The Fantasy Basket

By Esme Incognito

Inspired by Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series. No infringement intended.

Posted 4/16/12. Re-posted 11/16/13.

SUMMARY:

What happens after the happily ever after? This is the story of two women, two generations, two marriages, both on the brink of breakdown. It follows Bella who is struggling with the throes of new parenthood, a new house, and a new attitude from her once-attentive husband who is now more focused on his job and his image than his wife, and Esme, who lived through much of the same 20 years ago. Can Esme's advice about commitment, communication, and (gulp) sex help Bella save her marriage, or will she be written off as a meddling mother-in-law?

PROLOGUE:

April 2012, Bella POV

He stood next to his side of the bed and gaped at me as I left our room, stormed down the hall with my head held high, and gently clicked the door of one of the spare bedrooms shut behind me. I collapsed onto the lonely bed that sat in the middle of the otherwise empty and spartan room, trying to hold back both tears and angry, cursing rants. I buried my face in my pillow, anticipating the need to hide the noise from our guests, and he knocked quietly on the other side of the door.

"Bella? Bella, I'm sorry…" I ignored him, knowing that if I said a word to him now, many more words would come spilling out. Words that I'd regret, especially in front of his parents. "Bella?... Damn it!" I heard him shuffle back down the hall and close our bedroom door behind him. That set off the tears—what seemed like hours of them—as I repeated Esme's words over and over in my mind: No dumping. Choose to stay. There's always hope…

Esme POV

Oh dear, I thought as I paused at the top of the stairs, a glass of water in each hand. I tracked the sound of muffled sobs to one of the spare bedrooms.

Carlisle thanked me, and, noticing the look on my face asked "What's wrong, Baby?"

"She's upset again—really upset. We raised that boy better than this, Carlisle."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This will be the longest author's note, I promise (except maybe when we get to the end).

The Fantasy Basket will alternate between Esme's perspective in 1990 and Bella's in 2012. It's two separate stories woven into one.

This is a story about grown-ups, for grown-ups. If you're under 18, you shouldn't be reading it. (It probably won't interest you, anyway).

The Fantasy Basket is 100% pre-written. It was previously posted, but I had to remove all but the prologue & epilogue when some RL stuff came up. (Those were the ONLY chapters I could leave up!) I was overwhelmed with the number of people who asked me to send them a PDF copy of the full story. Based on that, I thought there still may be enough Fantasy Basket love out there for me to re-post it. So here it is again under my new pen name.

I plan to re-post the chapters on Saturdays and Wednesdays, starting 11/16/13. I'm also posting it on fiction pad, in case the FFN people decide to delete it and all of your lovely reviews again. (The sanitized version was deleted—go figure).

The Fantasy Basket is my first full length story, so it certainly isn't perfect. I had a lot of help from my good friend and beta, Besotted. Please go check out her stories, too.

If you're a new reader, thank you for giving The Fantasy Basket a look. It's not your typical fan fic and I hope you'll review the chapters to let me know what you think.

If you're returning for a second read-through, thank you! I'd love to hear from you, too. Please review and let me know what you think.

I don't have much time for promoting this on all the social sites, so any recs or mentions would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy The Fantasy Basket and that it touches you somehow or teaches you something.

Thanks for reading! Now, on with the show...

Jen