Chapter 14 – Daffodil and Snapdragon

Rosalie and I are late down to dinner, delayed even more when we get to the upscale restaurant her parents have chosen and discover I need to wear a tie.

"Seriously?" I ask. "We're on top of a mountain, we're here to ski...I need to wear a necktie to eat?"

"I'm sorry sir, but it's policy," the hostess says smoothly. "I can offer you a loan, or ties can be purchased from one of the resort stores."

"A loan would be great, thanks." I surrender to the inevitable and take the tie she hands me, as always hearing Carlisle's voice in my head instructing me on how to tie it. "Your parents make me want to tattoo my face," I say to Rosalie. "A whole skull or something. Just to shit your dad off."

Rosalie laughs a little guiltily. "I'm sorry, I know, but please just try and get through tonight without any issues. It's Christmas."

"I'm not the one with the issues," I point out grumpily, before I relent and wrap her in a hug. "Ah, don't worry about it, it'll be fine. Your mom likes me well enough and your dad's got to start mellowing out soon. We've been married six years and I haven't run off with your money or ruined your life yet…he'll have to admit he was wrong one day, right?"

Rosalie raises an eyebrow, but doesn't make any promises. Instead she takes my hand and we follow the hostess as she guides us to one of the tables by the window. I plaster a bland smile on my face and try and drop the attitude.

It's not easy. Rosalie's dad hadn't had any real problem with me dating her in high school. In truth he was so minimally involved in her life that he probably didn't realise we even were dating seriously, despite how often I was at their house and much time we spent up in her room with the door locked. He was less impressed when our relationship continued when she went to MIT to study bioengineering and I stayed home and apprenticed with Jonah. He thought not going to college meant I was going nowhere, that I'd do nothing but hold Rosalie back and that she could do a lot better. When she disagreed with him he wasn't very happy, but when she told him she was going to marry me after her undergraduate degree was finished he completely flipped out. We were too young, I wasn't good enough…he turned up with a pre-nup, which I was happy enough to sign but which sent Rosalie off the deep end. She never took that kindly to being told what to do, she was offended on my behalf, and her dad breaking out of the benign neglect he'd treated her with for most of her life to interfere in her relationship and wedding plans enraged her. There were some vicious arguments. In the end Carlisle talked Jack around, Rosalie renegotiated the pre-nup in my favour and allowed me to sign it, and we had a beautiful wedding.

Things are okay now. There's sometimes a bit of tension - it's not easy to forget your father in law shouting at your future wife that she shouldn't waste her life on someone who does nothing but spend all day drawing on lowlifes and criminals for a pittance - but I'm not really the kind of guy to hold a grudge. After basically accusing me of being a gold digger he then got offended when I refused to take money from them after we were married (yeah…go figure) but we've come to an agreement on that now; he and Lily buy Rosalie her cars and foot the bill when they take us on vacation. These two expenses add up to more than my yearly income and sometimes make me feel like shit, but at least I get to go skiing out of the deal.

Lily raises her half full wineglass at us. "Hello my sweet girl, hello Emmett…we were starting to wonder if you were going to stand us up."

"Sorry, Emmett and I flew in at lunch, so we got in a bit of skiing this afternoon. We must have lost track of time," Rosalie says innocently, bending over to kiss her mom.

Jack stands up and hugs Rosalie. "It's great to see you again Princess, you're looking beautiful. Emmett, how are you doing?" He gives me a firm handshake. "How was the skiing?"

"It was great." I shake his hand and wait until Rosalie is settled in her chair before I take a seat. "The snow is really good."

I pick up the menu. I don't particularly enjoy the fancy restaurants that Rosalie's parents favour, but after a few years of experience I know enough of how to behave in them. I often have trouble with the menu and tonight's is no exception; I think it's in English, but between the culinary terms, the intricate font and my dyslexia I can barely read it. There's a lot of potential for embarrassment in this kind of situation, but there are a few ways to work around it. Luckily I'm not a picky eater, so I can always just indicate to something random on the menu and no matter what meal eventually lands in front of me I'll eat it. Either that or ask for 'the fish' (because there's always fish of some kind) or just wait until Rosalie or Lily have ordered and ask for the same.

Tonight I nudge Rosalie's thigh under the table and, instantly understanding, she leans over and points at my menu, reading off two choices and asking me which one I think she should get. They're both things she thinks I'll like, and now I know how to pronounce the dish and won't make a fool of myself when I order. It's all very casual and I don't think either of her parents have ever fully picked up on just how badly I'm out of my depth in these situations.

The food is good too. I might not know exactly what it is I'm eating, and it's not hot wings and beer, but after an afternoon of skiing and sex I'm ravenous and do it full justice.

"Here's something to go with your dessert," Jack says handing Rosalie an envelope. He and Lily are a bottle of wine down and evidently feeling pretty relaxed, as his broad grin encompasses me too. "Merry Christmas, Princess."

Rosalie tears the envelope open and laughs at the familiar brochure that falls into her hands. Its glossy pages show the newest release BMW convertible; the same brochure we've had pinned to our fridge with a magnet for the last two months. "I love it!"

"I've spoken to the dealer about finance and he's expecting your call when you get back," Jack tells her. "You just need to pick the options you want, and it's yours."

A smile lights up Rosalie's face. "Well you know how much I love their convertibles, but I think I might need to look for something different this time. A two-door isn't going to be all that practical when we need space for a baby seat." She reaches into her purse and lays the well-handled strip of ultrasound scans on the table.

Jack's face is almost comically shocked. "What? You mean…oh Princess, that's amazing, that's wonderful, that's…what were you thinking, letting her go skiing?" He rounds on me.

I have to hold back a laugh at the idea that I actually 'let' Rosalie do anything or conversely, could actually stop her doing anything she'd set her mind to.

Lily doesn't bother, and giggles openly across the table. "Really Jack, Rosalie isn't going to let a baby hold her back and it's not up to Emmett to stop her."

"I'm not pregnant!" Rosalie says hastily. "I wouldn't ski if I was! No, we're…we're adopting a baby. It's due on the first of July."

"Now that's a good idea," Lily says. "Adopting a baby…you don't have to go through all that nonsense of pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding. Very clever of you to avoid that."

Rosalie makes a face at her mother. "Well, I'm sorry having me was such a terrible experience."

Lily laughs comfortably. "Sweet girl, it was hideous; why do you think you're an only child? But are you sure you're ready? You're still so young; don't you want to do some more with your life before you're tied down with a baby?"

I can see Rosalie tense, and I reach over and take her hand in mine. Once again I feel the same sense of bewildered frustration that Rosalie's parents so often raise in me. How do you have a daughter like her, smart and fierce and beautiful enough to break your heart, and not appreciate her for what she is? Why have they never valued her the way she deserves?

"We're really happy," I say, not working too hard to hide the edge in my tone. "We've always wanted a family, and we think the timing is great."

Jack is examining the ultrasound scans. "Look at the detail in these!" he comments wonderingly. "It looks like a real baby. How's this going to work then? You've got a contract with the pregnant woman? How did all this get arranged?"

"It's all going to be done legally Dad, don't worry," Rosalie says. "It's actually Alice, Emmett's sister, who's pregnant and she's asked us to adopt the baby. Carlisle's getting his lawyer to write up all the paperwork."

"I'll check it over for you, you'll really want to make sure this kind of thing is watertight," Jack says with a faint frown. "You don't want her changing her mind down the track."

"Alice is so young," Lily murmurs. "Is she managing? She's making a very brave decision."

"She had a lot of morning sickness, but she's feeling better now," I say. "The pregnancy was unexpected, and she really wants to go to college next year so she decided that keeping it wasn't going to work out. Rosalie and I have always wanted kids, and this baby is coming along at just the right time." I smile tenderly at Rosalie, and she squeezes my hand tight in return.

"So…you're happy for us?" Rosalie says. "And yourselves; you'll be grandparents in six months! I know there's a chance Alice will change her mind, but she seems pretty sure of her decision and we're moving ahead with it. We went to the ultrasound with her, and she's asked me to go to birth classes with her. The baby will come home with us from the hospital after it's born, it's going to be our baby in all the legal and real ways…"

"Of course we're happy for you!" Jack says, indicating for the waiter. "We should celebrate…a baby!"

He orders a bottle of champagne that probably costs so much I'd have to mortgage my house to pay for a single glass if I were footing the bill, and splashes liberal amounts into glasses. Jack talks about setting up a college fund and Lily tells Rosalie she'll make sure to arrange her calendar so she'll be home in July and does she think that Alice will let her take photos at the birth? I know they'll never be any practical help and we can't rely on them for anything (except maybe money), but they're happy for us and Rosalie is happy, and right now that's enough.

"It's the first time I've said it and just been able to be completely happy, you know?" Rosalie says to me later, as we walk outside in the frosty night air. "The first time we've been able to say 'we're having a baby' and have someone say congratulations."

Rosalie's wearing her ski jacket and pants over (and under) her fancy dinner dress and her white fuzzy hat with the tassels is pulled down over her ears. The resort has decorated for Christmas, every tree and building and pole adorned with twinkling lights that paint rainbows on Rosalie's face as we walk. The whole scene looks like something from a fairy tale.

"We're having a baby," Rosalie repeats, and then laughs and flings her arms around me. "A baby! That's something to celebrate Emmett…I'm really, really happy."

"Me too." I wrap my arms around her and kiss her cold lips. "It's been hard to be as happy about it as I want to be, because it's kind of a bad thing for Alice and I don't want to be insensitive to her feelings and all that, but the truth is I'm over the moon Rosa-girl. We're going to have a baby and that's going to be wonderful."

"I don't ever want to discount Alice, or sound ungrateful for what she's doing for us," Rosalie says quietly. "But it was nice to tell my parents tonight and have it be about us. It was good to feel free to be outwardly as happy as I am on the inside, without worrying that I'm going to say something hurtful."

I kiss her again. "You're going to be a really good momma, you know that?"

"All I really want is to be better than my mom." Rosalie's smile falters. "I don't ever want our baby to feel the way my mom makes me feel sometimes. Like at best I'm an occasionally amusing toy that becomes an inconvenience when she gets bored of me – and she always gets bored of me – and at worst I'm nothing, and her life would be better without me in it." Her voice is muffled against my chest as she leans into me.

"You won't be like that," I say softly. "I know how much this means to you, and I promise you that we're going to do it right. And that means we're not going to be like your parents, and we're definitely not going to be like my mother either." I laugh wryly. "Most people want to do better than their own parents did…at least the bar we're trying to beat is pretty fucking low."

Rosalie laughs too, reaching up to cup my cheeks and bring my face down to hers. "I love you. You are already the best husband in the world, and you're going to be the best dad. I'm terrified for a million different reasons here, but that's one thing I'm not scared of…I know we're going to be good parents."

I hold her tight, and I promise the universe that she's right. We're going to be good parents to this baby. Neither of us had the kind of childhood that we want to recreate for our child, but we have the love and desire to make different and better choices for our own family. Carlisle and Esme have shown me what's possible, and I know that Rosalie and I are going to be able to make this work.

"Oh my god Emmett, what did you do?"

Rosalie, her cheeks pink with cold and exertion, flings aside her ski jacket as she enters the suite and comes over to where I'm sprawled out on the sofa with a resort medical centre issued cold pack resting on my face.

"Went snowboarding." I peel the ice pack off my nose, which is puffy and swollen, and smile sheepishly. "I fell on the half pipe and smashed my face. I'm fine…really, it's not as bad as it looks!"

"Well, that's reassuring," Rosalie mutters sarcastically, examining my face. "You're going to have two black eyes and that's one hell of a lump on your forehead. You're sure your nose isn't broken?"

"Nah. There was blood all over so someone called the med guys and they dragged me off to the clinic here. They x-rayed it and said it was okay. It's a whopping great bill though, sorry – I put it on the credit card."

"Don't worry about it." Rosalie shakes her head and then grins at me as she starts tugging off her gloves and hat. "And to think I left you behind because I thought you'd hurt yourself if you came with me!"

I can't help but laugh too. Rosalie had headed out early this morning to ski some of the expert trails with her dad and told me to stay behind lest I break my neck. Possibly a mistake, looking at the mincemeat I've managed to make of my face without her supervision. "How was your morning?"

"It was great. The skiing was fabulous, and my dad would really be a much nicer person if he skied more and worked less." Rosalie's eyes light on the book that's spread open across my lap. "Are you reading?"

"Yeah…what do you think of Daffodil?"

"Daffodils? I don't know, I don't think anything of them," Rosalie says blankly. "What about them?"

"No, as a name for the baby. It's just…your mom has a flower name, and you have a flower name and I think it's beautiful, so I thought that your baby should have a flower name too." I lift the heavy book, an encyclopaedia of flowers and show her the cover. "I borrowed it from Jonah; he uses it as a reference for work. So what do you think of Daffodil?"

Rosalie stares at me for a moment, tears in her blue eyes, before she swoops down and plants a kiss on my battered face. "You are the best thing in the world," she tells me sincerely. "And I love the idea of a flower name. But…not Daffodil!" Her shoulders are shaking with laughter.

"It's not that bad!" I say, a little affronted. "I don't know about if it's a boy, flowers seem kind of girly, but I guess we can think about that later. Maybe trees? Like Oak, or Cedar or something. Okay, if not Daffodil…I suppose you'll think something like Snapdragon is a bit too out there?"

"You have the worst taste in names!" Rosalie laughs harder and curls up beside me on the sofa, pulling the book over so she can read the pages. "There are so many beautiful flower names, and you pick Snapdragon?!"

I laugh too and snuggle her closer. "Okay, find me something else then…" The two of us leaf through the pages and toss names back and forth, and the idea of the baby grows ever more real.