Bella POV
Edward is acting weird. What is up with him? And the way he said, "Oh, yes. You have a big surprise waiting in the living room for you," makes me wonder what's there. He seems nervous about whatever it is. He's acting like my mother is here or something. "Where's Abby?"
"Upstairs. I've almost got the crib put together."
"That's good. What's in the living room?" I say as Edward follows me into the house.
"You'll see." I hate surprises. I wish he would just tell me, but I know he won't.
Edward sets my bag down on the kitchen table and takes my coat to hang up. I take a fruit bar out of the snack jar and start to eat it. Edward leans against the counter with his hands in his hair, pulling in frustration. He sighs heavily. Something is up and I want to know what. I don't think I've ever seen him this anxious about something except maybe when I was in labor with Abby.
I finish the fruit bar and ask, "Can I go see?"
"If you want." he grumbles.
I leave Edward in the kitchen to rid himself of whatever is bothering him. When I walk into the living room, I see what's bothering him. "Why the hell are you in my house?" I practically scream.
"Surprise." Edward says non enthusiastically from behind.
"Bella." Renee gets up from the couch. "Hi, sweetie. It's been so long."
"Yes, and there's a reason for that." I say. "What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk about some things. Nothing bad has happened really, but I feel that we need to talk."
"Hold on just a minute." I walk back into the kitchen and pull Edward further away from the living room. "What the hell, Edward. Why is she here? How does she know where we live? What does she want?" I whisper yell.
"Hey, slow down there." He takes my wrists and pulls them down to my waist. I hadn't realized I was using them in my rant. I only respond my crossing my arms. "I was hoping she'd be out of here before you got home. She wants to talk to you about something even though I think I pretty much gave her the answer for you. She found out where we live because she has connections with your dad's department."
"Does Abby know?"
"No, she came down shortly after she got here and just asked who she is. I didn't say anything and I just sent her back upstairs."
"Then you need to call your mom or something and have Abby picked up. I don't want her here right now. Not with Renee here and not when World War III is about to break out."
"Ok. I'll call my mom and have her pick Abby up." He takes my phone out and dials Esme. No one answers so Carlisle must be at work and Esme must not be home or something. He calls Alice and only asks if she can pick Abby up for a few hours without explaining anything else. She says that she'll be at the house in ten minutes.
I run upstairs to say hi to Abby and ask how the day went. She asks who is downstairs but I quickly change the topic. I tell her to pick out a few toys to put in a bag to take to Alice's house. We go into the house entrance then so that she can put her shoes and coat on to wait for Alice. I also put an epi-pen and her inhaler in her bag just in case. When Alice walks up to the house, I don't say much. "My m-o-t-h-e-r decided to show up today." I say through gritted teeth.
"Oh." Her eyes become wide as she knows what I mean. I take Abby's booster seat out of my car and give it to her. I kiss Abby goodbye before Alice drives away.
Before I walk back into the house I take a deep breath and pray that Renee will just leave and we can act like this never happened. It's doubtful, but I still hope. I walk back into the living room. Edward and Renee are sitting across from each other. Edward doesn't look particularly happy and I think it's a mutual feeling. I sit in the chair next to him.
"So why are you here?" I ask her again.
"Bella," she pauses. "It's been a long time, I know. And I know that I screwed up."
"That you did." I accuse.
"Yes. But I want to make up for that. I want to start over. I want to be there when you need me."
"It's been over six years, Renee. And I'm doing just fine."
"Yes, I see that. Abby's beautiful, you know."
"She takes after her dad's side. Can we get to the point please?"
"Yes. Honey, I just want you to know that I am the one that screwed up. I can see that you and Edward are very happy together and now you've got Abby. I can say that I am a little upset that you didn't tell me that you're expecting again, though."
"Why would we?" I say, angry. "You have no business knowing what goes on in this household. You chose to leave me and the rest of my family behind when you didn't want us to get married. You didn't come to the wedding. You're lucky I sent that birth announcement to you. Did you even look at it? Do you even know her name?"
"Abigail Anne Cullen born July 22, 2007. I still have it on my fridge." I'm impressed that she knows this. "And I wasn't going to attend something that I wasn't supportive of. That isn't the point. The point is that I've missed out on a lot over the past few years. I want to rebuild our relationship."
"What brought this on?" I demand.
"Phil and I are getting divorced. We never have anything to say to each other anymore. I was alone and desperate to have someone pay attention to me. I cheated on him. Then I realized that I was putting you in the same situation, leaving you alone and not helping you out when you needed it."
"So you're saying that I'm lonely? Well I'm not." I pinch the bridge of my nose, a habit that I picked up from Edward. "Listen, I tried. I really did try to communicate with you. But you didn't try back. I sent you a wedding invitation, a birth announcement, and shower invitations. I'm pretty sure that I sent a party invitation for Abby's first birthday, too. If you really wanted to be a part of this family, then at least something- a card, a phone call, anything- would have been nice. But you didn't. So, no, I don't want to rebuild our relationship."
"Bella, calm down. This isn't good for you or the baby." Edward tries to tell me calmly. I glower at him and that seems to get him to back off.
Renee purses her lips in a firm line. I can tell that she isn't happy about what I said. Then she says the thing that really pushes both Edward and I over the limit. "I wonder where Abby got the blonde hair from. Not from our family and not from Edward. Hm, where did she get the blonde hair from? It's awfully blonde."
"What are you saying?" I ask through clenched teeth, though I think I know what she's trying to get at.
"Well, no one in our family has blonde hair. Edward's hair is more bronze than anything."
"Are you accusing her of cheating?" Edward almost yells.
"I'm just saying." she says.
"First, my father has blonde hair, just like she does. Second, you don't accuse my wife of cheating when you are guilty of it yourself. Third, get out of my house."
"With pleasure." Renee gets up and walks to the front door. She slams the door and makes me jump. I watch out the window as she drives off.
The tears start almost immediately. Edward leans over and wraps his arms around me to comfort me. "Shh." he says and strokes my hair. "Bella, don't listen to her. Nothing she said is true. She won't come around anymore. Shh."
"Edward, I don't want her to come back. She knows where we live now. She could show up again and I don't want to be around when that happens."
"She won't. She's gone. She's probably just angry right now and won't want to come around anymore."
I sniffle. "I need to talk to dad. Tell him that she came." I get up form the couch and start to go get my phone. Edward grabs my hand, stopping me.
"Bella, you need to calm down first. Get something to drink and calm down a little. I don't want you to get too stressed."
I think about it for a second, thinking only about the baby and not myself. "Ok. I guess you're right." I sit back down. Edward gets me a glass of water and tells me to drink it and then hands me the remote. I drink the water and flip through the channels. I don't find anything to watch so I go in the kitchen and help Edward cook dinner. It'll help me focus on what I'm doing, where as watching TV will only make my mind wander.
"I talked to Alice. She said that they can keep Abby for tonight." Edward informs me.
"She doesn't have any clothes or anything, though."
"Bella, did you forget who she's with? Alice will take care of her."