I hung up with Rosalie as I watched Edward turn away from the boat, and set the phone right back down where it was. I took a deep breath and patted my stomach gently. "Don't you worry, we're going to be fine." I whispered. Edward was through the door within a second, and his arms were suddenly around me, holding me secure. His hands rubbed my arms and he kissed me forehead.
"How do you feel?" he asked, pulling back to look into my eyes. I looked back into his, and saw nothing but concern for me. There was nothing left for his baby.
"I'm fine," I choked out, and looked down so that my eyes wouldn't betray how I really felt. The way he'd called our baby it. He thought that our baby would hurt me. What had Carlisle told him? I knew what the little woman had thought… but that couldn't be completely true, could it?
Edward tipped my chin up, but I kept my eyes down. "Bella," I swallowed but didn't respond, "Bella, everything will be absolutely fine, I promise you." I just nodded. He sighed and took me into another embrace, and for the moment I just pretended that it was a moment of happiness and not fear. I held him closer to me, willing myself to breath evenly.
"We should get going," he whispered into my hair, and pulled me toward the boat by the hand.
This ride in the boat was longer than when we had come, Edward didn't want too much motion of the boat to make me sick again, so he drove maddeningly slow, even I was gritting my teeth over it. I sat with my hands in my lap as I shed a few tears for the island. I couldn't believe we were leaving already, it was heart breaking to see it shrink into the distance. A part of me, a huge part of me, wanted to stay and never leave. But I knew that if this baby were going to be safe, and was going to grow and be healthy, we had to leave. And I knew that we had to leave eventually, but I had been counting on another two weeks with the warm sun.
My time with Edward on the island had been the very best of my life. The days spent at the beach, no matter how much I'd rather have been in the big white house engaging in other activities at that point, had been so perfect, it was hard to believe – away from the island – that it was real. I was going to miss not having to hide, with Edward in the sunlight. We'd watched the sun sets, we'd hiked through the most unbelievable of tropical forests, swam in the crystal clear water at midnight, and we'd explored parts of each other that had been kept to a limit before. I continued to cry small tears as I realized that this might be the last time I see the island in a very long time.
"Bella!" Edward heard me crying, and abruptly stopped to boat to reach out to me. "What's wrong, sweetheart, is something to matter? Does anything hurt?" he fretted as he pulled me up to his arms.
"No, no," I said just above a whisper, "I'm just sad to be leaving," I looked up to see his gold eyes smolder just the tiniest bit.
"We can come back someday, if you'd like," he offered. I just nodded.
"We should keep going, or we'll miss our flight," he agreed, and turned to drive the boat.
The taxi ride through Rio was hell, the driver had an uncanny ability to drive so jerkily, that each time he touched the gas, or the break, my stomach wanted to jump out of my mouth. Edward had growled at the driver in a very impolite fashion multiple times, but the driver didn't seem to be bothered. I figured that he'd been complained to many times about his driving. The plane rides were comfortable and smooth in Edward's arms. We didn't speak much, but every twenty minutes or so he asked how I was feeling, I'd been able to give him a quick 'fine' each time. I fidgeted the whole time though, curious as to what awaited us at home. I wasn't afraid of him, not at all. But I was worried, about what he planned to do, and I was worried about how he would react when he figured out what I wanted.
The whole family was waiting for us at the Seattle airport. Carlisle and Esme, Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, all had worry plastered on their faces. Rosalie took a step forward at the same time Carlisle did – who stopped abruptly when he saw her move. I slipped easily out of the comfort of Edward's arms, and walked quickly into Rosalie's waiting arms. I heard everyone suck in a breath at the embrace.
"Bella?" Edward was quick to come to my side and touched my shoulder. Rosalie hissed slightly and pulled me from his hand. His eyes were wide as he stood frozen. "What –"
"We're not going to let you kill the baby," Rosalie said flatly, "Bella wants to keep it." I searched his eyes, but he only looked confused.
"Bella?" he asked again and took a step forward, but Rosalie pulled me a step back. His face turned from confused to a little angry, "Rosalie, what are you doing?" No one behind us dared to move.
"Edward I… I…" I couldn't seem to get the words out.
"She wants to keep the baby, Edward. You cannot kill it. As long as that is your intention, there are going to be some boundaries." Rosalie hissed again. I wanted to tell her to be easy on him, because I didn't want him to be hurting. My mouth was open, but nothing was coming out.
"Bella, what is she talking about?" Edward asked me again.
"I… I want to keep the baby. I do," his eyes widened in shock. "I love him, Edward," I whispered. He was frozen in front of me, like he had been in the bath room on the island. Carlisle was standing next to me in the next second.
"Bella, this fetus is half vampire. It could be dangerous. You could get hurt." He warned me,
I winced once, but drew a breath and said, "I understand," in a calm voice. I held my hand to my stomach and felt my nudger kick me once.
"Bella," Edward whispered, still shocked.
"Edward," I reached my hand out to his, it was still outstretched. I held it and pulled him to me slightly. Rosalie hissed , "Please?" I turned to her. She glared at Edward, but nodded and let me move closer to him. "Edward, this is what I want." I held his hand between my own, and supported it between out chests.
"Bella, it will kill you," his eyes bore into mine.
I shook my head, "He won't,"
"It will grow stronger, you will get hurt." I shook my head again, "The woman, the legends say that the mothers all d –" his voice broke on the word, and couldn't get it out.
I flinched again, "I'll be alright. I love this baby as much as I love you. I love you so much," I kissed the palm of his hand. "Let's go home, we can talk more." I suggested when he didn't say anything. I followed behind the rest of our family, Rosalie had her arm around me, and I pulled Edward – still staring into space – by the hand. I sat with Rosalie and Emmett in the backseat, while Edward and Carlisle took the front.
The ride home was silent. I began shaking a little once we'd gotten out of Seattle, but I wasn't cold. I was worried. Edward and Carlisle were so sure that I would get hurt, and the little woman had believed that I would die. Edward believed that my baby would kill me. But it wasn't exactly myself I was worried for. I couldn't die, not now. There were two things in this world that it would be worse than sin to leave behind. I would not leave Edward, and I could not leave my baby without a mother.
Emmett took my hand and rubbed the back with his thumb. He didn't say anything, but the gesture was so kind and comforting that I turned around and gave him as much of a hug as I could while buckled in the car. He chuckled a little and returned the embrace. It was then, that I decided that I had too much to live for. I would not die. I would keep my heart beating till my baby was born. And if I got close, I would make sure that my baby was out, and Edward could change me within the hour.
At some point during the ride, I fell to sleep against Emmett's shoulder. I didn't know how much later it was that I felt my big brother's arms around my body, pulling me out of the car. "Don't wake up," he whispered. I almost laughed, as if telling me not to wake up would actually prevent me from doing so. I kept my eyes closed, because I was exhausted. I hadn't slept from the island all the way to Seattle, and I was completely spent. I hit the cushions before I'd realized we were even in the house, and I felt a cool hand brush my cheek. A blanket was thrown over me to keep me from shivering, and I yawned.
I was half asleep, but I could hear them speaking in hushed tones.
"Rosalie, what the hell are you thinking? She is going to get hurt, this thing is going to kill her!" I heard Edward growl.
"She'll live, Edward. Calm down. She called me before you both left and asked me to help her. You want to kill a baby, Edward."
"Because it is going to kill my wife, Rose." He snarled back at her.
"Edward," Carlisle's voice cautioned, "Rosalie, he is right. We do not know how this will turn out for Bella, and all things considering, she is the priority here."
"She wants this baby, Carlisle. This is her choice."
"Alice, do you have any idea what the outcome will be if we leave this be?" Carlisle said.
I heard Alice groan, "I can't see exactly, Edward is dead set on getting it out right now, and Bella wants to keep it. She's going to rough it out. Everything is mixed up in one big mess."
"What do you mean, 'rough it out'?"Esme's voice asked.
"There isn't just a possibility that the fetus will grow stronger. It will, and I'm seeing a ninety percent chance that it will hurt her. But she won't die… as far as I can tell. I can only see ahead about fifteen hours."
"It's growing, quickly. I should help Emmett and Jasper with research. And I'll prep some of my medical supplies, we need to be ready for anything." Carlisle said. I couldn't be sure, but I thought he left the room.
"Rosalie," I heard Edward. Was he begging? "Rose, please. I can't lose her. Not over something like this, not ever. You have to let me… if this hurts her, you have to."
"It is a baby, Edward. Bella will be fine, the baby will be fine. You are not going to lose her." Rosalie said coldly.
"Rose, Edward is right. You cannot let Bella die because you want a child," Alice said softly. I heard Rose hiss. "Bella is part of our family, it will hurt us all to lose her."
"This is Bella's choice, Alice. She asked for my help. If I were in her position, I would hope that she would do the same for me. Esme jumped off a cliff, because her baby died. Bella would die just the same, for hers. I am not saying that she will die, I am saying that a mother's love is a powerful thing. Once a woman feels that connection, it will not break. It would destroy Bella anyways, if you were to kill her baby." Rose defended.
Content, I drifted into unconsciousness.
