It's Not Over
By Ginamr
Summary: He'd hurt her and nearly destroyed her. But Edward's crucial mistake was thinking that Bella wouldn't fight back. Bella was a lot tougher than she looked and she was damned if she was going to believe for one minute that the last several months of her life had been a lie.
Soundtrack for this chapter: You by Rascal Flatts, Best In Me By Blue, When You Believe by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
This chapter is from Edward's POV.
Eleven
EPOV
After we'd been seated and the waitress had taken Bella's order, I grasped her hands in mine. Our gazes locked and I worried my lower lip. It was a Human habit that was becoming a common sign of anxiety for me.
Bella smiled and squeezed my hand. "You want to know if what I said back at the house was just for Tanya's benefit, don't you?"
Strange how well this lovely creature knew me. I paused and then nodded. "Not that I'm not infinitely grateful that you played along."
"I wasn't playing along, Edward," she murmured. "I really do want to marry you."
I sucked in a soft, unnecessary breath. "What changed your mind?"
She furrowed her brow thoughtfully. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I guess I finally realized that eternity with you would make me happy, but belonging to you in every sense of the word could only make that better." A grin slid across her lips. "Besides, I'm sure the vampire divorce rate is practically non-existent."
I nodded. "There's no such thing among our kind. When we find our one true love and mate with them, we are bound to them for the rest of eternity. It's something in our nature. If their existence is ended-well, many of us seek our end at the hands of the Volturi rather than exist the rest of eternity without that One."
Her lush lips formed an 'o' of surprise. "So you mate for eternity? You don't just find someone else if your partner doesn't exist anymore?" I shook my head and she pouted prettily. "Wow. I actually feel kind of sorry for Victoria. I mean, James was just doing what it was in his nature to do."
My lips tightened. "Bella-he would have killed you."
"I know," she whispered. "But I know what it's like to be alone...to lose one's true love. It's nearly unbearable."
I fought back a smile even while struggling with the guilt of leaving my lovely bride-to-be behind. My Bella had such a compassionate heart and such a lovely soul. She could feel compassion for my kind even while one of them hunted her for her life force. I cradled her hand against my cheek and hummed. She was so warm and her touch reminded me of what it meant to be Human. I imagined her thoughts would be as kind and as honest as her words. They would be of her love for me and of our future together.
'I love you, Edward,' I heard her lovely voice say. 'So very much.'
Unexpectedly, I heard her heart rate increase and felt her temperature rise a couple of degrees. I stared into her eyes, waves of desire resonating through my body. Yet they seemed separate somehow. The desire felt almost distant, as though it was being channeled from another source. At that moment, I realized what was happening. Bella's mental barriers had come down and she was showing me her heart and her thoughts.
"Bella, love?" I gasped.
Suddenly, the feelings and thoughts were gone, her mind once again closed off to my abilities.
"Damn it," she cursed. "I'm sorry, Edward. I lose all common sense when you call me that."
"You were aware of it?"
She nodded. "I remembered what Eleazar said and decided to give it a try. Hopefully I'll get better the more I practice."
"But how did you know what needed to be done to lower the shield?"
She shrugged. "I didn't really. I just focused on what I felt for you and how much I wanted you to know how I really felt."
I raised her hand to my lips and brushed a tender kiss over her knuckles. "You are truly extraordinary, do you know that? I'm exceedingly fortunate to have met and fallen in love with such a beautiful, strong woman. You are perfect for me in every way."
A light flush crept into her cheeks. "Sometimes I hate that you're so charming," she murmured. "But then I remember that it's one of the many things I love about you. You wouldn't be so perfect for me if you weren't."
She was my soulmate...the eternal flame that lit the darkness of my heart. Most Humans spent their entire lives searching for the One...a single individual that they were destined to be with. Their fates were woven together in an inseparable and complex way that God himself couldn't discern. The realization struck me then that perhaps our paths had been entwined long before we met and that my change those many decades ago had been leading me to my future wife in a way nothing else could have. I'd waited for this angel for over a century and now here she was accepting my proposal of marriage.
"Even if it takes the rest of eternity, love," I whispered. "I will make myself worthy of you."
I couldn't help but stare at my beautiful Bella as the candlelight flickered across her porcelain skin and lit up her lovely brown eyes. There was something different about her. Gone was the doubt and the self-consciousness that usually had her staring at her hands. The confidence radiated off of her in waves and it was so contagious that I couldn't help the wicked grin that slid across my lips. Just the thought of this lovely woman in the throes of passion had me craving the taste of her kiss and the fire that burned in me when she touched me.
"The waitress best hurry with your meal," I murmured, my voice gravelly with desire. "Or I'll be forced to take you on this table in view of everyone."
Her heart missed a beat and I saw her eyes slam closed. I froze when I heard a barely audible whimper slip past her lips and bit back the growl building in my chest. There was an instant change in her scent. The usual freesia and ripened strawberry bouquet that rolled off of her combined with the scent of her arousal, creating a new scent that I could only compare to warm strawberry jam.
One of the few things I remembered from being Human was biscuits and jam fresh from the stove. When I was young, my mother would allow me three of these tasty delights and a glass of warm milk before bedtime. Oftentimes, she would join me, making the rare treat all the more enjoyable.
"If you don't stop looking at me like that, I may have to take you right here right now anyway."
I arched my eyebrow in challenge. "Really? What would your response be if I told you that I don't want to wait?"
She smirked, but said nothing. I jumped in surprise when I felt something slide up my leg and make contact with my groin. It took a moment for it to sink in that my brazen beauty was teasing me with her foot.
"You're going to pay dearly later you realize," I growled.
A dark chuckle bubbled up from her throat. "I look forward to it," she offered huskily.
As I was about to reply, her meal arrived. I watched fascinated as she slid morsel after morsel of mushroom ravioli between her delectable lips, savoring each bite with a moan of satisfaction. My erection pushed urgently against the zipper of my jeans and throbbed with each throaty sound. I knew she felt the bulge as well because her eyes suddenly locked with mine and her grin widened as she applied more pressure. I shuddered. Good God, this woman.
"Done," she said with a satisfied smirk, allowing her fork to fall with a loud clank onto the plate.
I bit back a growl. Not nearly.
"We should return home," I replied, fighting to keep my speech even.
She sighed. "I guess that new book will have to wait until tomorrow."
I arched an eyebrow disbelievingly. She'd made no mention at any point of desiring new reading material nor had she mentioned any new releases that she had any interest in, which had me suspecting that she had other motives for wishing to remain in town.
"What are you up to, Isabella?"
A light flush stained her porcelain cheeks, but she managed to keep her tone coy. "What makes you think I'm up to something? I just wanted a new book to read."
"We can't remain out too much longer, love. It's getting dark."
She grimaced. "And dark equals dangerous. I know. But until then, humor me."
"All right," I agreed. "One hour and no more."
The corners of her lips turned up and the candlelight danced in her eyes. "Deal."
I stood and threw a hundred dollar bill on the table, thinking that would more than adequately cover the meal and ensure a generous tip for the waitress. Despite my distraction with Bella, I hadn't been able to help being drawn to the kindness in the woman's thoughts.
She had worn a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and her hands had trembled horribly as she placed the plate on the table before Bella. My medical knowledge allowed me to diagnose it as the beginning stages of Parkinson's. By the look of her swollen abdomen, she would be welcoming a new life into the world very soon and I imagined that though the tip would hardly change her fate, it would perhaps bring a genuine smile to a heart that hadn't felt sincere joy in quite some time.
"That was very thoughtful," Bella whispered as we exited the restaurant. "What you did for that waitress, I mean."
I smiled sadly. "I only wish that there were a cure for her condition." At Bella's confused expression, I added, "Parkinson's. If left untreated, it can be deadly, but she's afraid that the medicine that can treat her would hurt the baby. Unfortunately, by the time he's born, the disease will have escalated possibly beyond modern medicine's ability to treat it."
Pain reflected in my lovely Bella's eyes. "Will she even be able to hold her baby?"
I shook my head sadly. "Most likely? No. Not unless she begins treatment right away." Smiling slightly, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I wouldn't worry for her, love. Fate has a funny way of changing our path, often for the better."
A scene began to unfold in my mind and I concealed a grin as I watched.
The young waitress cleared the table of the dirty plates and glasses, attempting to focus on anything but the pain that shot through her hands, arms and legs. She grimaced as a particularly nasty fire shot through her fingers, causing her to spill a glass of water that sat on the table.
Cursing to herself, she cleaned up the mess. It was then that she noticed a one hundred dollar bill sitting in the center of the table. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, a gasp of surprise and delight escaping before she could stop it.
With shaking hands she reached for it. As she grasped it, she turned it over to study it, certain it couldn't be real. On the back was scrawled a note:
"See Dr. Carlisle Cullen at Forks Community Hospital. 360-555-2631. Don't worry about the expense. It's taken care of."
This couldn't be real. She glanced toward the door that the stranger had exited moments ago with his arm wrapped around a beautiful woman she presumed to be his wife. Recalling the compassion in his eyes, she felt the tears spilling down her cheeks.
She offered a silent prayer to God for the blessing he'd bestowed upon her. In return, she asked that God watch over the stranger and guide him to what he sought in this life just as God had with her.
I froze, moved beyond reason by the sentiment. Not since before my change had I been the recipient of such compassion. I turned my gaze upward, an almost foreign warmth swelling in my chest. If a woman in so much pain could still have such compassion in her heart, maybe there was still hope of redemption for me.
