Thanks for your patience. I just got power and internet back after 9 days, thanks to Hurricane Sandy. We had minor damage, so I can't complain. I knew this chapter was safe with my beta, Miss Winkles, on the other side of the world.
Chapter 8 Thanksgiving
Bella lay in the dark, straining to hear over the music playing in Alice's room. It had been four months since she'd been near a man, and if it was physically possible, she was going to explode from excessive horniness. The pregnancy hormones were riding her like a freight train. She considered a trip to Home Depot to buy a handheld shower head, 'cause something had to put out the fire between her legs. She wouldn't have minded living vicariously through her roommates, but they'd been excruciatingly polite, having the hot monkey sex she knew they were having behind her back at the guy's apartments. She was having trouble getting herself off on her own, so come on people, help a sister out! Alice was leaving and would be away for a week visiting her parents, so Jasper was spending the night. Bella wasn't a math major, but that added up to some serious nookie going down, and soon. She'd gone to bed early, yawning and giving Alice and Jasper good night hugs, hoping they'd turn in quickly. She just had to stay awake, or tomorrow, she'd resort to a phone sex line.
Someone in one of her classes had asked, quite seriously, if using a vibrator while pregnant could give the fetus shaken baby syndrome. The class had cracked up, and while the logical part of her brain knew it was ridiculous, it had been beaten senseless by the baseless fears part of her brain, and she couldn't use old faithful, her plastic boyfriend, anymore without the thought of the baby's head rattling.
She was just about to give up when she heard it—a whispery Jaaaasper, right there.
Where? Dammit. Give me some details.
She pulled her shirt up, still finding it hard to believe how crazy big the girls were. She heard someone on campus was saying she'd had them done over the summer. No, she wanted to tell them, these ta-tas are all mine. Jake would have loved…NO, no, Bella. That jerk did enough. He doesn't get to star in her fantasies. Let's think about Quil: big hands, big shoulders, big ego… ugh, he reminds me too much of Jake.
Jasper hissed, "Fuck yeah,,,so tight banshee."
Seriously? What are the chances he'd said Banshee? Baby was more like it.
God, she couldn't even eavesdrop properly.
Then; pay dirt. The bed began squeaking in that age old rhythm that even a deaf man could hear. She slid one hand between her legs, the other circling over her breasts, rubbing in time with sound.
Finally, finally, she came, and by the sounds coming from next door, they did too.
She lay sated, thinking that that was probably the closest she was ever going to get to a threesome.
…
Two days later she sat in the back of the Porsche and watched the exit signs. Newark Airport next. Jasper drove, wearing a navy pinstripe suit, and Ben sat shotgun wearing dark grey. The whole ride had been silent; no one in the car was ready for what was coming next.
Bella was not looking forward to telling her parents her news when she got home, and the guys were not looking forward to the funeral they were attending after they let her off at the airport.
Bella had heard Alice and Angela talk about it in bits and pieces. They tried to shield her, not wanting her to get upset. A pregnant woman had been killed, a horrible early morning car accident. No one knew she was missing until a coworker tried to reach her when she'd failed to show at a meeting.
Tragic, Bella knew, but why were her friends treating her like a live match in a fireworks factory? Sure, she might have started weeping when the commercial with the homeless dogs came on. And her rage because the store was out of her favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor was completely justified; New York Super Fudge Chunk should be considered a staple. She was able to control her emotions better now. She could be there for her friends too.
It's not that she didn't appreciate the extra care. Angela brought her ginger tea and her pre-natal vitamins in the morning and never let her carry any groceries. Alice had subtlety turned her clothes shopping towards tops that would cover a growing belly without screaming 'I'm knocked up,', gave her cocoa butter to prevent stretch marks, and had even driven her to her OB/GYN appointments. Jasper had emailed his mother for her best recipes, and sometimes cooked all weekend for them. And Ben, Ben was the most practical. He'd contacted her entire study group and persuaded them to meet every week at the apartment so Bella had maximum sleeping time.
They were so sweet, she wanted to scream. No one told dirty jokes in front of her, or raunchy stories. They stopped going to concerts to avoid the crowds, and no one ever seemed to want to go bar hopping anymore, at least not when she was around. She wasn't one of the gang, she felt like their pet.
Maybe it was for the best. It had pretty much gotten around campus that she was pregnant, and the guys she met had one of two reactions:
Get me away from this girl, I'm not gonna be her baby daddy, or
Worth a shot, she can't get any more knocked up, right?
Jasper pulled up to the curb Ben got out and pulled the seat forward, then handed her out of the car. Jasper got out as well and took her bags from the truck.
She hugged Ben. "Thanks for dropping me off."
"No problem, sweetie."
She went to hug Jasper, but he pulled away, "None of that darling, I'm walking you in."
"But the car…" The transit cop was already waving at them to move.
"Ben will circle the airport while I take you as far as they let me go. You think Alice would let me just drop you at the curb like yesterday's news?"
The Porsche lurched off, and to Jasper's credit he didn't even flinch. "Let me see your ticket."
She handed it to him, rolling her eyes. What, was she twelve? He then brought her larger bag to the curbside check in and brought Bella the claim stub.
"Isn't it extra to check the bag?"
"Taken care of, sugar. Think we were going let you drag that big old thing through the airport? My mama would know. 3,000 miles away, she would know." He handed her back her ticket. "You may carry this."
He hoisted her backpack over his shoulder and walked her to the security line. The line snaked back and forth on itself a few times.
"Jazz, you don't have to stay."
"Don't worry about me. You stay put."
Bella watched curiously as he walked over to one of the security people. It looked like he was showing the woman a paper, then he was pointing back at her. The woman spoke into a big radio. A few minutes later Jasper was still chatting and laughing with the woman, when a uniformed man rolled up, pushing a wheel chair. He followed Jasper back to Bella.
"Bella, you're not going to believe it, but Vera over there is from a town in Louisiana, even smaller than mine."
"Jasper, what did you do?"
"Sugar, I just showed her the letter from your doctor that Alice gave me, requesting special consideration because of your fainting spells due to your gestational high blood pressure."
Bella felt her face turning beet red. She wanted to slap him and hug him at the same time. "Now this is Earl, he's going to make sure you get to the boarding gate in one piece."
She looked at Jasper, then the wheel chair, then Earl's earnest face. She sat in the chair with a huff. Jasper put her backpack in her lap, kissing her on the cheek. "Now you behave yourself. Precious cargo and all." That would be his not so subtle hint that he knew she'd try to ditch Earl as soon as Jasper left. She nodded her acquiescence.
Jasper reached out and shook Earl's hand .
She glanced back over her shoulder at him as she was wheeled away. Jasper stood, half a grin on his face, until Earl took her out of sight.
She didn't know what other voodoo Jasper had done, but in addition to boarding early, she was also booked into a window seat, while she distinctly remembered being stuck in the middle.
She wasn't worried about sleeping on the plane, these days she could doze off if she stood too long in the coffee line. She was, however, worried about dreaming.
Since she became pregnant, her dreams were more vivid and bizarre. She didn't always remember them, but apparently she was rather vocal.
One morning Alice asked if the walruses had won.
Too sleepy to realize she was being set up, Bella had asked, "Won what?"
"The volleyball game. Last night you said, 'That's why walrus's shouldn't play volleyball, they can't serve. Right, Ange?"
"No," Angela added. "Pretty sure she said 'serve for shit'."
She declined the wheelchair treatment when she landed, the last thing she needed was Charlie seeing her being wheeled around. She wanted to ease him into the discussion about the baby, not drop it on him in the middle of the airport. There would be time enough to talk on the long drive to Forks.
She'd just turned her phone back on when she was tackled.
"You're here, you're here!" Seth crowed as he hugged her around the middle, briefly lifting her off the ground.
She could barely see Charlie over the top of Seth's dark hair. "Who said you could grow? You're going to be my big brother soon." His hug was too tight, but it felt good. At last, someone who wasn't treating her as if she was one second from collapse.
Charlie kissed her on the cheek, but Bella hugged him hard. She could tell he was a little uncomfortable. Even after all these years of being married to Sue, the hugging habit hadn't transferred to him.
She handed Seth the claim ticket - he was happy to race ahead to the luggage carousel. She and Charlie walked together silently. She hadn't expected Seth at the airport, this was going to be her only time alone with Charlie, but she couldn't just blurt it out. Another day, she said to herself. She'd wait until after Thanksgiving. She didn't want her situation be the main topic at the dinner table anyway, especially since the Black's would be there.
Another fun thought; when was she going to tell Jake? She wanted to do this all on her own, but suddenly reality had set in. She saved almost all her money from her summer job, but between lectures, clinical hours at the hospital, and studying, she could only work two days a week. She was making it now, but wait until she had to buy diapers and formula and a crib and…
"Hey Bella," Seth broke in. "Why is that lady looking at you so strange?"
Bella glanced over, and sure enough, a woman with dark hair and a red sweater was staring at her. Then it clicked; Bella had sat next to her on the plane.
Guess she did have another crazy dream.
Sue's hugs were some of the best things in the world. Bella closed her eyes and let the feeling of home wash over her; the smell of chicken and dumplings filling the kitchen. Her mouth watered.
Her mother stepped back and looked her up and down. "You gained a little weight, honey. It looks good on you, you were too skinny. Don't you think so, Charlie?"
Charlie was hanging up his jacket. He was going in to work soon. "She looks the same to me."
Alice's camouflage was working, as long as someone wasn't looking too hard. Bella wore a long, thick knitted sweater and black leggings. "Tight on the bottom, loose on the top", Alice told her. It would help conceal her changing body, at least for a little while longer. Her belly was permanently popped out now, but it just looked like she'd overeaten. By Christmas, she wouldn't be able to hide anything.
Sue stirred the pot. "Seth, bring your sister's bag to her room."
"No, that's okay…" Bella interrupted.
Sue waved at Seth, indicating the bag. "I'm trying to raise a gentleman here, let him do it."
Sue ladled a bowl full of the thick stew. "I'm giving you three dumplings. Now go wash up, by the time you're done it'll be cool enough to eat."
Seth was practically licking his bowl when she came back down the stairs. He was eyeing Bella's dish. "How come Bella got three dumplings?"
"Because she missed out the last time I made this." Sue answered.
"Why does she have to go to stupid college? Then she could have dumplings all the time."
Bella ruffled his hair. "You wouldn't miss me then."
"Quil was missing you."
"What?" Bella and Sue asked at the same time.
"When I was down on the rez with Dad and Billy, Quil asked me when you were coming home."
Sue asked, "And what did you tell him?"
"Tell who?" Charlie walked in, dressed in his uniform.
Sue looked over her glasses at her husband. "Quil was looking for Bella."
"Tell him to keep looking." He took the container with his dinner and kissed Sue on the cheek. He rubbed Seth's head and gave Bella a little wave. "See you in the morning."
When Sue found that Seth would be entering the world, three things happened. Charlie proposed, Bella got a new bike in exchange for wearing a dress to the wedding, and Charlie had an extension built onto the house, making a third bedroom and second bathroom on the main floor for him and Sue, and doubling the size of the dining room, from tiny to just big enough. Once the card table was opened and extra chairs were put around the table the room was full. As Bella spread the tablecloth she realized she was going to have to sit strategically. She had to pee all the time, and if she got stuck in one of the chairs by the window, she'd be in big trouble.
Sue entered carrying a stack of dishes. Bella counted in her head as she laid them out. Charlie, Sue, Seth, me; that's four. Billy and Jake - 6, Grandmother Clearwater; 7, Sue's sister Sarah; 8, then 9, 10.
"Are Rachel and Rebecca Black coming?"
"No. The extra plates are for Leah and her mother."
Bella considered the dishes in her hands. If she knew for sure where Leah was sitting, she'd do something, like spit on her dish, or give it a little rinse in the toilet.
"How bout I make place cards this year?"
"Why? It's just family."
"Leah is not my family. Why are they coming?"
"Jacob asked, otherwise they'd be alone for the holiday."
"Leah always said it was a white man's holiday. Why is she coming?"
Sue's silent stare made Bella reconsider her words. In the area around the reservation, many people were part Native American. It never meant anything to Bella growing up. The fact that there were so many shades of skin in her town, in her own family, never bothered her. At some point, Leah started dropping these little slights about how the Tribal people needed to stick together, that the whites were diluting their blood. These went over Bella's head until one day she realized Leah was talking about her. She acted as though there was something wrong with Bella and Jacob dating. Bella called her on it once, and Leah denied there was any issue. Now that Bella thought about it, it all made sense. Leah had said, "I have no problem with you dating Jacob. It's not like you're going to get married."
Sue cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry, Mom, she's just been such a bitch to me, the last thing I need is to see her smirking at me in my own house."
"Maybe if we act the way we wish to be treated, others will do the same."
"Is that Tribal wisdom?"
"No." Sue threw the pack of patterned napkins at her. "Oprah."
There was something good about being three times zones west. When she heard Sue get up at 6:30 to put the turkey in the oven, Bella felt like it was 9:30, and had no trouble waking up to help prep for dinner. She pulled another of her disguises over her head, one of Ben's football sweatshirts; the guys had been amazingly understanding when Alice raided their wardrobes. She checked her profile in the mirror. There was no distinct bump. With her secret safe for another day, she walked down the stairs to start cooking.
She took the sack of potatoes, a peeler and the big pot to the back steps. She covered the damp top step with a towel, and then sat down to peel. There was still mist rising through the trees, and the pine scent was strong in the morning. Birds sang the dawn chorus, and trilled, whistled and chirped as she listened. She thought of that one disastrous middle school field trip with a birding expert, when all the boys kept asking if they were going to see a Bushtit. She shook her head as she peeled and listened, storing up the memory, wishing she had paid more attention and could actually name the birds she was listening to.
The serenity of the moment was broken by the sound of Charlie's cruiser coming up the road. He parked and strolled over, examining the pot, three quarters full of peeled potatoes.
"Make sure you make enough. That Jacob eats like a horse." He kissed her on the top of her head, walked past her, and paused. "Did you call your mother?"
"Why would I call her, she's right in the kitchen."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, I'll call Renee later." She cut angrily into the last potato. She had no plans to call the woman who abandoned her and Charlie. Holidays were for family, and Renee left that title behind when she walked out on them.
...
Seth had the job of mashing the potatoes. "This is a man's job, you know."
Bella smiled as she added hot cream to the pot her brother had on the kitchen table, mashing with all his might.
A spoon appeared between them. "I'm going to have to sample this, can't take chances with the mashed potatoes." Charlie took a healthy scoop.
Sue slapped him on the butt. "No sampling. Go bring Billy a beer."
Three guests had yet to arrive, Jacob, Leah and her mother Hannah. Bella was hoping some not-fatal yet debilitating accident had befallen them, and that they would never arrive. Just about everything was ready for the table, so she snuck off to the bathroom for a quick pee before dinner.
Aunt Sarah was carrying a casserole of sweet potatoes with broiled marshmallows on top, Seth's favorite, to the table. Sue came back into the kitchen, and as she picked up the tray of stuffing balls, another of her specialties, she looked at Bella. "You okay, sweetie? That's the third time you've been to the bathroom this morning."
Exactly why did she have to be so observant? "No, mom, I'm just feeling a little off. I think I might be coming down with something."
"You look flushed. Why don't you take off that heavy sweatshirt, it's hot in here."
Too quickly she answered, "No, I'm good. I'm just going to step outside for a sec."
Sue gave her a look, but only nodded. In ten years of marriage she'd picked up some of Charlie's habits as well.
The cool air felt good on her face and she took a deep breath. A car door slammed nearby. She hadn't noticed it when she stepped outside, but Jacob's Rabbit was already parked a few houses down.
Hannah was walking up the street carrying a foil covered pie, and Jacob had a six pack in one hand, his other hand extended towards Leah who grabbed it as she caught up to him.
Bella ducked back in before they saw her.
She hadn't seen Hannah in more than two years. Before that, it was a couple of times a week. Leah's mother worked hard at two jobs. She didn't make all of Leah's soccer games, but they had a nice little house and she always came up with the money for every class trip and dance, and hosted sleepovers for the girls every other week.
Bella stood in the doorway to her parent's bedroom as a burst of greeting sounded from the front of the house.
Seth yelled from the kitchen, "BELLA, MOM SAID TO FIND YOU CAUSE IT'S TIME TO EAT."
She giggled into her hand, surely a foghorn worthy bellow was not what her mother intended.
Suddenly Jake was in front of her, filling the doorway. "Your mom said I could use the bathroom back here. Someone's in the one upstairs."
She stepped out of his way. "Go ahead."
He pointed at her chest. "Charlie lets you wear a Giants sweatshirt in his house? He must really love you."
"At least someone does." Bella wanted to stop her words as she was saying them. Now Jake was going to think she was still waiting for him. Was she? No, she wasn't waiting for him, but she was waiting for someone, someone to share her life with. She knew she could do it on her own. Charlie did it when Renee walked out on him. Billy did it when his wife died. Hannah did it when…she never found out what had happened with Leah's dad. She wasn't sure if Leah knew.
She'd seen how much happier her dad was once he started dating Sue, and Bella was happy when they finally got married. It was strange, but nice, to have someone make her a sandwich for lunch and help fix her hair. Bella didn't feel loved any less when Seth was born, Sue had showed her that you didn't have to be bound by blood to be loved.
…
There were two empty spaces when she returned to the dining room—one between Grandmother Clearwater and Billy, and one between Leah and Hannah. Easy choice, even though the seat next to Grandmother kept her trapped. It was a little rude to ask an Elder to move, so Bella squeezed by and sat down.
A moment later Jacob returned, but before he could sit, Hannah raised her glass. "Now that everyone's together, we have an announcement." She raised Leah's left hand. "Leah and Jacob are getting married."
Bella sat, her face frozen in a smile of shock. Her phone, she had to get her phone.
"How wonderful!"
"Congratulations!"
"A long and happy life together!"
The well wishes swirled together with the clinking of the glasses and clapping. Grandmother Clearwater asked in an overly loud voice, "When's the date?"
Leah was a little red when she answered, "Christmas Eve."
Grandmother nodded her head in approval. "So, before you start showing."
There was no denial, so Bella knew it was true. Leah turned a little redder, but Jacob had a stupid grin on his face, like he should get an award. She finally found the fake call app on her phone. Alice called that app the date 911. If you wanted an excuse to end a date early, it would make your phone ring on demand. She'd never used it, but before Jasper, Alice swore by it.
She touched the button and 15 seconds later her phone rang. She brought it out, faked reading the screen and said to Charlie, "It's Renee. I have to talk to her." She squeezed out behind Grandmother, and made her escape.
A/N: Anyone else want to pour the gravy over Hannah's head? Or maybe in Jacob's lap, to tame his super sperm?
