CHAPTER 3

It was the middle of the night and Bella couldn't sleep. Again. She looked down at her son, who was sleeping next to her, and she brushed his wild, brownish hair back so she could admire his precious face. In the darkness, she let the tears flow freely. She couldn't help but wonder how anybody wouldn't want this beautiful boy in their life. After all these years, she still didn't understand how Edward could reject the baby they had created together.

Bella got up from her bed carefully, making sure not to wake Tony. She opened her top drawer and searched through her socks blindly. When she found the envelope that she'd been hiding there, she quietly got out of her bedroom.

She sat in the living room, holding on to the envelope, as she cried silently. She tried in vain to push away the memories of her past. But she wasn't strong enough anymore.

Sometimes, when she remembered the year and a half she had been with Edward, she still felt utterly bewildered at how things had ended. She couldn't put two and two together. The man she had loved would never have behaved the way he did. It didn't make sense.

She opened the envelope and took the check out. She stared at it with heavy heart. This was her proof that Edward was a horrible person. 25'000 dollars, made out to Isabella Swan and signed by Edward Cullen. She had stared at this very check so many times throughout the years to remind herself at how appalling a person Edward really was.

She took the second piece of paper out of the envelope and read it through teary eyes. It was a short, hand written note that had come with the check six years ago.

Take care of it. EC

Her whole body shook with grief, anger pulsing through her veins. She hated him.

She heard noise and quickly tucked the envelope under her shirt. Alice walked into the living room, her hair disheveled from having just woken up.

"Hey, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" Alice mumbled in her sleepy state. She examined Bella more carefully and came closer. "Oh, Bella, you're crying," she whimpered, instantly sitting next to her friend and hugging her.

Bella let herself be comforted and sniffled, wiping her tears away.

"Are you thinking about that asshole again," Alice barked, her loathing for Edward evident.

Alice hated Edward passionately, even though she knew nothing about him, not even his name.

When Bella had first met Alice at the hospital, right after she had given birth, Alice had asked about what had happened to the baby's father but Bella had been too fragile and too broken to talk about it. Alice, for once, had agreed to never ask her again about her past and Bella never volunteered to share what had happened. She still couldn't talk about it without feeling her heart break all over again.

Together, they'd decided to focus on the present, one day at a time, and started to rebuild a life for themselves. They raised Tony together and became a family.

But every time Bella would mope, or refuse to go on a date, or stop eating for days, Alice would swear that Tony's dad was the devil reincarnated. Maybe Alice didn't know what he had done to her, but she could see the aftermath of his actions on her best friend. And she hated him for that.

After a while, Bella's tears ceased. Alice distracted her by talking reminiscing about silly adventures they had experienced together through out the years. Bella smiled at the happy memories.

Finally, they got up to go to bed. Alice hugged Bella one more time and reminded her with a sweet smile that Jasper was coming over for dinner tomorrow. Bella nodded and hid the fear that crept on the inside.

Bella helped the head teacher clean up their classroom. They'd had art class in the afternoon and the classroom was a mess. Her coworker was chatting away but Bella barely heard one word. She was having a hard time to focus on anything these days, her mind rarely staying in the present. She was having flashbacks regularly no matter how hard she tried to repress them, and she couldn't help herself but imagine what the future would be now that Alice was marrying Jasper.

Once the room was tidier, and their students' art works put away, Bella grabbed her bag.

"I'm gonna go pick up Tony now. Have a good weekend," she told her colleague before leaving. She walked to the next room and entered.

Her son was helping his teacher put books away when he saw her at the door.

"Mommy! Can we go home now? I want to meet aunt Ali's fiancé!" He exclaimed as he jumped in her arms.

She smiled despite this heavy pit in her stomach and kissed her baby strongly.

She wanted to protect her son above anything but she wasn't sure how to do it anymore. The past was catching up with her too quickly and she was terrified. Jasper was now joining their family, and Alice was marrying into his, and Bella couldn't decide if she should run away before Tony would be exposed to the Cullens.

She worried Edward would break her son's heart the way he had shattered hers.

Alice was busy in the kitchen when Bella and Tony got home from preschool. Tony dropped his bag in the middle of the hallway and ran to the kitchen.

"Aunt Ali!" he called out and she opened her arms to greet the little man. She held him longer than usual, hugging him tightly. She was feeling nostalgic, knowing that soon, she would be moving out. She would miss being able to see her little prince every day.

Moving in with Jasper was, of course, something she was really looking forward to, but she had become so close to Bella and Tony that it was hard for her to leave them.

Bella walked into the kitchen and watched her best friend holding her son. The two friends exchanged a wistful smile, both of their eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

They had talked a lot in the past week, about their plans for the future, and how to tell Tony about the changes. They had both cried a lot and hugged, knowing that this stage of their lives was about to end.

"Hi my prince! How was school today?" Alice asked him once she let him go.

"It was fun! I told all my friends that I was meeting my uncle today! Where is he?" Tony exclaimed, searching the kitchen.

Bella immediately felt her chest constrict at hearing her son calling Jasper his uncle so easily.

Alice was Tony's aunt, not by blood, but because Alice had become their family by choice. She loved them and cared for them. So of course, Jasper, as her future husband, was becoming part of the family as well.

The only thing was that Jasper had always been Tony's uncle, by blood. It's just that nobody knew about it.

"Uncle Jay will be here soon," Alice replied with a huge smile on her face. "He can't wait to meet you."

Bella felt a nervous knot forming in her stomach. She felt extremely anxious about tonight's dinner. She wondered if Jasper would immediately notice the resemblance between Tony and his brother Edward. Would he recognize the family traits in Tony and immediately understand the implication? Would he suddenly remember who she was and that they had met once before, six years ago?

Bella felt lost in the secrets and lies and unspoken truths. She had nobody to turn to and felt so completely alone in dealing with all of it. She didn't know how she was supposed to handle the situation.

She knew she should've told Alice the truth as soon as she had realized who Jasper was. But Alice's hatred for Edward was so strong that Bella feared she would overreact if she'd find out about Jasper's relation to that evil man and she didn't want Alice's relationship with Jasper to be ruined because of her.

The doorbell rang, pulling Bella back from her thoughts. Alice's smile grew.

"Tony, come with me. Uncle Jay is here!" Alice said, taking the little man's hand and leading him to the door.

Jasper gave a small kiss to his fiancée before kneeling down to face Tony.

"You must be Tony!" he said, shaking his hand. "Your aunt talks so much about her little prince!"

Bella could see that Tony liked Jasper immediately.

"Yep, that's me! And you're my uncle Jay. You're gonna marry my aunt."

Jasper smiled and ruffled his hair.

"I heard that you love chocolate so I brought some desert for later."

Tony's eyes grew wide and grinned.

"Yay, thank you uncle Jay." He said before hugging Jasper.

Bella felt emotional to see her son with his uncle. She had always dreamed that Tony could know his family and be a part of the Cullens, but Edward had made it clear that he didn't want to have anything to do with the baby. She felt this familiar, boiling resentment toward Edward for not wanting the baby and for denying their son of a family.

Tony took Jasper's hand and led him to the living room.

"My mommy told me that aunt Ali is going to move in with you because husbands and wives live together," Tony said as they sat on the couch. " I think you should move here because we are family. We need to live together."

Alice sat next to Jasper and lifted Tony so he could sit on her lap. Bella joined them and sat on the armchair next to them.

Alice's eyes shimmered. "We will always be family. And you'll be able to come over and sleep at our place as often as you want. There's even a pool over at Jasper's apartment."

Tony smiled at that. "Really?"

Jasper nodded. "Yes. You'll always be welcomed. And aunt Ali and I will come here a lot too, to spend time with you and your mom. And you'll be able to meet my other niece and nephew. Your family is growing."

Bella's heart jumped at the mention of Jasper's niece and nephew. She felt dizzy with sadness.

"How old are your niece and nephew?" Tony asked.

"My sister Rose had twins. They just turned four."

Bella sagged in relief, utterly thankful that the kids were his sister's and not Edward's.

"I'm five and a half. I'm older than them."

"You'll have so much fun with them," Alice added.

Alice had cooked a delicious dinner and they enjoyed the meal. Tony was the center of attention and Jasper was very attentive to him. Alice loved seeing her fiancé play with Tony. He was so sweet and patient, it made her fall in love with him all over again.

"Can I sit on your lap?" Tony asked Jasper, and once again Bella's heart squeezed, moved to see her son with his uncle for the first time.

Jasper looked into Tony's gaze.

"I love your eyes. They're so green." Jasper told his nephew. "Are they from your side of the family, Bella?" He asked, turning to face her.

She panicked, swallowing with difficulty the lump in her throat.

"Mommy told me that my daddy has the same eyes as me," Tony answered. "I never met my dad so I don't know if it's true." He added, shrugging, before putting a forkful of pasta in his mouth.

Bella's muscles tensed and her stomach coiled.

"Well, you have really cool eyes, buddy," Jasper said to lighten up the mood. "My brother has green eyes too."

Bella was loosing her self-control, panic taking over. She wondered if today would be the day when the truth would be uncovered. The pounding of her heart was deafening. She couldn't eat at all.

But everybody else continued to eat and talk as if nothing had happened. Because nobody else knew the truth about Tony's dad.

...

If I don't post again before 2015, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thanks again for your support and kind words :)