Chapter one: Breaking the News
All I had to do was tell Charlie. Then Edward and I would plan a weekend trip to go visit Renee where we would tell her in person.
On the drive to Charlie's house Edward and I had discussed what we would say to Charlie and how to break it to Renee. Of course I knew that Renee would probably be much more accepting of the idea than Charlie, but we had agreed that it would be much better to get it over with by telling Charlie first.
It was like any other day in Forks, raining and overcast. The only difference was that my soon to be family and former best friend had just risked their lives fighting to keep me alive by killing all the Vampires that Viktoria had created, and now that I was safe from that danger a new danger had presented itself that nearly scared me as much.
I wasn't sure what Charlie's reaction would be once we told him the great news. As Edward pulled up to my house he swiftly stopped the car and turned off the already silent engine to his shiny Volvo.
"Remember Bella I'm here with you and I love you. You are my only love and I will love you no matter what happens." I stared into his eyes, they were anxious, but they showed concern for nothing but me.
I did feel comforted by his presence, knowing that I would not have to do this alone. I took a deep breath and looked down on the beautiful ring that was on my left hand. Then I looked at the bracelet that was still on my right hand. The two loves in my life were there on my wrist reminding me of the fresh pain I had caused both of them. My heart felt heavy. I had let Edward be by my side when I was a complete monster, the least I could do for him now was marry him. He so wanted to be married. I should at least give him that happiness.
But then I thought of Jacob and how torn he would be when he found out that we were married. Would the pain be too much for him? But then he had been such a jerk and he had played dirty; toying with my mind. And then how he had so willingly put his life in danger to save mine. But had Edward not also risked his life time and time again for my sake? Edward was defiantly the one. But I still had feelings for Jacob; he had been my sunshine when I could see no light.
Edwards cool hands took hold of my sweaty slightly shaking hands. They immediately stopped shaking as soon as he took hold.
"Bella?" His voice seemed distance, but quickly came back "Bella, honey it's going to be ok… If you're too nervous to tell him right now we can wait a few days." He suggested. I looked back at his beautiful face. I'm not sure what he saw in my face, but his face seemed to be filled with love, concern and sorrow at the same time.
I finally cleared my head and found my voice, "No. I… I mean we have to do this now." Then I managed what I imagined to be a mischievous smile "Remember I told you this might be dangerous? If I suddenly run out of the house screaming you will have to go on without me and break the news to Charlie that I have lost my mind and will soon be married to a Vampire."
His face brightened up when he heard my little joke. "Ok we're doing this together." He flashed a brilliant smile, "Besides Charlie's in a pretty good mood. His favorite team just won and…" He hesitated "and he has just now found your acceptance letter to Dartmouth" his smile got wider "hmm… I must have accidentally left it on the coffee table."
I stared up at him in horror. I couldn't believe he would leave that for Charlie to find. I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go to college or even if I really was going to a college after all.
"Edward. You are a monster" I replied. It was the best I could think of for revenge. He glared at me for a second then murmured "ouch". I immediately regretted saying this.
"It's ok" he said, "I deserved as much" then he rested one hand gently on my check and leaned forward to kiss me softly on the lips. It was a brief kiss. "Ok, are you ready to go in?" He said trying to be as cheerful as possible.
"Oh joy" I replied, "Now we get to see what my father looks like when he's extremely upset!"
"I don't know about that. I have a pretty good feeling about this" Edward said in confidence.
He got out of the car and before I could even open my door he was there opening the door for me and holding out a hand for me to grab. I got out and brushed myself down as well as I could. I took a few deep breaths and then grasped to Edwards elbow, and then we started walking to the door. It's interesting how time seems to warp when you especially don't want to do something. Before I even realized what was going on we were suddenly in the house and walking up to Charlie, who was on the couch.
Charlie turned around and I was surprised to see a grin on his face even with Edward gracing our presence. I guess Edward was right about Charlie being in a good mood.
"Dad? Edward and I need to talk to you about something." I said in a very serious tone as I took a seat on the recliner chair, Edward standing behind me now placing his hand gently on my shoulder. Charlie's smile faltered a little but he still had an expecting look on his face like he was going to receive some good news. Obviously he thought I was going to tell him about Dartmouth. I took a deep breath and felt a little light headed. Edward rubbed my shoulder, bringing me back to life.
"Dad Edward and I are…" I began
"Oh I'm so proud of you. I mean I never thought you would apply, let alone get into a school like that. Of course I realize Edward was probably behind a lot of this and he'll be going where you go etc… But I really think this will be your chance to see what life can be like outside of Forks. It will be such a good experience; you'll make new friends, learn lots of complicated things in school… I mean Dartmouth. Wow." He looked at me the way a father looks at his daughter on the first day of kindergarten, with that soft gooey look that doesn't happen very often with Charlie, He was really happy.
"Well yes I did get into Dartmouth, but Dad I kind of came here to talk about something else" I figured I couldn't afford to get distracted and possible lose the nerve to tell him so I decided to just blurt it out.
"Edward and I are getting…Married" I said in a quite voice. I was staring at the floor, my stomach doing little flips. Was the room moving or was it just me.
I glanced up at my Dad. Did he even hear me?
"Oh Bella don't worry about the tuition. I'll figure something out. And besides, you are a very bright girl, I'm sure you can get a scholarship…." He was talking non stop! He didn't even hear me. This was very uncharacteristic for Charlie. Oh lord that meant I was going to have to say it again in front of him.
I glanced up at Edward who was still standing firmly by my side. He looked a little amused and then he noticed I was staring at him. He looked at me and then when he saw the panic in my face his expression changed immediately to concern. I could tell he thought I was going to back out of my promise. My head started to hurt and I could feel the dizziness coming on that always accompanies nervousness. Edward would hate me if I gave up this easily.
After ranting on for a bit more, Charlie finally took notice of my somewhat bewildered expression and stopped. "Bella, what's wrong? I thought you wanted to go to a good school?" He asked unsure if he was missing something. Which he was. I had just told him something extremely important and he hadn't even heard.
I took a deep breath and began again, "Dad." I paused and took another breath. This was worse than the first time because he was actually watching me very intently now. "Edward and I are-" Before I could finish Edward interrupted.
"Sir I was wondering if I could talk to you in private for a moment. Concerning Bella's future plans of course." He finished. Looking very dazzling as he smiled innocently at Charlie's confused look. What was Edward doing? This was my responsibility to tell Charlie. Or maybe Edward wasn't going to tell him at all. Maybe they would just talk more about Dartmouth. I was beginning to feel angry as Charlie nodded his consent.
"Bella would you mind waiting upstairs for a minute while we talk?" I heard Charlie's voice, but could hardily believe it. I walked slowly to my room and heard the faint buzz of conversation start as I closed my bedroom door.
This was too much. I sat on my bed and waited for three minutes, staring blankly at the clock on my wall. Then I started to worry. I couldn't hear anything anymore. Maybe they had moved the conversation somewhere where I wouldn't hear the argument. My head was really hurting now so I decided to lie down. I was trying very hard not to hyperventilate when I thought of what they might be saying. I grabbed my pillow and curled into a ball. Worry overcame me and I fell into a nightmarish sleep…
I knew I was dreaming because it was one of those dreams where you are half sleeping and half conscious. In real life Charlie was yelling. In my dream Charlie was threatening to kill Edward. Charlie was shooting Edward, but Edward just smiled and kept walking towards Charlie, ready to go in for the kill. I was screaming at them to stop trying to kill each other then I ran out in front of Edward and begged him not to hurt my father and told him that I still loved him even if we couldn't get married. Charlie grabbed me and told me he was going to lock me away where no one would get me. And I started to thrash my arms out trying to get free…
I snapped back into reality when I felt the ice cold hands pulling me out of my dream world. Edward was grasping me. "Bella? Bella!! Oh please Bella." His tone was desperate. He was shaking me lightly. Then there was Charlie's livid voice, "What wrong with her?! What the Hell did you do to my daughter?"
"I think she's having a seizure or something. Charlie will you please call my father?" Edward sounded panicked. I couldn't let my angel be so sad. I flashed my eyes open completely awake now and threw my arms around him. "Oh Edward!" I cried. "I'm glad you're alright" I said. The dream was so vivid. I was thankful that I really had been sleeping and none of my dream had actually happened. Then I realized that Edward and I were on the floor and not on the bed. How had I gotten down there?
"Bella!" Edward cried with relief now. "You scared us so much!" He said nodding towards Charlie. His hands were brushing my hair away from my face. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you feel sick?" Why was he freaking out? I was just dreaming.
"I'm fine, what's wrong?" I said, feeling slightly annoyed and embarrassed. I sat up and then realized that my whole right side was hurting. "Hmm… I must have fallen off the bed while I was sleeping" I said nonchalantly.
"You were sleeping?" Came in Charlie's doubtful voice.
"Well yeah you guys were taking so long" I said trying to defend myself.
"Bella we had only been talking for 15 minutes when we heard you scream" Edwards voice was still worried and he was now checking my pulse- not that he needed to. Had it only been 15 minutes? Was it even possible to start dreaming that quickly? That was definitely weird, but I just figured that it was because I was so tired from recent events in my life.
"Was I screaming?" I hated that I always talked in my sleep, now I was falling out of bed too. I felt myself blush as Charlie and Edward stared at me. "Are you sure it was only 15 minutes?" I asked hoping he had made a mistake with timing.
"Yes Bella. Are you sure you're ok? Your pulse sounds… I mean feels a little off" Edward still had his fingers on my wrist. Then Charlie came over and both he and Edward lifted me up to the bed.
"Do you think I should still call Dr.Cullen?" my father asked Edward while still scanning me as if I might suddenly collapse. Could this have gone any worse? I desperately needed a moment with Edward to ask him what my father thought about us getting married.
"Yes I think it would still be a good idea, you know just in case." Edward said. I don't think Edward was really worried, but I do think that he also wanted a moment to be with me. Charlie nodded stiffly and began to walk out of the room. He stopped at the doorway and gave Edward a warning look before continuing on downstairs.
"Bella are you sure your fine? I've never seen you twitching like that before. It really freaked me out at first. It reminded me of…" His voice trailed off. I knew exactly what it had reminded him of. The night I had almost become a Vampire. When I had felt the hot burning pain flash up through my skin. That was the only time he saw my body thrash out uncontrollably like that, although these were very different circumstances.
"Yes I'm fine" I declared, "But what I am really worried about is what you said to Charlie and why you two were yelling"
"Oh we weren't yelling" Said Edward matter-of-factly, "Charlie was calling you to come down stairs. He actually yelled your name a few times before we heard you scream."
"You weren't yelling at each other? Why?" I said dumbfounded
"Why should we have been yelling? We were having a very interesting conversation." Edward's voice was mocking now. I stared at him in disbelief. Maybe all they did was talk about Dartmouth. Maybe Edward was backing out of his promise too? Edward read the expression on my face and started up again. "Don't worry I asked for his permission for your hand in marriage." He smiled brightly and kept going, "So to let you in on everything. Charlie wasn't happy at first, but then he said that he had never seen you so happy before and it wasn't his job to tell you how to live your life. He actually gave in quite easily, but that was after I told him of all the things I promised to do for you."
"What are you planning on doing exactly?" I said. I was a little worried what the answer might be.
"You know all the good wonderful things. I told him that I would be entirely responsible for all of our finances like school and housing, told him I would protect you, love you, and let you visit as much as you wanted. I even suggested that he come and live with us, but he didn't sound too keen on that idea." He was smirking now
"Charlie's going to let you marry me?" I asked in disbelief. Was it really that easy? There had to be something more to this catch. "And that's it? No boundaries, no warnings, no fighting? I'm honestly surprised" I sounded pretty pessimistic. Edward chuckled.
"I told you that Charlie was in a good mood" he stated, very pleased with himself. "Well there is something you should now. He thinks that I haven't proposed to you yet so… As much as I hate to say this. I'm going to have to ask for the ring back until after you talk to Charlie… Yes he wants to talk to you before I Propose… again to you." Edwards face looked sad when he saw me slip the ring off my finger.
"Charlie wants to talk to me in private?" I should have seen that coming, "Do you think he is going to tell me to say no to you? Or worse, what if he banishes me from ever seeing you again" my voice cracked at the last question. I was honestly still worried.
"Bella, didn't I tell you? He gave me permission to marry you. He's not going to change his mind when he talks to you… I can see that." Edwards face was soft. I put my hands on his cold checks and he leaned in to kiss me. His sent was overwhelming and I felt for a moment that I might just stay like that forever, in his embrace not knowing time or place, but simply happy. His lips were soft and passionate. I grabbed his hair and breathed in heavily smelling in his wonderful aroma. The kiss broke too quickly. I wanted more, but knew that now was not the time to get carried away. "I love you" he said softly when we broke apart.
"I love you too" I whispered to him. He was now holding me against his chest. I loved every part of him at that moment. "Bella? There's something else too" he said breaking my daydream.
"What is it?" I stared into his amber eyes contently.
"Well, Charlie didn't say it out loud, but he was thinking it." He looked a little uncomfortable and a bit disappointed, "It's silly really, but I thought you should be prepared." He glanced down at me. I was paying more attention now.
"What is he thinking?"
"Well he thinks that there is another reason why we are rushing into this marriage. After I told him how soon I planned on getting married, he came up with something that I never considered he might think. So I think you should know he might say something that is, of course impossible even if he we had…" I wasn't sure, but I could have sworn that Edward was blushing. Did Vampires blush? Surely not.
"If we did what Edward?" I pried, "what was Charlie thinking about?" I really wanted to know now.
"Well you'll find out soon enough." And that's all he said before Charlie walked back into my room. Edward was already sitting a good six inches away and was holding my hand rather holding my whole body in a hug. He gave Edward the same warning look, and then walked up to me and sat on the other side of me that was not occupied by Edward.
"I just talked to DR. Cullen", Charlie announced, "He said it was probably nothing, but that he would come and check up on you just in case. He was in town anyway, so he'll probably be here in the next 10 minutes or so." Obviously something was bothering Charlie. "How are you feeling Bella?"
"I'm fine" I said annoyed. Why is it that everyone kept asking that? I wasn't about to change my answer.
Charlie just sat there and eyed me. I couldn't stand it anymore so I said, "you know what Dad? I am feeling a little dizzy. Maybe I should rest." It was a lie, but my muscles were hurting and I was feeling very nervous with both Edward and Charlie watching me. They both got up immediately and I pulled my covers over me as I lay down. Charlie walked out of the room and motioned for Edward to follow.
"Maybe I should stay here and keep watch in case she falls off the bed again" He said almost pleading.
"Fine" Charlie mumbled as he stalked off.
Before I knew it, Edward was laying beside me stroking my hair and kissing my shoulder.
"Are you still feeling dizzy?" he teased.
"Yes, when you do that" I stated. His scent was irresistible.
End of Chapter one