Beta'd by the beautiful Dollybigmomma
Chapter 21: Doppelganger Dance
There was no way I was going to have Vicky take my mom's luggage into her room. Besides, Vicky was posing as Bella, and Bella wouldn't have been able to heft the mess my mother had packed. I was worried she was moving back in for good.
"Emmett, help me with mom's bags," I ordered.
"Why can't Vicky take them? They'd be nothing to her," he whined.
"Because she's Bella," I reminded him.
He grabbed the lightest bag, leaving the other two for me. We knocked lightly on the closed door and waited for my mother to respond. Her room had always been her safe haven. We weren't ever allowed to enter unless invited.
"Come in," she called, and we opened the door. Her back was to us. She was remaking the bed. "Your work is subpar. You'd think he'd have known how to make a bed, so you could be taught to do it right," she griped.
"It looked fine before, Mom. I checked the room to make sure everything was perfect, before we went to get you. There was nothing wrong with the way she made the bed," I defended.
"The corners weren't tight enough," she said, narrowing her eyes at me. "Is dinner ready?"
"Yes, the table is set. Mom, you need to be nice to her. I love her. I won't let you be mean to her," I said, trying to sound firm.
She scoffed. "You'd choose…that…over your own mother?" she said in disgust, waving her hand in the general direction of Vicky.
"You're being awfully hard on him, Mom," Emmett jumped in, surprising me.
"You," she snapped, pointing at him, "Don't you even get me started with you. You're just as bad as him with Rosalie Hale," she huffed.
"You haven't even met Rosalie!" he cried, appalled at her reaction.
"I don't need to. I know what she is. I can't believe I raised the pair of you!" She shook her head and walked out.
"I don't know if we can settle her down in a week, Edward. She's really mad," Emmett worried. I was worried, too. Then, I realized I'd left my mother alone with Vicky. I ran into the kitchen to find my mother poking at the food, looking annoyed.
"This doesn't have enough salt in it," she complained.
"Emmett's blood pressure came back a little high. I've adjusted the recipe for him. Feel free to add more salt to your own serving," Vicky responded smoothly and handed her the saltshaker.
"Thanks, Vi…Bella," Emmett almost slipped up. He grabbed the platter of chicken, and I helped bring out the under-salted mashed potatoes and green beans.
We all sat down, and my mother looked over at Vicky, who sat next to me. "Aren't you going to serve us? Isn't that part of your job, or do you only serve my son in the bedroom?" she practically sneered.
Vicky's eyes darted to mine. I put my hand on her shoulder, letting her know I'd handle this response. "You're way out of line, Mom. She's my girlfriend, soon to be my wife, if she'll have me. She doesn't serve me like a slave. She's my equal. We work together on projects. Because of her, I've made major breakthroughs, and my next big project will be making a family with her."
"Absolutely not! Edward, I cannot abide by this behavior. You being with her is an abomination, and now, you're going to make children to feed into your delusional relationship. She doesn't love you! She can't have children, Edward!" she shouted, but I cut her off.
"Whoa, who told you she couldn't have children? That's confidential medical information. No one is allowed to know that. If someone contacted you and told you about my next project…"
"Edward, don't be ridiculous, it's bad enough you pulled your brother into this mess."
"What are you talking about? Emmett has nothing to do with my fertility work. You didn't talk to mom about this, did you?" I asked him.
He shook his head no hard, eyes wide, just as baffled as I was.
"You can't marry her, and you can't have children with her, Edward. I won't allow it. You've always been a smart boy, but what you're proposing is wrong. Even if you had kids, they wouldn't be socially accepted, once their parentage came to light."
I was crushed. She didn't think people would like my kids.
"Edward," Vicky whispered, her hand gently resting on my shoulder. Her expression was so sweet and compassionate, I would have believed it was Bella if I didn't know better. I really wished she was here. I needed her. She cupped my face, so I would turn toward her. Next thing I knew, she was kissing me. The familiar shock filled my body, and I pulled back and looked down at her.
"Bella?" It had to be her.
"Do you really think you and Emmett were so sly, when you two went sneaking off to your lab? Rosalie and I knew something was up."
"You switched with Vicky?"
"Oh no! Did Rosalie switch, too? She's been locked in the closet all day," Emmett panicked.
"No, I sent her with Vicky. I didn't want to leave her unattended, especially after what happened in your work parking lot," Bella explained.
"Oh, thank heavens," Emmett said, sinking back down in his seat.
"I think I know why your mother is so upset, Edward. She thinks I'm Vicky," Bella suggested and turned to my mother. "I'm the real Isabella Swan, who went to school with Edward. Vicky is my doppelganger that Edward made."
"Doppelganger?" my mother said, looking between Bella and myself.
"I should call Rosalie and have her bring Vicky home. Maybe she'd believe you then," Bella suggested.
"Rosalie is real, too, Mom," Emmett said.
"Oh please, Emmett. I knew Edward had made a Rosalie Hale robot a while back. There's no way the real Rosalie Hale is dating you. You don't even leave the house," my mother snapped at him.
Bella was on the phone with Rosalie in no time. "His mom thinks he wants to marry Vicky. Apparently, she knew about them and came to stop him. Can you bring Vicky home and also show yourself, so she'll lay off Emmett?" Bella asked of Rosalie. Bella smiled and gave me a thumbs up. "Thanks, Rosalie, I'll see you then," she said and hung up. "She'll be back tomorrow afternoon. She has a botanical body wrap scheduled in the morning, and she's not missing it."
"Do you think I should learn to do body wraps?" Emmett asked Bella.
She shrugged. "Wraps do a bunch of different things. It all depends on the mix and what you want it to do. It wouldn't hurt to do a little research on them and run it past Rosalie. She may not be comfortable with doing them yet, though. Are you two at the naked stage yet?" Bella asked casually.
My eyes were darting back and forth between my mom, Emmett and Bella. I wondered how he was going to answer that question, especially in front of my mom.
"Well, she strips down to her bra and panties, when I give her back massages," he said with a side glance at my mother.
"You can't really think I'll believe the real Rosalie Hale comes to you for back massages?"
"Foot, head and calf, too…those heels are killer they put her in," Emmett said casually.
"Leave your reprimands until tomorrow, Mrs. Cullen. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by who shows up," Bella said with a grin.
My mother kept a close eye on her the rest of the evening, I was sure looking for tells that would give her away as a robot. She had no idea how lucky I was to get the real girl. I couldn't wait to prove it to her. I was sure my mom would love her, once she knew Bella was real.
Rosalie came home the next afternoon with Vicky in tow, who was carrying all the luggage. She gave Bella a hug. "Vicky, put my luggage in Emmett's room. He owes me a Swedish massage, since we had to come home early," she said, dismissing Vicky. "So, where's the momma bear who thinks she raised a couple of perverts?"
My mother came out of the kitchen, when she heard the girls talking, but Vicky was already out of the room.
"Well?" my mother said, waiting for the proof to appear.
"Your sons are perverts…well, at least Emmett is, but he knows how to handle a woman's body, making the leering worth it," Rosalie said with a shrug. "Where's my bot? I have a promo I'm supposed to do next week, and I want her to go in my place. Emmett is going to be sending me back to the spa to make up for the crap you two pulled," she said, pointing at me.
Emmett came into the room with Rosie bot behind him. "Vicky brought your stuff into my room. Do you plan on staying?" he asked.
"Hell yeah, I am. You and my bot are giving me the works, since you pulled me out of the spa early. You're sending me back there, too, but we're going to set your mom straight first. I've got to check in with Rico, anyways. You know how he gets nervous, especially when he doesn't hear from me for a day. He still isn't convinced you aren't blackmailing me in some way."
"Who is Rico?" my mother asked out of the blue.
"My bodyguard, I get stalkers sometimes. It's just safer to have him around, when I go out in public. He wasn't happy with me, when I told him I wouldn't need him at the spa," she explained to my mom.
Vicky came in, finally catching my mother's attention. "Would you like me to start dinner?" Vicky asked.
"Sounds good," Bella agreed. "Mrs. Cullen, is there a recipe you'd like Vicky to try? She has access to the internet and can look up any recipe. She can also follow a recipe more precisely," Bella said.
"Yeah, but her nose doesn't tell her when the cookies are just right, not like you can," Emmett bragged. My girl could make some killer cookies.
"I'm still trying to identify the carbon mix in the air, when the cookies are what Emmett and Edward consider perfect," Vicky explained.
"If you get the dough together, I'll bake them," Bella bargained.
"White chocolate and macadamia nut, please," Emmett begged, pulling a face, looking like a big-eyed idiot.
"Sounds good, I'll need to run to the store for some of the ingredients…" Bella started, but I cut her off.
"Just some regular chocolate chip will be fine. Emmett can live without his fancy cookies another day," I said, pulling her into my arms.
She smiled up at me and puckered her lips. I kissed her softly, keeping control of myself in front of my mother. "I love you," she said with a smile.
"I love you, too."
"Do you two always have to be so mushy?" Rosalie complained. "Emmett, you're with me. Vicky, let me know when dinner is ready. I'm starving."
"You ate lunch at 1:03 p.m. You would have to go without food for five days before you would starve," Vicky, the logical robot, expounded.
"Yeah, yeah, just let me know when the food's ready," she said and started for the hallway.
"Wait, how did you and Emmett meet?" my mom asked.
"A food delivery guy took a picture of your boys in front of their trophies," she said, pointing at them. "He was with my look-a-like and said she was his girlfriend. I tracked his ass down, and Edward said I could have my bot. I get first dibs or whatever, so anyways, the rest is history," she said with a shrug and turned to Emmett. "Let's go, my shoulders are killing me," she demanded and stormed out of the room. My mother looked after her, confused.
"So, that's Rosalie," Bella said with a wave. "She's a bit of a handful, but we love her."
"So, you girls are really real?" my mother asked, looking shocked. I would have been offended, if her shock wasn't warranted, but it was.
"Yup, I met Edward at a bar, we reconnected, and he gave me the housekeeper job a week later. I've claimed the sweet man as mine, and I'm not giving him up."
My mother stepped very close to Bella and looked into her eyes. It looked like she was searching for something, trying to find a sign to prove she was human. Bella lifted her left knee, showing where there was a little scar on it. "Robots don't scar, at least not yet," she said with a proud grin.
"You want to buy an engagement ring for a real girl?" my mother blurted out. I blushed and nodded yes. "You're going to marry my son?" she asked Bella.
"When he asks, yeah."
My mother let out an ungodly squeal, causing the dogs in the neighbor's yard to go nuts. "My baby's getting married!" she cheered and pulled Bella and myself into a tight group hug. "I'm so glad you met a real girl, Edward. I knew you were lonely, when you started building the first robot. I was surprised, though, when you gave it to Emmett and started on another one. I'm so happy Bella's a real girl. My babies are growing up," she said wistfully, releasing me and cupping my face.
"So, will you help me get a ring for her?" I asked.
She turned to Bella and hugged her again and kissed her cheek. "For this lovely human girl, of course!"
I let out a sigh of relief. I knew she'd love Bella once she met her. Bella was too amazing not to love.