Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. They all belong to Stephenie Meyer.
A/N: Sorry about the wait on this one. I've finished up my other story and this is the only one I am actively posting at the moment. So the wait from here on out should be limited... hopefully. Thanks to Juliegirl18 for beta'ing and Bella's Executioner for prereading.
Edward picked Bella up at exactly five o'clock. If he remembered anything from the time they spent married, he knew how much Bella hated to be late, even if it was to something as simple as the town's street fair.
The ride downtown was a quiet one, the cab of Edward's truck filled only with the songs on the radio. They were each lost in their own thoughts and had plenty of questions they wanted to ask each other. It was just that both had no idea how to start.
When Edward parked his truck, they both got out and went their separate ways. Edward met up with Jasper, Emmett and Ben, while Bella chose to walk around on her own, browsing.
Bella stopped at one of the small booths that seemed to be showcasing some paintings. Taking a closer look, Bella realized they all had the same symbol painted in the corner of the ones that hung at the church. She ran her fingers along the canvas, admiring the work of the unknown artist.
"These paintings are so beautiful," she whispered aloud. She still found the symbol on the paintings extremely familiar, and it frustrated her to not be able to recall where she knew it from.
"They are, aren't they?" Angela said to Bella as she and Ben stood beside her. "Of course you should find them beautiful since..." she said, stopping abruptly when Ben cleared his throat loudly. Angela turned to look at her husband and he quickly shook his head no before Bella could notice. He knew that Edward had no desire for Bella to find out his secret. She had moved on and he didn't want any of this to influence her decision.
"Since what?" Bella asked, turning around to face Angela and Ben. Bella noticed that both held a look of panic on their faces.
"Oh, since you're some high class New Yorker. You know all you guys attend those fancy shmancy gallery openings," she answered Bella, laughing a little. Both Bella and Ben joined her in laughter, and Angela was glad to have dodged that bullet.
The three of them strolled around the booths a little longer before walking over to the large tent set up. A local band was playing some cover songs as couples danced together on the small dance floor.
"Hey guys," Angela said as she walked over and took a seat by Edward. Bella smiled in greeting and took a seat across from him. The group of friends sat and talked a while about things happening in town at the moment, none of them venturing to mention anything about the past. Bella wasn't sure if it was for her benefit or if was just always like this.
"Well, I think I'm gonna go take my little lady for a spin on the dance floor," Emmett said as he took Rose's hand and pulled her to the dance floor.
"That sounds like a great idea," Ben said as he did the same with Angela. Edward, Jasper and Bella sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Jasper motioned to the bar and decided to go get a drink.
"So, do you wanna?" Edward asked Bella, pointing toward the dance floor. Bella shook her head slightly.
"I was thinking maybe we could get out of here. Go some place a little quieter and talk?" she asked him. He nodded his head and stood up, motioning for her to lead the way.
After a few minutes of silent walking, they ended up at the park and sat side by side on one of the wooden benches.
"You look like you're having fun being back home," Edward said, trying to break up the tension in the air.
"I am. It's not that I'm not happy in New York, because I am. It's just that I didn't realize how much I miss this place. I miss everyone here and I just didn't realize it until I came back."
"It was your decision to leave, Bella," he said, a small bit of anger evident in his tone.
"I know," she whispered. They both sat in silence again, looking out across the small pond in front of them.
"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you'd really been pregnant?" Edward suddenly asked. He heard Bella gasp, but continued anyway.
"I didn't realize how much I wanted that with you until you said that you had taken a pregnancy test. I mean yeah, we were married and everything, but we were so young. I just never let myself think about that kind of future. But in those few seconds between the moment you told me you took a test and the moment you told me it was negative, I let myself think about it. I saw it. I saw the little girl with the brown hair and bright green eyes running around the yard. I saw all of it. I saw us all together... happy."
"Yeah, well that's where you're wrong, Edward," Bella said standing up from the bench. After his confession, she needed to put distance between them. Everything he had just said, she had imagined herself. Bella couldn't count the number of times she had dreamed of them together, with a little girl, happy. "We were never together. You were always off with your friends." Edward shook his head sadly and stood up beside her.
"Bella, every time I told you I was off with my friends drinking at some bar, I wasn't." Bella looked at him confused and he continued. "After that first time I stayed out late and drank, I saw that you were unhappy being home all the time, alone. I started picking up extra shifts at the factory so I could help you go to school. I knew you wouldn't ask your parents or mine to help us out, so it was up to me to come up with the money. I was the man of the house, and it was my responsibility to give my wife what she wanted, what she needed."
"And that night you took the pregnancy test, I had been with Ben. He wanted my help since he planned on proposing to Angie. He wanted my opinion since I was in a happy marriage. Little did he know how completely wrong he was."
Bella stood, frozen in the same position, shocked. Everything she had believed about him, every reason she had given herself for leaving, was a lie. A lie that she had made herself believe.
"Edward? Are you serious?" she asked him. He looked at her sadly and nodded his head.
"You were doing all that for me? So I could go to school like I wanted?" He once again nodded his head and she felt her eyes well up with tears. She walked toward him until she stood only inches away from him. Slowly, she lifted her hand and cupped his cheek.
"I am so sorry," she said as the tears fell down her cheeks. She rose up on her toes and pulled Edward's head down to hers so their lips could meet. She had always loved kissing Edward, since the very first kiss they shared.
She tried to convey, as much as possible, in this kiss how deeply sorry she was. She wanted him to know how sorry she was for leaving him alone seven years ago. How sorry she was for not giving him a chance to explain. How sorry she was for not giving their marriage a chance. Their lips moved fluidly together, no pushing, no rushing, just being.
Edward was shocked at first by Bella's actions, but when he snapped out of it, he pulled her body tightly to his and relished in the feel of her lips against his again. She made the first move. She wasn't drunk or angry this time.
When Edward thought about the night they had kissed when Bella was drunk, it was like a bucket of ice water being dumped on them. He remembered signing the divorce papers. He remembered the fact that she no longer belonged to him, but to another man. The man whose name she moaned while in his arms.
He raised his hands and gripped Bella's shoulders tightly, pulling her away from him. When they parted, both were breathing heavily. Bella looked at Edward, confusion written all over her face. She moved to kiss him again, but he firmly pushed on her shoulders to stop her.
"Bella, stop. We can't do this," Edward said, shaking his head and moving away. "Just go home, Bella. Please, go home."
By the look on Edward's face, Bella knew that when he said home, he didn't mean her home with her parents here. He meant New York. Edward wanted her to leave and go back to New York, away from him.
A/N: So, I'm not making it too predictable am I? I'm trying not to write it exactly how the movie goes, but I do want to include some of my favorite parts. So expect some twists and turns later.