Cyprian the Fair Read online

  “One day, she brought her camera on our adventure and said we should make a game out of seeing if my father could figure out what we were doing,” Julia explained. “She said he needed to play more,” she said with a shrug and smiled. “So when we got home, Rafe came into the office and took a push pin from Daddy’s desk and pinned this photo up on the wall,” Julia said and pointed to a Polaroid photo. “I don’t think she ever found out that I just told Daddy what we did. My mother was so angry when she came home and saw what Rafe had done.” Julia laughed. “Mother had been gone a month, so there were a lot of photos up, and she didn’t like Polaroid photos up there, or any other photos it turned out, or the pin holes in the woodwork. Daddy left them, despite Mother’s annoyance, and soon even more photos were pinned up. Daddy and Rafe had a strange relationship. He’s always had a soft spot for her.” She didn’t explain further because she didn’t know if her father wanted what happened when Rafe went to work with him known to anyone.

  “It looks like you two had a lot of fun when you were young,” said Eden as she touched a photo trailing her fingers over the image of Rafe. “Did you find out anything?” she asked as she turned and went to sit on the couch.

  Julia sat down beside Eden and sighed. “Yes and no,” she said. “The apartment manager said the visitor logs were private and wouldn’t give me any information. I called the funeral home to see if they remembered anything about her.” She hesitated a moment. “The man I talked to said Rafe made a special request.”

  “A special request,” Eden repeated confused.

  “Yes,” said Julia. “He said she brought a painting in and requested it be with her father when he was cremated. He remembered her being upset and thought she was just grieving like other clients who make those kinds of requests. He took the painting and made sure her request was honored.” Julia watched as Eden’s eyes widened in shock then looked down at her hands. “I asked him what the painting was and he said he couldn’t tell because it had already been charred and melted. My guess is it was something of her mother’s that she wanted him to have with him.”

  “Yeah,” said Eden softly hiding her anxiety. She felt like she had to hide her feelings a lot more lately to keep from being pressured to talk when all she wanted to do was be alone. It was good not to be the focus of Julia’s attention for a while. Knowing there was much more significance to the painting, Eden was torn over whether or not she should tell Julia about Rafe’s mother and Maria. The fear of doing anything else that might drive Rafe further away stopped her.

  6

  WAVING TO SIGNAL her friends to the table at the Kiki Bistro, Abby Van Falkov waited impatiently for them to make it and sit down with her. It seemed like ages since they had met as a group, and all their friends needed to catch up with Eden. Abby was happy they were finally getting together at the same time for a change. Jude and Flynn sat down, and Abby couldn’t hold back.

  “What’s going on?” she asked shrilly. “It’s like everyone disappeared off the planet.”

  “We’ve just been busy,” said Flynn with a shrug and sat a wrapped package on the table.

  “Busy doing what?”

  “Living life and loving women,” said Jude with a little snark as she placed the beribboned box in the chair beside her.

  “Oh, haha,” Abby groaned. “Seriously, it’s been months. I haven’t seen you out at any of the bars or the events. I haven’t seen Eden at all lately unless it’s at lunch once in a while. What’s going on?”

  Jude just smiled at her but didn’t answer. “There’s Julia and Eden.” She pointed toward them as they walked inside.

  “It’s about time,” Abby complained as she watched Julia approach and Eden head toward Letty’s office in the back.

  Julia made it to the table and pulled out her chair. “Eden is going to let Letty know she’s here and let Bronte see Ephraim,” she said as she sat down. “She also wants to make sure Letty’s still going over tomorrow to spend time with Bronte.”

  “So,” Abby started hesitantly, “has she heard anything from Rafe?”

  It had been about four months since ‘the incident’ as Abby called it, and they were still waiting to hear anything from or about Rafe.

  “Not really,” said Julia with an annoyed sigh. “Rafe’s been sending videos and pictures to Bronte’s email through Katheryn so she can see them on her iPad. But there’s been nothing for Eden.”

  “It was nice of Rafe to get an iPad for Bronte,” said Flynn as he examined the menu.

  Abby rolled her eyes at him. “But nothing has been sent to Eden? It’s her birthday, for fuck’s sake!”

  “No,” said Julia as the waiter came and took their orders. When he left, she looked around at everyone at the table. “I’m still sending Rafe emails to all the accounts I know of, plus Katheryn. She’s got to answer sometime.”

  “Why don’t you just leave her alone and let her contact you when she’s ready?” asked Jude with a frown. Jude wondered if some of the emails were as bad as some of the things they had been saying when they talked about Rafe. If they were, she didn’t blame Rafe for not answering. “When I talked to Katheryn about school and the studio, she told me within a week that Rafe still intended to cover things.”

  “I doubt she talked to Rafe,” Julia said, agitated. “It was probably that man, Gabri.”

  “So,” Jude said with a shrug, not understanding why it mattered if Katheryn talked to Rafe or Gabri. “Here comes Eden,” she said with a nod of her head.

  Eden tried to smile as she made it to the table with Letty close behind her. “Hi,” she said to everyone as she sat down.

  “I made sure your orders were taken care of,” said Letty as she put Bronte in a seat, sat next to Eden, and then nodded to the others.

  “Happy birthday!” they all said to Eden and put their gifts and cards in front of her as Ephraim brought out a cake.

  “Thank you,” said Eden as she smiled at everyone in appreciation as they sang to her. After Eden blew out the candles, Ephraim cut the cake and passed it and the ice cream around. Eden opened her gifts and sat them out so everyone could see what she got.

  “We know we’ve seen you, but we just missed everyone being all together,” said Abby as she ate her ice cream.

  “We’ve missed this too,” said Eden as she gave the cake to Bronte. She knew the past four months had been hard for everyone. She wasn’t ready to tell them the other reason she wanted to see them all. Eden gave Abby a small smile then turned to Jude. “Where’s Susy and Stacey?”

  “Oh, right, you don’t know,” said Flynn as he ate his cake. “Stacey got the gig in New York, and she left Wednesday. She was really excited and wanted me to tell you thanks for the recommendation.”

  “It was nothing,” said Eden. “If it weren’t for Rafe asking me to recommend her to our studio, I’d have never known how artistic she is at doing makeup and mask making. I’m glad I could help her.”

  “I’m glad she’s gone,” said Abby disgruntled. “She’s so annoying.”

  “She’s got a good heart,” said Jude and then she sipped her drink.

  “Whatever,” groaned Abby and stabbed her cake.

  “Come on,” said Jude with a mischievous grin. “She helped get you in contact with that Brooklyn singer you think is hot.”

  “What singer?” asked Eden, smiling at Abby’s disgruntled look.

  “Okay, the singer’s good, and it was just business,” she admitted hotly. “Her name is Julia Weldon, and she’s not just a singer! She’s got screen credits too!”

  Julia rolled her eyes. “You sound lame,” she said. “Stop trying so hard.”

  “Screw you—” Abby cringed realizing Bronte was at the table. That kid repeated everything. She looked at Eden apologetically. “Sorry.”

  Jude shook her head then spoke to Eden. “Susy had to work. She said hello and happy birthday.”

  The waiter brought out their food orders, and everyone ate in awkward silence for a while b
ecause they still felt the absence of Rafe.

  Abby peered up at Jude suspiciously. “Why are you suddenly carrying messages from Susy? Are you dating her or something now?” She watched as Jude said nothing, but her smirk spoke for her. “You are! Why didn’t I know this?” she demanded.

  “Just because you have a ‘need to know’ doesn’t mean I have a need to tell,” said Jude and went back to eating her food.

  “Well, we have some news you may find fun, Abby,” said Letty with a smile. “Ephraim and I are looking into opening a second location.”

  “Really?” screeched Abby. “Fantastic. Where?”

  “We haven’t found the location yet,” Ephraim explained, “but we’re seriously looking.”

  “Ephraim’s been putting feelers out for another chef too. It’s exhilarating,” said Letty as she smiled at Ephraim proudly.

  “Is it gonna be another gay place?” asked Abby hopefully.

  “Abby,” chided Jude with a laugh, “what do you mean another gay place? This place isn’t even a gay place.”

  “Well, it is, sort of,” she said and frowned. “They have a ladies only night.”

  “But it doesn’t mean one will go over in their new location,” Jude pointed out. “Stop trying to make everywhere gay.”

  “Why should I? I think everywhere should be gay,” she spat back miffed.

  “No you don’t,” Julia joined in. “You just think everywhere should be a place where you can pick up girls and gossip.”

  Everyone laughed, and Abby couldn’t help but smile. She couldn’t deny those were two of her favorite things, and she liked having them together.

  “Maybe you can look in the area where Jude’s massage company is located for your new place,” Eden suggested to Letty and Ephraim.

  “Oh, yeah,” agreed Jude. “Being closer to me would be great. The rent is really cheap right now, and it’s an up and coming area. Getting in quick would be smart. Rafe even talked to me about investing in the area and suggested I try to buy the building with the space I’m renting.”

  “We’ll definitely look into it then,” Ephraim said enthusiastically. “Well, I’m needed in the kitchen. Happy birthday, Eden,” he said again. Eden smiled in thanks, and he headed back to work.

  “If Rafe thinks it’s a good area to invest in, then it’s worth checking out,” said Letty. Rafe owned the building they were in now so she might help them get another. Letty sighed as she thought about Rafe and was disappointed Rafe hadn’t contacted her. She had sent a few emails to Katheryn for her to forward to Rafe, telling her she was there for her, but she hadn’t heard anything back.

  “Speaking of investing,” said Julia proudly. “I’ve finally convinced Daddy to diversify into the entertainment industry. We’re going to create an investment product for film industry investing. We’ll be looking for some people in the film production business to form a board of advisors along with a financial team. We hope it will be a product beneficial to investors as well as the industry.”

  “It sounds interesting,” said Eden wondering just how the product would work. She knew the film industry was volatile and very hard to predict. She hoped Julia wasn’t star blind and really looking into things before selling to investors.

  “It is so far,” Julia said excitedly. “I’m really hopeful Daddy will approve everything once we put the package together.”

  Julia wanted Eden to be interested because she hoped Eden might be part of the board. They had become much closer over the last few months. Julia was now sure this situation was exactly what her dream was all about. It was like Rafe still had hold of Eden even though she was gone. Since Rafe had disappeared, the dream as well as spending time with Eden had left Julia finding herself wanting to take care of Eden even more. Rafe disappearing on them was something else they had in common. She had felt guilty at first because of the accusation Rafe had made and because Rafe was sick. But Rafe had left and was now treating Eden like crap, plus Julia believed, now more than ever, her dream was a premonition, so she had pushed the guilt aside.

  It seemed like they talked about Rafe less and less when they were together too. She hoped it meant her presence was finally filling the void Rafe had left in Eden. She was sure when Eden realized she wanted to be there for her, both their lives would be better. Julia would just keep subtly hinting so Eden would know she would love to be a family with her and Bronte if she would only give her a chance. Right now, Eden needed someone she could depend on, and Julia felt like she could be the one to easily step into the role. She knew Eden was not over Rafe yet, but it looked like Rafe wasn’t coming back.

  Julia leaned back in her chair, holding her warm cup of tea close to her body. Out of the corner of her eye, she subtly took in the object of her desire. Eden’s golden hair was longer now and a lock had fallen forward into her face. The shirt she wore was askew from moving Bronte out of the stroller and to the chair, revealing a small amount of cleavage. Just enough to get Julia’s imagination jump-started and a tingling sensation thrumming between her legs. God, I want her, Julia thought as the erotic ache grew more intense. Julia wanted to touch her, hold her—make love to her. Images flicked through her mind of Eden’s body under her as they kissed and touched. She just needed the chance to prove to Eden that she didn’t need Rafe anymore. Then Eden would see they could work and be happy together. Julia fought down the desire she was feeling, leaning forward to douse the tingling. Julia tore her eyes away from Eden to prevent herself from exposing her feelings.

  “So what’s going on with you, Eden?” Abby asked as she chewed her salad. “Are you doing okay?”

  “Oh, I’m fine,” Eden answered softly. She looked around the table and decided it was time to give them her news. “So, I just want you all to know the reason I haven’t been around. I’ve been doing part-time work,” she said, taking in all their shocked faces. “I needed to make some extra money.”

  “Is everything all right,” Letty asked concerned. “Ephraim and I can help you.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Julia surprised by the news. She had been spending a lot of time with Eden and never knew she was doing any part-time work. “Why do you need extra money? Have you told Katheryn so she can contact Rafe? Let me help you,” she said and put her hand on Eden’s hand that was resting on the table.

  “Everything is fine,” Eden assured them and gently pulled her hand from Julia. She patted Julia’s hand appreciatively then picked up her fork. Eden could see Julia wasn’t happy with the news. It was another thing she knew she couldn’t talk with Julia about until now. Eden had attempted once, and Julia tried talking her out of it and began being negative about Rafe, so she stopped. “I haven’t gone to Katheryn,” she answered softly. “I don’t want to go to her.” She took a breath, bracing herself for her friends’ reactions. “I’ve decided I have to go to Italy and see Rafe. I want to see if she’ll come home.”

  Eden shifted nervously under everyone’s silence. “Well, anyway, it’s why I need the extra money. I’ve already started saving. I have some vacation time I can take, and if I keep working part-time a bit longer, it’ll help me get the rest of what I need so I can go sometime around May.”

  Abby was the first to recover from the news. “It a great idea,” she said trying to be enthusiastic. “Hey, I’m trying to write a screenplay. I could hire you to help me out.”

  “I’d love to help,” said Eden hopefully. “Maybe we can work out a schedule over the weekend.”

  Julia exchanged looks of concern with Letty and knew she would have to be the one to ask. “So,” she said hesitantly, “did you hear from Rafe? Does she know you’re going to see her?”

  “No,” she said quietly looking at everyone with determination. “I’m just going. I know that once she sees Bronte and me, she’ll want to come home.”

  “You’re taking the baby,” asked Letty with concern.

  “Of course she is,” said Abby when she saw the look of incredulity on Eden’s face at Letty’s quest
ion. “Bronte is Rafe’s baby too, and she’s right, Rafe would want to see her.”

  Julia gave Abby a hard look. She didn’t want her encouraging Eden to do something that might possibly send her into a tailspin. It had taken a long time to get Eden to the point where she didn’t come home from work, go straight to bed, and cry.

  “Are you sure you want to do this,” Julia asked tentatively. “I just don’t want you to set yourself up for disappointment.” She saw Eden shift nervously and toy with her glass. “It’s just, I know Rafe. If she hasn’t contacted you—” She stopped, not wanting to say Rafe didn’t want Eden, even though it was what she believed. “What I mean is, showing up unannounced could upset her and her friend Gabri. What if they don’t agree to see you and you go all the way there for nothing?”

  Eden was disappointed her friends weren’t more receptive to her plan but not surprised at Julia’s attempt to try to talk her out of going once again. “It won’t be for nothing,” she said softly. “Even if I don’t see her, I’ll at least get to find out how she’s doing. I can’t take the silence anymore,” she said hoping they would understand. “I love her.” It was the only thing that really mattered. She looked up and saw they were all watching her, waiting for more reasons. “I need her, and Bronte needs her too,” she said giving them what they wanted. “I need to know if she’s getting better and if she’s being taken care of there. I just—” She stopped herself, controlling her emotions determined not to cry. “I just need to try.”

  “Of course you do,” said Jude gently. “I think Rafe would want to see you. She loves you.”

  “Thank you,” said Eden to Jude gratefully.

  “I don’t think you should go alone,” said Julia firmly, not liking the way Jude was encouraging her. She definitely didn’t like the idea in the slightest of Eden running around Italy after Rafe who would just hurt her again. “We should go with you.”

  “No,” said Eden. “I don’t think us all showing up there would go over well. Gabri might move her again, or she might think we’re ganging up on her.”