"Oh, yeah, she's not happy at all, but what choice does she have. She has no idea where any of you are, and the court papers don't state your details. At the end of the day, she has no claim at all. Now, if they had used her eggs, well, that's a completely different matter," Jasper laughed. He was sat on the sofa in the large living room of the Cullen's house.
Everyone had gathered to welcome home their family members. Eloise was currently sat on a play mat in the middle of the room, happily giggling at everyone around her.
"And that's that? She just has to walk away?" Edward asked, shocked.
"Charlotte has her own means and can support herself, plus she's made a tidy sum with selling her scandal stories. If she screws it all up, that's on her. I got the injunction just in case. I don't see her causing any problems with anyone, but I had to be careful. You never know what will go through her head at times," Jasper sighed, hugging Alice, who was sat on his lap, a little tighter.
"How has the house hunting been going? Are you still set on staying in Forks?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, we've looked at a few, but nothing is grabbing Bella. She's got her heart set on a large play area for Eloise," Edward chuckled. The last few days had opened up Edward's eyes to how picky Bella could be.
"It's going to be our forever home, Edward, it has to be perfect," Bella grouched.
"So why not build something? Then it would be perfect," Alice said.
"Why didn't you tell me this, Jasper? You should have mentioned this the moment you found out!" Bella was wailing at the poor man, who sat on the other side of Carlisle's desk in his home office.
"Bella, it was in the email I sent you. I thought you knew," Jasper said calmly. This just seemed to piss Bella of even more.
"How can you sit there so calmly? It's infuriating, to be honest," she hissed. Edward had gone to work, and she knew she couldn't phone him to vent. That meant that she was directing all of this on Jasper.
"Bella, it is what it is. I can set something up to divert it to another account, but let's face facts, this one thing Peter did think about, and he did one decent thing," he sighed. It had been a long day already, and he missed Alice. She wouldn't be back until Friday night, and it was only Wednesday. How could a week feel so long?
"Jasper, I feel like a paid whore, and I'm not even opening my fucking legs! I'm furious! I don't want this, I don't want any of it."
Bella threw herself down onto the small couch on the other side of the room. She couldn't believe this was happening. Things had calmed down. They had found a routine. Everyone was happy. But not now. Now she was on edge again.
"Bella, I don't know what was going through Peter's mind when he put this into his will, because he very rarely thought about anyone other than himself, but he did do a good thing. A monthly 'allowance' for the mother of any of his children is a very small thing in his eyes. Probably suggested to him by one of his lawyers, but it is there,"
Bella glared at him.
"A small allowance is a couple of hundred bucks, not twenty-five thousand dollars, for life! I don't want it. Get rid of it," Bella growled. "Now," she insisted.
Jasper sighed once more. He looked at the computer, tinkered a little and then asked her where she wanted him to put it.
Bella ended up choosing the charity set up in Forks for the families of the logging company that had closed down a few years ago. That would help them out with housing repairs, food, clothing and anything they needed. Jasper, at Bella's insistence, made the donation anonymously.
"Better?" He asked with a smirk. Bella just rolled her eyes and slapped him around the back of his head.
"And this is what you want to do?" Rose asked tears free falling down her cheeks. Rose, although very much part of the group, always felt as though she was a little on the outside. She had a rough childhood, so to be so included in the Cullen house made her feel so wanted.
"I'm not saying to give up your jobs, but I'd really like for you to be here. I want you around to see Eloise grow up. I want our kids to grow up together, just like we did," Bella said, crying, but smiling.
She had offered to buy Rose and Emmett a house. The offer hadn't come with any conditions, but Bella had urged them to move back to Forks, or closer than Seattle. She wanted everyone she loved around her.
"But what about our jobs?" Emmett asked, but it was Jasper's turn to talk.
"Rose is a teacher, she can get a job around here with no problems. As for you, well… I have an idea. I'm not going back home. I have nothing there for me now, and I have everything here. You work in a gym, and I'm a physical therapist. I've already talked to Carlisle and Bella. They're going to find me some space up at the hospital to work from, and I could do with someone on my team that I can trust. What say you?" Jasper was overjoyed with how things were working out. He'd be close to his new family. He idolised Eloise and Bella, and of course, there was Alice.
"We'd have to think about it a little, but I think it would be good for us," Rose said, smiling madly at her husband.
Yes, Bella though, this is what she needed to do.