It is a very rainy, gloomy day in my area today. Hope everyone's day has been good.

Not much else to say.

This isn't a very long chapter...sorry. You'll see why.

No copy right infringement intended. SM owns most characters...I own all the mistakes.

2/17/18

Ghostly Double

Chapter 36

EPOV

The weeks were going by faster and faster. Bella's stomach was growing, but still appeared really small.

As for Renee and her stomach, she looked like she was about to pop any day, now. I kept telling Bella that she was having twins, but she disagreed.

So we decided to make a friendly wager just between us. Bella says she only makes bets when she's absolutely sure she's gonna win. I had a feeling I'd be proving her wrong. I'm sure Alice knew, but she was keeping quiet.

Bella and I had decided to take a year off from schooling so we could give our daughter our undivided attention. She was going to take some online college courses in the fall and maybe after our year was up, she'd go back to school.

I was lucky for the most part. The freight company my dad owned, would help pay for schooling. So, when I decided to stop playing baseball, a business degree would be where I was headed. I only hoped it was the best route for the future of my family.

Bella still hadn't decided what kind of courses she wanted to take. She was just going to start with the basics and work her way up. I was behind her 100% with whatever she decided to do. She could be a stay at-home mom for all I cared. I just wanted my wife happy with whatever career she chose. She was so smart and could do anything if she set her mind to it.

Since I started my job with my dad, I had put a pretty hefty amount of money away. The only thing we really spent our money on was food, toiletries, the fuel for our cars and our insurance. Bella preferred to cook for us instead of eating with our parents most nights. I love her cooking better than most.

I slipped my parents a $300.00 a month just to help with whatever they could use the money on. We didn't have to pay rent and they haven't said anything about the electric bill. The most expensive thing in our budget is our insurance. It was so expensive because me and Bella are so young; even with our clean driving records.

When I went full-time, I was eligible for medical benefits, which I gladly accepted. Whatever benefit they had, I signed up for it. My salary was good enough for us to live comfortably. Thankfully, the pool house apartment that we lived in has two bedrooms. We could live there for as long as we wanted, but I knew, sometime in the future, we'd want a house of our own. Knowing my wife, she'd want to live in the same area of our parents.

I couldn't give you a direct description of my job title. My dad didn't give me too much responsibilities, but each week I was learning something new. I did have my own desk and computer. I learned spreadsheets that contained lots of numbers, mostly. It was all gibberish until it was explained to me. I was doing a little poking into payroll, as well.

My dad had me work with a different employee each week. He explained that he wanted me to get a feel for the company and see which area best suited me. I still hadn't latched onto anything that really struck my attention. Heck, I might even like working out in the garage on the rigs that come in for work. I'd have to Google what the salary is for a semi-truck mechanic. I know there's money in it because there wasn't a truck out there that didn't need work.

I knew I probably wouldn't go that direction, though. I've never even worked on my own vehicle. I wouldn't know the first thing about fixing a car let alone a rig. The one thing I knew for sure is that I wanted to love what I chose to do.

"Hey kid," my dad said, patting my back as he passed my desk.

"Hey dad," I said in response. "How was the meeting?"

Dad smiled at me. "Went good. We picked up two more contracts."

"That's awesome." I typed a few more things into the computer. I was adding stuff, that was handwritten, onto a spreadsheet for the virtual files that my dad and the other company executives keep on the contracts that they have. They had some big name companies that they were hauling stuff for. My dad had his own fleet of trucks, too. Some drivers are owner operators and others leased their truck through the company. Being a driver was one job I definitely don't want. I wasn't willing to spend any time away from my wife unless it was to drive across town to work.

"You and Bella have any plans for the 4th?" He sat down in the chair in front of my desk.

I shook my head. "Nothing really. We're just gonna head down to the boardwalk and watch the fireworks from there."

"Your mother wants to stay in. She says she's getting too old for stuff like that," he said, chuckling.

I raised my brows at him. "Mom old? I don't think that'll ever happen."

"You'd become your mothers favorite son if you told her that," he said jokingly.

I made a shocked expression. "Am I not already? I'm hurt."

"What are you working on?" He took a sheet of paper from my desk that I'd already entered.

"Expense reports, from what I can see," I replied, adding the last few amounts.

He read over the paper. "That's what it is. Have you found anything that you're remotely interested in? I'm hoping to put you in a permanent spot within the next month or so."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I kind of like what I'm doing now. I know there'd be more you could add to my plate."

"All right. I'll have a chat with my office manager tomorrow. We'll make the decision by Friday where we want you."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks Dad. I appreciate everything that you and mom are doing for me and Bella. I don't think we could do it without any of our parents."

"You're welcome, son. I'm proud of the man you're becoming." He stood from his seat. "Let's call it a day."

He walked toward his office to get his briefcase, phone and keys.

When I walked through the door, the wonderful smell of cooking food hit my nose and I immediately started salivating. "Bella, baby!"

"In here!" I heard her yell, then she came walking out of the room that would be the baby's room. "Dinner in ten."

She stepped back into the room, so I went in search of my wife. When I turned the corner, she was putting baby clothes into the dresser that we got over the weekend. My parents bought a whole set of Sorelle Vista Elite furniture. The crib was a convertible that grows with the baby. It was quite pricey and I wasn't sure why my parents bought such an expensive set. We're very grateful for the stuff they do for us, but to spend over $600.00 on baby bedroom furniture? I told my mother that a $100 crib would have sufficed and she just waved me off telling me that her granddaughter wasn't sleeping in something that would fall apart in six months.

"What're you doing?" I walked over to where she was picking up stacks of pink clothes. I'd never seen so much damn pink before in my life. "Does she have to have so much pink?

"Girls wear pink, Edward," she said, stuffing another stack of clothes into the back part of the dresser.

I chuckled, "I don't see any pink in our closet."

"Well, not this girl. I don't even think I own pink underwear. I just never cared to wear it." She picked up a stack of folded receiving blankets.

I heard a timer go off. "I'll go check on dinner."

"Just take it out. It should be ready," she said as I walked from the room.

My wife was amazing in everything she does and cooking was at the top of that list. Especially when I opened the oven and saw a pan full of enchiladas. They were smothered in green chili sauce, cheese and black olives. Again, I had to wipe my chin free of the saliva because my mouth was watering entirely too much.

Bella came walking into the kitchen and grabbed a few things from the fridge. She put something into the microwave and put the timer for five minutes. "What was that?"

"Spanish rice. I made it earlier today. It just needs heated up." She pulled two plates from the cabinet and brought them to the table. I finished helping by getting the silverware and grabbing two glasses to get us some tea. It was the tea that has the Vervain in it. We made sure to have at least one glass a day.

Dinner was absolutely delicious. I ate so much, I thought my stomach would explode.

We settled on the couch and watched a movie and made our way to bed as soon as the TV was turned off. The next day was July 4th and we were just having time to ourselves. Like I had told my dad, we were just heading to the boardwalk close to dark. We'd walk around for a bit then find a place to sit so we can watch the fireworks. It was our first July 4th together and our one year anniversary was coming up and I wanted to do something special. It wasn't our wedding anniversary, obviously, but the anniversary of the day she decided to be my girl.

I got home by five. Bella was already dressed and ready to go. We were getting dinner on the pier before we took our walk. We were taking our time because it was getting darker out later because of the summer season. Bella had invited Alice and Jasper, but his parents were having a small party at their place and setting off their own fireworks.

For some reason, it felt like Alice was avoiding us, but I wasn't going to bring it up to Bella. I didn't need her to go on a whirlwind of curiosity. I know she would as soon as the words left my mouth. My best guess was that Alice knew something that she was afraid she'd spill beans about. I also know that if it were very important she'd tell us.

Around eight, we finally found us a place to sit. It was down on the beach where we could look up, with a perfect view, and see the fireworks. "I need to go pee."

I chuckled at my wife. "You want me to come with you?"

"No; I'm just headed to Bruesters' to use their bathroom." She stood and dusted the sand from the back of her dress. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She bent down to kiss me before waddling off to go pee.

It got darker as I waited for her to come back. I was leaning back on my hands with my feet stretched, crossed at the ankles.

When the fireworks started, I looked at my watch, noticing that Bella was taking way too long just to walk to Bruesters' to pee. They were just two stores over from the stairs we had come down to sit in the sand.

I checked my phone and didn't have any missed calls or unread texts.

Where the hell was my wife?

I stood and made my way up the steps, looking around to see if I could see her. There were so many people around that it was impossible to get a clear shot of Bruesters' so I made my way over that way, looking all around to cover my bases.

When I walked in, I headed straight to the bathrooms. There was a woman coming out as I approached. "Hey, is there anyone else in there?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No; sorry."

I put my hands on my hips and walked back to the front of the ice cream shop. I was starting to get really nervous.

I walked outside and looked one way then the next. Still, no sign of Bella.

My phone rang just as I was reaching for it. It was Alice. "Hello!" It was really noisy out, so I raised my voice so she could hear me.

"Edward? Is Bella with you?"

"No; I was just about to call you to see if she called you. We were sitting down on the sand, but then she had to pee, so she went to Bruesters' to use the bathroom. That was almost forty-five minutes ago."

"Oh, God, Edward. I'm calling you because Bella's not answering. I just had a vision and I was praying it wasn't true," she said. I could tell she was really close to spazzing out.

"What did you see? Jesus Christ Alice, please tell me it wasn't..."

She didn't' let me finish. "He took her, Edward."

"Who?"

"Anthony..."

I dropped my phone watching it shatter all over the walkway in front of me.

My wife was 32 weeks pregnant and some psychopath vampire took her.

DUN...DUN...DUN...!

Who wants to strangle Anthony?

RTB