Chapter 1:

So, here it is: months later... I love you? Yeah, I know I said one month, but here's the thing(s). Studying for state competition for 4-H U, maid of honor for my sister, future Nienie (aunt) of a wonderful little unborn boy named Owen, finally getting inspiration for my original story (not ready to share that with y'all anytime soon: sorry), babysitting, and the possibility of getting a second job working as a tour guide at a plantation. Not to mention that my junior year schedule has just gone to crap. But that's another story for another day- so, FINALLY, here is the first chapter of Deafening Darlings. Also, most of the story is BPOV.

BPOV:
I quickly took out the French bread from the oven and put some butter on it for the kids before they left for school. I had planned on giving them something better than this, especially since it was the end of their first week back at school after Christmas break, but Edward had distracted me. With that thought, I found it very difficult to be sorry for not giving my children a better breakfast. Still, toasted bread was better than nothing at all. Besides, I had spoiled them all week.

Two strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind as I poured four glasses of orange juice. I giggled when I felt lips on my neck, softly brushing a tickling the skin there.

"Good morning." I greeted as I turned around in the arms of my wonderful husband.

He grinned. "It is a very good mornin'." He answered and kissed my lips.

"OMG! Seriously?" Laney cried from the doorway of the kitchen, her hands covering her eyes.
Edward rolled his eyes and gave me another kiss before backing away.

Laney peaked from between her fingers and sighed happily when she saw we were done with our public display of affection.

"Just remember how it feels the next time Will comes over, Lane Darlin'." Edward smirked from behind his coffee cup.

Laney rolled her eyes. "That's different." She said and took a sip of her orange juice and then went to put on her uniform.
"How is it any different?" Edward grumbled, his eyes wide.

I laughed and patted his chest. "She'll understand one day, love." I promised and kissed his jaw.

He smiled crookedly at me.

"Hey, Momma. Hey, Da." Cash said as he strolled into the kitchen wearing his uniform khakis and navy blue polo and hopped on one of the bar stools.

"Mornin', bud." Edward said as he ruffled Cash's hair.

I smiled at my son as I set down a plate and glass of juice in front of him. I wasn't ashamed to admit that both of my sons were Momma's boys, and I did spoil them quite a bit. But both of the girls were the same way with Edward.

Kate and Masen walked into the kitchen at the same time and both of them sat on either side of Cash.
All of our kids had their own completely different personalities, but they all complimented each other.
Laney was the dramatic animated one who should have been a blonde her entire life instead of just her first three years. Her style was just as out there was her personality was. That had never changed. Her nails were always painted dark purple, and the ring fingers of each hand were always black. And she wore more rings than Liberace.
Cash was exactly like Edward. He was overly sarcastic and was wise beyond his years. He definitely had a dramatic side, and he did have a temper but that was only when he was really pissed.

Outside of school, he always wore his ripped jeans and boots, just like his Daddy.

Kate was a perfect mixture of Laney and Cash. She knew when to be dramatic and she knew when to be sarcastic. She was always worried about pleasing me and Edward and would always try to outdo any other person in the world in order to do so. Little Kate was our tomboy who wore her little jean shorts with a camouflage shirt.

Masen was downright to most compassionate and understanding. He was so go with the flow and was always willing to put his siblings' happiness in front of his own. Edward said that he got that from me. I didn't think so, but Edward always insisted.

Masen was dressed in the same uniform as his brother, and Kate had the same shirt, only with a plaid skort for bottoms.

Laney came down then. I could practically hear the aggravation rolling off of him in waves. He didn't do well with Laney transferring from Catholic to public school. If it were up to him, he would have sent Laney to another private school after she graduated from her elementary and junior high school. But she insisted on going to public school with all of her other friends.

The uniform is what bugged the hell out of Edward. Laney wore mid-thigh khaki shorts (the school didn't specify on length- just that it had to be reasonable), a white polo unbuttoned with a white cami underneath and her dark gray button-up cardigan. She had her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head, her makeup done with the skill of a paid artist, and her eye glasses perched on her nose.
Laney sat on the bar next to Kate. I slid a plate to her and she began to pick out the inside of the bread.

"It food darlin', not a boat." Edward laughed.

She scrunched her nose at him, still not having grown out of making her bunny face.

"Seriously, Lane. That's weird." Cash said.

"You're weird." She laughed and checked her phone. "Wills is here." She said and gulped down her orange juice. She ruffled each of her brothers' hair and kissed the top of Kate's hair before hugging both Edward and me and walking out of the door.

"Y'all ready?" Edward asked the kids.
They nodded.

"Okay. Bye, bay." Edward and gave me a peck on the lips before grabbing his leather jacket.

"Bye. Have a good day." I called as he walked into the garage.

"You, too. Love you!"

"Love you, too." I answered and hugged each of the kids before they followed their father to the truck.

Once the kitchen was cleaned up, I went into the bathroom for a bubble bath. None of the kids knew, not even Edward, but every weekday morning, I would settle down into our claw-foot tub and relax. It was really the only time I had to myself.

I was in the tub for only twenty minutes when Edward walked into the bathroom with a smirk.

"Can this be the reason you never answer the house phone when I call you after forgetting something?" He asked.

"It can." I giggled. "Did you forget something?"

He shook his head. "I was going to surprise you. I took the day off today."

I smiled. "Yay!" I giggled as he rolled his eyes and knelt down by the tub to give me a kiss.

"Hmm. Want to go back to bed?"

"Can't you just come in here with me?" I asked.

Edward snorted.

I laughed. Edward had a phobia of bathtubs. Well, not exactly bathtubs, just the idea of a bath. All of our children were the same way. They felt that they had to take a shower before they take a bath because a bath was just like sitting in dirty water. That was coming from the five people who would go swimming in the creek at the camp. They insisted it was different since the idea of a bath was to get clean.

"I'll be out in a minute."

"Take your time. You deserve some time to relax." He said and kissed my nose before reaching into the water and poking my stomach.

I laughed and sunk into the water, kicking up my leg, sending water all over Edward. "Sorry." I said when I came back up.

"You don't sound like it." He laughed before walking back into the bedroom.

Well, it was his fault. He knew how I got when someone touched my ticklish spots.

When we finally got out of bed, it was one-thirty in the afternoon. I made a quick lunch before Edward left to go pick up the youngest three from school for two-thirty.

"Hey, Momma." Laney greeted as she walked through the door at two forty-five.
"Hi, love. Mind helping me with dinner?" I asked her.

She shook her head and put her school bag on one of the kitchen stools.

"So, how are you and Will?" I asked.

She blushed and shrugged. "Good, I guess."

"You guess?"

"He's going to college next year, Momma. I'll only be a sophomore. A relationship seems pointless between us."

"Lane, you two have been inseparable forever. Besides, he's only three years older than you. That's not too bad."

She nodded sadly and continued to chop the celery I needed.

"Honey, Will wouldn't have asked you to prom if he didn't like you."

"What if he only asked me because he knew I would say yes?" She asked sadly.

"I've seen the way he looks at you. He likes you. A lot."

"You think so?" She asked.

"I know so."

Edward and the rest of the kids walked into the house then, so Laney and I dropped the subject until later. I let Laney go to her room after finishing what I needed her to do.

"I sense that something happened." Edward said as he grabbed a magnalight pot from the cabinet.
"Just some girl talk." I assured him.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Ma, I'm hungry." Cash groaned as he walked into the kitchen and threw himself onto one of the bar stools.

"Edward Cullen, Jr., you are the reason we have to go grocery shopping twice a week, little boy." I said as I pulled out a granola bar and tossed it to him.

"Dinner will be ready at six." I told him.

Cash grinned. "Love you." He said and walked out of the kitchen.

"That's your son." I said and pointed at Edward.

"He's a growing boy."

I rolled my eyes. "What's your excuse?"

He only wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk before winking.

"Loser." I muttered with a chuckle before going back to dinner.

Edward kissed my temple before going into the living room.

When I was finished putting everything in the pot, I put the lid on it and went into the living room. Edward was playing some racing game with Cash, both of them sitting in the middle of the sectional. Masen was sitting on the floor by the coffee table doing homework. And Laney was sitting on the sectional with Kate at her feet as Laney braided her hair. I settled on the sofa next to the girls.

At six twenty, dinner was ready. The kids fixed their plates and settled back on the sectional to watch a movie. It was Laney's night to choose, and we all held our breath to see which one it was tonight. She never chose anything other than Steel Magnolias, Remember the Titans, Brave, Beauty and Beast, or The Princess and the Frog. And there was nothing wrong with that, for the first month or two. But we've been doing this every night for the past two years, and she still hasn't changed the movies she wants to watch.

"Sunshine!" Laney sang in a high voice.

Kate groaned. "But it's so stupid."

"It's inspiring." Laney insisted.

"Can you please choose something else?" Masen begged.

"You ova' cookin' my grits, Mase." Laney rolled her eyes. "But fine. I'll attempt to find something else."

She looked for a minute or two and then finally decided. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!"

"Yay!" Kate cheered and grabbed the DVD from her sister.

"Good morning, Starshine. The earth says hello!" Laney and Kate quoted nearly every Johnny Depp line.

"Now, I remember why I hate this movie." Edward muttered and put an arm around me.

I laughed and patted his cheek. "Hang in there, Daddy."

He smiled and turned his head to kiss the palm of my hand.

When the movie was over, Cash grabbed the Scrabble box and set it up. The kids each got a different side and Edward and I made sure no one cheated. We had a game night every Friday night, and that was something we had been doing since Kate and Masen were about five.

"Jerk face is not one word, Laney." Cash said.

"Yeah it is."

"No it's not. Da, is jerk face one word?" Cash asked. I tried to hold back my laugh. Edward was always just Da, not Dad or Daddy, just Da.

"I don't think so, bud. Sorry, Lane Darlin'. You're turn, Katie Love."

At the end of the game, all of the kids went into their rooms.

I went to clean up the kitchen while Edward took a shower. When I got back up to our room, Edward was on his laptop. I lay down next to him and grabbed my book from the bedside table, waiting as he finished payroll.

He looked so cute as I sat there, his eyebrows and eyes facing up as he tried to mentally calculate a few things with his reading glasses perched on the bottom of his nose.

Suddenly, we heard a crash. Edward shot up and out of the bed.

"Stay." He commanded as he grabbed his baseball bat from under the bed.

When Edward walked out the room, I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Then I heard it.

"Laney Charlotte Cullen! What the hell are you doing? Upstairs, now!"

A minute later, Laney trudged into the room wearing a pair of cutoff jeans, a black tank top, and one of Will's hats. A dark gray hoodie was hanging over her arms and her boots were in her hand.

"Lane, please don't tell me you were trying to sneak out." I begged. She looked at me with sad eyes. "Where's your father?"

"Chewing out Wills."

Just then, Edward came back into the room. He pulled off his glasses and tossed them on the dresser before starting to pace the room, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Laney hugged her feet to her chest as she sat on the bed and held onto the bill of her hat with her free hand.

"May you please inform me of what you were planning to do... Dear?" Edward asked. He was pissed. Not only was he perfectly articulating every word, but he used the term 'dear'. He only called us 'dear' when he was being sarcastic.

Laney peeked at him from behind her arm since her hand was still holding the hat to cover her face. She shrugged but remained silent- just like she was three years old again. Laney took off the hat and pulled on what looked like Will's football hoodie. It swallowed her.

"Laney, you're fourteen. I know that Will is three years older than you, but that doesn't mean you get the same freedom as him. You still have three years to go. Remember that." Edward scolded.

Laney nodded, but kept her head down.

"Lane, look at me."

She looked up at her father.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"Yes." Her voice was so small.

"You're grounded until further notice. No phone, no computer except for school, and no boyfriend. Your mother or I will bring you to and from school everyday. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Lane, where were you going?" I asked her.

She turned to look at me then looked back down at her feet. Edward sighed and sat down next to her, softly rubbing her back like he did when she was little and not feeling well.

Laney let out a small sob and cried into Edward's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Daddy."

"It's okay, Lane. Just don't do it again. What if something would have happened to you? No one would've known and God knows how that would've turned out. You know that Will is always welcome here and Seth and Kam love having you there. Why did you two try to sneak out?" Edward said softly and hugged her tightly before letting out a breath. "I know I'm going to regret saying this, but it has to be said. Lane, if you and Will are going to do anything, I at least want you two to be somewhere that we know you're going to be."

The sobbing stopped suddenly and Laney immediately let go of Edward, looking a deer in head lights.

"Lane, your father is right." I began.

Laney shook her head, blushing crimson. "We weren't going to DO anything. We haven't even done- ugh! No, just no."

"Then why the hell were sneaking out in the first place?" I asked her.

Laney looked at me as if I grown a third head. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's nice to have a nice conversation without our younger siblings barging in the room or jealous friends trying to get in the conversation or OVER-PROTECTIVE parents trying to get us out the a bedroom, which by the way never has a closed door. No, never, that just couldn't be the reason."

"You're being dramatic." I told her.

"Am I, Momma? Am I? As much as I love Kate, Cash, and Masen and as much as I love you and Daddy- none of you seem to comprehend the meaning of alone. Even whenever Will isn't here, a girl just needs her space. I mean, Jesus. And y'all wonder why I'm so quiet and moody. It's not PMS, I'm a teenager. I hate the world most of the time and just want to be left alone to deal with it myself."
"But Laney, it's not good for you to-," I started, but Laney held up a hand.

"Momma, I'm not crazy. I'm not a patient. I'm your daughter, and I would like to be treated like it. I'm not five years old. I'm fourteen..." Laney stopped for a moment to think. "Remember when I was little, and y'all told me that I would get hurt a lot when I grew up and that y'all would always be there?"
"Exactly, Lane. Which is why-,"

"This isn't one of those times, Daddy."

Edward's face fell, and I'm almost positive that mine did too. Tears were fighting to break loose.

"Don't get me wrong. It's nice to know that y'all want to be in my life, but I don't need you breathing down my back and holding me up, making sure I don't fall. I'm not hurting. I'm just trying find out who I am. I don't want to be known as just Edward Cullen's daughter the rest of my life. Or as that girl who dated the guy on her father's reality show. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" She quoted with a smirk.

To my utter surprise, Edward smiled. I tried to keep emotions in check. At this point, I was considering just locking her in her room until I died.

"Yes. And I'm proud of you for telling me. I'm sorry, baby doll." Edward said and hugged her.

Laney hugged him back and then looked at me. She giggled. "Mom, are you PMSing, or are you pregnant again?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hush, you." I said and then pulled her into my arms. "My baby girl is growing up."
I could nearly feel her eyes rolling. "Can I go to bed now?"

"Oh, your father didn't tell you, but we now have a new rule for grounded children." I laughed.
Edward looked confused but then his eyes lit with recognition as he went into the closet.

"On the sofa with you, Lane Darlin'." Edward said as he tossed a pillow and blanket on the sofa that was in the sitting area of our room.

"What?" Laney screeched.

"You're lucky we're not making you sleep on the floor." I laughed and finally let her out of my embrace.

Laney groaned. "This is so not fair. Can I at least go get my jammies?"

"Go. But you have two minutes. Hustle." Edward said and clapped his hands once with a chuckle.

"This is so not cool."

"One minute and forty seconds." Edward sang.

"Eep." Laney squeaked and ran out of the master suite.

"You're enjoying this way too much." I laughed.

He shrugged and gave me a peck on the lips before getting on his side of the bed.

"One minute!" He called.

Two seconds later, Laney came barreling through the doorway and slid into the room in her fuzzy socks, ramming into the bed.

"Ah ya yie." She groaned and rubbed her thigh as she walked into the bathroom to change.
"Bull in a china closet." Edward laughed. "She gets that from you."

I rolled my eyes with a smile.

Laney walked into back into the room in a hoodie and Cotten shorts. She flopped onto the sofa with a scowl and a scrunched nose.

"Your face is gonna get stuck like that, Lane."

"No, it ain't." She grumbled.

I shook my head at the two of them and pecked Edward on the cheek before lying down and falling asleep.

I was woken up by thunder. It rattled the entire house. Within ten seconds, Laney was in between Edward and me. Kate followed shortly after. After third rumble of thunder and in the middle of the lightning flashes, both Cash and Masen came into the room and slept at the foot of our bed.

Thank God for California kings.

A/N: Okay, so it was sort of short. I'm so sorry about that, but I promise the next chapters will be longer. Also, all of their outfits are already on my Polyvore. Yes, I finally got one. Anyway, it's all there. Here is the link:

And don't forget to check out my other brand new story called Trapped in Wedlock. And please don't forget to leave a review!

-Layn