My Paper Heart
Chapter 7
EPOV
This is fucking bullshit!
I can't believe my parents are shipping me off to military school and then making me join the fucking military for a minimum of four years after that or Charlie will press charges and I'll see jail time.
They all think Bella is innocent in all of this, they don't want to listen to my side of the story about her constant teasing me, and she deserved what she got today for batting her eyelashes at me and then turning me down.
"Edward, Edward!" I was snapped out of my daydream
"What?" I snapped.
"Are you listening to me?" My dad questioned.
"Yes sir." I sighed. "We're leaving tonight, after I make a face to face serious apology to Bella. I'll be going to a military school for the last half of the school year and then after graduation, I'll be enlisted into the Army. I'll do at least four years, and I'm to have contact with no one besides you and mom. Chief Swan will be kept informed of my progress at school and then he'll be informed once I'm enlisted into the military and once I'm out." I rolled my eyes at my dad.
"Edward you need to take this seriously. Chief Swan is your worst enemy right now. He could have sent you to jail, but as a favor to me he did not. So be thankful that you're not going to be someone's bitch!" my dad barked at me.
"Carlisle calm down, please." My mom cried. "It's hard enough losing him."
"I'm sorry mom." I got up and hugged her, not realizing until that moment what I'd actually put them through. "I'll be good and do what's needed." I promised.
"We're going to see Isabella tonight after you're all packed. She'll be ready for you by then, her dad is telling her now." My father informed me and I nodded in understanding, walking up to my room to pack.
BPOV
"What? Why does he need to come here? We've got a restraining order for a reason dad!" Emmett snapped.
"Emmett! This is not really your business and when he gets here, everyone will leave the room, except for those two and Esme." My dad sighed. "I know she'll keep the peace and everything will go quickly. OK?" he reassured.
"Ok." Emmett agreed.
I was resting after dinner when there was a knock at the door and it was Dr. Cullen.
"Bella, how are you?" he asked with a smile.
"Shaken up and sore." I shrugged.
"I'm sorry." He smiled sadly.
"It's not your fault Carlisle." I nodded.
"If I'd kept a closer eye on his behavior a couple years ago, this wouldn't have happened." He shook his head.
My dad walked in at that time and shook Carlisle's hand.
"Esme and Edward are in my office, I'll go get them." Carlisle nodded before walking out.
I was fidgeting when the next knock came.
"Dad, I think I'm going to puke." I put my hand on my stomach.
My dad handed me the pink basin. "Here, just in case. Be strong." He kissed my forehead before walking over to the door and whispering something and letting it close again. It opened a few moments later with Esme and Edward.
"Bella, how are you dear?" Esme came over and hugged me, while Edward stood over by the door.
"Sore and shaken." I looked at Edward as a few tears dropped from my eyes.
Edward stepped up to the end of the bed. "Bella, I'm so sorry, really. I let all this hatred and anger get to me and treat you like that. I'll never forgive myself. I hope in time that you'll be able to forgive me." He sighed.
"I just want to know why?" I cried.
Edward moved to the chair next to me and sat down with his head in his hands and started crying.
"Bella, I know it's not an excuse. But I think when you left it hurt me. I know I broke up with you, but I'm used to having girls begging for me. So when you didn't and moved to Florida that hurt like hell and I had to be all macho about it when you did come back, so I was just a dick. When I found out about the baby, it just made things worse and I had all that grief to work through and I was angry at you and at myself for not being there for you, I had no say so in anything and we had no choice in what happened to our baby." He was holding my hand and full on crying now.
"Thank you for the apology Edward. I forgive you and believe it or not, I understand. I'm still angry and I deal with it every day. I'm mad at you, at myself, the doctors, and the world. Trust me. It gets easier, but it's still there." I squeezed his hand. "I just wished you would've talked to me, instead of listening to stupid Jessica. We probably could've worked though our grief together and remained friends." I gave him a small smile.
"I'm just happy that you forgave me. Thank you. It makes going away a lot easier." He acknowledged.
We talked for a few more minutes before they left and I broke into tears.
My family walked in and my dad immediately scooped me into his arms.
"What's wrong Bells? Did he hurt you again?" my dad scowled.
"No, no dad. He gave me a better apology than I could have hoped for, and it helped me understand why he did what he did. It doesn't excuse it, I know. But I do understand it." I wiped my eyes.
"Do you care to share it with us?" Jasper asked.
"Um, he said it had to do with our baby." I sniffled.
"Seriously? You're going to buy that?" Emmett chuckled.
"Emmett!" my dad snapped.
"I do. He was very sincere. It wasn't an act, I can tell when Edward I acting and he was full out crying. One of the reasons he acted out towards me was because he felt badly that he couldn't be there when everything happened and he didn't know how to deal with his grief, so he let stupid Jessica into his head and she filled it with stupid shit. So taking it out on me made him feel better for a short time, then it turned to anger and nothing really worked, he was just angry all the time after that, that's when he tried to get Rose to take sides. He did ask for my forgiveness and I gave it. We have so much healing to do beyond the bullying." I finished.
"I think you did the right thing Bells." My dad hugged me.
Emmett was shaking his head and Jasper was running his hand through his hair.
"Can I get some rest?" I asked.
"Yeah, Carlisle said you can come home in the morning and I think Rose and Alice are here to say hi real quick." My dad smiled.
"Ok, you can send them in." I smiled. "Thanks for everything guys." I smiled at Emmett and Jasper.
"Oh, you don't want us to wait around?" Jasper asked.
"No, I'd like some girl time if you don't mind." I shrugged.
"Oh. OK." He sighed and walked out.
Alice and Rose walked in.
"Who kicked Jasper's puppy?" Rose asked and I shrugged.
"Are you OK?" Alice hugged me.
"I will be. I just need to process everything Edward and I talked about." I told them.
We talked for a little while before they left and I fell asleep.
The next morning my dad came and picked me up, letting me know the boys were at football practice.
"Carlisle left instructions for you to rest, so I made sure you had all your favorites from the store and they're in the fridge. I've got to get to work, the boys will be home soon." He kissed my forehead before leaving.
I sat on the couch for a total of ten minutes before I got up and started pacing. I was filled with so much nervous energy.
I went to the kitchen and started baking and making up a pot of stew for dinner, Emmett arrived shortly after.
"Where's Jasper?" I asked.
"He went home." Emmett shrugged. "Said he'd call you later."
"Oh. OK." I smiled.
"Look, he's kind of upset that you forgave Edward. So let him work through it." Emmett hugged me tight.
"It just hurts he's not willing to talk to me about it. That's how all this started." I reminded him.
He sighed and nodded, telling me he was going to shower.
I took my hot tea and went to sit on the front porch and just relax.
My phone beeps with a text.
Bella,
I know I'm not supposed to have contact with you, but I wanted to check and make sure you were truly OK.
Please know that I really am sorry and I'm going to be talking to someone about the loss.
Thank you for listening to me.
~Edward.
Edward,
Thanks again for the sincere apology.
And I think that's a good idea to talk to someone.
Text anytime. I won't tell.
We all need friends.
~Bella.
I closed out the text and just sat on the swing, feeling a little more at peace, funny how the person who'd been bullying me and who'd hurt me just a day ago was now putting me at peace after his apology and admitting what he'd admitted.
I must have zoned out because Emmett was in front of me snapping his fingers.
"Sis. You OK?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah just thinking." I shrugged.
"I was asking if you wanted to go get lunch?" he smiled down at me.
"No, I'm not really hungry. I baked all morning and smelling all that food left me feeling a little nauseous." I smiled sadly.
"Dad said you have to eat." He reminded me.
"I had some veggies while making the soup, I'm good. Promise." I smiled.
"Fine, I'll be back soon. Go inside and rest. Dad will kick my ass if I leave you outside." He chuckled.
"Ok. I think I need a nap." I stood up and stretched.
I went upstairs and took a nap, but was awoken by loud voices a little while later.
"I don't care if it pissed you off! It was her choice, get over it!" Emmett snapped.
"What if she decides to go back to him?" Jasper asked.
"Then you'll have to let her go, but I don't think that's going to happen. He's gone dude, you're here." Emmett smacked his shoulder.
"We're only together for a few more months, then we'll all go our separate ways for college or whatever." Jasper sighed.
"What do you mean whatever?" Emmett asked skeptically.
"I'm not going to college. I'm going into the Army. It's been my plan all along, I just haven't known how to tell her." I knew he'd be pacing.
"Fuck! She's going to freak out." Emmett swore.
"No shit Em!" Jasper snapped.
"Does Alice know?" Emmett asked.
"Yes. She's known for a couple weeks now. She found the brochures and I had to swear her to secrecy, until I can tell Bella." Jasper sighed.
I chose that moment to make myself known.
"Tell me what?" I asked.
"Bella, you're supposed to be resting." Jasper shook his head.
"That's kind of hard with all the yelling." I looked at him.
Just then my dad walked in and Emmett smirked, knowing Jasper got a small reprieve.
"Hey everyone, Mmmm, something smells good." He said as he walked in.
"I made soup." I smiled.
"Bells, you're supposed to be resting." He looked at me.
"I did, I took a nice nap until these two started yelling." I looked at Jasper and Emmett.
"What's going on boys?" he asked.
"It can wait until after dinner." Jasper said quickly.
"No, I still have to cook the bread. Come into the kitchen and we can talk." I smiled.
Jasper huffed, but they followed.
"OK. What's going on?" my dad asked.
"Well, we were talking about plans after high school and where we'd be going to college and such and well, I'm not going to college." Jasper looked down at the table.
"What?" I whispered.
"Bella…" he sighed.
"No, I actually heard you already. I can't believe you were keeping this from me for so long." I shook my head.
"I didn't mean too." He stood up and walked over to hug me, I pushed him away.
"Please don't." he looked hurt.
"I thought we'd have no secrets." I looked in his eyes.
"It wasn't a secret. I was trying to find the right way to tell you." He begged. "Please understand. And then when I heard what your dad had planned for Edward…" he shook his head.
"Oh no." my dad shook his head.
"Yeah, afraid so Chief. I'd sighed up months before all this though. I turned 18 before I even met Bella and decided that's what I wanted to do, so there's nothing no one could've done. I just didn't know how to tell her. She means the world to me." Jasper held my hands.
I sighed "We need to have some us time after practice tomorrow, OK?" I asked.
"OK." Jasper agreed and kissed me softly.
"Good, now let's eat." Emmett grunted.
We settled down to eat with Jasper stealing looks at me all night.
"So we're good?" he asked before leaving.
"I think once things get aired out, they will be. We need to talk about our future. Like if we want there to be one." I shrugged.
"Of course…" I held up my hand to stop him.
"Jasper, listen to me. You're going into the military. That's a huge step. You're going to be going all over the world, meeting all kinds of people. Don't make promises, you might not be able to keep. Please think this over and we'll talk more tomorrow." I kissed him softly before closing the door.
I cried myself to sleep that night for more than one reason.
AN:
Hope you enjoyed this chapter…
Big changes coming…
Time jump and the consequences of that talk…
Reviews=Love