29

The Hermit

Zafrina's POV

She isn't sure what to expect when she arrives at Bella Swan's home, but Zafrina has a lot of hope in her heart for the girl. She's been through a lot and finally deserves some good in her life. Zafrina is hopeful considering that Bella never called the emergency number in the three months since their last appointment. Bella was in a good place then. Zafrina was comfortable with the progression of her patient's relationship with her neighbor, a man who was patient and kind. She felt that Edward might be the push Bella needed to begin healing. She turns her sedan onto Bella Swan's street and a smile forms at the sight of the girl who couldn't stand on her front porch three short months ago, sitting on the curb in front of her house.

When she sees Zafrina's car, Bella stands, bouncing from one foot to the other with excitement. "Surprise!" she calls before the car comes to a complete stop in the parking spot.

"I'll say!" Zafrina laughs, gathering her tote. "Look at you."

"Haven't gotten much farther than this, but Edward and I sit in his car sometimes." Bella blushes.

"Let's get inside, it's freezing, and I see we have a lot to talk about."

Bella wraps her arm around Zafrina's and leads her into the house.

This is the first time she's willingly touched Zafrina aside from the anniversary of her wedding that never happened. This pleases the doctor very much.

"I made cocoa, but I have tea or coffee if you'd like." Bella smiles, peeling off her winter jacket.

"Cocoa is fine," Zafrina says, taking a look around the townhouse.

There are a lot of subtle changes that have taken place over the past three months.

The prints of the famous artwork that once adorned the walls have all been replaced with tons of original and candid photos. A majority of them of Bella, a very handsome man—she assumes is Edward, and a beautiful blonde. Some include an older couple, obviously parents of the latter two.

Bella exits the kitchen with a small tray with two steaming mugs and a bowl of marshmallows.

She takes a seat on the sofa and Zafrina notices that has changed as well. It's larger than the old couch and less feminine. She has so many questions.

"We have so much to talk about," the girl says, passing her a mug and offering her a pair of tongs for the marshmallows.

"I can see that." Zafrina pulls her binder out and flips to a blank page so she can take notes as they discuss everything that's happened.

"You've redecorated." She points out, gesturing to the more masculine throw pillows and the walls.

"Mmm hmm," Bella mumbles into her cup. "The house was a little girly, and I wanted Edward to feel at home when he agreed to move in."

Zafrina's pen skids across the paper, and her eyebrows disappear underneath her hairline, but Bella doesn't notice.

"His sister is going through some stuff, and she's pregnant. He was going to move her into his townhouse, but she's going to need room for the baby. We've grown close, so I want her to be nearby, just in case she needs something. I mean, I'm not much, but it's better than being completely alone." Bella blows on her hot chocolate and takes a sip. "Edward had been staying with me since before Christmas, and we're in a good place, so I asked him to make it a permanent thing."

"That's a big deal, Bella," Zafrina says, making notes. "And how is it? Cohabitating?"

Bella's face lights up. "Wonderful. I love having him here. We're in love. Rose calls it our honeymoon phase because we can't keep our hands to ourselves."

Zafrina watches a deep blush bloom over the girl's face. She decides to save the topic of intimacy for later. "Let's start from the beginning. How was your Thanksgiving? Don't you host your sister and her fiancé?"

Bella's smile falters as she stumbles through the highs and lows of her first Thanksgiving with Edward. Zafrina listens intently and sets her pen down to lean forward. "This is a big breakthrough, Bella. You might not believe it but you handled the situation well."

"If anything, it brought us closer. I shared everything with him that night. Everything."

"You say you're close with his sister. Care to elaborate?"

Bella nods. "Edward not so subtly hinted that he wanted me to meet his parents when they came for Christmas. I decided to have a trial run with his sister and her husband—well soon to be ex-husband. Rose jokes that it was love at first sight for us. She likes to hit on me every chance she gets, but it's all in good fun."

They share a laugh.

"I take it you agreed to meet Edward's parents." Zafrina points to some pictures that include the older couple.

"Yes. It was a bit of a clusterfuck." She claps a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. Edward is a bad influence on me in some departments."

The doctor just shrugs it off.

"Rose made things difficult for us. Everything we carefully planned went up in flames the day before Christmas Eve. Edward had to pick up his parents from the airport, and then they had to stay next door. That worked in my favor because he was going to be stuck sleeping on the floor in his empty guest room. I asked him to stay with me, and he never left."

Zafrina hums and jots down a few notes.

"His parents are wonderful, and his mom is a hobbyist, so we spent the entire day baking and decorating cookies on Christmas Eve. Alice and I did that, but it was nice spending time with the people who created the love of my life."

"Where was Alice during the holiday?"

Bella explains Jasper's family emergency and that them leaving was the final reason for her to agree to meet Edward's family.

"I started having my doubts when Rose began stirring everything up, but it ended up working out pretty well."

"Have Rose's problems affected you personally aside from Christmas?"

"Honestly, it was hard for me at first. Edward came home livid the day before Christmas Eve and scared the crap out of me. He considered dissolving their partnership at the bakery they co-own. Once they talked, and we found out the truth, things changed." Bella takes a deep breath. "Rose's ex, Emmett, decided he wasn't ready for a family, and her life imploded. She was completely blindsided. We've kind of formed a small family of our own. I'm going to be Aunt Bella to a really awesome kid who Edward and I will be there to help raise. It takes a village and all that."

"So Aunt Bella. I bet you've been knitting up a storm for the baby."

Bella shows off the box of gender-neutral baby clothes she's been working on.

"I can't wait for Rose to find out the sex so I can go into greater detail with everything. We don't have much longer to wait."

Zafrina couldn't be prouder of Bella if she tried. She asks questions, and Bella is quick to answer them. "You insinuate that you and Edward are in the honeymoon phase. I take it that means the two of you are intimate?"

Bella's face turns red. "Yeah. We worked our way up to sex because I lack experience in that whole department. It was a gradual build up, and we went at our own pace. We've been together for so long, but it didn't go from zero to sixty. We took our time, and I never felt overwhelmed. He shows me how to love, and what it's like to be loved. Edward's a patient teacher. He also has a couple of rules."

"Rules?" Zafrina asks Bella to elaborate.

"Yeah. I have a lot of catching up to do, experience wise, so Edward lets me experiment and learn as I go. One of his rules is that I come first, well, most of the time." Her blush deepens. "And we always have the lights on, no exceptions. Being with him is completely different from my past. Like night and day."

"Are the two of you being safe?"

"Of course. I've been on the pill since I was a teenager, and we're both clean."

They talk about the highs and lows of the past two months. The progress and the setbacks, and Bella gets to show off her Christmas Eve present from Edward.

"It's better at night, but you get the idea."

Zafrina smiles. Edward Cullen seems like he'd do anything for Bella, and she's glad the girl has finally found someone to cherish her as much as she deserves. "I'm glad you've found a good guy, Bella. Our time is almost up, but I feel like we could continue for hours. I'd love to, but I have an appointment after this."

"It's fine. The next time we see each other, I hope I'll have made more progress, and we'll have loads of new stuff to talk about."

"I look forward to it. Now, I'm proud of you, but we still have homework to talk about."

Bella rubs her hands together in preparation with a big smile gracing her pretty face. "Lay it on me."