Chapter Three
Later that night, as I lay in my bed, trying to get to sleep, I heard Mason cry. It was soft and mellow, not loud and wailing like most babies do when they are crying. I stayed in bed for a moment, just to see if he was settle down and go back to sleep before I got up to tend to him. But after five minutes of him crying, I decided to get up and go to him, but as soon as I pulled the blankets off my body, he stopped.
I sighed and stood up anyway, decideding to check on him anyway. And when I looked at my bedside clock, I realized it was time to fed Mason, so I walked out into the hallway.
The first thing I noticed was that there was singing. It wasn't loud, but it was there, low and soft, coming from Mason's nursery. I stuck my hand on the wall, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath through my nose, cringing. Then I turned abruptly and stalked into the room.
Edward was there, his back to me, holding Mason in his arms like he had before. Immediately my instincts were to go and grab Mason from his arms, and demanding that he leave and never come back. But even as I wanted to do that, I found myself locked still in the door frame, my eyes wide, my jaw dropped, until Edward slowly turned around.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in a hushed voice, filled with ferocity. I wanted to yell, but I stayed quiet as not to wake Charlie from his sleep. I could hear him snoring down the hall, from his bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar.
"Look, Bella, just listen..." he began, pacing towards me, one arm reached out to me, the other still holding my son.
"I am not going to listen to you, Edward," I spat ay him angrily, still whispering. "I just want to know what the hell you're doing here."
He sighed, and looked down at Mason, his bronze hair falling over his eyes. From the way the moonlight shone on his face, it made him look like a God, and I quickly turned away. "I just wanted to see you," he said to me, his voice stiff and solemn, "and Mason, too."
"I don't think that was the best idea," I said, and he looked up and cringed at me. I felt a sudden notice to the fact that he would probably never give up trying, never give up wanting, and that sudden realization scared me immensely in ways I would have never thought possible.
"Bella, I know what I told you before wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it was the truth. I could have told you anything, stretched the truth and made it seem like something it wasn't. But I didn't, I told you the truth. Just think about that."
I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to be left alone to raise Mason the way I thought he should be raised. And if that meant being raised without a father, then so be it. I was not going to let him brainwash me into changing my mind, because I respected myself more than that. This was the way I wanted it to be, and this was the way it was going to be, whether Edward liked it or not.
"Listen, I don't want to hear it. So what if you told me the truth? You could have just told me that in the beginning, instead of just leaving me without an explanation to where or why you were going. God, those months were hard on me, Edward, like you don't even know. But I was strong. I held my head up. And I'm not going to be weak and let you ruin my life again."
"I didn't mean for it to happen this way, Bella," he said, and I leaned back from him, my eyes closed. I could feel my eyes start to sting, an odd sensation that never wears off. When I re- opened them, I didn't look at him, but instead at the carpeted floor.
"You slept with me," I said to him, my voice stiff. "You slept with me, and then you left."
When I looked up, his eyes were closed, and he was taking deep, unneeded breaths of air. He wasn't looking at me, but when he turned his head a few moments later, I saw that his eyes held a little bit of passion.
"I know how you must feel, Bella, and I don't blame you. But all I wanted to do was keep you safe, and if leaving meant doing that, then I would leave. I didn't mean to hurt you."
I shook my head. "You should leave. Charlie will wake up."
He took a step towards me. "No, Bella, you have to listen to me. I didn't want to leave you the next day, but..."
"What, Edward?" I said, suddenly turning towards him. "What? Go ahead, tell me another lame excuse of yours. It still doesn't matter what you say. You knew you were going to leave, but you still slept with me, even though you knew you were going to be leaving. I just want to know why."
"I wanted to feel you hold me one last time, Bella. I wanted to your breath on my ear, your lips on mine, your hand entwined with my hand. I wanted to feel all that for one last time, Bella. It just so happened that things got a little out of hand, and things went a little farther than I had anticipated. But they went there, and I just can't bring myself to regret that night."
I looked at Mason. "I don't regret it either."
His hand reached up and touched my arm, and the cold seeped through the thin shirt I was wearing and onto my skin, sending a shiver to run through my body. I trembled slightly at his touch.
"If you want me to leave, I'll go," he said quickly, stepping around me and towards the door. When he was in the doorway, he turned to me, one hand on the doorframe. "But just remember what I told you. I didn't mean to hurt you."
I nodded. "Bye, Edward."
When I crawled back to bed a little while later, I had a feeling of uneasiness through my body. I felt like everything was caving in around me, suffocating me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and went to sleep.
I had school the next morning, and when I got up and went downstairs, I saw Charlie was already up with Mason in his arms, fed, changed, and dressed.
"Wow, Dad, thanks," I said, going over to the table and sitting down. I grabbed some cereal and quickly pulled myself up a bowl before turning to face Mason.
"Good morning, buddy," I said as I tickled his arm with my finger. He squealed lightly in delight in my arms, and I kissed his forehead.
"I'm going to work a little early today, Bells," Charlie announced as he stood up from the table and walked over to the peg to retrieve his coat. "I'll be back a little later, too. Billy invited me over for a game of cards and I didn't want to pass it up."
"Sure," I said, shrugging. "Be careful."
He nodded and headed for the door. "As always."
I finished the daily morning routine before quickly jogging upstairs and getting dressed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. When I went back downstairs, Mason was laying in the playpen I had set up in the living room. I walked over to him, picked up him up in my arms, and quickly got my jacket.
"Time for school, buddy," I said as I slipped his tiny jacket on over his tiny body. I then proceeded to put on his hat and boots before heading for the door.
Outside the air was chilly, nipping at the exposed skin on my face and hands and making my hair twirl in front of my face. I tucked it behind my hood and put Mason in his car seat. But when I went to start the car, I was met by an odd sound, a loud clunk, and then silence.
"Dammit," I muttered, trying again. I still had no luck.
I went back to retrieve Mason from his car seat to go back inside, but when I turned around, there was a silver car parked in the driveway, and Edward Cullen was sitting in the driver's seat.
"Alice told me something like this was going to happen," he said coolly, his arm jutted out the window. "So I thought I'd come pick you up for school."
"I don't need your help," I told him seriously, rolling my eyes. "I'll get to school on my own."
"Oh really?" he said, his eyebrow raised curiously. "And how will you do that?"
I thought for a moment. "I'll walk."
His eyes shot this panicked look, like he didn't think I was serious. But I was. "No, you're not walking to school. It's freezing."
"We have jackets on," I said, and I started walking down the driveway, Mason tucked in my arms. He was awake, his eyes gloomily looking over everything.
"Bella, get in the car. You'll freeze."
"I don't take orders from you."
"Just get in the car."
"No."
He was turning the car around now, slowly going down the driveway next to me. "You're going to freeze, Bella. And it's going to rain soon. So just get into the car."
I shook my head. "We'll be fine, okay. Just leave me alone."
"I'm not going to let you walk to school like this." We were on the main road now, and he was still going at a snail's pace. An old lady in an old car honked her horn before abruptly passing him and shooting him a glare.
"I know you're mad at me, Bella. And you have every right to be, I guess. But please get in this warm car right now. I don't want you, or my son, to freeze. So get in the car."
"Since when do you care about me?" I asked, turning to him. My voice was edgy and harsh, just as I intended it to be. "You cared for me for that one night almost a year ago, and that was it. What makes you care so much now?"
"Just listen to me Bella, and get in the damn car." Now it was his voice was harsh, and caught me a little off guard. In my arms, Mason's cheeks were red, his nose runny. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt in my heart, so I shrugged off my jacket and wrapped it around Mason, protecting his face from the wind and the cold. Edward was furious.
"Are you insane? Bella, look, it's raining, and you're walking down the road with nothing but a t-shirt on."
"When you have a baby," I began, shivering, "it isn't just about you anymore. It's about this whole other being in which you have to take care of. You put the baby in front of yourself, Edward. You think of him before yourself. But I wouldn't expect you to know anything about that."
"Please, Bella, just get in the car. It's very far from here to school. By the time you get there, school will be over."
"I'll be a-alright. O-ka-ay?"
"Okay, that's it."
I wasn't really aware of much, except for the fact that Edward stopped the car and was getting out, walking towards me. When he reached me, his eyes were a pale gold colour. "You need to get in the car, now."
"B-but...."
"No buts," he said, grabbing my arm gently and pulling me towards his car. I was shrugging to get away a little, but I knew that no matter how hard I tried, all the effort would be wasted. When he opened the passenger seat door for me, I got ion reluctantly, and waited until he got in.
"You're such a..."
"Come on, I just spared you the feeling in your body."
"This can be considered kidnapping."
"No," he said, dragging out the word. "This is doing a friend a favour. Bella, you can't do that. Just because you don't care, doesn't mean you have to have Mason suffer."
I bit my lip. "Don't say that. You know damn well that I love him."
He turned to me. "Then start acting like it," he said. "That was a stupid thing to do, and you know it."
I turned to face out the window, full of spite. "I hate you."
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A/N- Here is the much waited for chapter. I really hope you like it. Please review!
On a side note, I have an obsession with the movie "A Walk to Remember" starring Mandy Moore and Shane West. If you haven't seen it, you must search it and watch it. You can watch the full movie on YouTube. Just search A Walk to Remember Part 1, and then it will come up and you can watch the whole movie in parts. The reason why I am doing this is because I will be writing a fanficiton for this movie eventually, and I want my loyal readers of Alone and Need to be able to read it. So please go watch that movie and then send me a PM telling me what you thought.
