Eden Manger
May 08, 2020 7:35 AM
Breakthrough by Eden Manger
Eden could hardly believe it, but here she was: eighteen years old and just days away from her first year of college. She would be moving into her new dorm in Boston soon, meeting a brand new roommate, and having a whole new experience. She hadn’t mind sharing with Ivy at Sonora, but it would be a pretty nice change of pace to have a roommate who wasn’t related to her siblings on their “good” side. Ivy was always nice -But that was all done now. No more worries about their other side, no more fear of the blame that obviously befell her for things their father had done. Everything was going to be okay now.
It was very nice of her siblings to throw this going away party for her at Arnold’s new house, but it was still the last hurdle before her departure. She noted with mild amusement just how big an “intimate” gathering of her siblings was now: she and Brett were working through things, Sally brought her friend Braxton and husband Gideon, there was Asher and Desiree, Arnold had his daughter Violet, and Jake had his wife Ginger and their son Aiden. Their family was ever growing, it seemed.
She liked that it was a good twelve people - it made it easier to avoid any she couldn’t deal with. While she had forgiven Desiree primarily out of necessity, because how was she supposed to go on being mad at her only full sibling, the sister she had grown up with, picking her up when she scraped her knee and holding her when she had a bad dream? However, Eden had still not spoken to Jake or Arnold in probably years. After she found out the truth about their father’s death, she just didn’t know how. She had spent so long being angry at Arnold, hating him for what he’d done even though a part of her knew he had to, just to find out that all along that hatred had been misplaced. Meanwhile, she had adored Jake. He was her everything, and the one she had allowed to take Dad’s place as her protector and hero. But he was the one who opened availability on the position. It was a lot to process. Too much.
She slipped away from the group for a breather, hiding in Violet’s bedroom because she thought it was the least likely place an adult might appear to find her. But she had only been sitting on the bed for about ten minutes when the door opened and Arnold appeared. He seemed surprised to see her, which was fair. “Sorry. Violet just wanted her bear,” he offered as an explanation. Eden looked beside her on the bed and saw a blue knit teddy bear beside her, so she extended it toward him. “Yeah, that one.”
“Did you make that?” she found herself asking.
Arnold looked sheepish. “Yeah,” he said. “I looked up some house stuff when I… well, you know. When I got her.”
Maybe for no real reason in particular, it got her. Maybe Arnold was the one she should have attached to. He was clever and protective, with a good natured heart. And though the circumstance had been a surprise, he was doing an amazing job as a single father.
Slowly, and with deliberateness, Eden stood up from the small bed and crossed the room to the doorway. Then in one swooping motion, and the bear still in one hand, she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. She felt him lock up in surprise, but the moment passed quickly, and his muscles relax. One arm folded warmly around her back, and the other hand sat gently on her hair. Eden cried into him. But it was all okay.
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Eden Manger
Breakthrough
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