Page 164 of Are You Going to Love Me

“My apologies. Ms. Glennette Burton is on the private veranda.”

Eden stood and followed the woman down the hall. She was almost annoyed that whatever celebrity status she held couldn’t be discarded, even in a place like this. Early this morning, Word on the Street posted some fake documents claiming that Maximus and Eden had been married this entire time and were using the fans to garner support, brand deals, roles, and new recording contracts. Every post pertaining her and Maximus was a reach. Staysha still hadn’t found the culprit of the blog.

When she reached Maximus’ mother, she waited at the door for the woman to take notice before approaching her. In Eden’s study, she took in how Maximus had her entire face. The wild hair he’d inherited from his father, everything down to his eyes, was her.

“Eden.” She smirked softly as she waved Eden over. “Prettier in person than you are in the magazines and on the TV.”

Eden’s humble smile appeared as she moved closer. “He looks just like you.”

“I’ve heard that a time or two. He’s more like me than I'm willing to admit. He’s not here?”

She looked past Eden for her son.

Eden shook her head no. “He’s ... occupied. I thought maybe if you and I talked, it’ll help bridge the gap between you two.”

“Mm,” she buzzed, studying Eden’s face filling out. “You must really like the life he provides you.”

It was Eden’s turn to buzz. “Safety, comfort, love. Yeah, actually, I love it. So much so that I broke my lease and moved in so I wouldn’t be without him.”

“I never got to see him turn into a man. He was a boy smelling himself in my house, and then, when he popped up from time to time before prison, he was a man. Deep in the life I birthed him right into. Then, when he came home, he went from a man to a savior. It’s amazing how two humans can leave your body. You can carry them, and one is Cain, and the other, Able.”

Eden swallowed a lump in her throat.

“I knew that while Maximus was away from the streets in prison, he was safer. I had guilt when I put him out. That regret mounted when him and his brother started seeing eye-to-eye.”

“That wasn’t a good thing?”

“Mm mm. Augustus is like his father. He tries you on for size and then grows to it so he can devour you. Max thinks I had men in and out because I wanted one. Needed one. All those men, I was sold to. While his father laid up in the suburbs with some woman naive to how much of a devil he was. In a sense, keeping Maximus away from me saved his life..”

Eden didn’t interrupt, only listened to every word she spoke so she could understand what happened then that haunted him now.

“Maximus is my untainted fruit. My child, who feels everything, isn’t afraid of his emotions or being the rock. He’s not afraid of putting on a cape. That’s who he is. Trying to save his mother from a life that he can’t save me from. I can’t even save myself from it. For years, I was able to cover it up with liquor. Then I ran to the church, only for those people who screamed that they love the Lord to turn me away once I shared my past with them. But drugs were my last resort. Worse than any man who knocked me over my head. Than any man who had me for whatever reason.”

“It sounds like you’re quitting... again,” Eden finally spoke. “Max might be everything you said, but he’s also very strong. Mentally, physically, and spiritually, he’s building. I didn’t see a crack in the foundation until he saw you that day. Then, again, when you were checked out. But what I experienced the other night was a shatter of the foundation he had. I think you healing will heal him. There’s a lot of things I can do for that man, but I can’t be his mother. I can’t offer him that. He needs you. He’s always needed you. We can’t undo what’s done. But one thing life has taught me lately is that you can always start over. As long as you’re breathing, you can start over.”

They shared a look.

“What’s in this for you?”

Eden smirked and placed her hand on her small pudge. “A healed father for our child. A healed man for me. Family he so desperately craves. I can give him ten kids, and he’ll always have a space designed for you.”

“He don’t deserve someone like me.”

“I think you got a lot of good left in you. Good, no one saw. I think that if you stick with this and do the work, you can be whole for yourself. For your son. For your grandchild.”

She sat back and pulled in a deep breath. “I used to pray that he found some love that didn’t shy away from everything he was, is, and will be. The greatest man I know is the one I ruined. And then you got him and started building him up brick by brick.”

“Do you think you deserve to be built back up?”

“Honestly, no.”

“I think you deserve that. There’s this place I know. Geared for women like you, curated therapy. I think that when you leave here, you go there. Start getting back on your feet so you can experience this man and the heights he’s going to climb.”

“Eden.”

“Glennette, listen to me. You got to do better, and you got to get right because he needs you. Understand me, if you break his heart again, it won’t be the pain of that you have to deal with. It’s me. So what’s the plan?”

She pulled in a deep breath and studied Eden, who was finally sitting in all of her strength. “The plan is whatever your plan is. All I have is Max.”

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