The Taking of Eden

by Robin Alexander

  Jamie smiled and pushed Eden's hands down on the blanket. "Remember your promise, I get to do anything I want right now."

  Eden clutched handfuls of blanket as Jamie ran her fingertips lightly up and down her body.

  Jamie leaned down and whispered in Eden's ear as she hooked one of her legs around Eden's, holding it firmly, and dipped her hand between Eden's legs. "Keep your eyes on me."

  Eden hissed between clenched teeth when she felt Jamie's fingers dip inside of her.

  Jamie watched Eden's face bathed in moonlight as she slowly stroked her. "Look at me, Eden," she reminded softly when her lover's eyes drifted shut.

  Eden's eyes opened slowly as Jamie's fingers circled her clit. This level of intimacy was not something Eden was accustomed to. Even when she was with Jamie the last time, it had been about sex. This time, she was making love, and the intensity of it was unnerving.

  "Relax and give in to me," Jamie whispered, looking into her eyes.

  Eden stared back, her breathing coming in pants and gasps as Jamie's hand stroked her.

  "What did you enjoy the most while you were making love to me?" Jamie asked softly.

  "The sounds you made and the way you felt...against my mouth."

  Jamie watched as Eden's eyes closed and her lip trembled as she inhaled and held her breath. The look on her face was a mix of ecstasy and pain as the orgasm overtook her until she finally went limp in Jamie's arms.

  When Eden's breathing began to calm, Jamie pulled the blanket over them and pulled Eden close. "I love you," she whispered against Eden's head as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Jamie, you need to go get Eden from the garage," Ann huffed as she set the empty snack tray on the kitchen counter.

  "Why?" Jamie and her mother asked in unison.

  "Dad has her out there with his poker buddies, and she's already been corrupted."

  "Are they playing with real money again?" Barbara Spencer asked as she peeked in the oven to admire her turkey.

  "Yes, and Eden's losing her shirt. She already has her watch on the table," Ann said with a chuckle.

  "Mom, I'm going to need your help with this." Jamie grabbed her mother by the elbow and led her to the garage.

  Eden and Al sat side by side, both with a cigar in their mouths when Jamie and her mother entered the room. "Tommy Spencer!" Barbara barked. "There will be no gambling in my house on Christmas Eve!"

  "Six sets of guilty eyes looked back at her. "Tommy and Eden, you get in this house. Al, you too," Barbara commanded as people began to scramble. "The rest of you need to be home with your families, not hiding in here and losing your money."

  The room was cleared in a matter of minutes. Jamie and Barbara could hear Al, Eden, and Tommy laughing as they escaped into the house. Jamie plucked Eden's watch from the table. "What are you going to do with the money?" Jamie asked as she scooped up the bills.

  "What I always do," Barbara replied with a smile. "I go shopping, and your father has to settle up with his buddies."

  Jamie chuckled. "I don't think you have your bluff in on Eden and Al like you do Dad."

  "The key is that he has to live with me. Work on your bluffing skills, darling, they'll come in handy with Eden," Barbara said with a smirk.

  "You like her, Mom?" Jamie asked seriously.

  "We've only known her for two days and we adore her. Your dad and I were talking about her this morning. She's a genuine person, and it's obvious that she loves you dearly."

  Jamie pulled her mom in for a hug. "Thanks, Mom, she's very important to me."

  "I know, sweetie, and I wish the best for you both."

  "Mom..." Ann poked her head in the door. "Better get in here quick, Dad's looking for the blender. He's ready to make margaritas."

  Barbara grimaced as she looked down at her watch. "It's only eleven in the morning. I'm going to choke that man!"

  Ann looked at Jamie with an evil grin. "Now that I have them all riled up, I'm getting the hell out of here. I was supposed to be at Tim's parents' an hour ago."

  "Give Kaitlyn a kiss for me and be back here on time this evening," Jamie said as she shoved her sister out the door.

  By late afternoon, Ann returned with her husband, Tim, and their daughter, Kaitlyn, after spending some time with Tim's parents. Kaitlyn charged into the den and was lavished with kisses and hugs from her grandparents. Spying her favorite aunt Jamie, she launched herself into her lap, then studied Eden curiously.

  "Who?" she asked as she pointed her tiny finger in Eden's direction.

  "That's Eden, say hi," Jamie said as she smiled at them both.

  "Hi," Kaitlyn said as she crawled into Eden's lap and played with her hair. "You hair fritty," Kaitlyn said as she tugged on the dark strands.

  "Translated, that means she thinks your hair is pretty," Jamie said with a giggle, as Eden looked at her curiously. "Everyone around here is blonde, so you're very unique."

  "Oh, well, your hair is pretty, too," Eden said as she ran her fingers through the tight blonde curls.

  "Kaitlyn, it's time to pass out the gifts," Ann called, causing the tiny tot to jump up and run to the tree.

  "This one is for Eden," Tommy whispered to his granddaughter, who took it and returned to Eden. "This for you," she said happily as she took her place back in Eden's lap.

  Jamie gave her a nudge. "You have more gifts to pass out."

  "Don't want to," Kaitlyn said as she returned to Eden's hair.

  "Since the spider monkey is busy grooming Eden, I'll have to take up her slack," Ann said as she grabbed a few gifts from under the tree.

  "Are you okay?" Jamie asked as Kaitlyn filled her hands full of Eden's hair.

  "As long as she doesn't decide to pull my hair out," Eden replied with a grin.

  As per custom, the Spencer children always gave their parents gag gifts before the real ones. Barbara and Tommy Spencer sat side by side as Barbara peeled away the wrapping from the first gift given by Ann and Jamie.

  Al tucked himself away in a comfortable chair watching the proceedings. He marveled at how much the two sisters looked like their mother. Barbara Spencer was a few pounds heavier but could have easily passed for an older sister with her young looks.

  Ann obviously had gotten her reddish-blonde hair from her father, but neither of the girls had been blessed with his height.

  He glanced over at Eden, who sat at Jamie's side with Kaitlyn still perched in her lap. There was a happiness on her face that he had never seen before. That in itself was the best Christmas gift he could have ever gotten. He sank back into the warmth of the chair hoping that when it was his time to leave this life, Eden would always be surrounded by the love of the woman sitting next to her.

  Laughter broke out as Barbara pulled a feather boa and a risqué negligee out of the box. "Oh, it's a very merry Christmas indeed," Tommy teased at her side. His box contained skimpy underwear with an elephant's face on the front with a suspicious trunk. He quickly tucked it behind his back before Kaitlyn caught sight of it.

  "We don't want to hear about the fun you both have with those," Jamie said, causing her mother's blush to deepen.

  "All right, you've had your fun at our expense, now, everyone else, open your gifts," Barbara told the group.

  Al groaned with delight when he opened one of his gifts and found a nice bottle of brandy and expensive cigars from the Spencers. Eden topped it off with a new smoking jacket since Al always felt it necessary to be formal in his own home.

  Eden broke into a fit of laughter when she opened her gift from the Spencers. Jamie looked at her bewildered; she knew her parents had given Eden a robe for Christmas, but she was a little concerned that Eden found it so funny. Barbara and Tommy were laughing right along with Eden, and when Jamie looked at Ann, she was laughing, too.

  Jamie narrowed her eyes at Eden. "What's in that box?"

  Eden held up two pictures of Jamie. One was taken when she was an infant, lying bare-bottomed on a blan
ket. The second was taken when she was in the second grade and her two front teeth were missing. To make matters worse, she had gum stuck in her hair.

  "Your dad and I figured we should be able to give a few gag gifts ourselves," Barbara laughed unrepentantly.

  Ann's husband had already opened his gift and was holding a cassette tape with a curious expression on his face.

  "And, Tim, on that cassette, you'll hear Ann performing a song she wrote when she was six. I think it's called 'Fireball,'" Barbara said, trying to catch her breath between fits of laughter.

  Ann looked horrified. "Oh, my God, Tim! You give me that!" Tim leaped from the chair and ran toward the stereo with Ann hot on his heels.

  "You were really cute as a child," Eden said with a laugh, as she nudged Jamie in the ribs.

  "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth the night before school pictures, and I guess the result was obvious."

  Eden tucked the pictures into her shirt pocket. "I'm going to frame these," she said with a wicked grin.

  "My family is a little nutty, I hope you're not getting the wrong impression of us."

  "I think they're wonderful," Eden said as the first few bars of Ann's infamous song blared through the den.

  Ann and Tim were in a wrestling match over the stereo and Kaitlyn joined in, fighting on both sides of the good-humored battle.

  "My gift for you is kind of personal, do you mind if I give it to you a little later?"

  "Mine is too," Jamie said with a wink. "We'll celebrate our way tonight when we're alone."

  Dinner was a much louder affair than Eden was accustomed to with everyone talking over one another, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Ann leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I told you that you'd be here for the holidays, didn't I?"

  Eden clanked her glass with Ann's. "Here's to your faith," she toasted with a smile.

  "I'm glad you stuck with my sister in her mule stage. She's wrapped around your little finger, and from the looks of it, you're wrapped just as tight," Ann said with a grin. "You're good for each other."

  "She's the best thing that has ever happened to me, aside from Al," Eden said, looking up at Al, who sat across the table with Kaitlyn in his lap. "I don't know what I would've done without them."

  "Jamie's lucky to have you," Ann said as she pulled Eden in for a hug. Jamie watched the exchange with a cheerful heart.

  After everyone settled in for the night, Jamie and Eden celebrated being alone for the first time that day with a bottle of champagne in front of the fireplace in the den.

  "Your family really went out of their way to make me feel welcome," Eden said after taking a sip from her glass. "And Al too."

  Jamie pecked Eden on the lips and snuggled closer to her. "They really like you and Al, and I'm especially fond of you. That's why I got you this," Jamie said as she tugged the last present from under the tree.

  Eden grinned as she unwrapped the box and pulled open the lid. Inside was a brown leather jacket and sitting on top was a miniature gold skeleton key attached to a matching chain.

  "The jacket is to replace the one I ruined when I caused you to fall into the lake at the cabin. The key is just a symbol that means you hold the key to my heart," Jamie said with a smile.

  "I love it, thank you," she said as she kissed Jamie lightly on the lips. Eden slipped her hand into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a small rectangular box. "My gift has a similar meaning."

  Jamie took the box from Eden's hand and unwrapped it, revealing a velvet case. "I have a feeling that I don't deserve whatever is inside," she said nervously.

  Eden chuckled. "Well, honey, you're stuck with it for life."

  Jamie opened the lid and found two simple gold bands.

  "These are symbols, too. If you choose to put your ring on, it means you're willing to be stuck with me for life," Eden explained nervously with a grin.

  Jamie looked up at Eden with a smile. "And if you put the other ring on your finger, then you're stuck with me, just like that?"

  "Unless you'd like to wait and have some sort of ceremony, but I remembered you saying one time that that wasn't your cup of tea," Eden replied, unsure if she had gone about it the wrong way.

  Jamie plucked the larger of the two bands from the box. "I'd like to put yours on," she said with a tear in her eye.

  Eden held up her left hand and Jamie slipped the ring onto her finger. Without a word, Eden took the other band out of the box and held it up for Jamie to see. "It's inscribed."

  Jamie looked at the inscription as Eden held it. My savior, my love was carved into the band. "You saved me in more ways than one, Jamie. You saved my life, and you became my life," Eden said softly as she slid the ring onto Jamie's finger.

  Jamie sniffed back a sob as she looked down at their joined hands. "I'm so glad you did this, this way. It's just for us, no one else. And I'm so glad you thought I deserved to be stuck with you for life," she said with a laugh.

  "I warned you that you would be stuck with it before you opened the box," Eden said with a chuckle, then her expression turned serious. "I meant it when I said it's for life, there's no other who has made me feel the way you do. I want you to be my partner in all things."

  Jamie lifted Eden's left hand to her lips and kissed the ring finger. "Till death do us part."

  Eden stood and tugged Jamie to her feet. "We have a honeymoon to celebrate," she said with a grin as she led Jamie to their bedroom.

  Jamie chewed her lip, trying her best to be quiet as Eden kissed her way down her stomach. "I'm looking forward to not having to be quiet," she whispered.

  Eden rubbed her face across the softness of Jamie's skin. "I think we should enjoy not having to be quiet in your new house."

  Jamie ran her fingers through the dark waves of hair that spread across her stomach. "Are you saying you want us to live in my house and not yours?"

  Eden looked up with a smile. "I love it there, but if you want, we can find somewhere new."

  "I love my place and I'm more than thrilled to know you like it, too," Jamie said with a sigh as Eden began kissing trails down her skin again.

  Eden paused and looked up. "We could build a deck on the back by the glass doors, and I'd like to remodel the garage out back and make it into a game room."

  Jamie pressed her finger to Eden's lips. "Can we discuss this another time? My brain is elsewhere at the moment."

  Eden chuckled and began tracing patterns on Jamie's skin with her fingertip. "If this were the front of the house," she whispered as she ran her finger in a straight line across Jamie's stomach, "we could build flower beds that come all the way out to here." She grinned as she dipped her fingers between Jamie's legs and stroked lightly over the moist skin.

  "Okay, sure, flower beds," Jamie purred.

  Eden sat up and urged Jamie onto her stomach. She ran her fingers lightly down the skin of her back. "Imagine this as the backyard."

  Jamie groaned. "I'm having a hard time with that mental image at the moment."

  Eden traced a square across Jamie's back. "Now this is the deck." She ran her nails lightly across Jamie's backside. "Here and here will be the other flower beds."

  Jamie groaned again. "Eden, I don't give a damn about the gardening, get inside the house already."

  Eden laughed out loud before she caught herself. "Patience, I'm not nearly finished with the prep work."

  The next morning, Kaitlyn charged down the hall screaming at the top of her lungs just before the sun rose. Santa had been there, and a new tricycle sat in front of the tree. Everyone in the house groaned as the toddler commanded everyone to come see her toys.

  Jamie and Eden were the last to leave their room since they had only gotten two hours sleep. Jamie glanced into her parents' room to see if they had already risen. She stopped suddenly and tugged hard on Eden's hand, causing Eden to stop and look at her. "Oh, my God, Eden," Jamie said as a grin split her face. She pulled Eden into the bedroom where feathers littered the floor.

&nbs
p; "Mom wore the boa last night," Jamie said with a squeal. "I can't wait to tell Ann!"

  Eden chuckled and picked up a handful of feathers. "Eww, Jamie, your dad plucked your mom last night."

  Chapter Seventeen

  "Eden, do you know where I put my keys?" Jamie asked as she frantically dug through her purse.

  "How would I know where your keys are when you're the last person who had them?" Eden replied testily as she pulled her coat from the closet.

  "I was hoping you noticed where I put them," Jamie said as she marched off into the kitchen.

  Eden huffed and dropped her coat in the middle of the floor and made her way to the bedroom. Digging into the hamper, she found the jeans that Jamie wore the day before. She reached into the front pocket and grinned. "I found them," she called out.

  Jamie raced into their bedroom, pulling off her shoes and tossing them into the closet. "I can't wear these," she said as she rummaged through her shoeboxes.

  Eden looked at her watch and put her hand on her hip. "Why not?"

  Jamie looked at her like she was crazy. "You don't wear open-toed shoes before Easter."

  Eden rolled her eyes. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." She looked at her watch again impatiently. "We're going to be late for the trial, and since I've been subpoenaed, I would like to at least get there on time."

  Jamie looked at her outfit in the mirror and grimaced. "This outfit makes me look fat!"

  "You're not fat and you look fine. Can we please go now?"

  Jamie pushed Eden through the doorway. "I'm right behind you. Did you remember to turn the coffeepot off?"

  Eden spun on one heel and looked at Jamie.

  "Don't roll your eyes at me, you left it on yesterday and nearly burned our house down."

  Eden tugged Jamie down the hall and through the front door. "That's why tomorrow we're going to buy one with an automatic shutoff."

  "You drive," Jamie said as she tossed her keys to Eden, who opened Jamie's door for her, then walked around the SUV and climbed into the driver's seat.

  "When we get home this afternoon, I'm going to finish the flower beds," Eden said as she backed out of the driveway.

  Jamie never heard a word she said, she was too busy fussing with her makeup and hair.