Forty-five

BPOV

I always thought that when you were pregnant, you were supposed to feel overheated all the time but, right now, I felt nothing but the freezing cold wind burling it's way though me. It was three days before Christmas and Texas had turned unseasonably cold. Of course, here in this part of Texas it wasn't usual for us to go from warm to freezing cold in the span of about an hour. I detested the cold. It was one more reminder of the hell that I left behind me in Chicago.

"Bella, love, you have to get out of bed," said Edward, sitting on the side and trying to pull the nice, warm blankets off of me.

"Too cold," I muttered, ducking under them.

"Baby, I know you're cold but we have to leave in the next twenty minutes if we are going to get to your doctor's appointment in time." I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see them. "Come on, love, the car is going to be nice and warm. I promise."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I muttered.

Knowing that I had to climb out of the bed, I reluctantly threw the blankets off of me, shivering as I was hit by a blast of cold air. Edward rolled his eyes this time, muttering under his breath about it not being cold in here but I ignored him. I was so cold that my nipples could cut glass, now that was cold. I shuffled past Edward and headed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me and trying to keep as much of the warm air inside as I could. I turned on the hot water, letting the steam fill the bathroom.

I was reluctant to take off my clothes but I couldn't very well shower with them on and there was no way in hell I could leave the house without a shower. As I took off my long sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants, I looked at my body in the mirror. Today, I was officially nineteen weeks along and I was definitely showing. Running my hands over my belly, I smiled. I loved feeling the roundness of my tummy, the bump that housed mine and Edward's baby. Just as I was running my hand over my belly, I felt it. Our baby kicked against my hand.

"Edward," I cried out.

The door to the bathroom was thrown open and my husband rushed in. "What?" he asked, frantically.

"The baby moved," I sobbed, falling into his arms.

"What?" he asked, quietly.

"The baby moved and I felt it," I cried.

"What did it feel like?" he asked, moving his hand down to my belly.

"Like little flutters," I whispered, smiling against his chest. "It was amazing."

"I bet," he murmured.

For several minutes, Edward and I stood there, waiting for our baby to move again. I wanted Edward to feel it, to know just what it felt like, but our baby was being stubborn and didn't kick again. After a few minutes, Edward leaned down and kissed my forehead, whispering that he loved me and left me alone. I could tell it bothered him that he didn't get to feel our baby move. I turned and climbed into the shower, letting the warm water wash over me.

By the time I got out of the shower and got dressed, I wasn't nearly as cold as I had been. I smiled to myself as I pulled on the dark maternity jeans that Alice had insisted that I needed last week, and a coral sweater that clung to my body, showing off my belly. I loved it. Once I had my shoes on, I made my way out to the living room. Edward as standing in front of the window, one hand on his hip and one hand on the window, watching at the bitter cold wind shook the trees.

The last couple of weeks have been amazing. I felt like a silly, love sick girl but I was so in love with Edward. Every morning I woke up, thankful that he was the one holding me, holding our baby. I'll admit to letting my imagination getting the best of me and expecting Jessica to come back after Edward. There was no way that he wanted her, I knew this, but every night I found myself laying in our bed, watching Edward sleep and praying that I would never lose him. I would never be able to handle losing him.

Pushing all those thoughts out of my head, I moved over, wrapping my arms around him and laying my head on his back. Rather than hearing him, I felt Edward sigh as he moved his hand from his hip and laid it on top of mine.

"Warm?" he asked, quietly.

"For now," I giggled, weaving my fingers with his. "Are you ok?"

"I've never been better," he murmured turning in my arms and bringing my hand up to his lips. "We had better go."

"Ok," I sighed.

Edward and I pulled on our jackets and ran out to the car. Well, I ran as much as I could with a protruding belly. Edward had already come out and started the car so when I climbed in, it was already toasty warm. Just one more reason why I was so in love with him. Once Edward was in the car, we headed out onto the highway and started our trip to Amarillo.

"I was thinking we could have lunch at that little diner down on Western," said Edward. He was smiling as he looked over at me. "They have great cheesecake."

"I could handle that," I smiled, rubbing my belly. "Do this this little fella would?"

"I think she would," smirked Edward. I shook my head.

"Boy."

"Girl," he laughed.

"Boy," I insisted.

"Girl," he repeated. "Want to bet on it?"

"What are the terms?" I asked. Edward pursed his lips as he looked back at the road.

"How about whoever wins, gets to pick the baby's middle name?" he asked, shifting his eyes back over at me.

"Ok, but no Cecil," I smirked.

"Ha, then no Courtney," snorted Edward.

"What's wrong with Courtney?" I asked.

"Nothing if you were born back in eighty-eight," said Edward. "I was thinking Ursula."

"What?" I nearly screeched. "We are not naming our daughter Ursula."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Um, because it was the name of the sea witch in The Little Mermaid." I rolled my eyes. "Honestly, Edward, how could you want to name a little girl after her?"

"What was I thinking," he muttered, dryly. "How about Giselle?"

"I kind of like that one," I murmured. "How about Melanie?"

"Be serious," he laughed.

"I was serious," I frowned. "I like that name."

"It's nice but I want our baby to have a name that stands out, makes her special," explained Edward. I couldn't help but smile as he talked dreamily of our baby.

"What about Miranda?" I asked. "That's pretty special."

"I like that," smiled Edward.

By the time Edward pulled up in front of my doctor's office, we had a very long list of possible girls names. Everything from Laney, Grace, Kendall, and Olivia, to Amelia, Claire, Meaghan, Allison, and Mari. It was going to be nearly impossible to pick a name, if were having a girl. I was still convinced that our little one was going to be a boy; a boy with Edward's eyes.

Edward slipped his arm around my waist, trying to shield me from the freezing wind as we rushed across the parking lot and headed into the building. We took the elevator up to the fifth floor and went over to Jane, who was sitting at the receptionist's desk. She had a huge smile on her face, as she always did. I couldn't help but wonder why she was always so happy.

"Hello, Bella," smiled Jane. "Aren't you just loving the cold?"

"Oh, yeah, can't get enough of it," I said, dryly. Jane laughed, throwing her head back.

"I grew up in California and everyone keeps telling me that you get used to it," said Jane, shaking her head, "but I'm not. Does it ever get easier?"

"No," admitted Edward, smiling. "You just learn to deal with it."

"If you say so," snorted Jane. "Dr. Davis will be with you in a little bit, Bella."

"Thanks, Jane," I smiled.

Edward and I settled on one of the sofas. He picked up a parenting magazine and lost himself in an article over the benefits of breastfeeding versus bottle-feeding. Lately, Edward had taken to reading as many parenting books and magazines as he could. I even found him online the other day, talking to some people in a parenting message board. It was sweet how excited he was about our baby.

I had been spending the last two weeks finishing my book and trying to get the nerve to send it to Angela, who had emailed me a couple of times and pushed for me to let her publish it. It's not that I didn't want to do it, I did, but giving her my book would be like giving up a piece of my soul, a part of who I was now. There were so many personal details that I needed to get out through my writing and I wasn't sure if I could handle for people to read them, even if they never knew it was me.

"Bella," called Heidi. I smiled as Edward and I stood up and met her at the door leading to the back. "How are you feeling?"

"Great," I said, following her back. "Besides cold, of course, but really, I've never felt better."

"The cold has been horrible," sighed Heidi, motioning for me to get on the scale, which I did. "You've gained five more pounds, giving you a total weight gain of….seventeen pounds so far."

"Ugh, thanks for the reminder," I muttered, moving my hand to my belly as I stepped off the scale.

"You're supposed to gain weight," said Heidi, gently.

"I know," I murmured, feeling embarrassed.

Edward placed his hand on my back as we followed Heidi down to one of the exam rooms. She made small talk with us while she took my temperature, and checked my blood pressure. Heidi told us Charlotte would be a few minutes before she shut the door, leaving us alone. As soon as the door was shut, Edward came around the table and slipped his arm around my waist, letting his fingers rest along my growing baby bump.

"I love feeling your tummy getting round like this," he whispered, bringing his lips down to my ear. "You are so sexy, it's taking all my control not to lock that door and have my way with you."

"Just turn off the lights," I muttered, bringing my hands up to rest on my stomach.

"Never," murmured Edward, moving his hands up and laying them on my belly. "I want to see all of you, every beautiful inch."

As we as sat there, hands laying on our child, he or she, kicked again. Once again it brought tears to my eyes and looked up at Edward. "Did you feel that?" I asked.

"No," he murmured, disappointedly.

"Oh," I said, quietly.

Before Edward could say anything the door to my exam room opened and we both looked back to see Charlotte coming in. As she always did, she had a beautiful smile on her face and a bounce in her step. It was both sweet and disgusting that she was always so happy. Edward leaned back but kept his hand on my belly as Charlotte closed the door behind her, moving over to the sink and washing her hands.

"How are we feeling?" she asked, looking back at me.

"Great," I said, smiling. "I have so much more energy now."

"Good," she laughed. "Give it about ten weeks and you will be feeling exhausted again."

"Hooray," I muttered.

Charlotte laughed again as she came over to me, laying her and on my shoulder. "Might as well get used to it now, the next twenty years of your life are going to be spent worrying about this little one."

"I know, I know," I smiled.

"Ok, let's see how this little one is doing and then we will do an ultrasound and see if he or she wants to tell us who he is."

Edward helped me lay back on the table and I pulled my shirt up, exposing my growing belly. Charlotte measured my belly, stating that I was measuring a couple of weeks ahead. She must have seen the concern on my face because she reassured me that it was, normal even, for women to be bigger when they were pregnant. Edward, of course, had my hand tightly in his and was silently reassuring me with every graze of his finger and every squeeze of his hand. Would there ever be a time when I didn't think the worst about everything?

"Ready to see your wee little one?" asked Charlotte, settling down on her stool next to me.

"Yes," I said, breathlessly.

Charlotte squirted the gel on my stomach and started our ultrasound. She spent several minutes measuring the baby and the fluids around him or her. As she was looking at the screen, her eyebrows raised and she bit back her laughter. Of course, all this did was elevate the level of my concern. Like I wasn't already worried enough, without adding that bit.

"Is he or she ok?" I asked, barely able to keep my voice from trembling. Charlotte smiled as she looked over at us.

"They're fine," she said reassuringly.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"One hundred percent," she smile. I nodded my head, even though I wasn't as confident as she was. "Are you sure that you want to know the sex of your baby?" asked Charlotte.

Edward brought our entwined hands up to his lips ands smiled. "Yes," we answered together.

"Ok." Charlotte smiled as she turned the screen so that we could see. "You're having a…"

She trailed off, smirking as she teased us. "Tell us!" I whined, loudly.

"A girl." She stopped and smiled. "And a boy."

"What?" I asked, nearly springing off the table. "How can the baby be both a boy and a girl?"

"You're having twins," laughed Charlotte, motioning toward the screen. "Baby B, the boy, has been a little shy, I think. He was hiding behind his sister."

"Oh wow," I breathed, looking up at Edward. He looked completely shocked, like he wasn't sure what to think. "Edward."

He looked down at me, smiling through his tears and letting his chin tremble. "Two babies."

"Two babies," I whispered, lifting my hand up and grazing his cheek. "Guess we both won the bet."