Chapter 4
Caleb looked at Alex and she looked back at him, and a smile formed on her face, then she looked at her mother. She laughed, "I overheard you and Dad talking one day, so I kind of knew this was coming." She shrugged, "I think I'm far more ready to babysit this time around. This one over here was a handful the one or two times I watched him."
Alice smiled, taking her attention off the television. She looked at Caleb. "So...?"
Esme was pleased by her daughter's reaction, she was now waiting for what Caleb would say. She knew it would have been far easier to talk about if they were little, though those days were extremely limited. "I don't know if it's going to happen right away, but we've just... discussed it, that's all."
He shrugged and scrunched his nose with a smirk, "That's cool, I guess. As long as it's like... an immaculate conception like in the Bible."
Alice began to laugh and looked at Nicole.
"I'm excited," Nicole said, "I hope you have a girl."
"Me too," said Mackenzie. She looked at Alex, who nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Definitely a girl. I wonder if we can make that happen with the eclipse or something..." Her voice trailed off thoughtfully.
Esme laughed, "If this even happens, that part will just have to be left to, fate, I guess."
"So, when are you going to decide?" Caleb asked.
"Jasper that is not fair you can sense my anxiousness!" Emmett shouted from the other room.
"Doesn't help you get back your chips, now does it?" Jasper said back with a laugh.
"Ooo yay!" Alice said, clapping her hands.
Caleb smiled at his mother, as he could tell she was still trying to read him. He laughed, "I'm fine Mom. It'll be cool to have a younger brother." He looked at around at all the girls, who shook their heads, still in favor of a girl.
Esme finally managed a smile at him.
"Besides," he said, but Alice finished his sentence before could continue.
"He's on top of the world anyway," she said with a wink. "Caleb, I miss the days when I was the love interest in your life."
He and Esme both began to laugh. "Oh, do you remember when he colored in that cat picture around Halloween and named it Alice?" she asked.
Alice laughed and looked at him, "Aww Caleb, and you spelled my name A-L-I-S-S."
The rest of the girls began to giggle and laugh, and Caleb shook his head with a smile. "I knew coming into the pool with all girls was a mistake." He went under the water and resurfaced.
"You love us," Nicole told him, shaking her head.
He splashed some water at her and she splashed back. The two of them stared at each other and Nicole challenged him with her eyes before they ended up coming to a sort of truce.
"You're all cheaters, I quit," Emmett said, drawing laughter from everyone, Rosalie included.
Everyone heard his rapid footsteps and a second later he was diving over the top of Caleb, wearing just the shorts he had on, splashing pretty much everyone in the pool.
"My dad take all your money?" Nicole teased.
Emmett made a face and crossed the pool to try to dunk her. She laughed and screamed and tried to get away.
Alice began to laugh, as did everyone else as she fought to keep him away.
Upstairs, Caleb heard his phone begin to go off and he looked up, then got out of the pool.
Emmett began to sing the song Hey There Delilah, making Alex laugh the hardest out of everyone.
"Caleb, you should totally sing that song to her," she told her brother.
"Shut up," he said with a smile, then looked at Emmett, "Want to go hunting with me in a little bit?"
Emmett looked around, noticing Esme's eyes on him. He shrugged, "Yeah sure." He knew something was up, but guessed Caleb was just looking for some male bonding.
"Cool," Caleb said, reaching for a towel on a stack in the corner of the room. He dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist.
"When we going?" Emmett asked him.
"Whenever you're done," Caleb said, "Doesn't matter."
"Half hour, forty-five minutes?"
He nodded, "Yeah, sure."
Esme looked at her son, wanting to talk a little more, but allowed him to go upstairs to take the phone call from who she assumed was Delilah. She smiled as he left, crossing out of the room as everyone else entered.
"Where's Bella?" Esme asked, seeing that Edward was the first to come into the room.
"Hunting with Madison," he told her with a grin.
"So, I hear you were taking all of Emmett's money," Alice said to Jasper, swimming across the way so she leaned up against the side of the pool staring up at him.
"You heard correctly," he told her with a lopsided grin.
"Taking me out somewhere nice?" she asked flirtatiously.
"Only if you wear the new cocktail dress you just bought." He gave her a wink.
Nicole made a teasing noise of disapproval of their flirty behavior and disappeared under the water.
Edward chuckled and looked at his sister, before Rosalie winked at Alice and pushed him into the pool with all of his clothes on.
Carlisle, Jasper, Michael and William all backed away from the side with shocked smiles and Edward resurfaced to a fit of laughter, mainly from the girls.
"I knew you were going to do that just before you did," he told her, shaking his head. "I was trying to pull you in with me, but I couldn't."
Rosalie smiled and laughed, "Gotcha," she said, "That's what you get for reading my cards."
Edward reached down and pulled his I-phone out of his pocket, "Yeah, thanks Rose." He managed a smile, but tried to make her feel bad, "I guess I won't be speaking with Renesme any time soon." He raised his eyebrows.
Alexandra pushed herself up out of the pool and rushed to Michael, who nearly jumped as he was kind of suspecting she may try to push him in, too. "I'm not going to push you in," she told him, "But you should get your suit and join us."
He shrugged and smiled, "Alright," then looked over his shoulder as Rosalie passed behind him, purposely lingering over his shoulder to make him nervous.
Michael laughed, "I feel like the two of you are planning against me right now." He began to laugh and Rosalie winked at Alex with a smile, but kept walking.
Edward climbed out of the pool and darted toward Rosalie, who laughed and put her hands up. "Edward, I swear if you do..."
"What?" he asked, slowly walking in her direction.
"I'll hurt you."
Emmett began to laugh, "She's not kidding."
Edward began to chuckle and rang his shirt out a little before removing his shoes and socks.
"Want to go hunting Edward?" Emmett asked.
Edward looked at him, then shrugged, "Alright." His mind quickly caught up with Emmett's and he realized that Caleb wanted to talk. "Oh... yeah, sure."
Esme looked at Carlisle and he rounded his way to her side of the pool, sensing she wanted to talk to him.
"Go get your suit," Alexandra said to Michael again.
He smirked and kissed her once, "Okay."
"I'm going to change," Edward said, glaring at Rosalie teasingly before he smiled and turned around.
"Wait," Esme called, "Edward, take off your clothes."
He turned around and Emmett and Rosalie started laughing hysterically. Alice and Jasper took a second to catch up on her word choice and Edward began to smile, before chuckling again himself.
Carlisle let the joke register in his mind for a second and then joined in on their laughter and looked down at Esme. She smiled and shook her head.
"I meant so he wouldn't track water through the house," she said, "And I didn't mean all of his clothes."
"Digging yourself deeper Mom," Alex said with a laugh.
"Carlisle, there's something I have to tell you..." Edward said jokingly.
Esme splashed water at him, as he now stood on the ledge of the opposite side. She shook her head. "That's not what I meant."
Edward did as she asked and threw a towel over himself before stripping down to as little as he could without drawing any further comments from Rosalie or any of them. He grabbed his useless phone from where it sat by the towels and left the area with his wet clothes in hand.
"Hunting?" Rosalie asked Emmett, as he bobbed up and down in the deep end.
"Guys trip only babe," he told her with a grin, "Sorry."
"Ohhh..." she said, "Gotcha."
Esme looked up at Carlisle, then lifted herself out of the pool. "Let's talk for a minute," she whispered quietly, seeming to draw no attention toward them. She made her way toward where Alex stood by the towels and grabbed one, throwing it around herself.
"Have fun kids," she said, smiling at her daughter as she began to walk toward the door the led out of the room. Edward smirked and raised his eyebrows at them as they left, and they weren't sure why until they heard Rosalie's scream, followed by a splash.
Carlisle began to laugh and put his arm around Esme as they walked.
"Did you win?" she asked him, referring to the poker game.
He shook his head, "Nope."
Esme laughed and tucked her hand around his waist. She sighed as the two of them passed by Caleb's room. The door was closed and he was chatting with Delilah on the phone.
He looked at as they passed by before eventually making their way down to their room.
Esme closed the door and whispered, "Find out from Edward what their boys hunting trip is all about."
Carlisle began to laugh quietly, "Okay."
"I'm serious," she said, "Find out what he wants to talk to Emmett about."
"He wants to talk to Emmett?"
She nodded, "Yes."
He sighed, still smiling and nodded, "Okay."
Esme gave him a look until he straitened up a bit, but still couldn't hold back a smile.
"Okay," he repeated with more reassurance.
She nodded and smiled, feeling satisfied by his answer, then went to go change out of her swimsuit.
