A/N: This was originally supposed to be one chapter, but of course, it grew. Therefore, there will be TWO POSTS THIS WEEK. I know we all want to see what happens with E and J.
This has not been betad, so please excuse any errors. My beta Danna0724 would've made this better.
All characters (except Maddie) belong to S. Meyer. I'm just moving them to the East Coast for a bit.
Oh, and this week we'll still be in Edward's head.
Chapter 24 – Over the River & Thru the Woods
Chapter Song Rec:
Full Moon – The Black Ghosts (from the Twilight Movie soundtrack).
EPOV
It was a balmy fifty degrees in New York, with clear skies and a setting sun when we left JFK. Twilight met us on the plane, the blue skies giving way to streaks of red, gold and orange all melting into each other like smears on a clean canvas. Maddie, seated between Bella and myself, stared out the small window, enchanted by the play of colors dancing in the sky, before complete darkness took over. With nothing more to see, she closed the window and turned to the personal TV screen in front of her and played video games for a little while, before switching to cartoons. Then she ate her Alaskan Salmon with wild rice, played around with her Crème Brulee, and finally, her little stomach full and her mind tired, fell asleep comfortably stretched out between us.
Five hours after taking off, the 737 made its descent into Seattle. At some point during the flight west, the clear skies had given way to darker, grayer clouds and a steady even rain greeted us from the large windows of the airport as we made our way to our connecting flight, to a small town north of Seattle called Port Angeles. Large drops pelted the plane's windows insistently. One hour later we were waiting for our bags to make their turn around the luggage carousel.
I'd been calm and relaxed throughout both flights, watching Maddie enjoy first class and then sleep comfortably, and talking to Bella. But once we'd gotten our luggage and she started waving wildly towards a dark haired, lightly bearded man of average height and build - in a police uniform - my pulse picked up like a horse at the race tracks.
"Dad!" she yelled, taking a few quick steps towards the man with a smile in his dark eyes and a steady expression on his face. She reached him and gave him a quick hug, which he returned with one arm. I walked towards them slowly, a sleeping Maddie in my arms.
"Welcome home Bells," he said evenly, but I detected an obvious note of contentment in his voice.
Bella took a step back and looked her dad over. "You look good Charlie."
He looked away from her, a tinge of red coloring his stubbly cheeks. "So do you," he returned quietly. His eyes traveled to where I stood behind Bella, holding his granddaughter.
Bella looked from her dad to me quickly. "Dad, this is Edward," she said in a slightly shaky voice. "Edward, this is my dad, Charlie Swan."
I stretched out my free hand to shake his. "Good to meet you sir."
He took my hand and gave it one firm shake, eyeing me like he was trying really hard not to face plant me on the floor and frisk me. My heart started thumping loudly in my chest. He had Bella's eyes, or rather, Bella had his, and just like the first time she'd looked at me, I got the feeling as if those eyes could see right through me. It was going to be a looong weekend.
"Yeah, good to meet you too," he finally mumbled.
His eyes moved to the sleeping bundle in my arms, and just like that, his whole demeanor shifted. The scrutinizing expression was gone and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, transforming his entire face. Behind the beard, Charlie was still a young man, and now I could see the resemblance between him and his daughter.
"There's my granddaughter!" he practically hummed.
"She's asleep," I grinned quietly. "It was a long trip for her."
He ignored that bit of information and reached out his arms to grab on to her gently. I hesitated for a fraction of a second before loosening my grip and letting him take her from me, her limp little body transferring unawares between me and her grandpa. He held her away from him for two seconds to look at her, before guiding her head onto his shoulders.
"Hey Maddie Mo," he crooned. "Too tired to say hi to your grandpa?" She didn't even stir. He chuckled. "Aw that's alright. We've got all weekend to catch up."
He looked back up between Bella and me. "Got all your bags?"
"Yeah dad," Bella answered. I nodded.
"Alrighty then. Take care of those Edward, and let's get goin', we've got another hour ride ahead of us," he directed, turning around and heading towards the sliding glass doors.
Bella turned towards me and bent down to pick up one of the bags.
"Don't even think about touching that unless you want to get me shot," I hissed, picking up the bags and walking with her towards the doors.
She chuckled heartily. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. And anyway, he left his gun at home," she said with a crooked smile. We walked out of the airport together.
The hour ride to the rainy town of Forks was…slow, to say the least. Bella and her dad did some quick catching up for the first half or so of the car ride, some light info on the goings on of their friends; Sam and Emily had just had their second baby, Leah was thinking of going to Veterinary school, though she didn't want to leave her job at the garage, Seth was in his last year of college and dating some new girl up in a town called Hoquiam. The conversations were short and to the point and both seemed perfectly at ease with that.
"How's work?" Bella asked.
"It's work," he replied. "Drunk loggers, wild animals, speeding in the rain, the usual."
"You being careful?"
"Always am Bells."
Bella nodded. "Eating well?"
"As well as can be expected without you around," he smiled at her with a side-long glance. "But you know, Sue Clearwater brings me some stuff every few days."
Bella nodded again.
"Fish biting good for you?"
"Always do," he responded.
Then it was his turn.
"How's work for you?"
"Pretty good. I'm working on some interesting accounts."
"How's the apartment? That building super finally clear out that pipe for you?"
"Actually, Edward cleared it out for me."
Charlie's eyes moved to me from the rearview mirror, and suddenly I was remembering Emmett's euphemisms about clear pipes and Bella and me's activities from the last couple of nights. My face flamed as hot as a radiator, and this time I was sure Charlie could see right through me. Yeah, I'd cleared out his daughter's pipe alright.
I thought I saw him smirk. "You good with plumbing?" Charlie asked.
"Uh, I can manage pretty well I suppose."
"Mmm," he muttered, looking straight ahead once again.
"Edward's pretty good at lots of things," Bella added, smiling at me and squeezing my hand.
Of course, Charlie's eyes trailed right back to me with that one.
"Yeah, I suppose they breed them pretty well-rounded over there," he said, his eyes digging into me. "My granddaughter tells me you fish?"
I glanced at Bella quickly, but she just shrugged, apparently as surprised as I was.
"Yes sir. My family has a yacht we like to take out pretty regularly." And then I felt like kicking myself at how fucking pompous that had sounded.
"Mmm," Charlie muttered again. "Well, I don't have a yacht or anything, but I've got a small little boat that does the job well enough."
Oh fuck, I groaned to myself. Way to earn brownie points Cullen, diss the man's boat.
"Oh I didn't mean- I mean, I'm sure your little boat is just fine. I mean, the yacht's not even mine, it's my fathers."
Bella squeezed my hand tightly again. I looked over at her quickly and she shook her head infinitesimally, giving me an encouraging smile. I breathed in deeply and shut my mouth.
Charlie changed the subject.
"You being careful over there Bells?" he asked seriously. "Locking your door at night and everything?"
Bella sighed. "Yes Chief. I lock my doors at night."
"Now don't give me that tone. You know what the crime rate in Brooklyn is?"
"Charlie, it's not like we're living in a war zone," Bella replied dryly. "And you and Jake remind me pretty often of the crime rate in Brooklyn. Believe me, I haven't forgotten."
"Actually sir," I cut in, "the crime rate in Brooklyn is lower than the national average." I vaguely remembered Alice telling us all that after we gave her shit for moving to Brooklyn.
But apparently that was not what Charlie had wanted to hear. He glared at me through the rear-view. Yeah, I was pretty sure it was a glare.
"Actually Edward," he said in a measured tone, "if you take a closer look at those reported crime rates, you'll see that property crime in Brooklyn is slightly lower than the national average. But violent crimes, which are the ones I worry about, are higher than the national average."
Holy fucking shit. I was batting Oh for two here and we hadn't even reached Forks yet.
"Now I know you guys in advertising over there like to fudge with the facts," he continued, moving his eyes back to the windshield ahead, "but they are what they are. And believe me," he said, glancing at me once again, "I know my facts."
If the Earth opened up and swallowed me right then, I would've been more than grateful.
Bella gave her father a stern look.
"Dad, don't forget I'm in advertising too, and we don't fudge with the facts; at least not at CCW."
"Sir, I just meant to assure you that Bella and Maddie are safe. I would never let anything happen to them."
"Well, unfortunately no one can completely guarantee that, so I'm sure you'll understand if I continue worrying."
"Of course. I mean, of course I can understand you worrying. I worry too when I'm not around." Fuuuck me, why couldn't I just shut the hell up?
"Hmm," he muttered again.
Bella, sensing my tenseness, slowly weaved her fingers between mine and squeezed harder still. And then in an effort to give me some breathing room, she turned the conversation to some of Maddie's latest antics, which transformed Charlie once again and gave me a chance to catch my breath.
I turned my head towards the dark windows of the police cruiser, watching as we drove by slowly, down the winding roads and dark woods of the Olympic region. Rain blanketed the windows like a heavy curtain; Bella had warned me not to expect that to let up much during our short stay. She'd also tried to warn me about Charlie, and apparently, she hadn't been joking. I was drowning right now and desperately needed someone to throw me a lifeline.
I resurfaced in the middle of Bella and her dad's latest topic of discussion.
"…had a nice Thanksgiving Dinner last night with Edward and his family. They celebrated early so that we could be with them," Bella said proudly. I turned to grin widely at her. Her eyes sparkled in my direction. Yeah, she was worth this torture.
"Well that was certainly nice of them," Charlie responded, sounding genuinely impressed.
"What do your parents do Edward?" Charlie asked, in a tone that implied that he knew but couldn't actually remember.
"My mom is on the board of several charities for causes that are important to her; breast cancer, child welfare, the city's homeless."
Charlie looked authentically awed.
Thank you Esme Cullen, for being such a philanthropist.
"And my father is a heart surgeon."
"Oh that's right," Charlie cut in. "Carlisle Cullen, right?"
"Yes sir."
"Hmm," he nodded. "So how come you didn't follow in your father's footsteps?"
"The medical field just wasn't for me sir."
Another slow nod.
"I suppose it's not a field you can enter into without discipline and dedication."
"Charlie," Bella warned through clenched teeth.
I squeezed her hand this time. "It's alright love," I whispered with a wink.
"Actually sir, I did go to medical school for a couple of years, before switching to business school. I guess…it's not a big secret that I haven't been the most disciplined individual for the past few years, but I think that's because I didn't know what I really wanted."
Charlie quirked an eyebrow through the rearview mirror. "And now you do?"
"Yes sir. Now I do."
There was no nod, no shake of the head; no muttering or mumbling this time. He simply stared at me for two seconds that felt more like two lifetimes, before the fact that he was driving forced him to turn his attention back to the road.
"Edward is dedicated and disciplined," Bella defended me. "In fact, he and his group have won several advertising awards over the past few years."
Charlie spared me another quick glance. "Well, yeah," he murmured, "I suppose that would take hard work," he allowed.
Half a century or half an hour later, we turned the corner on a quiet block lined with a scattering of small homes, and then Charlie pulled up in front of a small white house, faded but well-maintained.
"Well, we're here," he announced.
Charlie picked Maddie up and I pulled our bags out, following Bella and her father into the small house. He turned on the lights as we walked through, and then stopped when we reached a small living room. I put the bags down.
Bella did a one-eighty turn. I followed her eyes around a room with faded but clean cream walls, a small flat screen TV up over the mantle of the fireplace, a few pictures on either side of it, and a faded recliner and sofa in the middle. A set of folded sheets and a pillow sat neatly on the sofa.
"You cleaned up?" Bella asked through raised brows.
Charlie looked like he might be blushing under his beard. "Sue may have helped me a bit.
"I went to the market and picked up everything you said you'd need. Got some strawberries for Maddie too. I know she likes'em."
He cleared his throat then. "Your room's ready upstairs. I put fresh sheets in there and fresh towels in the bathroom." His eyes moved to the sofa and back to me before quickly returning to Bella. "I…uh…I figured Maddie would be sleeping with you, and it's a small…room," – he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand – "so I brought down some sheets and stuff for Edward…"
"This'll be fine sir, thank you," I said quickly, feeling as awkward as he looked. I looked over at Bella and her face was bright pink.
"Well, it's pretty late and it'll probably be a long day tomorrow, so I'll just say goodnight now…Bells, you want me to put Maddie in your room for you?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "Yeah dad, thanks. And thanks for picking us up. I'll be up in a few."
Charlie glanced between me and his daughter and nodded.
"Alright, see you both in the morning." And with that he turned and climbed up the narrow staircase leading to the rooms upstairs.
As soon as we heard the floor creak at the top landing I let out a huge gust of air, throwing myself against the sofa that would be my bed for the next few nights. Bella came to sit next to me.
"Well, that wasn't so bad," she said wryly, looking straight ahead.
I turned to her. "Were we in the same car on the way over?"
She gave me a throaty chuckle, picking up my hand in her own and resting them between us. "It could've been worse."
I arched an eyebrow. "You mean, he could've pulled out his revolver, shot me straight through the heart, and buried me in the woods?"
She laughed. "I told you, he didn't have his revolver on him!"
"Is that supposed to be my consolation here? Your father hates me."
"He does not," she cried out softly, moving herself into my line of vision. I stared at her doubtfully.
"Anyway, don't worry. By the time we leave on Sunday, you'll be his favorite pipe-cleaning, yacht-sailing, fact-fudging, superhero med school dropout this side of the Pacific."
I smirked at her. "Ha. Funny."
She laughed and gave me a quick kiss before pulling back and biting her lip.
"What?"
She studied me. "How has it been…the other times you've met your…girlfriends' parents?"
I held her gaze and shrugged, shaking my head. "I've never gone out of my way to meet anyone's parents," I said honestly.
She looked surprised. "Not even…Tanya's, in the couple of years you were together?"
I shook my head slowly, lifting one shoulder up and down. "I met her father once at a party she took me to. He bragged about the overinflated value of his hotels' stock price for half the night, and then tried to pick my brain for free marketing advice for the rest of it. Her mother…no, I never met her mother."
She nodded slowly.
"Why are we talking about Tanya?"
She shrugged and then angled her body to face me, resting an elbow on the back of the sofa and using her hand to support her head. Her dark hair cascaded loosely down the front of her shoulder. I turned and mimicked her pose.
"I'm just thinking…" –she snorted- "you must really regret getting on that plane with us tonight…just to come to this rainy little town and be called names through the rear-view mirror of a police cruiser. I just can't help thinking how much easier…that must've been. You know, so much less to deal with."
I stared at her for a long while before sighing and bringing our hands up, kissing the back of her hand. "It was a shitty and empty life. Easier? Maybe. Better? Never."
I looked back up at her and she smiled, her chocolate eyes gazing at me thoughtfully.
"And as for regretting coming here," I smirked, "Do you know what I'd probably be doing right now if I hadn't come?"
"What?"
"I'd probably be at home staring at the ceiling, wondering what you and Maddie were doing, and making deals with God about what I'd go through just to be with you two. And trust me, a possibly trigger-happy dad would not be beyond the limits of my list."
She chuckled. "Edward, my dad's a good guy. I guess he's just-"
"Bella, you don't have to make excuses for your dad. I can't really blame him can I?"
"He shouldn't have-"
"Yes, he should have. Look, you wanted me to come with you so that he could meet me, get to know the real me? Well, I don't know if he'll like the real me Bella, but I'm willing to try. I want to get to know him, because we seem to agree on at least one thing. You and Maddie are the most…precious things on this Earth. Hopefully that'll be enough so that he can at least respect me by the time this weekend is over. If it's not," I pursed my lips, "then at least we'll know we tried."
She nodded thoughtfully.
Now it was my turn to ask. I removed my hand from where it cradled my head and moved it to run it down Bella's long hair.
"How was he…with Paul?" I stared at the way my fingers got lost in her hair as I spoke. "I mean, I know he hates him now, but was he ever-"
She chuckled humorlessly. "He never liked Paul. He tolerated him for a while, for my sake, but…" – she shook her head vigorously – "there was never any love lost between the both of them."
I nodded and wondered if I just seemed to be another version of Paul to Charlie Swan. For the first time I could remember, I actually gave a damn what my girlfriend's father thought of me, and it surprised me that I wanted him to be able to do more than simply tolerate me for his daughter's sake.
Bella and I both settled our heads back against the sofa again.
It had been a long day, between traveling and then the couple of photographers that had spotted us. But Bella honestly seemed to have taken the photographers part okay. I mean, she'd obviously been nervous, but I'd just held on to her, and then when we'd finally boarded the flight, I'd looked into her eyes, searching for the wall, the guardedness she used to protect herself. But I hadn't found it.
"So did you enjoy first-class?" I asked, switching to a lighter topic of conversation.
She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "It was alright I guess."
I raised my eyebrows. "I thought it was a pretty good flight. Smooth and quiet, and the attendants were attentive."
She snorted and gave me a sideways glance. "Yeah, to you. Lucky the flight ended when it did. I was getting ready to deck the attendant."
I chuckled heartily. "Bella she was about sixty years old."
Bella smirked. "Not that one."
I frowned. The only other flight attendant assigned to first class had been a-
"The guy?" I asked, lifting myself up to face her directly.
She arched an eyebrow, and started imitating him. "Oh Mr. Cullen, can I get you another blanket? Do you need me to fluff up your pillow? Mr. Cullen did you enjoy your wine, can I get you another glass? Mr. Cullen, can I peel your shrimp for you?"
I choked on a laugh. "He was just being attentive, it's his job! And he never offered to peel my shrimp. I would've probably taken him up on that."
"Hmph, attentive my ass," she scoffed, dropping my hand and crossing her arms in front of herself. "Is that why he offered you a back rub?"
"Hold on, hold on," I said, putting my palms up, "What he said was," I clarified, with my forefinger up, "would anyone here like a back rub? He never offered to give me one personally."
She gave me a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. "Yeah, that's why he was looking right at you when he was offering it."
"Well I sincerely hope it goes without saying that you don't need to worry about anything like that. Otherwise I'm doing something really wrong here."
That made her chuckle. "Damn Edward, if some people could actually undress you with their eyes, you'd be walking around naked all the time."
I uncrossed her arms and picked up her hand again. "Well let's be grateful they can't do shit with their eyes, otherwise I'd be pretty cold."
She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, if that's the kind of extra attention you were talking about in first-class, I gotta say, I wasn't very impressed."
I laughed loudly. "Okay then, if you didn't enjoy that, we can always charter a-"
"Don't even think about saying 'charter a private plane back home.'" Damn, the woman was reading my mind now. "You've got to take it slowly with me here. I can't go from coach to private planes overnight!"
I gave her a crooked grin, lowering my head to her neck and trailing my lips up and down, licking the spot just behind her ear and then sucking lightly on her earlobe. She gasped and I felt her shoulders turn to jelly, like putty in my hands. I smiled into her neck.
"I bet I could convince you if I really wanted to," I murmured. "I've got a secret weapon you know."
"Yeah…I know all about your secret weapon," she whispered in a quivering voice. "You don't play fair."
She turned her face so that her mouth met mine and then she parted her lips and our tongues started dancing against each other frenziedly. And just like that I forgot that we'd been traveling all day, and that her father was right upstairs. I was worked up now and I wanted more. I hungrily sucked her tongue into my mouth, making her whimper. The sound made me hard right away and I picked her up from the where she lay against the sofa and pulled her over me. She straddled me with one leg over each hip and her hands disappeared into my hair, making me moan lightly. My hands moved to rub her perfectly round bottom up and down and all around before resting them squarely against it and pushing her down into me.
"Uhhh Edward," she breathed, bringing her lips to my ear. The lust in her voice made me even crazier with need, so I pushed her deeper into me, moving my hips against her and eliciting more groans and whimpers from her beautiful mouth. She moved her mouth to my neck, sucking and licking vigorously while she grabbed a fistful of hair in each hand.
"Jesus Bella." We moved against each other rhythmically, kissing and licking, the springs on the old sofa under us groaning right along with us with each movement.
Loud footsteps directly above us had Bella flying off of my lap in a split-second. They moved back and forth determinedly, purposefully. I quickly put the pillow over my very noticeable hard-on.
Breathing hard, I looked over at Bella. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen, and her chest rose and fell heavily with her breaths.
"I think it would be a good idea if I kept my secret weapon holstered this weekend, in case your dad decides to use his weapon on me."
Bella frowned. "Please tell me you didn't just compare your weapon to my dad's? Ugh!" She shuddered. Her reaction conjured strange and unwelcome images in my head. I shuddered too.
"Okay, between Charlie's none-too-subtle stomping and your freaky puns, the mood's definitely been killed." She got up off the sofa quickly. "Now I'm going to go pour some Clorox over my mind's eye before I go to bed."
I threw myself down across my new bed. "Yeah, save half of the bottle for me," I agreed with another shudder. She chuckled and bent down to kiss me chastely on the lips before turning and heading up the stairs.
"Sleep well Edward," she called out quietly.
"Yeah, not bloody likely," I mumbled to myself.
OOOOOOOOOO
Despite having gone to bed fearing for my life and with another case of blue balls, I didn't stir all night, until a warm pair of little hands nudged my eyelids open.
"Good mowning Edwood!" a sweet little musical voice greeted me. "Happy Thanksgiving! My grampa's making us bwekfast! Come on! Get up!"
I sat up slowly, vaguely aware of my surroundings.
Maddie grinned widely, sitting next to me in her jammies, with her legs tucked under her.
"Good morning princess," I finally murmured in a thick voice. "Where's mommy?"
"She's still sleeping. Grampa says not to wake huh yet 'cause she's tie-uhd."
I nodded.
"Come on!" Maddie repeated, jumping off the sofa and pulling on my hand. "Grampa made us bwekfast."
I let her pull me up and followed her hesitantly towards the kitchen, where I could hear footsteps and the sound of silverware and dishes banging around. I walked into the bright kitchen, my eyes squinting from the brightness of the yellow cabinets, a thousand times brighter than the view from the window, where deep darkness seemed to be giving way to not-so-deep darkness and, none-too-surprisingly, rain.
Maddie's grandfather stood by the sink, messing around with a coffee machine and buttering a stack of toast. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and waterproof fishing pants.
He turned when he heard us. "Edward, good morning. Happy Thanksgiving," he said quietly.
"Good morning sir," I replied. "Happy Thanksgiving." I stood awkwardly at the threshold, while Maddie went to sit at the table.
"Coffee's ready," he said, pulling out a mug from the cupboard in front of him and pouring the black liquid into it. He turned to hand it to me.
Thanks," I said, walking over and reaching for it.
He nodded. "Milk and sugar are on the table."
I moved to the table while he turned back around and reached for the plate with the stack of toast and then placed it on the middle of the table
"Here you go, Maddie Mo," Charlie said cheerfully.
I watched little Maddie's face while I poured sugar and milk into my mug. She stared at the stack of toast expectantly, as if she were waiting for it to magically transform into something else.
Abruptly, she looked up me with a sanguine expression on her little face. "Edwood, can I have booberry pantates fo-uh bwekfast?"
My eyes grew wide. "Maddie I-"
"Maddie Mo, what's wrong with the toast?" Charlie asked her.
She shrugged. "I want booberry pantates. Edwood always makes me booberry pantates when he sleeps ovuh."
And the day starts.
Charlie pursed his lips and looked at me. "Does he now?" he asked in a low voice.
"Well not always. I mean, I don't always stay- and when I do, it's usually on the pull-out," – damn it, usually means not always – "I mean-"
Charlie put a hand out, as if he didn't want to hear anymore. He shook his head. "I don't have blueberries, but I think I have some instant pancake mix around her somewhere." He waved his arm towards the cabinets with a resigned air. "Go ahead and help yourself if you'd like."
I looked back down at Maddie. "Peez Edwood?" she pleaded with her big innocent brown eyes and pouty little mouth.
I managed to smile. "Sure princess."
She giggled happily, and somehow, that sound calmed me.
I found the still closed box of pancake mix easy enough, chuckling internally as I thought of the fit Esme would have if she knew I was using an instant mix right now. Either way, Maddie dug into her pancakes happily once they were ready, even though blueberries had been replaced with strawberries.
"Edwood, you make the yummiest bwekfasts!" she exclaimed enthusiastically as she stabbed at another forkful of pancakes. I ruffled her hair and grinned at her, forcing myself to eat a second piece of toast from the stack Charlie had prepared with such care. I felt his eyes on me from across the table.
"Grampa, Edwood's my best fwend!" Maddie told her grandfather through a mouthful of pancakes.
"Is he now?" Charlie asked.
"He coluhs with me, and he reads me bed-time stowies, and he sings to me. And he's mommy's speshow fwend," she said, smiling up at me.
I smiled back weakly.
"Mmm hm," Charlied muttered.
"He tick-ohs mommy and makes huh laugh. Grampa, wheuh's the pichoh of the flowuhs you used to have on that wall theuh?" she asked, pointing with her little finger. I let out a quiet sigh of relief that her attention had been diverted.
"It fell and broke Maddie," Charlie replied, his eyes still on me.
"Oh. Edwood, when mommy wakes up can we go to the beach? I want to show you all the pretty seashells theuh. You can help me pick some like when we go to the pahk and you help me pick pwetty wocks."
I ran my hand down her long hair. "Maddie princess, I think it might be too cold for the beach. And it's raining…"
She giggled. "Silly Edwood. It always wains in Fowks."
"Well maybe when mommy wakes up-"
"Maddie, Edward and I are going fishing this morning, and then Sue and her kids and Billy and Uncle Jake are coming over for dinner. So maybe tomorrow…"
I gave Charlie a bewildered look. "Fishing sir?"
He nodded.
"Grampa I wanna go fishing too! Peez grampa?"
Charlie's face softened like a marshmallow at his granddaughter's plea, but he drew in a deep breath before answering.
"Maddie, I promise I'll take you fishing before you go back to New York, but this here's a grown up fishing trip, for only Edward and me. Okay?"
Maddie looked down, a disappointed frown on her face. "Okay grampa."
"Now you go upstairs and stay with mommy until she wakes up, and we'll be back in a little while."
"Okay," she agreed again. She got up from the table and took a few steps before turning back around and running back to me.
"Edwood, you-uh not going home right. You-uh coming back?"
"Of course I'm coming back princess. I'll see you in a little while, just like your grandpa said."
She smiled widely, her chocolate eyes sparkling. Then she reached out and put her little arms around me. "I love you Edwood."
Yeah. This was all worth it.
I cupped her tiny face in my hands and kissed the top of her hair. "I love you too princess," I murmured.
She pulled away then and skipped out of the kitchen.
"Bye grampa! See you latuh!" she called out, and then I heard her little footsteps scurrying up the stairs. I turned to Charlie. He was watching me thoughtfully.
After a few awkward seconds he said, "Well, you better go wash up and change so we can get going and get back early. You can use the half-bath down the hall."
"Should we let Bella know-"
"I've already written a note for her. We won't be long."
I nodded and went to change, hoping I could keep my promise to Maddie and come back after our 'fishing trip.'
OOOOOOOOOO
Charlie and I sat quietly on opposite ends of his small fishing boat. We'd been sitting with our lines in the water, waiting for fish to bite, for the better part of an hour, neither of us breaking the oppressive silence.
The rain fell insistently – though not as heavily as it had been earlier or last night – from the murky sky. In the distance, tall mountains peaked out from behind the heavy fog, reaching all the way up to the clouds – just as Bella had described it to me once. If it weren't for the cold, sticky rain and the nerve-wracking silence surrounding me, I'd actually be enjoying the view.
Charlie finally broke the silence, catching me by surprise, "So Edward, you're probably wonderin' why we're out here Thanksgiving mornin' instead of home with…our loved ones." He kept his eyes on his line as he spoke.
"Yes sir. I guess I am," I answered honestly.
He was silent again for a while, and I thought maybe he'd changed his mind about talking after all.
"My daughter was really upset when I called her the other night."
Shit.
"I know sir," I said honestly again. "We had a bit of a…disagreement, but I promise you-"
"You promise me what?" he snorted. "That there won't be any more disagreements? Son, there will always be disagreements in a relationship. What matters is how you handle them. I didn't bring you out here so that you could promise me you'll always agree with my daughter."
He was quiet again.
"Bella told you about Paul?"
"Yes sir."
He nodded, but kept his eyes on the water. Then he took a deep breath.
"You're a young man Edward," he began. "Maybe someday you'll be a…father." He sighed. "When Bella started dating Paul, I'd hoped it was just a phase. Don't know if you've realized it, but Bella's different from other women-"
"Of course I've realized it sir," I interrupted.
He turned to look at me with a smirk, and then turned back to his line.
"Anyway, what I was trying to say is, she was always more…mature than most girls her age. I couldn't see her taking someone like Paul seriously, and I didn't want to interfere because I figured she'd outgrow him on her own. I guess I failed to see that no matter what, she was still just a teenaged kid. But then a month became two, and two became six, and by the time I realized I should've put my foot down, it was too late. She'd fallen in love and if I'd tried to put my foot down then, she would've distanced herself from me, rather than from him. I didn't want to lose my daughter Edward."
It sounded like an apology. But I didn't answer. It didn't sound like he wanted me to. He was silent again, either lost in his thoughts or giving me time to try to figure out what he was trying to say.
"I'm not gonna go through the whole sordid mess. Bella will tell you as much as she wants you to know, that's not my place. I'm just here to tell you one thing."
Now he turned to face me, and I turned towards him. His brown eyes – so much like his daughter's and granddaughter's - bore into mine.
"I won't make that mistake again Edward. I told my daughter the other day that I trusted her judgment. And I do. Wholeheartedly. We all mistakes, we all ignore our better judgment at some point in our lives. Doesn't mean we should stop trusting ourselves or others. I ignored my better judgment when I didn't try to get her away from Paul early on."
"Sir, I would never hurt Bella that way. I know you're probably worried, because of what you've seen in the media-"
"Yes, I am," he nodded. "But like I said, I trust my daughter's judgment. If she thinks you've changed, well then…I'll go along with it." His eyes narrowed. "But I'll be watching son. I may be a couple of thousand miles away, but…this time…if I do see something, or hear something that Bella's not happy with…if that look she came home with yesterday or the one on my granddaughter's face this morning fades away, then I will be saying something, and you will be hearing from me. Do we understand each other?"
I swallowed thickly, but met his eyes directly. "Yes sir. But Charlie, that's not going to happen. I love Bella and Maddie," I said in a clear, steady voice, "and they love me."
There was no point in being ambiguous, or beating around the bush with it. Bella had said Charlie was a man of few words, and as such, I figured he'd appreciate directness more than anything. I hoped someday I'd be more than just tolerated by this man, but I wasn't going to apologize for being in love with his daughter either.
Charlie searched my eyes for what felt like an eternity, and I let him. Whatever he was looking for, whatever he needed to find, would either be there or it wouldn't. After a few minutes, his expression changed, and the hard lines around his eyes seemed to soften minisculely. Once again, Charlie looked like a young man.
He nodded slowly. "Alright then," he said simply, still keeping his eyes on me.
We stared at each other for a long time. "Now pull your line in," he said abruptly, "you've caught something."
I blinked. "Oh. Okay." I turned back to my line, and reeled it in quickly.
"And Edward?"
"Yes sir?"
"Stop calling me sir. You're making me feel like an old fart."
I suppressed a smirk. "Yes sir. I mean, yes Chief."
"That's better."
I stole a look at him while I reeled my line in, and it could've been the thick fog messing with my vision, but I could've sworn I saw one edge of his mouth twitch up under the beard.
Charlie didn't say anything else for the rest of our 'fishing trip' but suddenly, the silence wasn't so uncomfortable.
OOOOOOOOOO
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Part Two of this chapter will be up in a couple of days.