Edward
How hard could it be to talk to a woman's father? I was a grown man wanting to marry the love of his life, not some nervous teenager looking to get lucky on prom night. I was pacing back and forth in front of Bella's childhood home, trying to bring myself to knock on the door. Charlie and I had parted on good terms if I remembered correctly. Still, there was that small flicker of doubt that he wouldn't give me his blessing; that he didn't think I was good enough for his family.
"Cullen!" His voice made me jump. I hadn't heard him come outside. "You're gonna wear a hole in my doorstep. Get your ass in here already."
I cleared my throat nervously. "Nice to see you again, Charlie." He was already in uniform; that meant easy access to the gun. I knew he wouldn't kill me. I was a man with kids. However, getting shot in the leg or something didn't sound like something I wanted to experience either. I sucked it up and followed him inside, shutting the door behind me.
He motioned for me to have a seat on the couch. "How are the kids?" he asked politely.
"They're great," I answered. "The boys have managed to stay out of trouble for the most part. Leo had no trouble adjusting to a new school. I think being in the same class with Ethan helped, and Sophie has made several little friends in preschool. I'm sure my house will be overrun with three and four year old girls in no time."
Charlie chuckled a little, but it did nothing to relax me. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
"I'm fine, thanks," I replied. I'd probably spill it on myself anyway.
"Then let's cut to the chase," said Charlie, leaning forward in his chair. "You didn't drive all the way out here to say hello."
Shit. "No sir," I replied politely. "I'm here to ask for your blessing."
"For?" he asked, although we both were aware that he knew the answer.
"I hope to marry Bella and be a father to Leo," I answered. "They're already a part of my family. I want to make it official."
The man was staring me down, and the room was filled with a tense silence. Finally he grabbed the remote and turned on the television. I was confused. Was he really going to watch a game at a time like this? Then he picked up a separate remote. Without a word, he turned on a home movie.
"Renee, now's probably not a good time," said Charlie tensely.
"My baby's having a baby. You think I'm going to miss this?" Renee responded from behind the camera. Teenaged Bella was gritting her teeth and taking deep breaths through her nose. She looked like she was ready to kill someone as she held onto the bars of the hospital bed. "Smile, honey!"
Bella glared at the camera. "Mom," she growled.
Renee stepped back. "I'll just move out the way," she said. She did just that but kept the camera on Bella as Charlie came to her side.
"Dad," Bella looked panicked now. "Daddy, I can't do this. I can't have a kid. I'll screw him up. I'm too young and too stupid to be a mom."
"Bells," Charlie managed to pry one of her hands loose and held it in his own. "I was too young and too stupid to be a dad, but look how good you turned out."
"I'm having a mystery man's baby! I'm hardly something you should be bragging about," she replied, even more panicked than before.
He shook his head. "You're the bravest kid I know, and I'm damn proud of you." She looked truly touched for a moment before she clinched her eyes shut. Charlie winced, "That's quite a grip you got there, Bells."
Charlie didn't leave his daughter's side while the doctor's coached her through the obviously painful process. Bella being Bella didn't cry once.
"It's a boy!" the doctor announced.
Bella was panting. "Bring him here. I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind," she said weakly. As soon as the nurses had him cleaned up, they brought him over and gently placed the squirming blue bundle in her arms. She looked down at him and said nothing at first, just watched him. She forgot about everyone else in the room as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Hi," she said softly. Then she let out a watery chuckle. "I must say, I make a damn cute baby."
Charlie chuckled beside her.
I didn't look away from the television even after the video was through. I was so… grateful, that he showed me that. "Thank you," I said sincerely.
"I thought if you were going to be my grandson's father, you would like to see how he got here," said Charlie. He turned the television off. "Bella is a grown woman. She would never do anything that wasn't right for her or for Leo. If she agrees to marry you, then I have no reason to say otherwise. She'd be too stubborn to listen anyway. You don't need my blessing, but you've got it anyway."
I could have kissed him, but he'd surely shoot me for that. "You won't regret this sir. I promise that no one will love them more than I do." I stood up to shake his hand instead.
His grip was more firm than usual. "You better," he warned. "You should probably tell me when those kids of yours have birthdays. If I'm going to be visiting more often, I'll need to schedule the days off ahead of time." I smiled and wrote out the dates for him. He even made me add my own. This wasn't just about Bella and Leo joining my family; it was also about me and my kids joining his. "When are you planning on asking her?" he questioned as he walked me out.
"Hopefully tonight," I answered. "I have one more person to talk to."
"Good luck," he told me. "Getting her to agree might be tricky." He gave me a pat on the back. "See you later, son." Then he went inside.
Why? Why did he have to tell me that, just when I thought I had nothing else to worry about? I got in my car and headed back. That gave me a few hours to stress over the possibility that Bella would say no. The very thought made me nauseous; I couldn't even enjoy my lunch.
I went straight on to the elementary school. Luckily, Rosalie was about to make her rounds, so she let me use her office to talk to Leo. He looked a little nervous when he peaked inside, but relaxed a little when he saw me behind the desk. "Am I in trouble?"
"No," I smiled. "Get in here. I wanted to talk to you." He shut the door behind him and sat down in one of the other chairs, looking a little confused. I stood up and took the small box out of my pocket. I walked around the desk and knelt down to his level. "I want to ask Bella to marry me. As the man of the house, I need to get your permission first." I opened the box to show him the ring. "What do you say Leo? Can I marry your mom?"
"Yes!" he answered immediately. "Me and Ethan will be real brothers, and I'll have a sister." Then he frowned. "Sophie's gonna need a sister, too."
I chuckled. "One thing at a time, kid. I've got to get your mom to marry me first."
He shrugged. "She loves you. Why wouldn't she?"
That was a damn good question. "Us grown ups can be complicated sometimes," I explained. "You should get back to class. Uncle Emmett is picking you guys up today. You get to go home with him after football practice. Make sure you keep our little talk a secret."
"Yes sir," he promised and started for the door. "Edward?" he paused. "What if Mom does say no?" he asked.
"No matter what happens, I will always love you and consider you my son. You'll still be Ethan and Sophie's brother even if your last name is Swan," I explained. He smiled and hugged me before running off to class.
Rosalie caught me before I left. "What's got you grinning like an idiot?"
"Nothing," I chuckled. "Are you sure you're okay watching the kids tonight?"
"It's only fair," she replied. "You and Bella watched Nate the other night while we went out. Now it's our turn to return the favor. That and Emmett is looking forward to playing video games with the boys."
"Don't let him corrupt my children," I joked.
"I'm not making any promises," said Rosalie. "Now get out of here. I've kids to scare."
I had Charlie's blessing and Leo's permission. Ethan and Sophie had already made it known that they wanted Bella as their mom and Leo as their brother, and the rest of my family would probably disown me if I didn't make that happen.
Proposing to Bella was not something I took lightly. I had spent countless hours trying to come up with the words to say and how to say them, but I still wasn't satisfied. Everything needed to be perfect; at least it needed to be perfect for us. A typical proposal wouldn't do. I finally decided that everything in our life happened because it was meant to be. Asking her to marry me would have to be the same way.
I had to go about the rest of my day as normal. Bella couldn't suspect anything. I may not have known how I was going to pop the question, but I knew when. With any luck, tonight would be one of the bests of my life.
When it was almost time for the kids to get out of school, I sent her a text.
Hi. I don't really know how to say this, but I have your kids with me, and I was thinking maybe you would like them back. Call me.
My phone rang shortly afterwards. "Hey cute ass!"
"What the hell did you do with our kids?"
I laughed. "Emmett took the boys to football practice and Rose has Sophie."
"So you thought you'd be funny and bring up that whole Bella Swan's a kidnapper thing again?"
"It got you to call me, didn't it?" I replied smugly.
"Jackass."
"You should be excited," I smiled. "You get to spend the evening with me."
"I'm thrilled."
Okay, that was sarcastic. "You should be. I'm going to take you out for dinner. What would you like?"
"Pizza. I've got a craving."
"Pizza it is. I'll come over when I get through at the office," I told her. "I love you."
"Love you too."
We were going to have pizza the night I was going to propose. She did name her son after a Ninja Turtle, so it was sort of fitting.
When I went to pick her up, I noticed the slight bruising under Bella's eyes. She was exhausted. "Baby, have you not been sleeping?"
She sighed and shook her head. "This book business has been keeping me awake. Every time I get an idea, I have to write it down right , so I don't forget about it. Unfortunately, I get my best ideas while I'm trying to go to sleep."
"Do you want to stay in?" I asked. I didn't want her to be miserable. "We can order the pizza if you want."
"That would be great," she replied thankfully.
Nessie was out for the day. Bella said she was going to check out the campus. Jake was going with her of course to "keep her out of trouble".
I ordered the pizza while Bella got comfortable. She came out of her room wearing a pair of pajama pants and my old jersey. Her favorite article of clothing had my name on the back of it. That made me feel pretty good.
After we ate, I put in a DVD and cuddled up with her on the couch. Since she was dozing off during dinner, I figured it would be a good thing for her to relax. Sure enough she was out in a matter of minutes. I sighed. I wasn't going to be able to propose if she was unconscious.
Once the movie was over, I restarted it. I was paying more attention to Bella anyway, so it didn't matter. She was sleeping so deeply that, for once, she wasn't even talking. I took that chance to slip the ring out of my pocket. I looked at it and sighed again. Maybe it wasn't the night after all. I looked down at her again. She looked so beautiful sleeping peacefully, using my chest as a pillow. Her left hand was lying there, her bare finger mocking me. I couldn't take it anymore.
Carefully, so as not to wake her, I took the ring out of the box and slid it on the proper finger. I wanted to see what it would look like. It fit perfectly.
Of course, to my horror, Bella woke up. "Shit." My thoughts exactly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep." I quickly hid the box but there was nothing I could do about the dam ring as she sat up, stretching her arms high above her head. "I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?"
I could only shake my head as she walked towards the kitchen. Double shit. Bella had just left the room, unknowingly taking her ring with her. I waited, holding my breath.
"Cullen?" She came back without a drink. Her eyes were glued to her hand. "What the hell is this?"
I took her hand and pretended to inspect it. "Looks like an engagement ring."
"How did it get on my finger?" she asked impatiently.
"I may have put it there," I confessed.
She glared at me. That couldn't be good. "Aren't you supposed to ask a certain question before you do that?"
"You were asleep," I argued.
"Oh," she replied. "Well that's understandable. Men propose all the time to unconscious women."
I stood up. "This is all your fault, you know. I've been stressing out all day. First when I went to get Charlie's blessing, then when I asked for Leo's permission, and finally when I got here and was terrified of being rejected by you. I planned on asking you at the perfect moment, but then you fell asleep, so I at least wanted to see what it would look like on your finger, but then you woke up, and-"
Bella interrupted my rambling. "Are you going to ask me the damn question or not?"
"Pardon?" She wanted me to propose?
"I know you don't think you're getting this ring back because it won't be leaving my finger anytime soon," she replied.
"Bella," I took her face in my hands. "Will you marry me?" I felt so damn vulnerable. Regardless of anything she had said, she was still the most unpredictable person I knew. The damn pause here wasn't helping.
Finally, she smiled beautifully and nodded. "Yes."
"What?" Yes? Just like that?
"If you want, I can wait for you to go to sleep and write it on your forehead," she replied.
I kissed her. I wrapped my arms around her, crushing her warm body against mine and kissed the hell out of her. She was going to marry me. I needed to say it out loud. "You're going to marry me." I kissed her again. "You're going to be the mother of my children." And again. "You're going to wake up next to me every morning and call me a jackass."
"Sounds good to me," said Bella. I had to press my lips to hers again. With her mouth moving against mine, I wanted nothing more than to carry her off to bed, but she pulled back. "We need to go get our kids." I sighed and nodded. She smiled. "You asked for Leo's permission. I think it's only right that I get Ethan and Sophie's. Then we'll put them to bed and make good use of that lock on your bedroom door."
I smirked. "Sounds good to me."
We didn't tell Emmett and Rosalie about the engagement yet. We wanted to tell the kids first. I noticed that every now and then Leo would try to get a glimpse of Bella's hand, but she was very good at keeping it inconspicuously hidden.
When we got to my house, we got them into their pajamas before sitting them down in the living room.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked.
Bella answered. "We know that you and Leo wanted to borrow each other's parent." He nodded shyly. "Would it be okay with you all if we made it official instead?"
Leo looked ecstatic, Sophie looked confused, and Ethan looked hopeful. "What do you mean?" he asked.
She knelt down in front of my kids, much like I had done to Leo. "Can I be your mom?" she asked simply enough, so Sophie could understand.
Ethan suddenly wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face against her. Bella hugged him back just as tightly. They both had tears in their eyes, and they were both fighting to keep them there. When he finally let go, he simply nodded. "I would really like that."
"What about you, Miss Sophie?" Bella asked.
"Yes please," she answered with a big silly smile.
Bella laughed and kissed her loudly on the cheek. "Thank you both," she told them. "You don't know how happy that makes me."
Leo was about to bounce off the couch with excitement. "You're gettin' married?"
She showed him the ring. "How do you feel about the last name Cullen?"
"Leonardo Cullen," he said, trying it out. "It's got a nice ring to it."
I loved that kid.
Together, we tucked in the kids. Sophie smiled when Bella kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Mommy," she whispered.
Bella was about to lose it. "Goodnight baby."
We could hear the boys chattering away before we even got in their room. Much to Ethan's amusement, Leo was going through possible names to call me. "Daddy? Papa? Pa? Father? Padre?"
"Get in the bed," Bella smiled. They both scurried to their bunks.
Bella started with Leo while I tucked in Ethan. Then we switched.
Leo smiled at me. "I'm glad she said yes," he whispered.
"Me too," I replied. "Did you pick a name for me yet?"
He nodded. "Goodnight Dad." That sounded right. "Oh, and if we can't get another sister, how 'bout a cat? I think there's one named Splinter at the pet shop that Sophie would like."
I smiled and kissed the top of his head. "Goodnight Son."