Disclaimer: I do not own twilight
Chapter 8
EPOV
I knew the kids would be watching through the window. I really didn't want to have to fight Jacob in front of them but when he took a step towards me I knew I didn't have a choice.
I was surprised when someone was all of the sudden standing next to us asking what was going on. It was then that Masen ran outside yelling for Bella. She took Masen inside and when she came back out it was obvious she was pissed.
"What the hell?" she spat. Oh shit this isn't going to go well. What if she's pissed at me? I mean Jacob is Masen's father and her ex-husband; maybe I did cross the line at least in Bella's view. Suddenly I found myself pretty nervous about the situation.
I was surprised that she asked me for my side first and she was backing me up instead of Jacob. Jasper and I left Bella alone to talk to her ex. After a while he his voice was getting louder and louder. We were about to open the door just in case he started getting violent. It was clear that he had a temper and I wasn't going to chance anything.
"You've upset him enough." I heard Bella say.
"Me? What about your boyfriend?" What an ass. I thought that Bella would deny that I was her boyfriend and I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't. I wasn't stupid enough to think that I was by any means but I was glad she didn't bother to correct him. It gave me a little confidence and it made me feel better.
Sure I felt better but what about Masen. How was he feeling about all of this? Bella went upstairs to talk with him after she came back inside and really his reaction was the one that mattered. It seemed like they were up there for a while and I took the opportunity to talk with Jasper away from Jacob.
After Jasper and Alice left Bella re-assured me that Masen wasn't upset with me. She apologized to me and we got caught up staring at each other. I couldn't look away. I was just about to kiss her when we heard the kids.
I was torn. I of course wanted to kiss her but maybe it was better that we didn't. I mean I haven't even asked her out on a date yet. I would have to make sure I did that as soon as possible but now was not the time since apparently we had ourselves a couple of seven year old spies.
After we made sure the kids weren't in hearing distance we sat back down on the couch.
"So Jasper and Alice seem really nice."
"They are, I've worked with Alice for about a year now and even though we just met Jasper recently I really like him."
"Really? I kind of assumed that he and Alice had been together for a while considering the way he was talking about her when you guys were upstairs."
"I know, they seem perfect for each other, like they're soul mates that have spent many lifetimes together." Bella said and that kind of surprised me.
"You believe in soul mates and multiple lifetimes together?" I asked.
"Maybe." she blushed a little. I wondered if that was because she was embarrassed by believing in it or if there was another reason.
"What about love at first sight?" I asked while blushing myself. Bella's eyebrows furrowed and she looked deep in thought for a minute.
"If you would have asked me that question eight years ago my answer would be much different than it is now."
"Oh?"
"I have a very different perspective on the whole thing." I wasn't sure if she was going to elaborate or not so I gestured for her to continue.
"I'm a lot more cynical now….. How can anyone tell just by looking at someone whether or not they love them? It takes time to get to know someone and know what kind of person they are so it just doesn't seem possible."
"What would your argument have been before? You know eight years ago?" I wanted very much to know what she thought.
"That people's souls can recognize each other. You know how you just meet someone and you instantly like them or dislike them for no apparent or logical reason?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
"So if two people were destined to be together and are soul mates then their souls know it right away and they form an immediate bond whether they know it consciously or not. So I guess on a deeper level I would have to say that would be love at first sight."
"And you don't believe that anymore?"
"Honestly I don't know what I believe, when I see people like Alice and Jasper I think that it can happen."
"But?"
"But when it comes to me I'm a lot more skeptical. I have a child now and I have to consider him above all else. So regardless, I can't be too careful. Masen comes first."
"As he should." We were both silent for a moment. It was clear that Bella's relationship with Jake was what changed her mind on love.
"What happened between you and Jake?" As soon as I said it I realized my mistake as I watched her face fall.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." I tried to correct my mistake as quickly as possible.
"No, it's okay. I've been over it for a long time. It's just he keeps screwing things up with Masen and that just kills me." She looked around making sure the kids weren't listening and I saw that her eyes were a little glossy.
"I met Jake my first year in college. He was in a band and of course every girl wanted him for that fact alone. I started off the same as those other girls, I was a groupie and followed him around and watched almost every show.
It didn't take long for him to notice me since I didn't really give him a chance not to. He asked me out one night after they were finished playing. I was just so happy that he had chosen me out of everyone else there and I was young and stupid thinking that I had to have sex with him in order to keep him around.
I got pregnant shortly after that, and so we got married. But I honestly believed that he was the one. At first he treated me like I was special and I believed that he was too. Somehow I managed to convince myself that he was it for me. I had this 'perfect person' in my head and somehow got confused enough to put his face to the person I created in my mind."
She looked so defeated I moved closer and grabbed her hand.
"It didn't take long for things to start to fall apart. We were very different people with very different views on life, but I was so caught up with the fact that I thought he was the perfect person that I believed that everything that went wrong was my fault and he certainly didn't correct that assumption.
It didn't help that I was trying to take care of Masen and still go to classes. Jake was playing a lot and when he wasn't he just didn't have any interest in spending time with me or Masen. My friends didn't like him and I ended up losing, well pretty much all of them.
Some didn't want to hang out if Jake was going to be there and the others got tired of me having to turn them down when they wanted to go out and party. I couldn't really blame them, we were young and that's what people did at that age.
I couldn't because I was too busy going to school, taking care of Masen, and trying to please Jacob. Then his band wasn't playing so much anymore and so he wasn't bringing in as much money and so I had to go out and get a second job just so we could survive."
When I was in my 3rd year at U-Dub Jake got an offer to go on tour. It was a big break for him and I wanted him to be happy. It was going to last 3 months and while I knew I would miss him and didn't really want him to go I couldn't hold him back.
I was hoping that he would have asked us to go with him. Hoping that he was going to miss us as much as I thought I was going to miss him. I kept waiting and waiting but he never asked and the night before he left he kissed us goodbye with the promise to call everyday. The next morning when I got up for work I found the note that he put on the seat of my car that said he wasn't coming back and he didn't want to be tied down anymore.
I filed for divorce and changed Masen's last name to mine. He didn't contest the divorce and we didn't have any assets to speak of and he didn't want Masen so it was over pretty quickly.
I got a call from him about a year later asking to be a part of Masen's life and ever since then it has been the same. A lot of disappointments and broken promises." She took a deep breath and smiled up at me.
"I'm sorry Bella." I wasn't sure what to say.
"It's fine Edward. Like I said my only regret now is how it negatively affects Masen." She looked over towards the stairs before looking back.
BPOV
"What about you Edward? I wasn't sure if I wanted him to share his story about Jessica or his views on love, either way I wanted to know more about him.
"Well, I met Jessica in college too. We started dating and were together for a year and a half before we got married. I thought we were happy. At least we were in the beginning. When we met I was actually in pre-med. It wasn't what I really wanted to do but I did it because that's what my family expected of me.
Anyway my parents were killed in a car accident and I realized that life was too short and I needed to do something to make me happy. I changed my major to journalism and Jessica was less than thrilled.
She wanted me to become a doctor and thought that I was making a huge mistake and was going to ruin both our lives. I was hurt that she seemed to care more about me becoming a doctor then being happy.
Things started getting worse from that point on and eventually we just grew apart. She filed for divorce and left town without telling me she was pregnant. I only found out after everything was finalized.
I didn't get to see much of Holly until a little over a year ago when Jessica met Mike and he wanted to move back to the city, then I became an every other weekend dad. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that Jessica decided that she didn't want to be tied down anymore and gave me full custody of Holly." He was looking down at my hand that he was still holding.
I was shocked to say the least. I of course knew Jessica because we were neighbors and while I didn't really expect her to share the details of her life with me I would have thought she would have mentioned giving custody to her ex. I just thought he was watching her while they were on their honeymoon.
I wasn't sure what to say so I repeated Edwards words to me from earlier.
"I'm sorry Edward."
"It's okay Bella, I got really lucky that I have such a wonderful daughter whom I get to have with me full time now."
"How is Holly dealing with it?"
"I'm not sure, I mean she seems fine with it right now but I wonder if that's because her mother isn't here. I really worry that when they come back Holly is going to be upset that she isn't living there anymore. I just don't want her to feel rejected."
"I hope you know that if you ever need anything at all or if Holly needs anything that I'm here for both of you." I felt kind so bad for their situation and silently realized the similarities to mine.
"Thank you Bella, that means a lot to me. And I'm sure Holly too. She really likes you and Masen a lot………... Um and so do I."
I opened my mouth to say something, I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be but I didn't have a chance to get anything out.
"Daddy?" Holly and Masen walked around the corner.
"What is it sweetie?" Edward asked.
"I don't feel very good." And she did look pretty flushed. Edward got up and walked over to her when she made a run for the bathroom.
"She'll be okay right?" Masen asked.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about buddy, probably just the flu or something." I stood in the doorway of the bathroom as I saw Edward holding Holly's hair back; she was leaning over the toilet crying. I watched from where I was as Edward was taking care of his daughter.
It was amazing to watch how quickly he was able to calm her down. After he made sure she was finished throwing up he got her a wet washcloth for her face and helped her rinse out her mouth.
He felt her forehead and frowned. I found the thermometer and handed it to Edward and he took her temperature.
"100.1"
"Holly? Do you want something to drink?" I asked.
"No thank you." She whispered.
"I have some Tylenol if you want to give that to her." I told Edward.
"Thanks Bella that would be great." I gave the box to Edward thinking he might need more for later in case he didn't have any at home.
"I better get her home." He said picking Holly up and walking with her cradled to his chest. Edward saw Masen standing against the wall.
"See ya later buddy, you did really well in the game today. Your new kicks are really cool." He smiled at him.
"Thanks Edward, bye Holly." Masen said not coming too close. I walked them to the door.
"Well, I guess skating is out for tomorrow." He said as Holly closed her eyes.
"Call me if you need anything." I told him as I brushed some hair away from Holly's face.
"I will."
"Oh, Edward…..Thanks for everything…..for earlier."
"No problem…… um I guess I will talk to you later?" he asked.
"Yeah, uh drive carefully, and Holly I hope you feel better." She nodded weakly keeping her eyes closed.
"Seriously Edward, if you need anything, let me know."
"Thanks Bella." and he turned and walked out to his car. I didn't hear anything from Edward for the rest of the night. I was a little disappointed I admit but I knew he was probably busy taking care of his daughter.
But somewhere in the back of my mind I worried that today had been too much for him. Maybe he would be running for the hills after all. I woke up to my cell phone buzzing on the night stand.
It was from Edward assuring me that he fell asleep early last night as did Holly and he is getting ready to make her some chicken noodle soup.
I heard a knock on my bedroom door and Masen came in and climbed into bed with me.
"Hey Buddy, how are you feeling?" I asked hoping he wasn't going to get whatever Holly had.
"Ok." He laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. Not a good sign. I stayed in bed for another half hour before I got up to get some housework done.
I hadn't gotten very far when I heard a knock on the door. I half expected it to be Edward but instead I found Jessica standing there with a huge smile on her face.
"Hi Bella." she smiled brightly. It felt kind of strange talking with her now. Knowing my feelings for Edward. The rational side of my brain knew there wasn't anything wrong with it but I still felt weird about it.
And I couldn't get over my sudden dislike for her after hearing what happened between her and Edward. How could she leave him without telling him that she was pregnant? That just seems completely unfair.
"Hey Jessica, how was the honeymoon?"
"Oh Bella it was so perfect." She said as she walked in and sat down on my couch.
"Where's Mike?"
"Oh he had to run to the store for something." She sort of giggled. Wow I guess the honeymoon isn't over.
"I brought this back for you." She said handing me a gift bag. It was a cookbook from the different Caribbean islands they went to.
"Wow, Jess this is really great. Thank you so much." That really was a nice thing to do. She knows how much I love to cook.
"Well, I better go. I just wanted to drop that off for you. I've got a ton of stuff to do today." And she stood up to leave.
"Thanks again Jess, and say hi to Holly for me." I wondered what her schedule would be now that her mom was back. I know that Edward has custody now but I didn't know if she would see her mom every other weekend like Edward had.
The rest of the day was pretty boring. Masen woke up but didn't feel like doing much. He didn't have a fever but wasn't feeling completely normal either. I finished with the housework and got started on a new project for a client of mine.
Later that night I got a call from Edward. We talked for about 2 hours but it really only seemed like a few minutes.
"Is Holly well enough to go to school tomorrow?"
"She says she's feeling better but we'll have to wait to see how she feels in the morning."
"Will you leave her with Jessica if she needs to stay home?"
"No, when she called earlier I told her about Holly being sick and I asked her if she would be available but she said tomorrow wouldn't work out for her. She has some sort of appointment or something." I could hear the irritation in his voice.
"Oh" I couldn't hide my irritation either. That sounded like a very Jake thing to do but I know she isn't that bad. She did have Holly up until a few weeks ago but it still ticked me off.
"Yeah I don't know, I guess this was pre-planned or something and she did say that she could come over afterwards. Apparently she has some good news to share and she wants to give Holly her present anyway."
"Will you call me in the morning and let me know how Holly is?" I asked. He chuckled a little.
"Yes, I will. Have a good night Bella."
"I will, you too."
