I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT!
CHAPTER 9
(Bella)
I drove over to Alice's house feeling very nervous, but I knew everyone was right I needed friends, and Alice did seem really sweet. Jaycie was sleeping when I got to her house. I threw her diaper bag over my shoulder and gently lifted Jaycie's carrier out.
"Welcome Bella," Alice said holding the door for us.
I took a deep breath. "Thank you for inviting us."
"Come on in and make yourselves to home," Alice said looking down at Jaycie.
Her house was fairly big and decorated beautifully, she had expensive things, but among those were tons of family pictures.
"She's beautiful," Alice said smiling down at Jaycie.
"Thank you, I think so to." I laughed.
"Can I get you anything?" Alice asked.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks though." I set Jaycie's carrier down and she opened her eyes stretching a bit.
"Hey sweet girl," I cooed unbuckling her. "Would you like to hold her?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "You never have to ask."
I placed Jaycie in her arms. "Oh Bella, she's precious," Jaycie settled into Alice's arms cooing and gurgling.
"She is, it's just hard to remember that at two, four, five and six every morning."
Alice looked at me. "How do you do it on your own?"
"I don't, I moved back in with my dad and step-mom," I said looking down. I didn't want to cry, but the topic of my life usually set off the water works. "I never expected to be a single mom."
"Do you have someone to watch her when you go back to work?"
"My step-mom Sue, she's been so supportive," I said. "And my dad helps at night."
"I'm here to Bella, if you ever need anything you can always call me, even if it's just to talk."
"I appreciate that," I said softly.
"So what would you like to do today?" Alice asked.
"I don't care, I'm up for anything."
She glance at the clock. "Well, it's early yet, we can hang out here and then go get lunch."
"Sounds good to me," I said.
I watched as Alice snuggled with Jaycie, kissing her fists and talking to her as if Jaycie could understand her.
"I love all the pictures on your wall, you must be very close to your family."
"We are, even more now that Edward and Matt are back."
"He's a really sweet kid," I told her.
"He is, he's very shy, but he's getting better at least where family is concerned."
"I noticed he really likes books," I said.
"That he does, he has bookshelves full of them."
"That's amazing, he's very bright. I can't wait to work with him."
"He's so nervous about school," Alice said.
"I could tell, I'll be easy on him."
"Thanks."
"Do you have any other nieces or nephews?" I asked.
"No, Matt's the only kid in the family for now. Jasper and I want to have kids, but we aren't in any hurry and Rose and Emmett have been talking about it."
"I never really wanted kids, but I was engaged and we were just a few months from the wedding, I knew he wanted kids and one night out of the blue, I wanted a baby and it happened."
"Bella," She said. "Do you mind if I ask what happened. I took a deep breath trying not to cry. "Honey, I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it."
"It's okay, it's just kinda hard." I took a deep breath. "I was a little over three months into my pregnancy, we had just told everyone. It was actually just a few days after we had told you," I said to Alice.
"You looked so happy," She said softly.
"I was. Jake and his friends all decided to go out for the day to do guy things and Sue was going to take me shopping. I woke up that morning feeling horrible he wanted to stay with me, but since Sue and I were going out, I told him to go on. We got into a fight, he kissed me and left. Just a few hours later, Sue and I pulled back into Forks when we got the call. Him and his friend were in the car and it flipped into the river, they said he was killed instantly."
"Oh Bella, that's awful," Alice said sadly. "He seemed so excited about the baby."
"He was, his hand was always on my stomach, this baby was all he wanted to talk about." I brushed my tears away. "I went to the funeral, but I don't remember much about it. I actually don't remember much about the following weeks."
"How did you cope?" She asked.
"I didn't, not real well at least. I ate only because I had to for her, but all I really wanted to do was sleep and cry. I went to work after awhile, but had I not been pregnant, I would have..." I couldn't stop my tears.
(Alice)
I placed Jaycie in her carrier and went over to Bella and pulled her into my arms. "I'm so sorry Bella," I said hugging her tightly, crying with her. I knew the pain of loss, it was horrible.
"I'm sorry," She sniffled.
"Honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. I couldn't imagine going through something like that."
"I just want the pain and the tears to stop," She cried.
"It will in time," I said softly. She looked up at me. "I lost one of my close friends to cancer about a year ago, it still hurts, but it gets easier with time I suppose."
"Thanks Alice." She said softly.
I glanced at the clock. "Why don't we go get some lunch," I suggested still rubbing Bella's back.
"Ok," She said wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start crying."
"Honey, its okay. When my friend died, I spent nights up crying. My sister Rose was no better, we would just cling to each other, for months that went on."
Bella got up and went into the bathroom to freshen up a bit, I sat back and looked at Jaycie, thinking about Matt as a baby, both growing up without the other parent, but at least having the other parent to love them unconditionally.
Since Forks was so small, we decided to head to Port Angeles. The ride was a lot of fun, Bella seemed to relax and opened up a lot more than I expected her to, we kept up comfortable conversations the whole way there. She was such a sweet person.
"I can't believe it's not raining," Bella said.
"If it's not raining when we get done eating, we should walk down to the water."
"Maybe I'll even stick her feet in," She said looking back at Jaycie.
"That would be so cute," I laughed.
"Where would you like to eat?" I asked.
"Oh it doesn't matter to me, I'm really not picky."
I thought about it for a minute. "There is a diner over near the boardwalk we could eat at."
"That's fine," She said. "I've been there, the food is really good."
Bella was quiet for a minute. "I grew up in Port Angeles, but when I was 16 my dad got the job of Chief of Police in Forks, so we moved there."
"That must have been a hard move," I said.
"It was, but I started dating Jake and that made it easier."
"You two were together quite awhile huh?"
"About 7 years," She said looking down.
I'd been with Jasper for years and couldn't imagine losing him, the thought made my heart clench.
I grabbed Jaycie's diaper bag, while Bella grabbed her carrier and we went inside "Smells so good," Bella said.
We were seated immediately. "Could I get you something to drink?"
"I'll take tea," Bella said softly.
"I'll have a lemonade," I ordered.
We sat looking at our menus. "So Bella, where is your mom at? I've heard you mention a step mom, but never a mom."
She shook her head. "She um took off with a baseball player when I was six months old.
"What?" I asked.
"Yah, the daycare called my dad at work wondering who was picking me up since it was time for them to close. He came and got me and when we got home he found a note from her saying she couldn't handle family and had to leave."
"How could a mother do that to her child?" I asked.
"I don't know, I could never leave her, even when she cries a lot."
"Did you ever hear from her again?" I asked.
"She came to Washington when I was 17, by that time I had Sue and even though that was rocky at times, she was a stable person in my life. I told Renee I wanted nothing more to do with her. I shut the door in her face and haven't heard from her again."
"What could I get for you?" The waitress asked.
"I'll take a chef's salad," I said.
"I'll have the chicken salad." Bella ordered.
"Will this be together or seperate?" The waitress asked.
"Together," I said quickly ingnoring Bella's stares.
"So Alice, tell me about your family."
"We grew up in Forks. My older sister Rose is 28 and she's married to Emmett, I'm 27 and married to Jasper, I've never kissed another man other than him."
"That's really sweet," Bella said smiling.
"And then there is Edward, he's 26 and has Matt."
She sat there wide eyed and I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes we are all a year apart, my parents were crazy." I laughed. "They wanted us to be close growing up."
"Were you?" She asked.
"Yah, we always have been really close. Even with Edward and Matt in Chicago, anytime he needed anything we would drop everything and go to him."
"Where is Matt's mom?" Bella asked.
"She died about a year ago, that's one reason Edward brought Matt back here," I said,
"Damn," Bella muttered. "Wait, was Matt's mom your friend?"
"Yep, we all grew up together," I said.
"Damn," Bella said softly.
"That's why Matt holds back, he's struggled a lot."
"I'll work with him Alice, he'll be okay."
Bella had tears in her eyes, she knew what my nephew was going through and it meant a lot to me.
(Bella)
Lunch with Alice had been so much fun, she was easy to talk to and a lot of fun. I was glad I'd called her. As we were getting ready to leave Jaycie woke up hungry. I quickly made her a bottle and fed her apologizing for having to wait to leave. Alice rolled her eyes, saying she's wasn't in any hurry.
"I can't believe how nice it is," I said as we walked down the shoreline.
"Oh I know, it's beautiful today," Alice said. "Did you still want to stick her feet in?"
"Um, I don't know," I glanced over at my baby who was nestled in Alice's arms.
"She seems pretty content, it might make her cry," Alice said.
"I think I'll wait until she's a bit older."
"Good plan, I don't want to see her cry." Alice said kissing her tiny fist.
"Bella!" I heard someone call my name. I turned to see who it was, immediately wishing I hadn't turned around.
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