Guardian of Eden (10 page)

“Okay.” Eden wound her fingers in mine as we walked to the cafeteria.

***

 “Hi,” I smiled when
Maddie
walked up to my locker after school.

“Hi,” she responded. All day I’d rehearsed what I would to say to her, but now that she stood in front of me, all words and reasonable thought eluded me. I leaned down awkwardly and kissed her on the cheek.
Maddie
blushed and tucked a blond curl behind her ear. Then we just stared into each other’s eyes until Eden came and squealed, “
Garieeeee
!” as she tackled me with a hug.

I hugged her back briefly then said, “Eden, this is
Maddie
.”

“Hi,
Maddie
,” Eden said as she let go of me and hugged
Maddie
as well. “So this is the girl with the eyes you want to drown in,” she said to me. Eden placed the back of her hand on her forehead and faked a swoon.
Maddie
turned red and stared at her shoes.

“Don’t end sentences with prepositions. How many times do I have to tell you that?” I tickled her until she promised to never do it again. “Eden,
Maddie
and I are going to go grab a cup of coffee. Why don’t you call Corbin and ask him to pick you up? He’s at the studio right now so he’s not that far away.” Eden stopped laughing and stared at me.

“What?” she asked sharply.

“
I said, I’m taking
Maddie
for coffee.”
“But,
it’s
Wednesday,” she said with hurt in her eyes. “Wednesday is library day. You have to pick out my book for the week.”

“I know I usually take you to the library on Wednesdays, but I thought, just this once, that I could go out with
Maddie
for a little while.”

“Garrett, if you want to take your sister to the library, I’ll understand,”
Maddie
offered. I looked from
Maddie
to Eden and back to
Maddie
. I felt like I had to choose between them. I wanted to make them both happy. I wanted to spend time with each of them. I thought about that warm soft kiss I’d shared with
Maddie
that morning and my body involuntarily chose her over Eden. I didn’t know the devastating effects that choice would make in all our lives.

***

Maddie
and I sat on the same side of the booth letting our coffee get cold as we kissed each other.

“I’m so sorry I thought you were dating your sister,” she said for the hundredth time once I let her up for air. “You must think I’m a complete idiot.”

“I don’t do this to idiots,” I said as I nuzzled her neck. She smelled so good. Like a combination of soap and cherries.

“And what exactly are you doing?”

“I’m checking your pulse.”
Maddie
flung her head back and erupted into adorable giggles. I kissed up the side of her neck to her earlobe then found her lips again.

I could feel people in the coffee shop staring at us, but I didn’t care. I needed this. I needed her. I couldn’t remember a time when I felt so happy, so free,
so
complete. I wasn’t going to let anything ruin it, especially a cell phone.

Maddie
jolted when it rang. She pulled away from me and searched for her purse. When she couldn’t find it, she dumped the contents out on the table.

“Damn it, where is it?” she mumbled as she rummaged through her scattered belongings. The phone continued to ring as
Maddie
grew more and more frantic. Why was she in such a panic?

I reached behind her, picked up her coat, and pulled her cell phone out of the pocket. As soon as she saw it, she snatched it out of my hand, opened it and said, “Hi Daddy.” She mouthed ‘thank you’ then scooted away from me. “That’s because I’m not at school…I went to Java Joe’s with a friend…I know what caffeine can do to me…I know…I got decaf…you are? Okay…okay…I love you too.” She hung up and looked at her watch.

“
Is everything all right?” I asked. Something about the way
Maddie
talked with her father made me nervous. He seemed a bit controlling.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. Um, I need to go,” she said as she waited for me to slide out of the booth.

“
Maddie
, I’m worried about you. What’s going on? Are you afraid of your father? Is he hurting you?”

“No, Garrett, it’s nothing like that. You’ve got the wrong idea. He’s just really…protective when it comes to me. I swear I’ll explain everything soon, just not now. He’ll be here any second.”
Maddie
glanced at the door nervously. I wasn’t convinced. I knew something wasn’t right. This guy was going to have to go through me to get to
Maddie
again.

I rooted myself in the seat blocking her exit and crossed my arms. “I think I want to meet this guy.”

“Please, Garrett, not today.”
Maddie
took my chin in her hands and turned my face toward her. She paralyzed me with her deep blue eyes as she said, “If you care for me at all, you’ll trust me.” What could I do? I did care for her. I’d only known her for a few days and I cared for her more than I could ever imagine. I slid out of the seat and let her out. She gathered her belongings then ran towards the door. After a few steps, she stopped, turned and ran back to me. She stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. Then she dashed out of the coffee shop and into a waiting town car.

An uneasy feeling developed in the pit of my stomach.
Maddie
needed help. She needed me. I wanted to protect her and take away the pain that had obviously enveloped her life. My problems didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was
Maddie
.

As I made the 30 minute walk from Barton Arms to Corbin’s studio, thoughts of
Maddie
overflowed my mind.

 
Was she all right?

Did she think of me?

When would I next see
her

So I could again be free?

Corbin’s studio was located about two blocks north of DuPont Circle in Washington DC. He often did photo shoots on location, but this week he was working on a special layout for Gap and I knew he would be in his studio.

Corbin wasn’t terribly famous, but his excellent rapport with models had helped to boost his career into a more elite realm. Three years ago, he only did work for catalog companies like Wal-Mart, JC Penney, and Sears. But about a year ago, he started receiving calls from Gap, Old Navy, American
Eagle
, and Abercrombie and Fitch.

Then, a few months ago, Donna Karan requested him for a layout for Vogue magazine and nothing has been the same since. He opened this studio in DC and travels to exotic cities like Paris, Rome, and Milan. I even heard rumors of a possible reality show on TLC. I was happy for him; he was a nice guy and deserved success. I just hoped his new found fame wouldn’t affect me and Eden.

Before I reached the studio, I stopped at Barnes and Noble to pick up a book of poetry for Eden. I wanted to make amends. I thought for sure she would be upset with me for choosing to spend time with
Maddie
instead of her. I thought wrong.

“What is this?” I asked Corbin’s
secretary
Courtney. It was a pretty stupid question since I could clearly see for myself.

Eden, still dressed in her Barton Arms uniform, posed, smiled and flirted with the camera as Corbin snapped picture after picture.

“Your sister is incredible,” Courtney said. “It looks like she’s been doing this for years.”

“Why is he…how did this happen?”

“The model for the Gap shoot was late so Corbin just started taking pictures of Eden. I really think she’s
gonna
work out better for the layout. I mean look at the connection between them. Isn’t he amazing?” Courtney didn’t take her eyes off of Eden and Corbin. I couldn’t tell whether she was more amazed by Eden’s beauty or Corbin’s technique with a camera. Courtney was an art major at Georgetown who wanted to be a photographer one day so she absolutely idolized Corbin.

I looked again at Corbin immortalizing my sister with a camera. Surprisingly, I wasn’t angry. I felt relieved. The clothing wasn’t inappropriate, plenty of people were around, and Eden looked happy.
Genuinely happy.
I waved to her so that she would know I was there, and then I slipped into Corbin’s office and called
Maddie
.

Maddie
and I spent almost every free moment together. In the mornings we’d meet at the coffee shop and walk to school. During our common free period, we’d take a stroll around campus together no matter how cold it was outside. She offered to join Eden and me for one of our frequent trips to the library or local museum, but suddenly, Eden didn’t want to go anymore.

Due to some sort of security breach, my father’s prison had suspended
visitation for the week. So instead of driving to North Carolina to see him, I took a few minutes and spoke to him on the phone
.
Then I met
Maddie
in the city where we caught a movie together. I guess she quickly became my girlfriend. I’d never had a girlfriend before. I don’t know why. I guess I had always been too preoccupied with taking care of Holly and Eden that I really didn’t have time to think of my own wants and needs. Now that they were happy, I too, had a chance to be happy.

The next Wednesday,
Maddie
and I went to the library. She politely asked Eden to come along, but once again, Eden refused.

“I can’t believe your favorite book is a dictionary,”
Maddie
said jokingly as she sat on my lap in the reference section.

“
Shhh
,” I said, placing a finger on her lips. “This is a library, you know,” I whispered. “Besides, it’s not just any dictionary. It’s the OED. It not only gives you the definitions, it gives you the etymologies, and the transformations of the words over time. It’s quite amazing.”

“You’re amazing.” She kissed me and added, “If you weren’t so sweet and cute and sexy, I would think you were the biggest nerd in the world.” She smiled and leaned in to kiss me again, but her phone rang. I had gotten used to that bothersome intrusion over the past week. Anytime we got remotely intimate, that stupid phone rang. It was almost as if her father knew the exact moment to call in order to keep us from getting too close.

Maddie
hopped off my lap and darted out of the library while simultaneously digging her phone out of her purse. As I gathered my books and followed her, I noticed the librarian staring at me. I didn’t know why she stared. It could have been the usual. She didn’t like to see an interracial couple. Or, with
Maddie
running out of the door in a hurry, she could have thought I’d hurt her somehow.

I never got used to the suspicion aroused from a black man with a white woman, or girl for that matter. Once when Eden was eight or nine, she fell and busted her lip while we were at the park. I tried to clean her up and calm her down as she cried hysterically. When the police officer first approached us, I thought he just wanted to help, but in a few moments it became clear he thought I was a threat to Eden. It took thirty minutes and a call to our social worker to straighten out the situation.