Thanks a million plus infinity to everyone who voted forBreakaway Bella at The Lemonade Stand! I didn't win (insert sad face) but, hey, there's always next time, right?
The following chapter was written entirely on my iPhone. No, seriously. My laptop has not returned, but, hey, you can't say I'm not dedicated to this story, can you?
Chapter Twenty-One: Bad Decision, Bella!
As I crept back to my bedroom that night, after talking for hours with Emmett, all I could think about was little Claire. That was the name given to Rose's daughter, a daughter she never met. She was nine years old, according to the data Emmett collected, meaning that Rose gave birth to her child at the tender age of sixteen. Sadness enveloped me as I attempted to put myself in Rose's place, forced to give away a baby that she obviously wanted to keep. How awful to be pregnant so young, so scared, so helpless and wanting to keep a child that you're forced to give away.
It was starting to get cold at night, the temperature dropping into the twenties. My eyes fell on a cedar chest near the foot of my bed. I'd opened it nosily my first night here, immediately finding a thick patchwork quilt at the top. I'd closed it and thought nothing more of it, but now that the cabin was cooler I needed that quilt at night. Pulling open the top of the chest I heard the old metal hinges creak and pop as I grabbed the soft, fraying antique quilt and pulled it from the chest. The faint smell of cedar wood and mothballs drifted in the air, making me wrinkle my nose. The quilt was of little importance, but what lay beneath it caught my curious attention.
Several un-labeled wine bottles, the glass a deep black, lay tucked between the pile of antique quilts. One of the bottles had a folded piece of tan paper wrapped around it, held in place by what looked like hay bailing twine. Tossing the quilt on my bed, I sat cross-legged in front of the chest and reached cautiously for the bottle with the paper. I held it in my hands, slowly pulling at the roughened twine and smoothing the note out with my fingers. Peering down, I read the hand written note, the scroll swooping and elegant, somehow reminding me sadly of Edward.
'For when you want to forget everything, remember it all, or make extremely ridiculous decisions.' -G-
G? Who is G? The handsome, narrow face of the stranger we met the day we left Memphis flashed through my mind, and I knew almost at once that he was G. Turning the bottle over and over in my hands, relishing its cool, smooth surface, I pondered over the stranger that seemed to know me so well.
The guy was certainly smart, but failed to leave me a bottle opener. Scowling, I went in search of something to pop the cork off the bottle. If I walked downstairs one of the boys might be there and question what I was hunting for. I grinned in triumph as I found a metal nail file, holding it in the air as if it were a prized trophy.
After locking my bedroom door, I worked with the cork a while, my tongue sticking out from the corner of my mouth in concentration. It finally popped off and I practically bounced in excitement.
Taking a tiny sip, memories flooded my mind as the familiar taste of muscadine wine hit my tongue. Jasper and I found muscadine vines growing wild in the woods during our childhood explorations. The berries are so purple that they're practically black, the sweet taste reminding me of happiness and warmth.
Gulping more of the homemade wine down, I turned my back to the cedar chest, leaning against it with my legs bent in front of me, G's note playing in my head. Drinking normally makes me happy, giddy even, but in my current predicament, it simply made me contemplative. Edward was constantly on my mind, but now Claire was, as well, and every day spent hiding away in Mississippi meant another day Rose's child spent in foster care.
I may be a tad naive, but I'm no fool. Foster care is not all rainbows and sunshine. I know there's good foster homes with excellent foster parents, but for every good one there's three bad ones, the foster parents simply using the child for a monthly check.
Knowing Edward, as soon as he checked out of the hospital and went home, he'd rip the place apart looking for any information as to where Jasper had taken me. But he'd find nothing. It's been two weeks since we'd left Memphis, and I mused, as I sipped my wine, how long a person with a gunshot wound was kept in the hospital. Shrugging to myself, I guessed it all depended on the severity of the wound and how much damage it caused.
Edward wouldn't take care of himself, I decided with a frown. He'd worry and pace, if he was able, racking his brain trying to figure out where we were and how to find us. And he wouldn't find us, unless I somehow got a hold of a phone...or left him a clue that I was well and alive...
A plan began to formulate in my mind. A Bella plan. A stupid, reckless plan. A plan that would work wonderfully or fail miserably. A plan to let Edward know that I was alive and safe, hopefully easing his troubled mind. The less stress he was under, the better he could heal. Shoving the cork into the top of the bottle and returning it to its hiding place, I slid into my bed under the patchwork quilt, a smug smile on my face. My plan worked itself out in my mind, and as I drifted to sleep I dreamt of thick woods, muscadine wine, and a handsome, rugged stranger whom I was convinced was my guardian angel.
It took me a couple of more days to begin my plan, for I had to covertly sneak canned salmon and a manual can opener to my bedroom in the pockets of my jeans when Jasper and Em weren't paying attention. Canned salmon is freaking disgusting, and just the thought of it made me gag. I shoved a can in each pocket for two days, during cooking duty, hiding them away between the quilts with the muscadine wine.
My hatred with canned salmon began as a small child. My grandmother babysat me quite a bit, so I had many a meal at her house. When Mamaw Swan liked something she tended to stick with it for a while, and for months the smell of fried salmon patties stunk her house up. Eventually, just the smell would cause me to retch, and she, thankfully, stopped cooking them. Throughout the years just the mere mention of salmon made me shudder.
It was a Wednesday morningwhen phase one of plan Bad Decision Bella took effect. Breakfast was a meal I skipped for years, preferring to eat around eleven am because eating in the early morning hours made me nauseous. So, at five in the morning, with a cringe, I opened my first can of salmon, swallowing hard as the smell hit my nose. Taking a deep breath, which I then held, I shoved a huge bite in my mouth using my stolen fork I'd confiscated. I ate the whole can as fast as I could, pausing between bites to gag, before starting on my second can.
Somehow I managed to force down four whole cans of salmon. I shoved the cans into the bottom of my wastebasket after rinsing them out in the bathroom sink, hopefully hiding the smell in case Jasper or Emmett were to enter the room. Wadding up some toilet paper, I covered the cans up in the waist basket, swallowed a handful of water from the bathroom sink tap, and stumbled down the stairs, my stomach queasy and clenching in pain.
Emmett was on night watch duty, sitting in an old, wooden chair near a front window, staring outside as sunrise coated the sky in pink, orange and yellow. He jumped when he heard my footfalls, gazing at me with a worried frown on his face.
"Bells, you don't look so good. To tell you the truth, you look kinda green," Emmett said, frowning as I lurched towards the downstairs bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet when I started to hurl, coughing and gagging as Emmett ran into the room.
"Holy crap! That smells horrible!" Emmett yelled, now gagging himself. My forehead was beaded with a cold sweat and my stomach continued to roll as I vomited again.
Now, you know how much I hate a liar. And I have never lied to Emmett or Jasper, but for plan Bad Decision Bella to take effect I had to lie to my family for the first time ever.
"Em..." I moaned, hanging over the toilet miserably. "I think...I think I'm pregnant."
Emmett stopped gagging and fanning the air to stare down at me in horror as I sat hunched on the floor on all fours, his mouth hanging open. The guilty look I shot him could easily be misinterpreted for something other than lying...like his sister being pregnant.
"Jasper's gonna kill me! You can't tell him, Em! Okay? Can you keep a secret between siblings?" I was laying it on think now. He nodded, bug-eyed and serious. He'd probably keep it a secret for about an hour at best before running to our cousin.
Emmett helped me from the floor and physically picked me up, carrying me up the stairs like a small child. He tucked me into bed, assuring me that he'd be back in to check on me later, telling me to get some rest. I nodded mutely, turning away from him with the comforting quilt wrapped around me. He left the room, pulling the door softly behind him. Listening, I heard him slowly creep towards the room where Jasper slept. Emmett's predictability would be humorous if my abdomen wasn't so sore from vomiting. Rubbing my tender belly and suddenly exhausted from being so sick, I drifted to sleep, only to wake up a couple of hours later to find Jasper staring at me. He sat in the edge of my bed, a critical look on his face.
"Something you need to tell me, Bells?" he asked quietly, his eyes inadvertently drifting to my belly and back to my eyes.
Commence phase two.
"Uhhh...what do you mean?" I asked nervously, using some of the tricks I learned from Uncle Pete. He taught me long ago how to catch a person lying.
As I sat up in the bed I began to fidget, wringing my hands, my eyes darting from my lap to Jasper's face. It was harder to fake nervousness than I thought.
"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about," I mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
"Think real hard, sugar," he said, gazing at me solemnly, taking in my awkwardness, my anxiety. Now was the time to act mad.
"I just told you I don't know what you're talking about!" I snapped, huffing and crossing my arms across my chest, glaring at him. "Now you get on out of my room and leave me alone!"
Jasper continued to stare me down as I huffed away. He finally let out a long sigh, running his fingers through his hair. "Bells, are you...pregnant?" he asked, saying the last word softly.
"Oh, Jasper!" I cried dramatically, even managing to squeeze a couple of tears out. "I..I don't know!"
"We need to find out," he sighed, standing and walking to my bedroom door. "If you are you'll need to see a doctor soon to make sure everything's, uh, alright," he mumbled, uneasy with our conversation.
"I guess I need to take a pregnancy test," I moaned, pressing my face into the goose-down pillow before flinging myself into my back, pressing the back of my hand against my forehead as I started at the ceiling.
"You can take on of those at the doctor's office, right?" he said, making my eyes widen momentarily in horror. I masked my emotions quickly, hoping Jasper hadn't seen through my act. He was completely messing up plan Bad Decision Bella!
"No, I don't wanna waste time going to the doctor if it's just a stomach bug or something," I told him, moaning as my belly continued to protest. "Why don't we run to the store and get a pregnancy test?" I suggested, groaning and clutching my abdomen.
"You mean why don't I send Emmett to get you a pregnancy test?" Jasper corrected, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed against his chest, raising an eyebrow. "You're too sick to leave this cabin, according to Em."
"Fine," I grumbled, feeling my plans crumbling around me. "Make sure he gets the one that says 'pregnant' or 'not pregnant'. Don't let him get the one with the plus or negative...I might get confused. Oh! And get the one that you don't have to pee too much on. And make sure it's the kind that tells you immediately if you're pregnant or not. Hey, make sure the box is white, not pink or blue cause I don't wanna jinx the sex of the baby or anything," I continued to ramble, making stuff up as I went, knowing nothing about pregnancy tests at all. He stared at me as I talked, his face looking so confused, bless his heart. He finally interrupted me as I began talking about periods and menstrual flow.
"How about you just go with me after you start to feel a little better?" he suggested, and it took all my energy to hide the mega watt smile that threatened to burst forth.
Heaving what I hoped sounded like a frustrated sigh, I muttered, "Yeah, I guess. Give me a little while to let my stomach settle down." Jasper nodded, pushing himself off the doorframe and strolled down the hallway leaving me laying on my bed, a massive smile on my face.
Phase two complete.
A couple of anxiety-ridden, nauseous hours later, I emerged from the bedroom, my stomach still rolling and twisting in knots. Stupid salmon! Why am I still nauseous? Probably my nerves from the moronic scheme I'd cooked up along with lying to my family. Fumbling down the stairway I was met by not only Jasper but Emmett as well, who gave me a guilty look.
"Sorry, Bells, but you know I had to tell him..." he told me quietly.
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled, waving him away with the one hand that wasn't clutching my belly. Ignoring me, he wrapped him arm around me, helping me through the doorway and out of the cabin to the Taurus. He opened the front door for me and I slid in the car, staring in horror as he got in the backseat.
"What are you doing, Em?" I asked as Jasper got behind the wheel and turned the engine. The car filled with the scent of a Caribbean breeze, courtesy of the air fresher attached to the air vent. The less people there to ruin my plan, the better, and I truly didn't expect Emmett to show his face after ratting me out, let alone to ride with us to the store.
"You think I'm gonna stay behind? James and Jacob might still be out on the lose. What if they found out what town we're in? You think I'm leaving you and Jasper alone? Puhhhlease!" he scowled as Jasper pulled down the long driveway, out of the woods and onto an old country dirt road. I turned, glaring, in my seat, ignoring him by memorizing which direction Jasper took into town. This information would come in handy for plan A of Bad Decision Bella. Plan B was the scary plan. A plan I hopefully wouldn't need to use.
Jasper didn't want to stop in the nearest town, for fear that somehow we'd be seen close to where we were staying. I said a silent prayer for his reasoning as we rolled into a small town, almost forty-five minutes from our cabin. The car shook over the broken pavement as we pulled into the towns only convenience store. It was one of those dollar-type stores where nothing cost a dollar. Holding out my hand, I begged Jasper for some cash, since all my belongings were still in Memphis. He handed me a couple of twenties that I shoved into the pocket of my jeans as I stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door. My feet froze in place as I heard my brother and cousin exit the vehicle behind me.
"Y'all don't have to follow me. Just stay in the car. It won't take but a minute," I told them, my heart beating rapidly against my chest.
"Nah, it's cool," Emmett said, passing me to hold open the door like the gentleman he was. "I need some deodorant and stuff anyway."
Jasper stared at me suspiciously, but I shrugged in response, entering the store and cursing them in my mind. Jasper strolled in behind me and I groaned quietly to myself as I saw an end aisle covered with pre-paid phones.
Plan A of Bad Decision Bella officially aborted.
I'd planned on grabbing a pregnancy test and phone, possibly hiding the phone in my coat pocket before leaving the store. But with the ever watchful Jasper and Em in the store, it was impossible.
Commence phase one of plan B. The really, really bad plan. The extremely selfish, possibly deadly plan. The paper-trail plan.
Walking to the feminine product aisle I stared at the shelf holding the pregnancy tests. There was only one kind, the kind that had the negative and positive viewing panel. I grabbed three, just to look thorough, and walked over to the cash register, gazing at Em and Jasper over my shoulder cautiously. Em was on the toy aisle, not very far from the register, holding a red pair of plastic boxing gloves. Jasper stood nearby, gazing at him with a soft smile on his face.
The cashier was an elderly lady, thank God, who scanned my three pregnancy tests with a smile on her face, only after staring at the massive rock on my ring finger. She gave me the price and I pretended to search my pockets in vain.
"Oh, no!" I mumbled, frantically searching every pocket, never pulling my money out. "I musta left my wallet at home!"
"Oh, dear!" she frowned sadly. "Maybe you can leave to get your wallet and come back later?"
"I..I can't" I whispered, nodding my head towards Emmett. "You see the big guy?" We both turned slightly to look at Em, who had shoved his huge hands in the boxing gloves and pretended to box an invisible opponent, a severely serious scowl on his face. Perfect.
"That's my husband...he told me if I keep forgetting stuff he's gonna beat some sense into me!" I whispered, panic clear in my face as my eyes begin to water. Amazingly, I was pretty good at the lying stuff. The old woman stared over my shoulder, her beady green eyes peering through her thick lenses as the color drained from her face. I glanced behind me to see Emmett now shadow boxing violently, his muscles bulging through his tight shirt as he grinned at his invisible opponent menacingly. She looked a little hesitant, so I shoved my sleeves up casually, revealing the numerous bumps and bruises I acquired from being a total klutz. Her eyes widened at the sight.
"Oh, sweetie. He looks like the type," the old woman whispered, nodding knowingly. "What can I do to help you, hon?"
"Well...I know my debit card number...can you type it in? It would help me so much! If I'm pregnant, I'm leaving him. Soon. ," I told the woman, nodding and staring at her intensely. She hesitated, whispering that she wasn't supposed to do what I asked her to do, but after one last look into my sorrowful doe eyes, she turned to the register, quickly typing my card information in.
"Can you enter your pin number, dearie?" she asked, nodding to the card scanner in front of me, a hint of suspicion on her face. I nodded, sighing in relief as I entered my pin number and watching as my transaction was approved. The lady bagged my purchases, patting me sympathetically on the hand just as Emmett and Jasper appeared at my side.
Emmett threw the child's boxing gloves and some deodorant in the counter, leaning forward with a grin, shooting the elderly lady a seductive wink. "Hey, sexy. How you doin'?" he asked, batting his long, dark lashes.
The woman scowled at him, tossing the items carelessly in a bag and barking out his total. Looking thoroughly abashed as his face fell, he dug around in his pocket handing her the correct change with sad, puppy dog eyes.
She shot me a conspiratorial head nod, her curly red bouffant bobbing as we left the store. Managing only a guilty smile in return, I walked outside, following Jasper and Emmett to the car and sliding in. My heart began thundering in anticipation over what I just did. Because plan B of Bad Decision Bella was now in full effect with the paper trail I'd just left and the outcome may be a positive or negative one. I'd possibly put myself, Emmett and Jasper in danger...but it was a chance I had to take. I wasn't willing to spend another day with Edward not knowing whether I was dead or alive. In my heart, I knew that the transaction took place far enough away from the cabin so that no one could find me.
Jasper stopped twice to let me out to vomit on the way back home, the slightly bumpy ride finally getting the best of me. We arrived back at the cabin and I immediately went upstairs to the bathroom, throwing the dollar-store bag carelessly on the back of the toilet. After brushing my teeth and gargling with my minty mouthwash, I felt like a new girl. Just as I started out of the bathroom, Emmett cornered me, standing guard in the doorway.
"Did you take the test yet? What did it say?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. Crap! I forgot all about the stupid pregnancy test.
"I guess I need to drink some water. There's nothing left in me," I laughed nervously, running my fingers trough my hair. Em vanished down the hallway and downstairs, returning almost immediately with a bottled water. He watched me anxiously as I drank it.
"Are you gonna watch me pee too?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
"Ugh, no way," he shuddered. "I'm not into that kinky shit. But I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you." And with that warning, he was gone.
After drinking the entire bottle of water I ripped open all three pregnancy test packages, shaking my head as I read the instructions. Thirty minutes later I was perched somewhat awkwardly on the toilet, trying to aim my pee towards the little stick. It was super hard to pee on all three, stopping my flow each time I changed tests, but somehow I managed. Knowing Em would be back soon, I washed my hands, unlocking and opening the door, trying to look like a nervous, possibly pregnant woman. Em, of course, stood in the hallway, wringing his hands like an anxious soon-to-be father. Bless him! I felt even guiltier as he stood there while I closed the toilet seat, sitting on top of the lid.
"How long?" he asked, pacing in the hallway. How long what? Oh!
"For the test results? Um, like five minutes I think," I lied, not remembering the instructions. It wasn't as though there was a snowball's chance in hell that I was pregnant. I'd been on birth control to regulate my cycle forever.
"Long enough!" Emmett declared, grabbing the first test by the very end, cringing as he thought of touching something I urinated on. As he analyzed the results I wrapped a long strand of brown hair around my finger, frowning. I froze as I thought of the day, weeks ago that I moved out of my tiny apartment and into Edward's mansion. Cursing, I realized with all the drama with James I'd completely forgotten to take my medicine with me. Bad decision, Bella! How could I be so careless and stupid. Glancing up, my heart stopped from the expression on Emmett's face.
"I'm gonna be an Uncle," he whispered in awe, before breaking into an ear-splitting grin, twisting the pregnancy test around, revealing the bright blue positive sign.
A/N:So...what do y'all think? *Hiding in the corner* How about Edward's POV for the next chapter? Lemme know peeps ;)