Thanks to Stratan for the beta... I'm stupid with love for my beta, guys. As usual.
This is it, only the epilogue remains.
Epic A/N at the bottom.
Chapter 45
Edward
The click of the front door pulled my attention from the script in my hands and back to reality. I'd been so focused on memorizing my lines, I hadn't even noticed the time. Samson jumped up from where he'd been lying and barked as he made his way to the front door, causing Bella to call out his name happily as she shuffled through the living room. I glanced down at my watch and frowned.
She was two hours late.
Every day for the last week, she'd gotten home from Oxford later and later, always using some excuse about a project, yet I never saw her working on it outside of "the library"—which she always did. She was always determined to do well, regardless of her memory issue, so it was never unusual to see her bent over a book or her laptop at all hours of the day with hundreds of papers scattered around her.
This week, however, I hadn't seen her study much at all.
I trusted Bella completely, but I needed to know why she'd been lying so unconvincingly for so many days now. It was unlike her to keep secrets from me. Honesty was one of the few things we'd promised to each other from the very beginning, and for her to go back on her word was a little worrisome. It had my mind racing with possible scenarios, the worst being of her distancing herself from everyone like she'd done before.
And I was fairly certain that I couldn't go through that again.
I sighed and ripped my glasses off of my face, listening to Samson bark while Bella played around with him and wondering if she'd take time to compose herself and practice her excuse for this evening, or if she'd come to find me immediately. It didn't matter; I was going to find out what was going on tonight, force the reason out of her if I had to.
Bella began clanking around in the kitchen, humming some cheerful tune as she did. The sound of something sizzling on the stove soon followed, and I found myself getting up out of the chair and walking to where she was causing the commotion. If she was pulling away from everyone again, this was new. She was always silent and introverted before. To have her sounding so content was a bit puzzling.
You might be wrong, Edward, I thought to myself as I walked through the corridor. I wanted nothing more than to be wrong.
"Hi!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw me. She had two glasses of white wine sitting on the counter in front of where she was chopping an onion.
"Hi," I said cautiously as I closed the distance between us.
She pushed one glass toward me and grinned. "How was your day?"
I shrugged and took a sip, arching my brow as I recognized it as one of my favorites. She glanced away, busying herself with the bag that sat beside her so I couldn't see her face, but I did anyway.
She was fighting a smile.
"A bit boring," I admitted, even more confused by her behavior. "I spent the majority of the day trying to memorize my lines."
"Need any help?"
"From you?" I nearly laughed. She was the worst actress I'd ever met. "No, thank you."
She pouted, "I'm not that bad, baby."
I took another sip of wine so I didn't have to answer that.
"What's all this for?" I asked, motioning to the enormous spread of food. We cooked together every night, but it was always something quick and easy. I couldn't remember the last time we had anything this elaborate.
"I finished that project I was telling you about."
This was good. Extremely good. "Oh?" I asked, not bothering to hide how happy that made me. "When will it be graded?"
"Tonight." She chewed on her lip and blushed slightly, causing me to instantly realize that there was more to this little project than she'd been letting on.
"Bella? What's going on?"
"Just… Let's make dinner. Please? I have it all planned out. Don't ruin the surprise."
"Surprise?"
She focused on chopping the onion again. "Mm-hmm."
"Bella, I-" I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath. "I'm beginning to panic a little. It's really a surprise? You're not, erm…" I stared at her face and realized how ridiculous I was being. She was perfectly fine. "Never mind."
Her jaw dropped. "Oh, my God. You've been freaking out, haven't you?"
I gave her a sheepish look. "Can you blame me?"
"Shit." She threw the knife down on the counter and rushed over to her bag. "I should've known. It was such a stupid idea," she grumbled to herself as she pulled out a thick, manila envelope and hurried over to me.
"What's this?" I asked, taking the envelope from her.
"My surprise. I should've just told you from the beginning. I never even thought-"
I put my fingers over her mouth, cutting her off. "Will I like this 'surprise' of yours?"
I pulled my hand back. The smile on her face was infectious, joyful. "Oh, yeah. Definitely."
I chuckled and put the envelope down on the counter. "Then I can wait. What do you want me to do?"
"You're sure?"
I nodded. "Go about this as you planned. Don't let me ruin it."
"Um, okay," she replied uncertainly, glancing around. "Peel the potatoes and chop the vegetables?"
"You gave me the worst job, didn't you?"
"Maybe," she said with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes but got a knife out of the block without commenting. We worked side by side, eventually turning some music on as we cooked. We sang along to whatever played on the radio and laughed when one of us fumbled the lyrics. I turned my mobile off when Bella wasn't looking, suddenly wanting to just spend an evening—the first since our anniversary—with just her and no outside interruptions.
When the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables were all roasting in the oven, I took Bella in my arms and started dancing with her, grinning crookedly at her reaction.
"What, you don't want to dance with your husband?"
"It's just so cheesy," she argued.
I spun her around, careful not to contort her body too much, and smiled when she threw her head back and laughed. "It's romantic, is it not? I thought this was what women wanted."
"You care what women want?"
"I care what you want," I said as I bent to kiss her.
"That's more like it," she breathed, licking her lips.
The moment our lips collided, she moaned softly and brought me closer to her. Her back hit the cupboards, and I lifted her up so that she was sitting on the counter and situated myself between her legs. We had just enough time to fool around before dinner was ready.
"Fuck it," she said, breaking away from me and reaching out for the envelope. "You should know now."
"What?" I murmured against her skin, working my mouth over her jaw and to her neck. My hand found its way under her shirt and slowly traveled upward, causing her to gasp as soon as I cupped her breast.
"Yep. Fuck it. I don't want to stop, and I'm pretty sure that when you see what's inside, you won't be able to, either."
I groaned and stepped away from her, pushing my hair back and closing my eyes so I could compose myself. "Really? You're stopping me? Didn't you have some ridiculous scheme worked up?"
She nodded and took a steadying breath as she handed me the envelope. "It doesn't matter. You should know now," she repeated.
I pulled out the adoption applications that were inside and stared at them in disbelief. I laughed, "Are you-? I…" I could barely speak with how bloody elated I was. It was what I'd wanted with her, been denied for so long, and now…
"I don't need to call an ambulance, do I?" she joked. "The ticker's still okay?"
"No, no ambulance." Christ, I loved this woman. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
She shrugged. "A month, maybe? So I asked Esme to give me an idea of what we needed to do and looked up adoptions lawyers. That's what I've been doing all week."
"This is where you've been every night after class? What you've been hiding?"
"Yeah. I was either talking to Esme or meeting with a lawyer. We can get a different one if you don't like him. That's not a big deal," she said awkwardly. "I just want a baby with you. I don't care how it happens anymore."
I let the papers fall to the floor and jerked her to me. "It is a big deal," I said, kissing her feverishly. "Jesus, Bella, I didn't know if you'd ever want this after…"
She met my gaze and smiled. "I've been thinking of our options lately," she answered as she fumbled with the buttons on my shirt. "And I can't explain it. I just feel like this is what we're supposed to do first."
"Adopt?"
"Yeah. A little redheaded baby would be nice too, but I keep thinking about Alice… and you. Your lives are better because of Carlisle and Esme. I want to be a part of that."
With those words, I turned every single appliance in the kitchen off. Dinner could wait. Bella—this—was more important to me than anything else, and I fully intended to spend the entire night showing her how much this meant to me.
We were going to celebrate.
I eventually learned all that Bella had in the last week, and how difficult and tedious this entire process could end up being. Ideally, I was too old; Bella was too young. Her psychological history and possible physical "limitation" caused a bit of a snag, but the fact that I was nearly retired and could provide a child with a stable home helped negate that. We did all we were instructed to do to make sure that when we finally submitted the applications—which had been enthusiastically filled out the night she gave them to me—we'd be approved in the least amount of time possible.
The day we received our first phone call from the woman who would eventually be our social worker was thrilling, but our joy was quickly overshadowed by the realization that we were far from finished. Home studies and assessments of our friends and family still had to be done before we could finally get the approval we wanted so badly.
And when that day came, we still had to be "matched" with a child. We'd applied with a wide age range of children we were willing to adopt, in countries all around the world, hoping that it would help reduce the time that we spent on the wait list.
But that wait was still excruciating.
Bella had a two-week break before summer classes began, so we decided to try to distance ourselves from the situation and take a little holiday. We went to Kent for a week to relax, and then flew back to LA for the first time since we'd moved to visit Bella's parents, Emmett and Rosalie, and Angela and Ben. It was a bit surreal, coming back to the States. We were coming back healthier and happier than when we'd left.
As soon as we arrived at the Malibu house, we opened all the windows to let some of the stagnant air out and the sea breeze in. I took our suitcases up to our bedroom and let Bella reacquaint herself with the house since she'd not spent much time here to begin with, while I unpacked them and the few boxes that had been sent here when we moved.
I finished and found her sitting on the beach, staring out at the deep blue water with a scowl from the sun shining in her eyes. Her hair whipped around her face with the sudden gust of wind, and I laughed as she sputtered and spit it out of her mouth.
"Need these?" I asked, handing her a hair tie and a pair of her sunglasses.
"How did you know?" she asked. She took them from me and started pulling her hair back.
I shrugged. "Weather channel."
She shook her head and stared back out at the ocean. "I like this color blue, don't you?"
"It's beautiful," I agreed. "Sort of like a turquoise color, yes?"
"If the sun hits it right. I miss it, you know. London's great, but I miss the beach."
"So do I."
She glanced over at me hopefully. "You do?"
"Of course I do. I spent years living with the beach just minutes away from me, no matter what part of LA I was in. How could I not miss it?"
"Maybe we could do the baby's room that color," she said, leaning against me. "I don't know… Bring a piece of LA back home with us."
"What if it's not a baby?"
"It's a baby," she answered. "I don't know why, but I have a feeling we're getting a baby."
"Know the sex, too, Alice?" I teased.
"No," she laughed. "Maybe you could let her tell me that much, though?"
"I don't think so. I'd rather be surprised. I want my bloody sister to stay out of this."
She pursed her lips but tightened her hold around me. "Fine. It's kind of hot out here. I must be getting used to the shitty London weather."
"It's not shitty. It's mild."
"Sure thing, babe," she said sarcastically.
I chuckled and kissed the top of her hair. "We should start getting ready. We're to meet everyone in a couple of hours…"
"Just a little longer. I'm not ready to leave the beach yet."
"Bella, we'll be here for five more days. You've plenty of time to see the beach. We can even take a swim if you want."
She sighed and moved to get up. "Yeah, yeah. Take away all my fun."
Dinner was… interesting, to say the least. It was the first time since Bella had been in the hospital that Charlie and Renée had been around each other, which wasn't really a problem except for the fact that Charlie had flown down from Forks with his new girlfriend, Sue Clearwater, and her children, Leah and Seth. Bella took to Seth immediately… Leah, however, was a completely different story. They clashed from the first "hello", and Rosalie and Angela wound up dragging her to the neighboring bar in order to have some "girl time" and keep the peace. Only I couldn't give her said "girl time" because I was too paranoid to let her get pissed… in this place… with these people. The last time had been disastrous.
"Lighten up," she yelled from the spot where she was dancing with Rosalie. "I get to live with the prospect of that bitch in there being my step-sister some day, and I'm still having fun."
"She may not."
"Yeah, right," she snorted. "It's Charlie." Sweat dripped down her neck and in between her breasts. I followed one of the clear droplets as it descended, making her laugh. "Eyes up here, baby. We're not at home."
"And I care?" There weren't as many picture-snapping spectators as there once had been. I could very nearly do what I pleased with her.
She laughed again. "Well, in that case…" She grabbed my hands and pulled me up onto the dance floor with her. "Girl time's over. Emmett, go grope your fiancée in the corner or something."
Emmett grinned widely and leapt out of his seat. "Fuck that. I'll just take her home."
Bella rolled her eyes and threw her arms around my neck. She let her hands trace over my chest as she twisted in my arms, coming up and suddenly hissing in between her teeth as she twisted just a bit too far.
"You all right?" I asked anxiously.
"Well, I can't do that again," she responded. "Damn, that didn't feel too good."
"We should go home," I said worriedly as I pulled her away from the dance floor. The last thing I wanted her to do was injure herself with pissed dancing.
"Edward," she protested. "I'm fine."
"I'm not. I love watching you have fun, but I keep wondering if something will happen or if you'll hurt yourself. You almost did, and I-"
She stopped me from talking further with a kiss. It was heady and full of passion, causing me to fist her shirt in my hands and groan at the taste of her.
"Better now?"
I shifted on my feet, wanting to adjust myself. "Not particularly."
"Still want to go home?"
"More now than before," I replied honestly.
She grinned. "For this reason, I can go. The other one? Absolutely not. You've got to stop worrying so much."
"I can't help it. You're the most important thing in my life. It seems fitting that I wouldn't want something to happen to you-"
"Again," she finished.
"Yes, again. Now stop arguing with me and just go. Please," I added for good measure.
We said our goodbyes and headed back toward the house. The drive seemed to take forever, simply because all I wanted to do was stop everything and make love to Bella before we both passed out from exhaustion. After all, it was nine am back home.
I parked the Aston Martin in the garage and felt my mobile vibrate once in my pocket, indicating that I had an email. I got out and went to Bella's side, pulling up the email from the social worker and nearly dropping the phone when I saw the picture staring back at me.
"Baby," I said, glancing over at her excitedly. "Look."
She knit her brows and came to my side. I held the phone so that she could see the picture of the blonde haired, blue-eyed baby that was toothlessly grinning back at us. We'd finally been matched with a four-month-old little girl from Russia, and she was the most beautiful thing—her soon-to-be mother aside—that I'd ever seen in my life.
Her hand came up to her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, my God," she whispered in awe. "That's our baby. That's our daughter."
Bella
I got out of the car and stared up at the massive, brick building in front of me that stood in the outskirts of Moscow. This building had housed my daughter for the last five months, from the moment her biological mother had decided that she couldn't take care of her and gave her away. Now that I was so close to it, all I wanted to do was take off at a dead sprint and bring her back home with us. Her room was ready; we were ready. We had diapers, bottles, baby food, and toys stockpiled throughout the apartment. Now, we were just going through the motions so that we could legally claim her as ours.
"What if the judge says no?" I whispered as Edward walked over to me. To come this far, only to have a Russian judge tell us we couldn't have her would be unbearable.
"Unless one of the family members comes in and claims they'd like to have her, that's not going to happen," he said resolutely. "And we've been assured that no one wants her."
"But she's theirs-" How could they not want that beautiful little girl?
"She's ours," he said emphatically, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me to him. "Where did all this doubt come from?"
"I'm scared," I admitted with a shrug. "I'm starting to think of myself as a mom to someone I've never met, and to come this close and have it all taken away… What is that going to do to me?"
"It's not going to happen." He glanced up at the sound of the translator's car coming up the drive. "Ready?"
I took a deep breath and watched the front door open. A tiny woman with graying, brown hair came out holding a baby on her hip. It was my baby. And suddenly, Edward's hands were no longer calming and grounding; they were restraints. It was all I could do not to run up to that porch and snatch her out of her arms and never let her go.
The translator got out of his car and finally walked over to us, mumbling something to Edward in his thick, Russian accent, but I was too preoccupied to decipher the conversation. My eyes were trained on the baby staring back at me, watching me—waiting.
"It's like she knows," I said in amazement. "She knows we're here for her."
Edward chuckled. "Then I suppose you shouldn't make her wait, baby."
The second he let go of me, I moved toward her. It was like something was pulling me to her; gravity, maybe, like she and her father both were now the centers of my world. The feeling was indescribable. All I knew was that nothing—not a natural disaster and certainly not some strange man passing judgment on us—could keep me from her now.
I walked up onto the porch, slowing my steps since there was such a huge language barrier between the woman and me, and the translator was still quite a ways back with Edward. I didn't want this woman to think I was a kidnapper or something, which was kind of what I felt like with this need to just lay my hands on her.
"Mrs. Masen?" she asked brokenly with a hopeful smile.
I nodded eagerly, praying that she'd hand over the baby. I needed to know she was really here, that it wasn't just a dream. Being here felt illusory, and I was just waiting for the moment that reality jerked this moment away from me and dropped me back in my bedroom in London again. There'd been a time that I'd finally let go of all my doubts and had everything in my world change. It wouldn't surprise me to have it happen again.
And then, without any hesitance at all, she handed her over to me. She was heavier than I'd expected, soft, and warm. Her bright blue eyes stared up at me curiously, and I laughed, unable to contain the joy I felt surge through me. She fit perfectly against me, like she was made for me. Everything I'd been through was for this. I knew it with every piece of my soul. She was why I'd struggled through my recovery and eventually, strived to get well again. She made every pang, every tear, worthwhile.
"Hi, baby," I choked out, almost too overwhelmed to speak.
She cooed and reached up toward my face, yanking on my hair.
"Ow." I gently took her hand away and glanced up at where Edward was walking over to us. The smile on his face was the most incredible thing I'd ever witnessed; perfect, awed, and enraptured by the baby in my arms.
"Hey, Daddy," I breathed, letting him see her. "Want to hold her?"
"Yes," he said fervently. His eyes burned with emotion as he reached out and took her from me. He pressed a kiss to her hair and closed his eyes. "She's… gorgeous."
I wiped at my cheeks and tried to maintain some kind of composure. "I know." He put his arm around me and just held us there. Nothing else existed outside of the three of us, not anymore.
"Did her name stick?" I asked Edward, running my fingers along her hairline. We'd spent so much time debating a name for her, wanting to keep her Russian heritage somehow, but always reverting back to the same one each time.
Esme Elizabeth Masen.
He nodded. "I can't think of anything else, can you?"
"Nothing else fits. She's our Ellie."
God, it felt good to say that.
We went inside and talked to everyone, with the help of the translator, and watched some of the older kids play before seeing where Ellie had slept all this time. After the quick tour, we were invited to lunch. I juggled Ellie in my lap while trying to eat, spilling half of my food down my brand new, white shirt. Ellie reached out and smacked her hand in my plate, sending food flying all over Edward as well. He flinched when a potato slice splattered in his eye, and then grinned widely at the innocent face staring back up at him. It was… wonderful.
I ignored the protests of the workers and put Ellie down on the floor, so I could clean up the mess that was all over the table before moving on to myself. One look at Edward, doing the same, was enough to send me into hysterics.
"This is pathetic," I giggled. "How do people do this?"
"They don't start with a six-month-old," he answered on a laugh, wiping some kind of goo off of my forehead. "They gradually work up to all this activity. Just wait until she's Riley's age."
"And we can't give her back at the end of the day," I joked, abruptly picking her up off the floor and kissing her temple. "Not that we'd want to." I couldn't bear to give her back now.
All too soon, we had to leave for our court appearance—without Ellie. We were only allowed limited access to her until we were approved to take her home. We wouldn't be able to see her again until after our hearing, which had me sobbing uncontrollably all the way to the courthouse. Nothing Edward did helped. I just kept picturing the judge banging his gavel while he spouted off all the reasons why we couldn't take her home and started crying all over again. It was stupid. I knew, rationally, that we didn't have anything to worry about, other than some distant relative of Ellie's trying to stake claim to her.
But that didn't stop the worry from eating away at me.
Edward and I changed our clothes and found the courtroom our appearance was scheduled in, where we met up with our lawyer. I stared down at the dark wooden desk as our lawyer went over a few things with us. I had to block him out, too afraid to listen to him. Time closed in on me, and my heart started pounding the moment the door was opened to let the judge in the room. My palms were slick, and a wave of nausea rolled over me as we all rose…
Before I knew it, it was over. None of her family had shown up, but we were still adjourned for an hour—a fucking hour—while the judge made his decision. What were we supposed to do for an hour?
Our lawyer left us to attend to a few things while we waited. I sat on one of the benches, wringing my hands in my lap, before I decided that I needed to move. Sitting here was doing nothing to ease my mind.
Edward watched me pace around the hall anxiously for a few minutes before he finally sprung into action. He grabbed my hand and, despite my objections, pulled me into the women's bathroom.
He locked the door behind us and spun around on me, pushing my back against the wall as he kissed the absolute shit out of me. I threw my arms around him unthinkingly pulled him closer to me. He worked with the fly of my pants for just a second, and then his hand was snaking inside them.
Reality came crashing into me.
I gasped the moment he touched me and jerked my head back so I could see him. "What are you doing?" I demanded, reeling from the pleasure that he created with just a simple touch. "We're in the bathroom."
"You need a distraction. I need a distraction," he said, just before he took my mouth with his again. He yanked my pants and underwear down, and I suddenly found that the desperation that seared his kiss was now rushing through me. I wanted this, needed it. I wanted to do something reckless just one time without worrying about someone leaking information or pictures to the press, and this was our chance, maybe the only chance we'd ever have.
I couldn't get his pants down fast enough.
He roughly plunged his fingers inside me, and I gritted my teeth together so I didn't moan loudly, like I wanted to. Hot and heavy, everything unraveled between us, and before I knew it, we were sweating, panting—naked from the waist down—and he'd grabbed my ass and lifted me up off the ground, bracing me up on the countertop with one arm, before he lined us up and drove into me.
My head fell back against the tiled wall with a thump, and this time, I didn't bother stopping the groan that bubbled up in my chest with the feel of him finally inside me. Every pass was harder; each thrust pressed my body up further into the wall. His skin grew hot and damp as he exerted himself and held me up, and suddenly, I found my leg up further, sliding up over his arm toward his shoulder and drawing him deeper… It was a wonder he didn't drop me.
"Fuck, I'm going to come," I moaned, clinging to him and trying to bury my face into his shoulder so I could at least try to be quiet.
"Yeah," he grunted simply, thrusting into me one last time before he was overtaken by his own orgasm.
My back arched away from the wall, and my legs tightened around him as I struggled not to just fall apart and lose all cognizance. I very nearly saw stars; it was one of the most intense orgasms I'd ever had.
Edward eventually shifted us so he could see my face. He looked worried and satisfied all at once, and I found myself kissing him once again, grateful for how incredibly complex he was. I felt better now, not so scared. I was still a nervous wreck, but I wasn't on the verge of freaking out, like I'd been before. His distraction had worked.
"I wish I could thank my mum for all those yoga classes she's taken you to. That would have been impossible before."
I laughed and shook my head. "Yoga has its benefits, I suppose."
"I'll say." His expression abruptly went serious. "You're all right?" he asked, slowly bringing my legs down and watching every movement cautiously so he didn't hurt me.
"I'm fine. Just thinking that a bath in that antibacterial soap there would be a good idea," I replied, gesturing to the soap dispenser hanging beside us. "No telling what was on that wall."
He chuckled and reached out to flip the handle of the faucet up. "Hurry it up, will you? We have a baby to get after we're done here."
"You're sure we're getting her, aren't you," I said, running my hands through the warm stream of water.
"I've no doubt, love. By this time tomorrow, we'll be showing her round the flat."
I didn't bother answering him. I knew it would be pessimistic and would only serve to frustrate him.
We washed off and got dressed before we opened the door and checked the hall. There was no one in sight, so we quickly ducked out of the bathroom before we could be seen. I wrapped my arm around one of his and laughed at how strange it all was. We'd never had the freedom to do something like that until today.
"I kind of want to do something like that again," I whispered as he opened the door to the courtroom for me.
He gave me a puzzled look. "Shag in the bathroom?"
"Yeah."
His eyes had a wicked glint to them as he smiled crookedly. "I think that can be arranged."
Thankfully, we'd wasted enough time in the bathroom that we only had to wait a few minutes before the judge came back in. Words in Russian were spouted off, and I crept to the edge of my seat in anticipation for the verdict. I tried to get an idea of what they were talking about, but couldn't.
It was so fucking infuriating.
The judge banged his gavel—exactly how I'd pictured it—causing me to flinch. I grabbed a hold of Edward's hand and watched as the translator and our lawyer turned around, almost moving in slow motion…
They were smiling. My heart leapt and a quiet sob escaped my throat. We had a baby.
"He approved the adoption." Our lawyer was still beaming. "You can take her home whenever you're ready."
"… And this is your room," I murmured to Ellie as we walked inside the nursery.
It was everything I'd wanted for her; turquoise walls, and black and white striped bedding with just a few floral designs to make it girly, but not overly so. There was red in the artwork so that the room didn't look bland and a plush, red, rectangular rug for her to play on as she got older. We'd worked so hard to try and bring some meaningful piece of LA back home with us, and decorating a nursery in black and white—the same colors of the ball that Edward had proposed at—just seemed right.
It was my favorite room in the apartment.
"Unfortunately," I continued, "we can't stay. We have an impatient family waiting for us at Nana and Papa's house."
I walked over and pointed to the black, framed picture of Carlisle and Esme that sat on one of the shelves above her dresser.
"That's Nana and Papa," I told her, pulling the hood of her sock monkey sleeper off of her head. "They're the reason why you're here." My breath hitched, so I moved on to the other pictures before I started crying. "And that's your Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper. This is Grammy Renée and your uncle, Riley. Grammy wants you to call her by her name, but don't listen to her. She's an idiot."
Edward's chuckle pulled me away from the rest of the pictures. I glanced back at him and grinned. He had that same, deeply thoughtful expression he'd worn on his face since we'd signed the papers and retrieved Ellie from the home.
"Daddy looks like he's going to cry again," I joked as I took her over to the changing table and laid her down, grabbing her outfit for tonight on my way.
I knew Edward was rolling his eyes behind me. I didn't bother turning to see it.
He came up behind us and put his chin on my shoulder, watching as I changed Ellie's diaper and put her into the gray floral dress we'd bought for her a few weeks ago. I slipped her little, black shoes on her feet and put a matching bow in her hair, grinning at how adorable she was.
"Ready to face the mob?" I asked when I was finished.
"I'd much rather just stay in with my girls," he said with a chuckle.
"We have lots of time for that," I replied. She wasn't going anywhere. Not now, not ever.
"So we do," he agreed. "It's better than I'd thought it would be," he admitted softly.
"What is?" I asked, picking Ellie up and turning to face him.
He smiled warmly and reached out to take her from me. "Seeing you with her. It's even better than I'd thought it would be."
I stood on my toes and stretched up to kiss him as the sentiment resonated with me. We were a family now. Seeing her here with us, in his arms and smiling as he gently played with her, was better than anything I could have ever dreamed up before.
It was the life I was meant for.
Their adoption isn't perfect; I took a few liberties (because some of the regulations are just BS) but tried to keep it feeling real. Hope it worked ;)
I just want to say thank you to everyone who ever reviewed, rec'd, and alerted this thing during the last (almost) 14 months. I've said it before; it surpassed any of the expectations (which were few) that I may have had.
Epilogue will post 12/15. I have a few things happening, so I won't be able to write it immediately, like usual. I'll also post the Fandom for Preemies outtake that day, which coincides with the epilogue.
I am going to write something new after the new year, and it will post as soon as I have a few chapters beta'd and banked. If you want to know when it posts, you can do a few things: put me on Author alert, follow me on Twitter -(at) JennyB0719 - or read (which I encourage you to do so) While You Were Gone, because there'll be an announcement/link there, I'm sure. Seriously, give it a shot. It's a twist on canon New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn and is so much fun to write with Stratan. I promise you won't be disappointed. We get the 'surprisingly pleased' review all the time, lol.
My lemony TMWCBM outtake on Dirty Cheeky Monkey's posted this morning. Go read and review mine and all the other amazing authors that have contributed to SML so far.
http:/www(dot) fanfiction(dot) net/ s/ 6448546/ 5/ Squeeze_My_Lemon
See ya in two weeks!
xx
Jen
