A/N: I'm back! My holiday was okay I guess. Spain is a lovely country but the person I went with I am now no longer talking to and she was supposed to be my best friend. Long story short she misplaced some money and she waited until I had left the airport to accuse me of taking it which I didn't do. I was so angry and most of my friends (she was skating on thin ice with them anyway over the way she has treated me lately) are not happy at all. I guess she wasn't a friend at all. Best friends don't accuse their best friend of stealing from them. I'm more upset at the thought that I gave her 8 years of my life and she's just thrown it back in my face.
Anyway thanks to the following who have reviewed: ilOVEyOUh.1001, jayd-n33, fdaleny214, Dawb, BoysInBooksAreAlotBetter, rpattz granny, barbiedoll123, MsNathalie23, twilightKC. Also thanks for the 6 new story alerts, 3 new favourite story adds, 2 new author alerts and 3 new favourite author adds.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. I only own a pair of Eclipse flip flops that I got in Spain. I've worn them once because I don't want Edward's face to rub off them lol!
Chapter 9
Bella looked from Edward to Carlie and grimaced. This was not how she had envisioned Edward finding out that he had a daughter. She got up from her seat on the sofa and engulfed Carlie in a hug. She then looked at her and frowned.
"Pardon me honey. What did you say?" Bella asked.
"Did you not hear the first time mom? I said Edward's my father!" Carlie said to her mother coldly.
Edward stopped smiling and replaced it with a frown. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Was this a made up story by a ten year old? Somehow he wished it were but it certainly didn't seem that way.
"Yes he is. How did you find out?"
"Well mother I found my birth certificate in a box in the attic and it has his name on it under the father section. You told me he didn't care about me. That he walked out on me and you. Is it true?"
"No. None of it was true. Your dad, Edward, didn't even know about you. I chose not to tell him," Bella said shyly.
Carlie fisted her hands and screamed at Bella, "I HATE YOU! DID YOU HEAR THAT BELLA? I SAID I. HATE. YOU!"
She then glared at everyone in the room and stomped out of there and up the stairs. Bella looked at her retreating back.
"Carlie! Carlie Renee don't you dare walk away from me!" Bella shouted after her.
She turned round to face everybody in the room who had just witnessed the heated exchange between mother and daughter. Jasper looked at Alice. Emmett looked at both Jasper and Alice.
"Well would you look at the time. Alice honey we have to go get the girls from your mom," Jasper said to her.
Alice nodded furiously and they both stood up, swiftly said their goodbyes to Edward, Bella and Emmett and exited the house. Emmett also made his excuses and on his way out hugged Bella.
"You should never have kept this from him Bells. Tell him everything," he whispered to her.
On his way out he waved to Edward and silently wished that there would still be a house standing when he next visited Bella.
Bella made to walk towards Edward but he held up his hand to stop her while saying, "Don't."
"Edward, I'm so sorry. This is not how I envisioned you finding out about her," Bella started.
"Sorry? You're sorry? You can't be sorry about keeping a child, my child from me Bella!" Edward snarled at her.
"Edward I had to. You don't understand. I was scared. We had just left school. You had had your offer from Oxford. I couldn't expect you to give it up."
"YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP HER FROM ME!" Edward shouted.
This seemed to push Bella over the edge.
"I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO THROW YOUR FUTURE AWAY. EVERYTHING I DID, I DID IT BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"What makes you think I would have thrown my future away. Bella Oxford wasn't the only place where I could have studied. I could have been there for you, supported you and our child. You have no idea how much it hurt to walk out of that house that night."
"Edward I know what you were like. We spent the best part of a year together. You would have given everything up and gone to community college where you wouldn't have been happy. Tell me why you didn't go to Oxford. You had been given your way out when I gave you that ultimatum," Bella said as she sat down on her sofa.
"So what if I had gone to a community college. At least you would have been supported and I would have been happy. I would have been so happy because the woman I loved was going to be having my baby. A baby that we had made together. To answer your question I never went because I didn't want to be thousands of miles away from my family and from you."
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down at the perfect natural wood flooring. Bella went to touch his arm but he looked at her with a new rage filling his usually handsome face.
"Don't! Touch! Me!" he growled at her again.
Bella nodded slowly then said quietly, "Look Edward I'm really sorry. I was going to tell you, honestly."
Edward stood up and started to pace the length of the living room. Bella watched him walk back and forth as though it was a tennis match.
"For just once in your life Isabella, just once, give me a break! You say that you were going to tell me... When were you going to tell me? The day she goes to high school? The day of her senior prom? The day of her college graduation? Or better yet the day she gets married? Or even better if she was admitted to the hospital and I can't help but add the dates up?"
"Edward. Please, just listen to me! I was wrong. I know I was wrong. I should have told you before now. Please."
"I wondered you know. At the service. I looked at her eyes and couldn't help but wonder. I tried working it all out when you said she was ten but it just didn't seem right. My head was saying that I should never have believed you yet my heart told me that you wouldn't lie about a thing like that. Oh how wrong was I?"
"I'm sorry."
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR APOLOGIES! You need to talk right now. I want to know everything. From the moment you found out you were pregnant to the moment you chose not to tell me and keep this from me for eleven years. God what was she your little secret or something?"
"I found out a couple of days before we moved into the house. Well I moved in there. I was planning on telling you the night we had that argument. That stupid argument in which you chose to walk out of our lives for what I thought was for good. All through the pregnancy, your dad kept asking if she was yours and I kept denying it, kept saying it was a one night stand."
Bella sighed then carried on.
"He believed me. Emmett was my rock throughout. He was there when she was born. He was the first person other than her mommy to have a cuddle. He knew so I asked him not to tell anyone. I knew that I couldn't tell you. I didn't want to. It sounds selfish but I had just thrown my life away at the age of nineteen and I didn't want you to throw yours away. You were born to be a doctor and I had to let that happen."
"Originally I was going to tell you when you came back to Forks, only you didn't. I know that I could have asked your family for your cell or email but this is something I feel that I had to do in person but not like this. I didn't expect it to be a bed of roses and I certainly didn't expect to tell you and be like 'oh I never stopped loving you. We have a child together lets go and get hitched and pop out more babies'. That's a bit too much like a Disney movie. I understand if you never want to see me again but please, don't penalise your daughter because of me. We can arrange access for you. I'll get someone to drop off her off and you'll never have to see me again. I guess what I'm saying is that all of this, all the secrets and lies, I did it all for you so you could achieve your dream."
Edward held his hand up as a signal for Bella to stop talking. He took a deep breath and started to ask the questions that he had.
"Who knew? Who out of my family knew that there was a mini me running round?" he asked slowly not sure as to whether he wanted to know the answer or not.
"Emmett and Rose. I told Emmett just after you left and he in turn told Rose. Jasper and Alice knew because Alice guessed. That's it. No one else. Not your parents and not mine. They all believe that she was the result of a one night stand."
"THAT'S ALL? BELLA THESE PEOPLE KNEW I HAD A DAUGHTER BEFORE I EVEN KNEW I HAD A DAUGHTER!"
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose again and slowed his breathing down.
"The access. It wouldn't work. Are you saying that I would never get to see anything she does because it would involve me seeing you. Contrary to what you may think I would like to see my child off to the prom. See her graduate high school. See her off to college. All of those things that are important in her life. Hell I want to be the one to give her away at her wedding. I don't want to see Charlie give her away."
"Charlie won't ever give her away. Charlie doesn't even know what she looks like now. He hasn't seen her since she was two. Do you want to know why Edward? DO YOU?"
"Why?"
"BECAUSE HE'S DEAD! THAT'S WHY! HE'S SIX FEET FLAMING UNDER!"
"God Bella I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Bella looked Edward in the eyes and sighed.
"We need to stop yelling. Yelling isn't getting us anywhere. You know why I did it and you're not happy. Lets just get back to the important things here. There is a little girl upstairs and she's probably wondering if her dad wants to see her. Do you want access or not because we can sort this out in an adult way now," she told him.
Edward nodded then said, "Whatever is best for her and whatever works for you works for me."
Bella nodded.
"Well I work in the week and I'm sure you do and well because you live in Seattle then it's probably best if you take her every weekend. You could pick her up from school, I'll make sure she has her things with her and then you could bring her here on the Sunday or even take her to school on the Monday. Is that okay?"
"Yeah fine. Though I should probably tell you now that I am relocating back here. After seeing my mom at the service I thought it was best for my family to move back to Forks. Would this agreement still stand then?"
"Of course it would. She needs to know you. I can't present you to her then take you away from her. Wait here I need to check if she's okay with this."
Edward nodded and sat himself back down on the sofa and watched Bella as she ascended the stairs. Bella slowly walked along the landing and noticed that everything was quiet. She had no idea what she would be presented with when she opened the door of her daughter's bedroom. She knocked the door quietly and waited for Carlie to acknowledge her before she pushed the door open. A quick look around the bedroom told her that nothing was broken and she saw Carlie curled up in a ball on her bed. Bella sat down on the edge and put her hand onto Carlie's back.
"Carlie. I'm sorry," Bella whispered.
Carlie opened her eyes and sat up.
"Is my dad still here?" she asked.
"He's downstairs. We yelled a bit and we're both a bit cross but I still love you the same amount and I'm sure that he loves you too. Would you like to see your dad on a regular basis?"
Carlie nodded.
"We've talked about it and agreed that maybe if it was okay with you that your dad would pick you up from school on a Friday and then you could stay with him until the Sunday or Monday. Is that okay?"
"Yeah. You can tell him it's okay. Can you tell him I'll be down a minute? I need to ask both of you something."
Bella nodded and kissed Carlie on her forehead before exiting the bedroom. She made her way downstairs and the first thing she saw was Edward walking round the living room looking at the various pictures on display.
"She says it's fine. She'll be down in a minute."
Edward nodded curtly and sighed.
"Bella I need to know something. If you had never seen me again. If what has happened hadn't happened and I had never come back to Forks, would you have ever told me?" he asked.
Bella looked at the floor and answered quietly, "I don't know. Probably not."
These five words made all the anger that Edward has compressed in his body come alive again.
"WHAT? YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE TOLD ME? THAT'S CRAP BELLA! COMPLETE CRAP!"
"Edward, please. Carlie will hear you."
"DO YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THAT? SHE NEEDS TO KNOW THAT HER MOTHER IS A LIAR! YOU LIED BELLA! FOR ELEVEN LONG YEARS YOU TOLD THE BIGGEST PACK OF LIES THERE EVER IS!"
"SHUT UP EDWARD YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT! YES I LIED! DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I WAS HAPPY DOING IT?"
"WOULD YOU BOTH SHUT UP!" Carlie yelled from the stairs.
Both parents turned to look at their daughter who was stood on the bottom stairs. Tears were running down her cheeks. In her hands she was holding her green backpack that she usually took to school. Bella moved towards Carlie but stopped when she saw the bag she was holding.
"Carlie, what's that?" Bella asked.
"My backpack. I was going to ask if I could spend some time with my dad today but you were shouting. You said you weren't shouting anymore."
"No Carlie you can't. We have some things we need to speak about. I don't want you going anywhere today."
"I want to go! I want to get to know my dad! You owe me that much!" Carlie yelled at her mother.
"CARLIE I SAID NO! THAT'S FINAL! HE'S NOT FIT TO LOOK AFTER YOU WHILE HE'S LIKE THIS!" Bella yelled back at her.
"YOU KNOW WHAT BELLA? CALL ME WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED THROWING YOUR TANTRUM! YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT FIT TO LOOK AFTER HER EITHER! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR CRAP! I'M OUT OF HERE!" Edward shouted.
He threw a business card onto the sofa and stalked to the front door. He raised his hand to open it but turned and looked at Carlie.
"Carlie, I'll see you Friday. My cell phone number is on that card so call me whenever you want."
Edward opened the door and walked out of it. As he shut it he heard Bella scream at him.
"GO ON LEAVE! THAT'S WHAT YOU DID THE LAST TIME EDWARD CULLEN!"
He stood by his Volvo and took a deep breath. He knew that before he got into the car he would have to distress himself. He heard the front door close again and looked up.
"Dad, wait! I want to come with you. I said that she couldn't stop me. Please can I come with you?" Carlie begged.
"Sure. Get in," Edward replied softly.
Carlie pulled the door open on the Volvo and sat in the front seat. Edward looked at her and realized that she would need a booster seat as she looked tiny sat there without anything.
"Have you got a booster?" Edward asked his daughter.
"Yeah. In mom's car," Carlie replied.
She got back out of the door and ran to Bella's car. She pulled the door open and retrieved her car seat. When she returned to Edward's car she put the seat in first before hopping in and buckling herself up.
"I guess you'll need one for my car. I can't expect your mom to let me keep borrowing that one."
Carlie nodded as Edward pulled out of the driveway.
"So are you hungry?" Edward asked.
"I guess," Carlie replied nonchalantly.
"What do you like to eat?"
"Jeez what is this twenty questions?"
"Could be if you want to play it. I need to get to know you somehow on the account of missing out on ten years of your life," Edward told her quietly.
Carlie nodded and waited for Edward to ask the first question.
"What do you like to eat?" he asked.
"McDonalds. What? I am a child!" Carlie replied when she saw the look on his face.
"Favorite color?"
"Yellow."
"I'm bored of this. You'll get to know me by just talking to me but I think it's my turn to ask you questions."
Edward nodded and wondered what kind of questions a ten year old would come up with. He focused his eyes on the road and waited for Carlie to ask her first question.
"Did you love her?" Carlie asked quietly.
"Of course I did. I loved her very much."
"Do you still love her?"
"I don't know Carlie. I thought I did but then I discovered that she kept something from me for a long time. Something I know I would have cared about very much."
"What was it?" Carlie asked.
"You," Edward said simply.
Edward pulled the Volvo into the parking lot of a McDonald's and parked in a spot. He turned in his seat and surveyed his daughter.
"Carlie you have to understand that whatever your mom has told you about me isn't true. I had no idea that you existed. When I left your mom she hadn't even told me that you were around. She says she was going to tell me she was pregnant the night I left. We had a silly argument that night about something I thought I was going to do and she told me it was either her or the school I had told her about for months. I thought I was choosing the school but once that door had been shut and I got into my car, I realized that not everything is about me."
"We had a relationship and though I wanted to study in a different country I knew that I had to try and work on my relationship with your mom. I had intentions of going back to the house and trying to talk things through but when I got there she was gone. I eventually tracked her down at my moms' house. She was talking to my sister, your Aunt Alice. I heard her say that if she ever saw me again then it would be too soon. I knew then that I had lost her so I deferred Oxford and made plans to go to Dartmouth. I knew that it was far away from Forks and that I probably would never have to see her again."
"Don't get me wrong it hurt... A lot but it was something I had to do. I was in love with her too much to have to see her everyday and know that her hurting was my fault so I did the one thing I knew I could do. I ran. Carlie I didn't want to run and believe me if I had known about you that would have the last thing that I would have done. If she had told me I would have loved you so much more than I do now. I would have been the best father ever Carlie. You would have been my little princess. Are you still hungry?"
Carlie nodded and watched as Edward opened the driver door and got out of the car. She unbuckled herself and exited the car. Edward locked it and made to walk across the lot. He felt a small hand slide into his and looked down to find his daughter smiling up at him. He smiled back at her and couldn't help but wonder how much of her life he had already missed.
They walked into the fast food outlet. Edward quickly ordered food for both him and Carlie and they sat down at a table to eat. As Carlie ate Edward looked at her and couldn't help but notice the mannerisms that she had obviously inherited from him. His own food lay forgotten. Once Carlie was finished she looked at him and laughed.
"Aren't you going to eat that dad?" she asked.
"You don't have to call me that you know. If you want you can just call me Edward."
"It feels right calling you dad. Are you eating?" she asked.
"No not really. Carlie I need to take you home. It's getting late."
"No I don't want to go home. I don't you to have to keep taking me back when she gets to have me all the time. It feels like once you take me home that's it. It feels like I'll be one of those children who sees their father once a year. I don't want that. Please dad don't take me home today. Can I not stay with you just for tonight?" Carlie begged.
"Carlie that will never happen. Your mom has already said that you'll see me every weekend. Plus during vacations I'll see if you can stay longer. Besides I'm moving back to Forks so you'll be able to see me more than once a year."
"Please dad."
Edward fished his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to Carlie.
"Enter your mom's number. I'll call her and see what she says but Carlie I'm not promising anything. She could still say no."
Carlie nodded and punched Bella's cell phone number into the cell she was currently holding. She handed it back to Edward. As they exited the restaurant, Edward put the cell to his ear heard the calling tone. After a few seconds Bella answered.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Bella, it's Edward."
"What's happened? What have you done to her Edward Cullen?"
"Nothing has happened. She's fine and stood right next to me. Listen she's just asked me if she could stay with me for the night. I told her I would have to ask you but it's fine with me. In fact I'd love to have her spend the night. I could get to know her."
"I'm not sure. I have things that I need to talk to her about."
"What things? Things like badmouthing me? That isn't going to work Bella. I've told her my side of things and she told me herself that she didn't want to be a child who got to see their dad once a year. I don't want that either Bella."
"Oh of course. Like you haven't been badmouthing me while you've been out?"
"I haven't actually. Just talk to her Bella. You need to listen to what she wants and not think about yourself once in a while."
"Put her on."
Edward held the cell phone towards Carlie who took it.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can I stay with dad tonight please?"
"No."
"Why? I don't want to come home tonight."
"Carlie do you think you're never going to see him again? I can tell you now that you will see him again starting this Friday. You can't just go about thinking you can stay with him anytime you like. He has a life too."
"So it's a no then?" Carlie asked.
"It's a no. You will see him Friday. It's only two days away."
Carlie hung the phone up and handed it back to Edward.
"She said no. I think you had better take me home before she can moan about anything else."
Edward nodded and the entire duration of the ride back to Bella's house was quiet. When he had pulled into the driveway he looked at Carlie again.
"I'll see you Friday. Make sure you have your nightclothes and everything you need." he told her.
Carlie nodded and opened the door.
"Miss you," she told him.
As she went to get out of the car Edward pulled her arm and enveloped her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head then let go.
"Miss you too. See you Friday," he told her.
As Carlie walked to the house she waved and watched the silver Volvo back out of the drive and make its' way down the street. When she was sure he was gone she opened the door and re-entered her world where she had no father and just a mother.
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