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Chapter 8

"A lie keeps growing and growing until

it's as plain as the nose on your face."

-Pinocchio

Saturday, April 14, 2012

EPOV

I was instantly relieved when Bella had appeared seemingly out of thin air, but I was further relieved when Dr. Leah Clearwater called out for our family and explained to us that Savannah had come through surgery perfectly and that she was in recovery.

I grabbed Bella's hand in relief. "I'll be right back, okay?" I asked her quietly.

She nodded and sat back down beside my mother. I quickly followed the doctor through the doors and to my daughter. I smiled when I saw her resting in the small stretcher seemingly asleep.

"When can I take her home?" I asked the doctor as I sat down on the stool beside Savannah's bed and stroked her hair from her forehead.

"As soon as she wakes up." Dr. Leah said and had me sign some papers and take my copy of the post op instructions, which honestly weren't much.

Fifteen minutes after I sat down beside her bed, I was carrying Savannah out. "Papa, I hungry." She said without moving her head.

"Okay, we will go get something to eat before we go home. But, first I have a surprise for you." I told her just as I pushed through the waiting room doors.

"I no want sprise, Papa." She said quietly.

"I'm sure you will like this one, angel." I told her as I turned her to see mom, dad, and Bella.

"Izzy B!" Savannah said perking up a little bit.

"Hi, sweet girl. How are you feeling?" Bella asked as she stood up and placed a gentle kiss on Savannah's forehead and handed her the teddy bear.

"I hungry. Thank you, Izzy B." Savannah said quietly, laying her head back down on my shoulder and tucking the bear under her arm.

"Well I'm sure your Papa will feed you." Bella told her quietly stroking her hair.

Savannah nodded but otherwise remained silent.

"Okay, well I'm gonna get her home. Mom, Dad, I will be by tomorrow to get the rest of the kids. I want to make sure Vannah is okay before bringing the other kids around her." I told my parents as we all headed for the exit.

"Sure thing. son. Call if you need us, okay?" Carlisle said as we neared the exit.

Edward nodded but remained quiet since Savannah was snoring lightly on his shoulder.

"Bye Bella. I look forward to seeing you again, soon. Maybe you can come to Sunday brunch one weekend?" Esme asked.

I smiled and nodded. "If it's okay with Edward I would certainly like that. See you soon." Bella told my mom and gave her a gentle hug.

Bella and I headed toward the parking garage while my mom and dad headed towards his car that was parked in his reserved spot.

We walked in silence until we reached Bella's car. "I'm glad she's okay, Edward."

I smiled at her and nodded. "Thanks, I guess I was worried for nothing. She seems fine, just sleepy." I told her quietly.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the anesthesia and pain meds." She said quietly.

I nodded. "Call you later?" I asked her quietly.

She nodded, kissed me gently on the cheek, kissed Savannah's head, and slipped in her car.

I slowly made my way to the Volvo since my mom still had the Suburban; well I guess Alice had it right now. I swear that vehicle was a family vehicle instead of just mine. Once home I got Savannah settled into her baby bed while I fixed us some dinner.

She slept for over two hours before she came pitter pattering into the library/my office."Papa?" She questioned when she couldn't see me because I had my head laid down on my desk in frustration over the case I was preparing for some of my clients. The guy was very well off and wanted his wife to be to sign a pre-nup and I was having to work out all the finer details of the actual pre-nup.

"I'm right here, baby girl. Come here." I told her and raised her up.

She raced into my arms, wrapping her arms around my neck. "How are you feeling?" I asked her. She had the bear that Bella had given her earlier clutched in her arms and was still in her hospital pajamas.

She pulled back and smiled big at me. "Hungry, Papa!"

I nodded and stood up with her in my arms. "How does chicken and trees sound?" I asked as I toted her to the kitchen.

She nodded eagerly. "I love chicken n trees, Papa. How you know?"

I laughed. "I know because I'm your Papa and I love you." I told her as I sat her on the island so I could dish her up a plate. "Don't move, Vannah." I told her as I turned to grab her little plastic pink flower shaped plate and put her two scoops of chicken and broccoli casserole onto her plate.

"I won't Papa. Where sissy's and bubby's, Papa?"

"They are going to spend the night with Nana and Grampy so we can have the house to ourselves." I told her as I scooped her up and carried her to the kitchen table. I placed her in her booster seat and slid her plate in front of her.

She immediately picked up her fork and dug in. "Milk, juice, or tea Vannah?"

"Milk." She said around a mouthful of food.

I fixed myself a plate, got two glasses of milk and joined my daughter at the table.

After we finished eating, and as usual my sweet angel needed a bath in a bad kinda way. Whenever Tanya and I had first gotten together, I had been leery of giving Maddy a bath because she was a girl and I was a guy, but now it didn't bother me because I was their father.

"Strip down baby girl." I told her as I turned the dials to the bathtub to the right temperature.

"Okay, Papa." She said and began tossing her pajama's off in a hurry.

I plugged the bathtub so it could start filling with water. "Ready?" I asked her once she was stripped down.

She nodded her head and then I remembered that I needed to put cotton in her ears. "Okay, we got to put a fluffy ball in your ear to keep water out, okay?" I asked her as I grabbed a cotton ball off the counter and tore it up so it would fit in her ears.

"It gonna hurt, Papa?" She asked nervously.

I shook my head. "Nope, you just aren't going to be able to hear for a little bit, okay?"

She nodded and stood still while I put the cotton pieces in her ear before lifting her over into the bathtub. I quickly washed her hair and body so that she could play. Before I sat the tub of toys in the water with her, I pulled the cotton from her ears. "If you don't stick your head under water we can take these out. You want to take them out or leave them in?" I asked giving her an option.

"Out." She said as she sat still while I pulled the cotton pieces from each of her ears, than set the tub of toys in the bathtub with her.

She pulled out a couple of rubber ducks from the bucket and began playing by herself, but quickly became bored so she handed me one of the ducks.

"Papa, why I no have mommy?" She asked shocking me deadly still.

This is not how I pictured this conversation going. "You do have a mommy, Savannah. Everybody has a mommy and a daddy." I told her quietly.

"You Papa, who mommy?" She asked as we swam our ducks around in the water.

"Your mommy's name is Tanya and she left when you was just a tiny baby." I told her honestly. I had made a vow about six months after she left that I would never lie to my children about her. I wouldn't bad mouth her to them but I wouldn't lie to them either.

"Why she leave?" My little innocent angel asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't know, baby girl, you can ask her if she ever comes around." I told her even though I knew that the chances of that happening were slim to none.

"Okay, Papa. Love you, Papa." She said as we played with her toys.

"Love you too, Savannah Grace."

BPOV

I couldn't believe that Edward kissed me right there in front of his parents and a waiting room full of people. After we parted ways in the parking garage I headed home and flopped down on my bed with my laptop and lost myself in my one guilty pleasure.

My phone ringing startled me from my zone and I looked towards my windows and was shocked to see that it was dark outside. I snatched my phone and smiled when I saw Edward's number displayed on the screen.

"Hello, handsome."

"You think I'm handsome, huh?" He asked quietly.

"Indeed I do. How's Savannah?" I asked him as I rolled off my bed and headed towards the kitchen for something to eat and drink.

"She's great. She finally conked back out about thirty minutes ago. She has thoroughly enjoyed being an only child for the day."

I laughed. "I bet. She gets her Papa all to herself." I told him as I perused the contents of my fridge for something edible.

"She has made several comments today about missing her sissy's and bubby's though." He said quietly. "What are you doing, beautiful?"

"Trying to find me something to eat in the no man's land known as my refrigerator." I told him quietly as I pulled the makings of huge turkey sandwich and placed them on the counter.

He just laughed. "You haven't eaten yet? It's almost 10 o'clock at night, Bella." That shocked me. I didn't realize it had gotten so late.

"It's really that late?" I asked him as I tossed my sandwich together.

"Yes, it is almost that late. What have you been doing that time slipped you by?"

I groaned. "Writing." I answered vaguely.

"Writing what?"

"A book." I told him quietly.

"Hmm… can I read it?"

"Absolutely not." I said vehemently as I climbed on my lone bar stool.

"Maybe one day?"

"Hmmm… the only way I will let you read what I write is if we get married." I told him thinking I would be safe because hopefully he would forget all about it if I was lucky enough for that to ever happen.

"Hmmm indeed. That can be arranged, you know?"

I gasped. "Edward Cullen, you can not be talking marriage when we haven't even gone out on a date yet." I told him shocked.

He just laughed at me. "Oh when I start seriously discussing marriage, Isabella, you will know the difference."

I didn't have a response to that one. "Have you enjoyed having just one child for the night or are you missing the rest of them?" I asked changing the subject quickly.

"I have missed all of them but it's nice to not hear 'Papa' screamed at me fifty million times an hour." He commented.

"I bet. Speaking of them screaming Papa, why do they call you that instead of daddy?" I asked curiously.

"That's simple. When I met Tanya, my ex-wife, she already had a daughter, Madison, and I didn't want to confuse her, so I told her that she could call me Papa instead of daddy. It has just stuck and the other kids picked up on it from hearing Maddy calling me that."

"That's sweet. How come you have Madison and not Tanya?"

"She left her along with a legal paper saying that she relinquished custody of Maddy over to me and signed her rights away to me the day she left us."

"Wow. I wished I could run into that woman one day and give her some of her own medicine back." I told him getting angry.

"Yeah, me and you both. The only good thing that came out of ever meeting her is my children. All of them. Speaking of Tanya, Savannah asked me tonight during bath time where her mommy was."

"What did you say to her?" I whispered quietly.

I could hear him sigh. "The truth; just a kid friendly version of it. I told her that her mommy left and that she could ask her herself why if she ever came back around."

"You are such a good father, Edward. Those kids are super special having you in their lives." I told him honestly.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I feel blessed having them in my life too."

I nodded. "Do you ever get tired of being a single father to six little kids and mostly girls?"

"Do you ever get tired of taking care of kids day after day when you could be doing something else?"

"Absolutely not. I love each and every one of my kids as if they were my own."

"Point proven. Does it get tough sometimes? Absolutely. Would I change anything? Absolutely not."

"You should be nominated for the world's best father or something." I told him quietly.

"Nah, I just do the best I can."

We fell silent for a few minutes, just listening to the other one breathe through the phone. "Alright, baby, I'm about to fall asleep at my desk."

I didn't catch the endearment he let slip but I didn't make a big deal about it. "Okay, I guess I am going to turn in myself." I told him quietly.

"Alright, beautiful, I will try to call you sometime tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight, Edward. Tell all the babies I said hi and that I can't wait for Monday."

"Will do, Bella. Goodnight."

I hung up the phone with a smile on my face. Even though it was late I sent a quick text to Angie and Rosalie.

Got a date for Friday! – Bella

Immediately after I sent the message I turned my phone off because I realized I was really tired.

That night my dreams were co-ed yet again with the main attraction being a green eyed bronze haired father of six.

I woke up the next morning with a huge smile on my face as I stretched in my bed. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and turned it on and listened as it beeped like crazy with all the messages coming through.

I scrolled through them, most of them being from Rosalie and Angela from last night. The one that caught my attention was the one from Edward's number. I opened it up and smiled at what I saw.

It was a picture of a shirtless Edward obviously lying in bed but it was the little girl sprawled across his chest that made me smile. Somebody felt lonely and wanted their Papa last night. – Edward

I replied back to him quickly.

Did you get any sleep last night with your chest ornament? – Bella

I scrolled through my sisters and best friends messages about wanting to take me shopping this week for date clothes, to the spa, and beauty salon for a haircut.

I replied back to them, the same message for both.

No to the shopping trip, spa trip, and salon trip. Sorry ladies but Edward must like me as I am. – Bella

My phone dinged with an incoming message. It was Edward.

Not really but it was worth it. She woke up with a smile on her face that still hasn't left. – Edward

Then I guess it was all worth it. Got any big plans for today? – Bella

I looked around my barren apartment and for the first time since I moved in I felt like making it more homey feeling. Rosalie and Angela are the only two people who had ever been in my apartment and they often complained about how sterile and unlived in it looked. I was thinking that maybe I wanted to change that today.

Not really. Going to pick up the rest of my children in about an hour. They have already called this morning. –Edward

Sounds like fun. I think I am going to unpack today. – Bella

I called Rosalie to see if she would be up to helping me.

"Do you know what time it is, sissy?" She answered groggily.

"Yes, Rose I know what time it is. It's time to make my apartment a home."

She squealed so loudly I had to pull my phone away from my ear. "I'll be there in an hour." She said before promptly hanging up on me.

I looked at my phone in astonishment but it dinged quickly with another text message.

I pulled it up and groaned at the can of worms I had unintentionally opened.

Did you just move in? – Edward.

Nope, lived here about two years now. It's a long story and goes with why I carry my life in my purse. – Bella

I'm a great listener. It comes with the territory of being a father to so many kids. – Edward

Friday. I promise. – Bella

I laid my phone down and jumped up from the bed and went to my closet. I opened the door and starred at all the black that hung there. I reached way into the back and pulled out the single outfit that wasn't solid black.

It was a pair of my favorite jeans from college and a UCF t-shirt. I tossed them on the bed when I heard my phone bleep again.

Okay, beautiful. I won't pry. You will tell me when you are ready. Have fun unpacking today. – Edward

Thanks, Edward, you have no idea how much that means to me. Have fun with your babies today! – Bella

I tossed my phone down and headed for the shower.


Hope you all enjoyed the newest chapter. I have finally started writing again, so there is no fear that this story won't be finished. Please let me know what you thought of the Pinocchio chapter.