My Life as a Trophy Wife

by JennaRay

Bella signs a contract with Edward to enter into a marriage based on financial gain. She's looking to take the easy road and instead finds a nearly impossible one she must travel on the path to finding herself, along with everything she never knew she wanted. This is the struggle of a broken little girl growing into the woman she's destined to be.

21. Every Rose Has it's Thorn

I do not own any Character names nor do I own Twilight or anything pertaining to it.

[Edward and Bella have been married for one year]

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"Rosalie Hale." Even when she didn't know who she was talking to, her voice was still low and sexy.

"It's Bella."

"Oh, hi." She answered, obviously surprised to hear from me. "What can I do for you, Isabella?"

As soon as Edward left the house, I barged into his office and went through the caller ID on his office phone to find her number. I'd had enough. I was a woman on a mission.

"You can tell me where you are right now and how I get there. We need to talk."

"Oh? And what does this concern?"

"You're going to tell me what the fuck is going on between you and my husband."

"Well I can tell you that right now. Noth-"

"Don't tell me nothing. Where are you? I can meet you somewhere. If you give two fucks about Edward then you're going to talk to me about this, and you're going to do it in person."

She was quiet for a few moments, and then she sighed.

"Fine. But I only have a few minutes to meet with you."

"That's fine. It won't take long. Where?"

"How about the Starbucks closest to your home? I'm not far from there now."

"Fine. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"I'll be there."

I hung up the phone forcefully and literally ran upstairs to get ready. I didn't have time for much more than putting my hair in a bun, some powder on my face, and throwing on a black maxi dress.

I was out of the house in a flash, eager to get there.

I felt myself gripping the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles we white. I'd had enough of this shit. Edward couldn't play around with me this way. It was one thing in the beginning, but my feelings were involved now. I was already so emotionally fragile, and he had the nerve to come at me in such a threatening way? Fuck that. If he thought he could silence me that way, he was wrong.

I thought about just leaving. I wasn't sure it was worth it to stay, but I couldn't stand the thought of leaving without getting answers first. Before making a decision like that, I needed to know everything. Furthermore, I was ashamed to admit that I was completely financially dependent on him. I had nowhere to go yet. If I was going to leave, I would have to get a job and have a plan first.

To be honest, I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to give up so quickly when I really, truly felt like there was something real between us. I knew there was. But I couldn't move forward with those feelings until I knew the truth.

I noticed Rosalie immediately when I walked in to Starbucks. Anyone would, she was beautiful. And she was just as put together as always in a silk blouse and her bright blond hair sleek. She was sitting towards the back, sipping on some sort of iced coffee.

"Hello, Isabella." She greeted me as I approached her.

"Rosalie."

"Lovely dress." She said, eyeing me up and down as I sat down across from her. "Who is the designer?"

"Old Navy."

"Oh. Charming."

"Thanks."

"I'm sorry to hear about your father."

"Thanks. But I'm not here for small talk."

"Right. You're here for answers."

"Exactly."

"What do you want to know?" She asked, subtly flipping her shiny hair behind her shoulder.

"I want to know what is going on between you and my husband."

She looked at me intently for a long moment.

"Are you in love with him?" She asked curiously.

"Wh – why would you ask me that?" I asked, caught off guard. "He's my husband. I married him, didn't I?"

"Yes. I remember. I was there." She said patronizingly. "I didn't ask if you married him."

I'd already had my suspicions, but it was becoming pretty clear she knew about our arrangement.

"I'm not here to answer your questions, Rosalie. I'm here to ask them."

"Look, you're barking up the wrong tree here."

"I know you've had sex with him, before me."

Judging by the expression on her face, she seemed surprised by this.

"He told you that?"

"Yes."

"So, what then? Did you come here to accuse me of having an affair with your husband?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm asking. Woman to woman. What is the deal between you?"

"There is no deal between us. We're friends, Isabella. Actually, I'm not even sure we're that anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"We had a falling out recently."

"A falling out?"

"Yes. He came to me, questioning me about my possible involvement in what seems to be some type of scheme against him."

"What? What do you mean? He questioned you about what?"

My heart began racing in anticipation.

"You really should be speaking to him about this, not me."

Oh no. She couldn't start to tell me the truth about what was going on and then shut me down. I would lose my fucking mind.

"Rosalie, I…" I sighed, trying to pull myself together. "I can't ask Edward. He won't tell me anything. I need answers."

I hated being vulnerable in front of Rosalie, but I was banking on hope that maybe she had a heart and maybe she could sympathize.

She looked at me for a while, seeming contemplative. I looked back at her pleadingly, desperate for answers. She was my only hope at figuring out what was going on, or at least part of it.

"Look," She began eventually. "I probably wouldn't be telling you any of this if I wasn't still angry at him. I probably wouldn't be here, talking to you, at all."

If that were true, then I was thankful for their falling out.

"Please, Rosalie."

"A few things happened after you left. I don't really know all of the details. The alarm at the house went off in the middle of the night or something, and another time Edward was convinced that someone was following him in the car. I don't know if anything else happened, but it made him a little paranoid I think. After the incident with his car being vandalized, he was already on edge I guess."

"Wait, you know about that?"

"Yes, he told me just after it happened. But that was before."

"Before what?"

"Before he suspected me."

I felt my mouth fall open. I was on the edge of my seat now. I had originally suspected Rosalie, but Edward had gotten mad at me for even suggesting her name. What had changed his mind?

"What made him suspicious of you? Is that why you're angry at him?"

"Yes. This morning, he received a troubling call from a friend of his; a colleague that he uses to file legal documents."

"Go on…"

"He used this friend to file your prenuptial agreement."

"How do you know all of this?"

"We spoke about it this morning."

"All of this happened this morning?"

"Yes."

"Okay, tell me about the phone call."

I felt like a detective.

"This friend was approached by a woman, trying to obtain a copy of your prenuptial contract."

What?

I was quiet for a few moments, trying to process this. Who would do that? And why? Did they know what was in our agreement?

"And why did Edward think it was you?"

"This woman was described as a blonde woman in Louboutins."

"And he accused you?"

"He said he had to ask."

"And he thought that you would just tell him? If it was you?"

"Are you suspecting me now too?" She asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"No…I don't know. I don't even know you. I just…"

"Well let me make it clear, then, that I had nothing to do with any of this."

This was a lot to take in. It gave me a lot to think about, as if I didn't already have enough shit on my plate, but I still had more questions.

"But he thought you might. Does that mean you have a motive?"

"A motive?" She scoffed. "Is this Law and Order?"

"This just happened this morning. He's been shady about his past with you since I married him. I still have questions. What is his past with you?"

"Don't you already know? You said he told you."

"I said he told me that he fucked you."

She winced.

"There's not much more to tell."

"I don't buy that, Rosalie. As elusive as he's been about you, there's something more. There has to be. What is he not telling me, and why?"

She looked at me, almost appearing amused as she swirled her straw around in her coffee.

"Maybe he's ashamed of his past with me."

"Why?"

"Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you all of the dirty details of my time with Edward. You need to talk to him about that. All I'm going to tell you is what you really need to know; yes we had a sexual relationship, but neither of us is interested in that anymore. I am not sleeping with your husband, nor do I have any desire or intention to. And furthermore, I did not have any involvement with the vandalizing of your personal belongings, nor the attempt to acquire anything of yours. Okay?"

Hearing her say that did make me feel better. It addressed most of my questions.

"You said that you had a sexual relationship with him. But did you have a romantic relationship with him?"

"I guess that really depends on which one of us you ask. And it's him you should be asking. "

And that's what I planned to do. I already planned to go straight from there to Edward's office.

"I will." I said as I got up and pushed my chair in. "I'm going to go ask him right now."

"Isabella?" She said just as I turned to walk away.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking back at her over my shoulder.

"There is one more thing I'll say. I know there are questions you want answered, but just know that he only has eyes for you. I know he's rough around the edges, but you've changed him."

I turned back to face her. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but I had to ask.

"You know, don't you? You know about us."

"I do." She said with a nod. "But I promise you that your secret is safe with me. I'm a woman of my word."

"Why should I trust you? If you know, you're the perfect suspect. You're blonde, you wear Louboutins, and you know what is in that prenup. If whatever type of relationship you had with Edward went badly, you have the motive."

"You don't have to trust me. But if you're going to pursue your suspicion of me, you're wasting your efforts."

"Well, you've given me a lot to think about. I'm sure I'll see you around."

"I'm sure." She answered.

I turned around and left the coffee shop, feeling better and yet more confused at the same time.

I felt like I couldn't get to Edward's office fast enough. There was so much I wanted to say; so much I needed to say. Clearly, he had a misunderstanding of what I would and would not put up with from him. If we were ever going to be on the same page with each other, we desperately needed to talk and I needed to set things straight.

I rode the elevator up to the floor he was on and felt a little inadequate as I approached his secretary's desk. Everyone in the building was dressed in their finest, and I was rolling up in my Old Navy dress. I forgot about that, however, when I realized that I didn't know the person sitting behind the desk. This wasn't Veronica. This was some new girl; a perky blonde with a bad spray tan.

"Can I help you?" She asked as I approached her desk.

"Um, yeah. Is Edward in?" I asked, not all too interested in getting to know her.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"I'm his wife." I explained.

"Oh! Mrs. Cullen!" She immediately scurried to stand up, straightening her pencil skirt as she did. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Katherine, Katherine Stephenson." She explained, extending her hand to me.

She was genuine enough looking, so I tried my best to give her a sincere smile as I shook her hand.

"Call me Bella. It's nice to meet you. How long have you been working with Edward?"

"I've been with him for a couple months now."

"Oh. I didn't know he had someone new. I've been out of town for a while. Do you know what happened to the girl before you?"

"No, I don't know anything. There was a temp agency sending people to fill in before he hired me, so she must have been gone for at least a few weeks before I got here."

"Hmm. Okay, thanks. So can I go in?"

"Sure, sure, he just finished up in a meeting. Go ahead."

I knocked twice, but didn't wait for any response from him before I opened the door. He glanced away from his computer screen to look at me, and seemed surprised. I didn't come here often.

"Hey." I said as I closed the door behind me.

"Bella…" He put down a piece of paper and turned on his rolling chair to face me directly. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"We need to talk."

"Yes, we do."

I walked over to his desk and dropped my purse on the ground before plopping down in one of the leather chairs.

"I just came from meeting with Rosalie."

He stared at me for a moment.

"You what?"

"You heard me."

He picked up a coffee cup from his desk and took a long sip. After he put it back down he leaned back on his chair and rubbed at his chin, looking like he was deep in thought. Was he trying to figure out what she might have told me?

"And how was that?" He finally asked.

"I'll tell you all about after I tell you what I really came here to say."

"Alright. I have things that I need to say to you as well."

"I'll go first."

"Please do." He agreed, gesturing with his hand for me to begin.

"Let me make something very clear to you, Edward Cullen." I began, standing up and griping the edge of his desk with my hands so I was looking down at him. "If you ever come at me the way you did this morning, I will leave. We will just call it quits with this whole thing, because I'm not going to put up with that."

He nodded.

"I understand."

"You tried to physically intimidate me into submitting to you. That was wrong of you."

"Yes, it was."

"You scared me."

I started tearing up. I was surprised that I was getting emotional. In turn, the collected expression on his face began to falter, too. He looked pained; regretful.

"I know. And I feel horrible."

"I thought…" I blinked a few times, really not wanting to cry. "I thought you were going to hit me."

His face crumbled a little. His eyebrows came together and he looked almost nauseated.

"Bella…I would never."

I sighed and sat back down.

"I can't keep doing this back and forth with you. It's exhausting."

He stood up and walked around the desk until he was standing just in front of me. Then he leaned back against it, crossing one foot in front of the other, and folded his arms over his chest.

"Can you not stand over me like that right now?" I asked, not wanting to feel like he was trying to exude dominance over me.

So he crouched down in front of me instead, his hands on the sides of my knees, so that I was the one looking down at him. I crossed my arms over my chest, not wanting to touch him.

"Bella, I'm an asshole. I knew I would fuck shit up with you at some point. Several points, actually, is probably more accurate. This morning…I was dealing with some shit and then you get pissed about the Rosalie thing again, and it just set me off. But that's not an excuse. I have no excuse for scaring you like that."

"You're right, there is no excuse. You can yell at me and be an asshole…you can ignore me, I don't give a fuck. But I'm not going to deal with you coming at me physically. Don't ever do that again."

"I won't. And I'm sorry."

The way he looked at me, he was my night time Edward. He was the warm Edward, not the cold one. I could see the regret in his eyes, and I believed him that he was truly sorry.

"You should have just told me what was going on this morning. You didn't have to shut me out."

"I didn't really have a chance before you answered Rosalie's call."

"Why didn't you want to answer her calls?"

"I'd already spoken to her. She was calling to bitch at me. I would have called her back after she calmed down."

"You accused her of working against you."

He moved one hand from my leg to rub at the back of his neck.

"So she told you."

"Yes. She told me about the blonde woman. Do you really think it was her?"

"No…I…" He sighed and stood, walking back around the desk to return to his chair. "I really don't know."

"She knows about us. She knows about our agreement."

"It sounds like she was very informative for you this morning."

"She said she wouldn't have met with me if she wasn't angry with you."

"So what else did she tell you, then? How horrible I am?"

"She told me I'd have to talk to you about your past with her, but she did say that nothing is going on between you now."

"I already told you that."

"Well what do you expect, Edward? I can't just trust you blindly and be satisfied with the tiny bits and pieces of information you give me here and there."

"I would have thought you would at least know that I'm not sleeping with her."

"I thought I did, but then…I don't know…"

Deep down, I did know. Yes, Edward was hot and cold sometimes and drove me insane. But I refused to think that the man I had shared those intimate moments with would deceive me that way. Part of me felt like I couldn't trust him at all, but the other part of me already did completely. It was giving me whiplash. But aside from him, for some reason I believed Rosalie. She had told me herself, to my face, and it made Edward's claims more believable.

"I'll tell you again, I am not sleeping with her, nor do I have any interest in doing so. What little there was between us is in the past."

"I believe that you're not sleeping with her. And I have believed that. I haven't really thought that you were having some sort of affair with her. That's not what it is about her that drives me insane."

"What is it, then?"

"It's…it's what she represents. It's about everything I don't know about your past. It's the fact that you close yourself off from me when she comes up. I can see how uncomfortable you are talking to me about her, and I don't understand why. I mean, I know you're not sleeping with her, but do you have feelings for her? Is there, like, some unresolved stuff between you guys?"

"No…no. No to all of that."

"Edward, you have to understand. When we were first married, when we first got into this arrangement with each other, I felt like all of this wasn't my business. We had a silent, mutual understanding to not ask about this stuff. And it was fine."

"But now?"

I looked down at my lap, toying with the material on my dress.

"Now I have feelings…for you."

"And I for you. We discussed this last night. And now you're saying it like it's a bad thing. Did this morning make that a bad thing?"

I looked back at him and he looked worried.

"No. But, Edward, you have to understand that it changes things. If we're…if we're thinking about a real relationship with each other, then we both at some point have to accept what that means. And part of what it means is that we lose the right to shut each other out. We have to let each other in. And it's not just you, it's me too. I have to be more forthcoming with my own shit. You told me that you want me to know you, but you have to start acting like it. And so do I. Because if we're going to be together…like really be together…we have to know each other. Not just the parts that we feel comfortable sharing."

"Is this us trying to have the infamous defining of the relationship conversation?"

"I'm just…trying to make sense of this mess that we're in."

"We'll figure it out."

"Will we? Because I can't set myself up to get hurt by you. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm vulnerable right now. And if a relationship is still something that you don't really want, then I don't even want to try. Because I see all of the ways this can play out and eighty percent of them are bad. The odds are already against us. Don't set us up for failure."

He rubbed his hands over his face as he went back the other side of the desk and sat in his chair once more.

"This is a heavy conversation that I wasn't prepared for, to be completely honest with you."

"What does that mean? You don't know what you want?

"No, it's not that. I'm ju-" He stopped when his computer started chirping with some sort of alarm or reminder.

He glanced at the screen, then at his watch, and then sighed and pressed a button on his phone.

"Yes, Mr. Cullen?" Katherine's voice suddenly spoke over the speaker.

"I'm moving our lunch touch base to tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

"And please call and reschedule my conference call to later this afternoon."

"Will do."

He pressed another button on the phone that apparently cut off their conversation.

"Sorry." He apologized quickly.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't want to come here and interrupt your work."

"It's okay. This is important." I gave him a small smile, appreciative that our conversation mattered to him. "You're important." He finished.

"Thanks."

"I need to get something to eat." He said, yanking open one of his desk drawers and rummaging around. "We still have a lot to talk about, and I'm starving."

"Yes." I agreed. "We do still have a lot to talk about."

He pulled out what appeared to be a takeout menu and looked over it.

"Are you hungry? Do you want anything?" He asked, looking up at me.

I nodded and took the menu from him when he extended it towards me.

I looked over the menu of a little sandwich café from around the corner, trying to find something that sounded appetizing. I was hungry, but I felt too distracted to give much thought to what I wanted to eat. Hanging out and having lunch together wasn't exactly where I pictured this visit going, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Was I being too soft? Should I be angrier at him?

"What's wrong? Do you want to order from somewhere else?"

"No, this is fine, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

I sighed and placed the menu down on his desk.

"I was enraged on my way here, Edward. I was ready to rip you a new one. And then I come here and I'm sitting here looking at you and…"

"And what?"

"And I'm not so enraged anymore."

"You're upset because you want to be enraged?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"No. I mean, yes. But when you say it like that I sound like a lunatic…"

He scoffed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'll never understand women."

"It's not about me being a woman, Edward, Christ…"

"I'm sorry. That came out wrong."

"You're always saying the perfect thing one minute and then the completely wrong thing the next. It's maddening."

Then he was up again, and again walking around the desk to my side. He came and put his hands on the arm rests of my chair, turning it ninety degrees, as if I was weightless, so that I was facing the chair next to me. Then he turned that chair to face me, pulled it up close to mine, and sat down. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, close enough that our fingertips were just barely touching.

"Look, as long as we're talking about things we have to accept if this is going to be anything, just know that I'm going to fuck up…probably a lot. And you'll probably fuck up too. Let's be honest, neither one of us has any significant experience with relationships. At least, not romantic ones. I haven't been in a relationship since I was eighteen years old, meaning I haven't been accountable to anyone other than myself for over a decade."

He was right. If we had any shot at being able to be together functionally, we had a very long way to go.

"I guess we both have a lot to learn."

"We do." He agreed. "But the important thing is that I want to. I want to learn. Do you?"

All I had to do was look into his eyes to know my answer.

"Yes."

"Well, good. That's a start, right?"

It was. And I felt better.

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's a start."

I was reminded that we didn't have to all of the sudden completely change overnight. Baby steps were okay, as long as they were in the direction of going forward.

"And I promise to try."

"Good," I answered. "You can start right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first," I picked the takeout menu up off of his desk and handed it to him. "You can order me a chicken salad sandwich with sweet potato fries and a coke. And then you can tell me everything there is to know about you and Rosalie."

He nodded, taking the menu from me.

"Okay."

"Okay." I echoed, relieved.

I sat, waiting patiently as he called and ordered food to be delivered up to his office. He remained sitting right across from me, and his close proximity was a little distracting. I found myself wanting to touch him, to be closer.

Once he had hung up the phone he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands up and down his strong thighs as he appeared to try to collect his thoughts.

"Look," He began after a while of silence. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you have to make a deal with me."

A deal? Was he really under the false impression that having this conversation was up for negotiation?

"A deal?"

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, but after that it's done…this Rosalie thing, I mean. Ask me anything you want but after we have this conversation, when I tell you there's nothing for you to be concerned about, you have to believe me. You have to trust me."

Although I wasn't particularly in the mood to bargain with him for information, his proposal was one I could deal with. If the only price I had to pay for finally knowing everything about Rosalie was to finally be able to move on from the whole thing, it was definitely worth it.

"Okay, fine."

"Okay. Good. Now just be warned that this is probably going to be anticlimactic for you after the various scandalous scenarios I'm sure you've thought up to satiate your curiosity of my relationship to her."

"Good. I hope it is."

"Me and Rosalie. So," He began, folding his arms across his chest. "Not long after her husband died we were in New York…negotiating business. This was before we'd partnered on anything yet." I leaned forward, feeling like I was literally drooling, hanging on his every word. "We went out, we got drunk on red wine, and we had sex."

I could feel the disgusted look on my face. I hated imagining them together. I couldn't help but wonder if he was the same way in bed with her that he was with me. I hated thinking of her hands on him, of her naked body against his.

I was jealous.

"Go on," I sighed.

"We had sex, and I thought that we were both very clear that it didn't mean anything. I'd already known her for a while at this point and I thought that if any woman was capable of understanding what I wanted, it would be her. We had a great time together, but I wasn't at all interested in anything more."

"And she was?"

"Not at first, no. We came back and we began a sexual relationship. You know, in hindsight, I should have known better. Her husband had just died and, although I maybe didn't realize it at the time, she was vulnerable. She became…attached."

"Attached?"

"She started wanting to go out, spend time together. I wasn't interested in spending time together unless it involved fucking her." I winced. "Sorry, just being honest. I tried to keep my distance as not to lead her on, but really I should have ended it there."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was selfish." He said with a shrug. "To be completely honest, she was good in bed."

I looked down at my lap and took a deep breath.

"I don't think I needed to hear that part."

"You wanted to know the whole truth, and this is it." I looked back up at him and although he looked apologetic, he continued. "My point in telling you that is relevant to the story. I cared about my own pleasure more than I cared about what was best for her. I was enjoying myself, so I continued sleeping with her. Objectifying women wasn't out of the norm for me. I didn't feel guilty at all. I told myself she knew what she had signed on for with me. My intentions were clear."

"So what happened? It ended badly?"

"Yes. I broke her heart, I guess. I guess she thought that I wasn't picking up on the fact that she desired more from me. So she made that fact unavoidable. One day, while we were getting dressed after an afternoon rendezvous at a hotel, she verbalized her feelings. She told me that she wanted to turn what we had into more."

"And what did you do?"

"I told her I had a meeting I had to get to, and I left. I left her there, and then I stopped returning her phone calls and messages. We'd come to a point where our sexual relationship had run its course. She had put an elephant in the room, or bed so to speak, that I couldn't ignore any longer. I couldn't continue using her for sex, so I ignored her."

"You just…ignored her? After she told you she had feelings for you?"

"Yes." He said with a nod.

"Wh…what the fuck is wrong with you?"

He closed his eyes and his eyebrows came together, as if pained by my reaction

Good.

"Bella, I'm not proud of my actions…"

"Not proud?" I scoffed, standing up and walking around him to go stand in front of his picture window, looking down over the city. "That's all you have to say? Not proud?"

Every time I started to believe that he was a good man, a man worthy of the feelings I had for him, he came right along and reminded me of what a heartless asshole he could be.

"Why do you think I didn't want to tell you about my past with her? The way I treated her isn't information I wanted to volunteer to you."

"Why?" I asked, whirling around to face him. "Because you didn't want me to know that you were capable of treating me that way? That you are capable of treating me that way?"

"I couldn't treat you that way, Bella."

"Why? Because now you like me? It doesn't work that way, Edward. You don't treat people like that just because you...just because you don't want anything from them!"

"Bella,"

"No. No…" I answered, shaking my head as I went to pick my purse up off the floor. "You know what? I'm almost wishing I hadn't asked. I should have just left it alone when you didn't want to tell me."

"You must have known it was something along these lines, Bella. What did you think I was going to tell you?"

I really didn't know what I expected. Maybe I was expecting Rosalie to be the one to have wronged him. Maybe I hoped that was the case because it would have been easier to process. I didn't want to be falling in love with a man who was capable of treating a woman that way.

"You know what, give my lunch to someone else. I need to go. I need to process this."

"You're just going to leave? Are you really going to be upset with me over something I did to someone else years ago?"

"Edward, I just…" I turned towards him and threw a hand up in defeat. "I'm exhausted. I have been back from Forks for less than twenty four hours, Edward. And already so much drama has happened. When am I going to catch a break?" And then for what felt like a daily, or maybe hourly, occurrence over the last few months, I was tearing up. "Is my life going to be a fucking shitstorm forever?"

"Please don't cry, Bella…"

"Can we please just finish this conversation when you get home? I need to…I need to think about…everything."

He stood with a sigh.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be home for dinner."

"Okay. I'll see you later."

I turned and let myself out, eager to be alone to think things through.

I went straight from Edward's office to the salon to get my nails and hair done. I was in desperate need of a manicure and a hair trim, but more than that I was in desperate need of something that may help me relax. I had so many thoughts zipping through my mind I felt like I was going to combust.

As I had my nails manicured, I reflected on my conversation with Rosalie and everything I had learned about her from Edward afterwards. Our conversation about her clearly wasn't over. I still had questions. For instance, if things had ended as badly with Rosalie as he made it sound, why the fuck were they even on speaking terms? I obviously hadn't heard the whole story yet. I probably should have stayed to get the rest of the answers I wanted, but I needed time to process the information that I had so far received.

And what I had gathered was that Edward was an asshole.

I don't know why I was so surprised. It's not like I didn't know he had a cold and heartless side to him. I'd experienced it myself. I'd seen it. I think what bothered me so much about what he'd told me was the fact that it actually made me feel bad for Rosalie. I'd spent so long hating her, getting angry when I even heard her name. I had concluded from my own assumptions that she wanted Edward, that she wanted to get between us, or that she had it out for me. But now I was faced with the fact that the bad guy had been Edward all along. And I was reminded that the man I was falling in love with had a nasty side to him that I wasn't fond of.

Despite all of this, I knew what he had said to me before I left held truth. I couldn't hold him accountable to me, for something he had done to another woman years earlier. That wasn't fair. And regardless, I didn't want to bring his baggage with her into our relationship. That wasn't healthy. Even I knew that.

I couldn't be angry with him for it, but I did need time to let it all sink in. And the more it sunk in, the more I started to realize that I had jumped the gun rushing out of Edward's office. We still had so much to talk about. It seemed like the more answers to my questions that I got, the more questions that I had. I still needed to know the rest of the story of what happened with Rosalie. And we hadn't even touched on the things I had learned from meeting with her and the fact that somebody was snooping around in our business, trying to get a copy of our prenuptial agreement.

I began to ask myself; how much shit can one woman take?

A French manicure, a trim, and a blowout later...and I only felt marginally better.

When I got home Cecelia, our angel, had all of our dirty clothes washed and folded from the luggage we'd brought home from Forks. I thanked her and took it all up to our room to put it all away. When I came back downstairs and ventured into the kitchen an hour later, she was looking at me with concern.

"You look troubled." She commented as I opened up the refrigerator and took out a bottle of Fiji water.

"Yeah, what else is new?" I sighed.

"And you look skinny. Have you been eating while you were away? Or did you miss my cooking too much?"

I gave her a small smile as I unscrewed the cap of my water. Her concern for me was comforting. She cared for me in a very pure way.

"Yes, I've been eating. But yes, I did miss your cooking."

"Well then I'll cook for you now. What do you want?"

"No, no, it's okay. I'm not that hungry."

I was so drained, my appetite was shot.

"You ate lunch?" She asked me, giving me a suspicious look.

"Well…no…" I confessed.

She shook her head disapprovingly.

"Then you have to at least have a snack."

"You're not going to let me say no, are you?" I asked knowingly.

"Smart girl."

She rummaged through the contents of our refrigerator and quickly threw together a plate of cheese, crackers, hummus, and fruit…and demanded I eat it all. I grabbed my iPad from where it was charging on the counter and took it and my snack into the living room, where I sprawled out on the couch to play mindless games.

With a full stomach and a troubled mind, I fell asleep.

.

.

.

.

I was woken sometime later by Edward's lips on my forehead, forming the gentlest kiss. My eyes fluttered open to find him sitting at the very edge of the couch, at my side, with a hand placed on my hip. My iPad was lying on my chest.

"Hey." He greeted, pushing some hair away from me face.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"It's just past six thirty. Were you asleep long?"

"A few hours. Did you just get home?"

His tie was loosened, his suit jacket had been removed, and his sleeves had been rolled up. I wasn't sure if he'd been home long enough to get comfortable, or if he just hadn't been upstairs to change yet.

"Just a few minutes ago."

"Oh."

Although I'd had a snack just before falling asleep, that apparently wasn't enough to satisfy me because as I raised my arms above my head and stretched my back, my stomach growled loudly.

"Hungry?" He asked me.

"Evidently."

"Good. Cecelia has already started dinner."

"What is she making?"

"I'm not sure, but I saw pasta."

"Pasta sounds good."

He shifted a little to face more towards me.

"How was your afternoon?" He asked.

"It was…okay. I went to get my nails and hair done."

"I thought your hair looked different."

"I was trying to find something to help me relax a little…take my mind off things."

"And did that work for you?"

"Not as well as I'd hoped. Look I," I started to sit up and he scooted over to make room for me. "I'm sorry I ran out on you so quickly. I was a little freaked. But I should have stayed. I still want to hear the rest of the story."

"Well, I'm still willing to tell it."

"I have questions."

"Okay."

"But I need to pee first."

"Go ahead. I'll be outside."

I went upstairs to use the restroom, because I wanted to brush my hair and my teeth after being asleep. When I went back downstairs, I smelled some sort of sauce cooking that smelled divine. I passed through the kitchen to investigate and discovered that it was a garlic cream sauce with shrimp. Cecelia's food was one of the best perks of being married to Edward. I was spoiled.

I snagged a bottle of chilled wine from the refrigerator and then two glasses before I went outside to the backyard. I made my way out towards the pool, where I saw Edward seated at one of the table and chair sets. It was one of his favorite spots to sit and smoke in the evening because it was in the perfect spot to enjoy the waterfall that cascaded down into the water of the pool. It was a beautiful night out, and the sun was just beginning to go down.

"Would you prefer to wait until after dinner to talk?" Edward asked as I sat down across from him.

"Actually, Holly is coming over after dinner. I mean…if you don't mind. I would have called to cancel after today, but I already rescheduled from last night."

And besides that, I missed her.

"You don't have to ask my permission."

"Well," I shrugged. "I really don't know what the guidelines of this relationship are anymore."

"I guess that's just another thing for us to talk about."

"I guess so." I agreed as I started to pour myself a glass of wine.

"And since you have plans later, I guess we should continue our earlier conversation now."

I sighed deeply, trying to prepare myself, and took a long sip of wine.

"Alright," I began as I sat my glass down with a clink. "So where were we? You fuck Rosalie, she falls for you, and you ditch her with no explanation. She hates you. I'm assuming there is more to the story because I'm not seeing how we get from that to you two even being on speaking terms at all now."

I watched him carefully as he poured himself a glass of wine and he appeared thoughtful, as if he didn't even remember the details of what happened between them.

"Well," He finally answered. "We weren't on speaking terms for a while. I was already done with her in my mind, but she solidified that with her behavior."

"What did she do?"

"She pulled the typical vengeful act of a woman scorned, complete with keying my car. She came to my office, busted in after ignoring my secretary, and chewed my ass out for not answering any of her calls before slapping me. Then she stormed out and left her mark on my Mercedes before she left."

My mouth fell open a little. And he hadn't immediately suspected this bitch of vandalizing his Mercedes a second time?

"And what did you do?"

"I told her that she was emotionally unstable and to stay away from me."

"And so I ask again, why are you two now on speaking terms?"

"Eventually, after some time had passed and she'd been in therapy, she called and invited me to lunch. I initially declined, but then I received an email from her explaining how she was on some mission of personal growth and that making amends with those who had hurt her in life was imperative. So I was hesitant, but I agreed. We met up and she apologized for her behavior. Furthermore, she said that she didn't think she was ever really in love with me. She said that she was in a very vulnerable place after her husband's passing and I was the only one at the time who was close to her in any capacity, even if it was only physical. She latched on emotionally. In reality I was just a warm body next to her, but in her mind she turned it into what it was she needed at the time. In turn, I apologized for my own behavior that provoked her in the first place."

"And so that was it? She says she sorry and regurgitates some psyc-analysis bullshit and all of the sudden you're besties?"

His lips formed a hard line. He wasn't amused.

"I couldn't entirely blame her for her reaction to the way I treated her. She didn't deserve to be discarded like I used tissue."

"I still don't understand how either of you buried the hatchet that easily."

"You make it sound like we're the closest of friends now. It isn't like that now, nor was it then. From the time before I'd ever engaged with her sexually, we'd always matriculated in the same social circle. I was still hearing things about her…seeing things. Our reconciliation came at a time when she was starting to make some very impressive achievements with her late husband's businesses. I was intrigued with her from that standpoint, and that standpoint alone. That fact led us into a business relationship. You're making a bit of a leap when you insinuate that it is more than that."

I was quiet for a while, absorbing everything he was saying. He sipped his wine and waited patiently until I spoke.

"But this…" I shook my head, partially in confusion and partially in frustration. "This still isn't making sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" He asked patiently.

"I've seen you two together. The way you interact with each other…it's weird. Either something else has happened or you two were both never over what happened between you."

"When have you ever seen any significant interaction between us that gave you that impression?" He asked, giving me a genuinely confused look.

And then I remembered that one of the most significant interactions I'd witnessed between them, Edward still to that day didn't know that I'd been there. I hadn't ever planned on bringing it up, but I had been waiting so long to have this conversation I just wanted to put it all out there from both sides.

"Well…I haven't told you this, but…um, at our wedding…"

He watched me carefully, listening intently.

"What about our wedding?"

"I saw you two, outside."

"You were spying on us?"

"No…no, nothing like that." I kinda was, but I told myself he didn't need to know that. "But I went outside and you both were out there together and the way you were with each other…it was very tense. If you really left everything in the past and were all strictly business, then what was with the heated exchange? I mean, she fucking slapped you, Edward…"

He sighed deeply and ran not one, but both hands through his hair.

"I never knew you saw any of that…"

From his facial expression he appeared deep in thought now. The look in his eyes made it seem like his mind was racing.

"You seem bothered that I saw that. Is there something you're still not telling me?"

"No. That was…at the wedding, she…" He paused. "We…"

I felt my eyebrows shoot up as I stared at him. Edward was never rendered speechless.

"You what?"

"There was some tension when she found out I was engaged to you. At first I think she was a little hurt that I was getting married when I had told her I wasn't capable of ever having feelings for her. But once she really thought about it, she didn't buy my story. I hadn't planned on telling her of our arrangement, but she made it clear that she had figured out what I was doing."

"So, what? She was mad that you didn't ask her to marry you instead? She was willing to have that arrangement with you, regardless of your lack of feelings?"

"No. No, that's not why she was upset."

"Why, then?"

"If you weren't so convinced that she's so evil, you probably would have figured it out yourself."

"What are you talking about?"

He looked at me for a long moment.

"She was upset for you, Bella."

"Excuse me?"

"You're very young. You have little life experience. She felt like you didn't know what you were getting into, and that I was taking advantage of you."

"She thought you would end up hurting me like you hurt her."

"Yes."

I leaned back in my chair and released a deep breath that I hadn't realized I was holding.

"Wow…"

"Not what you were expecting?"

"No. Not quite the ending to that story that I saw coming."

"Sorry to disappoint." He answered with a hint of a smirk.

The whole thing about Rosalie being concerned for me and not wanting Edward to hurt me the way he did her was sweet and all. It was. However, as I sat there and contemplated everything that Edward had just said to me, there was still a very unsettling piece to the puzzle that I needed to question him about.

"I still have one very important question."

"What's that?"

"This woman goes to your office, yells at you, slaps you, keys your fucking car…and yet you immediately write her off as a suspect in the car being vandalized a second time?! How the hell does that work out?"

"I don't know…" He sighed. "I thought it about for a split second but I just had a gut feeling it wasn't her. Yes, she keyed my car in the heat of an emotional moment. But what happened this time…that was a very heated, personal attack. It just didn't seem to fit."

"But obviously she's capable."

"Well, as you now know after your spontaneous meeting with her this morning, I did question her once I found out someone is trying to get their hands on a copy of our prenuptial agreement."

"God," I groaned, shaking my head and tugging at my hair. "That's a whole other conversation in itself. That's a problem, Edward."

"Yes. I'm aware."

"You believed her? When you questioned her?"

"A part of me wishes I didn't, but yes, I believed her. It's just not her style, to try to attack me behind my back like that. She's more brazen. And aside from that, she seemed sincere in her denial."

"I know what you mean." I agreed hesitantly, too stubborn to want to let go of Rosalie as my main suspect. "When I spoke to her this morning…I don't know, there was just something convincing about her in the way she denied being involved with you now or having anything to do with any of that shit. I guess I kind of get what you're saying. I got the impression that if she did something to attack you, or us, she would own it wholeheartedly."

"As she does with everything else in life." He agreed.

I was about to say something else, but then the sound of the back door opening distracted us both, and we both looked over to see Cecilia coming outside with two large bowls.

"Aw, Cece…" I said as I got up and went to meet her half way. "You didn't have to bring these out to us, we could have come in."

"No, no, it is a beautiful night. You should enjoy out here, together." She answered as I took the bowls from her.

"Thank you. This smells amazing."

"You are very welcome. I put extra shrimp in your bowl."

"You know me so well." I said with a wide smile.

She went back in, and I took the food back over to Edward at the table.

"Thanks." He said as I sat his bowl down in front of him.

"God, this smells so good…"

I sat back down and dug right on, swirling some pasta around my fork and then blowing on it. I hummed in appreciation after my first bite, then washed it down with some wine. My stomach rumbled. I was hungrier than I thought.

"So, what are you thinking?" Edward asked after a while.

"To be honest, I'm thinking that I hate imagining you and Rosalie together. I hate the thought of you inside of her."

I looked up at him to find him looking at my blankly, clearly surprised by my response.

"So don't think about it then."

"I'm also thinking I'm a little irritated that you didn't tell me about her sooner. For months, I have been going crazy every time she comes up. And now I'm feeling like you dangled her around in front of me to torture me, and you don't even have a good reason. The way you treated her was bad, but you could have told me."

He sighed.

"At first, I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to have to explain myself for the way I treated her. And, to be honest, I didn't feel I owed you an explanation. But then, it irritated me that you kept pushing it; demanding answers. So when she came up, I guess I became just as touchy as you did."

I didn't like that answer.

"Of course I was pushy about it. You nearly berated me every time I asked about her."

"Let me guess, so now you're even more upset with me about her than you were when you stormed out of my office."

That reminded me of my earlier conclusion on being upset with him about her, so I made an effort to rein it in and took a deep breath.

"No. No, I'm not upset with you."

He gave me a surprised look as he swallowed a mouth full of pasta.

"You're not?"

"No. You were right, earlier. I can't be angry with you about your past with her. That was before me. Yeah, you treated her like shit. But that's between you and her. Yes, I'm a little annoyed that you didn't tell me all of this sooner. But you're not accountable to me for what you did to her."

He looked at me for a minute, as if waiting for me to say I was joking and then start yelling at him.

"Well, good. I'm glad to hear you say that. That's…mature of you."

"Besides, I have bigger things to worry about right now anyway. For example, the fact that somebody is trying to get their hands on our prenup."

"Trust me, I know."

I took another bite of pasta as I thought.

"Forgive me for sounding like a broken record here, but as I think about possible suspects I keep coming back to Rosalie again. I mean, think about it. We've already established that she knows about our agreement. Who else would know? And if they didn't know, what reason would they have for wanting a copy of it?"

"I've been asking myself those very questions all day."

"Well, have you come up with any answers?"

"No."

A few minutes of silence passed as we both continued eating, deep in thought.

"What about this friend of yours?" I asked. "The person you filed the prenup with. He didn't give you any more details about this mysterious person?"

He shook his head as he swallowed.

"No. All he told me was that she was blonde, and that she was wearing Louboutin heels. He recognized them because he had just purchased his wife a very similar pair."

"There has to be more. I mean, did this take place at an office? He doesn't have any camera footage?"

"No. I kept asking him questions, trying to get more out of him, but he just kept repeating that he knew absolutely nothing other than those two things. He seemed nervous. I'm wondering if maybe this person was trying to bribe him in some way? I mean, in what other pretenses would someone think they could just approach him and obtain a copy of such a private document like that? Maybe they have something on him. And maybe he just didn't want t-" He paused suddenly and gave me a strange look. "What? Why are you smiling?"

I didn't realize that I was until he asked me.

"I'm sorry. It's just…this is nice."

"What's nice?" He asked, now looking at me like I was crazy.

"It's nice to hear you sharing your thoughts with me."

I'd become so accustomed to Edward's constant shadiness and annoyingly cryptic ways of answering my questions. It was so refreshing to sit there with him and hear him share with me what he was thinking, feeling, and suspecting. It made me feel like we were on the same team, and that could make me smile even in the midst of this shitstorm of drama.

"Well, you made your point this morning." He answered. "I thought about what you said, after you left. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but we both have issues. Stack that with the fact that we both have very little experience with relationships, and you were right. The odds are against us. If we have any fighting chance of having something…something real, then we both have to change."

"I'm glad you were actually listening to me."

"Don't worry. I heard you."

And I could see it in his eyes that he had taken it to heart.

We continued eating for a while, and I continued thinking. The big picture was finally starting to be filled in. Well, at least the bits of information that I actually had access to. The biggest question at hand was who was trying to dig up dirt on us, and was it the same person who had vandalized the Mercedes? It was a hard pill to swallow to have to accept that I couldn't know the answers right then, but the other information I was finally getting helped soothe the sting of it for now.

As I started to recount everything mysterious that had happened so far, trying to fill in the question marks now that I had some answers, I made some realizations. For example, the gun that Edward had in the nightstand most likely wasn't just out because it was being cleaned. Had he lied to me about it? Was the reason it was there because of the revelation that someone was acting as a threat to us? That would make much more sense.

But then I realized…

"Wait a second." I said, putting down my fork. "I was just going to ask you if all of this related at all to the gun I saw last night. But Rosalie said that all of this came to light this morning. Are you going to tell me that it's just a coincidence?"

"Yes and no." He responded. "I put the gun there just after you left. It was more in reaction to what happened to the Mercedes. That was a very passionate attack. It didn't feel like an isolated incident to me. A couple days after you were gone the house alarm went off in the middle of the night, and so naturally I moved the gun into the drawer by the bed just in case anything happened. But nothing did, and I never had to use it."

"You could have told me that when I asked you. Why did you lie?"

"I didn't lie. I told you that nothing else had happened, and it didn't. Besides, even if it had, you had literally been back from Forks for maybe a couple hours. You've been through a lot in the last few months. The last thing I wanted to do was tell you anything that would make you feel unsafe in our home."

"Well, I'm not feeling all too secure now…"

"I'm not going to allow anything to happen to you."

"You're not always here."

"Even when I'm not, the cameras are up and going and the alarm is always set. If anything else happens at this house, we're at least going to know who the perpetrator is this time."

"I still don't like being in this big house alone when you're gone. Especially when you're out of town. It made me jumpy before, but now it's just going to be worse with all of this shit going on."

"Well, then when I go out of town you'll just have to go with me."

I smiled, but realistically I couldn't go with him everywhere he travelled.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's…" He paused as he looked at his watch. "A quarter to eight. What time is Holly supposed to be here?"

"Eight. She'll probably be late though, as usual."

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but I think we can shelve the conversation for now."

"Alright."

"Just as long as I don't have a time sensitive window on this new open and honest attitude of yours."

"No. No window."

"Thank you, by the way…for finally telling me everything."

"Well, it needed to be told."

"Yes, it did."

We finished up eating, getting full quickly after such a heavy meal. When we were done we took our dishes inside and I tried to help Cece clean up, even though she didn't want me to.

Edward and I agreed to resume our conversation later, and he informed me that he would be spending the rest of his evening in his home office. He said that he'd spent too much time of his day preoccupied with what happened that morning, and that he didn't get enough actual work done.

Holly arrived at eight twenty, and although I wasn't sure I was even in the mood for any company earlier, it worked out well that she came over. Not only did Edward need to get some work done, but it was good for me to have a break from such intense conversation with him. Maybe talking about everything in chunks was a good thing. I didn't know how it was for him, but it allowed me time to absorb it all.

Once Edward was hauled up in his office and Cece had left for the night, Holly and I decided to go swimming. We hung out in the pool for a while, but eventually ended up in the hot tub where we smoked and just talked for hours. I found myself wishing I could tell her everything, all about the drama we were dealing with and even about our agreement. I wanted to tell her that I was falling in love with Edward and how much it scared me. I was desperate to talk to someone, anyone, about it all. But I couldn't. I couldn't trust anyone with that information, especially not now.

Still, we had plenty to talk about. After the day I'd had, it was actually cathartic to get back to the very root of all of my stress, anxiety, and grief.

My Dad.

I sniffled a little, wiping a tear from my cheek. I had just recounted everything to her about my stay with him, his death, and his funeral.

"It's just so strange. It still doesn't feel like he's gone. It kind of feels like it was all a dream. And if I called his house right now, or went there…he'd be there waiting for me."

"I wish I knew the right things to say…"

I shook my head.

"It's okay. There is no right thing to say. It's just nice to have you here to listen. Thank you."

"Of course."

"Cecelia, our housekeeper, did say something to me earlier that put things into perspective a little bit. I've been so angry that I didn't get more time with him, but she reminded me that a lot of people lose their loved once with no time to prepare. You know, car accidents, stuff like that. At least I was able to spend every day with him for the last three months. I have to be thankful for the time I did get."

"That's a good way to look at it."

She held the joint out to me and I took it, bringing it to me lips.

"Anyway," I continued after a few puffs. "So now you're all caught up on what I've been going through. What have you been up to? Please tell me it's better than what I've been doing."

She laughed a little as she took the joint back from me.

"Girl, I've just been enjoying my summer. Did I tell you I'm living with Embry?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think I knew that."

"So, that's been going well."

"You two must be getting pretty serious, then."

She gave a contemplative look as she inhaled from the joint.

"I mean…I guess so. I mean, neither of us is looking to get married and have babies or shit like that. But we live a pretty awesome life together. His supplier is in Vegas, so we've been going down there like every three weeks for the weekend. Now that you're back, you totally need to come with us sometime."

"Supplier? I thought he grows his own shit now?"

"Weed, yeah."

"Oh. I didn't know he deals with anything else."

She passed the joint back to me again.

"Are you kidding? Pills are what he started out selling at like fourteen years old."

I perked up a little, curious.

"What kind of pills?"

"Uppers, downers, and everything in between." She answered with a bright smile.

"Hmm. I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Have you ever fucked on molly?"

That was not what I was expecting her to say and I was so surprised by it that I started couching, choking on smoke. I was quick to recompose myself, though, and she laughed.

"Ecstasy? No." I laughed.

"You have to try it sometime. It's incredible…makes sex completely transcendent."

I nodded, but I didn't plan on trying that any time soon. I was pretty sure Edward wouldn't go for that, and besides…sex with Edward was already transcendent on its own.

"Thanks for the tip." I answered, passing the joint again.

She stayed a little after midnight that night. It was so nice to catch up with her and really just to take my mind off of all my worries. I thought I had been emotionally drained the day before, but everything that had happened that day may have actually topped it.

Every passing day, it seemed I gathered more and more on my plate to deal with.

By the time that I got up to our room, Edward was already asleep. I tiptoed into the bathroom, trying not to wake him, and shut the door. Edward was a much lighter sleeper than I was, so I tried to be as quiet as I could as I took a quick shower and put on one of his T shirts.

As emotionally drained as I did feel, I still felt too anxious to fall asleep right away. Holly and I had talked for a while more after smoking, so my high was already wearing off and it wouldn't help me. So, after brushing my teeth I rummaged through Edward's medicine cabinet until I found his bottle of Xanax. I took one, and then I turned off the light and went back out into the bedroom.

He shifted and turned a little as I got into bed, and then sighed.

"Sorry…" I whispered softly.

He was lying on his side, facing away from me.

"It's okay. I was only half asleep. I heard you come in. I was trying to wait up for you."

I pulled the covers up over myself and scooted closer to him.

"You didn't have to wait up for me. If I'd known, I wouldn't have been so long."

"It's okay. I just wasn't sure if you'd want to talk more."

"It's late. We can talk more tomorrow."

"Okay. Did you have a good time with Holly?"

"I did."

"Good."

I scooted right up behind him, so that my body was against his, and kissed his bare shoulder.

"Go back to sleep." I told him, and he only hummed in response.

And for the first time, I spooned Edward as we slept that night.

.

.

.

.

The next morning, I was woken by the heavy curtains in our bedroom that blocked out the sun being ripped open, suddenly letting the sunlight shine on me brightly.

What the fuck?

"What the fuck?" I groaned, rolling over from my side onto my back.

I knew I was in bed alone. This didn't surprise me. Edward would have left for work hours ago. What did surprise me, however, was when I opened my eyes to find my brother-in-law's massive frame standing at the end of my bed, grinning at me.

"Hey, Bella!"

"Emmett," I began as I pushed myself up onto my elbows. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well I'm here to see how you're doing, of course. My mom said I couldn't come over yesterday because we had to give you a day to settle in after being back. So I came today! I didn't expect you to still be asleep, though. It's almost noon."

"You could have called."

"Why would I call? I was coming over either way."

"You're a strange dude…" I sighed, shaking my head.

"But I brought you a pie."

"You made a pie?"

"No, I brought a pie. My mom made it."

"What kind?"

"Apple."

"Ooh. I love your mom's apple pie."

"Well, that's from her. I brought something even better from me."

"Better than pie?"

"Yes."

"Well, what is it?" I asked expectantly.

"It's downstairs. Meaning you have to get up to find out."

"Alright, alright, fine…I'm getting up, but you have to leave the room. I'm not wearing any pants."

"So? I don't care."

"I'm not wearing any underwear either."

"Ew, gross," He said as he turned and headed towards the bedroom door. "I don't want to think about you sleeping in that bed with my brother without any underwear."

"I do a lot more with your brother in this bed without wearing underwear than sleep." I said, laughing.

"DIGUSTING!" He yelled as he left the room, his powerful voice booming as it echoed through the hallway.

I got out of bed, peed, brushed my teeth, and put on some sweats. I wasn't very happy about being woken up so suddenly, but I loved Emmett enough to calm my irritation a little.

I could hear Cecilia vacuuming somewhere upstairs as I made my way down. In the kitchen, I found Emmett making himself a sandwich.

"Okay, Em, I'm up. Happy?"

"Immensely. Now you can play with me."

"Excuse me?"

"My schedule is clear all day. You and I are going to play…" He put down the knife he was holding and went to the table, where a brown paper bag was sitting. "Video games!" He finished as he pulled something out of the bag.

"You brought me video games?" I asked with a smile.

"Yup. I have Resident Evil, South Park: Stick of Truth, and last but not least…" He reached into the bag and pulled out another game, holding it out proudly. "Grand Theft Auto!"

"Shut up!" I said, going over him to snatch the game out of his hand. "This is the new one! I haven't played it yet!"

This was a very thoughtful gift, because months ago Emmett and I had bonded over our love for the violent game that I was now holding.

"Neither have I." He said, grinning at me.

"Well, looks like we have plans for the day now."

"And I even put beer in the fridge!" He said proudly.

"Well you just thought of everything, didn't you?"

He put the games down on the table and went back to making his sandwich.

"We should definitely order some pizza."

I turned to look at him incredulously.

"Emmett, you're making a sandwich right now."

"So what?" He scoffed. "You know me. This is a snack. I'll be hungry again in an hour."

And so for the next six hours, Emmett and I posted up in the theater room, eating pizza and drinking beer and playing video games. We committed heists, carried out hits on people, and robbed innocent bystanders on the ridiculously big screen TV. And it was a blast. I realized while rolling around on the couch laughing while listening to his commentary that I couldn't even remember the last time I'd had so much fun. Clearly, I needed to spend more time with Emmett.

After the high-stress day I'd had the day before, this was a very welcome reprieve. Everything that I was worried about was still on my mind, but it was in the back versus the front. And that was a lot better in my book.

Eventually, we had switched over to playing Resident Evil. I'd never played before, and it was actually terrifying. I sat on the couch with my knees pulled up to my chest, hiding half of my face behind a blanket as I watched Emmett's character continuously get beheaded by a zombie with a chainsaw. He kept dying, and would have to start the whole scene over. It was horrifying. The fact that we had the room completely dark did not help.

My heart raced as I watched him go through the same motions and of course, here comes the zombie running towards him. The zombie got up in his face, lifted the chainsaw with a loud revving sound, and –

"AHHHH!" I screamed as the door to the room suddenly swung open.

My scream made Emmett jump, dropping the controller.

"Jesus Christ, Bella, you've got some lungs on you…" Emmett said.

I looked at my husband, standing in the doorway, and he looked at me and then around the room. There was an empty pizza box on the coffee table, empty beer can strewn around us, and a half eaten package of Oreos sitting between us.

"Hi." I said softly, smiling at him sheepishly.

"Hi." He responded, looking back at me again after surveying the mess around us.

"Hi." Emmett said cheerfully, I suspect mocking us.

"Sorry I scared you."

"It's okay. It's just this really scary game Emmett is playing."

He glanced at the TV screen.

"I see that."

Emmett looked back and forth between us twice, and then back at the TV as he shook his head.

"Man, you guys are weird."

"Oh, hush, Emmett." I got up and passed by him as I made my way over to Edward. "I'll be right back, and you better finish this level before I am. I can't watch this poor guy get beheaded again."

I took Edward's hand and led him out of the room, closing the door behind us.

"Did you just get home?" I asked as we walked down the hall, towards our bedroom.

"Just walked in." He confirmed.

We went into the bedroom and he closed the door behind us.

"So how was your day?" I asked.

"Long."

He went to sit on the side of the bed and began removing his shoes.

"Bad long?"

"No, just long."

Once his shoes were off he let his upper body fall back so that he was lying back on the bed, but his legs were still bent over the edge. He extended both of his arms so they were stretched out at his sides, and yawned. I climbed on stop of him so that I was sitting on him, straddling his hips.

"Why so long?"

"I was in meetings pretty much all day long. I felt like I didn't get even a minute to myself."

I frowned.

"It sounds like you have a lot to catch up on after being gone for just a few days. I feel a little bad. I guess it's a good thing you didn't go to Forks with me after all."

"Don't feel bad. It's not that. I just didn't get enough done yesterday, I moved too many things over to today and my day just ended up being packed."

"Well, at least you didn't have to stay late." I said, glancing at the clock.

"Yeah" He sighed.

I ran my hands up his chest and started to loosen his tie.

"Well, you can go to bed early tonight."

Once I'd undone his tie I pulled on one side to slip it off from around his neck and then tossed it on the bed beside him.

"Seems like you had a fun day with Emmett."

"You know, I did. I didn't even know that he was coming over. He just showed up…like literally came into the bedroom and woke me up. But I'm really glad he did. He's pretty awesome. We just hung out all day and even though we didn't do much, he kind of helped to take my mind off of all the shit going on."

"Good. I'm glad."

"Speaking of all the shit going on, did you make any progress today trying to figure anything out?"

"No."

He closed his eyes, and I felt a little bad for even asking. He looked drained. He probably didn't even have enough time to think about any of that.

"Well," I said softly as leaned forward to kiss his jaw. "Maybe later tonight we can help ease a little bit of each other's stress…" I said suggestively.

He smiled as I started to kiss my way towards his lips.

"I have a feeling you may be a little preoccupied this evening."

"Wait, what?"

Before he could answer, there was a knock at the door.

"I finally got past the scary chainsaw dude." Emmett informed me from the other side of the door. "But I have to go now. I have a date tonight."

I pecked Edward's lips quickly and then climbed off of him and went to open the door. I walked downstairs with Emmett and to the door, where we said our goodbyes. I hugged him and thanked him genuinely for the day, telling him that it was exactly what I needed. He seemed pleased with himself, giving me that big beaming Emmett smile.

Not too much later, I had the theater room cleaned up and Edward and I were sitting down to dinner. He ate the big meal Cece had prepared, but I felt seriously bloated after having pizza and beer all day so I stuck to a salad.

"Hey, so, there's something I meant to tell you yesterday…" I said, looking up at him.

"What's that?"

"It's just, I really do appreciate you finally opening up to me yesterday. That's a big step for us. And…I just wanted you to know that I know that there's stuff that I need to open up to you about too."

"Well, I appreciate your acknowledgement of that. I'm sure there are a lot of things we both still need to open up about. But we have time. We're not going to find out everything about each other in one day or one week. It will happen organically."

We continued eating and I thought about all of the things that I wanted to tell him, all of the things that I needed to tell him if this was going to be anything. As we'd already established, we were both fucked up. I was nervous that there was too much baggage and too little experience between us dealing with it. Could we find our footing together? Or were we doomed?

"I just…I don't want to mess this up."

He put down his fork.

"We are going to mess up, Bella…probably a lot. But what it comes down to is whether or not the good outweighs the bad."

I nodded and looked down at my salad as I shuffled some lettuce around on my plate.

"We have potential right?" I muttered quietly. "I mean, there's potential for good stuff here, right?"

"Are you ha –"

Before he could finish answering, his cell phone began ringing. I looked up at him as he looked at the screen and the expression on his face was strange. Almost, like…excitement?

"Excuse me." He said, standing up and walking out of the room briskly with his phone.

So I was left sitting there, wondering who was calling him and why he couldn't take the call in front of me. It gave me an unnerving sense of déjà vu. I thought that we'd gotten everything out into the open. I knew all about Rosalie now and I knew all about the mysterious blonde woman. If this call related to any of that, why couldn't I hear? And if it didn't relate to that, was there something else that he hadn't told me?

Sitting there, a victim of my own thoughts, I only worked myself up. And by the time he returned to the table, I was glaring at him.

"So, we're still there then?" I asked with an attitude as he back down.

"Still where? What are you talking about?"

"Still at a place where you can't answer phone calls in front of me? I thought we were past that."

"Bella,"

"If there are things that you still don't want to tell me, just say it. Don't lie and act like we've had this big revelation of honesty and t – "

"Bella, stop. I wasn't hiding anything from you. I was telling our guest where to park."

I stared at him blankly for a moment. Our guest? What the hell was he talking about?

"Wh – "

Before I could ask, right on cue as if he'd planned it that way, the doorbell rang.

"I think you should answer it." He said, smiling subtly.

"Edward, what the hell is going on?"

"Trust me. Just go answer the door."

I sighed, tossed my napkin down on the table, and got up to go get the door. At this point I was feeling slightly annoyed and super confused.

"I don't know what's going on here, Edward," I started as I walked towards the door and he followed behind me. "But I don't like it."

I walked across the cold marble flooring in the foyer and yanked open one of the heavy, wooden doors. At first, it appeared that nobody was there. There was no indication of anything around other than chirping crickets. But then, I heard a tiny little whimpering type sound from somewhere on the ground. I looked down, and gasped at what sat before me.

A puppy.

"Edward…" I gasped, whirling around to face him. "You did this?"

"I hope you like Labrador Retrievers." He answered with a bright, beautiful smile.

"Oh my God!" I yelped as I quickly turned back towards the door.

I jumped a little in surprise at a middle aged woman that had suddenly appeared outside.

"Isabella, this is Nancy." Edward spoke, moving to stand at my side. "She's th –"

"OH MY GOD, EDWARD!"

I really didn't mean to cut him off or to be rude to Nancy, but I was losing my shit. Did he really get me a puppy?

Yes. Yes, he did.

"Say hi to your new little boy!" The woman named Nancy said excitedly, smiling at me.

The puppy was a furry little thing, staring up at me with curious eyes. His cuteness factor increased tenfold by the big red bow that was tied around his neck.

"Come here, little guy…" I cooed as I bent down to pick him up.

I lifted him into my arms and cuddled him, immediately hit with the unmistakable puppy smell. I held him against me and he poked out his little tongue to lick me once on my chest and I was in love.

"Please, come in, Nancy." Edward said, thankfully compensating for me lack of politeness.

"No, no, I can't stay. I'm actually already late to pick up my son. Let me just give you this…" She reached into her purse and pulled out a big yellow envelope, handing it to Edward. "That contains all of the information you need, everything from shots to veterinarian recommendations. But of course, if you have any other questions at all, you have my number."

To be honest, I was only half way listening to Nancy. I was too busy doting on my new little guy, who appeared to be attempting to crawl up my chest towards my shoulder. I nuzzled against him, breathing in his sweet smell.

"Thank you so much." Edward said as he reached out to take shake her hand. "I'll give you a call if we have any questions."

She nodded at him and then looked at me and my new baby and smiled warmly.

"Enjoy him." She said to me. "He's a sweetheart."

"Thank you." I managed to say, despite feeling totally speechless.

I mean, how could I not be speechless? All of the sudden in literally like a ninety second exchange, I had a fucking puppy.

In another whirl of events, Nancy walked off to her car and then Edward gently nudged me back a few steps and closed the door. And then I was standing there, staring down at my puppy, and Edward was next to me and I was still trying to wrap my mind around what had just happened.

"Is he really mine?" I asked, looking up at my husband.

"Really."

He looked so happy, and that touched me because I knew it wasn't because of the dog. Edward and I had talked about this before, and I knew he wasn't fond of the thought of me having one. In fact, at first he told me no. Then he said he'd think about it, and then we hadn't revisited the conversation. He didn't want the dog, but apparently had decided to give in to me.

He was happy because I was happy.

"Wh…what made you decide to do this?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"It seemed like good timing. You're going through a rough time right now. And you were just saying last night that you didn't like the thought of being here without me, especially now with everything that has happened…"

"So you got me a friend…" I said, looking down at my little boy and smiling.

"What do you think?"

"I think he's wonderful…" I said, placing a kiss on his furry little head before looking back up at Edward. "And I think you're wonderful. Thank you, Edward."

"You're welcome." He said with a soft smile.

And then I realized that I already had the answer to the question I'd asked earlier that he hadn't had a chance to answer before we weren't interrupted.

There was potential for good stuff here.

"What am I going to name him?" I asked excitedly.

"I don't know. What does he look like to you?"

I looked down contemplatively at my new baby; warm and soft in my arms. He looked up at me with the sweetest, pouty puppy face that stole my heart immediately.

He was my best friend for the next thirteen years.

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A/N:

So, Bella got her puppy after all

As those whole follow me on Twitter already know, my new posting schedule is going to be every other Wednesday. And if you'd like to follow me, I'm JennaRayFF

Also, I'm considering doing a couple of outtakes for this story in Edward's point of view. If that happens, I'm wondering what you would like to read from Edward's perspective? Anxious to hear your thoughts!