Just then two little kids run into the room, one boy with dark hair who can't be more than six years old, and a little blonde girl who seems to be just a little younger than him.
"Uncle Eddie!"
Edward's face breaks out into a grin that Isabella hasn't seen on him before—wide, white teeth and crinkling eyes and dimples. Isabella blinks, surprised at the change from the nervous, slightly uneasy man she has spent the last six hours with.
"Hey!" Edward says, voice sickeningly sweet and kid-friendly. "There're my two favorite people in the whole world!" He jumps up from the couch and lunges at the kids, scooping them both up, one under each arm, and starts to spin them around.
The little girl lets out a squeal. "Uncle Eddie, put me down!"
"Never!" Edward shouts, still spinning them, and Isabella has to dodge one tiny clad foot as it races toward her face.
"Irina, right?" comes a voice from his right. Isabella forces a smile and turns to face the owner. Yeah, that's going to get old fast. The young woman who's brought the food is standing by Isabella's end of the couch. With the light brown hair, hazel eyes. and dimples, Isabella can only assume it's Edward's sister—an assumption that is confirmed when she holds out one hand with a bright, "Hey, I'm Alice."
Isabella, raised to be polite, stands to take it. "Irina," she forces out, "but you already know that. Edward's talked a lot about you." It's true. During the briefing Edward gave about his family, he spent the most time on his sister, mostly to warn Isabella away from her.
"She's the one I talk to the most," he'd said, "and I gave her and Jasper hell when they got together, so she's going to want a little payback. Be careful around her."
Now, shaking her hand as this young girl—who can't be more than nineteen—smiles up at her, Isabella can't help but think Edward has been exaggerating. That is, until: "Yeah, Edward talked a lot about you too. But you know, from the way he described you, I thought you'd look different."
Isabella's hand twitches a little in the handshake she hasn't let go of yet. "Oh really?" she asks, eyes flickering past her to where Edward is now. He's busy chatting with the man who came in with Alice—Jasper, she thinks—across the room, and still holding on to the kids. His smile feels frozen on his face.
"Yeah. I could have sworn he said your eyes were blue."
Isabella forces a chuckle. "Well, you know, it's an easy thing to mistake. People forget little details like that all the time."
She hums, a small frown appearing between her brows. She's still holding on to Isabella's hand and staring intently at her eyes, which is starting to get a little uncomfortable. "Edward usually doesn't," Alice finally says, giving Isabella a slight smile and at last dropping her hand.
Isabella watches as Alice crosses the room to Edward, who finally puts the kids down so he can wrap his long arms around her. "Allie!" he yells out, that huge grins still on his face. Over his shoulder, Alice is smiling just as wide—dimples deep and innocent-looking.
Be careful around her, indeed.
"Oh, don't mind Alice, Irina." Esme smiles kindly at her from the coffee table, where she's opening pizza and barbecue boxes. "She's just giving you a hard time because of Edward. He's made it a point to torture all of her boyfriends since the eighth grade. She's just paying him back for that."
"That's what he told me," Isabella mutters a little ruefully.
Esme chuckles and starts to pour drinks for everyone.
"Here, let me help you with that." Isabella grabs the package of plastic cups and rips it open. After pouring the cups of Mountain Dew and Coke, she glances at Edward, who's still in an in-depth conversation with his siblings and Jasper. Charming smile firmly in place, Isabella turns to Esme. "Could you tell me where the restroom is?"
"Oh, of course. There's one right down the hall." She waves a hand in the opposite direction of the front door. "It's on the left, opposite the kitchen. And there's another one up the stairs, second door to your right."
Isabella thanks her, casts one last glance at Edward, and leaves the room.
She goes back to the foyer, then up the stairs, keeping her feet quiet and muffled on the carpet of the steps. She listens hard as she goes up, waiting for Edward to notice she's missing and come marching through the house to keep tabs on her. He doesn't, though, and Isabella lets out a sigh of relief when she gets to the top of the staircase, eyes immediately zeroing in on the phone sitting on a small secretary stand in the hallway, between two bedroom doors. In a few short strides, she's across the hall, picking up the handset. The dial tone rings like a promise in her ear and she wastes no time dialing the one person she knows will always pick up.
"Yeah?" comes the drawl of her best friend over the line.
Isabella lets out a breath she doesn't even realize she's holding. "Riley, man, I need your help."