CHAPTER 12
It was after eleven when Edward returned and Bella was just about to get off the sofa, where she'd been dejectedly watching trashy TV all evening, to start getting ready for bed. She froze anxiously when she heard the sound of Edward's key in the lock, but to her relief, as he walked across the room and sat down beside her, she could see he had calmed down. Although the dishevelled state of his hair indicated it might have been a struggle.
Bella looked down at the floor and locked her hands tightly together, in her usual battle not to reach out and run her fingers through Edward's untidy hair and smooth back the stray lock which always fell down across his forehead. She had no real idea what he had been so incensed about earlier and although he was no longer angry, he was definitely still distracted, so Bella waited in silence until he'd collected his thoughts and started to speak.
First of all Edward apologised for not having warned her Carlisle needed his flat back in a few weeks time and also for storming out, which was what Bella had expected to hear. But then he surprised her by adding that he had a proposition and there was something he needed to show her straight away. Bella tried to object that it was late and she was tired, but Edward wouldn't accept any excuses and after quickly bundling her into her coat, he ushered her out of the door. Trying to ignore the effect Edward's touch had on her when he took her hand, Bella concentrated on keeping up with him without tripping over her own feet, as he led her downstairs and into his car.
The engine purred quietly into life and soft music began to swirl around the interior as Edward smoothly manoeuvred into the traffic. Accepting that she wasn't likely to get any answers from him just yet and that it was pointless to attempt any sort of polite conversation, Bella let herself sink into the soft leather seat and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of being cocooned in a level of understated luxury which had never appealed to Alex's more flashy tastes.
After driving for some time through the heart of the city, as they got closer to the old dockland area Edward turned off the street, through a pair of very solid security gates and into an underground parking garage. Still apparently deep in thought, he helped Bella out of the car and led her into a lift, which swiftly travelled up several floors and deposited them in front of an imposing steel door. As he turned to look at her for the first time, Bella realised that although he was trying very hard to conceal it, Edward was excited and nervous and her stomach dipped as she wondered what was going to appear behind the closed door.
She didn't have long to wait because Edward immediately stepped forward with a key card in his hand and the door swung open, revealing an ante room with another door directly opposite. Edward quickly crossed the space, opened the second door and politely stood back to let Bella go through in front of him, but Bella stood transfixed in the doorway, mesmerised by a glittering array of thousands of multicoloured lights, which appeared on all sides and hung suspended in the darkness.
After a second Bella recognised she was looking at a panoramic view of the London skyline, but the effect was so disorientating that at first she had no idea if she was inside or outside and was half afraid to step forward in case she found herself falling off the edge of a roof. But as her eyes got used to the darkness she was gradually able to make out the outlines of furniture, including several large sofas and a grand piano and she realised they must be in a penthouse flat, standing on the threshold of a large room where the walls were made almost entirely of glass.
Edward flicked on a series of lights which revealed the interior in all its splendour and then dimmed them to a more comfortable level, all the while obviously trying to gauge Bella's reactions. Then instead of explaining, he took Bella's hand again and gave her a tour of the apartment.
None of the other rooms were furnished yet, but when the decorators had finished, there would be a huge state of the art kitchen, a formal dining room, two additional sitting rooms, a study, a cinema room, a gym, several bedrooms and bathrooms and a separate guest wing, all making the most of the glorious views across the Thames and the city. Suddenly the penny dropped and Bella realised this was where Edward was going to be moving to, but after keeping it a secret all this time, why had he suddenly decided to bring her here in the middle of the night?
But it appeared they hadn't finished exploring yet. After he'd shown her all the rooms in the main flat, Edward took her through a large storage room behind the kitchen and into another entirely separate wing with its own kitchen, sitting room and three bedrooms with bathrooms attached. The rooms here were much smaller and cosier and Bella guessed they were intended for live-in staff or security. Was Edward so wealthy that he was going to start employing personal staff to look after him?
Finally Edward led Bella back to where they had started, in the glass sitting room in the main apartment. While Edward remained standing, Bella decided she could definitely do with a sit down after being dragged around so many rooms, so she made herself comfortable on one of the giant sofas, before crossing her arms and looking at Edward expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
Edward's proposition was simple; he was intending to move in here in two weeks time and he was hoping Bella would take the staff flat, as his guest, for as long as it was convenient. In addition, Rose would like to see her in the morning about the possibility of offering her a temporary job, to tide her over until she found more permanent employment. Having listened to all this with her mouth half open in shock, Bella continued to stare at Edward in confusion at first, with no idea of what to say or how to react.
But as the information began to sink in, Bella's main reaction was that she didn't want to be anyone's charity case. She was grateful, but she was having difficulty understanding why someone in Edward's position would want to go to such lengths to help a random stranger he'd only known for a few weeks and although she felt almost light-headed with relief, another more sensible part of her brain was warning her that accepting his offer was likely to end in another emotional disaster.
Perplexed by Bella's reaction and thinking that perhaps she was worried about the terms of his proposal, Edward began to assure her that because the staff flat was completely separate and had its own front door, they would be able to lead entirely separate lives if that was what Bella wanted. He reiterated that he didn't expect anything from her in return and just wanted to help by providing somewhere to stay, until she was able to sort things out for herself.
Although this should have reassured Bella, she suddenly felt as if she was going to cry. And because Edward was growing slightly angry at her unexpected and less than enthusiastic reception of what he knew was a very generous offer, he had reverted to his usual rather formal manner, causing Bella to immediately assume his main motivation was guilt, because he hadn't given her enough warning that they had to move out of Carlisle's flat.
Bella's shoulders slumped as she realised that in any case it was ridiculous to continue to indulge her stupid fantasies and in the interests of self preservation, this was the appropriate time to walk away from Edward, before it became even more difficult than it already was. Misreading her reaction as a sign that she was overtired and blaming himself for springing the idea on her without any warning and dragging her here so late at night, Edward was suddenly at pains to assure Bella that he didn't need an immediate answer and she should think things over and give him her decision in the next couple of days. Which was how they eventually left things.
But the atmosphere in the car on the drive back was awkward and they both pretended they were tired and disappeared into their separate bedrooms as soon as they could. Edward had no idea what had happened and was left wondering how he had managed to totally mishandle what he thought was a simple and obvious solution to Bella's problems.
Had he totally misjudged the situation? He'd always thought Bella had enjoyed staying with him up until now and he had convinced himself that she would be quite happy to continue to share his company, until he'd had the time to somehow work through his feelings for her and let her go. He had no idea what Bella was thinking, but he suddenly had a horrible feeling she was about to slip through his fingers and all things considered he felt he was perfectly justified in being extremely pissed off.
However there was a chance that Rose would be able to make Bella see sense and Edward was relieved that Bella had no objection to finding out more about the job Rose had on offer. In fact after a sleepless night, during which her resolve to not only move away, but also to break off all contact with Edward, had weakened considerably, Bella was hoping to possibly maintain a little second hand contact with Edward through Rose. That couldn't be too bad could it, when she genuinely liked Rose anyway?
Edward had rather grumpily handed over Rose's address and telephone number before he went to bed and informed her that Rose was expecting her at around ten thirty. So at half past nine the next morning Bella let herself out of the flat and headed for Covent Garden.
Another chapter coming up in a minute
