A/N I am so very sorry that it has taken me so long to get this chapter to you, but Bella and Edward just wouldn't talk to me. I hope this isn't as bad as I think it is. My beta's don't seem to think it is, but they may just be trying to spare my feelings.

Edit: I had to come back and give thank my beta's, kimmydonn and ruthperk. Their advise helped make this chapter what it is. kimmydonn helped me trim the fat, so to speak. You two are awesome!

BPOV

Edward gave my hand a gentle squeeze as we walked over to join Rosalie at one of the four picnic tables that decorated the manicured lawn in the back yard. I looked up at him and smiled, before picking up a couple of paper plates and plastic forks.

"That's gross!" I turned my head in the direction of Seth's voice. He was seated across the table from Rosalie, a scowl on his face. Following his line of sight, my gaze landed on the face of the little girl seated next to him and I almost gagged. Her mouth was open wide, revealing a full mouth of half chewed up food.

"You said you wanted some seafood." The little girl said, and then giggled as she pointed to the food in her mouth, a few morsels falling out when she did. I covered my mouth to hide my smile. It was disgusting to look at, but I have to admit that my friends and I used to do the same thing when we were kids.

"Jessica, mind your manners!" her mother scolded.

Jessica snapped her mouth shut and lowered her head in embarrassment, having been publicly reprimanded by her mother.

"Sorry, Mom," Jessica said, picking at the food on her plate.

Placing my hand on Edward's wrist, I said, "Come on, let's go fill our plates." We made our way through the bevy of guests. Once at the grill, Mike placed a serving of BBQ Pork on each of our plates. "Thanks, Mike," I said.

"Thank you," Edward offered with a nod. "It smells delicious."

"I hope you enjoy it. The sauce is an old family recipe," Mike said, his expression exuding pride. The recipe had won four blue ribbons at the state fair in Raleigh. I'd begged him numerous times to give me the recipe, but he said his family forbade him from handing it over to anyone other than family. I wasn't overly disappointed; whenever I had a taste for it, all I had to do was tell Mike and he would whip up a batch for me to take home. "Make sure you try the potato salad," Mike said, pointing to a bowl on the table next to the grill. "Angela made it, and it's delicious!"

"I'll make sure to try it, thanks," Edward said before placing his hand on the small of my back and guiding me to the table. Across one half of the table was a variety of side dishes: Hush puppies, green beans, coleslaw, baked beans, collard greens and Angela's potato salad. The other side was filled with an assortment of desserts. I smiled when I saw that Rosalie had even made a pig pickin' cake. I knew she had made that especially for me. They had always been a favorite of mine.

"This is quite a spread. Did Angela make all of this by herself?" Edward asked as he scooped up a spoonful of potato salad and put it on his plate.

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "Rosalie brought the desserts from her bakery."

"Rosalie owns a bakery?" Edward asked, astonished. I understood his surprise. By all outward appearances, Rosalie didn't seem to be the type of person who would own a bakery.

"Mmm hmm. Delectable Delights. Make sure you save room for her cheesecake pecan pie. It's the best thing I've ever tasted."

"No kidding?" Edward turned to look at me, raising a brow. "My sister, Alice, goes there all the time. She raves about their tiramisu," he proclaimed, placing his plate on the table and taking a seat at the picnic table beside Seth.

I opened my mouth to ask Edward about his sister as I took a seat beside him, but quickly snapped it shut when I caught sight of Heidi standing across the lawn beside Jasper. His arm was around her shoulder and she was rubbing her hand across his chest.

Soon after Jacob and I began dating, Jasper asked her out. Of all the girls in high school that wanted to go out with him, he had chosen her. I wasn't too happy about it, but other than Rosalie, Jasper was the best friend I had and I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship by complaining about his choice in girlfriends.

That didn't mean I had to like it.

"Rosalie," I said, trying to get her attention. She was sitting across the table from me, chatting with Angela.

"Yeah," Rosalie said, turning her head to look at me.

"When did Jasper and Heidi get back together?" I asked, incredulous. The last I had heard from Rosalie, Jasper had broken up with Heidi a couple of weeks ago. I was none too happy seeing her here. She used to torture me in gym class. I was actually happy when I heard she and Jasper had parted ways. When they were together, I did my best to avoid Heidi. The only time I ever saw her was on the few occasions I went to Rosalie's house and she happened to be there. Or, if she and Jasper were at one of the same gatherings I had been invited to. Even then, I wouldn't stay long.

"As far as I know, they aren't together," Rosalie replied.

"It sure looks that way to me." I nodded in the direction Jasper and Heidi stood. Both Edward and Rosalie followed my gaze.

"Oh, good lord." Rosalie sighed. I would have never chosen Heidi for Jasper and neither would Rosalie.

"I take it you don't like Heidi?" Edward asked Rosalie.

Rosalie shrugged.

When Rosalie didn't elaborate further, I leaned over and whispered into Edward's ear. "I'll tell you about Heidi later."

Edward nodded and then continued eating.

I glanced around at all of my friends and sighed. Until now, I hadn't realized how much I had missed getting together with them at gatherings such as this.

I loved working for Shelly, but taking care of her was more than a full-time job, with the exception of the two week vacation once a year.

~Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ~

At eight pm, the party was still going strong. Even though I was enjoying myself, there were more important things that needed attending to.

Seth's bedtime wasn't until eight-thirty, so I stayed long enough to tuck him into the bed in Angela's guest room. Kissing Seth good-night, I promised him that I would be by early the next morning to pick him up. I then made my way outside and thanked Mike and Angela for a wonderful time and also for letting Seth spend the night with them.

Edward didn't talk much on the drive back to my house. I assumed it was because he was a bit nervous about the conversation that awaited us once we arrived.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" I asked Edward as we entered the front door of my house.

"Only if you're having some," Edward replied shyly, as he stood stock still in the entryway.

I got the feeling that Edward thought that I was about to scold him. I didn't like it and decided to set his mind at ease.

"Edward, would you please relax? So you had a life before you met me, big deal. I'm not so naive that I hadn't realized that. I just wish you would have told me a little bit about her sooner. That way, it wouldn't have been such a shock running into her tonight at Angela's."

Edward closed the distance between us. Gazing into my eyes, he took my hand in his. "I'm sorry. Like I said before, had I known Carmen was going to be there I would have told you before we left for Angela's." Edward shrugged his shoulders. "I had no idea that James was a friend of yours. I was just as shocked as you were, seeing her there."

"I believe you," I said, reassuringly. "And I'm not angry at you." In truth, I had no right to be upset with him. Sure, he hadn't told me anything about his soon to be ex-wife, but I hadn't revealed anything to him about my past relationship either.

Pulling my hand from Edward's, I said, "Why don't you make yourself comfortable and I'll go put on a pot of coffee?"

"Okay," Edward agreed, taking a seat on the sofa.

I filled the coffee maker and turned it on. While it was brewing, I grabbed two mugs from the cupboards and a spoon from the drawer. "Do you like cream or sugar in your coffee?" I asked, raising my voice so that Edward could hear me.

"Both," Edward said as he entered the kitchen.

I jumped at the sound of his voice.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Edward said with a smile.

"You didn't have to come in here. I would have brought your coffee to you."

"I know, but I was getting lonely out there all by myself," Edward said as his smile grew wider, reaching his eyes. I wanted to reach out and caress the creases that formed at the corner of his eyes.

Not knowing exactly how to reply, I returned his smile and simply said, "Suit yourself."

As I filled the cups, Edward came up behind me and placed his hand on the small of my back. "Let me help you with those."

"Thank you," I replied.

After adding cream and sugar into the mugs, Edward picked up the mugs and followed me into the living room. He gestured for me to take a seat. When I did, he handed me one of the cups, taking a sip from his before placing it down on the coffee table and taking a seat beside me.

Edward's eyes fixated on the crease in his slacks as he collected his thoughts. After a few silent moments passed, he took my hand in his and raised his gaze to look at me. "I think it would be best if I started at the beginning. I guess you could say I was a late bloomer. From first grade up until I was in high school, I was shorter than all of the other kids my age. Even the girls were taller than I was." Edward let out a humorless laugh.

"As if being shorter than everyone else wasn't bad enough, I was also teased by most of the other kids in high school. I never found out who it was exactly, but one of the kids started a rumor. They said that I was a hermaphrodite, because I had androgynous looks. After a while, people started believing it and even the few friends I had started to shy away from me." Edward took his eyes off of me and stared off into space. I assumed he was replaying the memories in his mind. I couldn't picture Edward as having androgynous looks. From his square jaw to his masculine build, everything about him screamed masculine. Yet, I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"I remember when I was in the ninth grade, I had a huge crush on this girl named Lauren Mallory. She and I were never friends, but she was one of the few people who didn't tease me. My sister Alice knew that I liked her, so she encouraged me to ask her over to our house for dinner one night. It took me a week just to muster up the courage to ask her out. She was polite about it, but she said she had a preference towards guys who were taller than she was.

"Carmen's family moved to town during second semester. She was in the same grade as me and her schedule was the same as mine. It wasn't long before she heard the rumors." A smile light up Edward's face at this point. "Carmen could have chosen to tease me just like all of the other kids were doing. Instead, she came to me and asked if the rumors were true. When I told her that they weren't, she said that she believed me. She also told me that she liked the way I looked. 'There is nothing wrong with being pretty,' she had said. For so long I had felt like I was going to live out the remainder of my life as some kind of social outcast. So you can't imagine how good I felt to finally have someone I could call my friend." Edward's face lit up when he recounted his first encounters with Carmen. I could tell that he still thought fondly of her and it made me wonder what went wrong between the two of them.

"Anyway, by the end of the school year, Carmen and I were more than just friends. We had started dating. She and I were each other's firsts. And up until the time of our separation, she was the only woman I had ever been with." It wasn't lost on me that Edward had said 'up until the time of our separation'. I knew that it wasn't any of my business, but I had always had a nosey nature and it couldn't hurt to ask.

So I did.

"Up until the time of your separation?"

Finding my curiosity humorous, Edward laughed and then said, "Lauren and I dated for a couple of months after Carmen and I split up…but it didn't work out." The tone in Edward's voice made me curious as to what had happened between him and Lauren, but I didn't want to pry anymore than I already had.

Instead, I asked, "Isn't Lauren the girl who politely turned you down in high school?"

"Yeah," he replied simply.

"What made her change her mind about you between then and now?" I inquired, raising a curious brow.

"I'm not exactly sure. But I'd wager a bet that it has something to do with the fact that testosterone kicked in during my last two years in high school. I grew a foot taller, my facial features tightened up, and I grew facial hair." Emphasizing what he'd said, Edward ran his hand across the stubble on his jaw.

I took a sip of coffee and grimaced. It had already gown cold. Setting the cup back on the coffee table, I asked, "What happened between you and Carmen. From what you've just told me, you two seemed to have cared a great deal about each other."

Edward looked at me thoughtfully. "Around three years ago, Carmen came to me and she said that she was bored with her life. She wanted to get a job. I didn't like the fact that Ben would have to enter a day care, but I wanted Carmen to be happy, so I didn't object. Carmen had already attained her real-estate license before Ben was born. She applied for a job at Prescott Real Estate and they hired her on the spot. A couple of months after she started working there, she began coming home later in the evenings then she used to. And then there were times that she claimed she had to go out of town for her job. I didn't believe her. Prescott Real Estate is a small firm that only deals with local real-estate." Edward paused and ran his hands across the stubble on his jaw. "I can't tell you why, call it intuition, but the first thing that came to mind was that Carmen was having an affair, because these 'trips' were always over the weekend."

"Carmen mentioned a private detective, is that how you found out about James?"

"How did you know it was James?" Edward asked, confused.

Shit. Me and my big mouth.

"Mike and Angela told me, after your run– in with Carmen," I said and then continued with, "but that's all they told me, I swear."

Placing his hand on my knee, Edward gazed into my eyes and said, "Just so you know, I have no idea where Carmen got that idea in her head, but I never hired a private detective."

"Then how did you find out that she was having an affair?"

"I waited until the next time that Carmen claimed she had to make one of her weekend trips. She always told me a couple of days ahead of time. When she did, I asked my sister Alice if she would watch Ben. Then, I borrowed a car from one of the guys who worked for me at the time, and I followed her. That's when I saw her with him."

"I'm sorry, Edward." I didn't know what to say.

Edward shook his head. "Don't be. It hurt for a while, but I'm over it now. I still care a great deal for Carmen, and I'm sure in her own way she still cares about me. We just grew apart. Or rather, she grew apart from me."

I couldn't help but wonder if the same thing would have happened between Jake and me if things would have turned out differently.

"Bella?" Edward's voice shook me from my thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask you about Seth's father? Is he still involved in Seth's life?"

A wave of shock rushed through me. I had been dreading this moment. After all these years it still cut me to think about what might have been. But Edward had told me about his life with Carmen. The least I could do was to tell him a bit about my life with Jake, as well.

I just prayed that I could keep it together when I did.

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