Chapter 35 – Renewed Vow
35.
EPOV
"Edward? Are you there? I dropped my phone." She giggled.
I was there I was just needing a minute to get a grip before I began speaking again. "I'm here." I told her. "Now, you were saying you had a visitor?" I asked as calmly as I could muster.
I ranged my hearing out around the house to locate Emmett. The fucker hadn't said a word to me and I'd not been near him long enough to read anything from him. Out of them all he was the worst at blocking me, so now I knew why he'd kept his distance today.
Bella giggled, "Yeah, Tyler came by but Emmett answered the door. Poor bastard got the shock of his life. Ran off down the road shouting that Emmett was a psycho." She laughed.
I laughed too but it was half hearted. "What did he want, do you know?"
"A lady never tells, Edward." She giggled.
"Fine, while I'm at the school tomorrow I'll ask him myself." I knew she wouldn't want that.
"No!" She bellowed and then I laughed. "I mean, you can just ask Em, don't corner him at the school, please Edward, you don't want any trouble." She pled.
"Hmm. I'll speak to Emmett first chance I get." I heard Emmett scoff two floors down. "The sun will be up soon, how long until you're coming?" I asked, changing tack.
"How soon do you want me there?" She asked.
"Now." I didn't hesitate.
She chuckled, "Well let me get off the phone then and I'll have a shower and get changed and be there soon."
"Bring me your shirt?" I asked.
"Only if I can have yours."
"Of course. So I'll see you soon, love?" I asked.
"You will. Bye for now Edward."
"Bye Bella, I love you." And then I hung up and went in search of my chortling buffoon of a brother.
I found him on the sofa playing Xbox with Jaz.
"You looking for me bro?" Emmett asked but didn't look up from his game. I sat on the end of the sofa and watched as he decapitated a leather clad henchman then lit a warehouse on fire using a bazooka.
"Bella have a suitor come calling yesterday, did she?" I asked grimly.
He scoffed and Jaz dropped his controller. "You didn't tell me that." Jaz cuffed Emmett on the shoulder.
Emmett shrugged, "No big deal. That idiot Crowley turned up at the apartment but I sorted it. Nothing to worry about, he won't be back." Emmett grinned showing all his teeth.
"Nice." Jaz held his fist out and Emmett bumped it.
Emmett turned to me and offered me his fist, I bumped it gratefully. "Thanks bro." I mumbled. "I have to go to the school today to meet with the principal, he's going to tell us what Seth's punishment is going to be."
"He'll be right, after your meeting he's got no choice but to let the kid stay." Jaz said encouragingly.
Carlisle came in then, strode through the front door and clapped me the shoulder. "I have just removed Mr Newton's nasal packing. Poor lad." He shook his head gravely. "It's rare, but sometimes the packing is in too tight and it gets stuck. Messy business having to dig it out again. Hurts like a bitch, so I'm told." He didn't laugh but he was smiling widely. "Sorry Esme." He mumbled looking towards the first floor.
Both Jasper and Emmett fell about laughing.
I just shook my head.
Carlisle tilted his to one side. 'I used the paediatric forceps, scared the shit out of the little bastard. He cried like a two year old when I started digging, and the best part is his nose is crooked.' He told me via his thoughts.
I held out my hand and he shook it. "Thanks." I muttered low.
"Don't mention it." He replied and made off towards the staircase. He stopped just as his foot hit the bottom riser, "Oh, I may have under estimated the amount of pain he was likely to be in over the next few days and prescribed only a placebo." He crinkled his eyes up in mock embarrassment. Then he darted up the stairs to his suite.
BPOV
I knocked on the front door when Edward wasn't in the driveway to greet me.
Esme opened the door and with a shake of her head she pulled me inside. "You don't ring the bell Bella, you come in because this is your home too." She hugged me tightly then told me to go on up to our suite.
I hadn't seen Nessa since late yesterday afternoon and I was desperate to touch her, smell her, and see her. I heard the shower running as I went up the stairs to the third floor. I assumed Nessa would be in her room while Edward showered, but I was wrong. Her scent struck me full force as I walked into the suite but she wasn't in there.
Then I heard them. They were in the shower together. Edward was humming and she was copying him. They were talking, very quietly, about the composition they were working on together. I hadn't known that they were.
"That part is too slow daddy, should be adagio, not adagio asai." Nessa huffed.
"I suppose it should be, yes. Let's try it that way." Edward said and they both began humming again. "De capo little one." Edward began to hum and Nessa followed perfectly.
I moved into the room and took a seat on the sofa. I wished I could've gone into the actual bathroom and watched or listened, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, so I sat and listened as they continued their discussion.
"In altissimo now Nessa." Edward said. I had no idea what that was but they began humming again only higher. "Now lacrimoso." He chuckled and Nessa began to wail in between giggles.
Edward joined in and then they hummed it together again, with Nessa's little pretend cries in between their shared giggles. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.
"We could begin allegro strepitoso just like Liszt's Tasso does daddy, mommy would like that." Nessa suggested. I was utterly shocked. I'd heard of Liszt but had no idea what the rest was about, so how the hell did my six month old daughter know and understand it?
"She would," Edward agreed. "Potremmo giocare per mamma come tornare a casa presenti, il mio amore." (We could play it for mommy as a coming home present, my love.) Edward said in what I assumed was Italian, but could've been almost anything.
"Sì papà, quando mamma viene casa di rimanere con noi." (Yes daddy, when mommy comes home to stay with us.) Nessa replied in a strong clear voice.
"Good girl Nessa, you've been practicing." Edward praised her. "Now let's get out and get you into a pretty dress, mommy is waiting for us already."
I sucked in a breath, he knew I was there.
EPOV
I had smelled Bella much earlier than I let on verbally. I wanted her to hear how much Nessa had learnt and how easily she was learning languages. Plus, if I was honest, I wanted her to have to come into the bathroom and collect Nessa from me while I was half naked.
I stood Nessa on the bath mat and wrapped her in a towel then draped one over her hair. I pulled a towel from the cabinet for myself and wrapped it around my waist.
"Bella, love, would you collect Nessa please?" I called out.
"Um, sure." She hesitated just long enough to let me know she was nervous about coming in here with me undressed. Good.
"I'm decent." I chuckled.
She cracked the door open two inches and peered inside. When she was satisfied that I was covered she opened it fully and Nessa ran into her mother's arms.
"Good morning little one. I missed you." Bella kissed Nessa and Nessa flung her arms around her mother's neck and held on tightly.
"Mommy!" She shrieked. Nessa had missed her too.
"Come on, let's go in your room, let daddy get ready." Bella kissed Nessa once more on her cheek and then turned to leave. Just as she got to the door she turned her head over her shoulder toward me. "Good morning Edward." She grinned. Her eyes travelled from my feet to my face and back again. I heard her suck in a breath and felt the sting of desire begin in my gut. "You're looking...good..." She whispered and then licked her bottom lip before giving my abs another glance.
I couldn't help the growl that rumbled out of my throat and Bella chuckled softly when she heard it. She took Nessa into the other room then, leaving me to deal with the fast growing problem in my groin.
Jesus!
I set about distracting myself. When I was dry I brushed my teeth, shaved and made my usual attempt to tame my hair. It was as futile as ever. By the time I was ready to go back into the suite I was calmer, not sedate, but calmer.
I could hear Bella still wrestling Nessa into her clothes so I took the chance to dash out into the room and dress.
By the time I went into Nessa's room the little girl had on a sweet little white dress and some silver ballet slippers. Bella was making her bed and tidying the room while Nessa tried to pull a brush through her own hair. It was as ineffectual as the attempt had been with mine. "Let me." I said softly so I didn't startle her.
She put the brush into my hand and climbed into my lap as I sat in the rocker. I brushed her hair from crown to tip over and over until it was dry and shiny. The curls were so long now they almost reached her waist. They corkscrewed up to half that length once her hair was dry, but when it was wet it was a long, dark curtain of bronze. Because I'd showered her in our bathroom it smelled of Bella's shampoo and with each stroke the scent wafted to my nose.
'Mommy's looking at you funny, daddy.' Nessa thought and I blinked out of my thoughts and sought Bella's eyes.
She was standing in the middle of the room watching us. She was trembling, in her hand Nessa's giraffe Frank shuddered and shook. Her face was a mask of pain and anguish.
"What is it, love?" I asked her.
I thought she would tell me what was bothering her, in fact I was sure she would because over the past few weeks we'd gotten pretty good at just telling it like it is, but today she just shook her head.
I got worried then. "Bella, please, what's wrong love?" My voice shook.
It looked like she was wrestling internally with whether or not to tell me. She shook her head again and as I was about to ask she closed her eyes for half a second, opened them wide and stared down at me, "I want to come home Edward." She whispered.
There was a collective gasp/sigh from within the house, the girls gasped the guys sighed and I was flooded with thoughts on the revelation she'd just shared.
Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it as though she couldn't quite believe what she'd just said and I thought for a few seconds that she regretted admitting it.
Alice was already running up the stairs, coming to collect Nessa, so I slid her off my lap and walked her to the door that separated her room from ours. "Aunty Alice is going to take you downstairs for some breakfast little one." I told Nessa as Alice came hurtling into the room. "Thank you." I told her softly as I let Nessa go and watched her reach for Alice' hand.
'Take her home Edward, we'll watch Nessa. Take your time.' Alice thought as I slowly turned back into the room to face Bella.
She was still standing right in the centre of the room though Frank had fallen from her hand. I moved towards her and took that hand into mine, leaving them both to hang beside her hip. "Bella, sweetheart, its okay." I told her. She blinked rapidly but didn't utter a sound. "Come on, we'll go to the cottage and talk about it, come on love." I tugged her hand gently and led her out of the room into our suite.
I knew she wouldn't want to face the family, she'd heard them gasping and sighing and speculating as clearly as I had. So instead of leading her to the stairs I led her to the glass doors and we fell to the ground with a dull thud. I squeezed her hand softly and then she ran beside me towards the river, past the jetty, through the forest and to the newly replaced front door of our home.
I pulled the key from my jeans pocket and unlocked it, pushing it open wide for her. When she didn't move I went inside and held out my hand for her to follow. She took the step over the threshold reverently, her eyes scanning the living room and kitchen for any changes. There were none to see, I'd only been here the once since she'd left. It was all as she'd left it. Apart from the front door, which I hoped I wouldn't have to explain.
"It's the same." She whispered. She moved a little further into the living room and ran a hand over the edge of the upright. She flared her nostrils and drank in the smells here. "Can I please come home Edward?" She whispered, her eyes still closed.
It broke my heart that she felt the need to ask when it should've been me begging her to come home all along. But I knew her well enough to know that she'd never concede like that, this had to be her decision.
"I want you to come home Bella." I told her. "But it is your choice, always your choice. You don't need to ask me, love."
BPOV
I could see from the look on his face that he meant it. He wasn't going to ask me to come home and he wasn't going to try to assist me in making the decision for myself. He really was going to let this be my choice. I loved him for that. For not ever, not once pressuring me. For letting me come to my own conclusions, make my own decisions even though they would ultimately affect both him and Renesmee.
I ran my hand over his piano again and tried to imagine how they'd both look sitting there composing. It seemed such an awful long time since I'd seen or heard it. I ached from wanting it.
Everything was just as it had been the day I'd left it. The portrait over the mantle stared down at me, it seemed as though it was castigating me for leaving it behind.
"May I?" I nodded down the hall.
"Bella, this is your house as much as it is mine, you don't need permission to be here, to see things, to touch things. They're your things for Christ's sake." He whispered. I could feel the emotion in his voice but couldn't meet his eyes.
I nodded once and turned down the hall. I stood at the study door for a long minute and looked over our things. The row upon row of books that smelled so inviting to me since I'd had only a handful of novels to tide me over. His journals were gone and I noticed his satchel wasn't on the wing chair where it normally was. It made sense that he'd take them both with him to the big house, he was never without them close at hand. "Have you slept here?" I asked, knowing he'd hear me.
"No." He said softly from the living room.
I went further down the hall and stood in the doorway of Nessa's room. The broken string on her dream catcher taunted me as it swung minutely in the breeze I'd created simply by moving about. She was so desperate to be here, in this room, she identified with this space more profoundly than anywhere else, even the nursery at the big house. This was her space. Not an extension of ours, this was solely hers.
The crib was already outdated, she'd need a bed here too. So would Seth.
"We need to get two beds for here Edward." I whispered.
"I'll arrange it today." He replied.
I took a deep breath and moved towards our room. The door stood open so I slipped inside and put my hand on the dresser to steady myself. This was my marital bedroom. I'd only ever lived here as Mrs Edward Cullen. I'd never been Bella Swan here, I'd only ever been his in this room, part of a pair.
His scent lingered here strongest. It was caught in the drapes, the bed clothes and his things as they sat neatly arranged on the top of dresser and his bedside cabinet.
I hated the space where my jewel box should've stood. The empty silver photo frame was a bleak, blank reminder of how I'd felt the day I'd packed the images from within it.
I sat on the edge of the bed and closed my eyes. "If I come back here, to live, I have to have your word that you will never lie to me again Edward." I mused. "I have to hear you say it, to swear to it." I ran a hand over the blanket on the end of the bed and drank in our mixed scent as it rose from the fabric. "If I come back here I want you to swear that you'll be my husband, my mate and that you'll fight beside me."
He walked at human pace down the hallway. He stopped just short of the doorway and I heard him draw in a deep breath.
He stepped up to the threshold and stared at me. "Isabella, I swear to you on all that I hold dear, I will never keep anything from you again. I can't, I won't, I refuse to lie to you ever again. No matter the consequences I'll tell you all that I know." He spoke softly, his hands in tight fists at his sides. He took three small paces forward and breathed deeply again. "I want to be your husband again. I can be. I know I can be. I can make you happy." He said it almost defiantly, as though he was waiting for me to argue with him. Another three small paces into the room he unclenched his fists and ran one through his hair. "As my mate there are going to be times when I need you to fight for me Bella, in front of me even. As your mate I'll always fight beside you. Let me show you, prove it to you, please."
He was stood right in front of me now. His entire body was pulsating. The raw energy he was withholding as he spoke was barely contained inside his skin. He truly believed this, what he'd sworn to, with all that he was. I could see it now. His determination to be what I needed. He knew me now. He knew what I needed because he'd taken the time to hear me ask for it and he'd bothered to learn it.
"Okay Edward. I'll come home." I lowered my eyes from his face and looked down at my clasped hands in my lap, not knowing what to do now that I'd said it.
EPOV
Relief flooded my mind and body and I fought the need to topple. I closed my eyes tightly and took stock of myself. "Thank you." I whispered. There was so much to say, I wanted to spend hours thanking her but couldn't find the words. "Thank you." I told her again.
She reached up and put her hand into mine and squeezed. "Thank you." She whispered in reply and I knew then, right then, that we were going to be okay.
I fell to my knees and put my head into her lap and sobbed. "Thank you." I choked on the words but needed to keep saying it. I never wanted her to think I wasn't grateful for the chance she was giving me. "Thank you Bella, thank you."
She began to stroke her fingers through my hair and I moaned in relief. It had been so long since she'd touched me like that, touched me for my comfort, for hers. "Shhh Edward, it's okay." She whispered.
I nodded into her lap and tried to calm my erratic breathing and the clawing need to sob.
I felt the vibration of my cell phone before the ringing reached my ears. I groaned. Not now!
"You should get that." She whispered, patting me on the shoulder.
"It'll be Alice." I chuckled darkly. "We're far enough away from Nessa, she'll have seen this. She'll want to meddle now."
"Let her Edward. Let her be happy for us." She told me as I looked at the caller ID.
Alice.
"Yes Alice?" I said by way of answering.
"I'm so happy Edward, so happy for you both. So, tell Bella that we'll take Nessa with us to the apartment – don't worry though, Rose is going to sort out her car seat - then Jasper's going to hire a van and bring her things there to the cottage. Then Esme is going to start sorting out her room for her, Emmett's going to order her a bed right now. Seth says good job and he'll come to the cottage after school for his visit. Oh, hang on...Carlisle says well done and he'll see you both tonight when you bring Nessa for her visit." She was about to hang up, she'd said all she thought she needed to say.
"Wait Alice." I told her firmly. "Don't move. Don't organise anything. Don't hire anything and don't buy anything. I'll call you back, ten minutes." I didn't wait for her to argue I just snapped the phone shut on her.
I threw the phone onto the bed and stood, reaching for Bella's hand. When she was stood in front of me I slid my wedding ring off my finger, making her gasp in shock.
"I know I said I'd never take this off, and I meant it at the time, but I need you to remind me why I wear it Bella. Put it back on my finger and tell me again." I held it out to her and she took it between her fingers.
She held my left hand in her right one and slid the ring to my first knuckle. "You wear this because you pledged yourself to me, only me, Edward. You wear this because it's an unbreakable circle, like us, never ending. You wear it because you vowed to love me forever, protect me forever, and forsake all others for me. But I hope you wear it because you love me." She slid it all the way onto my finger and I curled my hand into hers.
"I swear to you, again, right now, that I will love you forever, I will protect you forever. There will never be anyone or anything between us, nothing will ever make me break my vow Bella, nothing. I wear this because I love you now and on into eternity." I bent and kissed her softly at the corner of her mouth.
"I love you too Edward, always. Thank you for giving me the chance to love you." She got up onto her toes and kissed me back.
I felt giddy with happiness. This felt as good, as satisfying as the day I'd married her. Knowing she'd chosen me, again, despite the monumental cock-up I'd perpetrated previously, she loved me enough to try again. I'd be forever grateful.
I wanted her home to stay right now, right this second, but knew that this had to come from her. I appreciated the family's excitement, I felt it too, but I knew Bella well enough to know that she wouldn't be hurried. There was an order in which she'd want this done. She might not want to move back in right now, maybe not even today. I had to give her the choice, always her choice.
"The family is poised to have you and Nessa out of the flat within minutes and installed here again by sundown, but I don't want them to do that without your say so, love. This is your move. We'll do this the way you want it done. You just tell us what you want to do."
I rubbed my hands up and down her arms while she thought it over.
She blew a breath out over her teeth and sought my eyes. "It's complicated, isn't it?" She asked and I nodded. It was complicated, it always was for us. "There's a lot to do, I want to do it right. I haven't talked to Rose or Jasper yet and I wanted to do that before I came home. I should talk to my parents too, let them know what's going on. And you're due at the school for the meeting with Harry and the principal. All my stuff needs packing up and then I'll have to get rid of the furniture, it won't fit here. And I want to sort out Nessa's room here before she comes back to it. We're supposed to be going out with Angela and Ben tonight and then there's Seth, we'll need to sort out that mess too. Oh Edward it might take a couple of days. I'm so sorry, I know you want me here right now." She wailed, her face crumpling.
I held onto her firmly, trying not to let my disappointment show. I could afford to be gracious now, she'd given me all that I hoped I'd regain, I could be patient and let her do it in her own way now. "It's alright love, I was prepared for that. Truly I was. Look at me Bella." I waited until she tilted her head up a little so I could see her beautiful topaz eyes. "I meant it, we do this your way, in your time. A few days is a drop in the ocean compared to eternity, I can wait a few days love. I promise." I bent to kiss her and felt her relax against my chest.
She wound her arms around me and held me as I held her. I deepened the kiss only slightly but pulled away as soon as I could. I could be patient, but not that patient.
"I'd better call Alice." She grumbled knowing it was going to be a hell of a conversation with my sister.
I shook my head. "No Bella. I'll tell her. She'll have already seen it, but I'll call her, love. You've made your decision, she'll live with it. You go on ahead to the house, I'll follow in a few minutes."
"Are you sure, I can tell her." She didn't look too convinced and even though I'd rather she told Alice – it was never pleasant having to spoil Alice' plans, or her fun – I could do this for her. Making her transition back into the family as easy as possible was going to be my first priority for a while. She didn't deserve to feel pressured or put upon. Not when it was her that was the only innocent one in all this.
"I'm sure Bella. Go on love, I'm two minutes behind you." I kissed her cheek and she kissed mine.
"I'll see you up there." She turned and ran out the bedroom door and when I heard the latch on the front door click I sighed and opened my phone.
This was going to be unpleasant.
"I've seen it." Alice was pouting, I could see it as clearly in my mind as if I was standing right in front of her.
"Let her do this her way Ally, please?" I pled.
"Fine. Come on back." She gave in much faster than I thought she would.
BPOV
I didn't envy him having to stand the family down. I hated that they had to, but it was what was right for me. We needed to take our time with this. I wanted to do it right. And Edward was right, this was to be done at my pace, not theirs. They gave up their right to do things their way when they kept me in the dark. If they wanted me to come back into this family they'd have to let me do it my way.
I didn't hurry back to the house. Edward would need a few minutes to calm Alice down and then the rest of them would need to be told and then they'd need a few minutes to undo whatever plans they'd already put into place.
I jogged to the jetty and then waited. The house was still a hive of activity. I could hear Emmett cursing from the third floor about having to pull down and then reassemble Nessa's crib. Rose was trying to calm Esme down as she hurriedly cleared away her sketch books and sample cards off the kitchen counter.
Jasper was still on the phone, having a rather heated debate with a hire company by the sounds of it, about how much notice he needed to give to rehire the van he'd just un-hired. Alice was in the room with him and every time he cursed she hissed.
The only normal sounds from the house were from Nessa and Seth. It was as though they were untouchable, unshakable. They were in the kitchen. Nessa was eating grapes and drinking maple syrup off a desert spoon while Seth asked her quiz questions from his social studies homework.
I could hear Edward then, coming up behind me through the forest. I waited at the jetty for him. He slid his arm around my waist and held me close while he buried his nose in my hair. "Are they nearly done?" He chuckled.
"Nearly."
"They mean well." He kissed the top of my shoulder and I shivered.
"I know. How was Alice?" I cringed.
"Who cares?" He chortled. "This isn't about Alice, this is about you and what you need from us. They'll deal." He punctuated that with a loud kiss planted firmly on my neck. "Come on, let's go and see how well they pretend shall we?"
I had to laugh at that. I knew he could hear their thoughts and I wondered if they were planning to just pretend nothing had gone on. It wouldn't surprise me, Esme was brilliant at that.
When we went in through the backdoor Seth called his hello and Nessa bounced off her kitchen stool and came to us, but other than that there was no sign of the family.
With Nessa on my hip I went in search of them while Edward sat with Seth, trying to convince him to keep studying even though he didn't yet know where he'd be going to school after today.
On the first floor we found Alice and Jasper in their suite seemingly happily reading in their window seat. They almost pulled it off too. They went well, right up until Nessa spoke.
"Mommy loves daddy again now so we are going to stay in the other house again." Nessa announced matter of factly. "Sethy says I should pretend not to notice when they are doing kissing." She shrugged as though she could take or leave that advice. "Sethy says I should stay in bed and not go looking for you and daddy in your room for some days this week. He said I might see things I shouldn't see. Do you have presents in your room?" I didn't know what to say so I said nothing. To my extreme mortification she wasn't finished. "Sethy says he will stay with me, in my room, when you are doing the kissing. He's going to read his school work with me so don't worry momma."
The little monkey actually patted my cheek at the end of her speech as if she was doing me a favour.
Alice and Jasper did their best to stifle their laughter but it was too much for Emmett and Rose. They both burst out into the loudest guffaws which were matched in intensity only by Edward's burst of exasperation for Seth.
Esme was in stitches higher up in the house, probably in her studio, but it was Alice who broke the silence first. She flew off the window seat and ran to where Nessa and I stood. She took Nessa from me, kissed her on the top of her head and called her a 'brat' playfully and then she pulled me to her and hugged me tightly.
"I love you Bella. I'm so happy you're coming home. Take your time, we'll be here. Let us know what you need done, we'll do it." She let me go and took a step back. "You won't regret it." She told me with a small smile.
"Thanks Alice. Sorry to ruin all your plans Jaz." I said over Alice' shoulder.
He waved his hand as though it was nothing. He pulled a struggling Nessa up into his lap and let her turn to hang over the windowsill to look out the window. "They'll keep." He nodded. "Welcome home darlin, it's not the same when you're not here."
"Thanks Jaz." I didn't know what to say other than that.
"If it suits you I'll be needin a few minutes of your time today?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
I smiled, he was approaching me before I got a chance to ask to speak to him. God I loved him, he was such a good guy, such a sweetheart. "Sure Jaz, when Nessa goes for her nap yeah?"
"Done. I'll find you." He nodded and went back to watching Nessa who was pointing out a small sparrow as it pecked at the ground in the driveway. "We could go out there and scare it if you want." He whispered conspiratorially to the bouncing little girl.
"Jaz." Alice admonished.
Jaz looked to me and grinned, he cocked his head in Alice' direction, "This from the girl who helped whip a pride of lions into a frenzy." He scoffed.
EPOV
I was mortified! That Seth had seen fit to advise Nessa of things like that was horrifying to me. Bella seemed to have shrugged it off, but I was affronted.
Seth was just sitting opposite me at the kitchen bench grinning while he finished his breakfast.
"I could flog you for saying things like that to her, she's only a baby Seth!" I seethed across the bench top.
He too shrugged it off, "Nah, she's smarter than you and me put together. Besides, she asked me what she should do when you two 'do the kissing'." He used his fingers to do the quotes, his face was a wide smirk as he did.
"She did?" I couldn't wrap my head around that. "Shit." I groaned.
"Edward!" Esme called from the top floor.
"Sorry Esme." I mumbled, that was getting old. I wasn't a kid anymore.
Seth was chuckling now, thinking about how weird it was to be in trouble from Esme when I was a dad myself. Funny how two of us could be thinking exactly the same thing at exactly the same time!
"What's the plan for when I'm expelled?" he asked solemnly, suddenly changing tack.
"You won't be expelled." I said confidently.
"Yeah, I will be. Newton is still all busted up and there were heaps of witnesses. Don't forget I tried to hit a teacher too." He winced.
"You won't be expelled." I said again. "Newton had it coming, there were witnesses to what he said too don't forget and as for the teachers, well, they'll have to agree that anyone would come up swinging after what you'd just heard." He looked up from his plate to stare at me. "I'm not saying you won't be in a tonne of trouble, you are going to be in detention till you're twenty, and who knows what other delightful punishments he's going to concoct, but he won't expel you." I nodded firmly, that was an end to it as far as I was concerned.
"If you say so." He mumbled.
"I do. So best you keep studying that," I pointed to his open book, "Nessa kicked your ass just now. Sorry Esme." I got in before she had a chance to sigh or grumble.
"Yeah, she did." He laughed. "I wondered, like, if it wasn't too much of a hassle, seeing as I'm here all the time anyway, when Nessa has her lessons can I do them too?" He ducked his head at the end as though he was embarrassed to ask.
I listened to his thoughts for a moment before answering. When I saw what his worry was I smiled. "She's going to overtake us all, son. That's nothing for you to be ashamed of, she's just got a massive capacity to learn, it says nothing about you. And trust me, she's still going to want you even when she's done learning, which she probably never will be." It was sweet that he worried about things like this but it would've been sweeter had he been worrying about them with someone else's daughter.
"If you say so." He mumbled again.
I wasn't sure how to reassure him so I left it alone. There was six and a half years to work this out, plenty of time for him to come to terms with Nessa's extraordinary capacity for information. He wasn't a bad student himself, just easily distracted. He'd had plenty to distract him this past few months too. I hoped, as my life settled down, his would too.
"I'm going to head off soon to collect your father, you coming?" I asked, knowing he had no intention of leaving Nessa while he had the chance to stay with her during the day.
His smile was wide and filled with bright white teeth. "Nope, I'm staying here. I'm taking Nessa swimming." He announced.
I huffed and went upstairs to say goodbye to Bella and the others.
I got Bella on her own on the landing between the first and second floors and kissed her thoroughly. She was going to stop in town for packing boxes and tape and then go back to the apartment and start getting her things ready to go back to the cottage. I was so fucking excited about having her come home I was ready to ditch the outside world and hide out with her, annoying her until she was packed and ready to go to the cottage.
"Are we still going out with Angela and Ben tonight?" I asked her as I stood poised to descend the staircase.
"I guess so." She shrugged. "I'll call her later for the details."
"So I won't see you until then, right?" I asked, hopeful that she'd ask me to come over.
"I guess not." She sighed. "But, if you had nothing else planned you could, maybe, if you wanted to, bring Nessa home later..." She was going to continue but Alice came out of the suite just then.
"Oh please," She said theatrically, "Edward, she wants you to go over and help her pack. Bella, Edward wants to go over to your place and help you pack. He'll bring Nessa home then. Sorted, good." And with that she went back into her suite.
I smiled at Bella who was giggling softly. She came towards me and kissed me softly on the lips. "So I'll see you later at my place."
I kissed her back and nodded.
I reluctantly, very reluctantly dragged my carcass out to my car.
As I drove toward the Rez to collect Harry I ran over the events of the morning. By the time I had him sitting beside me on the return trip to the school I was almost convinced I hadn't dreamt it!
A/N: Thank you for reading. If you have found something that has piqued your interest in this chapter please review. If something about it has bothered you please review and let me know what, so that I may fix it.