All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, no copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 27
Five days later, I walked into Cullen International with a spring in my step. Edward had spent all day Saturday with Josh giving me some much needed time to get things done. I had applied for three more jobs and was feeling quietly confident about them. I'd maintained my mask in front of Edward, something that I was quietly thankful for, and I had also started to get my appetite back, something that I was very glad about. I still wasn't managing to eat full meals yet, but at least now I could handle eating small amounts without feeling ill.
I walked into the office to find Victoria grinning widely.
"What makes you so happy on a Monday morning?" I asked amused by the look of joy on her face.
She lifted up her left hand wiggling her fingers at me. "Oh My God!" I exclaimed, pulling her into a big hug.
"Steve proposed," she said excitedly. "He took me to the Skycity restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. We were just finishing our desserts when he dropped down onto one knee and asked me to marry him."
I suddenly channelled my inner Alice as I squealed in excitement for her. She had been seeing Steve for two years, and it was obvious for all to see that they were made for each other.
"Oh, Vicky, I'm so happy for you. Have you told Irena?"
"Not yet," she shook her head. "She's not in the office until ten."
"She'll be so excited for you! So, when's the wedding?"
"We haven't set a date yet, but we don't want to leave it too long, sooner rather than later," she said enthusiastically. "But you know what that means, don't you?"
I shook my head not knowing where she was going with this.
"It means I get a bachelorette party," she winked.
I rolled my eyes and laughed, "I hate to think what you're planning."
"Well," she started, "I was thinking about a girls' weekend away, maybe in Vegas!"
I inwardly groaned. Vegas wasn't somewhere I particularly wanted to see again anytime soon.
"Maybe Vegas is a little far away," I offered. "It may be a lot of money for people to find at short notice."
"Mmm, you could be right. Leave it to me, I'll think of something," she winked.
The elevator pinged just before the doors opened and out walked Emmett and Edward laughing and joking together without a care in the world. Edward looked so carefree right at that moment, it was a rare sight lately.
"Emmett, Edward, look," Vicky called as she stood waving her left hand at them. The huge diamond solitaire caught the light as she wiggled her fingers.
"Jeez, look at that rock." Emmett boomed, "What's up, Vicky, did your old man knock you up?" If Rose had have been here, she would have slapped him. It was lucky for Emmett that she wasn't. Vicky just laughed because thankfully she was used to Emmett's playfulness by now. He scooped her into a big bear hug. "Congratulations!" he said as he hugged her an inch within her life.
"Yes, congratulations," Edward said giving her a peck on the cheek as Emmett put her down.
"It'll be you next, Bells," Emmett laughed. Edward's head shot up and glared at him, and for once I felt compelled to do the same.
"Not funny, Emmett," I said narrowing my eyes at him.
"What?" he looked confused, "I wasn't trying to be funny. Rosie and I were driving past your place on Friday night and I asked if we should call, but Rosie said that it was too late, that you probably had a hot date with someone called Roger."
My eyes widened with shock, I was going to kill Rose slowly, with my bare hands.
I heard Edward mumble something about work as he quickly shot off into his office. I was in too much shock to even bring myself to care.
"Ooh, who's Roger?" Vicky asked "You've kept him quiet."
"That's what I want to know," Emmett asked, "Weren't you dating him before Edward? I remember Jake mentioning him when we saw you at the restaurant."
I wanted the world to open up and swallow me right this minute.
"Roger is... Look, just forget about Roger. I don't want to talk about it." I could feel that my face was beet red. "I need a drink," I scurried off to the break room and helped myself to water, while I was inwardly trying to calm down. Rose was so dead!
"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" I screamed down the phone to Rose as I closed the door to my office. I could hear her rolling around in laughter at the other end of the phone. "Talk to me, Goddamn it, and explain yourself," I was practically hyperventilating by now.
"Calm down, Bella," she eventually choked out between giggles. "It's all part of Operation Edward."
"What the fuck are you on, Rose, you've just publically humiliated me."
"Oh, stop being so melodramatic," she said, still stifling her giggles. "Am I right in saying that Edward never knew about Roger?" she asked.
"Yes," I shouted.
"Yes what? Yes, he didn't know, or yes, he did?" she asked, calming down.
"Yes, he didn't know."
"Well, in that case, it all worked well," she told me smugly.
Now I was confused "What are you going on about?"
"Look," she sighed, "Neither Alice or I want to lie to Jasper and Emmett as you know." I nodded my head even though she couldn't see me. "And by mentioning a little hot date with Roger isn't strictly lying." I blushed, thankful that I was in the confines of my office.
"Now if Emmett wants to jump to conclusions and think that Roger is a man and then mentions that in front of Edward... Bingo! Trigger jealous Edward."
I paced up and down my office not quite believing what I was hearing.
"Rose, are you seriously telling me that I'm now dating my vibrator? Don't do this to me, Rose. I'm on my period and I'm lethal at the moment."
She giggled down the phone.
"Firstly, I can't believe you got Emmett to think that Roger is a man!"
"I didn't get Emmett to believe anything. He jumped to that conclusion himself. I just didn't correct him," she said. I could picture the smile on her face, and I so badly wanted to wipe it off.
"Secondly, Edward couldn't care less if I fell off the face of the earth let alone date someone, and the minute he finds out that the said someone happens to be a vibrator, he'll die laughing. I'll be a laughing stock, Rose... Do you hear me? A laughing stock!" I shouted.
"Calm yourself down," Rose said calmly, "You and Edward are both as bad as the other, but neither of you can see. He just needs a nudge in the right direction, and this is the way to do it. He'll be jealous as hell. He loves you, Bella. He just needs to realize it and now that he thinks he's lost you to someone else, it might just give him the rude awakening that he needs."
"Rose," I whispered with tears in my eyes, "He doesn't love me, he never did." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, "and he didn't lose me to someone else, he left me willingly."
"Bella, Edward is stubborn. He's the kind of person who would bite off his nose to spite his face, but just trust me on this, Alice and I are not stupid. 'Operation Edward' will work. All you need to do is keep the mask in place and let him believe that you're not bothered. It might take some time, but it will all work out in the end!"
"I hope you're right," I sniffed.
"I'm always right," she laughed, "now stop sniffling, pull yourself together, put that mask in place and go do some work!
"Okay," I sighed, "and Rose!"
"Yeah?"
"Ever pull a stunt like that again and I'll string you up by the hair, just so we understand one another!"
Rose laughed loud, "Got that."
"Good thing. Bye, Rose, love you."
"Bye, Bella, love you too."
I sat down at my desk and rubbed my face with my hands, those girls would be the death of me.
I powered up the computer, ready to start my day as I quickly scanned over today's schedule. I saw that Edward had a meeting with Little Miss Goddess at 4 p.m., but other than that, it was just a case of typing up the reports that he was working on and making a few calls on his behalf. Picking up the mail that had been left on my desk, I quickly flicked through it and instantly noticed the letter that both Edward and I had been waiting for, as it stood out a mile. It wasn't because it had the hospital stamp on it, because it didn't. It was in a very discrete, plain, white envelope, the thing that stood out was the fact that it was addressed to both myself and Edward, just like we had requested.
I decided against opening it, wanting to give the honor to Edward instead. After all, I knew what the results would be, there had never been any doubt that Edward was Josh's father, and I had only gone ahead with the test for Edward's sake.
I knocked on his office door, "Come in."
Opening the door my eyes immediately travelled to his unoccupied desk. "Over here," he said abruptly as I turned to find him sitting on the sofa sorting through a pile of paperwork that was placed at the side of him.
"I brought you this," I said waving the white envelope in the air.
A look of confusion briefly crossed his face, quickly followed by understanding. He swallowed nervously as I walked over to him and took a seat on the opposite side of the sofa. I handed him the envelope, and he turned it over in his hands several times while staring at it.
"Why haven't you opened it?" he asked sitting up straight composing himself.
"I had no need to," I told him softly, sitting back a little from the edge of my seat. "I already know what it says."
He gave me a cautious smile as he slid the nail of his right thumb underneath the corner edge of the envelope lifting it slightly before dragging it the whole way across. I could see his hands nervously shaking as he reached in and pulled out the single sheet of paper opening it and straightening it out before reading it.
"Well?" I asked as he lowered his arms and dropped the paper into his lap.
He lifted his head and smiled at me. A full on Edward Cullen, award winning, panty dropping smile "He's mine."
He leaned his head back onto the back of the sofa and looked up at the ceiling, a content grin spread across his face.
"There was never any doubt," I told him, not quite sure where we would go from here.
He lifted his head and turned to me. "We need to talk, get some things sorted out."
"Such as?"
He contemplated for a moment, "Visitation, child support, how he's raised..."
"STOP, right there," I held up my hand to cut him off, I could feel my anger rising. "How he's raised? What the fuck, Edward? Are you seriously trying to tell me that I'm not doing a good job of raising my son?"
"Our son," he retorted,
"Whatever!" I cried rising to my feet.
"Bella," he called calmly. I childishly ignored him turning on my heels, running back to my office, I grabbed my purse and was back in Edward's office within a matter of seconds.
I was furious. Edward remained calm and was still sitting in the same place that I left him when I returned.
"For a start, I have raised OUR son," I spat, "all alone for the last 13 months. I've had little help from anyone. I've fed him, cleaned him, kept a roof over our heads and loved him every step of the way, and here you are, after only what?" I looked at my watch, "All of ten minutes, trying to tell me that I've not done a good job."
Edward rose to his feet and started pacing up and down. I could see he was pissed, but right at this moment I couldn't bring myself to care.
"That's not what I meant," he said angrily. "I've NEVER said that you had done a bad job. I was referring to how we are going to raise him together. We need to be on the same page with this."
I scoffed at his words, "Yeah, whatever." I was past the point of listening to him rationally. All I could see before me was red. No-one, no matter who they are, upsets a mama bear, especially where her cubs are concerned.
"As for child support," l laughed. "I don't want a single penny from you!" I rifled through my purse, not able to find what I was looking for, so I angrily emptied the contents all over the floor. "Arr, here it is," I smiled sinisterly picking up several small pieces of paper.
"I've worked hard, Edward. I've brought up OUR Son single-handedly as well as holding down a full time job. I've made sacrifices that you wouldn't even begin to understand, but you know what?" I asked edging closer towards him. "I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
Edward looked nervous, really nervous. He had seen me hurt, upset, and worried, but he had never seen me angry, not in this way at least.
"As for you," I continued, "taking my word that Josh was your son wasn't good enough for the high and mighty Edward Cullen." I was on a roll now and Lord only knows where it was going to end. "Oh, no, you had to have a DNA test, when it was obvious to everyone around you that he was yours. You just had to put me through that humiliation."
Edward opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my hand to stop him. I hadn't finished with him yet.
"I've watched you, Edward. You get a sense of enjoyment over seeing me hurt. You love to take the knife and twist it at every given opportunity. Over the last few weeks you have hurt me, humiliated me, ignored me, sneered at me, and downright insulted me. You broke my heart and I've sat back and put up with it all because I thought it was my fault that you were acting that way. Well, guess what, Edward? I'm past caring.
I once had feelings for you," I laughed. "God only knows why. You're selfish, spoiled, arrogant, egotistical, spiteful, and that's just for starters... But thank God you made me see the light before it was too late. You get a piece of paper telling you exactly what I told you weeks ago, and you think that gives you the right to question me and my parenting... Well, here's news for you, Edward, it doesn't."
There really was no stopping me. All these weeks of pent-up emotions were spilling out and I had no control over it whatsoever.
"Twenty two months ago, we had a one night stand. I got pregnant and accidently found you again a matter of months ago. You have barely known Joshua for two minutes and here you are trying to tell me on how to raise him! Do you know something, Edward? I've had it up to here with you," I raised my hand above my head for emphasis. "As far as I'm concerned, you were nothing but a sperm donor! Here, take this..." I said as I thrust the torn up check that he had given me weeks ago into his chest. "You've earned it!" It was the same words he'd used to cripple me all those weeks ago and now I had thrown them back in his face. I could see the anger rolling off of him, but more than that, I could see grief. I'd really stuck the knife in and there was no going back.
What had I just done? I hadn't meant any of it... well, maybe just a little, but I certainly never wanted to see Edward hurt. I still loved him with every bone in my body. I just saw red and everything just spilled out. There was only one thing that I could do now before Edward had the chance to do it for me. I took a deep breath and composed myself.
"I quit."
A/N
So, Bella finally cracked and told Edward a few home truths. For once it wasn't Edward's attitude that was the problem it was the words he used that triggered Bella's pent up emotions and caused her to finally snap. Also, Edward being nervous over the test results wasn't because he doubted Josh's parentage it was the sheer magnitude of the moment. To finally have it there in black and white was a huge deal to him.
I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to you all for sticking with this story, I never dreamt MOI would receive the response that it has. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or sent me a PM. I really do appreciate it.
Next update will be Friday.
