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fifty-four

. . .

Eden, Staysha, and Daysha were happily held up in studio A helping their men and artists tweak and create a record that was going to set the streets on fire.

After a day of recuperating, Maximus was out with Keon and Staysha, handling business.

Eden had a day before she was to report for Get Richer.

While she had security off her neck and her man occupied, she was heading to Peaceful Meadows Healing Center to see the woman responsible for some of her man’s trauma.

If Maximus was never going to have this conversation with her, she’d do it for him and hopefully jumpstart the healing process.

She would never have her mother, but Maximus could at least have what was left of his.

In the waiting room, she took in the oasis-like vibe of the facility. Everyone employed by the company wore embroidered polos or teal scrubs, easy to detect amongst the guests and their visitors. A woman with a large smile approached Eden.

“Mrs. Burton?”

Eden shook her head. “Sage. Girlfriend, not wife.”

“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.”

“Okay. Then that’s the plan. You take care of yourself.”

“You too. You’re carrying his heart and his soul.”

Eden smiled. “Yeah, he likes living in my skin.”

Two straight weeks of rehearsals. Eden would get up when Maximus tiredly shuffled in from the studio.

They’d share a quick kiss, a quick exchange of I love you’s, and she was off.

The script had been tweaked to accommodate her growing belly.

However, home life was overwhelming. No time to connect, no time to keep everything as tidy as she wanted to.

Dragging herself into the house, she heard Hayla Johnson playing throughout the speakers of the surround sound. Just above the saxophones and guitars was Maximus humming the lyrics. He only paused because he sensed his woman.

Eden offered him a soft, “Hey, you.”

“Hey you,” he returned, folding their mountain of clothes. “How was today?”

Eden took a seat next to him, feeling a weight fall off of her. “Good, filming starts soon, and the script has been tweaked to fit this growing situation.”

“That situation is about to take over everything,” Maximus said with a smile, rubbing her belly.

Eden picked up a shirt and started assisting him with their household chores. “How are you? I feel like we’ve been passing each other.”

“I don’t like that shit. I’m getting in when you’re leaving. Ain’t felt you, ain’t smelled you. Tasted you. You in here eating dinner without me, falling asleep without me.”

“And after the album drops, you’re going on tour. It’s going to take some adjusting. Especially now that I’ve gotten used to being up under you all the time.”

“From running from me and actin’ like you wasn’t feeling me to having my baby. And they say stalking is a crime.”

Eden threw her head back and laughed. “Only because it’s you. Anyone else, I’m calling the law, and I don’t ever call the law. Ugh, I'm going to miss you.”

“Honestly, I’ve been back and forth about pushing it back. If I handle it now, I’m home with you and the baby. If not, I'm leaving you here with a newborn and I ain’t trying to have that on my head.”

“You’re sweet. I’m really going to need you home with us.”

Maximus kissed her face. “You are, too.”

He grew quiet, and Eden picked up on his mulling. She abandoned the folding and reached over to massage the back of his neck. “Talk to me.”

“I finally went to a family day today. I’ve never heard my mother talk to me clearly.

She’s either been fueled with anger, liquor, some bitch ass nigga or whatever they were telling her at that church.

Never heard her apologize either. Up until today, she has never admitted to being wrong.

She’s only looked at me and saw me twice that I could remember. ”

“You needed that. I’m happy you got it.”

Maximus hummed. “I feel like I need to thank you for that.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that. I love you that much that I’ll go as your proxy and advocate for you. There’s some things that can be saved. I think what you can experience from her now will help you later.”

“What about you? I know you saw the news, MRA is being sued along with Natavia and Rico.”