AN: Writers block attacks again. Barely managed to get this chapter done. Sorry it is so short. Thanks for all the great reviews. Thanks to Green Eyed Tabby for beta'ing this for me.

I awoke feeling calm and refreshed. I was lying on my side, one arm draped over Bella's cocooned body, the other resting under my head. I buried my head in her neck and placed a kiss on her pulse.

She stirred and groaned trying to burrow further into the sheets. I chuckled, "Morning love," I murmured. She grunted in answer, making a grin spread across my face. She simply detested being woken up, especially after getting pregnant.

I decided to leave her be seeing as I had kept her up pretty late last light with my insatiable need to be touching and loving her at every possible moment. It seemed that pregnancy really agreed with Bella because it made it almost impossible for me to keep my hands to myself when I saw her stomach.

Even though you couldn't see very much difference in her shape apart from that her hips and breasts had grown- with no complaint from me- I still knew that it was in there. It was more proof that she was mine and carrying my child.

I sighed and stretched languidly before rolling out of bed knowing that Alice and Peter were probably already up. I grabbed my clothes and hastily put them on before placing one last kiss on Bella's cheek and heading downstairs.

Alistair greeted me once I reached the bottom of the stairs and handed me the post. My heart sped up and I flicked through the two letters quickly only to be disappointed. I shook my head, there was still plenty of time, but I really would have liked to be wed before the baby had its appearance.

I sighed and thanked Alistair before entering the drawing room. I was immediately attacked by Alice who flung her arms around me and hugged my waist tightly. I raised my eyebrows at Peter in question, but he merely shrugged and greeted me calmly.

"Morning father." He murmured before going back to playing with Liam who was lying on hs back, his four paws high in the air as he waited expectantly to be get his stomach rubbed. I chuckled and extracted myself from Alice's grip.

"Morning Peter, morning sister." She beamed up at me and planted a kiss on my shoulder. She was surely exuberent than usual. "Good morning brother. Isn't today such a beautiful day?" She question as she peered out of the window where the sun was shining down through the dark clouds and onto the lawn.

"Yes, I suppose it is." I siad lettig my lips turn up into a smile. She sighed in contentment and spun round. "I am going to pick some flowers so watch Peter for me." I resisted rolling my eyes. The boy could pretty much look after himself. He was not an invalid.

"He'll be fine." She looked at me sternly and I added that I would make sure he didn't try to do anything harmful. She seemed pleased with that responce and danced off out of the room a wide grin on her face. I shook my head at her and slipped into the chair in front of the desk to see what the two letters held.

The first was from my mother telling me about the general health of the family and how Jasper, along with Rosalie, was making plans to come down here. I was surprised that he hadn't already come, seeing as how inseparable they were. Rose had been too busy with the kids to come up earlier, but now had some free time and was making her way up with the two kids.

She asked about my well-being and the rest, making sure to add a whole section about the baby. My chest had clenched at that. Though I had come to terms with the pregnancy and was- if I allowed myself to admit- quite eager to have a child that I knew was coming, a little shadow still sat in the corner of my mind festering with the 'what ifs.'

As Bella had once told me, things would fall into place because they were meant to. So I would just have to suck it up and focus on the good, not the bad.

I read on, my eyes flickering over her request that we visit soon and just general mundane things that she liked to write to me about. I smiled fondly as I finished the letter and set it aside to answer later, before turning my attention to the other. My fingers hesitated slightly as I recognized the neat script on the front before opening it.

I read it through quickly skimming over the words, not sure whether I would like the contents of it. My eyebrows raised in shock as a few words jumped out at me. Laurent was dead. It seemed that after his trip to his villa in Burgundy, that he had strayed over to the local villages where he had been killed in a dual over a woman.

I had never thought that Laurent had been seeking pleasurable elsewhere even after he had voiced his discontentment over the lack of productivity in the bedroom. I felt slightly sorry for Irina having her husband die in such a circumstance.

I'm sure she would be milking the sympathy that being a widow was sure to bring. After her little stunt back at my parent's house, it was obvious that her and Laurent had not been exactly close, so the pain would be lessened at least in that respect.

A small giggle caught my attention and I peered over the letter to see Peter getting licked by the dog. Ah...Well this brought around a whole load of new problems. I had a son that only my family knew about and while I had promised not to hide him away, it seemed as though that bringing him along would start a whole new round of gossip, and I wasn't sure if anyone wanted that.

I rubbed my face trying to think clearly about the subject.

I had made a promise to myself that there would be no more hiding, no more secrecy. That only brought on more trouble than the original problem had. I had said that if the occasion should arise, that I would bring him with me, I just didn't think it would be so soon.

I was just thankful that it was hardly noticeable that Bella was pregnant. I doubted that I wanted to bring up that subject as well as the fact that I had an illegitimate son living with me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned back in my chair just as Alice skipped back into the room with freshly cut flowers, followed by a tired looking Bella. They both immediately caught onto my mood and asked what was wrong.

I sighed. "Laurent died in France and we are invited to the funeral." I felt kind of bad that my problems seemed to outshine the fact that Laurent was actually dead, but I couldn't help the fact that my life was slightly complicated at times.

After the initial looks of shock Bella snapped into action. "What shall we do?" Her gaze flickered to Peter obviously knowing that he was the source of my worried expression. I sighed and raked a hand through my hair.

"We go." I said decisively. I couldn't let the vindictive gossip of others rule my life. Someone we knew had died and we would go and pay our respects. Alice looked shocked. "You cannot mean that!" She exclaimed. "After the ways that the Denali's treated the both of you I am surprised that you opened the letter. No one would condemn you for not going in fact; I would find it completely understandable."

"Alice, it wasn't Laurent who was ill behaved." I said gently. "I will not let a bunch of jealous gossips rule the way I live my life and where I may or may not go. Most will be too polite to ask questions at the funeral and we will leave straight after. It is in two days so we will ride the carriage down to London tomorrow and stay with our parents and then we will attend the funeral and leave straight after."

I said this firmly with no space for argument. I mean we only had to suffer through one morning and hopefully everyone would be distracted and in mourning. Alice huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine, if you are going to be like that then I am going to have to pack all our stuff. Come on Bella we need to sort out what to bring." She grabbed Bella's arm and started to drag her out of the room. Bella shot me a pleading look and I barely managed to hold back my grin.

"Alice, what about Peter?" I asked causing her to pause. Peter's head shot up with a look of horror clearly written on his face. He had already suffered through Alice's dressing up games. "Come Peter. We are going to find you the perfect little suit!" Alice gushed grabbing his other hand and dragging both of them out of the room and upstairs to her torture chamber. I shivered dreading the time when she would go through my things.

I immediately wrote to my mother knowing that she would most likely have gotten the same invitation and would most likely be expecting us back down in London. I sealed it quickly and gave it to Alistair telling him that it was rather urgent.

He nodded and left immediately. I was starting to think that stress followed me around and I shook my head deciding that I wasn't going to dwell on the negative right now. If I had learnt anything recently it was that worrying didn't help, it just made me more frustrated and moody.

Everything is going to be okay, I told myself firmly and turned and went into my study. Things had just got interesting...again.

AN: Hmm...who expected Laurent to die? Lol, its all part of the story. They'll be off to London now. Review!