Chapter 24

"I apologize again Officer Abbott. Thank you for being so understanding of this."

My father was trying to hide the smirk that was threatening his features while Bella and I stood on the front porch with the officer behind us. Neither Bella nor I could look at my father. I shuffled my feet back and forth while Bella bit her lip.

"Not a problem Carlisle. I know your kids are good, and they weren't doing anything bad. Just lets not make a habit of this, shall we?" he asked us.

"Yes sir," we both answered.

He turned to leave and Bella and I walked in. We went to sit in the living room and waited for my dad to walk in. He came and sat beside us. He only lasted ten seconds before he busted out laughing.

"Edward, this is stuff you should have done in high school...I never thought I would have to ground you in college."

"No no no Carlisle it isn't Edward's fault! I went in there and Edward just followed me to get me out of there, please don't punish him!"

I looked at my dad and we busted out laughing. "Bella, I'm just joking. I wouldn't ground Edward. Yes you two did trespass but didn't do anything else. Its not a problem. Just don't make a habit out of it."

She smiled and nodded. "I'm going to go check on Sophee."

She got up and headed up the stairs. I watched her until she disappeared. I heard my dad clear his throat and I turned towards him.

"So things are going well with you and Bella?"

I nodded, "Yeah.

My father studied my face for a minute before he spoke. "Does she know about Natalie and every thing that went on?"

I shook my head. "No. It seems when I try to talk to her something happens, like tonight. I know I need to tell her."

He patted my leg and stood up. "The sooner the better, because honestly Edward, if you see you and Bella going anywhere, you need to let her know now. You know her past, she should know your's."

My dad walked away as I continued sitting there for a few minutes, trying to figure out how and when to tell Bella. I walked up the stairs and stopped at Bella and Sophee's door and peaked inside. Bella was by Sophee's bed, stroking her hair. She looked up and smiled at me.

"Hey."

"Hey." She got up and walked over to me. I wrapped my arms around her.

"I was about to go to bed and just wanted to tell you goodnight."

She grinned up at me and stood on her tiptoes to give me a light kiss on my lip. "Goodnight. Thank you so much for tonight."

"You're welcome. Today meant a lot to me."

I gave her one more squeeze and retreated to my room.

I hadn't been able to go to sleep. I tossed and turned all night. I knew the whole telling Bella thing was weighing on my mind. Finally, I climbed out of bed frustrated and headed down to the kitchen to get something to drink. I noticed the light under the microwave was on and slowly made my way in there so I wouldn't scare anyone. I noticed Bella was sitting at the bar sipping on some tea. I stood there for a bit, just staring at her. It always took my breath away how beautiful she is.

I then walked into the kitchen and she looked up at me.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hey. Couldn't sleep?"

She shook her head and looked back down at her drink. I decided to make some tea as well. Once I had, I sat down beside her.

"So is there a specific reason you can't sleep?" I asked her.

She once again shook her head and sighed. I took a sip of my drink and began wondering if I should tell her now. I realized now would be better than never.

"Bella, can I talk to you about something?"

She looked over at me. "Sure."

I took a deep breath and let it out. "I want to tell you about, um, about the girl I was with before you. Way before you. I haven't been with anyone since, and it has a lot to do with her."

Bella turned towards me and nodded. I continued.

"Her name was Natalie. I met her my freshmen year, her sophomore year. We met the first week of school and began hanging out a lot after that. I finally got the nerve to ask her out." I laughed a bit at the memory of how nervous I was. "We started dating after that. And got closer. We were there for each other through it all the year; my nerves already about medical school, her worries over an internship she wanted, my fears over meeting her parents. I realized before school ended for winter break, that I was in love with her. And I knew we would wait till at least one of us graduated, but I was ready to ask her to marry me...crazy I know, but she just seemed to be the one for me. So over Christmas while we were visiting her parents, I asked her father for his permission to marry her. Luckily, he said yes."

I took another drink and looked over Bella. She had an unreadable expression on her face and that started to make me nervous. I cleared my throat and went on.

"We began the spring semester, and I began figuring out the perfect time to ask her. The opportunity presented itself when we decided to go up to her parents for spring break. They lived on a ranch upstate, and I figured it would be a beautiful place to ask her. She was headed up before me, due to some things I had to take care of back here first. She left from campus on Thursday, and I was flying up on Saturday." I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. Bella seem the notice my discomfort and she placed a hand on my knee. I opened my eyes again and looked another direction, away from Bella. "I was packing my things so I would be ready to go on Saturday. I was surprised I hadn't heard from her, but just figured she was talking to her parents and getting settled in. Late that evening, I got a call from her mom. She was crying and I was scared. I asked her what was going on, where Natalie was. She began crying harder and had to pass the phone to her husband. When he came on the phone, he told me Natalie had been in a car wreck, just twenty minutes away from their house. She...she died instantly."

I hadn't noticed tears were running down my face until Bella swiped them away with her hand.

"I'm so sorry Edward."

I laughed without humor. "Sorry I'm acting this way. I'm sure hearing about my former girlfriend and crying over it is exactly what you want to hear."

She shook her head. "It just confirms what I already knew about you. If it didn't bother you at all, I'd be worried about you. If you were able to just brush this off, even though its been awhile, I'd be a little worried about your heart."

I grabbed her hand. "Please know that I have gotten past this, and I'm very happy to have you in my life. I haven't felt like this since her and thought I never would. So thank you." She blushed and nodded. I continued. "There is a little more. Um, after her funeral, I lost it. I wouldn't listen to anyone, started cutting myself off from my family and hers. It just hurt too much. And then one day, it was really bad." "That day I was driving to, well I don't even remember where, I was at a stoplight. I began thinking how easy it would be to just pull out into oncoming traffic, and just end it all." I saw tears coming out of Bella's eyes and wiped them away. "Don't worry, I'm still here aren't I?"

"But you might not have been."

I nodded. "As I was thinking how it would be so easy to just end it all, something was causing me to look over to my right. When I did, I saw someone. And all they had to do was smile at me, and somehow it made everything better for me. I realized ending it would just make everything worse, almost like Natalie died in vain. I knew then that I would be ok, that life would be better. It might take some time, but it would be ok."

I looked over at Bella and she seemed frozen. "Bella, that person...was you. I'm sorry I haven't said anything sooner, but you were the person that helped me see that it would all be ok. Something, in your smile filled me with hope. And like I said, I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, when I saw you, I was shocked, I couldn't believe my angel was there, in front of me."

Bella turned her head down, her hair covering her face from me. I started getting nervous that I scared her, freaked her out over this.

"Bella?"

She looked up at me with tears running down her face. "You...you remember that?"

I nodded. "I thought about you ever day since. There was no way I could ever forget you."

She looked into my eyes, and gently placed her hand on my cheek.

"I never forgot you either."