Chapter Fourteen: I See it on Your Face

Edward's POV

"Fuuuuck!" Bella cried as the old shed crumbled to the ground. I watched as she dropped the sledgehammer and hugged herself. I walked over to her, not knowing exactly what to do in this kind of situation. Were we close enough to hug her? Bella and I had a relationship that didn't make any sense, so I just stood there...ready if she needed me.

"Fuck," She cried as she turned and buried her face in my shoulder. My heart broke for her as she sobbed into my shirt and I tightly wrapped my arms around her. No one deserved this. No one deserved to be betrayed by the person they loved. I hated that she was going through this, because she loved him. She wouldn't have said yes to marrying him if she didn't.

We stood there for a few minutes, and eventually her sobs began to die down. Once she was calmer, I led her over to the deck stairs and sat down. She laid her head on my shoulder and I just continued to hug her. Whatever we were, I wanted to know that I was going to be there. Even though we'd only known each other for a short time, it felt like we'd known each other for years. I'd never felt so comfortable with someone before...and it was kind of scary if I were being honest.

"Sorry," She sniffled, lifting her head. "I got snot all over your shirt."

"I'm a Dad." I laughed. "A little bit of snot is nothing. I've gotten so much of Mason's poop on me over the years...I don't wanna talk about it."

"I'm ruining our day."

"Bella, I bought you here so you could deal with this."

"I was dealing with it."

"Okay, so you could keep dealing with it." I rephrased, even though I knew she hadn't been dealing with it. "Feel better?"

"Actually...yeah." She giggled. "A lot better. How'd you know this would work again?"

"Carlisle let me tear down almost an entire house when Lauren left." I told her. "I mean, if I had an entire house for you I would have brought you there."

"This was perfect." She smiled and I saw a small glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"You hungry?" I asked, looking at my watch. We'd been here for what seemed like forever and she mentioned earlier she hadn't eaten.

"Yeah." She smiled.

"I can order a pizza." I said, standing up and pulling my phone out of my pocket. I ordered us a pizza and dug around in my car for some napkins so we wouldn't make that big of a mess. When the pizza arrived, I put an old blanket on the floor and we sat down together.

"Wanna play a game?" She asked as she reached for another slice of pizza.

"What game?"

"Twenty questions?"

"Sure. Go for it. Ask away."

"Favorite color?"

"That's your question?"

"It's just the ice breaker." She laughed.

"Teal." I rolled my eyes.

"Food?"

"Pizza."

"Why did you want to be a doctor?" She asked after a few more basic questions.

"Alice was sick when we were kids." I explained. "It wasn't anything serious once we figured out what was wrong, but she was so miserable. The doctors she went to were really great and worked really hard to figure out what was going on."

"What was it?"

"Gluten allergy." I laughed. "Once she cut gluten out, she was fine. But...I wanted to help people figure out what was going on. Whether it was good or bad news."

"Did you ever consider adoption?"

"A few times." I admitted. "Especially when Lauren and I couldn't stop fighting. I didn't want to raise a child in such a hostile environment. But then...I took one look at Mason and knew I had to be with him." I thought back to the day he was born. "He was so perfect. I'd never heard such a more beautiful sound until he cried for the first time. Do you want kids?"

"Hey's it's not my turn." She giggled.

"Bella,"

"Eventually." She nodded. "I guess...I'm a lot further away now that Mike and I aren't getting married."

"You don't have to be married." I shrugged.

"Yeah...well..." She trailed off sadly. I was about to try and make her feel better when I heard the front door opened. I looked over, confused since no one knew I was here, and raised my eyebrows when I saw Emmett walking towards us.

"Hey," I said, standing up. "How'd you know I was here?"

"I just guessed since Mom and Dad have Mason and you weren't at home." He shrugged and he couldn't seem to wipe his typical, stupid grin off his face. "Don't you know how to answer your phone?"

"Why? What's up?"

"Guess."

"Emmett, come on."

"She's pregnant." He grinned.

"Who?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Emmett,"

"Rose." He laughed and clapped his hands together. "She's pregnant, man."

"No,"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"She showed me the test this morning, and..." He trailed off, looking behind me at Bella. I turned to look at her and smiled. She was obviously trying not to listen, but the smile on her face told me she heard what my brother told me. "Hello."

"Oh, Emmett, this is Bella." I introduced as Bella stood up.

"Bella, huh?" He smirked.

"Be cool." I felt like we were in elementary school again by the way he was looking at her.

"It's nice to meet you, Bella." He put way too much emphasis on her name and I could feel my cheeks warming with embarrassment. "I'm Emmett, Edward's older...much cooler brother."

"Hi," She smiled. "I can call a cab or something if you wanna..."

"No, don't be stupid." I assured her, turning back to my brother. "How far along is she?"

"I don't know yet." He shrugged. "She said she scheduled a doctors appointment for Tuesday, but she thinks she's about two months."

"I can't...believe it." I laughed. Emmett and Rosalie wanted a baby so badly and it was finally happening for them. I was finally going to be an uncle and Mason would finally have another kid to play with. "Does anyone else know?"

"Rose wanted to wait and tell people after her appointment, but I just needed to tell someone." I was honored I was the one he decided to tell. "But, Rose doesn't know I told you so keep your mouth shut."

"I will."

"Or I'll pound you." He smiled and I knew he was actually serious. "So, Bella, what do you do?"

"Oh...I work with my dad at his hardware store." She answered. "I work as his financial manager."

"Fancy."

"Not really, but...I love it." She smiled. I loved that she was so passionate about her job and the store she worked in. "But, we should get going. I told my Dad I'd see him this weekend since I've been avoiding him all week."

"I can take you home." I whispered. Bella and I cleaned up the pizza and blanket before heading out. I told Emmett I'd meet him at his house after I dropped Bella off and led us to the car. When we got in, Bella was eerily quiet and I wasn't sure if I should press her on it.

"I haven't told my father yet." She whispered. "Mike and I broke up a week ago and my dad doesn't know."

"Why?"

"Telling my dad means it's really over." She shrugged. "And...that's hard to wrap my head around I guess."

"Yeah, I get that."

"What meant it was really over for you and Lauren?" She asked. "Other than signing the divorce papers?"

"Moving back home." I told her. "Lauren stayed in school. She graduated like I was supposed to and when I moved away from her, I knew there was no hope of her coming back."

"He's going to say I told you so." She sighed and looked out the window again. "He never liked Mike and that should have been my biggest clues we wouldn't last."

"He's your dad, I doubt he'd like any of your boyfriends."

"He'd probably like you." She whispered so low, I probably wasn't meant to hear her. "Thanks for today. It really did help."

"I was happy to do it." I reached out and gripped her hand. She looked up and looked at me with those beautiful, brown eyes. I so wished I could have kissed her, but that's not what today was about. Today was about letting her deal with her breakup, and I wasn't going to miss with her head by kissing her. Again.

"Bye, Edward." She whispered, getting out of the car. I watched as she got inside of her apartment building and pulled out of her parking lot. I made my way back home and while Mason was still with his grandparents, I started looking through a furniture catalog. Since our apartment was small, we did not have enough furniture to fill an entire house.

Which meant I had to look through catalogs and buy new furniture, which was probably the least exciting part of a fixer upper. Alice and Rosalie had tabbed pages for me to look at, but I ultimately was going to make the final decision. Most of the stuff they had tabbed were things I liked, which I was happy about.

Decorating was not my thing.

Just after I'd finished looking through everything, there was a soft knock at the door. I dropped what I was working on and walked over to the front door. When I opened the door, Mason was passed out on Carlisle's shoulder and Mom was carrying a bag from the museum.

"What'd you do to him?" I laughed as Carlisle carried him to his bedroom.

"He ran around the entire museum all afternoon." Mom laughed. "He passed out three minutes into the drive home."

"Thanks for taking him." I whispered as Carlisle closed his bedroom door.

"We want our grandson to be as well-rounded as possible." Carlisle smiled. "It was actually pretty fun. Everything excited him."

"Is he fed?"

"No, we starved him all day long." Mom rolled her eyes. "We stopped for dinner on the way home."

"Thank you." I hugged her.

"How'd your date with Bella go?" Dad asked as they moved back towards the door.

"What?" I asked since I hadn't told them I was going to spend the day with Bella.

"Emmett told us he messed up your date." Mom added.

"I'm going to kill him." This was the exact reason I didn't tell them I was going to be with Bella. It wasn't a date. It really wasn't and I didn't intend it to ever become a date. I just wanted to spend some time with her because...I just couldn't seem to stay away.

"It wasn't a date?" She asked.

"No. We were just hanging out." I shrugged. "And I figured today would be a good day since you guys had Mason all day." I shouldn't have had to explain my reasoning to anyone.

"Okay then, it wasn't a date." Carlisle chuckled and I could tell he didn't totally believe me.

"Thanks for taking Mason today." I rolled my eyes. "I'll see you Monday." I kicked them out and sat back down on the couch. I knew if I didn't wake Mason up, he would wake up at four in the morning, but it was really quiet.

But, I did not want him up super early, so I got up and walked to his room. There was nothing else better in this world than the sight of my son fast asleep. I smiled as I listened to him snore softly and sat down on his bed. I gently rubbed his back and he dug his face into his pillow, trying his best to ignore him.

"Buddy, you gotta wake up for a little bit." I whispered, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He really needed a haircut.

"Why?" He wined, sitting up and crawling into my lap.

"Because, I want to hear all about your day with your grandparents."

"Okay," He leaned against me and I kissed the top of his head.

These were my favorite moments with him. I carried him out to the living room and sat down with him in my lap. As he got older, these quiet times with him were few and far between. It proved to me that no matter how old he was, he'd always be my baby.

"Tell me everything you learned today." I said as he rubbed his eyes, waking up a little bit more. After some prompting, Mason was awake enough to tell me everything he did today. Every. Single. Little. Detail. He talked for almost an hour about his day, and when he was done it was already time for his bath.

I got him ready for bed, and let him pick two books out since he'd had a late nap that afternoon. He picked out his favorite book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as well as the Cat in the Hat. I pulled the covers up and sat down on his bed with him as I read him to sleep. He passed out in the middle of Cat in the Hat and I put the book on his nightstand. I leaned down and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead, turned the light off and left his room.

"Are you kidding?" Alice screamed after Rosalie had announced her pregnancy. After their doctors appointment Tuesday, Emmett and Rose invited everyone over for dinner. It was hard to keep a straight face, knowing exactly why they'd asked everyone together. Emmett had to slap me a few times to keep my face straight.

"I'm about two months." She smiled, placing her hand on her stomach.

"Did you hear that, Mason?" I asked, turning to my son who was playing with a Hot Wheel.

"What?" He looked up at me.

"Aunt Rose is going to have a baby."

"Am I getting a brother?" His eyes lit up.

"No, bud." I ruffled his hair. "You're getting a baby cousin."

"A what?"

"A cousin." I had no idea how to explain this to him. "Since Rose is your aunt, this baby is going to be your cousin."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain it to you later." I laughed, looking up at my mother who was stifling a laugh. The rest of the time we spent with them was kind of chaotic. Rose took Alice and my mother to what would be the nursery while Emmett talked to Carlisle about building the baby a crib. I was so happy my brother was finally going to have a baby, because as much as they loved Mason, nothing could compare to having your own kid.

After the girls were done finding over Rosalie, it was time for everyone to leave. Mason was getting cranky and we had an early job the next morning. I got Mason ready to leave and he looked up at Rosalie with his signature grin.

"I'm happy your gonna have a baby." He whispered and Rose nearly burst into tears.

"Me too, Mason." She knelt down next to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Me too. You're going to be an awesome cousin."

"There's that word again!" He huffed, annoyed because he couldn't fully grasp the meaning of the word. I got home, got Mason ready for bed and tucked him in. He fell asleep before our story was over and I just watched him sleep for a few minutes before going to my room. I changed into my PJs and checked my phone, hoping for something from Bella.

There wasn't a thing.

There hadn't been since Saturday and I was getting antsy. I knew she needed time and I was going to respect that, but I still wanted to spend time with her. Saturday was one of the most fun times I'd had with someone other than my family in a long time. With Mason, I didn't get to go out with friends anymore and while they understood, I still missed being with people who weren't my family...as much as I loved them.

The next morning, Mom was over early to get Mason up and ready for school since we had a big day at the company. Dad needed me there early...as in normal time...because we were trying to snag a giant construction job. They were putting up another strip mall about an hour out of Jacksonville and Dad wanted the job. He said that he needed his kids to be there with him since we knew the most about the company and everyone who worked there.

Plus, we were the only ones he trusted with this information.

He hadn't bothered to tell the others about it yet because he didn't want to get peoples hopes up. With this job, he would be able to raise everyone's salary just a little bit, but if anyone else knew that, they would blab.

When I got the the store, Emmett and Carlisle were in the truck ready to go. I quickly changed into my polo and jumped in the back with them. We made the hour long drive to the offices of the owners for the project and went upstairs for our meeting.

Dad used his magic and by the end of the meeting, we were signed on as the contractors for the strip mall. I could hear Dad sigh in relief when he shook the mans hands and I couldn't help but smile. His company had always been really good with building houses but hadn't made a name for more commercial buildings yet. This was a big step for Cullen Construction and I was proud to be a part of it.

When we were finished, we made our way back to Jacksonville to continue working on the house. Dad's other manager was handling things at the site today and none of us really needed to be there. Just as we were pulling out of the driveway, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Bella's Cell: I'm moving this weekend. Can you help?

Me: Absolutely.