The Christmas Book

Chapter Ten – Doubts

"And what do you mean we?" Edward asked, but then pointed at the still, vibrating pen. "How are you making it do that? Batteries?"

"I told you," Bella said with a roll of her eyes as she removed the glass case from over the book. "It grants wishes for those it chooses."

"Bella," Edward said slowly, turning to look her in the eye. "It's a book. This isn't Ollivander's Wand Shop."

The absurdity of his statement in combination of his serious face, Bella couldn't help but laugh. "I'm happy to know that you were willing to give that series a try," she said breathlessly, pulling herself together after several moments as Edward blushed to the tips of his ears.

"It's not funny," he said, rolling his eyes. "What I'm trying to say, there is no such thing as magic."

"You might not believe in it, but the book believes in you." Bella reached for his hand again, shaking it slightly and smiling at his still confused expression. Rising onto the tips of her toes, she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Examine it, if you'd like, just be careful. You'll see that this isn't a game." She left him to it as she walked back over to store's door. She had to reopen, turning the sign over and looking out the window, the grey sky of morning gone. She smiled. It felt as if her whole day got brighter.

He watched as she walked away, but the book started to…pulse? That was the best description he could give. It remained on the two clean pages but the sheets beneath them fluttered and expanded, as if breathing. Which he thought was ridiculous; books didn't breathe.

But the pulses continued to increase in their intensity as did the pen that sat beside the book the closer Bella neared it. Edward cocked his head from side to side, seeing no cord of any kind. That didn't mean anything. Maybe there was a battery compartment.

After removing something from his jacket pocket, hanging from a chair, he loosened his tie. He wanted a closer look at the "magic book."

When she returned to his side, Edward had the book carefully laid on the countertop, wearing a set of handsome wire-rimmed glasses. With his sleeves of his button-up rolled up to this elbows, the tip of his tongue between his teeth and a scrunched brow, he looked the picture of deep concentration. She would've laughed it if wasn't for the importance of what had occurred.

She had thought that the book showed her Alice's wish because it meant it was ready to choose someone and her involvement in the wish. When it came to life again in Edward's presence, she felt that there was great possibility that he'd been chosen.

Her arms wrapped around her middle, feeling the tender ache of her heart loosen. Tears threatened to overwhelm her again. The wish said that Alyssa would love her unconditionally and that wish had been granted – well, according to the book.

Alyssa loved her so soon after meeting. Bella shook her head, smiling. She had forgotten how easy it was for a child to open his or her heart. To love in their special way and with that innocence that seemed to only make that love stronger.

Lost in her thoughts, it wasn't until Edward started to shake the book violently that she snapped out of it. "Careful!" she said, stomping over. "What do you think you're doing? That book is at least a hundred years old."

"I highly doubt that," he said, sulking when she'd taken the book from him. "I was looking for the battery compartment."

"There isn't one," she hissed, smoothing out the pages and the fragile spine of the book. "Did you find one in the pen?"

"No," Edward huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "That doesn't mean anything."

Bella shook her head. It appeared it was going to be harder to make him believe than she thought. "I understand that it's hard to believe," she murmured, shrugging and replacing the book. "But it would be better if you did."

"Better for who?"

"Well, I know what I'd wish for," she said with a small smile.

"Money?"

She snorted. "No. If it was that kind of wish I wanted, the book wouldn't have chosen me."

He cocked a challenging eyebrow. "Don't you mean us?"

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Your mood is a little all over the place."

Edward sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his face with his hands. "It's been a tough year," he said softly. "Plus the tension of the holidays, I'm sorry." He hadn't meant to take it out on her and the book, but so much seemed to have changed in less than a day. Though he loved that Alyssa opened up to Bella, he had to wonder if it was a just a band-aid and temporary.

Her warm, soft hand slipped into his, and he heard the unmistakable sound of pages of fluttering. "I know you have," she whispered. He opened his eyes, to find her watching him. "You both have."

"I have to leave," he said, tightening his fingers around hers. "I should've left twenty minutes ago."

Bella nodded, averting her gaze. "I understand."

"Look," he said softly, tipping her chin up with the tip of his finger. Why she insisted on not meeting his eyes, he didn't understand, until he saw the worry and disappointment in them.

Was that the only thing he knew how to do? Disappoint those he cared for?

"I really am sorry," he murmured. "I don't know how to believe in something like a magical book when I'm currently substituting as a four-year-old little girl's dead parents, and rather poorly, too."

He truly believed that. Bella could clearly see it in his eyes. There wasn't only sadness and grief in their dark depths, but deep down, doubt that usually ate away at a person.

"I don't believe that," she whispered. "You're not a stand in. A substitute wouldn't agonize over every decision, get angry at a woman that tried to force that little girl to talk, or call her sweet little names. You love her and she loves you. She'll always see you as someone special in her life."

Edward closed his eyes as Bella took his face in her hands. He wanted to believe her, needed to. Alyssa had yet to utter the three little words he longed to hear from her. Unable to resist the comfort Bella so readily offered, his arms wrapped around her tightly.

"Tell me what you'd wish for," he said softly.

"The book chose us for a reason," she replied, pulling away slightly. "Most likely because we both want the same thing." The book that lay beside them on the counter fluttered its pages again, waiting for them. And as she took his hand in hers, so that their intertwined fingers rested on a blank page, he could see the question his eyes. "What is it you wish for?"

Sighing, Edward met her eyes fully, taking a leap of faith.

Together, they wished aloud, the book beneath their fingers warming to their touch. "For Alyssa to be happy again."

AN: Betaed by kyla713. Only a few chapters left.