A/N: Internet fail kept this from being posted sooner. Now I'm crossing my fingers that FF isn't total fail either.
Thanks as always to Juliegirl18 for beta-ing this mess and to everyone else that has given it a chance. Much love to each of you!
Read on and I'll catch you at the end.
Bella
"Girls," I called as I rounded a bookshelf following the high-pitched giggles of children, "remember inside voices. I know school isn't going right now, but sshhhh," I hushed, raising my finger to my lips for emphasis. Carlie and Elise were paused mid-movement, ready to pounce on the few beanbags I had piled in the middle of the library floor.
Elise straightened up first, the most adorably sheepish look on her face. "Sorry Miss Bella."
"Sorry Momma," Carlie said, mirroring Elise's words and actions, coming to stand beside her friend. If I ever thought my own daughter would be trouble, I was quickly coming to realize how much of a goner I would be when both girls team up.
"It's alright. Just settle down some please. The sooner I get my work done here, the sooner we all get out of here, got it?" I was answered with nods and Elise drawing her fingers across her lips in a silencing motion. "Good."
I took a moment to look around at the rows of shelves that barely went above my waist lined with rows upon rows of books.I had my work cut out for me over the next few days, making sure everything was catalogued and in the right spot before hundreds of little kids started filtering through the door, not to mention my lesson plans for library time for the different grade levels. This would be a long few days.
"Oh, and don't forget Carlie, you have your kinder screening later."
"Why do I have to do it again? I don't want to." Her lower lip was jutted out in a dramatic pout, matching the sad whine to her words. If I didn't have my wits about me, I'd think this was going to be a mildly traumatic experience for my little girl. However, I did know better, and knew enough of Carlie to know her reluctance was the loss of playtime and not fear.
"I know sweetie, but this is a new school and they want to see all those really amazing things you can do."
"But whyyyyyyy?" she asked, holding onto the word.
"Carlie," I started, squatting down in front of her and running my fingers through her hair, "they just want to make sure that what the other school said back in May was right. I'm sure it will be much shorter than last time and then we'll all be out and ready for my surprise." I pecked a kiss against her nose and watched the trepidation of another screening disappear with the magic word - 'surprise'.
She started bouncing on her toes, Elise excitedly moving next to her. "What kind of surprise?" they squealed in unison.
"The good kind," I laughed out, "but I can't tell you or it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, silly girls."
All I heard were more laughs and more squeals of excitement from my girls as they bounced up and down. My girls. That thought struck me and had me pausing just to stare at the two little people made of smiles and sweetness in front of me who had me wrapped so tightly around their fingers. I knew from that first day of seeing Elise that I would find ways to protect her and care for her, just as Edward had taken on with Carlie. She needed someone else fighting on her side; someone else that believed in all her young dreams and would gladly take on the world to ensure she always smiled. Yet this moment, right here, was like seeing the sun break through the haze. Elise was as much a part of my life as Carlie and I wouldn't want it any other way. Her and Edward were there, filling holes and picking up pieces by simply wanting to be part of mine and Carlie's world.
I pulled both my girls against my chest once their bouncing slowed, savoring the feeling and warmth and the comforting rhythm of their heartbeats thrumming against me. I felt almost whole - almost being the working word - realizing that this wasn't complete without the pianist hands, broad shoulders and comforting smile from the man just down the hallway. With him...that was completeness.
"Can you girls be quiet for a little bit longer?" I asked when I finally pulled myself back from them. "I just need to finish up some work in my office."
"And then it's time for our surprise?" Carlie asked bouncing again.
"After your screening, yes." I laughed as I watched both their sweet faces fall slightly at the prospect of having to wait. "For now, please be quiet."
"What should we do Miss Bella?" This time it was Elise smiling back with bright eyes.
"How about read," I replied looking around the room before laughing softly. "You have a lot of options. Well, actually, hold on." I stood up and walked down one aisle of shelves, knowing exactly where I was headed having fixed the binding and reshelved it yesterday. Bending down, I pulled a slim book into my hands, turning it over and over with a smile. The girls watched me intently as I walked back, hugging it to my chest.
"This book," I started, holding it out for Carlie, "was a book I always loved even though I was a bit older when I started reading it."
"The Wuz...Wuzzles?" Carlie sounded out and then moved her eyes up to mine. I nodded with a soft smile, remembering those carefree moments of my own childhood when life seemed so much simpler and made of nothing more than fantasy. With a small shrug of her shoulders, she opened the book, flipping through the pictures and falling into the world of Eleroo, Bumble Lion and the rest of the loving cast of characters - a world I will always love, no matter how old I get.
Leaving the girls with the book and more beanbags than they could ever use, I made my way through the maze of shelves to the office tucked off to the side. Boxes were still piled over the table in the corner from when the woman before me retired, and I had my own box of papers and odds and ends sitting on the desk top. Deciding that finding my desk should be my priority, I flopped heavily into my chair and brought the box to my chest, pulling out the first thing my hands came to. I pulled out a picture, cradling it in my hands and getting lost in the green and brown housed in the frame. It was of Carlie and Elise after a day of running through the sprinkler. Their hair was matted to their little heads, sticking up in all directions, and water trailed down their cheeks and clung to their arms in large drops, but it was their smiles that were almost too big for the frame. The happiness and pure energy of those two little girls could move the world. If I hadn't already realized Elise's role in my life already, this picture was proof of how inexplicably drawn into her world I was.
I finally set the frame down, propping it up and safely placing it at the front of my desk, far enough away to not be in danger of the mess I was about to make. My hands dug through the box again, pulling out several overflowing folders, letting them hit the desk with a thud that reverberated in my head against the slight headache that always seemed ready to pop up. I didn't have time to worry about it now though. These files couldn't sort themselves and my time was running short to make sense of this library.
"Hey." Edward's voice came from seemingly nowhere, surprising me enough to jump a little in my chair and scatter the few papers I was working with. Looking up, I found him leaning against the doorway separating my office from the rest library and I couldn't help the speed of my heart at the sight. He was so relaxed standing there in his jeans and light button-down, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, with that easy-going sag to his shoulders and smile that I'm pretty sure I could never get sick of.
"Hey."
He crosses the short distance between the door and my chair in just three strides, bending down and capturing my lips, lingering and moving slowly against them. "The girls..." I managed to breath out between the movement.
"Are still reading," Edward finished for me, dragging his tongue lightly over the swell of my lip. I parted them, giving him complete access.
We had worked past the 'first kiss' jitters almost as soon as they started. Looking at it that way, I felt like I was back in middle school, even now at 29, when closed mouth kisses meant the world. Yet, in a honest way, they still did. At least to me they did. There was an innocence in the action of simple lip to lip, but that didn't mean it lacked any amount of significance or passion. It was just the quiet kind of passion that builds in the simplicity, slowly soaking into your very being until it's the glue that holds you together.
Now it was the tentative exploration of two people just testing the waters and pushing comforts. By most definition on accepted actions of our age, Edward and I were moving at a snails pace, but it worked for us. Again, it was the slow, all-consuming build up that made it worth every drawn out moment.
He moved his tongue in gentle sweeps over mine, his lips working a steady rhythm countering the movement. Edward finally pulled away with one last gentle kiss to my lips, leaving me breathless and momentarily forgetting the throb of my head. "I would like to introduce you to the rest of my family." His voice was quiet, yet sure and I was completely caught off guard by his words.
"Yeah?" I asked, looking up at him, his lean body towering over me even as he leaned back against my desk. Pulling the hand closest to me from the desk, I turned it over in my palms, marveling at the balance of soft skill and solid strength that I held to. He had the tender hands to make music come alive, but the powerful hands to hold the world.
"Yeah. My parents are having a barbecue this weekend since my Dad and brother both have off. It's kind of an early Labor Day celebration in case either of them get called in for the holiday shift." I nod my head slowly, following his words and already knowing what was coming next. "Would you and Carlie come?"
"Edward," I started, the hesitation in my voice masked by nothing, "are you sure?" For some unknown reason, the thought of meeting his entire family freaked me out. I loved Esme already because she was like my own mother, taking whomever into her home and her heart and caring about them as if they were her own, but his whole family was an entirely different ballgame.
"Of course. Mum's been trying to find reasons to bring you around again anyways and has more than once wanted to take the girls off your hands during the day. I was even hoping to call up Jasper and Alice, depending on your answer of course." There was that smile. The one that made you lose all sense of what you were saying because it charmed the pants right off of you. "Em and I haven't seen them in so long, which is really our fault not theirs. No time like the present to fix it though, right?"
"Uh, right?" I hesitantly answered.
"So? Will you come?"
This really wasn't that big of deal. We were both adults and I could handle the whole 'meet the family' process again. I just felt like something about it was still so daunting. I knew Esme already, so at least I wouldn't be going in blind. And Jasper and Alice would most likely be there. Yet there was his dad and his brother...and Rose. Oh, what the hell! "What time?"
"So that's a yes?" There was a hopeful lilt to his voice and an excitement mirroring the girls' dancing in his eyes as he waited.
"Yes," I replied, nodding and smiling up at Edward. His head was ducking down to press a quick kiss to my temple before I even processed the movement.
"You're beautiful," he whispered out, placing soft kisses down my cheek and running the slight stubble of his chin over my earlobe, sending tingles down my spine and a shuddering breath from my lungs.
"Uh...huh?"
"You." He kissed just my ear, his tongue flicking against the sensitive flesh where my pulse was thrumming. "Are." He moved over, slipping his hand under my chin, placing a gentle kiss just off from the corner of my mouth. "Beautiful." He finished, turn my head towards him enough to meet my lips with his. Like every other time, this kiss was short but spoke volumes of all those little things we hadn't found the word for yet.
Coming back to the reality of the tiny room in the middle of an elementary school under the harsh fluorescent lighting, I let his request and my answer sink in. I was meeting his family. On Saturday. Great.
Remembering I had an appointment, I figured now was as good of time as any to ask. "Uh, could I maybe drop Carlie off in the morning at your place? Or I guess I could have Jasper and Alice grab her too?" The blissful haze of kissing Edward had finally worn off and the ache started to make its way back up. At least it was just dull and more of a nuisance than pain for now.
"Of course," he replied watching me carefully, "but what's up?"
"I have a doctor's appointment at 10 and figure Carlie really won't want to be dragged along with me."
"Headaches still?"
"Yeah, I just can't seem to shake them," I mumble out as my fingers perform the slow dance over my temples that I've come to perfect recently. This deep throb that came and went without cause or fanfare was enough to drive someone insane. I'm surprised I've kept it together this long with the headaches creeping up nearly every day and bouncing between dull tension to mind-numbing pain.
"Love..." Edward whispered out softly, all velvet and deep. His fingers shifted my hair to drape it over my left shoulder, lingering against my skin and exposing my neck and the little scar I know is there to him. I closed my eyes, sinking back into his touch and momentarily forgetting the dull ache in my head when his lips met the sensitive skin of my neck. "Anything I can do to help?"
"Can you swing a new brain?" I laughed humorously at my desk.
"I wish I could." His fingers kept up a slow and steady rhythm working their way through all of my hair until my head fell back fully to rest against the planes of his stomach, my eyes closing just to feel. We stayed like this, Edward never stopping his movement and me greedily soaking up the numbing calm that his touch brought. "I should get back before my next lesson," he whispered, pausing his hand and bending forward to kiss my forehead, leaving gentle tingles from where his lips met my skin.
Begrudgingly, I forced my eyelids to open and nodded my head against his stomach, surveying the confusing pile of things that was my desk. "Yeah, I should finish...this."
His deep, quiet chuckle warmed me all the way down to the base of stomach. That sound - his voice - was fast becoming home, just as my daughter's sweet laugh has always been. "Don't work to hard, yeah?"
"Mmmmmm...," the low sound coming from my throat as Edward drew his fingers from my hair and ran them down my neck with a feather-light touch, "no worries."
"I'll see you tonight, Bella." Edward placed a final kiss to the top of my head before walking out the door with a small wave and leaving me to the mess that was my desk and the mush that was my mind.
I'm really not certain how long I had kept myself holed up in my office after Edward left, scouring the files and the piles of books that I had moved from the table to my desk, waiting to be reshelved. What I did know was that I needed a break from sitting, bent forward in my chair and only listening to the hum of the central air. Standing, I tucked the pile of books in my arms and went to put them back where they belonged.
I peered around the corner of the shelf were I was crouched down, replacing a few books that I had fixed earlier in the week and looking over at the two little girls sharing one of the big beanbags. Carlie had the book opened in her lap, tracing the picture on the page with her finger while Elise was curled on her side in an effort to see the page. Her voice was so small and quiet when she opened her mouth to talk. "Where's your Daddy, Carlie?"
My hand pressed tightly to my mouth as I audibly gasped, but apparently not loud enough to be caught listening in. I sunk fully to the floor this time, my back hitting the bookshelf opposite of the one I was working with a soft thud and wanting nothing more than to rewind time to erase Elise's question. I didn't want my baby have to think about it and in all honesty, I was afraid to hear her answer. Children always speak the plain and simple truth, sometimes making life harder to hear in its bluntness.
I couldn't see what she was doing or where she was looking. I could only hear her sweet voice and hold my breath for her words. "He's back in Chicago. That's where I was before here."
"But why's he not here?"
"Um," she paused and I could just imagine her biting her finger or chewing on her little lip in thought as she always seemed to, "he made my Momma sad, so we came here and Daddy just didn't come with." She made it sound so incredibly simple and for that I was grateful to whatever Gods could hear me.
"Oh. Do you miss him?" Elise asked, pausing for many beats between the two thoughts.
"Sometimes," Carlie admitted, and it broke my heart right then and there. I felt like this entire situation was lose-lose, no matter which way you spun it. "But sometimes no. Momma helps me forget by taking me to the park and running through the sprinkler with me and letting you come play and lots of other things, like letting your Daddy come over too."
Quickly changing the topic, not pausing long enough to give thought to her prior answer, Carlie asked, "Where's your Momma?"
Elise took longer to answer and when she did, there was a sadness in the weight of her words. "I don't know. Daddy said she went away, but I don't know away to where." Each word hit my chest like a ton of bricks. Despite all the shit that we've had to wade through over the years, Carlie at least knew two parents who loved her with their whole hearts, even if one of them lost that love as time passed. Yet, Elise had one that never even made an appearance in the life that she remembered. That thought alone made my stomach sick.
Not that Edward didn't try with everything he has to give her the world - anyone could see that he did. I just couldn't help but think that there would always be a tiny sliver of herself missing - one small piece in a puzzle keeping it from being complete, no matter how inconsequential one piece seemed.
"Well you can share mine. I don't think she'll mind."
~.~
Carlie's kinder screening was short, just as I expected it would be. She answered all the questions with ease and a confidence that I almost envied her having at such a young age, and passed all the tests with flying colors.
I sat with Elise out in the hallway as we waited, her tucked into my side and my hands running through her hair. There were so many things I wanted to ask her, like if she honestly had no recollection of her mother, or if Edward had ever told her where or why her mother was gone. Yet I knew it was a touchy topic. I remember that enough from the night Edward and I were parked down that dirt road talking and how he nearly panicked when I brought up the mere mention of his past. Instead, I held her tight, hoping beyond hope that I could give her whatever comfort she was willing to take from me.
When the door opened and Carlie emerged, she ran straight to me squealing in delight that it was over.
"Is it surprise time now Momma?" she asked, her voice echoing down the empty hall.
I brought my hand to the back of her head to hold her steady, kissing her nose with a laugh antic. "Yes baby. Are you ready to go, Elise?" I finished, looking down at Edward's daughter tucked into my side. She simply nodded with that excited crinkle to her eyes - so much like her father's.
It didn't take the three of us long to wander our way through the halls and out to the car. Edward had put his extra booster seat in my car earlier in the week since we had made plans for me to watch Elise during the day. I'm sure Esme was starting to miss her granddaughter, but I couldn't help but love the time I got to spend with her too. I know it meant the world to Carlie. It was blatantly obvious in the way she scurried from her bed in the morning to wake me up and tell me that Elise was coming, though her antics were always several hours early. However, waking up to that bright smile on my baby girl made every moment of lost sleep worth it. I'd like to think I'd never sleep again if that meant she could always be that excited for the day.
I buckled both of them in and we were on our way. The drive was short, filled with their excitement for wherever we were going, which was rubbing off on me. I felt like I was just as excited for where we were headed, even though I knew where 'there' was.
Turning into Carver Lake Park, I drove up to the parking lot and my heart nearly beat itself out of my chest when I saw Edward there, leaning casually against the Volvo. His jeans and button down from earlier had been replaced with a pair of cargo shorts and light gray t-shirt that left little to the imagination of the chest beneath it.
"My Daddy is here!" Elise's voice rose happily from the backseat as she caught sight of Edward there.
"Yeah..." I started, my voice trailing off as I continued watching him. I didn't know he was coming, but I'm fairly certain it was the best surprise I could have hoped for when I wasn't expecting one in the first place.
I pulled up next to him, cutting the engine and reaching for my door, but it was open before I had the chance. Edward reached his hand in, helping me out and grazing my body with his as he pulled me upright. "Surprise," he whispered, voice deep and toe-curling, running his lips over my earlobe as he spoke. I just nodded my head, letting it spin wildly out of control from the haze of his close proximity.
"Momma! Can we get out now?" Carlie's voice brought me back to reality like the snap of a rubberband - one minute I was floated high and the next I was walking the few steps back to let my daughter from the backseat as Edward left to do the same on the passenger side. But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.
"Stay close to the car. We'll get going once we unpack," I said pointedly to Carlie - making sure she listened as she has a tendency to let things travel in one ear and out the other while - I opened the trunk. I was surprised that she actually listened and instead of running around, coming to stand back by me and bouncing with the energy only a child could possess to see what was packed away.
Carlie's eyes got wide when I pulled the inflated tubes from the trunk, handing one off to her awaiting hand and turning to give the other to Elise, who looked just as excited in that moment. "We're going swimming Miss Bella?" she squealed, smiling that smile I was coming to love. "Daddy, look! We're going swimming." In her excitement, Elise hit him repeatedly in the stomach with the floatie, not that it did much anyways.
"I see that. Are you excited, Beanie?" he asked with a gentle tug of her hair.
There was a collective yell of 'yes' as my own daughter answered as well, unable to contain herself. I couldn't blame her though. It was the first time I had been able to bring her to a beach - here or back in Chicago - all summer, when most years of her life already had been filled with days of sand and water. I reached back into the trunk, grabbing the bag full of towels and sunscreen and toys to play in the sand with before Edward could do it for me.
"Are you girls ready?" I asked once the top was closed. Each nodded, Carlie's curls bouncing and Elise's ponytail swinging wildly back and forth. "Then let's go."
I heard another door close and looked over, finding Edward with a towel flung over his shoulder and a cooler in his hand. "You didn't think I'd come unprepared did you?" he said, voice low as he walked up next to me, following a short ways behind the girls down the path to the lake. His free hand snaked it's way around my lower back, his fingers moving under the hem of my shirt until they were tickling against my flesh.
"No. I didn't expect you at all." I turned my head to look up at him, smiling as I did so. I was quick to add before leaning into his tall frame, "Not that I mind."
"Good."
We got to the sand sooner than I would have liked, Edward and I distancing ourselves just slightly as the girls ran ahead to claim our spot. "I'll go get them changed into their suits. Do you want to lay the blankets and stuff out?"
He simply nodded with that half-smile that sent my heart doing funny things before I gathered the girls and headed for the restroom just up the way. Getting them changed was easier than I thought, but making them patiently wait for me to change was a whole other story. They wanted to go in the water and they wanted to go now.
When all was said and done, we headed back towards Edward and my nerves were kicking themselves into high gear, along with the butterflies battering my chest. He was kneeling on the blanket and digging through the cooler, his shirt already off and exposing an expanse of flesh I had yet to see before now. The shirts he often wore and the way they hugged his chest really did not give the slight definition hiding underneath enough credit. He wasn't overly defined with muscles needing their own zip code, but enough to make me get lost in my visual appreciation. Edward was gorgeous, for lack of a better defining word.
"Hey," he said, smiling before sliding a pair of sunglasses up into his hair. "Are you ready to go swimming?" Carlie and Elise ran the rest of the distance between us, squealing and grabbing for their tubes.
"Not..." I broke in before the three could scamper off, "before you get sunscreen on. Get over here," I finished with mock sternness, my laugh at their guilty looks - Edward included - giving me away completely.
To my surprise, the girls were the first to move with me to the blanket as I sat down and pulled the bottle from the bag. I started with Carlie, smearing the white, coconut smelling lotion in to her soft skin and placing a giant glob on the tip of her nose just to hear her laugh again. Edward sank onto the blanket next to me, drawing Elise forward and starting the same process on her. When we finished, I reminded the girls, "Remember your sunscreen has to soak in for bit, so you can go play in the sand for a bit, but not the water just yet," as they were already trying to inch their way to the lake.
Each nodded and scooped up a few of the sand toys Edward had placed out. He moved to stand with them, but my voice stopped his movement. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Um...to play?" he answered more as a question, creasing his brow in confusion.
"Nuh-uh," I shook my head, keeping my tone playful, "you need sunscreen too Mister. Don't want to burn that pretty skin of yours."
He sunk back down into the blanket, the confused crinkle replaced with an arched eyebrow and lopsided sly smile. "Pretty, huh?" His voice was husky and only loud enough for me to hear as he turned more to face me. "Pretty?" Edward kept inching closer, that look never leaving his face.
My heart felt like it was dancing a polka against my ribs, thudding with force and power as my breathing sped up to match. I fought the urge to shrink away, knowing Edward meant no harm and the playful intensity of his eyes staring into mine only solidified that knowledge. At some point, I managed to squeak out a "yes," but the word falling high-pitched and in question from my lips.
"Pretty?" he asked one last time, nearly on top of me. My mind was racing, part of me thinking that we should stop before the girls took notice, but the greater part that was reveling in this playful banter and simply in Edward won out. "Not handsome? Debonair? A Greek God?" he added with a smirk. "Of all the adjectives you could have used, 'pretty' was what you chose? I'd think better from someone who lives and breathes words."
The last comment left his lips as he turned looking towards the girls. I couldn't see past Edward's body positioned half over me, but I didn't have long to worry about much of anything before his lips were on mine. The kiss was rough and fast and needy, Edward taking little pause before silently asking his way into my mouth with the sweep of his tongue. Edward's actions were slowly erasing any possible thought, but they were over almost before they started as he pulled away, resting his forehead against mine for a few steadying breaths.
When he finally sank back fully into his own space of the blanket, he let his entire left side brush up against my own. He still wore that look - cocky, self-confident and completely sexy. Edward would be my undoing if he kept any of this up.
The sun was getting warm and though I loved the constant touch, I was getting warmer by the minute. I moved to stand, but was stopped by Edward's gentle hold to my wrist. "I think it's my turn to ask where are you going?"
"Relax Edward," I laughed, smiling down and trying not to get lost memorizing the subtly defined lines of his chest or the light patches of hair. "I'm just hot."
He let go of my wrist and I swear I heard him mumble out something along the lines of, "Tell me something I don't kn...," his voice falling short at the end as I pulled the cover up I was wearing off, letting the light breeze tickle my exposed flesh.
"Bella..."
"Yeah," I asked, tossing the fabric down and finally looking back at Edward only to find his eyes fixed to my bare abdomen. I could feel his eyes make a slow pace up and down my form. For a moment, I almost felt self-conscious under the intensity of his gaze, until I convinced myself that I had earned my body and all the soft curves and imperfections. I had a little girl playing in the sand to prove it.
"You look...," he started but finished with, "that's a swimsuit right?" instead, shaking his head slightly.
I laughed an honest-to-goodness laugh, unable to draw my attention from Edward's rapt expression and appreciative gaze. "Yes, it's called a bikini, Edward."
"Turn around."
"What?"
"Turn around," he stated again. "Please?" This time he motioned with his finger a slow and steady twirl.
I finished my spin, coming back to face Edward who moved to stand. "You are bloody beautiful Bella," he said, walking the few steps towards me. "And this," his fingers toying with the deep blue ties of my bottoms, "is just extra. But it's a damn good extra."
"So I take it you like?"
"Like?" Edward scoffed while I got lost in the way the sun danced in his eyes at this time of day. "Yeah, I 'like' it." His fingers brushed the skin of my hip as he pulled away, backing away towards the girls once again.
I crossed my arms over my chest, unintentionally pushing my breasts together and causing Edward to stop in his tracks with a lingering stare. Well, I suppose it was mostly unintentional. When his eyes finally made it up to my face, I quirked my eyebrow at him and hoped my stance meant business, even as I fought to not lose myself following the trail of copper hair running down from his belly button.
"What?"
"You still need sunscreen."
~.~
"Get back here Bella!" Edward called with playful force as I ran away, splashing my feet through the water, much to the delight of two little girls spinning in their tubes watching us.
"Run Miss Bella! Run!"
"Momma!" Carlie yelled out with a loud laugh, "Hurwey! He's catching you, Momma!"
I didn't chance a look back, knowing I'd probably do myself more damage that way. I just kept running through the small waves with my 5-year-old cheering squad giving me directions. I'm surprised I had lasted this long.
I felt the warmth of his touch, his fingers grasping at the flesh of my hips, before I heard the girls' shouts to hurry up and keep going. His fingers at my hips morphed into arms around my waist until he had me entirely in his hold. I struggled to keep running, futilely trying to wiggle my way out as I laughed, letting the moment overtake me. Without warning I was falling backwards, Edward still tightly holding on and breaking through the water's surface first. We sent waves of water as we fell, sinking down to the sandy bottom. I sputtered out a mix of a scream and laugh when coming up for air again, trying to spin in Edward's grip that hadn't loosened yet.
His deep chuckle matched my own once we could breathe. "You okay," Edward whispered in my ear before pulling me more flush against his chest and dropping his head into the crook of my neck, kissing a subtle line across my shoulder. I felt every muscle - the slight dips and curves of his entire body - and I fought hard to convince myself not to think too much. It was time I took a chance to just enjoy.
I breathed out a 'yeah' as I searched the shoreline for the tell-tale blonde curls and brown pony tail bobbing in colorful inner tubes. Both girls were watching with bright smiles and clapped when Edward raised his hand and waved in victory. I tried to elbow him while he was gloating, but only succeeded in wiggling myself tighter to him. Not that I was complaining.
We spent the rest of the afternoon by the water, splashing in the lake and playing in the sand, building fortresses of sand castles with the girls. We pushed them around in their tubes and let them swim around in the shallow water by themselves while staying close. Edward and I pushed walls of water back and forth and continued to try to dunk each other like we were children again, while Carlie and Elise cheered us on, laughing that sweet sound that only children could make.
I honestly couldn't remember the last time I laughed and smiled and loved the heavy rays of the sun like I did today. I felt completely alive for the first time in months - two sweet girls and an even sweeter man giving me everything I needed to soar.
~.~
I hated waiting rooms at doctor's offices with the rows and rows of uncomfortable chairs and magazines that everyone and their brother has handled, but I honestly hated the little rooms even more. They always had that institutional smell and the walls were lined with posters of what your organs should and shouldn't look like that always felt like they were closing in. The paper on the bed always crinkled with the simplest movement, leaving you to wonder about all the other people that have laid on that thing before you that needs to be covered up. I vaguely remember thinking how much I hated these little rooms and doctors and hospitals those few short weeks ago, but everything from that day kind of fell into a haze of memories I never wished to remember. However, I do remember thinking that there never seemed an equal balance between joy and death here; good news and bad.
I was seated in one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs next to the desk holding the computer that the nurse was quickly typing away at, looking over the rim of her glasses. We had already gone through the typical weight and blood pressure measures and now was the seemingly never-ending silence before the awkward questions and the pokes and prods to different parts of my anatomy.
"Alright Miss Swan, I just need to ask you a few questions and then Dr. Prentice will be in to see you."
A/N: Most people probably have never heard of or at least don't remember the Wuzzles. I loved them, so links to that and whatever else are on my profile.