Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the great and powerful Twilight originator and owner. I appreciate her work more than I can say. I own none of these characters…sigh…
Now we find out where Edward *knows* Bella from...
Chapter 9
~~~Discoveries~~~
After we parked on a lower floor in the hospital parking building, Emmett took us in an unmarked side door. He seemed to know his way around the hospital pretty well. When I looked at him in inquiry, he shrugged and said, "My dad works here. I've been in here a lot."
We walked down several corridors and rode up on a couple of elevators. I was pretty turned around by the time we stepped off the third elevator and saw Bella and Rosalie waiting nearby.
Bella came towards us, concern on her face as she lightly rested her small hand on my arm. It was a soothing gesture and I appreciated it. "She's resting comfortably right now," she said. "They've set her up in a private room. We'll have to go through a security checkpoint to get there."
Her words eased my tension some small degree. Questions tumbled out of my mouth, "Can I see her now? When will Mike be here?"
"Yes, I'll take you in to the ward in just a few minutes. But first I want to tell you both what happened at her place."
She and Rosalie filled us in on the damage that they had discovered at the house. I was so grateful that Rosalie had gone with her to check the place out. I told her so. She smiled at me and told me that it was no problem. That she was glad she had been there, too.
It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that some person had destroyed Jessica's yard and had spray painted her house, just because they were after me. It steeled my resolve that this had to be taken care of…and soon. This kind of tension wasn't good for any of us, especially Jessica.
Bella was speaking again. "Mike will be landing at SeaTac in about four hours. One of us will go get him and then bring him back here." She paused again, her brow creased in concentration. "I don't think that the stalker could possibly know that he's on his way back, or when he would be arriving here in Seattle. But I don't want to take any chances with his safety. I don't think that she could know that Jessica is here in this hospital either."
I nodded. "That would be great." I blurted out my next question, "How could this happen? And, more importantly, why? Why go after Jessica?"
"This nut is really escalating her agenda," Bella said with a rueful shake of her head. Both Rosalie and Emmett nodded. "Her note said that she was mad at Jessica for keeping you from her. It's relatively easy to find someone's address in this day and age. I'm just glad that Rosalie went home with Jessica."
Rose shook her head sadly. "I just wish that I could have spared her from seeing the mess at the house." A steely look came over her face. "She's shown her hand now, though. We're going to find this stalker and put an end to this situation."
I felt my jaw tighten. Bella noticed and said, "We can handle this. Just let us do so. The scope of the damage at Jessica's house showed just how out of control the person is getting."
Rosalie again nodded her head. "There's just no way to know how far they are willing to go and we won't let our guard down."
Emmett spoke up, "She's really tipping her hand now. That's going to help us a lot. She's bound to mess up soon." He looked over to Bella and Rosalie. "I found another GPS on Edward's Volvo."
Rosalie grimaced and asked what he had done with it.
"I left it. I figured we didn't want to knock them both out of commission." They both agreed that was the right choice.
The doctor walked out just then. He was a young guy, tall with dark hair and brown eyes. He looked around the room and called out, "Is there family here for Jessica?"
I strode over to him and stuck out my hand. "I'm Edward Masen. Her husband won't be here for a couple of hours."
He shook my hand and introduced himself as Dr. Morrow. Anxiety made my voice husky as I asked, "How is she?"
"Mr. Masen, you and the others here, who I've been told are bodyguards?" I nodded. "You can come back with me now and we'll discuss her condition." He turned, and as I moved to follow him, Bella put a hand on my arm again. I stopped and paused to look down at her.
"I'm coming with you now, but Rosalie and Emmett are going to wait here. Our father is on his way and they will update him on the situation. Carlisle's a doctor here, too. He's the Chief of Cardiac Surgery." I nodded again as she continued, "I want him to make sure that the security is tight around Jessica."
With a wave to Rosalie and Emmett, we both moved to follow the doctor through to the security checkpoint.
At the checkpoint I had to show my ID. Then one volunteer took my picture, while another one got my info, including my digital thumbprint. They printed the picture and info onto a plastic card with a clip. I was told to wear it at all times in the ward. Bella already had her card clipped to the collar of her suit jacket. We'd need to run it through a scanner and place our thumbs on an optical pad to be allowed in to the ward.
We both scanned our cards and placed our thumbs on the pad and the door was opened for us.
The doctor had gone ahead to the nurses' station. He was waiting there for us. He smiled as we approached, probably trying to put me at ease. I wasn't sure what would actually work to do that though.
"Mrs. Newton is resting comfortably right now," he stated firmly. "We've given her something to stop the contractions and we've also begun giving her IV fluids. The contractions have nearly stopped, and we believe that they will be gone shortly. The baby is in great shape. We've got a fetal heart monitor hooked up." He looked down at her chart as he asked, "Do you have any questions before you go in to see her?"
I actually couldn't think of any question to ask, so I shook my head. "Can I see her now?"
"Yes, she's in room 523…down the hall to the right." He pointed in the right direction. "Tell her I'll be back by in a couple of hours to check on her, okay?"
I was already heading towards her room and Bella answered for us, "Sure, we'll do that. Thank you, Doctor."
As I reached Jessica's door, I took a deep breath and straightened my back. I glanced down at Bella and she smiled, giving me a small nod. I knocked lightly and entered when Jess called, "Come in." The room was actually quite large and looked more like a fancy hotel room than a hospital. There were lots of built in cabinets, probably home to the "doctor stuff" that a patient might need.
Jessica was lying on an elevated bed, propped up on her left side. She smiled when she saw me and reached out her hand to me.
"Edward, I'm so glad you're here." Tears filled her eyes as I took her hand in mine. "Mike will be here later and Bella and Rosalie have been great. But I'm scared." Tears started to flow down her cheeks. I got a tissue from the box on the side table and wiped them away.
"It's okay, honey. We just spoke to the doctor and he said that things were going really well. He thinks that the contractions will stop completely soon." I brushed her hair back from her forehead with my free hand. "You just need to relax and take care of my Godson." I smiled gently down at her. "His heartbeat sounds wonderful!"
She nodded and laid her head back on the pillow. "I've just had an ultrasound and got to see him again. That's a perk to being in here." Her shoulders got tense as she asked, "Did they tell you what happened at the house?" She shuddered as the memory came back.
"Yes, they did." I looked over at Bella as she stepped closer to the bed. She reached out and took Jess's free hand in both of hers.
"Jessica, you do need to relax right now…and know that you and the baby are safe. The security here is really tight. No one can get in here to get close to you." She looked up at me. "We're going to keep Edward safe, too."
I smiled down at this very small woman. Height didn't seem to matter right now. She looked adamant that we would be safe. I had to believe her. Her team had come highly recommended by the Seattle Police Department.
Bella smiled down at Jess and said, "Now, they said you could have something to eat. Since they've already served dinner to the ward, I can get you something from downstairs. The cafeteria here really does have some amazing food. They have a four star chef on the staff."
Jessica and I both laughed. "A four star Chef? In a HOSPITAL?" I asked.
"Yes, I guess they finally figured that they had to compete for the patients. One way would be to have some good food for the visitors to eat," she said with a grin. "So, what sounds good?" Bella had taken a menu out of the bedside table and was looking over it with Jess. I was pleased to see that Bella was cheering Jess up. They discussed what she'd like while I watched them both. Jessica was getting some color back in her cheeks. Bella's face was still so pale. It made a lovely contrast to her dark hair. I found myself taking a longer look. She really was stunning.
"Okay, I'll run down and get you a roast turkey sandwich on whole wheat, light mayo and a dill pickle." She laughed gently. It sounded like the light tinkle of bells and made me look even more closely at her. "I thought that the whole pickle thing and pregnant women was a myth!"
Jessica laughed, too. "Just be grateful that I'm passed the Gummy Worms stage." She shook her head as another laugh escaped her. "That pretty much grossed out both Mike and Edward. I liked eating them stirred into chocolate pudding!"
Bella's laugh was lovely, but when she caught my eyes, she looked away…over her right shoulder. That's when I remembered where I recognized her from.
"Jessica! Do you remember that painting of the woman with the red gold hair in the breakfast room at the big house?" Jess looked at me like I had lost my mind. Urgently I continued, "The one in the really pretty golden frame? It's right by the bay window in the breakfast room?"
"Yes, sort of, maybe, I don't know! What's this about?" She and Bella looked at me curiously.
"Maybe you haven't noticed, Bella, but I've been searching your face all afternoon. You seem so familiar to me." She looked at me and nodded her head; she had noticed apparently. "I've been trying to place you all day."
"Yes, you keep looking at me like you know me, but I know that can't be true. I've never met you." She looked down as she paused a moment. "I'd remember that for sure," she said, looking away again. I was pleased to think that she thought I was memorable.
"My family has a house in Telluride. It was our home base while I was growing up. I still go there as often as I can." She nodded as she listened to me. "My mom had hung a painting that she bought at a charity auction in the breakfast room. It's of a young woman and she looks remarkably like you. Her hair is loose and wavy. It looks really long. She's wearing a dress with a gathered, white flouncy thing on it."
I saw a look I couldn't recognize pass over Bella's face before it smoothed into a calm mask as Jessica gasped.
"Do you remember it now, Jess?" I asked, looking at her eagerly. I hoped she remembered it and could confirm that they looked alike.
"Yes, I do! She's really pretty, but she's not smiling in the portrait. Your mom used to say that she thought the young woman looked annoyed. We used to wonder what was going through her mind as she posed for the painting," Jessica said with a smile as she turned to look at Bella. "Elizabeth, Edward's mom, used to give us mini art lessons. She'd take us around the mansion and we'd discuss the art work that she had hanging there."
"We'd all pick our favorite and then have to discuss why we had chosen it." I smiled, too. "My mom knew the background of many of the paintings, but not all of them. When she didn't, we'd make up stories about them. This particular painting was a favorite of hers. The artist, Nelson Primus, doesn't have much work out there. He died about 1920." I shook my head, "She looked for more of his paintings but could never find any that were available."
"Well, if you say he died in 1920, wouldn't that mean that I couldn't have sat for him?" Bella asked. Her smile didn't quite reach her lovely golden eyes.
Jessica laughed again. "That's right. That would make you a really old woman and you don't look a day over 20!"
Bella laughed, too, and said, "Well, now that you have me figured out, I better go and get some food for Jessica. Would you like something, too, Edward?" She turned to look at me, not quite meeting my eyes.
"Thanks, no," I said. "I had made a sandwich just before you called the house. Emmett made me eat it on the way here while he drove."
"WHAT?" Jessica gasped. "You let someone ELSE drive your Volvo?"
I laughed and said, "Nope…he drove the Vanquish!"
Jessica looked over at Bella, her eyes wide. "Wow, Emmett must have made a huge impression on Edward. He NEVER lets anyone drive those cars. He's told me that when I get near my due date I'm not even allowed to ride in them, just in case my water breaks!"
"Well, Emmett can be persuasive, that's for sure." Bella patted Jessica's hand where it lay on the bed. "I'll be back in just a little while with your sandwich. Emmett will go and get Mike when his plane comes in."
Bella glanced over at me with a mischievous look on her face. "He'll drive his own Jeep…not the Vanquish. You did get the keys back from him, right?"
I laughed. "I did get them, but, hey, whatever he needs to do will be fine." I glanced back down at Jessica as I squeezed her hand again. "WHATEVER needs to be done to keep them safe."
"Well, I don't think that he will actually need to drive your car to get Mike, although that would certainly make him happy. He'll be fine in his Jeep." She turned back to Jess. "You rest, okay?"
Jessica nodded and said, "I will, and thank you so much for all that you've done for me." She had tears in her eyes again.
"Don't worry," Bella said while patting Jessica's shoulder gently. "Everything will be just fine. I'll be back soon with your food." She gave me a nod goodbye and was gone.
"Edward." Jessica turned to me. "I think that we are really lucky to have Elite Guardians working with us."
I nodded. Jessica was more than right. I felt confident that they would keep us safe and find the stalker, too. All of them seemed to have a huge amount of confidence and they seemed sure that they could handle this situation.
I convinced Jessica to close her eyes and to rest while we waited for Bella to bring her something to eat. I dimmed the lights and sat back in the chair by the bed, holding Jess' hand. The chair was actually quite comfortable, a recliner for family members to catch a nap in apparently. The gentle beeping of the baby's heart monitor was soothing. It was nice to hear the little guy, to know that he was fine.
The memory of that painting came back to me. It was amazing how much Bella and the memory of it fit together. But she could only be, what, 25 at the most? Even though she looked like she was only about 20. But I thought that she must be closer to 25 because of her business. It was really hard to tell. I wondered what that look was about when I mentioned the painting. Maybe I'd figure it out sometime. I was just glad that I now knew where I remembered her from. Even though it couldn't be her, as the painting was about 90 years old. It was a puzzle that my mind couldn't quite wrap around.
My mind drifted back to the stalker situation. I didn't know how long Jessica would be there in the safety of the hospital, but something would have to be done to keep her safe when she was discharged. I didn't think going home to her place would be an option right now, at least not until the stalker was dealt with. Maybe I could have her and Mike stay at my place. Emmett was going to beef up the security system. Maybe that would keep them safe.
I'd ask Bella for her input when she returned.
You can go to my profile page to see a link to the portrait mentioned here.
Ah, Dr. Morrow…there really is an OB/GYN by that name…and he's gorgeous! He delivered my first two children. He's seriously beautiful enough to be a vampire!
Also, yes, one of the hospitals in Seattle actually does have a four (or is it a five) star chef on the payroll. I ate there when one of my aunts was ill. The food really was THAT good!
Next Chapter: On Guard
Thanks so much for reading AND reviewing! I appreciate it...
Kathie