A/N: I was able to get another chapter out this week!
Last chapter, I forgot to thank all of you who were concerned about my A/N the chapter before, where I moaned and complained about RL. Everything is good guys, and I'm grateful for that. Just a busy summer is all, but that's all good; spending time with the kiddies and such. :) Thanks so much for your concern though!
And...meet me at the end, okay?
Betad by Michelle Renker Rhodes.
Most characters belong to S. Meyer.
Chapter 38 – The Bottom of the Boat aka Rock Bottom
EPOV
The first Congressional session of a new fiscal year is usually a long one – and this one promises to be no exception. I'm due to spend the first two weeks of September in D.C., but at least I'm able to be in New York for Elizabeth's first day of school.
She wears a uniform: a navy blue jumper with a skirt that barely covers the small knee-scrape she received while hopping from rock to rock on the beach (totally my fault for teaching her how to do it), a crisp, white shirt underneath, and twin pig-tails that Bella has tied with matching navy blue ribbons. I'm almost embarrassingly emotional as Bella and I snap picture after picture, she with the Canon, and I with my phone. Yeah, I've missed a hell of a lot, but I've got this now and damn - it's great.
The entire afternoon, Bella and I exchange phone calls and texts, wondering what our daughter is doing, whether she's making friends, whether she's nervous or even worse, scared.
At the end of the day, when Elizabeth skips out of school towards us surrounded by half a dozen little boys and girls all begging her to say a bunch of phrases in her "cool" accent, Emmett snorts at us.
"Told you those American boys would go wild."
Unfortunately, I do have to go to D.C. despite the fact that I'd rather stay in New York with Bella and Elizabeth. They're settling in well; Elizabeth with first grade, Alice as a college sophomore, and Bella…
For now, Bella spends her days running errands for our daughter and her sister, the press ever on her tail. But Bella is a journalist by trade; she'll get back to it. In the meantime, she keeps the media entertained. She doesn't court them, but she doesn't turn her back on them either because as much as we may want our privacy, we both know that at this point, we need to play the game and play it well.
So play the game is what we do for now. For me, that entails keeping an eye and ear out for anything Martin might have up his sleeve, which leads to some long hours for Jasper, the staff and me.
My Chief of Staff has been a bit subdued since our return from Oyster Bay. I feel like a bit of an asshole for keeping him from Alice, but it is necessary right now, and I know he sees this. If his feelings are real, they'll survive a couple of months' separation. Once the elections are over and Martin's empire is either secure once more, or has crumbled for good, neither Bella nor I will get in Jasper or Alice's way.
Martin's numbers keep getting worse, as much of the public is now convinced that he knew much more than he's letting on regarding Elizabeth and kept quiet for his own nefarious reasons. There's no proof, of course. I'll bet my ass that there are no records of the phone call he made to me in London seven years ago, and though I'd also bet my ass that he sanctioned my father's hiring of the P.I., he's throwing Carlisle under the bus for that one. There's a part of me…yeah, there is a part of me that remembers the man my father once was, and that part of me threatens to feel pity for him. But he made his bed.
So for now, everything around Martin remains speculation. If he were a year or two into his term, he could simply let the speculation die down and then deal with the backlash the way so many presidents have dealt with scandals in the past. However, with the elections less than two months away, he's watching his chances for re-election dwindle. And while he watches that, my staff and I keep an eye on him.
OOOOOOOOOO
The first weekend I'm in D.C., Bella and Elizabeth come down to join me so that we can introduce our daughter to the U.S. capital.
We go on a tour of federal landmarks, starting with the Capitol Building, of course. Elizabeth is fascinated as I point out to her where Daddy and a few other privileged men and women help make the laws of the land she now calls her home. Then we're off to the Jefferson Memorial, which I inform her is dedicated to the third President of our nation and drafter of the Declaration of Independence. The three of us gaze up at the black, marble statue of his likeness while Elizabeth holds Oyster in her arms and tries to get him to focus his attention on the statue.
"He was a great man," I murmur thoughtfully.
"He was a shit-stirrer," Bella whispers. I jerk my head back and turn to look at her. "Imagine starting so much trouble for poor King George the Third simply because of a little under-representation." She grins.
"Careful," I warn her. "You're outnumbered here. These are Elizabeth's forefathers as well as mine."
"Hah!" Bella scoffs before kneeling down behind our daughter, holding on to her shoulders. Her eyes remain locked on mine tauntingly. "Ellie's forefathers are Kings and Vikings. Isn't that right, Elizabeth?" she smiles. "Not some silly men who got together simply because they were cheesed off at being punished for throwing tea off a ship!"
Elizabeth angles her head sideways to look at her mother - and giggles.
I stalk closer to her, and she stands up, holding my gaze.
"You're very well informed on the beginnings of our nation."
She moves in closer still, her chest against mine and reaches up to run one finger down my cheek.
"I once had a very…deep and thorough American Government lesson."
I chuckle and grab her finger, kissing it softly. "I remember. But be nice when it comes to our forefathers. You don't mess with the Continental Congress."
She bursts out laughing.
"Edward, that was so cheesy!"
"I know. I know." I reach down and pick Elizabeth up, who's been watching us curiously. "Elizabeth's forefathers were great colonists and philosophers, critical thinkers and champions of equal rights. Weren't they, Elle?"
A tug of war of sorts ensues where Bella and I pretend to struggle for Elizabeth while she breaks out into fits of laughter at being pulled between us. When Bella stops pulling Elizabeth and pretends to give up, I plant a long, loud kiss on her forehead.
"Time to accept it, Love, you're American now."
She gives me a droll roll of her eyes. "If that's the sacrifice I have to make to be with my two favorite people in the world, then fine, I'll be American," she says with feigned resignation. I can't withhold the smug grin that spreads across my face, because we both know what that really means.
When I tilt my head and kiss her mother soundly on the mouth, Elizabeth giggles again.
"Yay! Daddy, Mummy's American like us!" - Which is pretty hilarious when she says it in such a purely British accent.
The next morning, there are pictures and stories in every major news outlet of our family D.C. tour – of Bella and I flirting in front of our daughter, of "how deeply in love we obviously are," of "the future Camelot" as the three of us are now dubbed. Even Oyster has his moment in the spotlight, with a short paragraph on how adoptions of Labradoodles will now probably go up.
- They also don't fail to mention that our great tour of the capital did not include an inside tour of the White House.
OOOOOOOOOO
Bella's birthday falls on the following weekend, before a one-week break in the Congressional session. When I ask her what she wants for her birthday, she tells me she'd love to go back to Oyster Bay Cove for the weekend. It's been two weeks since we've been back, but it feels like a lot longer with the stress of everything going on. So I consent wholeheartedly because I think it's a great idea, and because I love to see how much Bella and Elizabeth love the house – and now that it's completely ours once more, there's nothing I could want more than to spend a night here, just the three of us, now that everyone is back to their daily routines and homes.
Therefore, Friday evening, that's exactly where we head.
Elizabeth has become an expert at sleeping in her bed by now, so once Bella and I get her tucked in, I take her hand and lead us to our bedroom.
She pauses by the door. "This looks…different," she murmurs.
I hold her gaze. "I had the furniture that was here donated to charity. This is the room's original furniture."
Tanya had the entire room redone after we married, but I want no trace of her, of her family in this house any longer, and I think Bella understands without my having to say it. She looks around the room, taking in the cherry wood furnishings that have replaced Italian lacquer, and gets on her tiptoes, winding her arms tightly around my neck.
"This is so much better," she whispers in my ear
"Yes, it is," I breathe into her hair.
OOOOOOOOOO
The next morning at sunrise, we take out the boat, off of Roosevelt Beach for what will probably be the last time this season. I'm teaching Elizabeth to fish this morning.
"Mummy, aren't you going to fish with us?"
Bella settles herself into the deck chair a few feet away and smiles at our daughter.
"Fishing is a…daddy and daughter activity, Ellie. Your grandfather Charlie used to take Aunty Alice, Aunty Rose and I fishing quite a bit when we were little girls, and now it's your turn to fish with your daddy!" she finishes excitedly.
Elizabeth squeals in delight and turns back to the water, while I smirk at Bella. She chuckles quietly, because we both know she just doesn't want to touch the fish.
So while Bella reads on a deck chair a few feet away and Oyster runs up and down the deck with his tongue flapping all around, Elizabeth and I get down to business. I'm a bit distracted, for a couple of reasons. One of which is the sight of Bella in her white two piece and dark shades. She can go ahead and read to her heart's content, because it's giving me a great view of her perky-
"Daddy, come on! You've got to pay attention to what we're doing otherwise we won't catch any fish!"
Bella snorts and I smirk, turning back to the green waters of the Sound. "Sorry, Honey. I'm paying attention now."
OOOOOOOOOO
After an hour or so, we've managed to catch a couple of striped bass and a bluefish, though we only keep the bluefish and catch and release the other two.
"Is that it?" Elizabeth asks.
"That's actually not bad for an hour of fishing."
She purses her lips. I chuckle at her before looking down to where Bella appears to have fallen asleep, her book face down over her stomach, drawing in a deep breath and expelling it slowly before turning back to our daughter.
"Elizabeth, do you want to try catching a bigger fish?"
"What kind of a fish, Daddy?"
I reach into my front pocket and fumble with the bait, grinning.
"Daddy, that's not bait, that's a-"
"Shh." I place a finger over my lips and whisper, "It's special bait, to catch a mermaid."
Elizabeth giggles. "Okay," she whispers back.
I secure the bait tightly and hook the bluefish back on, all the while praying that I don't make a major ass of myself in front of my daughter. Before throwing the line over the boat, I double-check to make sure that everything is secure because if I lose this bait I'll be throwing myself off over this damn yacht.
Oyster circles me, wagging his tail and panting.
"There's no way in hell I'm giving you this fish, Buddy," I mutter.
"Daddy, why are you putting that fish back on the-"
"Just watch, Elizabeth," I wink her way, but my heart starts racing when the line goes over.
I clear my throat. "Uhm…Bella, Love, wake up. You don't want to catch too much sun, do you?"
Bella sits up over the towel, one pretty leg bent at the knee. She stretches her arms over her head and smiles, removing her sunglasses.
"What time is it then?"
"Uhm…it's actually your turn to reel in this fish. Right, Elle?"
"Right!" Elizabeth agrees with an empathic nod of her sweet head. She kicks her legs back and forth over her chair; waiting.
Bella squints, giving us a puzzled grin. "O-kay."
With a sigh, she gets up and walks to us. I situate her properly in front of the railing and stand behind her, holding her caged between my arms as I hand her the rod while keeping my hands on it too because if she accidentally lets this fish and bait get away, I will cry right here and now. No doubt.
"Alright, slowly and carefully," I murmur, guiding her and helping her reel it in while my heart pounds wildly in my chest, nerves, excitement and a bit of apprehension consume me because seriously, what the hell was I thinking putting that in the water?
The fish soon breaks over the surface and Bella keeps reeling. Elizabeth squeals and claps excitedly, but my heart is beating about triple-time at this point.
"I've got it! I've got it!"
"Careful." Beads of sweat break out over my forehead when the fish lands on the yacht floor with a small thud. I let out the breath I'd been holding. "Now take the fish off the hook."
"Yes, Mummy, take it off the hook."
"What if it starts thrashing all about when I try to take it off?" She shudders.
"It won't thrash. I promise. Go ahead, just take it off the hook."
"How do you know it won't thrash?"
Because it's a non-thrashing fish. Take if off."
"But I'm not sure I remember how…"
"Bella, just take it off the hook." A few more seconds of this and my heart is going to pound right out of my chest.
"Mummy, take it off the hook!"
"Alright, alright." She starts unhooking the fish from the line. "Edward, this fish isn't moving. Perhaps…"
She trails off…staring down at the "bait" when I walk slowly her way and kneel in front of where she kneels with the fish.
"Maybe I'm asking too soon. It's only been a few months since we found each other again, even less than that since we began to rebuild our relationship. But, Bella, in my mind, I've been waiting to ask you this for seven years."
She keeps staring at the ring. A ray of sun catches it and it explodes in a prismatic display of light.
"Maybe I'm being selfish by asking you to bind yourself so permanently to me when only God knows what else is coming our way," I whisper, "but Bella, if I've learned anything in the past few months, in the past few years, it's that I'm nothing without you. You make me strong, you make me brave, you make me strive to be a man who I can be proud of, who you and Elizabeth can be proud of."
Elizabeth must hear her name, because she comes and kneels beside me. Oyster runs to her and she picks him up, holding him against her as she watches us with open curiosity.
"You're the best part of me, and I can't for the life of me fathom a reason why I should wait one more day, one more hour to tell you that I dream of making you my wife, that I've always dreamed of making you my wife, of us having the future I know we were meant to have."
She draws in a few, uneven breaths, her eyes still wide open, intent on the ring.
Oyster suddenly gives a couple of small yelps.
"Shh, quiet Oyster," Elizabeth murmurs softly. "We're waiting for Mummy to answer."
I can't help snorting in amusement, despite the nerves wrecking havoc on my entire system.
"You don't have to answer right away. It's sudden, I know. I understand if you need time to think about it, but I just wanted you to know that when we talked about being a team, I wanted that to mean in every-
"You haven't actually asked me a question yet." She looks up at me.
I don't know whether to laugh, or throw myself over this boat right now, because she looks amused.
"You're telling me that you dream of making me your wife, and now you're telling me that you want me on your team. I mean, sure, I'll be on your team, but where's the question?"
I blink a few times and a slow smile spreads across her face.
"Alright," I grin. "Here's the question. Bella, will you marry me?"
"Now that's a proper question. No, Edward," she chuckles lightly, and I feel my heart drop to my feet before she continues. "No, I don't need more time to think about it because yes, I'll marry you."
I slide my knees across the floor and grab her face between my hands, crashing my mouth to hers while waves of relief and gratitude and pure, unadulterated adoration crash inside me. I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her tightly to me.
"Edward, our daughter is watching," she chuckles lowly.
When I release her, Elizabeth stands before us, holding her grandmother's ring out to her mother. Bella takes a few uneven breaths before accepting it.
"Would you mind horribly if I washed it out before I put it on?" she grins wryly.
"No," I snort, "I wouldn't mind at all."
I wrap a hand around the nape of her neck and pull her in, resting my forehead on hers.
"When I grow up, I want a boy to hide a ring in my fish and then ask me to marry him."
Bella and I both burst out laughing, and then I pull Elizabeth in and hold her inside our circle.
"You've still got a few decades before you have to think about that."
"See what you've done now, Edward? You've just given Ellie's future husband absolutely impossible expectations to live up to."
I draw in a deep breath, filling my lungs. "Good."
OOOOOOOOOO
That night, with the balcony windows open to allow the cool, early fall breeze to filter in, I make love to my future wife.
I catch her cries with my mouth, where her breaths mingle with mine - my future wife's breaths.
When she rocks over me, the cool moon glows in the background, outlining her against a dark, ink-colored sky and illuminating the silk strands that splay wildly around her shoulders. She arches her back, rays bounce across her creamy skin; like my hands, they stroke her round breasts - my future wife's breasts.
We've made love so many times in the past couple of weeks, in so many different ways, but now…knowing that soon we'll finally be husband and wife…nothing in the world compares.
OOOOOOOOOO
It doesn't take long for the press to notice the ring on Bella's left hand.
The media goes wild.
The American and British public go wild.
News outlets all hazard to guess when the wedding will take place – some say next year, some say as early as next week. Funny how they seem to know more than we do; Bella and I haven't worked things out that far ahead yet. We're simply trying to get through the first week of November – Election Day. After that, we'll work on a date.
The press interviews everyday people on the street who all wish us the best – some stop to say that they won't be voting for an administration that tried to keep a man away from his daughter and her mother, that it shows that the current President is devious and heartless, others say that whether Martin knew of Elizabeth or not makes no difference in politics and it shouldn't affect his re-election.
The days pass, and as the election looms closer, I'm beginning to breathe easier. With only six weeks left to go, a smart man wouldn't try anything at this point. It's too late, and besides, he can't win this stand-off. He knows I've got damning information against him and that I will not hesitate to release it if he speaks one negative word against Bella.
So while we remain on alert, I refuse to allow it to detract from my first fall season with Bella and our daughter.
On the last weekend of September, Elizabeth and Bella take a trip to an arts and crafts store in midtown. When I arrive at their townhouse, they still haven't returned, but Alice is home, writing a paper for one of her classes.
Like Jasper – like most of us really – she's been holding her breath for the past few weeks, waiting for the elections because she's got a stake in it as much as we do. I know that she and Jasper haven't been in contact, and whenever I see her, I can feel her anxiousness.
"So how is Jasper?" she asks me, looking up from her laptop.
"He's…busy," I tell her, putting aside my phone.
She nods slowly. I can see a thousand and one questions swimming around in her head, but in the end she simply looks back at her screen.
"Alice…" she looks back up at me. "We're almost there."
Her grin reminds me of her sister's – especially at that age – so wide and open.
"I know we are. Thanks, Edward…for looking out for all of us."
I offer her a small grin in return, but then my girls arrive – with Emmett in tow.
The next couple of hours are the type of ordinary that's so simple it's actually perfect, and when you look back on them…
Emmett sets down a large sewing machine that Bella has purchased at the craft store. Elizabeth pulls out all the materials she and her mom bought at the store - yards of cloth, beads, glitter, feathers, felt – and proceeds to inform me that her mum will be "sewing" her Halloween costume.
"Mum has always done it for us," Bella pipes in, "on her sewing machine and I mean, really, how hard can it be? I've watched her do it for ages."
An hour later, Bella is ready to pull her hair out. Elizabeth looks on from where she sits on my lap, elbows on the table and chin in her hands, eagerly waiting for all those materials to magically transform into something.
"Mum always made it look so easy," Bella murmurs, biting her lip thoughtfully as she holds up the material she's been sewing and turns it from side to side, as if somehow that'll make it resemble whatever it's supposed to be. She picks up her cell phone. "Let me call her again."
I'm chuckling as my own cell phone rings, and look down to see that it's Jasper.
"Yeah," I say, still laughing quietly.
"Edward, where are you?"
"I'm at Bella's." My voice drops, instantly on alert. "What's going on?"
"I'll be there in ten minutes." The line goes dead.
Ten minutes later, Jasper is in Bella's front room. He looks pale; his complexion only brightens for a few seconds when he catches sight of Alice. But as he walks closer to me, his expression tightens.
"I need to speak to you - alone."
Bella meets my gaze, frowning.
"Alice, why don't you meet Emmett downstairs so both of you can take Elizabeth down to the park for a little while?"
"But I want to finish making my Halloween costume, not go to the park with Aunty Alice and Emmett."
"I'll finish making your costume tomorrow, Darling."
"Why tomorrow? Why can't we finish it later?"
Bella kneels in front of our daughter. "Because I need to call Nanny for help and it'll be late in England later. Nanny will be sleeping," she tells her patiently. "Go on. Go play outside for a little while. The weather's getting cooler, and soon you'll be spending plenty of time indoors."
When they leave, Bella walks over to me and takes my hand in hers.
"Edward," Jasper murmurs, "I really think it's best if you and I spoke alone first."
Bella's grip suddenly feels hesitant, as if she's getting ready to pull away, but I hold on to her firmly.
"Jasper, whatever it is, you can tell me in front of Bella."
His eyes move nervously between Bella and me before he sighs, gripping his hair.
"Apparently, there are more…pictures…"
"More pictures of what?" Bella questions, but I already know, and my gut twists tight, as tight as she holds my hand.
"More pictures of you, Bella. Of you and of…Michael Newton…"
A/N: Thoughts?
I repeat, big girl panties.
Relax guys, we're almost done.
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