Thanks to Twilightzoner for the validation.
Thanks to xrxdanixrx, charmie, and milehighhopes for the beta work.
I know you don't want to hear my excuses so I'll just apologize for the delay once again.
Thanks to everyone who continues to read and review. It means more than I can say that you've stuck with me this far!
I don't own Twilight.
Chapter Ten
Bella's first instinct was to laugh because Esme had to be joking. There was no way that Bella could be pregnant. Bella knew, however, that Esme had no way of knowing that she and Edward hadn't consummated their relationship so it was entirely possible that Esme did think Bella was expecting.
What Bella couldn't figure out was why Esme thought she was pregnant in the first place. Bella glanced down at her stomach to see if maybe she looked like she had put on some weight. She had been snacking more often at the bakery and thought this might be her cue to cut that out. As she glanced at her belly, trying to see whatever it was Esme saw, she remembered that her mother in-law was crying before Edward and Bella arrived at the house.
Unable to figure out why Esme thought she was pregnant, Bella glanced at Edward. She no longer felt the urge to laugh when she looked at him. He was watching his mother with a look of confusion on his face. When he felt Bella gazing at him he turned his attention to her and his expression changed from one of confusion to one of despair. "Are you pregnant?" he whispered to Bella, his brow furrowed.
"No! Edward, of course not," Bella whispered back.
Even though his face relaxed slightly, the sadness didn't completely leave his eyes. Bella knew what he must have been thinking, and she knew she would have to talk to him later when they were alone to be sure he believed her.
"Wait a second, did you just say you weren't pregnant, Bella?" Esme asked.
"Yes, I did. I'm not pregnant Esme."
"See," Carlisle said. "I told you if the kids had that kind of news they would tell us."
"Are you sure?" Esme asked, with a look of longing on her face.
"I'm sure, Esme," Bella answered.
"Mom, why did you think Bella was pregnant?" Edward asked.
"Well, I spoke with Renee this morning, and she was convinced that Bella was pregnant. I thought that maybe you two were waiting to tell us in person tonight."
Bella had no idea why her mother would have thought she was pregnant. It had been a couple of weeks since they had seen each other, so it couldn't have anything to do with Bella's weight. Then Bella remembered the phone conversation she had with her mother and groaned. "Esme, I'm so sorry, but my mother is crazy. She's been pestering Alice about having a baby, talking about how she won't be around to see her grandchildren grow up if she doesn't have one soon. All I said to her was I was sure she wouldn't have to wait as long as she thought to be a grandmother again. She hears what she wants to hear."
Esme smiled sadly at Bella. "It's all right, dear. I understand. I guess I just got a little carried away."
"That's exactly what I said. Hopefully, next time my wife will listen to me and wait to hear from you two before getting excited."
"Shut up, Carlisle," Esme grumbled. Carlisle laughed and placed a kiss on his wife's cheek.
Esme suggested they start dinner, and everyone made their way to the dining room. Bella was worried that the dinner conversation would be uncomfortable after the misunderstanding at the beginning of the evening. Thanks to the relationship between Edward and his parents, that wasn't a problem.
Something Bella noticed when spending time with Edward and his parents was how well they all got along. Edward was actually friends with his mother and father. After growing up in her home, where she was always at odds with her mother and she didn't have many memories of her father, it was extremely refreshing to see Edward joke around with his dad or watch as he tried to stop his mom from telling embarrassing stories from his childhood. It was all very sweet and made Bella wish she had grown up with parents like his.
"I almost forgot, I have a bone to pick with the two of you," Esme said suddenly after dinner was finished.
"What now?" Edward groaned.
"Why haven't we been given any wedding pictures?
Bella had been dodging questions regarding wedding pictures for a couple of weeks now. The truth was that the proofs arrived a while ago, but neither she nor Edward had made a move to look through them.
"Uh, we haven't exactly picked which ones to order yet," Edward began. "We've both been busy and…"
"Well, get un-busy, young man. It's been three months, and I have no pictures of my only child's wedding."
"Who's ready for dessert?" Bella asked. She didn't want Esme to get upset with Edward about the pictures; it was as much her fault as it was his that they didn't have any pictures to give her.
"I'll help you with the cake," Edward offered, standing up from the table.
"No, have a seat. I can help, Bella," Esme said.
"Mom, I can help. I don't mind."
"Well, I do," Esme said giving Edward a look that had him sitting back down in his chair right away.
Bella and Esme made their way into the kitchen and put the dirty dinner dishes in the sink. "Esme, which plates did you want to use for dessert?" Bella asked.
"I'll get them in a minute. But first I wanted to talk to you alone, Bella."
"Oh, okay," Bella replied.
"I wanted to apologize again. I know I should have waited to hear from you and Edward instead of jumping to conclusions."
"Esme, you really don't have to apologize. I should have known better than to say something like that to my mother. I know how she is."
"I think I told you before that we wanted to have more children but weren't able to." When Bella nodded Esme continued. "I love Edward more than anything in the world, but I always wanted to have a daughter. So when Edward found out that he had been matched with you, after he gave up hope that he would ever be matched, I thought maybe this was my chance to have the daughter I always wanted. And you're just wonderful, Bella. I can't imagine anyone better suited for my son. To hear from your mother that the two of you were going to be parents was one of the best pieces of news I could have ever gotten."
"Oh, Esme…"
"No, let me finish," Esme said patting Bella on the hand. "I just wanted you to know why I was jumping to conclusions before even hearing from you if it was true or not. I know that I need to be patient and wait for the two of you to enjoy being married for a while before you start having children. Just know that seeing the two of you together warms my heart."
"Esme, that's really sweet of you to say," Bella began when Edward walked into the kitchen.
"Is everything all right in here?" he asked.
"Everything's fine, dear. Just some girl talk," she said grabbing some plates and leaving the kitchen.
"Are you okay?" Edward asked Bella once they were alone.
"I'm fine. Are you all right?"
"I'm good."
"Can we talk for a minute?" It was extremely important to Bella that Edward knew she hadn't and would never cheat on him.
"Sure," he said walking further into the kitchen.
"I wanted to apologize for my mother. I don't know why she thought it was a good idea to tell Esme I was pregnant… I'm so sorry Edward."
"You don't have to apologize for your mother, Bella. You don't have any control over her actions."
Bella nodded and sighed. "I also wanted to make sure you knew there was no way I could be pregnant. We're married, and I would never cheat on you."
"I have to admit that's what I thought for a split second. I know we haven't always gotten along, but even the thought of you being with someone else almost killed me," he said shaking his head. "After the shock wore off, I knew you didn't and wouldn't cheat. And I want you to know I would never do that either, Bella. You mean…"
"Hey," Carlisle called sticking his head in the kitchen. "I think I was promised some cake."
"We're coming, Dad," Edward said sighing.
As he and Bella made their way back into the dining room, Bella couldn't help going over her conversation with Edward. Especially the part where he said her being with someone else would have killed him. She bit her lip to stop herself smiling like an idiot at seemingly nothing while eating her piece of cake.
*o*o*
The next day when Bella got home she knew she had to call Renee. When she arrived at work that day, both of her sisters wanted to know what Bella's big news was. Apparently, Renee had called Alice and Rose to tell them to prepare themselves to hear some big news from their sister. When Bella explained what the big news was supposed to be, Alice had an uncontrollable fit of laughter until Bella explained to her why she and Renee were having a conversation about babies in the first place.
Confronting her mother wasn't going to be fun, but Bella knew she needed to get it done before her whole family knew of her "good news."
"Isabella, darling, how are you?" Renee asked when she answered the phone.
"Mom, we need to talk."
"Sure, honey. I've been waiting for this call, so you go right ahead," Renee replied brightly.
Bella groaned and rolled her eyes. "You need to stop telling people that I'm pregnant or that you think I'm pregnant or that I have big news to share with them. Do you understand?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Isabella. I know it's your news to share not mine. I won't say another word."
"That's the thing, Mom. There isn't any news to share. I'm not pregnant, and I don't understand how anything I said to you would make you think that I was."
"But you said…"
"I know what I said," Bella interrupted sharply. She was tired of letting her mother do things like this. Renee knew Bella was the daughter least likely to confront her for her bad behavior, but Bella wasn't going to take it anymore. "The first thing you need to do is call Esme and apologize for getting her hopes up. You can't imagine how horrible I felt having to tell her you were mistaken."
"Isabella, I do apologize," Renee began softly. "I thought that maybe you were waiting to tell me officially in some cute way. Like how your sister bought me a world's best grandma T-shirt."
"I'm not Rose, Mom. If I were pregnant I would just come out and tell you. You know that." There was silence on the other end of the line and Bella would have thought her mother had hung up on her except that Bella could hear her mother sniffling.
"I'm very sorry, Isabella. I'll call everyone I told and tell them that I wrong and apologize."
"Who did you tell besides Esme, Rose and Alice?"
"Just your Aunt Lucy, but she promised not to say anything until she heard from you herself."
"Okay," Bella said. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was getting close to the time that Edward normally got home. "I need to go, Mom. Please don't forget to call everyone and explain what happened."
"I won't forget, Isabella. I am very sorry."
"I know you are, but I really have to go."
"All right, have a good night."
"Good night," Bella replied.
As soon as Bella hung up the phone with her mother she called Edward to see how close to home he was.
"Hey Bella," Edward said when answering his phone.
"Hey, I was just wondering where you were?"
"I'm about twenty minutes away from home," he replied. "But you know, Bella, if you miss me you can just say it. You don't have to pretend to wonder where I am."
"Ha ha," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "I just wanted to know if you felt like picking up a pizza on your way home. I thought we could eat and look over the wedding proofs."
"Sure, I can do that. I'll see you when I get home."
"Okay, bye," she said hanging up the phone. Bella couldn't help but smile to herself as she called the local pizza place to put in her order. She was feeling down about the conversation with her mother before she talked to Edward. However, a short conversation with him had not only helped put her mother out of her mind, it put a smile on her face.
When Edward got home they took their food into the living room, and after Bella told Edward about her conversation with her mother they started looking through the pictures.
"Ugh," Bella sighed, flipping through the pictures. "I don't like any of these."
Edward looked at the pictures she was talking about. "What's wrong with them?"
Bella knew exactly what was wrong with the pictures. She looked miserable. She was smiling in all of the pictures, but the smile most definitely didn't reach her eyes.
She put the stack in her hand to the side and grabbed a different set of pictures. Scanning through them, she paused as she came across one of her and Gracie. It was a candid shot, taken when Bella was telling her niece how pretty she looked before the ceremony started. She didn't look miserable in this shot. Her eyes were bright, and she was smiling cheerfully at Grace who was giggling softly.
Edward looked over Bella's shoulder at the picture. "That's a good one."
"Yeah," Bella sighed. "Grace looks so pretty."
"Well, I would tell you the same thing, but pretty doesn't do you justice."
Bella felt her face heat and glanced at Edward. "Thanks," she murmured.
After they figured out which pictures they wanted to order they found something to watch on TV and spent the rest of the night talking.
*o*o*
Bella was surprised to receive a phone call from her mother the next day telling her that she had kept her promise and apologized to everyone. Bella thanked her mother and got off the phone with her quickly; even though Bella could tell that Renee seemed genuinely sorry for what she had done Bella wasn't quite ready to forgive her.
Bella received another surprise when she got a phone call from her Aunt Lucy. Bella and her sisters didn't get to see much of their aunt or her children when they were growing up because Lucy was matched with a man who lived in Virginia. Bella always wished that her aunt lived closer. Lucy was a great source of comfort when Bella needed her. "So, I hear I'm not going to be a Great Aunt after all," she said after she and Bella had been talking for a few minutes.
"Yeah, Mom got a little too excited."
"Yes, well you know you're mother. She loves you girls so much and just wants you to be happy."
Bella scoffed and rolled her eyes at her aunt's statement. "I don't think she told everyone I was pregnant because she's worried about my happiness. She did it because she wanted to be the one to tell everyone I was having a baby."
"Isabella Marie, I know you don't really believe that. Your mother may be a lot of things, but she loves you and your sisters more than anything."
"She has a funny way of showing it," Bella grumbled.
"Look, I'm not going to argue with you about your mother. The only other thing I will say about her is this, if you hadn't been so young when your grandmother passed away then you would probably have a better understanding of why your mother is the way she is.
"The real reason I called though was because the last time we talked you told me you would have some information about wedding pictures soon. So, where are they? What's going on with them?"
"You'll be glad to know you can stop harassing me. We ordered the pictures yesterday. They'll be here soon."
"That's good to hear." Lucy sighed. "I thought you might have pulled a Renee."
"What does 'pulled a Renee' mean?"
"Haven't you ever wondered why there aren't any pictures from your mother's wedding?"
Of course, Bella had wondered why there weren't any pictures around from her parents' wedding. She told her aunt it was something she asked her mother about several times when she was growing up. "Mom always said all the pictures were at Grandma's house and got destroyed when her basement flooded. Are you saying that's not what happened to them?"
"No, that's not what happened to them. I don't know if I should say anything though. If your mother didn't tell you the truth she obviously did it for a reason."
"Come on, Aunt Lucy you can tell me. What really happened?"
Lucy sighed and mumbled something under her breath. She was silent for a long while before she sighed again and began speaking. "Okay, I'll tell you but you cannot ever tell your Mom what I'm about to say."
"I promise I won't say anything."
"The reason there aren't any wedding pictures is because your mother destroyed all of them."
"What?" Bella exclaimed. "Why would she do that?"
"Renee was really excited about being matched with Charlie. She thought he was handsome and really sweet. But Charlie didn't exactly care for your mother right away. He thought she was spoiled, shrill and he couldn't stand your grandmother. A few days before the wedding Renee heard Charlie complaining to his parents about her. She tried her hardest to get out of the match after that but it was too late. They got married not long after that and she cried all day long. She didn't want anyone to see pictures of her like that so she burned all of them."
Bella couldn't believe what her aunt was telling her. She always thought her parents were happy together. She sat on the phone listening to her aunt try to assure her that once her parents got to know each other they did fall in love. Bella got off the phone quickly with her aunt after that and sat in shock in her living room until she heard Edward come in the front door.
Bella didn't feel ready to talk about the conversation with her Aunt Lucy. When he asked her what was wrong Bella gave him an excuse she had used many times growing up when she didn't want to talk about what was bothering her. "I was watching My Girl," she said.
"My Girl?"
"Yeah, I'm not supposed to watch that movie. It always makes me cry."
Bella could tell that Edward didn't really believe her but he didn't press her.
They fixed dinner together that night, and when they finished cleaning up Edward said something Bella wasn't expecting. "You know, if you ever want to talk about My Girl or anything else that's bothering you, I'm here."
Bella smiled at Edward nodded. "I know, Edward. Thanks."
*o*o*
A little over a week later, when she got home from work, Edward told her he had a surprise for her. He took her into the living room to see that he had gotten the picture of Bella and Grace framed.
"I could see how much you liked this one," he began. "I thought it might be a nice one to keep. I got one framed for Grace, too. I'm sure Emmett and Rosalie would want to have a copy."
Without a moment of hesitation Bella threw her arms around Edward and pulled him into hug. "Thank you. This was really sweet," she breathed, before placing a kiss on his cheek.
Edward stumbled back some due to the force of the hug, but he caught himself and encircled his arms around Bella. "You're welcome," he laughed.
They stayed wrapped up in each other for a moment. Being in his arms pressed up against his chest felt good. She sighed when she felt Edward start to pull away.
He smiled at her, dragging a hand through his hair. "I'm glad you like the picture."
Bella nodded. "I really do. Rose is going to love it."
When Edward flashed another smile and walked out of the room, she felt butterflies in her stomach. The feeling was new but it didn't surprise her. Her feelings for Edward were changing every day from ones of friendship to something more… maybe love.
Well the next chapter is the one you've all been waiting for. I'm not going to say anything about when it should be up because I'm going to have to obsess over it for a while before it's ready for you all to see.
Thanks again for reading. Please let me know what you think!