Disclaimer: The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, the plotline is all mine Chapter two
Epov
Today my brother, for all intents and purposes, was marrying the girl of his dreams. I only met her two years ago when they moved up to Seattle and at first we kept rubbing each other the wrong way and most family gatherings were tense and uncomfortable.
That all changes after a couple of months when Rosalie was brought into the ER when I was working. She had been attacked in a bar and landed a couple of solid punches before the bastard who had harassed her, knocked her out by smashing her against a wall.
Thankfully someone had come by just after he knocked her against the wall and had saved her from anything worse. That night she was having nightmares, so I woke her and held her while she cried into my shoulder. She explained to me what happened to her before she met Emmett and that the situation she had just been in, had caused her to relive all those memories.
After that exhausting night, we finally managed to be polite to each other and I told her a little about my gritty past to show her she wasn't the only one with a troubled youth. I never told her everything, though. There was only one girl I had ever opened up to completely. One girl who I had loved more than anything, but she was no longer in my life.
I hardly heard the ceremony. I was focusing on silently flirting with the maid of honour. She was perfect for a one night stand and it had been too long. I needed some release and I was going to get it from her.
In no means did I sleep around. I had the occasional one night stand, but not too many and never with a girl that looked like her. I always chose her exact opposite, so I wouldn't run the risk of thinking about her.
After the ceremony we returned to my parent's house and headed to the backyard. I was first to congratulate Emmett and Rosalie and they both hugged me tightly, thanking me for being there for them today.
They were in deep conversation about a girl named Bella and that Rose would've rather had her as a maid of honour.
I frowned. "Who is this Bella you guys keep gushing about?"
"I'll introduce you when she gets here. She's my cousin, but only in name. She was adopted by my aunt and uncle when she was sixteen and she and I are best friends. She really helped me after what happened with Royce and was the first to jump for joy when Emmett and I got together."
"You really love that girl, don't you?" I asked, amazed that we never talked about this before.
"We both do," Emmett said with a big grin.
"I'm looking forward to meeting her, then."
"We placed her with our parents together with her folks. So look for her there," Emmett said when the first guests came up to congratulate them.
I moved to the back of the tent and chatted a little with Jasper and later with Lauren. When it was time for us to take out seats I remembered that I had yet to meet this elusive Bella.
Funny that she's got the same name as my girl. I wonder what she looks like.
I leaned over to Jasper. "Hey, Jazz. I talked to Rose and Em before and they mentioned a girl named Bella. Where is she seated?"
Jasper glanced around and pointed to the table closest to us. "Next to your mom."
I glanced over, but couldn't see her face, because she was leaning down to talk to a little girl with reddish brown curls, a shade darker than my own.
Lauren tugged on my hand then. "When can we ditch these losers?" she whispered in my ear.
"I'll have to make my speech first, but then we're leaving. I have a bedroom in that house back there that needs to be used again."
She giggled and we focused on our dinner. The mysterious Bella momentarily forgotten.
I made my speech a little while later and got a round of applause. I heard a light laugh from the table and my eyes shot up to locate the delightful sound.
My eyes met warm brown ones that were shining with love and something I couldn't register. I looked at her and deducted that this must be the Bella they all talked about. And the second that name trickled into my mind, her features really registered and I realized that she was my girl.
My Bella sat at that table with a little girl in her lap. I sat frozen, drowning in those eyes. She eventually averted her eyes and pressed a kiss on top of the girl's head. I looked at that little girl and gasped. The girls curls had my shade of reddish brown and her eyes were the exact same colour as mine. She was now looking at me and I quickly shot out of my seat and pulled Lauren with me.
This could not be true.
That was not my Bella.
That was not my daughter she was holding.
I dragged Lauren behind me and up to my room. She giggled the entire way and flung herself onto my bed immediately.
"Wow, Eddie. Are you so anxious for me that you couldn't wait until after the party?"
"Something like that," I muttered. "Now shut up and get on your knees."
Her voice was annoying me and there was one thing that was the best cure for that. She looked up at me from under her lashes and grabbed my belt to open it.
I didn't want to look at her, so I closed my eyes as she lowered my pants and took me in her mouth. I needed to get rid of the thoughts of Bella and grabbed fists full of hair to guide Lauren's mouth over my length.
When I was done I quickly fingered her to her own climax. She complained that I didn't have sex with her, but I told her in no uncertain terms that this was all she was going to get from me.
She shook it off and murmured something about my hands before sauntering back to the party. She didn't even attempt to clean herself up, which disgusted me even more. I could not talk to Bella now. My angel would never stand for my behaviour and I felt truly ashamed of myself.
I behaved appallingly and in front of Bella and her daughter no less. Maybe even our daughter. When we stumbled into the tent, the wedding guests were already dancing. I saw Bella looking at me and I quickly dragged Lauren off to tell her to clean up.
When I returned to the dance floor the scene before me stopped my heart. There was my girl, dancing with our little girl. Their heads close together, murmuring and laughing. The girl definitely was mine. She looked too much like me to be anyone else's
I knew that I still loved Bella, but there was no way that she would still love me. She was too warm, sexy and loving to have been left alone for the past six years. She must've found someone new and even if she hadn't, she still wouldn't want me.
What I did over the past years was not something I was proud of. I had not had one significant relationship, but I had several sexual encounters, all in an attempt to forget her. How did I even begin to deserve her? My angel.
The song ended and Bella looked up. Our eyes met and my heart broke a little when I saw the sadness there. We had missed so much of each other's lives. I needed to make up for that, but couldn't.
I ducked my head and smiled apologetically at her. She nodded and then turned when my father laid his hand on her shoulder. He obviously asked her to dance and a blush crept up her face.
I had missed that blush so much that it was almost painful to look at now. Our little girl reached for a man with dark hair and a warm smile that was a few feet away. He took her in his arms and danced away, while my father glided across the floor with Bella in his arms.
I watched them float across the room until suddenly a pair of small hands covered my eyes, pulling my head back slightly in the process.
"You'll never guess," I heard a tinkling voice behind me mutter.
"Alice! How can you believe I'd never guess?" I accused, turning around to take a look at my sister.
"Edward! I missed you." she squealed, jumping into my arms, which was fairly easy for her since she was so tiny.
I hugged her tightly and stood her back on her feet.
"Can I have this dance, my dear sister?"
"Of course."
I pulled her onto the dance floor and we twirled around, talking animatedly about her time in Paris. She glanced around the room and she suddenly stopped dancing.
"Alice?"
"Edward, who's that, dancing with dad?"
"I believe that is the infamous about, Bella Swan."
"Excuse me?"
"Rosalie and Jasper's cousin."
"Oh my. The Bella, Rose always gushes over?"
"One and the same, although I apparently never realised they talked about her that much."
Alice scoffed. "You never paid enough attention. You were always off into your own head, brooding."
Alice was right. I tuned out a lot when we were all together. Remembering a time when I had nobody and found the one girl that was my everything and I ended up missing the numerous conversations that had been struck up where that exact girl had been mentioned. How ironic.
My mother noticed us then and she rushed over to us, dragging Bella behind her.
"Alice, honey! You made it after all!" she gushed, pulling her into her arms.
Bella looked a bit apprehensive and our daughter leaned in to whisper something in her ear. Bella's eyes flashed to mine and she smiled, but shook her head at our daughter.
"Alice, Edward. I would like you two to meet, Bella Swan and her daughter Emma. Bella is the cousin Rosalie is so crazy about," my mother said.
Bella blushed and ducked her head, before raising her eyes to look at Alice. She shifted Emma onto her other hip and stuck out her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Alice," she said softly.
"You too, Bella."
"Edward," she murmured.
I took her hand in mine and the electric spark that was so common for us, flowed through my arm.
"Bella," I breathed, getting lost in her eyes like I had done so many times.
"Mommy, can I shake their hands now?" Emma asked.
Bella snapped out of her haze and allowed Emma to reach her hand out for Alice.
"Hello! I'm Emma and I think you are pretty," she said to my sister.
"O my gosh. Aren't you the cutest thing? Thank you, honey. You are very pretty yourself."
"Thank you. I look like my mom, but I have my daddy's hair colour and eyes," she stated, glancing over at me for a moment. Bella froze and attempted to gain Emma's attention, but she didn't acknowledge her mother.
Did she know?
"How do you know that, honey?" Esme asked.
"Mommy showed me pictures."
I couldn't stop the smile that crossed my face. I looked down at Bella who looked at me. Her eyes pleading for me to understand. I nodded once and winked at her. Her breath hitched, but she smiled back.
Emma was now turned to me and looked at me in wonder.
"Hello, Emma. I'm Edward. It's really nice to meet you."
She grabbed my hand and shook it hard. "You too!"
She beckoned me with her finger to come closer. I leaned forward and she reached up to place her little hands on my neck.
"You should dance with mommy."
"Do you think she'll say yes?" I whispered back.
She nodded and quickly retreated closer to her mother.
"Well, Bella. It seems that your daughter wants me to dance with you. Would you mind?" I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
She looked a little alarmed, but Esme reached for Emma and smiled at her.
"You go ahead dear. This little girl promised my husband a dance, so why don't I make sure she keeps that promise."
Bella nodded silently and handed over Emma. She smiled at her and told her to behave before turning back towards me. Alice was still at my side and she seemed to be bursting with energy.
I looked down and I noticed her eyes flickering from Bella to me and back in rapid tempo.
"Alice? What's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing. I'll go find the bride and groom to congratulate them. See you around, Bella. It was nice to meet you."
"You too, Alice. And maybe you should try to get Jasper on the dance floor. He's the tall blond guy at the wedding table, sulking all by his lonesome."
Alice looked over and nodded enthusiastically. "My miss Bella. If that isn't the best idea I've heard in ages," she said in a mock southern accent.
The girls shared another smile before Alice darted across the floor to congratulate our brother and his new wife.
"Well, shall we?" I asked Bella.
She nodded and placed her hand in mine. I pulled her into me and started waltzing around the room with her. Being this close to her after all this time was almost excruciating, but I wanted to attempt to be friends with her, at the least and dancing would be my first step.
"How have you been?" she asked quietly.
"Lucky, I guess. I was only in the orphanage for two months when Carlisle and Esme adopted me. I knew I would be of a legal age soon enough and I hoped I could just walk away from them when I turned eighteen, but by the time my birthday rolled around, I was so happy with them as my parents that I stayed."
"They seem very loving and most welcoming."
"They truly are. They are a rare couple. The love they have for each other is staggering and I think that's why Emmett stuck it out with Rose after everything that's happened along the way. They raised him to believe that true love is worth the battle."
I hadn't meant to go all philosophical on my girl, but at least I was telling her the truth.
"How about you?" I asked her.
"I got lucky as well. I got adopted by Charlie and Renee Swan. They're dancing in the corner of there. They really helped me with Emma."
She didn't meet my gaze when she said it and I realized she was afraid to tell me I was a father. Did she think I'd get angry? How could I? She had no way of knowing where I had ended up or how to contact me. As I thought this, I leaned in closer and whispered into her ear.
"Bella from the moment I really looked at Emma, I realized she must be ours. I'm not mad at you for not finding me and telling me sooner, because in al honesty you would've never succeeded."
"But I didn't even try, Edward and that's something I've felt guilty about since the day she was born. My father, Charlie, is a cop and maybe if I had told him he could've tracked you down, but I never asked him to do that. I wasn't sure what to do. I was young and scared and eventually I decided that too much time had passed. That you wouldn't even remember me. I guess I was wrong about that, huh?"
I looked into those deep pools of chocolate and smiled. "I could never forget you, B."
She chuckled and closed her eyes.
"I probably shouldn't say this, but I've missed you so much," she whispered without opening her eyes.
"I missed you too, Bella. More than anything."
The song ended and reluctantly I let her step away from me. My body was still tingling from where I had felt hers against me.
I opened my mouth to say something else but was rudely interrupted by someone shoving Bella aside and planting a sloppy kiss on my mouth.
Ugh. Lauren.
A/N: Like I mentioned in the first chapter, I had gotten some inconsistencies and it was easier to clear up by slightly altering the first two chapters. So this one is also slightly revised. The only change is in the way Rosalie and Edward get along. I originally had made them friends, but now they simply tolerate each other.
