EPOV
"I'm home." I texted her when I got in my house.
"Thanks for humoring me."
I smiled. "Anything to keep you from worrying. What time do you get up to work in the mornings?"
"I try to have the animals fed by 8 then I head in for breakfast. Why?" I knew she would get angry at me if I told her want I was planning to do and would try and talk me out of it but on the other hand I knew that she would get angry if I didn't tell her and just surprised her. She obviously didn't like surprises. I opted to keep it to myself.
"Just wondering. I'll talk to you later Bells. Sweet dreams."
"Goodnight, Edward." That was her last text for the night. I went to sleep and dreamed of her beautiful face. The next morning I made sure I was up bright and early. I had only driven to the farm once, but I remember it clearly. I wanted to get there before Bella was outside so that I didn't have to try and go look for her and risk scaring her. That would just add to the anger that she would probably already be feeling. I got dressed in some of my hiking clothes then went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast, then headed out. I debated on whether to take the Volvo or the truck, and decided on the truck. A Volvo would just look out of place in the driveway of a farm. The drive was longer than I remember it being but that is probably because I was alone and didn't have anyone to talk to this time. I got to the farm and just parked outside and waited for some movement in the house, thankful that I had a quiet truck. I didn't have to wait long. About 10 minutes later, a slightly disheveled Bella came stumbling out of the house and onto the deck. I knew the minute she saw my truck she would stomp over and demand what I was doing here so early, but she surprised me. I watched her while she took a second to realize that there was another vehicle in the driveway and when she saw me, her face split in a wide grin and she jogged over to the driver's side waving vigorously. I got out of the truck and shut the door as she came to a halt in front of me, giving me a hug and kissing my cheek.
"What are you doing her so early? "I thought you said you had to go to work?" I could tell that she was surprised but happy to see me.
"I said I had to work I didn't say where. I just figured that since you had to get up early this morning and since it was me that kept you up late last night the least I could do was come over and help you with your chores."
"Do you even know what I do around the farm?" she asked, apparently skeptical that I would be able or willing to do something like that.
"No, but I am a fast learner, and I am sure you are an excellent teacher." I said. She grinned.
"Follow me." I soon realized just how much she loved her job. I have never seen anyone that would willing get in a pen full of pigs, and then pet each one of them before going onto the next pen of animals. She was born to do this job. I helped her as much as I could but it was clear that she was used to doing it on her own. She didn't put up a fuss like I thought she would though. We talked and laughed about totally random things, and it was probably pretty clear to anyone that was watching us that neither one of us got a lot of sleep. We got to the horses and I could see Bella light up. She walked over to one of the stalls and patted the horse's nose, pulling something out of her pocket and feeding it to him. She looked over at me and smiled.
"This one here is Sir Prize. His mother is the one in the stall behind you. Her name is Princess. The ones that Barb was talking about the other day are in the last few stalls. This one here is Lightning because if the white fur on his nose that looks like a lightning bolt. The in the stall next to him is Tornado because, well he is a bit unpredictable kinda like a tornado, and this one here is Storm."
"Why Storm?" I asked.
"The owners daughter was kinda going through a X-Men phase when they bought her." She laughed.
"I see." I commented absently. "I was always a bit partial to Rogue. I just kind of felt sorry for her because she wasn't ever able to get close to anyone without having to worry about hurting them or not. Cyclops was by far my most favorite male character though."
"What? Not Wolverine?"
"Nah, everyone always thought he was the coolest, but, I dunno, he was just always to unpredictable and crazy. Cyclops always keeps his head and doesn't do anything irrational. Wolverine just kinda does what wants and doesn't really think about the ramifications of it." We were heading back to the house as we were talking and when we opened the door, I could smell the beginnings of breakfast.
"I should probably get going. I don't want to impose on your breakfast."
"Don't be ridiculous Edward, you are staying for breakfast." She said as she dragged me towards what I assumed was the kitchen.
"Are you sure? I didn't exactly give you very much notice."
"Of course. Angela will be thrilled to see you and you have yet to meet her parents. It will be fun." At that moment we rounded the corner into the kitchen where Angela was slaving away over the stove. She turned around when she heard us come in and grinned.
"Edward, it's good to see you again. How are you doing?"
"I am doing good. Just thought I would come over this morning and surprise my girlfriend." I said as I slipped my arm around Bella's waist. Angela squealed and ran over to encompass both of us in a huge hug, which was impressive coming from her small probably 5 ft 2 in. frame.
"Oh my gosh! Bella why didn't you tell me? When did this happen? Give me all of the details." She was more excited than Bella had been. I smiled. At the moment, a man and woman probably in their forties, walked in the room.
"Angela what on earth is with all of the screaming?" the woman asked. Angela looked over at Bella, obviously wanting to spill the beans. Bella blushed and turned towards the woman and man.
"Edward, this is Walt and Linda, Angela's parents. Walt Linda, this is Edward Cullen, my boyfriend." Linda came over and I offered my hand.
"It's nice to meet you." I said shaking Linda's hand and then turning to shake hands with Walt. "Sir."
"So this is the young man that you two girls couldn't stop talking about the other day." He gave me a once over, and I got the impression that in Bella's case, Walt was about as close to father as she had ever come. I glanced over at Bella to see her blush deepen as she nodded slightly.
"Now Walt, stop embarrassing Bella. Edward, I hope you will stay for breakfast. Angela always fixes more than enough to feed an entire army."
"I don't wish to impose. I came a bit unexpected this morning and I will understand if its not the best time." I said, wanting to make sure that it was ok. Apparently it was.
"Now don't be silly, sit right down and dig in." The breakfast was simply but filling with scrambled eggs and fried ham, toast orange juice and pancakes.
"Angela, breakfast was wonderful. Thank you." I told her as we finished. Bella started gathering dishes and I got up to help her.
"Edward sit down you are a guest." Bella tried to push me back into my chair but I would have nothing of it.
"I want to help you, and you cant do anything to make me not." I told her. She just turned around and led the way back into the kitchen from the dining room.
"They like you. Don't worry." She said offhand as we soaped up the dishes and began to wash and dry.
"Why do you say that?"
"Walt and Linda are the closest I have ever gotten to having a mother and father. I could tell that you were nervous when they walked in the room."
"I get the impression that Walt doesn't like me." He hadn't done anything that made me uncomfortable, he just seemed a bit quite at breakfast and each time I caught his eye I nodded slightly in respect.
"Walt can be a bit over protective when it comes to me and Ang, but he means well. He will come around. Just give him time." We finished up the dishes in a timely manner and as we headed in to join the other in the living room, I grabbed her hand. Everyone was getting ready for the day. I had planned on spending the entire day out with Bella, but I guess I should ask her if that was ok first.
I pulled her to a stop and she turned around and looked at me questioningly.
"Is it ok if I spend the day out here? I don't want to be in the way but I kinda want to see how things work around here." She looked at me for a moment and grinned wickedly.
"That would be wonderful Edward." I began to think that I was gonna regret asking her that question.
"And what are we going to be doing today?" I asked warily.
"Well, I have to say that your timing is absolutely wonderful. At least for me. I was gonna muck out the horse stalls and the other animals pens today. This should be fun." Crap. What had I gotten myself into? We went back out to the barn and she handed me a pair of knee high boots.
"These are Walt's. They should fit relatively well." Once I got the boots on, she dragged me around to grab a wheel barrel and some shovels.
"Once the wheel barrel gets full, we will take it out in the field and spread it around for fertilizer."
"You do this voluntarily?" I asked her as we began to shovel.
"Some parts of the job aren't very glamorous, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."
"It takes a special person to be able to stomp around and shovel horse crap." I said with a laugh. It actually wasn't that bad, just a bit smelly.
It only took us a couple of hours to clean out all the stalls and pens and we only had one small accident when one of the bigger pigs bumped into Bella causing her to fall into me, knocking us both into the mud and muck of the pig pen. We both began to laugh hysterically. Linda wouldn't let us back into the house and made us hose off in the yard which made it that much funnier, and brought us some clothes that we could change into.
"Are you going to be staying for dinner Edward?" Linda asked after we had sat down in the living room with some coffee.
"I would love to. What are we having?"
"That is something you are going to have to ask Bella. She is the one that makes dinner around her." Angela said. "Well except for last night that is." She grinned towards Bella who grinned back, only turning a little pink. I looked at her as well.
"So what are we having?"
"It is a special recipe that my dad used to make all the time. It's called Longhorn Lemon Beef steak. Its not that hard to prepare it just takes forever to cook."
"Would you like some help?" I asked, wanting to be around her as much as possible. She gave me that grin again that told me I would regret asking.
"Sure. You can cut the lemons and onions and prepare the sauce while I get the steak ready. We should get started soon so that it is ready by 6." We headed into the kitchen and I immediately understood when we started fixing everything. Bella put the steak in a pan and then turned and looked at me smiling again.
"Done." She said, smiling.
"Cheater." I replied as I had tears streaming down my eyes from the onions. She laughed.
"You are the one that offered to help. I just took advantage of it." I finished up the onions then, my eyes still watering like crazy.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Just pour the sauce over the meat evenly, lay the onions and lemons on top and stick it in the oven for 2 hours." I got everything done and in the oven and turned to Bella. She reached over and wiped some of the tears that were still running down my face and laughed.
"Now we wait."