Welcome to Chapter Thirty-eight – were you shocked by Esme's parting shot? I know I was! Maybe she knows something we don't! Oh, and prepare for another shock.
As ever, all things Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. I'm merely messing with her delightful creations. No copyright infringement or offense is intended.
The Cullen Dilemma
Chapter Thirty-eight
We were just coming downstairs, having looked all over the house, when Edward crashed in through the front door.
"Quick! Put the TV on," he said, striding across the room.
"Good evening, Son," said Esme. "Where's the fire?"
Edward was too busy with the remote control to answer. He eventually found the channel he was looking for.
"What…" I ventured only to be shushed by Edward.
He had his eyes firmly fixed on the screen.
"Watch this," he commanded.
"Breaking news, just in…" came the newscaster's voice. "We have reports of the fatal stabbing of a prisoner at City Jail. The victim, believed to be James Hunter who is currently on remand for fraud and people trafficking, was attacked by another inmate late this afternoon. A weapon has been recovered at the scene and a Police investigation is now underway."
The newscaster moved on to the next item.
I plopped down onto the sofa, too shocked to say anything. Edward came to sit beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"I heard it on the radio as I was driving back," he said. "I couldn't quite believe it."
"What happens now?" I managed to stammer.
"I'm really not sure, love. We'll talk to Jess Stanley in the morning and see what she says. Meanwhile, we'd best head for home. Are you ready?"
"Oh no you don't!" said Esme.
Carlisle had just walked through the door. Before he had time to hang up his coat and greet us, Esme was speaking again.
"Tell them, Carl. They must stay here tonight. There might be photographers waiting for them. I won't rest until we know exactly what's going on."
Carlisle held out his arms and shrugged at Edward and me.
"You heard your mother, Ed," he said. "Hello again, Bella."
I attempted a smile.
"Did you hear the news on the radio, Carl?" Esme asked. "What a terrible thing to happen. Are you going up to get changed, dear? I'll come with you, and then I'll come back down and get supper started. We can just have something simple but tasty."
Esme shepherded Carlisle out of the room, still talking nineteen to the dozen.
Edward pulled me over onto his lap and hugged me tight.
"I'm so sorry, love."
I sighed and asked him why.
"If you hadn't met me, you'd never have met the Hunters and you wouldn't be involved with any of this."
I saw the look on his face and all I wanted to do was make it better. I placed my hands around his face, making sure he was looking at me.
"Edward Cullen. Don't you dare blame yourself for any of this! James Hunter is…was a sociopath and a narcissist. I could never say I was glad that someone died, but I'm certainly relieved for those poor, poor women he controlled…"
I hesitated.
"…and I could never be sorry about meeting you."
"Oh, Bella." Edward loosed my hands from his face and kissed me soundly. I felt the tension seep from my body as we held one another close.
"Ahem! Ahem!" Carlisle gave an exaggerated cough as he and Esme came back into the room.
"Beer, Son?" Carlisle asked, walking towards the fridge in the kitchen. "What about you, Bella? We have beer, wine, juice…"
"May I have a beer, too, please?"
"Es?" asked Carlisle.
"Beers all round." Esme grinned. "I think we all deserve one, don't you?"
Carlisle popped the tops off 4 bottles and passed them round.
"Cheers!" he said, as we touched the bottles together.
"Righty-ho! Time to feed my family. How about I whip up a quick spaghetti carbonara?"
There was a murmur of assent.
"What can I do to help, Esme?" I enquired. "I love being in the kitchen."
"Would you crisp up the pancetta please, dear? Do extra, Carl and Ed like lots of it."
She passed me a chopping board, a knife and a large pack of the ham.
"I'll crack on with getting the boiling water for the pasta and making sure I've enough grated cheese. I used a mixture of pecorino and parmesan; I find they give the most authentic flavour. Oh, here you are, I almost forgot."
Esme passed me some crushed garlic to put in with the pancetta.
I noticed that she'd got the spaghetti in the pan and the eggs whisked and seasoned. She them began to cut some bread into cubes.
"Why are you doing that?" I asked.
"Croutons," she replied. "Not the usual accompaniment I know, but we all like the crunch."
Thirty minutes later, we were all sitting around the kitchen table replete.
"That was great, mum," said Edward.
"Delicious," I agreed.
"Great, as ever," said Carlisle. "Come on, Ed. We'll load the dishwasher and make coffee."
Edward squeezed my shoulder as he passed by. Esme noticed the gesture and smiled.
"You've made quite a difference to him, you know," she whispered, making sure the men couldn't hear us.
"Oh, I don't know. He's a good man, Esme; I'm sure he always has been."
"Well, yes…the grounding was always there, but I'm afraid that Carl and I made a few mistakes with our firstborn."
"Babies don't come with instruction books as my friend Rosalie says."
"True. Nor do toddlers, children or teenagers – especially teenagers! I'm afraid we rather pandered to Edward when he got his scholarship, we were just so proud. We didn't notice how conceited he'd become until it was too late. Besides, we thought it might just be a phase he was going through."
"I've heard that teenage boys can be tricky."
"Well, you heard the rest from the boys. I don't know what we'd have done if you hadn't talked some sense into them."
"I was furious with the pair of them for behaving like school children in my home. In fact, I suspect I treated them rather like naughty students…"
Esme chuckled. "I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall. They both spoke to me afterwards and they were mortified, not that they got any sympathy from me. I know that Jazzy had a hard time with Maria, but Edward, well…in spite of all that pompous nonsense…he's a shy, sensitive soul. He's always been wary of getting involved with anyone and, if I ever asked, he'd always tell me he was far too busy with his career. But you…well, you're different Bella. Edward cares about you, I'm certain."
"He's pretty amazing, Esme, but it's early days for us. I care about him, too."
"Just one thing."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Take care of my boy's heart, Bella. He's already given it to you."
She rose from her chair and went over to collect her coffee, kissing Carlisle on the back of his neck as she did so.
"I don't know what I did to deserve that," he said, "but I liked it."
"Do I get one of those?" Edward placed my coffee on a mat on the table.
"You'd better ask your mum," I said. "I'm sure she'll have one for you."
I looked Edward full in the face, seeing his eyes smouldering as he leaned in and gave me a searing kiss.
"That's the way, Ed. See Es, he's his father's son after all." There was a note of pride in Carlisle's voice.
He dragged a giggling Esme out of the kitchen towards the stairs.
"Don't forget to put the lights out, you two…oh, and I've made up the bed in your old room, Edward. Night night."
T – C – D
"Sorry about those two," said Edward, a wry look on his face.
"No apology necessary; in fact I think it's rather lovely that your parents still find one another attractive."
"Yeah well…you're not one of their kids." Edward ran his hand through the front of his hair so that it stood on end.
"True that!" I said, trying not to imagine my parents in any kind of, well, you know… I yawned.
"Come on, love, you look done in," said Edward. "Let's get you into bed."
I couldn't help but giggle. When Edward realised what he'd said, he blushed.
"I didn't mean…"
"Shh,Edward! I know you didn't, it's fine. I think it's quite cute."
"Cute? Me?" He adopted his Mister MCH voice. "Begging your pardon, Miss Swan, but I think you'll find that debonair is a better description, perhaps sophisticated, maybe even powerful and masculine, but cute? Never!"
As I looked at him, I saw his eyes darken. "I may even have been called passionate."
My mouth was suddenly dry and I didn't feel a bit like giggling any longer.
"Oh, Isabella," he croaked, and before I could respond or move he pulled me close and pressed his warm, firm lips on mine.
I was quite breathless when we broke apart some time later – Edward Cullen was quite the kisser! My mind began to wander to what else he might be good at, too.
After dutifully checking the doors and turning out the lights, Edward led me upstairs to his room which was decorated in a warm grey colour with teal accents.
"This is lovely," I said.
"Oh, it's at least the third redecoration since I moved out," he said. "Mum tends to try out new schemes here before she uses them for clients' homes. I never know what I'm going to find when I stay over. Now, do you have everything you need? Can I get you anything? You can stay in here and I'll take Jasper's room."
"I'm fine, thank you, Edward. Your mum has already loaned me a spare nightie and she said there's a spare toothbrush in the bathroom. So, I guess this is goodnight?"
"Don't tempt me, love. I'd like nothing more than to stay here with you, but I suppose I'm just an old fashioned man…my parent's house and all?"
I sighed. "I do understand, Edward. I'll miss you."
"Aw, Miss Swan, you say the sweetest things. Now come here and kiss your boyfriend goodnight."
Edward tiptoed off to Jasper's room, only to return carrying a duvet and pillow.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"I'm going to head downstairs and sleep on the sofa," he said. "You know I said about mum practising her designs? Well, both Jasper's room and the guest room are out of action – she's obviously in the throes of a creative phase."
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Edward. I knew she was in the middle of a project; she showed me around, earlier. When you came in and told us about James it went clean out of my mind."
I thought for a second.
"Edward, stay with me. We're grown-ups; big enough to share. I'm pretty sure your mum intended us to both be in here or she'd have made a fuss about you being downstairs."
"Are you absolutely sure, Bella? I'd never presume anything."
"Good. May I use the bathroom first?"
By the time I'd completed my bedtime routine, Edward had changed into an old pair of pyjama bottoms and an all-but threadbare Beatles t-shirt.
I climbed into bed and snuggled down, my heart racing slightly as I anticipated Edward's return. I heard a click as he closed the door behind him and a slight dip as he got into bed. I turned over.
"Hi you," I said.
"Hello, beautiful," he replied. "Do you want me to put a line of pillows down the centre of the bed to make sure I behave myself?"
"I trust you, Edward. But all this mess with James has left me feeling a bit shaky. Would you mind holding me, please?"
He held out his arms and I snuggled in, feeling warm and safe. After a short while, I heard Edward's breathing change as he fell asleep. My body felt exhausted but my mind was still active. I mulled over the awful scenario that had played out with the Hunters. I wondered what would happen to Victoria now that James was gone and I prayed for all those poor girls who'd been caught up in the Hunters' web. My last thought, as I drifted off, was of something Esme had said. I'd do my very best to take care of Edward's heart – so long as he'd take care of mine.