A/N: Thank you for your continued reviews. If I get 2 from this chapter, I'll be at 700, and I can't believe it!
This is the second to the last chapter, and well, we have a little drama. My internet connection is acting up, so I'm trying to hurry to post it.
Scorprio11 – I know you wanna pound…someone…but stick with me, darlin'. Thanks for your insights.
SMeyer owns all Twilight characters. No infringement intended.
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28.
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"Well, this is our last breakfast before you two go away to college. I can't tell you how proud your mom and I are of you both," Edward told Jared and Jacob that Saturday morning as the three of them sat in their usual booth at the diner.
"Dad, we'd have never been able to do half the shit we've done if you hadn't come along," Jared told him.
The breakfast was bittersweet for Edward. Sitting at the diner had become their thing when they needed to have a discussion. They'd been there many times over the years, and he was looking forward to doing the same thing with his daughter, Charlotte, and his other son, Garrett, when they were older.
Jared was going to Northwestern on an academic scholarship. He was going to be pre-med, and Bella and Edward were quite proud of him. Liza and Ted had offered him the condo so he didn't have to live in the dorms, but Edward had suggested that he try it for at least a year, remembering his own college experience at Dartmouth. Jared agreed to give the dorms a year, and his plane was leaving the next day. His things had been shipped already, and while Edward knew he was excited, he could see the apprehension in his son.
It would be the first time that the boys had ever been apart for any period of time, but they'd chosen not to attend the same universities, so when Jacob got a football scholarship to the University of Arizona, the couple had urged him to take it.
He wanted to major in mechanical engineering, but everyone knew that his real desire was to be the pre-eminent defensive tackle for the Wildcats. They'd arranged for him to have a tutor in Tucson because academics hadn't come to Jacob as easily as Jared, but the family was confident he'd do well.
"Yeah, well, you two are great boys…hell, you're men now. I just hope that when you get to college, you won't spend your first semester boozing it up and neglecting your coursework. You both know that your scholarships depend on your GPA's, so keep perspective when it comes to partying, okay? I'm not stupid enough to think that you two will be holed-up in the library all year, but keep some sense about it, okay?" Edward asked as the coffee was delivered.
The carafe was larger because the boys were coffee drinkers, so as Edward poured them each a cup, he thought back to the first time he'd met them. "You know, never judge a book by its cover. When I met you both, I thought you were juvenile delinquents, but I quickly learned that things aren't always what they appear to be. You're good men, and I'm so happy that I found that out about you. I lucked out meeting your mother, but getting you two in the process, along with your little sister and brother, well, that's just been a bonus for me. Don't ever forget that you're my sons, and you know what I expect of you with regard to how you conduct yourselves when you're away from home. I know you won't disappoint us," Edward told them as the waitress returned to take their order.
He saw the young girl smile at the boys and flirt a little, and he saw that the two shy boys he'd met when they were eleven were gone forever. The young men sitting across from him were confident and a bit cocky, just as he'd been back in the day. It made him smile because he believed he'd had a little bit to do with it.
Of course, he knew that they were their mother's sons, and his wife never ceased to amaze him. His love for her had only grown over the seven years they'd been married, and he knew that it would only continue. He'd tell anyone who'd listen about his remarkable family, and he'd tell them with the sense of awe he felt because he still pinched himself every once in a while to make sure it wasn't all just a wonderful dream.
##
"God, you've still got it, Masen," Bella gasped as the two of them lay on the bed next to each other. For the first time in their ten-year marriage, the couple had gone on vacation alone.
It was June, and they were celebrating Edward's thirty-fifth birthday. Bella wasn't looking forward to her forty-first birthday in September, but her life had been so great that she wasn't counting birthdays any longer. Her younger husband kept her from feeling her age, as did her eight-year-old daughter and her five-year-old son.
"See, they told me that the vasectomy might affect performance, but I do believe that I just proved that those people are full of shit," he teased as he turned to her and kissed her again.
He'd shown her the magic, yet again, and without the concern for their son and daughter who still lived at home, she'd been very vocal about the fact that the man knew her body like no other. His tongue still knew how to kiss her in all the right places, and the swivel of his hips as he took her to that place in the clouds that she saw every time they made love reminded her that she was very fortunate.
Jared and Jacob had come back to Forks for the summer. They were home, taking care of their brother and sister…well, mostly. Alice and Jasper had moved back to Forks after Jennifer, their daughter, had been born, and Alice was keeping up with the Masen kids which gave Edward and Bella enough of a comfort level to go off on their own.
They didn't go to Hawaii as they always had with the kids. They went to Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera. It was Bella's first time out of the country, except for a few camping trips in Canada the family had taken over the years, and she was enjoying herself more than she'd ever dreamed possible without her children.
They'd rented an apartment in Corniglia, and it was stunning. They'd gone to a small restaurant in the village for dinner, and Edward had played piano for her, which was something he'd never done before. She vowed that when they returned home, some of the empty space in their new expansion would be used to outfit a music room because his skills shouldn't have been kept a secret from her for so long. He'd messed around with an old acoustical guitar that his parents had sent him when they were cleaning out the condo to make room for Jared to take it over after he transferred from Northwestern to the University of Chicago, and Edward had begun teaching Garrett how to play. Bella loved watching them together.
"Yes, my dear husband, you've proven that you've still got it, and we won't be adding to our family in the process. I do believe that four children are quite enough, don't you?" she teased as she settled in at his side, just as she was prone to do after they made love.
"You know, I could have had a whole litter with you because you make it so easy, Bella, but I'm happy we stopped at four. The younger ones are getting old enough that maybe we can do more stuff like this, for which I'm happy, but we've still got life in the house. It got awfully quiet when Jacob and Jared went off to college," he commented.
She'd definitely noticed the quiet. Well, that was until Garrett and Charlie got into a screaming match, then it was almost like a stadium to her.
"Did Jake talk to you about considering entering the draft?" she asked apprehensively. Jacob had mentioned to her that he'd been approached by the Arizona Cardinals, but she'd been against it completely, reminding him that he was on scholarship and that an education was very important.
"He called me about it, and I told him I thought it was a bad idea. If he waits until next year after his senior year, he'll get a better offer if that's the way he wants to go. I'm not sure if I made my point, but when we get home, I'll take him for breakfast and talk to him again," Edward told her.
Bella turned on her stomach and rested her hands on his chest, feeling the muscle under his skin, and counting herself very lucky that he was hers. He was still the most handsome man she'd ever met in her life, and she could see him in their children. Garrett's reddish bronze hair and green eyes gave her a glimpse of how her husband must have looked as a young boy.
"Do you talk to them often? You never say. I talk to them a couple of times a week," she volunteered as he played with her hair as was his custom when the two partook of pillow talk.
"I talk to one or the other of them every day. Jake calls about school, and Jared calls about girls. You know, he transferred to U of C because Kim Vaughn goes there. I do believe that they're living together in Mom and Dad's condo, but he won't own up to it," Edward confessed. It was the first she'd heard of it.
"How the hell did she end up there?" Bella asked.
"They kept in touch, and she transferred there from UCLA. She's pre-med as well. He's doing really well, you know. Carlisle talks to him all the time and has set him up with a job at the hospital this summer. Paul Reed wasn't exactly thrilled about the fact that Jare wasn't going to work there this summer, but Carlisle told him that the experience would help him get into medical school.
"Now, Jake, on the other hand, is going to work for Rosalie again this summer. She told him that she's got a Mustang body that she'll help him rebuild if he's interested, and he's very interested," Edward told her. Again, it was the first she'd heard of any of it.
"Why don't they tell me these things?" she asked, trying not to feel hurt. The family had trekked to Tucson over the years to watch Jacob's games, and they were all proud of him. But, Bella didn't want him to short sell his education. She knew that eventually, his days as a star player would come to an end, and she wanted him to have something to fall back on and college was a must. That was her dream, and she'd push it on him every chance she got.
"Love, the one thing I'm grateful for is that our sons and I have always been able to talk. They don't like to tell you things that they fear will upset you, especially with Charlie and Garrett still at home. You just need to call them and not wait for them to call you. I don't wait. I don't give a shit what they're doing. They're my sons, and I want to know what they've got going on. You wait for them to call so you don't seem to be interfering. Go ahead and interfere. I think they're waiting for it," Edward coaxed. She laughed at his advice, but she took it seriously.
"You're a smart cookie," she teased as she kissed his chest and licked his nipple. For Edward Masen, that was all it took. He was on his wife like white on rice, and he didn't stop until she shrieked his name as his mouth once again brought her to climax.
"Remember I told you that I'd never get tired of that? Well, ten years and I'm still loving it," he told her as he lay on the bed and pulled her on top of him. He felt her sink down on his hard shaft and reminded himself that still, after four children, his wife was just as tight as the first time he'd ever made love to her.
In and out…up and down…kissing and sucking…gasps and groans…fulfillment and gratitude…the couple enjoyed themselves again. Sex could have become mechanical, as it did in many marriages, but Edward and Isabella Masen were determined that it wouldn't be that way for them.
They'd enjoyed many positions, even though some left them laughing in the middle of the bed because they just didn't work out the way they did in the copy of the Kama Sutra that she'd given him for his birthday as a gag gift one year. The fact that they were both willing to try and neither had experienced any significant injuries as a result of their experimentation kept the couple interested in trying new things. Regardless of how they "did it," as Jared had mentioned many years before, at the end of the encounter, they were both satisfied. Life was wonderful.
##
"Carlie, you can't be pregnant…you're on the goddamn pill, or so you told me," Jacob snapped as he spoke on the phone with the girl he'd been dating since high school. They'd gone to U of A together, and they'd moved in together, but Jacob hadn't told his parents that he was living with a girl. When they were in Forks during breaks, they didn't see much of each other. As far as his parents knew, he lived with a guy named Carl, and no one seemed to suspect anything out of the ordinary.
The phone call while he was babysitting his brother and sister had been a surprise, and the tears he heard over the line had left him reeling. The news…oh he couldn't even comprehend it. He was going to be twenty-one in November, and he'd talked to his father about entering the NFL draft that summer. His mother had been dead set against the idea, but his father said that they'd talk about it when he and Bella returned from Italy, so Jacob wasn't concerned.
When his cell rang and it was Carlie, he'd answered because if she had some free time, he wouldn't mind sneaking away. He knew his cousin, Alice, would take care of his brother and sister if he asked, so he was looking forward to it. His twin brother was so busy working at the hospital that he couldn't count on Jared for back up.
"I didn't say I was pregnant. I said I was late. I know you remember the sinus infection I had in April, Jake. You didn't want to buy condoms, but even when I told you that the antibiotics would fuck with my pills, you didn't care. My guess is it was that night after you came home from that stupid frat party," she sniffled.
Jacob remembered being a bit bent that night, and when he crawled into bed with her, he vaguely remembered her telling him something about birth control, but he was too drunk to go buy condoms, and having been spoiled that they didn't need them, he'd just shifted to autopilot. That decision, albeit an alcohol-induced one, could have been the worst decision of his life.
"Look, take a fucking test, okay?" he snapped.
"I don't want to do it by myself," she replied tearfully.
He thought for a minute and decided that his sister and brother would go to bed within the hour, so he made a decision that he was sure his parents would not be happy about. "Fine. Stop at the store and pick up a test and come over. They go to bed by ten, so come over after that. You can spend the night and take the test. I'll be here, and we'll figure out what the fuck to do," he lamented.
"Hey, don't sound so happy about this," Carlie snapped at him.
"Oh, trust me, I'm not," he responded, hanging up and walking back into the living room to see his brother and sister lying on the floor as they watched a movie. The idea that he could have a child of his own had him spinning, and he really wanted to call his dad, but he knew that between the time difference and the news, it wasn't a good idea because he knew how disappointed his parents would be in him for being so irresponsible.
His grandfathers would chastise him for his carelessness.
His grandmothers would cry.
His aunt and uncle would over-analyze everything, and his brother was too busy to talk about anything other than work and school.
There was only one person who he thought he could talk to…his cousin, Alice…so he called her for support, but when he got her voicemail, he didn't leave a message. He'd never felt more alone in his life.
##
"Well, I don't see signs of life," Bella responded. They'd come home two days early because they missed their kids, but they'd had a great time. Neither had been against the idea of cutting the vacation short, so when they pulled into the driveway of their home, they were both happy, even though it was nearly midnight.
"Let's just go in. I'll unload the car tomorrow," Edward told her as he hopped out of the car, walking around to open the door for her as he always did. They chose not to park in the garage because they didn't want to open the door and make noise, so they snuck into the house and surveyed the damage.
"Well, it's not as bad as I thought," Bella remarked as she turned on the kitchen light finding only a few dishes in the sink. She flipped off the light and headed toward the stairs, leaving Edward behind to lock the house and come up to bed.
When he walked through the living room, he saw Jared asleep on the couch in scrubs, so he woke him because his neck was craned in a way that would leave it stiff the next day. "Jared, son, wake up and go to bed," Edward whispered as he shook the young man. When his eyes jolted open and focused, Edward saw the smile that he'd grown accustomed to over the years.
"Hey Dad. When'd you get home?" Jared whispered as he scrubbed his hands over his scruffy face. Edward could see that he was surprised to see them, and he smiled, happy to see his son.
"We landed at eight in Seattle, but we had to make the drive. Go to bed, son. Is Jake here?" Edward asked.
Jared chuckled, which gave Edward pause. "Oh, he's here alright, and he's got company, but you didn't hear that from me. I was working, so don't get pissed at me, okay? Talk to your oldest," Jared informed as he rose from the couch. He hugged his dad, and then crawled up the stairs to his room, happy to find his bed.
Edward decided that it was too late to mention anything to Bella, so he climbed the stairs and followed the familiar path to their bedroom. When he closed the door to their room, he saw that she was already in bed, and it made him smile.
After she fell asleep, he gently moved her off of him and pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, hearing noise coming from downstairs. As he passed the bedrooms, he saw that Jared's door was closed, but Jake's was open, so he quietly walked down the stairs and listened, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
"You know, Jake, if I didn't love you, I'd say you were the most horrible person on the earth. I didn't intend for things to go this way either, but we need to figure shit out if the test comes back positive," Edward heard a feminine voice.
"Carlie, we have two choices. Either you get an abortion, or you give it up for adoption. My mom married my biological father when she got pregnant with Jare and me, and that didn't work out. She struggled for years, and I don't want that for us. I've got a career to look out for and you do too. We're too young to get married and have kids, okay?" Jacob responded coldly to the young woman which set Edward's blood to boil.
He walked into the kitchen and looked at his son and a young girl sitting at the table. She was in tears, and Jacob was unmoved by them. He couldn't hold his tongue.
"What the fuck did we ever do that made you so cold? You got this girl pregnant, and you're so willing to toss the baby aside? Seriously?" he remarked to his son, seeing him startle because he was sure that Jacob didn't know that they were home.
"Dad? When did you…um…this is Carlie," Jacob introduced.
"Carlie, I'm sorry that my son is so insensitive, but he wasn't raised that way," Edward snapped, walking to the refrigerator and pulling out the orange juice. He'd have preferred a bottle of bourbon, having heard that his son had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and was so callous about it, but orange juice was what he chose.
"Dad, it's not like that. I understand that this is a disaster, but neither of us wants a kid at this point in time, and we don't even know if she's pregnant or not. She can't take the test until in the morning," Jacob responded.
"You know, Jake, your mom could have made those same choices, but she didn't. You possibly created a child with this young woman, and you're going to walk away from it? Well, we won't. Carlie, if you're pregnant and want to carry the baby to term, Bella and I will raise it. We take care of our own, Jacob," he chastised.
The young woman cried and ran up the stairs, but Jacob stayed at the table looking at Edward. He had a dazed look on his face, and Edward knew that he owed him an explanation, but he couldn't tell him the story he knew about when Bella was pregnant with the twins and had considered giving them up for adoption.
In his mind, Jacob would regret not knowing a child he'd fathered, no matter how undesirable the circumstances would be. He'd regret simply washing his hands of the situation, Edward was sure.
"Look, I know this seems hopeless right now, but it's not, really. You made a mistake. Okay, so we regroup, and your mom and I take your room and make it into a nursery. You'll regret it if she gets an abortion, Jacob, and if she gives the baby up for adoption? Well we'll all regret it. I could pummel you into the concrete right now for suggesting either option, but I know that you're freaking out so I'll give you a pass. Now, go upstairs and talk her into having the baby if she is pregnant. Hell, I'll pay for the rest of her college if she has the baby," Edward promised.
"Why?" Jacob asked as he sat at the table looking at his father.
"Because, if that girl is carrying your baby, it's our grandchild, and it didn't ask to be born into this circumstance. Go to bed, and we'll talk about this in the morning after we know more," Edward told him.
Jacob nodded and left, leaving Edward alone in the kitchen that early morning. He sat and thought about the situation, and he knew in his heart that they were doing the right thing if the girl was, indeed, pregnant with Jacob's baby.
Maybe Jacob wasn't ready for a child, but giving it away wasn't something that Edward could comprehend. He and Bella weren't so old that they couldn't adopt it, and he was determined that he could talk his wife into it. In his mind, the Masens took care of family, even if it was unexpected.
##
"Mmmm…I smell bacon. Did you cook?" Bella asked as she turned over and shifted into Edward's body. He'd held her from behind all night, but when she woke, she loved to kiss his chest. It was something that they did, and it reminded her of how great her life was.
"I did not. I believe that might be Carlie, Jacob's girlfriend. Um, we need to have a talk. Alice picked up Charlie and Garrett and took them to her house for the morning, but I think I'll call her and see if she can keep them today. Jare is already off to work, so it's just the four of us. Let's change and go down," she heard Edward instruct quietly which gave her pause.
She had no idea that Jacob had a girl at the house, nor did she know that Charlie and Garrett weren't there. It pissed her off to no end that Jacob had taken the liberty to bring a girl into the house when he was supposed to be taking care of his impressionable sister and brother.
"So, now it's just a hotel? They bring girls home, and we just send the kids to Alice and Jasper's so that we don't have to interrupt the happy couple? That's not kosher, you know," she snapped as she dressed.
"Actually, I called Alice this morning and asked her to pick up Garrett and Charlie. I think for this conversation, it's the best case scenario. I'm going to cash in all of my favors and chits and anything else I have to beg you to keep your mouth shut until the whole story is told, okay?" he asked.
She looked at him and saw how nervous he was. "Oh, are you serious? You give me that lead in and ask me to keep my mouth shut? You really shouldn't have said that," she offered as she made the bed.
"Maybe, but this is a situation that's going to require cooler heads to prevail, and no offense, but you don't always have the coolest head, love," Edward chanced. He knew he was walking a razor's edge with pissing her off, but he knew that she needed to hear everything before she lost her temper.
"Oh, because you always do? What's going on?" she asked as she slipped on a pair of flip flops and opened the bedroom door, hearing her son talking to a girl downstairs.
"Let's just…come on," Edward coaxed as he took her hand and led her downstairs.
When the couple entered the kitchen, they saw Jacob sitting at the table while a girl, who looked vaguely familiar to Bella, was at the stove cooking what appeared to be pancakes. "Hey, Ma! How was Italy?" Jake asked as he rose from the chair and walked over to hug her.
"Um, it was great. Who's your friend?" Bella asked, not taking her eyes off the young woman.
"Oh, um, Carlie Taylor, this is my ma, Bella Masen. Carlie and I go to U of A together," Jacob explained. Bella could see him nervously glancing at Edward, and she wondered even more about what was going on.
"Carlie, maybe just put those pancakes in the microwave to stay warm and have a seat. We need to have a talk," Edward demanded. Bella saw Jacob look at him and shake his head, "no," which led her to believe that something was definitely up.
"Someone better start talking," Bella threatened, seeing the girl nervously looking between her and Jacob.
"Well, I wanna talk to you guys about going to Phoenix for mini-camp. I know you don't want me to drop out of college, but I can always finish after football. I really want to enter the draft, and I'll gently remind you that I'm twenty years old, so really, it's my decision to make," Jacob announced.
Bella understood why Edward told her that cooler heads needed to prevail because they were going to have to talk like Dutch uncles to convince their son not to drop out of college. She bit her tongue because every fiber in her being wanted to scream, but she knew that Edward was right, it wouldn't get them anywhere.
With that thought in her head, imagine her surprise when Edward stood up from his chair so abruptly that it flipped into the floor. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me? Jacob Charles, you are not going to drop out of school. You only have one more year, and then you'll have your bachelor's degree. You tell me what the fuck you'd do for a career if you'd get hurt first cat out of the sack?" Edward shrieked, causing Bella and Carlie to jump.
"Edward! What happened to cooler heads?" Bella asked.
"This is not the discussion I thought we were going to have, so this discussion doesn't require cooler heads. It requires a lot of yelling and maybe me kicking his ass if he throws this opportunity out the window.
"Jacob, you aren't making the best decisions these days, so I don't think you dropping out of college and going off half-cocked to maybe get drafted by a team is something you've actually given a lot of consideration. You have a goddamn scholarship. You've committed to the University of Arizona that you'll play for their football team in exchange for them providing you with a top-notch education. As we spoke about last night, we take commitments seriously in this family. We Masens do not walk away from commitments," Edward snapped.
"Yeah, well, I'm a Uley, and we got no problem walkin' away from anything," Jacob snapped back as he left the table and stormed up the stairs.
"I, uh, I think I should go," Carlie volunteered. Bella had actually forgotten that the girl was there, but she wanted to nip things in the bud before the girl left.
"That's probably for the best. Um, look, I realize that you're an adult and all, but this is our home, and we have two younger children who live here, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't make a habit of spending the night here when we aren't home. Actually, even if we are home, I don't think it's appropriate for you to be sleeping with my son under my roof," Bella instructed.
"Mrs. Masen, Jake and I live together," the girl informed her.
"You what!?" It was Bella's turn to yell. She saw Edward pick up the chair next to her and sit down, scrubbing his hands over his face.
"Um, Jake and I live together in Tucson. We've been together since high school. My best friend, Kim Vaughn, introduced us when we were sixteen. She and Jared live together in Chicago," the girl told her.
While Bella and Edward had discussed the fact that he suspected that Kim and Jared were living together, neither had wanted it actually confirmed. Now that the girl had not only confirmed the information but outted herself and Jacob in the process, Bella knew that she needed to talk to the boys and find out what else she didn't know.
After the girl left, Bella asked, "Did you know they're living together? Did you know that she was this elusive Carl who he shared an apartment with?"
Edward looked at her, and she saw the pain in his eyes. She knew that Jacob's comment about being an Uley had gutted her loving husband, and all she could do was hug the man because in her opinion, he didn't deserve Jacob's harsh words.
As soon as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, he wrapped his around her waist and buried his face in her stomach. She felt his body shaking slightly, and she knew that he was crying, which made her angry all over again.
"Honey, he's just being stubborn. He didn't mean any of that, okay?" Bella asked as she scratched her nails on his scalp, trying to comfort him.
Edward wiped his face against her shirt and pulled away from her. "I've tried to be everything that I believed a father should be, but clearly I've failed. I'm going to…" he began and then he rose to go upstairs.
"Are you going to talk to him?" Bella asked as Edward started from the kitchen.
He stopped without turning to look at her and said, "He's an Uley. Let him call Sam." With that, he was up the stairs.
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E/N: I'll just, um, be over there *pointing to small safe room*.
Thanks for reading.
Till next time…xoxo
