Chapter 4 – Coping

BPOV

In the living room, Alice was on the couch with Esme and Tanya. They were looking over decoration swatches; which meant some redecorating. Alice looked up at me and smiled approvingly. She always wanted to pick out my outfits. While I was here, I think I'll just let her. After all, Alice doesn't remember playing dress up. Rosalie and I were heading to the couch, when Edward caught me by the waist. "You look very beautiful," he whispered to me and kissed my cheek.

From the corner of my eye, it looked like Tanya was looking at us. He took my hand and guided me to the kitchen, through the back door. He took a jacket from one of the pegs on the wall and held it out for me. It was a black leather jacket. There was stitching inside the jacket that read 'Kate.' It was as cold as Forks out here. Edward held both flaps of the jacket and pulled me closer to his stone body. His hands were under the jacket, moving along the cloth of the blouse. He pressed his lips to mine, my heart beating wildly, "You look so beautiful, I just don't want to share you," he said between kisses.

"Today, I need you all for myself." I smiled under his kissed. He's never said that before, "You know, one day you're going to be tired of me." "Not likely," he mumbled. He kissed me like this morning. My body's reactions were the same; pounding heart and erratic breathing; typical Edward reactions. Edward moaned as he held me closer, "I love this outfit. I'll have to thank Rosalie." He held up my hands, appraising my clothes.

Edward leered at me, "I've never seen you like this. I love it." While we kissed, hand move up and down my back, making goosebumps from his touch. Ending the kiss, Edward took my hair in his hand as I stepped back. "Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?" He looked into my eyes, thinking.

The two of us walked across the field behind the house. Edward never released any part of my body. He held my hand, then suddenly pulls me closer to him and held my waist. Every so often, he kissed some part of my skin. Was he still trying to make up for yesterday? I wasn't upset with him anymore, but I wasn't ready to forgive him. Maybe he knows that, which would explain for this morning. Edward wanted to give me something I wanted.

Guilty began to eat away at me. I didn't want him to compromise himself, even if it was amazing, just to please me. We were walking for a while, which surprised me. The shoes Rosalie gave me didn't give the impression of pain as new shoes would. Alice ordered them perfectly. My eyes looked down at them while we walked. In the same look, I took in my outfit. Did I really look like a Cullen? How did I really look?

I had to admit, when Rosalie said that, I really liked it. To be beautiful with them, but I still didn't compare to the rest of them. Edward kissed my cheek, breaking into my concentration, "Bella, what would you like to do? Whatever you want." I thought for a while. What was there to do out here? Probably the same things to do in Forks; hang out in a houseful of vampires and spend my day with Edward.

"Could you recommend something? I'm coming up with nothing." Edward held my waist, "I don't think that's a good idea. I just want to stay here with you and not let you around anyone else. I really don't want to share you. So, please think of something." I smiled at him and thought. Staying alone with Edward sounded perfect.

Thinking about it, I did want to go home, back to Forks and see Charlie. I wanted Charlie to know I'm alright. My lips pulled between my teeth, "Can I call Charlie?" Edward sighed, shaking his head. "Of course," he took his phone out of his pocket. Taking it, it was a different phone. "You got a new one?" I asked looking at the new device. Edward laughed, "No, you did."

I looked up at him in shock, "Edward….." He placed his finger on my lips, "Please, Bella. I know you don't like gifts from me, but this isn't a gift," he looked at the phone in my hand, "This is more like a necessity. I bought it before I left for my hunting trip and I wanted to surprise you with it for graduation." He let out a long breath, "But I think it's better you have it now. Please accept it," he pleaded – his golden eyes stared into mine – "Think of it as keeping my overreactions under control."

I looked down at the phone, seeing his point in my accepting the phone. Maybe if he had given me the phone sooner, then this whole thing could have been avoided. My arm wrapped around me, trying to hold myself together. I wanted to fall apart at all the pain I caused. "Do you want to go back to the house?" a shudder rippled through me. Edward lifted my chin up to look at him, "Is it too cold for you?"

I shook my head, "No, I'm fine. And thank you. I like the phone, especially if it will help keep you under control," I added jokingly. My fingers dialed Charlie's number before a thought hit me. What was I going to tell him? "What story did you tell my dad for why I'm here?" Edward pulled me into his chest and pressed his lips to mine. He was happy that I actually accepted a gift from him.

He sat us against the lone tree in the open field, "Esme's mother passed away and her sisters lived up here. The funeral is set for this weekend." I nodded and hit the 'send' button. Edward hugged me to him, while the phone rang. His lips moved from my cheekbone to my jaw. This was very distracting, until Charlie's voice answered.

I pushed Edward away, "Hey, Dad." Charlie was happy to hear from me. "Hey, Bells. How's going up there?" Grimacing, I prepared to start lying. I was never good at it, but practice for the future. "Things are fine. Esme's doing better, but her sisters are still an upset." Charlie was silent for a moment, "Well, it's hard losing a parent. It was very nice of you to go with them." Renee told me about my grandparents. My dad took care of them and that's why he refused to move from Forks when my mom asked.

"Just try to get back yourself as soon as possible. You don't want to fall behind on your schoolwork." Relief ran through me as I got through the hard part, "I know and I'll try to get back as soon as I can. To make you feel better, Esme did set aside time for us to focus on our schoolwork. She's not letting us fall behind." Edward chuckled behind me and I nudged him with my shoulder. "Well, that's great, Bella. I should thank her for that. By the way, when you can, call Jacob. He's really worried about you." My blood ran cold as Charlie told me about Jacob, "He wouldn't tell me why. Just that he had a bad feeling about you. Call him, ok, Bells?"

I looked down, "Ok. I'll try to. It's just pretty busy around here." My heart started to race, knowing I wouldn't be able to speak to Jacob. "I know, honey, just try. Bye, talk to you soon." "Bye, Dad." I hung up the phone and closed my eyes. Why did he have to mention Jacob? I was starting to feel better. Jacob must be pulling out his hair worrying about me. Well, there was one good thing. No one told Charlie about what really happened.

Edward pulled me to lean against him, "Are you going to call him?" I looked up at him. He looked at me in earnest, "I don't know yet." The phone was heavy in hand. I realized that it was a BlackBerry. The phone was like a small computer. "Ok, Edward, if I'm going to take this phone, there's something you have to do for me first." He looked at me, concern on his face, "Anything?" I smiled, "You have to teach me how to use it." Edward laughed and hugged me, "Of course."

Edward and I sat in the field, against the tree for the majority of the morning. He was against the tree and I sat next to him, leaning against his chest. He taught me all the features of the phone. He already had some information on the phone; like his family's numbers and my dad's. The air was getting colder, but I didn't care. However, Edward noticed, seeing the goosebumps on the skin of my neck.

We got up and walked back to the house. It was a little embarrassing that my leg was stiff from sitting so long. Alice was in the kitchen when we walked in through the door. She was reading a magazine as she held out a large coffee mug to me, "I saw you were cold, so I made this for you." "Thank you, Alice." Edward answered for me, while I took the mug. It was hot chocolate.

There are some advantages to having a psychic as a best friend. Edward helped me out of my jacket and I started drinking. Alice took my new phone from me and started playing with it, "It's about time you accepted a gift with good grace." After I finished my drink, Edward took the mug, placed it in the sink and led me through another doorway. This door was next to the living room doorway, where Esme and Carlisle looked up at us.

In the room, there was a large plasma television mounted on the wall. This screen looked as if it belonged in a movie theater, On the right side of the room, there were hundreds of DVDs organized on a book shelf. "I thought you would like to watch a movie," Edward suggested, while sitting with me on the couch. I looked back at the DVD selection, "That would be nice." I said, wondering which one I was going to watch.

Edward watched me looking at the selection and he leaped over the back of the couch and held out my favorite movie. "No. What's your favorite?" Edward replaced the movie and took out another one. He loaded it into the DVD player and came back to the couch with me.

Before he sat, he took a quilt from under the couch out and spread it over me. We watched the old movie and it was interesting. I knew his eyes were on me for the entire film. As the movie ended, I sat up and stretched out all the fatigue in my muscles. Neither of us moved during the movie. "Did you like it?" Edward asked, pulling me closer into his lap.

I nodded and took my ponytail out. My hair fell around my shoulder and I ran my fingers through it. Edward leaned down in kissed the top of my head, his hand held my face and inhaled the scent of my hair. His face was pressed into my hair, "What do you want to do now? Anything you want." I was getting spoiled. He only wanted to see me happy.

"Well, when we were in town last night, I saw an art gallery." A chuckled rippled through him, jostling me a bit, "That sounds like fun. Let's go." He took my hand and helped me from the couch. We walked through the living room. Somehow, he had the leather jacket and was helping me into it. "Do you know how to get to the gallery?" I asked as he held open the passenger door for me. He climbed into the car, "Of course. We'll be there soon." The Volvo's engine roared and soon, we were parked in front of the gallery.