Chapter Six:

Geese a-laying

"What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" means that what is an appropriate treatment for one person is equally appropriate for someone else.

The next morning, Edward awoke feeling rather strange.

It was a foreboding sensation, as though something unexpected waited for him around every metaphorical corner.

Or maybe it was just the way the day began, with him waking up from a restless sleep, the sheets of his bed tangled around his sweaty legs. He wrestled away the damp cotton fabric and kicked the wrinkled ball of linen to the floor. Blazing hot sunlight shone through the windows in his bedroom, heating the already climate-controlled room. Edward climbed out of bed, rearranged the bunched boxers clinging to his body, and trodded across the room. He squinted past the glass and into the offensive winter morning. Kids rode their bikes up and down the block, laughing and chasing one another on their new bikes Santa delivered for them to ride on nice days just like this. Growling like the Grinch, Edward yanked the drapes closed, effectively shutting the sunlight from the room.

Unseasonably warm weather for December. That's what the buxom blonde forecaster on the local news channel announced. She said this with a beaming, red-lipped smile and a polyester suit two sizes too small for her curvy frame. Not that Edward was complaining. He sat at the bar in his kitchen overlooking the open-floor plan into the living room, shoveling Rice Krispies into his mouth and wondering if staring at Channel Four's oversized tits would compensate for the lack of romance in his life.

No, he wasn't complaining because he didn't have any room to complain. Bella had perfectly nice tits and he'd chased her off without help from anyone. There wasn't a thing in the world he could do to rectify the situation.

Or is there, he asked himself, pausing from his meal long enough to stare down uncertainty at his wedding ring. a year had passed since the death of his wife, three months since he'd first removed his wedding band. Yet, there he sat with that blasted ring back on his finger, literally holding on to the past. Wasn't it time to let go and … how'd the old adage go? Oh.

Let go and let God.

With one epic eye roll, Edward spooned the remainder of his breakfast into his mouth and let those five words brew in the forefront of his mind. He'd never contemplated the words before. Sure, he'd seen them plastered on motivational photos in his Facebook feed. Seen them retweeted on Twitter. He'd heard his mother say them a thousand times. But the thought of releasing all his problems into the hands of someone, or something he'd never seen before didn't sit well with Edward.

That sort of blind faith was terrifying.

Which made Bella either incredibly brave or terribly stupid. Sweet, kind, generous and genuine Bella was, but stupid? Edward didn't even pretend to consider the possibility.

Blind faith. Edward twisted the ring on his finger. Hadn't Bella put her faith in him, a person she could feel and see, only to have their relationship destroyed before it even had a chance to begin? Yes. Edward was certain she had.

The thumping of children's feet against the stairs interrupted him from his gloomy thoughts. All three of his kids skipped down the stairway, all three dressed for the day and wearing light jackets. Jane grabbed an apple from the basket on the bar, Alec a protein bar from the pantry, and Heidi snatched a banana from the banana hook.

Heidi gave their father a big grin. "Morning, Daddy."

Heidi hadn't called her father by anything other than Dad for the past two years. Edward still remembered the first time she switched from Daddy to Dad. It broke his heart then. And it confused him now. But as much as he wanted to question the use of his former informal title, Edward didn't want to knock it. The word left him feeling all warm and soft inside, like those sweet cookies Bella offered the kids one night at her house.

Damn. There he went thinking about her again.

"Morning, sugar." He cringed at the spur of the moment nickname, and at how it reminded him of his father.

Man, I'm getting old.

Jane polished the apple on her fuschia-colored shirt. "You care if we ride our bikes to the library?"

Edward blinked, staring at his daughter in astonishment. Since when did Jane ask him permission to do anything? Typically she'd loudly announce she was leaving and then left, or wouldn't say a word at all and just disappear for hours at a time.

Regaining his composure, Edward replied, "Uh, Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Are you looking for anything in particular to check out, or just browsing?" A connoisseur in all things literature, Edward couldn't contain his curiosity.

Alec and Jane exchanged a knowing smile, but it vanished once Alec met his father's eyes. "Yes, sir. We're looking for this."

Alec tapped on his cell, then passed his father the phone. Edward stared down dumbly at the screen. There glowed a photo of a book with a handful of reviews and a price of twenty-two dollars and thirty-six cents on Amazon.

"Two Religions, One Faith." Frowning, he glanced up and into the eager eyes of his children. "What's this?"

"It's a parents guide on how to raise kids together while still practicing separate beliefs." Alec took the phone from his dad, pocketed it, and shrugged. "Not that we even have a religious belief-"

"Like at all," Jane interjected.

Alec frowned at his sister. "But it's the only book we could find to help us."

The four sat in thick silence until Edward cleared his throat and said, "Help you do what exactly?"

"Adapt," Jane answered smoothly, leveling her gaze at her father.

Alec took over before his sister ruined everything. "We see how much you like Bella, and we want to be prepared in case … you know. In case-"

"In case you marry Ms. Bella," Heidi sang.

Jane poked her kid sister and shook her head. Too much. Heidi nodded in silent understanding.

"Uh, kids, Bella and I, well." Edward grappled for words. "We've only known each other for a few days. Clearly not enough time to establish a relationship."

"You've spent every day with her since we moved here," Alec pointed out.

"And you're the happiest we've see you in, like, forever," Jane said.

Alec agreed with a nod. "And you didn't know Mom all that long either."

"Two years! We knew each other for two years before we went out."

"But you married her just a few weeks later. And," Alec added before his dad could argue. "It only took you a couple days to ask out Bella."

Jane gave a look that said you can't argue with that logic. "So, in retrospect, you two should already be married by now."

Edward was struck dumb, which in turn left him speechless. Who were these children and what had they done with his heathens?

He thought of a million things to tell them. This was different. That's not how it's done anymore. A love like that only comes around once in a lifetime and if it did come around more than once then it was too soon for it to happen again. But none of those were exactly true.

Before he could explain to his kids why it wasn't going to happen between Bella and him they were out the door, leaving him there alone to try and convince himself of it.

…

"Tell me you didn't play the holy plan card," Alice, Bella's sister hoped out loud but of course she knew her sister had. It was Bella's answer for everything.

"I didn't mention anything about holy. He was the one who brought God into it, not me."

"Still, he knew what you meant. Everybody knows what that means. And I shouldn't have to tell you, a sensible grown woman, what's sauce for the goose isn't always sauce for the gander. Not everybody believes in God."

"And that's their right." Bella stirred her tea, watching the silver spoon make circles around one of Mike's mother's white China tea cup she had gotten in the divorce. Mrs. Newton had insisted she keep them.

"You need to tread lightly here, girl. You lay it on too thick you're gonna scare him off before you see him naked."

"Alice Marie!"

"Don't Alice Marie me. Actin' all high and mighty like you haven't seen that ass in a pair of blue jeans." Alice moaned into her tea cup, remembering how it looked that morning when she spotted him checking his mail.

Bella glared at her sister with pursed lips. She shook her head then stared out in thought a moment before conceding. "It is pretty nice, isn't it?"

The two women shared a laugh as Bree came galloping down the stairs. "What are you guys laughing about?" She asked with a curious crease in her brow.

Her aunt continued to giggle while her mother straightened in her seat. "Nothing, honey. Where you off to?"

"Just riding my bike down to the library with the Cullens. They're coming over later, if that's ok."

Bella wanted to ask if that meant all of them but thought better of it. She didn't want her daughter thinking anything was wrong. "Uh, yeah, that's fine. What are y—"

"K, thanks! See ya later, Mom!" Bree cut Bella off as she ran for the door.

"Hey, what about me!"

"You too, Aunt Alice! Bye!"

Alice shrugged. "Guess that means I'm not invited."

…

Edward tried to go on with his day as normally as he could. He filled the dishwasher and checked the mail. Now he was wearing a line in the floor in front of the window waiting for his kids to return from the library.

Spotting them just down the street, he waited patiently for them to park their bikes in the front lawn but they turned into Bella's instead.

"Shit."

Edward slipped on his shoes and jacket then dashed out the back door and over to his neighbors to try and beat them to it.

...

Bella was down on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. This was the last room she had to do before hopping in the shower and washing the stink off of her.

This was supposed to be a day of rest for Bella. Bree was out, the younger kids were zoned in to the TV. She was going to take a long leisurely bath, followed by a nap and then paint her nails but she couldn't bring herself to do any of it because she was stressed. When Bella got stressed she scrubbed things.

The sound of the front door opening made Bella freeze, looking up she found three pairs of shoes standing at the edge of the kitchen entrance. What time was it? Where had the day gone?

Sitting back on her heels Bella removed the sweaty bangs from her forehead. "Hey, guys. How's it going?" She asked, slightly out of breath before rising to her feet with achy knees.

"Everything's great," Jane said with a sly smile. Why was it Bella didn't believe her?

"Yeah, Mom. Everything's fine. Do you have a minute to come into the dining room?" Jane pointed her thumb over her shoulder.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Sure." Bella tossed the rag she was gripping into the sink and headed for the next room.

"Have a seat," Bree insisted, sliding a book in front of her mother when she joined them at the table.

Bella read the title aloud. "Two Religions, One Faith." Her brow creased. "What's this?"

"A book." Jane stated the obvious.

Bella looked up at her with an unamused expression. "I can see that. What are you all doing with it?"

Bree opened her mouth to explain but was cut off by the sound Edward busting through the backdoor. "Stop! Wait, stop!" he yelled as he made his way through the kitchen.

"It's a parents guide on how to raise kids together while still practicing separate beliefs." Alec quickly reiterated what he had told his father before he could stop him.

"It's for when you marry our dad," Heidi added from her spot in front of the TV.

Jane facepalmed. Alec gummed his lips to keep from laughing just as Edward rounded the dining room entryway.

"I'm sorry. What?" Bella asked, completely confused and overwhelmed.

Silence filled the room as Edward caught his breath, allowing little Heidi to repeat herself in her sweet, innocent voice before her father could jump in.

"Bella, I—"

Holding her hand up Bella silenced him.

"Excuse me," she requested then stood and headed into the bathroom. She paced the small confines until someone knocked on the door.

"Bella, are you alright? Can I come in?" Edward's muffled voice reverberated through the wood.

When she didn't answer Edward opened the door anyway and stepped inside, shutting it behind him. "I'm sorry. I tried to talk to them this morning but they wouldn't listen. What was I supposed to do?"

Bella shrugged sarcastically. "I don't know. Forbid them from going to the library or leaving the house? Not let them come over here and get their hopes up with this ridiculous—" she stopped herself before referring to any kind of a relationship with Edward as ridiculous.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let them go. I should have stopped them, you're right. But, I—" Warning sirens went off in Edward's head and he stopped himself.

"You what?" Bella asked, a little ray of sunshine breaking through the rain clouds hovering above her heart.

"Nothing. It's … Nevermind. Look, let's go back out there. We'll sit the kids down and explain it to them together."

"Explain what? What is it exactly that we're going to explain?"

Edward shrugged, unable to explain it to Bella. He couldn't even explain it to himself.

"Obviously, the kids heard us fighting yesterday. We need to explain to them that nothing's wrong. That the fight was a misunderstanding and everything's fine between us."

"But not everything's fine. I don't want to lie to them."

Edward thought for a moment before coming up with a solution. "Okay well, we're friends, right?"

Bella shrugged, unsure. "I guess. If you still want to be."

"Of course I do. Don't you?" He asked, a tinge hurt. Though, he supposed he had it coming with the way he had acted.

The distressed look in his eyes touched Bella and her demeanor softened.

"Of course I want to be friends with you, Edward."

"Okay, so it's settled. We're friends. And sometimes friends have misunderstandings but that doesn't mean they're not still …"

"Friends." Bella finished his sentence.

"Yeah."

Bella held Edward's stare pretending to agree that being friends was going to be enough.

"Now, let's go out there and explain that to them."

Bella nodded in agreement.

Edward took one last lingering look at her in her tattered flannel and leggings. His heart lurched, wanting him to step forward and tuck a piece of flyaway hair behind her ear and confess that the friendship between them would never be enough. Not for him. He wanted more than that but it was still too soon. Wasn't it?

Instead of confessing his thoughts and concerns, he turned away to open the door, finding it had been locked from the outside.

Starting twice a week updates. 12 chapters total! See ya Friyay!