SM owns Twilight but I get the joy of bending them to my will here and now.
This chapter gives us a glimpse of the first year of the newlywed's lives together. It spans from July 2011 to June 2012 covering certain aspects of their first year.
Chapter title is in reference to the first year anniversary traditional gift.
Chapter Twenty One
July
We spent our first week back from our honeymoon getting into the routine of our lives.
We celebrated the 4th of July with our families and gathered together to watch fireworks go off from the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point.
There were wedding gifts to be opened and thank you notes to be written. Alice organized a little party in which she divided the gifts up amongst all of us. We each took a turn opening them and displaying them while Alice wrote down what the gift was and who gave it to us. Of course food and beer were served and by the end of the night I don't think one of us could remember who gave us the gravy bowl or really why the hell we needed one in the first place.
But we would always remember Emmett's story of trying to make gravy one year at Thanksgiving and instead of making a roux with flour he grabbed the powder sugar by mistake. Rose and Bella both said it took everything they had to eat turkey and dressing that year that tasted like icing but they didn't want to upset Emmett so they didn't say anything and Emmett didn't want to admit that he liked sweetened gravy. Needless to say when he volunteered to make it the next year, he was turned down.
Bella set about the task of getting her documents changed over and officially and legally becoming a Cullen. I admit to doing a happy dance in my head when she showed me her new driver's license. There was just something beautiful about seeing the name Isabella Cullen next to her smiling picture.
Since I wasn't teaching this summer, I offered to take Charlie a couple of days the week so Rose could get a little bit of a break. I also did it because I just really loved hanging out with him. We went back to the aquarium and even rode up to Myrtle Beach one day and went Ripley's aquarium. Charlie loved the sharks swimming overhead and the ray touch pool. We went to different parks, went swimming at a local pool and built sand castles on the beach in Isle of Palm.
The biggest event in July of course was Charlie's fifth birthday. The week leading up to it the kid acted like he was on speed talking a mile a minute about what he wanted and who all was going to be invited to his party.
Rose invited several of his friends from pre-school as well some of the kids in the neighborhood. Rose also invited Jessica and her parents. I hadn't realized it at the time but evidently Charlie and Jessica became best friends while they got to know each other at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding and they have had several play dates with each other since then.
When we go to their house, the back yard was covered in balloons and streamers and in the corner of the yard a medium sized pool and water slide had been set up to help keep the kids cool in the hot July sun. Charlie wanted a beach theme party so there was a sandbox set up for the kids to build castles and to just play and have fun.
Bella made this huge sheet cake that was decorated to look like a day at the beach. There was water of course with waves lapping up against the sandy shore. She had made little sandcastles, beach balls, buckets, shovels and rafts out of fondant as well as little people out of modeling chocolate. Watching her make those little details for the cake was like watching a sculptor. The best part though was seeing the smile on her face the whole time she was working on the pieces. The fact she was creating these for her favorite little guy lit up her face and it was beautiful.
"Edward, Edward, you're here!" A very wet Charlie came running over to me as soon as he saw me enter the back yard.
"I am buddy; I wouldn't miss this for the world. Happy Birthday little man." I say to him as I kneel down to his level.
"Edward, I'm five now, I not little anymore." Charlie informs me with his hands on his hips.
"How right you are big man, how right you are, please accept my apologies." I answer him lowering my head in shame, begging for his forgiveness.
Charlie walks closer to me and puts his hand on my shoulder trying to get me to look up at him which I do.
"I ccept you pologies. Edward." He tells me with great tenderness in his voice.
"Thank you kind sir."
"You not have to call me sir, Edward, I not that big yet." He giggles before giving me a very wet hug. "But I do like big man. Will you call me that again?" He asks with hope in his eyes.
"Of course I will big man."
"Thank you Edward." He whispers in my ear before giving me a kiss on the cheek."I not too big to give kisses, that's what mama says." He whispers again.
"Never too big for that buddy." I tell him as I return his kiss with one of my own.
"I see you in a bit." Charlie says before he runs off back to his party.
The next hour is spent with fifteen kids running wild, the biggest one of them all being Emmett. Poor Rose looks like she is about to lose it and yell at all of them but luckily Bella is there is help keep her calm, while Carlisle, Jasper and I try to help keep the kids from hurting each other as they run around in sugar induced highs. Esme is tucked away in a shady corner with Addy.
Then comes the presents.
There are certain noises that are monumental and cannot fully be described to someone who was not there for them. Sonic booms, explosions, gunshots, five year olds opening presents. It was utter chaos. Paper was thrown everywhere, boxes were thrown everywhere and how the hell Charlie was able to see what he got was beyond me because I swear the kid did not spend more than a millisecond on each one before another was being shoved in his face by the child who had brought it. It was so crazy at one point, Emmett tried to go in to the lion's den of little arms and hands and was immediately taken down to the ground. He begged for help, but the rest of us were too busy laughing to move. Rose of course stood there with a look of utter satisfaction that it was him and not her.
After the dust was settled and the carnage of paper and boxes was squared away we were able to determine the only causality of war was Emmett, who ended up with a very tiny cut on his left cheek. He swears it was from a switchblade, but Carlisle assured him it was probably just from the edge of a sandal.
As parents started to pick up their kids and the party began to wind down I noticed Jessica off to the side of the yard with another little girl waving her arms wildly. I walked over to them to see what the problem was when I noticed Charlie standing off to the other side of them shaking his head.
"What's going on big man?" I ask him as I kneel down beside him.
"They fighting." Charlie says with a huff.
"Why are they fighting and who is that with Jessie girl?"
"That's Jordan and they are fighting because Jordan says I cannot be friends with Jessie but we don't gree with her."
So this was little Jordan who tried to claim Charlie's love.
"I see."
"Why they fighting over me? I want to be friends with both of them but Jordan says I not be friends with Jessie if I want to be friends with her. It not fair."
"You're right big man, it's not fair. And I think you should be friends with both of them."
As Charlie and I sit there and discuss the injustices of girls fighting over boys, Bella walks over to the two girls and pulls both of them down to the ground beside her. The three of them lower their heads together and I can see Bella talking to both of them with great love in her eyes even though I cannot hear the words. She talks to them both for a good five minutes before they each lean in and give her a hug before coming over to Charlie and me.
"I'm sorry I said you couldn't be friends with Jessica." Jordan tells Charlie. "We can all be friends if you want."
Charlie looks at me for a second as if asking for guidance and I nod my head in approval.
"I'd like that." Charlie says.
Before I know it the three of them of walking off to the pool hand in hand as if nothing happened.
"And what did you say to those girls my lovely wife?" I ask Bella as I pull her into my arms.
"A lady never reveals her secrets." She answers me in an overly exaggerated Southern voice.
"Well my lady, whatever you did it seemed to work."
"For now anyway. Little girls are very fickle. Best friends one minute, enemies the next and throw a boy into that mix and oh my!"
"You sound like you speak from experience." I chuckled.
"Maybe a little." She said. "But don't sit there and act like you weren't the cause of great friendship friction growing up there buddy. With your good looks I bet you were breaking hearts and ruining friendships all over the place."
"A gentleman never reveals his secrets." I answered with a wiggle of my eyebrows before I pulled her into a kiss.
"You are such a ham." She says while trying not to laugh in our kiss.
"Yeah but you love me." I say as I pull away from our kiss.
"Maybe just a little." She replies but holds her arms out as far apart from each other as she can get them.
"I love you too my sweet girl." I say before pulling her back into a deeper kiss.
A deeper kiss that is quickly ruined with very cold water.
"Just because you are married doesn't mean you are allowed to suck my baby sister's face off in front of me." Emmett says with a huff. He is standing just to the side of us holding to large water guns aimed and ready to fire at will if need be.
"Oh Em, I'll always be your baby sister." Bella says before she snuggles up next to Emmett just enough to melt his resistance before she takes the guns for him and begins chasing him around the yard blasting him with water.
And just like that he goes from being the over protective big brother to the biggest kid at the party.
September
House hunting can be a thrill and a major pain in the ass. In the past two weeks, Bella and I have seen well over twenty houses. We decided we wanted to stay in the historic district of Charleston to be near work as well as our families. Given the economy there are a lot of houses in the area to choose from. Of course once we weed out the ones that are over our price range the original list is less daunting but still something to be intimated by.
We looked at houses that were two hundred years old or older. We looked at plantation style homes, Georgian style homes and remolded brick warehouses. Some were beautifully preserved and others looked like they were stuck in the seventies.
We saw houses that had the perfect kitchen but only two bathrooms, or had the perfect master bedroom but the kitchen actually made Bella cry. Of course there was the issue of parking as not all houses in the historic district have off street parking and then you have to fool with trying to find a place to park on the street. Even with permit places it still can be a nightmare and we didn't want to mess around with that.
We saw historically remolded homes that looked like you had just walked into another era. They were beautifully maintained and had that been our style it would have been a dream to walk into such a turnkey gift. But they were not our style and some of the old styles, wallpaper, curtains, carpets etc where just fucking ugly!
So it was on a Wednesday evening towards the end of September that we found ourselves in our twenty-seventh house looking around.
The house was on Pitt Street in the Radcliffborough neighborhood. Closer to the college and hospital than it was to Dolce Amore but still within walking distance to whatever we wanted or needed. In fact it scored a 91 out of 100 in the walk able scale whatever that meant.
The house had been built in 1895 but was very well maintained. It was two stories with double level front porches that ran the entire side of the house. The color was a pleasant seafoam green and the yard and surrounding landscape was well manicured. And there was off street parking for both of our cars which was a major plus.
The house had four bedrooms, four and half baths, lots of doors and windows for natural light. There was a claw foot bathtub in the master suite that made Bella squeal, albeit quietly, but I still heard it and a huge walk in shower with dual shower heads that I wanted to squeal over myself.
The bedrooms were good sized and all on the second floor and there was a fireplace in the master bedroom that still worked. The lower level had a small office space as well as a living room and a formal dining room with built in hutches and another fireplace.
The kitchen was good sized and I could tell Bella loved the commercial appliances that would be staying with the house. The island had a sink and a refrigerator drawer which Bella was delighted with. There was a family room off the kitchen and a sunroom that could double as a breakfast room if we wanted it to.
The yard was fenced in all around expect for the driveway and the lot was lined with trees to give added privacy. There was enough of a grassy area for little ones to play and it was far enough away from the street to not worry about balls rolling way and little bodies chasing them out into danger.
In my mind the house was perfect.
"So what do you think?" I asked Bella once Maggie our realtor left us alone to discuss the house.
"I think we're home." She said with a huge smile on her face.
"Really? You really like it?"
"No Edward, I love it. This feels like it is meant to be ours, the place we raise our kids, the place we grow old together."
"But it's too far for you to walk to work anymore."
"But not for you. Besides I can either ride a bike or take the car when the weather is too hot or too cold for that. The off street parking makes that much easier to deal with."
"What about the kitchen, is it everything you want?"
"Well there are a few things I want to chance, starting with that tile floor. I mean really what cook in their right mind puts tile in a kitchen like that. So that will needed to be changed along with a few other things but over all I really like the kitchen."
"Anything else you want to change?"
"Just a few things, like painting the half bath something other than blood red." We both shuddered at the thought of the color in the half bath downstairs. "And I'd like to screen off the top porch so we can open the doors in the spring and fall to get a cross breeze, maybe a few other cosmetic things but that's it."
"Are you sure Bella?"
"Are you?" Bella asked me. "Honestly Edward tell me what you think."
"I…I love this house Bella, but I don't want it if you don't love it."
"Edward I already told you I love it."
"I know but…"
"No buts Edward. Is it perfect, no, but what house is. We both knew going into this we were not going to find the perfect house that had everything that we wanted ready and waiting for us when we came into. Lord only knows the number of houses we have looked at alone should tell us that. This house is what I want Edward, it is as close to perfect for us that we are going to find and once we finish a few touch ups here and there, it will be perfect."
"So are you ready to buy a house?" I ask her as I pull her into my arms.
"I am Edward, I'm ready to buy this house."
"Welcome home baby." I say before giving her a kiss and going to find Maggie to give her the news.
November
We closed on the house at the end of October and were fully moved in by mid November. We decided to make little changes along the way. The first thing we did was screen in the upper porch and paint the downstairs half bath. It really was an awful color of red and made the already small space feel like it was closing in on us. Bella picked out a subtle shade of yellow and it really lightened up the room and brought out the features of the antique sink that was left by the previous owners.
The kitchen was the next project on the list. Bella just wanted to make a few changes. The granite counter tops were red and given the fact the cabinets were cherry it made the kitchen much darker than Bella wanted it to be. She wanted to change out the counter tops as well as add a cork floor instead of tile. Cork was better on your back and feet, was more antibacterial and environmentally friendly. At least that's what Bella told me and I fully believed her. The only other thing she wanted to do was to paint the walls and the island a different color.
Nothing major either in the money department or the renovation department. So it should have been a fairly easy thing to do, or so I thought. But the whole thing was becoming more and more of a problem every day.
There are many things that my wife is willing to do for me and compromise on. For instance my wife is probably only one of a few people in the South who does not like sweet tea or any tea really for that matter. I know what you are thinking, a Southerner who doesn't drink sweet tea, what is wrong with this girl, but she doesn't and I would never hold that against her. That being said she always makes sure that there is freshly made sweet tea in the house because she knows how much I love it.
Like I said she does things like that for me so I wanted to do something for her, like let her pick out the kitchen. I mean the kitchen is hers so she should have what she wants right? But for some reason she didn't see it that way. She wanted my opinion, my input but I just kept telling her whatever she wanted was fine with me and that just seemed to piss her off more and more.
The day she came home with a God awful color scheme I really wanted to say something, but she acted like she really liked it so I didn't say anything hoping to make her happy…and well fuck me if that didn't just pissed her off more.
"Damn it Edward just tell me what you want." She huffed as I stood there trying to calm her down.
"Whatever you want is fine…"
"Do not finish that damn sentence mister." She screamed. Screamed, my sweet wife actually screamed at me.
"Bella I…"
"No Edward just tell me the damn truth do you like this color or not?"
"Bella if you like it…"
"I swear to God Edward if you finish that sentence you and your hand will become the best of friends because I will never sleep with you again."
I stood there for a minute shocked at first that my wife was threatening to cut me off from sex but the longer I stood there the more pissed I got. Not only had she interrupted me for the third time but she was threatening to cut me off from sex.
"Honestly, I hate it." I yelled back at her.
She stood there for a minute before she screamed and threw her hands up in the air. "So do I you jackass!" She said before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I heard our bedroom door slam close a few seconds later.
What the fuck just happened. Not only did she hate it, but she huffed out of the room.
Before I knew it I was up the stairs and throwing open our door.
"What the fuck do you mean you hate it? Why the hell did you even bring it home if you hated it?"
"Because I knew you would hate and I wanted to see if you would finally stand up and make a decision on the kitchen. But you didn't, you were willing to have that ugly ass color in our kitchen for who knows how many years because you wouldn't give me your opinion."
"Bella I just want what you want, it's your kitchen and I want you to be happy with it." I said in a calmer voice.
"Don't you see though Edward, it isn't just my kitchen. I may be the one who cooks and bakes in there, but the kitchen is such a big part of the family. Think about all of the times that you are in the kitchen with me either helping me out or talking to me. Think about our families and how the kitchen always seems to be the place we all gravitate to no matter whose house it is. Think about our kids Edward, think about being in the kitchen with them cooking, or doing homework or eating dinner. The last thing I want is for you to wake up one morning and realize how much you hate the color of our kitchen counter tops and walls and then for that hatred to fester until one day it is too much and it spills over to our relationship."
I stood there taking in her words and seeing insecurity in my beautiful wife that I have never seen before.
"Baby, that won't happen." I say as I walk over to her and put my arms around her.
"But you don't know that Edward. We can say that now, but you can't know about twenty years from now." She said with her head buried in my chest.
"Edward I love you for wanting me to have whatever I want in the kitchen. But what I want more than anything is your opinion. I don't want it to be my kitchen. I want it to be an important part of our home and it cannot be that if you give into me and let my stubbornness cause us to have an ugly ass kitchen."
"You would wouldn't. Just to prove a point, you would have chosen that ugly ass color for our kitchen and left it there."
"Maybe." She answered with a slight chuckle.
"God I love you, you stubborn ass woman!" I said with a huff.
"I love you too and I'm sorry for blowing up I like I did."
"I'm sorry for being a jackass! Now let's go pick out a color scheme and get rid of the ugly ass one downstairs before it takes over our kitchen."
"I like the sound of that, our kitchen."
"Yeah, me too." I say giving her a soft kiss on the lips.
In the end we decided on a color scheme of blues, greens and yellows that reminded us of our honeymoon in Italy, both of us knowing that that was a memory that would always bring us happiness no matter how many years we had to look at it.
February
"Edward…can I talk to you for a minute?" Jasper asked me.
It was hard to hear him over the crowd at the College of Charleston basketball game. Bella and Alice had decided on a girl's night out so I invited Jasper to a game.
I could tell something was a little off with Jasper all night long and I had a pretty good idea what was coming next.
"Sure thing Jasper, what's on your mind?" I couldn't help the smile on my face.
"Well…I…I want to ask Alice to marry me."
"So are you asking for my blessing or just thinking out loud?"
"A little of both I guess." He paused for a second before looking me square in the eyes. "I guess since we are at a basketball game it makes it less girly for me to say this, but I want you to know that I consider you as one of best friends Edward. We've known each other for a long time and I know we lost touch there for awhile, but I'm glad that we got it back and that it became more. As my best friend I want to talk to you about the fact I want to marry Alice more than anything else in this world and well…as her big brother I guess I want to know that you are ok with that."
Just as he finished his thoughts the buzzer sounded indicating that it was half time. All around us people begin to file out of their seats to go to the restroom and concession stands before the second half started.
Waiting for the crowd to diminish gave me a little time to think about his words and what I wanted to say in return. I knew this day was coming, knew to be ready for it but I had to admit it still felt weird to think about my little sister getting married. Even though Alice is my cousin it doesn't change the fact I do now and have always thought of her as my little sister.
I couldn't help but wonder if this was what Emmett went through when I went to talk to me.
"Well Jasper as your best friend..." I said with a nudge to his arm to let him know I felt the same way about that as he did. "I couldn't be happier for you that you found that person that you want to spend the rest of your life with. It is a great feeling isn't it, that moment when you just know?"
"Yeah it is."
"And you deserve that Jasper; you deserve to be happy because you are a great guy. You deserve happiness with Alice. As her big brother, well I won't lie to you and tell when you I first heard about you dating each other that I happy about it. But when I saw you two together and as I have gotten to know you again over the past almost two years now I can honestly say I cannot think of a better person for Alice to be with then you. If you are asking for my blessing you have it."
"Thank you Edward."
"Are we like suppose to hug now?" I asked him with a chuckle.
"Uh, maybe after the game." He said with a nudge of his shoulder.
"Have you talked to Carlisle yet?"
"No not yet, I kind of wanted to talk to you first."
"Well you just made Charlie very proud of you."
"Couldn't break my promise to Charlie now could I?" He said with a huge smile on his face.
"So when are you popping the question?"
"Valentine's Day."
"Copy cat." I said with a roll off my eyes.
"Only if I can't wait until then." He adds with a smirk.
"Watch it smart ass or I may just change my mind!"
"Alice would kick your ass and you know it."
"Yeah I know and so would Bella."
March
"Edward I need to talk to about something." Bella says to me as we sit at the breakfast table in the sunroom of our beautiful kitchen one Sunday morning in early March.
"Sure baby."
"Well…I have my annual gyno visit in a couple of weeks and I was thinking about having them remove my IUD."
I sat there for a minute, the cup of coffee that I was about to drink from suspended mid air.
"Are you ready to have a baby?" I ask her as I put the cup back down on the table.
"I am." She pauses for a second to really look at me to gauge my reaction to her next question.
"Are you?"
"I am." I answer her without hesitation.
"Really?"
"Really really my love!"
"I love you Edward."
"I love you too Bella."
And with those words we go back to our breakfast while holding holds on top of the table.
Two weeks later I come home for my last class to find my wife lying down in the bed in the middle of the day.
"Are you ok baby?" I ask her as I sit down next to her on the bed.
"I will be. Dr. McCall told me there would be some cramping and just general discomfort once they removed it. He gave me a muscle relaxer to take and it kind of wiped me out."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Well he said my first period would probably be screwed up and last for a couple of weeks which I am not looking forward to at all, but other than that he said everything looked good and that we could probably get pregnant any time. He gave me a prescription for pre-natal vitamins saying it was good to go ahead and get those in my system since we know we are going to try."
"Are you still in pain, can I get you anything?"
"Just your warm arms."
I slipped my shoes off and slide under the covers to take my sweet girl in my arms.
"So we are really going to do this?" I asked as I kissed her head.
"We are really going to do this."
And with those words I cuddled up next to and enjoyed a mid-afternoon nap with my beautiful wife.
June
"Edward?"
"Angela, what can I do for you?"
"It's Bella." Panic immediately sets in and I stopped folding the clothes I was folding and damn near drop the phone.
"What's wrong, is she alright?"
"Well yes and no."
"Don't be cryptic Angela, what the hell is wrong?" I fired off at her a little more harshly than I intended.
"She has another migraine." For the past month she has been getting them more frequently than she has in years with the last week being especially bad.
"Even though she hasn't said anything I can tell it's a bad one and well…she was turning a pan of cookies around in the oven when she jerked and knocked her arm against the oven door. It's a pretty bad burn, more so than your normal pan burn. I think it needs to be looked at but she won't listen to me."
"I'll be there in less than ten minutes."
"Ok."
"Angela, thank you for calling me and well I'm sorry for being a jerk, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
"It's ok Edward, I understand."
As I bolted out the door of our house and to the car, I had my cell phone out dialing the only person I knew would be able to help me right now.
"Carlisle Cullen."
"Carlisle, I need your help." I said as I turned the key in the ignition and headed toward my sweet wife.
We both arrived at the bakery at the same time and headed back to the kitchen. As I was opening the door I heard a loud banging noise and mumbled curse words.
My poor wife was standing in the middle of the kitchen with tears streaming down her face, two cake pans with steaming cake parts lying at the floor beneath her feet.
"Fuck!" She mumbled before she fell down to her knees.
"Bella sweetie." I said as I rushed over to her.
"Don't touch it; it just came out of the oven I don't want you to get burned." She yelled at Carlisle and I.
"I got it sweetie." Carlisle said as he grabbed some towels to pick up the pans with. Angela came in with a broom and a dust pan and I just held Bella in my arms and let her cry.
After the mess was cleaned up and tears were dried, Carlisle came over to where we were still sitting in the floor.
"Bella, can I see your arm please?" He asked her in his fatherly voice.
She hesitated for a minute before she extended her left arm out for him to see. There was a nasty looking burn about the size of a credit card on her forearm. Being in the business that she is I had gotten use to Bella coming home with small burns on her arms and hands but this was the worse one that I have ever seen.
"What happened sweetie?" Carlisle asked.
"I was rotating a pan of cookies around on one of the higher racks in the oven when I got a shooting pain in my head that caused me to jerk and when I did I hit the oven door. With the pain in my head I didn't register the pain in my arm at first and it stayed there a little longer then it should have." Bella's voice was tired and strained and I could tell she was struggling with the pain of her migraine.
"I think we should go to the hospital so I can dress this burn Bella, its bad sweetie, I'm guessing from just looking at it a second degree burn." He paused for a minute. I could tell Bella was about to protest but he stopped her.
"The thing that concerns me more is the migraine and the frequency with which you have been getting them lately. Edward says you have had them pretty much nonstop for the past month."
She looked over at me like I was a tattle tale before nodding her head in response to Carlisle.
"Is the Imitrex not helping you?"
"I haven't been taking it." She answered him softly.
"Why the hell not?" I barked out at her much harsher then I meant to at the thought of her suffering through this pain when she could have done something about it.
"I…I didn't want to risk it…in case I was pregnant."
I instantly felt like a total dick for yelling at my sweet stubborn wife.
"Is there a chance you could be pregnant?" Carlisle asked. I could tell he was in full doctor mode now.
"There could be."
"When was your last period?"
"It was about five weeks ago, but since I went off of birth control it has been irregular and hard to track."
"When did you stop birth control and I have to ask what you where on?"
"The end of March and I had an IUD removed."
"So tell me what your cycle has been since you had it removed."
God this was a crazy conversation to be listening to in the middle of a bakery floor.
"A few days after it was removed I got my period and it lasted for a good two weeks. That would have been the end of March first of April. Then I went five weeks without having one and I thought maybe then I was pregnant since I was late, but I got it the second week of May and that one lasted for a week. That was five weeks ago now I guess. I was going to wait another week before taking a test to see if I got my period again."
"Have you been nauseated?"
"I have from the migraines but not really any other time."
"Any dizziness, tiredness or tenderness."
"Yes but always from the migraines."
"Carlisle what do you think is wrong?"
"Well I think we need to get to the hospital to find out for sure. We can tend to your burn and have blood drawn at the same time to check a couple of different things. I know all of the symptoms you have experienced are from migraines but the migraines could be caused from a pregnancy itself. Hormonal changes to the body will trigger them and given the time frame that you have been having them Bella they may be your indicator that you are pregnant."
As he finished his words I couldn't help but notice the smile that erupted from his lips despite his best effort to hide it.
As we drove to the hospital neither Bella nor I said a word. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Warring between the idea that Bella could be pregnant and that something could be really wrong with her.
Carlisle met us at the entrance to the ER and led us back to a room, where they drew blood from Bella to run tests and for one of the doctors from the burn unit come down and look at her arm.
One of the nurses gave her some Tylenol to take for the headache that was stronger than she could get over the counter but not strong enough to hurt the baby if she was pregnant. Because the lights in the room were too bright for her, the nurses kept cold compresses over her eyes to shield the light and to help with the pain. I held her hand while the burn unit doctor worked on her arm which was a second degree burn as Carlisle suspected.
I'm not sure when, but at some point in all of the commotion, Bella managed to drift off to sleep which I knew she needed to do given everything that had happened to her.
The doctor from the burn unit finished up and gave me instructions on after care for her before leaving the room. After he was gone, the nurses finished up and left us alone in the room waiting, at least they left me waiting. My sweet girl slept.
I sat there for an hour waiting, trying my damnedest not to get my hopes up to much at the prospect of Bella being pregnant but failing miserably. As I held her hand I saw flashes of us pushing a stroller down the street with a sleeping baby lying under covers. Of football games and tea parties in our back yard, of auburn haired little boys and girls with green eyes.
I wanted her to be pregnant; more than anything I wanted her to be pregnant. Because I wanted to share a life with my sweet angel, I wanted to a daddy and to have my Charlie moments on a full time basis. But more than anything I just wanted my wife to be ok and being pregnant meant she would be ok.
Carlisle finally came back into the quiet room with a folder in his arms. He was trying his hardest to mask the look on his face but when I saw his eyes I knew, I just knew.
"Bella, sweetie. Wake up baby." I nudged her shoulder softly trying to get her to wake up.
"Edward?" She mumbled before she opened her eyes, blinking them under the harsh light of the room.
"How are you feeling baby?"
"Run down, but the pain is finally gone." She answered in a groggy voice.
"Sweetie, can you sit up? Carlisle is here with news for us."
She looked at me confused for a moment and then I could tell the realization of the afternoon and where we were finally hit her. She sat up as carefully as she could looking at me and then over at Carlisle.
He cleared his throat before he spoke and I swear he was trying to fight back tears.
"Bella…" he paused for a moment trying not to choke on his words. "You're pregnant sweet girl!" His face erupted with the biggest smile I think I have ever seen cross his face.
Pregnant! Thank God!
"Congratulations Bella." Carlisle said as he walked over to her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. As he pulled away she took his face in her hands and wiped away the tears of joy that were falling down his cheeks.
"Thank you Grandpa." She whispered to him before kissing him.
"I like the sound of that." He whispered back as he patted her on the shoulder before turning to me and pulling me into a tight hug.
"I love you son."
"I love you too." I answered him as he kissed my head and left the room.
I turned to my wife, tears falling freely down my face. Relief that she was ok and joy that she was indeed pregnant flooded me.
"A baby." I managed to get out as I crawled into the little bed beside the two greatest gifts ever granted to me. I placed a kiss on her belly before I kissed her lips and pulled her into me.
"I love you mommy."
"I love you daddy."
A/N: So I have debated with myself for a while now about whether I should end the story here and do the next part of their lives as a sequel, but I think I am just going to continue on with this story entering the next phase of their lives. I won't cover all nine months of the pregnancy as I want to progress the story along further than that. This is the story of their lives and so I want to show a big part of their lives together. I really don't think this will be a 50 to 60 plus chapter story but there should be a least another 15 to 20 to come. Hope you will stick with me as they continue their journey together. Let me know what you think about the future direction of this story.
I want to thank StarttheFantasy for nominating this story for the Inspired Fan Fic Awards. It really means a great deal to me that she and others have championed this story like they have through nominating the story and recommending it to others. I'll post more news about the nomination if I get any but I just wanted to publicly thank her for what she did.
I want to thank you all for loving this story like I do. It really does my creative thinking good to have your thoughts and reviews and to see how many people are reading it.
Much love!