Chapter 38.
Hunter POV.
After a good few weeks of tantrums, tears, anger and bouts of hysterical laughter, Bella's emotions had finally levelled out. I told her of my meeting with Edward, and she was upset at first, but finally realised that I would see him regardless of whether I wanted to, or not. He was my father, and I would inevitably see him when I visited with the family. She never asked for him, though, and that upset Edward a lot.
"Just give her time," I reminded him.
"I know, I know. I just hoped she would have at least enquired about me by now," he sighed. He was trying his best to be patient, and to be honest, he had done better than I thought he would.
"She doesn't really have to ask about you anyway," I said. "She listens to my stories when I have visited the family, so she more or less knows how you are. Maybe that's enough for her, for now."
"And she has never asked you not to speak of me?"
"To begin with, yes. But I think that was because I didn't mention you much. Over the weeks, I've spoken more about you, but she just listens."
Edward and I were slowly getting closer. I tried to be fair with my time between Bella and the family, so mostly I visited them at night, when Bella was at home. Days would be spent with her, either at school, or with Alice at the weekends. We didn't hang about with our friends from school much anymore. I missed Angela the most, be we all had grown distant. She was now dating Ben, which I was upset about at first, but I didn't blame her. We just didn't spend the same amount of time together, not even at the weekends. We were happy spending time with just the two of us, or with other members of the family.
Bella was ecstatic that she could spend time with them. She had believed they would want nothing more to do with her, but quickly found she had been wrong. They respected her enough that they never mentioned Edward in front of her, but at the same time, they were never awkward about it. They made her feel comfortable about it all. Rosalie didn't visit her much, but when she did, she always spoke to Bella. Bella had told me that the first day they were reunited, Rosalie had pulled her to the side to speak with her.
"It wasn't that I never liked you, Bella. It was what you were willing to give up in order to be with him, that I didn't like," Rosalie had explained. "You don't realise how lucky you are to be able to have a normal, human life. I would give anything to be able to have that with Emmett."
Bella had told me she understood how Rosalie was feeling, knowing now that she would never have had a normal life with Edward. She knew they would never be best of friends, but she was happy that Rose was able to spend some time with her. So, Bella was slowly becoming herself again, and she relaxed more as each day passed. Anytime we would go out, I always made sure to tell Edward so that we wouldn't accidentally bump into him. I was actually very surprised at how restrained he was being. I thought he would have went ballistic weeks ago, and ruined everything. Perhaps he was learning, after all.
Mom and Charlie were doing great. She thought it was about time she told him everything, but decided she would wait until Bella had mended. Bella assured her she was fine, but mom insisted that Charlie would need her a lot when he found out, and she wanted to make sure she wouldn't neglect herself while easing him. I could see the logic in mom's decision and thought it was a good idea, but Bella thought he should be told sooner, rather than later. I could understand where she was coming from after what she had been through, but at the same time, it was a different situation.
Mom and I finally got around to taking Emmett and Jasper to the meadow to show them our gifts. Of course, the whole family turned up, curious. Bella was there, too, and Edward. Though Edward remained in the trees out of Bella's vision. We had a fantastic day, that day, and I could even hear Edward's quiet chuckles from the trees. The family took over our training after that, to ensure we were at our best. Jasper was a great tutor, but he would be, with his military training. It was funny to see Alice and Edward train with them, as they could always out manoeuvre them with their gifts. Emmett always grumbled that they were cheating, but he always enjoyed himself.
Edward and I had spent some time alone, too. We told each other everything we could think of that had happened with our lives. Turned out we shared a lot of interests. Like his love of music. He could compose music and play the piano. I could play guitar and drums. And although our taste in genre was different, it was something we still had in common. Our love of cars and speed. That was usually always included in our conversation, and we would spend time in the garage with Rosalie, who also loved cars. I had eventually gotten over my infatuation with her, but the first day we spent with her in the garage, was the first time I got a slap around the ear from her.
We were doing some performance checks on Edward's Vanquish, and Rosalie had came in to see how we were getting on.
"We just need to check the injectors, and I think we are done," Edward said.
"I'll do it of you like," she replied. "It's been a while since I've been under the hood of this car."
"Of course," Edward said, moving so she could get in.
"Hello, baby," she cooed to the car. Then she preceded to bend over the engine, and I just couldn't help myself. I whistled lowly through my teeth. What the hell? She was my aunt for Christ sake! And I was very much reminded of that, when a cold, and very hard palm, smacked me across the ear.
"It'll do you good to remember your manners, nephew," she scolded me.
I blushed as much as I ever had before, while rubbing at my stinging ear. She strode past me with a flick of her hair, and Edward was almost bent double laughing.
"Shut up, Edward," I hissed.
"I'm sorry, Hunter. I couldn't help it. I could see it coming a mile off," he said, laughing again.
"It's not funny!" I said, but couldn't help chuckling myself.
"I really don't know what the attraction is," he said, once we had calmed down.
"Seriously?"
"Yes. I was never attracted to her like that. She is too self-obsessed."
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
"There is a difference between being self-obsessed and selfish, you know," he answered my silent question.
"Not really," I stated.
He rolled his eyes, and went back to his engine. After that, I spent a little more time with him, and I actually enjoyed his company. Over the weeks, our talks of Bella dwindled, but I just assumed that he would know I would tell him of any major changes, so he spent his time on me instead.
Of course Rosalie told Bella of our little encounter, and she had gone into one of her hysterical fits of laughter when she next saw me.
"That was so not funny. I was so embarrassed," I moaned at her, and it sent her into another fit. She slapped at my arm a few times, trying to calm herself down, and I chuckled along with her.
"Oh my God, Hunter," she said, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks. "I love you!" she chuckled.
"I love you, too," I managed between my own chuckling, and she hugged me tight.
"Thank you." she whispered, and her tears of laughter turned into real tears.
"Ahh, Bella. Everything will be okay," I promised her.
"I know. I'm sorry I'm not controlling things very well."
"It's okay. I hate to see you like this."
"I'll be okay. I know I will, when I have you to lean on."
"Any time. You know that. Just please be happy soon, because you are ruining all my clothes," I snorted.
She slapped my arm, but managed a chuckle anyway. After that, she began to become more like herself. She still had her occasional days where she was up and down, but that was only to be expected. She did try really hard to pull herself together, and she managed really well. I suppose having so many people that she cared about around her, helped with her healing, quicker. She would thank us all each, and every day, for being there for her, and said to the family that they really should be spending more time with Edward. It was the first she had mentioned him by name since he had told her the truth. Everyone was shocked, but their hesitation was lightening quick, she never noticed.
"Bella," Esme began, "don't you worry about that. Believe me when I say that we spare plenty of time for Edward, too. He is our son, and would never leave him to deal with this alone," she said softly.
"Oh, I know that. I just feel as if I'm taking up a lot of your time, that's all."
"Don't be silly, Bella. They wouldn't be here if they didn't want to be," I told her. She smiled at everyone, and once again thanked them. She really thought so little of herself, that she thought she didn't deserve our time. She would need to get over that, and realise she was worth it, and I'm sure everyone felt the same. But she got past that too, thankfully. The only thing that stayed consistent with her, was the fact she didn't want to see Edward. We knew it was her decision at the end of the day, and no one tried to persuade her otherwise.