his way to the RV door as he unlocked it he smirked at me and said “see ya soon.”

***

“Lunch was delicious, Peggy. Thank you and the kids so much. Can I help you with the dishes?” Jesse asked then quickly stole a glance and a fast wink at me, making me blush.

“Oh, you are very welcome young man.
Why don’t you go see if Dave and Cain could use some help out in the barn? I’m pretty sure we can handle the dishes,” Aunt Peggy answered sweetly. I helped her gather up the rest of the dishes from lunch. Jesse passed by me slightly rubbing against me on his way to the front door. I found it hard to breathe.

“Excuse me,” he said softly in my ear. I instantly felt chills run up and down my spine which quickly subsided when Cain walked back into the room.

“The kids are going on their rounds,” Cain said.

“All right, thanks for letting me know.”

“Um…Cain…would you mind if I…uh…helped you and Dave out in the barn?” Jesse asked a bit timidly and I hoped Cain would give him a chance. I continued to put away our leftovers from lunch acting as if I wasn’t listening to their conversation.

“I think Dave and I just about have it covered,” Cain lied. I knew the farm wasn’t that big but Uncle Dave always had at least three or four extra men hired to
help him out here. Just then I heard my Uncle’s big booming laugh as he walked in and grabbed one of Cain’s shoulders.

             
“Always kidding around huh, Cain? Of course you can come help out Jesse, we need all the help we can get and hell the more the merrier I always say.”

“Well I wish you fellas would go on about your business and get out of our way,” my Aunt interrupted.

“We’re going, we’re going,” my Uncle said holding up his hands to her in surrender. Cain stopped briefly and kissed me on my cheek before making his way to the front door, Uncle Dave followed. Jesse fell back a step so he could look into my eyes again as he held up the peace sign. To some it would look like he was saying “peace” or goodbye to me in a goofy way but I knew he was saying he would see me at two a.m. in the barn. The guys had almost made it out the door when Carrie busted back in the dining room with tears in her eyes and a look of complete terror on her face.

“I can’t find Jonni, he’s missing!”

Chapter 20

             
“What do you mean he’s missing?” Jesse questioned as he rushed up to her.

             
“I mean missing, Jesse, as in gone. I put him down for a nap after lunch so I could help clean but when I went to check on him he wasn’t there,” she said as the tears she had been trying to hold back finally spilled over. Jesse took her face in his hands and although it was terrible of me I felt myself fill up with jealousy.

“We will find him, Carrie. He couldn’t have wandered off that far if you just put him down. It will be ok, all right?” She quickly wiped away her tears and nodded her head.

“You ladies look around the house and the rest of us will search the grounds,” Uncle Dave said. He quickly opened the front door and walked out. Cain followed close behind. They both started shouting for Jonni. Jesse took Carrie in his arms for a hug and our eyes caught each other’s for a moment and I had to look away before my own tears decided to spill out.

“We will find him, I promise.” I heard him say to her as I went toward Hannah’s room to see if maybe Jonni had gone in there to play a video game. I needed to put at least a wall or two between Carrie, Jesse, and myself as fast as possible. I felt like
a terrible person for getting jealous and then guilty because I didn’t have a right to be. That is her husband, not mine. Yet it seemed my heart did not want to hear that. Jesse was doing what any good husband would by trying to keep his wife calm during a terrifying situation. I should be supportive of him and them actually but all I could think of was how those arms should be wrapped around me.

I tried to shut down these selfish thoughts and focus
on finding Jonni. I opened Hannah’s door hoping I would find him in there playing but her room was dark and empty. I checked every inch of that room and sadly found nothing. As I was coming back out I ran into Carrie, my mom, and my aunt.

“Is he in there?” Carrie asked quietly. She already knew the unfortunate answer.

“No, I’m sorry.”

“He isn’t anywhere in the house then. We’ve checked everywhere.” Her tears started to fall again.

“We will find him,” I said. Hoping Jesse’s words would comfort her. It seemed to work a little because she offered me a sad smile.

“Let’s go help the guys search the grounds then,” my mom chimed in.

“Good idea. The more people looking for him the quicker he is to be found. Probably just fell asleep in the barn or something silly like that. Hannah used to sneak off to watch the horses when she was little. I can’t tell you how many times we found her napping in there,” my aunt piped in.

“Yeah, ok,” Carrie said. We all made our way through the house onto the front porch. I looked around the large front yard seeing if I could see the men but they were already gone. They had probably headed off to search the barn like Aunt Peggy had suggested. As I walked down the porch steps I heard Carrie cry out “there he is” as she took off running across the yard. I followed the direction she
was running in and sure enough there he was riding on Kairo’s shoulders. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I quickened my pace to meet up with the kids.

Kairo took Jonni off his shoulders and set him on the ground, he must have picked up on Carrie’s distress because he took a few steps back. Carrie wrapped her arms around Jonni and pulled him to her. I finally caught up with them and I saw Jesse, Cain, and Uncle Dave making their way towards us as well. They must have heard Carrie shouting too. Jesse was the first to arrive and he immediately wrapped his arms around both of them. I immediately felt the bitter sting of jealousy course through me once again. Jesse looked over at the kids with the biggest smile on his face.

“Thank you so much for finding him,” he said to them.

“Finding him? We went for a walk and little J asked if he could come with
, I thought it would be ok,” Kairo said. Carrie’s whole demeanor changed as she handed Jonni to Jesse and then got up in the kids’ faces.

“What do you mean you thought it would be ok? You didn’t bother to tell anyone that you were going to take Jonni with you? You didn’t think we would realize he was gone? You didn’t think we would be worried? See, that’s the problem with y
ou kids you don’t think,” she yelled. Jesse went behind her and grabbed her shoulders softly.

“Hey now, Carrie,” he said and she quickly turned on him.

“Don’t hey now me Jesse. Why couldn’t they tell me they were taking him? Would it have been that difficult? No, instead they would rather have me worried sick wondering what happened to my son, wondering if one of those things could have gotten him!”

“I’m sorry Miss Carrie”-Kairo started but she cut him off.

“No, don’t bother with the apologies just make sure it doesn’t happen again because if it does then you will truly be sorry,” she said and then stomped off.

“I’m sorry guys,” Jesse said looking sheepishly. He ran after her with Jonni in his arms and I could feel my heart breaking with each step that he took.

“Told you this was a bad idea,” Cain said. He came and stood beside me placing a heavy arm around my shoulder.