Chapter Ten

Eden dropped her chin, willing the burning tears not to fall. She’d never felt more alone in her life.

The cameo stared back from her palm. Her shaky finger brushed over its cherished surface. He went back for it. Shane actually went back and bought her mother's cameo so she would have it on her wedding day. Something old and new at the same time. The gesture was the most personal and romantic thing anyone had ever done for her.

“You ready to get married?” Leah called from the doorway.

“J-just a minute.”

Eden stepped over to an ornamental glass cabinet, using her reflection in the smoky doors as a mirror to attach the pin to her dress. Perfect—beyond perfect.

But it didn't change anything, did it? With a deep breath, she shook her head and walked through the door to her chosen fate.

A few minutes later, her husband-to-be stood to her right as the minister droned on in front of them. Throughout the short ceremony, Eden wished Brad would look at her. Even now, repeating his vows, Brad did so in a clipped, business-like voice, staring at the minister for the next prompt.

In direct opposition, she was acutely aware of Shane's intense brown gaze focused on her.

A pull of her hand caught her attention back to where Brad now held a gold ring above her fingers. The sacred symbol which would bind her to this man, to the life she'd planned out for herself…

“Eden?” Brad tugged at her hand. “I need your fingers.”

What? She looked down, not remembering clenching them in such a tight fist.

“Eden, we're on a time schedule here.”

“Brad…” She released her lip from her teeth and inhaled a deep breath. “Brad, could you look at me, please.”

“Yes?” His gaze drifted up then back to her hand.

She didn’t release her fingers, but instead waited until his ambiguous expression returned to her face. “I'm sorry, Brad,” she began on the released breath. “I don't love you.”

This time, he almost chuckled. “I know. I don't love you, either. That's why this marriage is so perfect.”

“No, it isn't,” she whispered.

A hearty, “Yes,” from Leah on one side of her came simultaneously with Brad’s confused, “Pardon?”

Eden reclaimed her hand, twisting her cold fingers together. “I'm sorry, but it's not enough.”

Brad adjusted his tie and leaned in closer. “We agreed on the terms, Eden. They were very fair.”

“No, no. I don't mean that. I mean...I...I don't know what I mean.” She flung up her hands, riding on a wave of emotion for the first time in a long time. “All I know is, I want more now. I want someone who looks at me—really looks at me. I want the noise of a big family, the chaos of a backyard hockey game, snowflakes on my nose and someone who knows me enough to give me back a cherished memory of my mother.” At some point during her ramblings, her gaze had latched onto a pair of brown eyes drowning in guilt. Eden turned away, unable to hold the painful truth there. “Maybe it's wrong. Maybe it will never happen. But I don't want to get married just to get married. Now, I…I want more.”

Beneath her lashes, she dared a glance to the side.

Shane's gaze darted back and forth between Brad and herself.

He didn't need to speak, she read his impossible position in the tight jawline and deeply creased brows on the beloved face, and it killed her that she put him there.

“I don't understand.”

“I know you don't, Brad, and again, I'm sorry.” With a heavy breath, she shook her head. “I didn't understand myself until recently. How can I expect you to?”

For the first time, when she returned her gaze to Shane, his wasn't there to comfort her.

If she thought her heart ached last night, this moment cored it clean out of her chest, leaving only a gaping, empty hole.