Sorry it's taken me so long guys. Life sadly gets in the way sometimes. But I'm back and I'm workin hard on this story.
Rosalie looked at her friend over the menu. She wanted to say something, but she was afraid that Bella would be upset with her. She had screwed up. She'd gone too far, and she could have cost Bella the one chance she had to be happy. Because Rosalie could no longer deny that Bella and Edward were perfect for each other.
She had watched Bella with that jackass James, and she'd known then that she was with the wrong man. James would have never stood up for the way that he felt about Bella the way that Edward had today. What had shocked her the most about Edward's outburst was his claim to celibacy.
"Bella?" Rose finally spoke up, wanting to know the answer to the internal questions that she had about some of the finer points of Edward.
Bella didn't look up from her menu, "What's up Rose?"
Rose bit her lip nervously. Alice's jaw dropped as she watched her friend. This was not the Rosalie that she knew. The Rose that she'd spent half her life with was the most strong, confident independent woman that she'd ever met. And here she was, scared of the meek little woman across from her. "Rose, just spit it out. You're killing me over here."
Bella's head shot up from the menu. "What is up with you two?" She reached over to put Jacob's toy back on the high chair that he'd just dropped to the ground. "You've both been ridiculously quiet since the moment that we got here."
"I'm sorry," Rose finally blurted out.
Bella quirked one eyebrow and waited for Rose to continue, because she knew that she wasn't done.
Sighing, Rosalie went on. "I'm still not apologizing for what I said, because I meant it. And I would say it again. He deserved to hear it."
Alice cleared her throat and Rose glared at her. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize because I didn't have a right to bust my way in and screw with your life."
"Thank you, Rose," Bella said. She reached across the table. "And I know that you did it because you care about me. And whether Edward ever admits it or not, he likes you because of the way that you stood up for me. He's just stubborn."
Rose crossed her arms under her chest, causing every male head in the restaurant to turn toward their table. "I don't want him to like me. I want him to fear me. He should be scared that I'm going to chop off his balls, not be glad that I stood up for you."
Bella shook her head and Alice leaned forward. "Speaking of which, Edward said something that caught my interest."
Cocking her head to the side, Bella silently gestured for Alice to continue. "Well, Edward made it out to seem like he's a virgin. He said that he'd only wanted to make love to his wife, and you were who he'd intended to be his wife. I don't know whether to believe that or not."
"I do," Bella said looking down into her lap. When the others were quiet for too long, Bella glanced up. "Well, he wanted to wait until we were married when we were in high school. I mean, he showed me the ring that he intended to propose with after graduation, twice now actually. If he's really been holding onto it, maybe he hasn't done it with any other woman."
"That's hard to believe," Rose said. When Bella gave her an exasperated look, she raised her hands defensively, "Not that he would hold out for you, because honestly," she gestured to her friend, "anyone who wouldn't is an idiot." She shook her head. "What I meant is that it's strange that a man who can move like that has never been sexually involved with someone."
"Oh, yeah," Alice waved her hand in front of her face like she was burning up. "I'd like to see Jasper in bed with some of those moves."
Bella snorted, "I'm still not sure how I feel about you and Jasper teaming up the way you did." She shivered, "It's kind of creepy."
"No," Alice shook her head a grabbed a roll from the center of the table. "He's the one."
"I don't know about 'the one'," Rose said thoughtfully, "but Emmett definitely has his possibilities."
"This is just too weird." Bella reached for a bottle in the her baby bag as Jacob began to whimper. "How can we all be interested in," Bella hesitated as she tried to think of the best way to come at the situation, "exotic dancers."
"You can just call them what they are," Rose said as she finally succumbed and grabbed a roll from the center of the table. "Fuck hot strippers."
"Language, Rose," Bella said sternly. She gestured around them, "We aren't at the club anymore."
"Yeah," Rose said biting viciously down on the roll that she'd just thoroughly buttered. If Bella didn't love her so much, she would hate her for her ability to eat absolutely anything without getting fat. "We got kicked out."
"Your fault," Alice said simply. "You should have found a more convenient time to spout off your mouth."
"Or been nicer to Emmett," Bella said as she began to feed Jacob. She was getting used to the fact that Jacob no longer needed to get his nourishment directly from her. It hurt a little, just a reminder that one day he would leave her as well. "I mean, Rose, you can only be mean to the guy for so long before he finally gives up."
"I'm not mean," Rose said slowly. "I'm just…"
"Dominating," Alice giggled.
And they were all in hysterics. Although Rose did have a very 'I'm in charge' attitude, it was still hard to imagine her standing over a very burley Emmett, leather whip in hand. It was just too much for them to take.
"I just don't want him to think that I'm like every other girl," Rose said honestly. "When they start calling you things like 'beautiful' and 'baby', how do you know that they're not just calling you those things because they can't remember your name. How do you know that they're not calling you those things because they're afraid that if they don't use pet names, they'll say another girl's name? You know, the other one that they're seeing."
Alice and Bella reached out at the same time and grabbed Rose's trembling hands. "Rose, honey," Alice rubbed a soothing circles into her friend's hand. "Not ever man is going to be like Royce."
"And not all friends are going to be like Vera," Bella added quietly. "We love you, and I can tell you right now that, even though Emmett has only known you for a few days, he worships you."
"If you're ready for a real relationship," Alice warmed her friend's hand between both of hers, "then I can tell you that Emmett would do anything for the chance that you might look in his direction."
Rose, hating feeling weak, even in front of her best friends, nodded, forcing a smile. "Well, I suppose I can give him a chance."
"You should," Alice said as she returned to her menu. "We're going to be spending a lot of time with those two, making sure that Edward doesn't screw up again."
Bella shook her head and smiled as she burped Jacob. "I love you guys, but you gotta let me have my own love life."
"Psh," Rose waved her friend off. "Don't you know that we share everything?" Alice kicked her under the table and Rose smiled, "Okay, not everything."
"But we do share details," Alice said bouncing happily in her chair. "And there are gonna be details. They won't be happy with just missionary."
"Sorry," Bella shook her head as she placed Jacob on her shoulder to burp him. "I think Edward is still holding out until I agree to marry him. So there won't be any juicy details on my end."
"Gah," Rose crossed her arms over her chest and slumped back into her seat. "After all he's put you through, the least he could do is give you a decent fuck."
"ROSALIE!" Alice and Bella both looked apologetically at the tables that surrounded them.
"I know, I know," she held her hands up. "I'm trying. It's just been a while since we've gone anywhere family oriented."
"Well the point's moot anyway." Satisfied at hearing the air escape Jacob's lungs, Bella placed her son back into his carrier, knowing that he would be out soon. "That's not what I want."
Rose snorted and Bella smirked, "Okay, I do want that, but it's not the first thing on my mind. Is it really so bad that I want to be romanced? That I want to feel like I'm wanted and loved for the first time since high school."
"No," Rose shook her head and had the dignity to lower her voice and lean forward this time. "I just can't imagine you not wanting to jump into bed with the first guy who shows an inkling of potential after James. I mean, darling, that guy couldn't have had any skill at all."
Bella shrugged, "I wanted a family, and he gave me Jacob. I can't really regret that."
"So in other words," Alice said, hoping to finally get her friend to admit what they had all suspected. "He was lacking."
Chewing on her lip, Bella nodded, and Rose sighed. "Thank God. I thought you were never going to admit that. Babe, I know that he's the father of your son and everything, but you don't need to protect him. He did you wrong, and you have every right to bash him.
Alice nodded her head excitedly, "Not just bash him, trash him. You have the right to spill every one of his dirty secrets."
"Like what?" Bella knew that she shouldn't, but she'd been nice for far too long. When her friends had been saying terrible things about her ex-husband, all she'd done was sit quietly, and sometimes even defend him. She needed to truly vent.
"Anything," Rose said with a smirk. "Nasty habits, dirty laundry, business deals. Anything you know is fair game now."
"And the way he treated you," Alice said scooting her chair around the table so that she was closer to her friend. "I think that it's time you got everything off your chest, honey. If you're going to have a good relationship with Edward, you need to get rid of all the resentment that you still feel for that other prick."
Bella nodded, letting out a shaky breath. They were right. She needed to get all of it off her chest. "Well, the only reason that we moved out here was because James was fired from the last firm that he worked at. One of the men that he was competing with for partner said that he caught James with his wife on his desk." She shook her head. "I believed him when he told me that it was just a cheap shot to prevent him from getting partner, but now I'm not so sure."
"You never told us that," Alice rubbed Bella's arm soothingly.
Bella shrugged, "I didn't believe that he'd really done it, and I didn't want any rumors starting about us. So I just kind of let left the past with the firm."
"Dirty details, Bells," Rose said not wanting her friend to think about how many times before and how many women James might have cheated on her with. "I want the everyday little things that James did that drove you absolutely crazy."
Blinking away some of the tears, Bella sneered slightly. She felt like she'd been played. "He never did the dishes. In fact, he would leave them on the table like I was his bloody maid. Laundry was left on the floor. If it ever even made it to the laundry room, he wanted something. Usually a special treat, if you know what I mean."
The girls nodded before they were interrupted by their waiter. He quickly took their orders, realizing that he wouldn't be received well if he stuck around for long.
"What else?" Alice was nearly falling out of her chair. This was the first time that Bella had soberly bitched about her marriage, and she didn't want her to stop, not when it had taken half a year to get here.
"First thing every morning, he'd roll me over, get what he wanted and then shower. It usually took him only a minute, and he never bothered try to actually get me off. That was something special that he only left for nights when he wasn't 'tired' or 'special occasions' like my birthday, if he remembered. Those days grew fewer and farther between with each month that we were married. But he never gave up on his morning ritual. Instead he just left me to clean up after him when he left."
"God," Bella threw her head back, "I will not miss cleaning up after that man. It took me two months of bleaching down the floors to feel like I'd finally gotten rid of him. His greasy hair, his dirty toenails, the smell of his farts. It was all still there, and I had to get rid of it."
"Jeez, Bells," Rose looked like she was going to gag. "How did you live with him? No man is coming into my home and screwing around like that."
"Well if you stick with Emmett, I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Alice grinned, "Those boys are just as well groomed as you are. You won't ever have to worry about a thing."
"When you love someone," Bella tried to defend herself, "you learn to deal with their flaws."
"But you didn't love him, Bella." Rose grabbed her friend's hand. "You tolerated him, and you're a saint for doing so."
"I," Bella started but her friends glared at her. "Alright, I didn't love him. I didn't love him at all. Every morning I woke up and prayed that it had all been a dream, that I hadn't married the first guy who'd taken an interest in me after Edward."
"Bella," Alice gasped. "Please tell me that's not what you did."
Bella glanced down at Jacob, "Not exactly. When I met him, he treated me well. He made me feel special, loved, wanted."
Alice felt relieved. For a moment she was worried that her friend's relationship with her husband was more messed up than she'd realized. If she'd married James just because he was the first man to take interest in her, he might have been more than just mentally abusive, and they would have never known it. They knew that James ha messed Bella up, but as far as they knew, he hadn't laid a hand on her. And if they ever found out that he had, Rose wouldn't get the chance to kill him, because Alice would do it first. That was one thing that she could not accept in a man.
"Ugh," Bella smacked her hand down on the table, startling Jacob from his near sleep. He whimpered and Bella picked him up, rocking him gently back to sleep. "The thing that got on my nerves the most, like worse than anything else he could have possibly done. Worse than the cheating. Worse than treating me like his little maid that was meant to cater to his every whim. Even worse than the fact that he made me give up my dream so that I could be a home maker for him. I hate that he doesn't want anything to do with his son. I hate that even when I was pregnant with Jacob, he didn't do any of the cutsie things that fathers are supposed to do. You know, talk to the baby, feel my tummy for when it kicks. Nothing. He didn't come with me to my doctor's appointments. He wasn't even there when my water broke."
Rose exhaled in relief. Bella was finally getting angry. She'd been in shock since the night that she'd told them and she hadn't moved past that point. But now she was angry. She was truly grieving, truly getting ready to move on from that heartless bastard. "He doesn't deserve his son 'Mama Bear'." Rose whispered her nickname for her friend. "Jacob is not James's son. Jacob is your son. James will never play a role in Jacob's life because we won't let him. If you want, you never have to tell Jacob who his real father is. You can lie and say that you don't know who his father is, and no one will ever tell him any different. We won't, I know your parents won't."
"Or," Alice said more hopefully, "You can raise him with a different man. A man who will truly care for him."
"I want to," Bella looked down into Jacob's face. "I don't want him to grow up without a father. I grew up without a father, and it sucked. I don't want that for Jacob. I want him to have two loving parents."
"Well, for now," Rosalie reached over and petted the dark tufts of hair on the top of Jacob's head. "He has one overly protective mother and two adoring aunts. And we all love him so very much."
Bella smiled over at Rose, "You're right. And for now, that's enough."
The waiter came back and placed down the orders, cramping them together as the three women refused to move back to their original seating. Noticing that they were more friendly, he stuck around for a few minutes longer, trying to catch the attention of one of the three beautiful women. He honestly didn't care which one. They were all wet dream inducing. He'd even go after the mom. He didn't care if there was a husband. If she was willing to give him the time of day, he would jump at the chance.
But again, he was sent away without so much as a sideways glance.
"So," Alice said as she stuffed a noodle in her mouth. "What is your plan with Edward?"
