The Help
12.
Edward was gone when Bella emerged from the guest room early the next morning. He'd left a brief note on the bench addressed to her, advising that he'd left for a breakfast meeting, that both girls were still upstairs sleeping, and that Alice wasn't to leave the house without first seeking permission. A scribbled post script at the bottom requested she call him directly with any issues.
She was reading it again, desperately trying to seek hidden meaning in his words, trying to read between the lines to find out where his head was at after the night before, when she heard the front door softly open, followed by the unmistakeable sound of Tanya's heels on the floorboards. She moved around, heading up and down the stairs a few times, performing her morning routines, and when she finally appeared in the kitchen where Bella was getting a start on the girls' breakfast she looked visibly startled.
"You're very early, Isabella."
Bella stared at her blankly for a moment, then realised Tanya had no way of knowing she'd stayed last night. After all, she hadn't stayed there herself. Bella opened her mouth to explain this, then just as quickly shut it. Why did Tanya need to know, anyway? Besides, revealing that would also reveal that she was aware Tanya had not spent the night here. And you didn't have to be a genius to know drawing attention to that wasn't a clever move. Her best move, Bella decided, was to play dumb. Let Tanya think she'd arrived while she was in the shower, or something like that.
Tanya didn't wait for an explanation anyway.
"Has my husband left?"
"Um, yeah. He had an early meeting." Bella's hand curled around the note, which she'd hastily shoved in the back pocket of her jeans when she'd heard Tanya enter. Not that there was anything incriminating on it (no matter how many times Bella had read and re-read it, there appeared to be no subtext, no messages hidden between the slightly brusque wording).
This - her husband's early meeting - was clearly news to Tanya, but she smoothly covered her surprise, obviously still trying to maintain the façade that everything was as normal for Bella's sake. Bella was more than happy to play along.
"Right, the meeting. I forgot." Tanya still looked somewhat flustered though, and bustled around the kitchen, making her coffee, opening and closing the same cupboard three times and not once removing anything from it.
"I'm going to be late tonight," she said eventually, pouring her coffee into a travel mug and grabbing her purse from where she'd only just set it down. "I expect my husband, with his early meetings and all, will return before I do, so don't expect to see me."
It had been ages since Tanya had bothered to provide Bella with any detail about her schedule or her whereabouts. It didn't take much for Bella to read between the lines. Despite attempts at the contrary, Tanya was like an open book. Bella was willing to bet money Tanya would be spending another night away from the house.
Then Tanya hesitated, and pulled from her purse an iPhone, sheathed in a Tiffany & Co iPhone case that Bella recognised only because Emmett's girlfriend had one and never stopped flaunting it. "This is for Alice, when she gets up," she said, placing it carefully on the counter. Then she clicked out in her stiletto heels, and a few moments later Bella heard the front door close.
.
Bella was in the kitchen, keeping an eye on Elizabeth in the next room and packing up the dishwasher when Alice finally deigned to appear downstairs and grace them with her presence. Despite it being well past eleven she had clearly only just rolled out of bed, her short hair was messed and she still wore her pyjamas. Completely ignoring Bella's "good morning," she rummaged around in the cupboards for cereal, before settling down at the breakfast bar with a box of cheerios.
Bella felt ridiculous for being nervous about speaking to a fifteen year old girl, but she totally was. The thing was, Alice was so hot and cold, and since everything that had happened yesterday Bella was doubly cautious about saying or doing the wrong thing, just in case she triggered her. Plus, she had witnessed first hand how the girl had reacted to her step-mother grounding her yesterday. Bella couldn't see her taking the news that she needed to seek Bella's permission before going out any better than she'd taken Tanya's attempts to punish her yesterday.
She felt mildly irritated at Edward for leaving this task to her, especially when she wasn't even meant to be in charge of Alice to start with. The lines about her responsibility and her role seemed to be getting more and more blurred every day. And considering Alice's issues with authority, and her issues with her as a nanny in particular, Bella wasn't anticipating this going well at all.
Deciding on the ripping bandaid approach - getting it over with as quickly as possible - Bella waited until Alice had taken her first mouthful of cereal and said, "So your Dad left early, but he left me a note. You're going to think this sucks and I'm sorry, but he said you need to check in with me before you go out -"
Alice interrupted her. "Yeah," she said calmly, then swallowed her mouthful. "I know."
Bella was surprised. "You do?"
"Uh-huh. He came in to see me this morning before he left. Did you stay over last night?"
Bella was flustered. Surprised that Alice was handling this so well, and a little muddled as how best to answer. Paranoia kicked in. How did Alice know she'd spent the night? Had she heard them downstairs last night? Had she heard everything? "Um, yeah," she said a little nervously. "I mean, the weather was so bad, and it was so late by the time everything was sorted out and..." She cleared her throat. "Um, how did you know? I thought you were in bed by then."
"Dad told me this morning."
Bella breathed out. "Oh. Right."
Alice glanced up from her cereal. "You're acting weird," she said.
Bella swallowed nervously. "I am?"
"Uh-huh. I know why."
Bella gripped the dishcloth she was holding. "You do?"
"Yep." Alice slowly scooped up a spoonful of cheerios, placed them in her mouth. She chewed maddeningly slow, then finally swallowed. "Dad told you about me going to see my Mom yesterday. And now you're all worried that you're going to say something that will upset me, and that I'll freak out or something. Well I'm not going to, so you can just chill out. And I don't want to talk about it, so don't even try."
Bella breathed out heavily, a double-dose of relief making her a little light headed.
"Okay," she said, after a few moments. "Noted."
Alice dropped her spoon back in her empty bowl with a clatter. "So," she said sarcastically, "do I need your permission to go back upstairs?"
Bella sighed. "No," she said patiently. "Only if you -"
Alice rolled her eyes. "I know. I was joking." She got up from her seat, muttering, "God, get a sense of humour."
Bella sighed again, ignoring the barb. And maybe Alice heard, because she seemed to decide to cut her a break. As she put her own bowl in the dishwasher she said, sounding resigned, "I'm not going out anywhere today anyway. I'm just going to hang around here."
There was something of a despondent air about the way she said it, which led Bella to ask, "are you sure? Because if you want to go and see your friends all you need to do is let me know which ones -"
Alice cut her off. "I don't," she said shortly. She was standing by the bench, and she did an odd little shuffle, as though half of her was trying to head back upstairs, but the other half was staying put. Then she mumbled, "I just want to stay at home."
"Well," Bella said, "If you change your mind, Elizabeth and I go for our daily walk to the park just after lunch, and you're welcome to join us."
"Sounds thrilling," Alice said sarcastically. "If I can tear myself away from watching paint dry, I'll definitely consider it." Then her eyes landed on the iPhone on the bench, still where Tanya had left it. "Is that my phone?"
"Uh-huh," Bella said quickly, pushing it towards her. "Tanya dropped this off this morning for you. I think she got you a new case for it."
Alice grabbed it, eyeing the turquoise case with a sneer. "Last time she got into a fight with Dad about me she bought me a Tiffany bracelet. I guess she thought this fight only warranted a cheap piece of plastic." She peeled the cover off and tossed it onto the bench. "I don't want her guilt gift. And I hate Tiffany's stuff." She shoved the phone hastily into her pyjama pocket, turning back to head upstairs. "Anyway, it's not going to work. If she was really sorry, she would have gotten me a whole new phone."
And she headed for the staircase, leaving Bella downstairs with just Elizabeth and her thoughts.
.
.
"What sort of people think it's acceptable to buy someone's forgiveness instead of asking for it with an apology?"
"People with too much money and not enough brains," was Emmett's flippant reply, from over where he was browning onions on the stove. He poured some more oil into the pan, then glanced back at Bella with a frown. "I assume this isn't a hypothetical question." Then he groaned. "You're not talking about Edward, are you? I thought you were done with the whole 'Edward is an asshole' thing -"
Ignoring the twinge in her lower stomach at hearing his name, Bella replied hastily, "No. No, I'm talking about his wife. And his daughter, in a way." She briefly explained to Emmett the conversation she'd had with Alice in the kitchen this morning, skirting around the details she didn't think it was her place to disclose. Despite usually telling Emmett everything (he called it 'over-sharing', she liked to think of it as one of the many, many perks of being her best friend) she felt the current situation with Alice and Tanya called for some discretion. "But here's the thing," she finished, as Emmett began to add the mince and the garlic to the pan, "it's not just that apparently Tanya thinks it's totally okay to buy her step-daughter off. But that Alice is so - so, like, conditioned that she doesn't even bat an eyelid. It's totally normal to her. She doesn't get an 'I'm sorry,' she gets expensive jewellery. I mean, I know I didn't grow up to be the pinnacle of self-adjusted, but seriously. Apparently in this house, the more expensive the gift, the more genuine your apology."
"Some people find apologies hard," Emmett said, shrugging. "Maybe this is just how they deal with it. Weird, but whatever works for them."
"Weird? It's screwed up, is what it is. And I definitely do not think it's working."
Bella rubbed at her eyes tiredly. It had been a supremely long two days. She hadn't left until after seven tonight, when Esme and Carlisle had appeared on the front doorstep. "We've come to relieve you of duty," Carlisle had joked, although Bella had seen the concern on his features, and she had noticed that Esme's usually warm smile had come a little less easily. Clearly they'd been made aware of what had happened between Alice and Tanya.
Bella had hung around for a little longer than was probably necessary, pretending to clear up the already cleared kitchen, in the hopes of hearing - or overhearing - something from Esme or Carlisle about what was going on with Edward and Tanya. She'd been expecting to see Edward tonight, and when she realised she was going to be denied that she'd been both frustrated and disappointed. She'd spent a good portion of her day anticipating seeing him that evening, if only to get some clarity. By the time Esme and Carlisle had appeared Bella had been starting to second-guess everything that had occurred the evening before - tiredness and confusion over her own feelings leading her to wonder if she hadn't perhaps imagined the closeness between them. If it hadn't just been wishful thinking on her part.
Now, she fell into one of the rickety chairs at her and Emmett's scratched, worn kitchen table, and began to fretfully run her thumbnail down an old groove in the wood.
"How do people live like that?" She murmured, voicing her thoughts aloud.
"It's a whole other world," was Emmett's sage response. "People from money - they're not like you and me, Bella. They see life completely differently. Everything can be bought and sold. Everything has a price. Even forgiveness."
"Hmm."
Bella thought of what Edward had revealed to her the evening before. She knew he hadn't grown up with the sort of wealth and privilege his second wife had. He'd known hard times, he'd struggled and from hard work he'd pulled through. She remembered what he'd told her, about his fears that wealth and success had changed him. Had they?
She'd automatically dismissed the idea at the time, but who was she to determine that? She hadn't known him before, after all. All she knew was the man she knew now. Wealthy and determined and perhaps aware that his wife threw money at his daughter instead of getting to the root of their problems. When had she begun to see him as some sort of paragon of virtue and integrity, anyway? He was a guy, just like any other. Flaws and all. She rubbed her eyes again. She wanted to stop thinking about him, it was turning her stomach into knots.
.
.
The very next morning Tanya's cherry red Audi stood back in it's usual spot in the long, curving driveway, the space that had been conspicuously empty in its absence. When Bella let herself in the front door, the first thing she saw was Tanya's Prada purse sitting on the hall stand. The further in Bella walked the more evidence she spied - Tanya's honey coloured Burberry coat slung over the hall chair; her red-soled Louboutins resting by the bottom of the staircase, ready for her to step into.
And in the kitchen was Tanya herself, six inches shorter without her heels, her strawberry blonde curls hanging loose over her shoulders. In her arms she held her daughter, she was rocking her back and forth and crooning a familiar nursery rhyme Bella often heard Elizabeth singing to herself. With her porcelain skin and her dainty features Tanya looked like a doll, like her daughter, and without the haughty, cold expression she usually wore in Bella's company, she looked both younger and more soft than Bella had seen her before. Like all of her sharp edges had been rubbed away. Bella was almost reluctant to draw attention to her presence. This was a side of Tanya she'd never seen, the vulnerable side.
And all Bella could think was: Was this why Edward still loved her?
It was Elizabeth who broke the spell, spotting Bella where she stood half-concealed in the doorway and calling out her name. Tanya glanced up quickly, her mask immediately falling in place. She opened her mouth to say something, likely to reprimand her for something Bella supposed, but before a single syllable passed her lips she closed her mouth and a soft smile crept across it. Bella was shocked for one moment, until she felt someone behind her. And she turned to see Edward brush past her as he entered the kitchen.
He murmured a good morning, and Bella wasn't sure if it was addressed to her specifically. Either way she didn't get a chance to reply. Tanya was immediately at her husband's side, offering him a cup of coffee with that same little smile. "Do you have time for breakfast?" She asked him, her voice all low pitched and smooth.
"I'm already running late," Edward replied, sounding slightly guarded.
Tanya's face fell. "Oh," she said, making no attempts to conceal her disappointment. "I made that Bircher muesli you like..."
Edward's tone was regretful now. "Sorry - early meetings."
"Well, take it to go," Tanya said. "Isabella, can you take Elizabeth, please?"
Bella hurried forward to take Elizabeth into her own arms, murmuring her greetings and smoothing back her unruly curls. Meanwhile, Tanya bustled around the kitchen, pouring the coffee into a flask and spooning the muesli into a Tupperware bowl. These she offered proudly to her husband, then reached up on her tip toes to brush her lips across his. "Enjoy," she murmured against them. "I'll see you tonight."
For just the briefest of moments Bella saw Edward's eyes flicker over to her, an expression on his face she couldn't quite decipher. Was it shame? Regret? Or was that just Bella's imagination?
But just as quickly he flickered them away again, leaving Bella suddenly feeling hollow and disappointed, and confused as to why.
He brushed past her again as he left the kitchen, his hands full of Tanya's offerings. Bella sought his gaze, but he kept it averted, even as he leant in to kiss his daughter's forehead. And as Bella watched his retreating back she wondered why she'd thought seeing him again would help clarify anything she'd been feeling. Instead she just felt more confused than ever.
And, strangely, as though he'd let her down.
.
.
To Bella's intense surprise, Alice joined her and Elizabeth on their walk to the park on Friday afternoon. The inclement weather had improved, and, so it appeared, had Alice's mood. Whilst Bella wouldn't have called her cheerful, she was certainly more pleasant company than she had even been - playing with Elizabeth on the swings, pushing her down the slide, helping her navigate the jungle gym. When they'd walked back home she'd happily pushed Elizabeth's stroller, and had twice entered voluntarily into conversation with Bella.
Bella, though surprised by Alice's change in mood, hadn't actually thought too much of it until Alice later that day appeared on the back patio where Bella was reading, while Elizabeth was upstairs taking her nap. Bella hadn't really been paying too much attention to the copy of A Tale Of Two Cities that she'd taken from Edward's extensive library. She was more musing on how much more enjoyable reading was now that she wasn't constantly hunched over dull biology textbooks.
And when Alice appeared on the back patio, hesitantly asking Bella if she could "ask her something", her unusually good mood that day suddenly made sense. Clearly she'd been sucking up to Bella and was now going to ask her if she could go somewhere, or do something tonight that she suspected Bella wasn't going to agree to. So Bella was surprised when Alice perched almost nervously on the patio seat to Bella's right and said baldly, "it's about. Um, guys."
Trying to hide the fact that she'd almost fallen off her seat in shock, Bella, as calm as possible replied, "Right. About guys. Well, I'm no expert." Then she saw the flicker of disappointment on Alice's face, and quickly added, "but definitely still ask. I'll try to help."
Alice didn't seem entirely encouraged by this, but nor did she appear discouraged. She stared very intently out at something in the far distance, across the lake, and when she spoke again she sounded reluctant. "Dad said I should speak to you," she said.
"He did?" This shocked Bella the most. From the way Edward had been avoiding her over the past few days, she'd begun to assume that he'd come to regret the friendship they'd developed. That he regretted opening up to her that night on the couch. That he'd perhaps come to believe as his wife did, that his personal life was none of Bella's business.
Or, perhaps he'd felt as she had. That night on the couch. He'd felt the chemistry, and knew that their closeness had been more than just the result of too much wine and heightened emotions. Had he felt their friendship flicker towards something more, something it should and could never be, and perhaps decided that the only way to quash it was to avoid Bella as much as possible?
Alice was oblivious to Bella's shock. "Uh-huh," she said blandly. "I mean, obviously I can't talk to Tanya because she's a stupid bitch."
To this, Bella said nothing, and Alice continued without pause anyway. "And I don't want to tell my Grandma Esme cos I don't want her to know about... Well, about some parts of it. And Dad. He's... He's not so good with the guy stuff. And he said to ask you. Probably cos, like, you're younger and stuff. And he said - I don't know. Something stupid about how you're a good listener." She rolled her eyes. "Anyways... so yeah."
At the end of this little speech she jammed her thumb into her mouth, and began to scrape at the glitter purple polish on the nail. When a minute passed and she didn't volunteer any more information, Bella asked somewhat cautiously, "so... did you have anything specific you wanted to ask? Or is this just about guys in general?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "Something specific, duh."
Bella took a punt. "Is this about the photo?"
She regretted the question instantly, when Alice turned to glare at her. "Oh, of course you know about that," she said venomously. "God."
"I overheard," Bella replied calmly, back-pedalling. "And if that's not what you want to talk about that's fine, I won't bring it up -"
Alice interrupted her. "It's - I mean, it's kinda about that. I don't know. It's about that, and this guy and..." She trailed off, returning her gaze to it's fixed point across the lake. After a few moments of silence, where Bella waited patiently, she asked Bella abruptly, "do you have a boyfriend?"
"Me? Um, no. I'm single."
There was that flicker of disappointment again, and it was because of this that Bella found herself saying, "but I had one when I was your age."
Alice glanced at her then, her curiosity clearly piqued. Obviously this had been the right answer. "Oh yeah? What was his name?"
Bella swallowed. "His name was Jacob," she replied. "Jake."
"Jake's a hot name," was Alice's reply. "Was he hot?"
He was both the most beautiful and most ugly person I've ever known.
"Um." Bella ignored the heart-pounding, skin-crawling, sick-in-stomach sensation she got whenever she pictured Jake's face in her mind. "Um, I guess. He was part Native American, so he had really dark eyes and dark hair. And he was quite tall -"
Alice interrupted her. "How long were you guys together for?"
Too long.
"Five years."
Alice didn't disguise her surprise. "Wow. Seriously? That's ages." Then she asked, bold as brass, "did you guys do it?"
Bella swallowed again. "Is that what you wanted to ask me about?" She asked, instead of answering. "Sex?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "No. I'm not stupid," she added, her tone derisive. "I know all about sex. I'm fifteen, not five."
"This guy," Bella said, treading carefully, "The one you sent the photo to... Has he... I mean, is he trying to get you to do stuff you're maybe not..."
"No!" Alice said quickly. "It's not like that. He hasn't - no." She rolled her eyes again. "I mean, I know all about peer pressure and all that stuff. They don't stop going on about it in school. How it's totally okay to say no until you're ready. And - I mean, I haven't. I've never... you know." She flicked her hair out of her eyes. Her cheeks were pink. "That's not what I wanted to ask about."
"Right," Bella said, relief washing over her. "Okay, cool."
She didn't know why she felt so relieved. After all, Alice wasn't her. Alice had people who she could turn to, from whom she could get advice.
Not like Bella. Bella had been painfully shy. That, and growing up under her father's tyrannical rules and oppressive beliefs, hadn't been particularly conducive to developing many friendships.
For most of her young life she'd had one friend - Jake. They'd been friends since they were born, their families had practically raised them together. It had seemed only natural that, as they became teenagers and started discovering the opposite sex, that they should start dating each other. It had seemed natural to everyone - except to Bella. However she'd been so desperate for her father's approval, and dating Jake had seemed to be the one thing she was finally doing right in his eyes. And Jake had taken advantage of that. Just as he took advantage of her lack of confidence - by telling her how many other girls wanted to date him, so she had to make him happy to keep him. Just as he took advantage of her inexperience. And when he pressured her into sleeping with him, two weeks before her fourteenth birthday, it hadn't occurred to her that she didn't have to. Because if she didn't she would lose him, and in turn lose her father. And because she hadn't had anyone to tell her otherwise.
No, Alice wasn't Bella. Because Alice was confident, Alice was assured.
Which was why Bella was so shocked when confident, assured Alice turned to Bella and said, "What I wanted to ask was... What else do I do to get him to like me?"
.
She was still thinking about the conversation late that evening, long after she'd put Elizabeth down to bed, long after the light underneath Alice's door had been extinguished. All evening it had been lingering in the back of her mind, this niggling feeling of guilt, because Alice had come to her for help and she felt like she'd let her down.
Confident, assured, 'I know everything there is to know about sex' Alice, who appeared so savvy, but in reality knew nothing about sex and love and relationships. And was Bella really the person to teach her? Bella, only an insignificant amount of years older, who still couldn't work out how to successfully play the sex and relationship game - but who ever did?
The thing was, she'd meant what she'd said to Alice. She'd given her the advice she wished someone had been able to give her when she was that age. It was solid advice. The words had been genuine, they'd come from a real place. Don't be someone you're not. Be yourself - but the best parts. Be your favourite parts.
But a cynical part of her believed it probably wouldn't have mattered what she'd said to Alice. Alice was going to do whatever Alice wanted to do, despite any and all advice. Bella felt defeated by this. Because, despite everything, she'd come to genuinely care about this prickly, antagonistic, problematic young girl. And she didn't want her being hurt unnecessarily.
But after all, wasn't that all a part of growing up? Learning about sex and love and loss? Getting your heart stepped on too many times to count?
But still, Bella got the feeling that people in Alice's life kept failing her. Tanya, certainly. Was she, Bella, just another person to add to that list?
She was still trying to work out what she should do - most importantly, whether there was anything she could do - when she heard the front door open, and the sound of footsteps in the foyer.
They weren't nearly as late as Bella had been expecting. She'd understood the reason why she'd been asked to spend the entire night was in anticipation of an unusually late evening - but ten wasn't even late. She'd stayed later than ten plenty of nights. So did this mean they'd come home unexpectedly early? Had perhaps their issues earlier in the week risen again to spoil their plans? She couldn't deny that she got a small amount of pleasure at this idea, even more so at the thought that maybe Edward hadn't actually forgiven Tanya as easily as it appeared he had.
But even as she thought this she heard Edward's low pitched laugh float into the room, and it was followed by a decidedly uncharacteristically girlish giggle from Tanya. Then this was followed by a lingering silence that filled Bella with a sort of foreboding as she began to, against her own wishes, exactly what they were filling that silence with.
She was deciding whether the best way to announce her presence was with an awkward cough or by turning the television on at a startling volume, possibly also waking Elizabeth in the process... but wouldn't that be an added bonus? Surely nothing dampened romance like a screaming child?
Before she had a chance to do either she heard Tanya speak.
"... Obviously still up. The lights are all on."
Then she heard Edward's voice, and she was surprised by what he said. "Well you might as well go in and tell her she can go."
Tanya sounded as surprised as Bella felt. "After you were so adamant the other day that she stay over?"
Eavesdropping shamelessly, Bella heard Edward clear his throat before replying. "Yes, well. We're home earlier than I expected."
Bella thought his voice sounded tight. But Tanya didn't seem to pick up on it. She hummed, a low, seductive noise. "Hmmm. And whose fault is that? You're the one who couldn't keep your hand off my leg under the table..."
Then here was another pause altogether too long for Bella's liking, but she liked even less what Tanya said next. "Go and get rid of her, will you? Then I can thank you properly for this gorgeous bracelet."
Get rid of her? She expected Edward to reprimand his wife, or at least remind her - as she'd heard him quietly do before - that she was a person, a valued person, and not an appliance incapable of hearing or feeling. But to her intense shock she instead heard him say, "actually I was about to head upstairs and check the girls. You tell her."
And now Bella was surprised and hurt.
"Hmmm. And then we'll finish this upstairs."
Bella felt sick. She barely managed to rearrange her features into a neutral expression before Tanya appeared in the room, glancing carelessly in Bella's direction. "We don't need you to stay tonight after all," she said, barely pausing as she moved through into the kitchen.
For the first time Bella truly struggled to contain her resentment. She glared at Tanya's retreating back, her mouth open, ready to protest. She'd been told she would be required to spend the night - she hadn't even been asked. Never mind that she may have had plans, or a life outside of work. No, she'd been expected to drop it all. Which she had - she could have gone out with friends tonight. And now she was being dismissed early!
Her ready and indignant retort involved demanding payment for the hours she was losing, and that she not be screwed around in this manner again. And a subtle reminder that their family wasn't the only family in twon who needed a nanny. But she realised, as she watched Tanya's back as she bustled around in the kitchen, setting down her purse and pulling a bottle of red wine and two glasses from the cupboards, that it was not Tanya she wanted to say this to. Because it wasn't Tanya she was angry at.
But she still couldn't keep the bite out of her voice when she replied. "Right. Good thing I hadn't gone to bed yet."
If Tanya heard her, she didn't comment. She was already heading towards the hall and the staircase, and no doubt, her husband waiting beyond.
Bella felt sick. When she left she slammed the front door, and she didn't care what they thought at all.
Edward had told her he was a fool for still loving Tanya. And at the time she'd told him she'd disagreed.
But tonight she'd changed her mind.
A/N A sincere apology to my loyal readers. Thank you to those who continue to read, even after this extended, unanticipated absence. To those of you who did not read it on my profile page, I have unfortunately been suffering though the loss of someone incredibly dear to me. Writing, while usually my escape, was an inconceivable notion during this period. These months just gone have been so difficult, but it is with relief that my life begins to adjust to this new state of normalcy.
I have not and will not abandon this little project. I have more chapters coming. Thank you again for reading.
