CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
BELLA
Things had been... interesting since my realization about Renee two days previous. I started seeing everything she did in a new light. Even the smallest thing like putting a drink down and forgetting where she'd put it - before I would have passed that off as nothing, I mean, how many times do I forget where I've put something? All the fucking time. But I felt differently about it in this scenario. How did I know whether that was a simple moment of forgetfulness, or the sign that... that... that her brain was slowly eroding away into nothing.
That was the hardest to wrap my head around. That, and the fact that things were going to get a lot harder. She'd forget people, places and herself. Me included. I was no idiot; I had seen the damage Alzheimers could cause - from hearing stories and watching characters battle it on television programs and in movies, and I knew what was instal for me. Yet I still had the tiniest glimmer of hope, hope that, perhaps, Mom won't deteriorate as much as they did. That, with the help of medication and skilled people, she could fight this. We all could fight this.
However, I knew that was not the case.
I was wide awake at 5:30 Friday morning. Angus had curled himself up against my side which was something he seldom did. Maybe he had sensed I needed the comfort. I lay there for an additional twenty minutes trying to force myself back to sleep, but no avail. I decided to get up, re-tie my hair into a messy knot on the top of my head, visit the bathroom and make myself some breakfast. I stopped halfway to the kitchen before turning back on my steps to collect my phone. Even though I wasn't in the office, I still had work to do.
That brings me onto another thing. Edward had been... amazing the last couple days. That night we had our heart-to-heart and I had admitted to him my worries about Mom, he insisted that I stayed home for the remaining days of Mom's stay. Like I said, I can work through my phone and/or laptop, and if I was finding it too hard to juggle all I had to do was say and he'd find me a temporary replacement. See? Amazing.
For a good forty minutes I sat in my kitchen, eating bowls of Cocoa Pebbles (because I'm secretly ten years old) and worked my way through the emails I never had time to do the night before. There wasn't a shit load to go through - various customers wishing to finalize their plans and other co-workers from around the country asking me to make appointments to see Edward - but it was enough to distract me.
"Good morning, Bunny." Mom spooked me when she walked into the kitchen. It seemed we were all early risers that morning.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
She helped herself to a mug of freshly-brewed coffee and slotted some bread into my toaster. "Oh, like a dream! And... what is this?" Renee gave me a pointed look, "are you working again? I swear, you and Mr. Cullen never stop to take a breath."
Oh yeah, that was something else I had picked up on. I had seen so many different aspects to her in such a short space of time, one including how, for a brief moment, it could seem like the illness had vanished over night.
"Yeah," I laughed and shook the depressing, wishful thinking from my head, "it is a very time-demanding job."
Just as I took a mouthful of coffee, my phone became alive in my hand. I excused myself from the kitchen as I answered Edward's call. "Good morning." I smiled.
"Good morning, Isabella. I didn't wake you up, did I?"
"No-no; I was already awake." I had forgotten that the time was barely 7am.
"Okay, good. So..." he paused slightly in his speech, "can I ask a favor of you?"
"Um... sure." It wasn't often that he asked me for a favor, usually he would mention his request and it is my job to follow through with it no questions asked. It could have been because I was technically off work, but that still didn't stop me from wondering.
"I'm taking Lily to visit a school this morning, and I would love for you to accompany us - give us your views on it."
My heart and stomach did a funny little flippy thing when he spoke his request, but I couldn't work out why. I had joined them for a countless number of occasions - visiting the boxing club, her birthday to Philly, and even flying off to Seattle to bring her back again. Yet this time it felt different, maybe it was due to the conversation Boss and I had the other night; our stubborn minds had been pulled from our rear ends and we both understand that we wanted to make this work. We wanted to be a team.
"I'd love to, Boss... however I don't want to leave Mom on her own all day..."
"Don't worry, I thought about that too. I've asked Siobhan to head on over and take your place. They seemed to get along very well. It would give you a break, too - you can take this time to relax."
Again with the flippy thing. Edward had put much thought into this and had even thought about Renee and came up with a solution for that.
"Thank you," I said genuinely, "in that case I'd love to come with you."
"Brilliant. Well, Siobhan will be with you for around 8 o'clock if you could be ready to leave shortly after that?"
"No problem, see you shortly."
Once our call had ended I went back through to tell Renee the sudden change of plans. I reminded her again who Siobhan was and that she would be here soon.
"The lovely lady who made our meal?"
"Yes!" I said a little too over-excitedly - she had forgotten who Edward was in the space of a day, so remembering Siobhan after two days must have been some improvement, right? Or, then again, maybe I was getting my hopes raised too high. "She's going to look after you whilst I'm away."
I shouldn't have said 'look after' I regretted my words the moment they were said.
"Bella, I'm not a child - I'm sure I can take care of my self for one day..."
"I'm sorry, Mom; I didn't mean to say that. What I meant to say was Siobhan will be keeping you company - it's not fair to leave you alone all day."
That seemed to work, my slip-up had been covered. I had roughly forty-five minutes to get ready, so downed the last of my coffee and went off to the bathroom for my usual 3 S's routine - a shit, shower and shave. So damn lady-like.
0-0
I drove through the gates of Bossman Manor shortly before 9:15, the gardeners were out and about, mowing the large stretches of land and seeing to all the various plants and bushes. I waved to them politely when I made my way to the front door and let myself in using the spare key Edward gave me years ago. Siobhan had informed me before I left that Edward and Lily were seen going to the gym, so that was where I went to first.
I couldn't hear anything as I made my way down the stairs that lead to the basement gym, so at first I thought that they were no longer in there, but then I heard Edward, praising Lily on something that she had done.
"That was perfect! You are really getting the hang of this now."
As I turned into the room, I saw the two of them standing in the middle of the ring. Edward had a jab pad on each hand which Lily practiced on punching. The two were circling each other in a pretend fight - I couldn't make heads or tails of the moves they were performing; her fists moved far too quickly.
"Morning guys!" I announced my arrival which put a stop to their training.
"Hey, Bella!" Lily grinned, "Dad is giving me a quick lesson."
"That's fine," I said as I dropped my bag on the floor and rested my arms on the rope of the ring. "You keep doing what you are doing."
"We won't be long," Edward assured me before he got Lily focused again and they returned to their routine. The time did not bother me in the slightest - they could practice all day if they wanted to and I would still have been happy to stand and watch. There was something special watching them work together. I caught the concentration on her face, as she focused on Edward's hands and made sure to return every hit. Edward's face held the same concentration, but in his eyes I witnessed the love and pride that shined through for his daughter.
He stuck to his words, and not long afterwards, they were pulling off their pads and gloves. "Can you show me now, Dad?" Lily asked as she climbed through the ropes. I didn't know what she was referring to, but whatever it was had made her jiggle with excitement. Edward didn't word a response; he simply nodded, smiled, and headed over to the far-off cupboard. My own interest was piqued - that door had a coded lock to it, which only Edward knew the number for. I had always wondered what he kept in there because he has a cabinet which held all his treasured boxing possessions, so I couldn't work out what was so important not to put it on display.
He walked back out with a thin white box in his hands. There was no writing on any of the sides to indicate what the box held, it was just plain white.
"Wow..." I stole a peek at Lily's eyes to see that they had grown large with amazement. "Can I...?"
"Of course you can." Without another word, Edward lifted off the lid of the box and brought out a bundle of deep blue silk. I still didn't know what it was, until the silk was unfolded into a robe. The robe had a white collar and cuffs with a white band to tie around the middle. On the back, in large block capitals, his name was seen in the same white silk.
Edward 'The Bruiser' Cullen
Lily touched the robe so gently, like it was the thinest sheet of paper which would tear without any pressure. Edward helped her slip it on, tied the band and pulled the hood over her head.
"It suits you."
Lily lifted her head and peeked through the material that drowned her, I couldn't recall seeing a smile so large on her face.
"Why do you keep it locked away?" I asked.
Edward looked to me and smirked. "Simple. The things in that cabinet anyone could have - my opponents could have won those belts, and thousands of boxers have those shoes and gloves. But this is one of a kind - nobody else in the world will ever have that robe."
"Oh." It sounds so obvious now he's said it.
"And Lily?" She looked up again from inspecting the garment, "I want you to have it."
Again her eyes grew to twice the size, "what? No - no, I cannot have this."
"Yes you can."
"B-but... it's yours!"
"Yes, but now I want it to be yours. What good is it locked away, when I know that you would take incredible care of it?"
Kid was speechless, tears welled in her already large eyes, and she stepped forward to throw her arms around her father. "Thank you, Daddy. I promise I will look after it."
With my own heart hurting from the touching moment, I put one hand on his large bicep and raised myself onto tip-toes to kiss his bristled cheek.
"You really can be the sweetest man," I whispered.
0-0
The car pulled up into the parking lot of the grand white and terra cotta bricked building - home of the Wildcats. I couldn't see the playing fields from where I sat, but Edward had been saying on the drive here that the entire campus was 26 acres with a full range of facilities for everything that they offer.
We were there to meet Mr. Nelson - the headmaster of Rye Country Day School. Now, I wasn't stupid, I knew what it took and how much notice you needed to give when enrolling a new student, especially at a school like this where the tuition is almost $40,000 (I googled it) so I had a sneaky feeling Edward may have bribed Mr. Nelson with something slightly more convincing. Not only that, but everyone in Rye knew of Edward and his family, and they'd be ridiculous not to accept his bribe.
A receptionist allowed us into the office, where a rather tall, balding man rose from his seat and stepped around the desk to greet us. Bossman shook Mr. Nelson's hand, because this was a business deal.
"Mr. Cullen, thank you for coming today." His white mustache lifted to the side when he smiled. "And you must be Lillian." He turned to the nervous girl beside me.
"Y-yes... It's nice to meet you."
I could understand why she'd be nervous, but from what I could see, Mr. Nelson didn't seem like the Demon Headmaster type. Or maybe I only thought that because my Principal made even the toughest of guys shit their pants - you could hear her heels clacking from a mile off, and she may have been small but she had the ability to catch you in an evil stare and wouldn't let you look away until the truth came out. She also had a face like an eagle and smelt of stale cigarettes.
Mrs. Dawkins. What a stunning creature she was.
Mr. "call me Scott" Nelson offered his hand to me also, then asked us to take a seat so we could start the interview. He started off by saying how appreciative he was for Edward choosing this school.
"Lily is a very athletic girl, and so I wanted her to attend somewhere which could help her shine in that department, and I see that you have incredible facilities."
Mr. Nelson adjusted the knot of his tie slightly as he moved in his seat. "Absolutely. We can offer you, Lily, a 45,000 square-foot athletic center, which includes: squash courts, full-sized basketball courts, fitness center, and even an ice hockey and skating rink. And that is not including the fields outside for lacrosse, baseball, soccer..."
Holy shit! That makes even me want to take up a sport!
"Oh, my goodness..." I was not the only one taken back by his list.
"Where do your interests lie?" He asked her.
"Boxing." I didn't have to look at Kid's face to know that she was smiling.
"Ah, taking after your father I see. Yes, well in that case you also have full access to our state-of-the-art fitness and weight training rooms which you are free to use in between classes."
Bossman and Mr. Nelson then spoke together for the remainder of the interview, discussing all the legal documents that Edward brought with him, along with payment and such like. He then offered to take us on a tour of the campus so Lily could get a good view of the school.
"We have a summer school program running at the moment," Mr. Nelson mentioned as he held the door of his office open for us to walk through. "Of course Lily is more than welcome to join should she like, otherwise our new term starts at the beginning of September."
We were taken on a tour of the main building and a brief look at all the Upper School classrooms and learned that Mr. Nelson was the Headmaster of the entire school, but there was a separate Principal for the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools. A Mr. Wieman would be Lily's Principal who she would meet at a later date.
"What do you think?" Edward asked me quietly.
"I think it's perfect," I beamed up at him, "it's exactly what she needs, and it's close to home so it wouldn't be hard for her to get here."
"Yes. I'll have someone drive her every day, until she learns herself."
"What do you think of it?" I repeated his recent question.
"I like it. I think it's great..."
"But...?"
"I just... I don't know..."
Edward had the same tense look on his face which I had seen many a time before. I slipped my hand into his so that our fingers intertwined and squeezed them gently. "What is it? Something is eating away at you."
He looked down at me. I searched his eyes but I all I saw that was the same tense emotion. "I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself."
"About what?"
Honestly, getting information from him was like getting blood from a fucking stone sometimes.
"What if we enroll her here, she makes some great friends and gets attached and comfortable..."
"Then that would be great!" The silence between us gave me the chance to properly look at him. That was when I understood what he was saying, and where he was coming from. Lauren. "Boss..." I said sympathetically, my free hand patted his firm chest. "Lily wants to stay here - she wants to live with you. Even if that stupid little bitch comes running back, she cannot force Kid to live in Seattle. You know this."
He didn't say anything, I think he was too scared to voice what he thought.
"Look," I said and pointed down the corridor where Lily was checking out the computer room, equipped with at least a dozen iMac computers. "Can you not see how...damn happy she is here already, and she hasn't even started! Don't let the 'what if's control you."
Edward broke his hand free from mine so that he could rap his arms around me in a deep hug. "You always know what to say."
"I know..." I sighed blissfully, "I am pretty fucking fantastic."
0-0
After the tour and another brief interview with Mr. Nelson, he and Bossman shook hands again and they promised to get in contact shortly. Mr. Nelson thanked us all for coming, and said how he was looking forward to Lily starting after the summer.
"Oh, my God! That is, like, the best school I have ever seen!" Kid was like a little jumping bean in the back seat of the car. "Is it September yet?! I cannot wait to start! Oh, my God!"
Edward and I laughed at her excitement and listened happily as she squealed for the fifteen minutes it took to drive home.
The time was reaching four-thirty when we returned and I knew I needed to head off to save Siobhan from my mother. Not only that, I was also desperate to get back to Orange Is the New Black - my new obsession on Netflix.
I'd say I was confident with my sexuality, but Ruby Rose made me think otherwise.
I mean, have you fucking seen her? Exactly.
"Hey, Bella," Boss caught me before I could say my goodbyes. "Have you got a second?"
I do... but... Orange Is the New Black...
I laughed silently at my immature thoughts, "yeah, sure. What do you need?"
"I've been thinking..." He scratched away at his luscious hair.
"Oh, dear..."
Edward smirked at me, but continued to speak his mind. "I've been thinking about what we discussed the other day, and... um... how we were thinking of...y'know... giving this another go?"
So damn adorable. This man can talk in front of a room full of intimidating assholes and not stutter once, but the second he needs to get personal, he's stuttering more than fucking Porky Pig.
"Uh huh..." I tried my darnedest not to laugh.
"And so I want to take this seriously and do it the proper way."
"Okay...?"
Edward closed his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his posture. "Tomorrow evening, Miss Swan, I am going to take you out for dinner."
"Oh." That was not what I had expected him to say, but I won't lie and say that it didn't make my insides bubble like they had done that morning. "Okay." I said with a large, glowing smile on my face.
"I am going to pick you up at eight o'clock and I promise to be nothing but the perfect gentleman."
"So no fumbling in the back of your car?" I winked.
"Fumble? Isabella, I can assure you there is nothing clumsy about me when it comes down to that."
"So... there will be fumbles?"
"I didn't say that, and no - the perfect gentleman waits until at least the third date before they get to second base."
Dammit.
"But... is that okay?" He asked, the cockiness lost for a second.
"Absolutely. I cannot wait. So... I'll see you at eight?"
"See you at eight." He winked and kissed my cheek sweetly before he opened my car door open for me.
I think I grinned like a love-sick school girl all the way home.
0-0
A bit on the shorter side, but I'm absolutely exhausted and didn't know when I'd next get the time to write, so here you go!
So I'm gonna go watch OITNB (that really is my new obsession) and you can tell me all what you thought!
YAY! A DATE!
Thank you for reading x