Chapter 15: Truth

After leaving Edward, I drove home with the biggest smile on my face, my heart twittered in my chest. I drove with one hand on the wheel, the other gently stroking my lips, the smile on face feeling tight and stretched.

We had come to some kind of conclusion on our relationship. As in, we had a relationship now as opposed to the messy half-truth we had shared before. I was elated. Thought that elation quickly subsided when I got home and pulled into the driveway.

I had other fish to fry now.

I took a deep breath and unlocked the front door. I found Mickey sitting on the sofa, her head lolling to the side and being held up by her hand as she channel surfed. I squared my shoulders. It was now or never.

"Mickey," I called as I entered the living room.

She looked up and smiled tiredly at me. "Hey, mama. Where have you been?"

She sat up straighter and I sat down next to her. "I was with Edward," I told her honestly.

Honesty. It was the best policy and all that. Being honest with Edward made me feel like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And the result was amazing. I didn't know if I would have the same luck with my emotional daughter. But I had to be honest. The times for messing around were over.

"Oh," she said raising her brow a fraction.

"Yeah, we had some things to discuss."

She nodded. "Okay."

She was getting better about the whole Edward thing. Slowly but surely. Now I had another wrench to throw in. "We need to talk about something."

"Oh, God, you're pregnant, aren't you?" she asked with a nervous giggle.

Horror struck my insides. "Absolutely not." I'd have to actually have sex to accomplish that. But I left that part out. "No, baby. I just need you listen to me and try to keep a level head."

"Hit me with it," she said, sitting straight and clasping her hands on her lap, turning to face me.

I took a deep breath. "Well, you know how I left work today for a while?"

She nodded.

"Okay, I was meeting with someone."

"Edward?" She cocked her head to the side.

"No. I...," Oh, God. I took a breath in through my nose and held it before finally letting it go. Letting everything go. "I met with your father. He messaged me a while back about wanting to meet up. Said he needed to talk to me. He's... he's back."

The color in her cheeks drained, her eyes filling with tears that spilled effortlessly down her cheeks. She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. "What?"

Grabbing her hands on her lap and scooting closer to her, I touched her cheek softly, wiping the tears away. "Your dad is back."

She swallowed loudly. "Does he... does he want to see me?"

I closed my eyes to the hope in her eyes and nodded. "Yes. Do you want to see him?" I asked, already having an idea of what her answer would be.

She jumped from the sofa, my eyes sliding open to look at her face. She looked scared.

"I... I, y-yes... I don't know. Maybe? Should I?"

I stood up and took her hands in mine. "I can't make that decision for you."

She nodded minutely, swallowing audibly. "I've texted him, called him... he never answered. It went straight to voice mail."

"Well, the number is active again if you want to try again."

She nodded, pulling her phone from her back pocket and holding it to her chest. "He's really back?"

"Yes," I sighed. I hated this whole situation. But I knew how bad it would have been had her father contacted her and she found out that I knew and didn't say anything. We were finally making progress and this was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not.

I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her waist while she hugged her phone. She laid her head on my shoulder.

I had such a bad feeling about this.


"How did the talk go?" Edward asked later that night.

I turned onto my side, kicking the blankets off of me. I couldn't sleep and called him needing some support. "I'm not even sure," I groaned. "She seemed shocked, mostly."

"I can understand that. Do you think he'll do right by her?"

I sighed. "I don't think he has it in him to do right by her. But what am I supposed to do?"

Edward hummed. "I guess you'll just have to see how it goes and hope for the best."

"I'm scared for her," I admitted.

"I know you are," he sighed. "I don't blame you. What are you going to do about, well, divorce? I mean, is that what you want to do?"

He sounded nervous. I groaned into my pillow. "Yeah, that needs to happen. I have the papers. He just needs to sign them. And then there will be legalese and all that to deal with. I haven't done it yet because I couldn't find him or reach him."

"Well, hopefully, he signs the papers and this can be as painless as possible."

I snorted. Riley and painless were not synonymous. "Yeah, we'll see."

"I'm hoping for the best," he encouraged.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I groaned.

"What do you want to talk about then?"

"Us," I answered simply.

He chuckled. "Can we talk about meeting with my friends?"

I rolled my eyes. "Like a dog with a bone," I muttered playfully.

"It's important to me," he urged.

I sighed. "I know it. Yes, Edward. I'll meet your friends."

There was silence on his end for a moment. When he spoke again, I could hear the grin in his voice. "You already met of them actually."

I sat up straight. "When? Who?"

He laughed, it was an awkward sound and I could swear I heard him scratch the back of his head. "Today at the bar. He was the one serving you. His name is Emmett."

I slapped my hand to my forehead. "Oh, jeez."

"Yeah... he's actually the reason I was at the bar. He called me to tell me you were there."

"How did he know who I was?" I was curious.

"I showed all my friends your picture off meetme," he admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"Oh, jeez," I said again. "That's embarrassing."

"They all said you're very pretty."

My cheeks burned. My mouth opening and closing, no sound coming out.

"Bella?" Edward called me back to attention.

"I'm here. Well, now meeting them, especially Emmett is going to be a real treat," I bit out sarcastically.

Edward laughed. "It will be fine. I promise. They're really cool people. And they already like you by how much I have talked about you."

More burning cheeks. "So when do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking this Friday? After you get off work. Say around seven at my place?"

I nodded and then realized he couldn't see. "Okay, sounds... good."

"Don't sound too excited there." His laugh was muffled.

"I'm nervous."

"I'm excited," he countered. "I'll tell them to be on their best behavior."

"Okay. Friday at seven," I agreed. "I need to get some sleep. I have to be at the bakery early tomorrow. I have a lot of orders that need to be filled by the end of the week."

"Okay. Goodnight, Bella. Sweet dreams, gorgeous."

I smiled into the phone. "Sweet dreams."


Okay, so thank you all so much. I really appreciated all the support for the last chapter. Please review if you're still with me. Y'all are my muses.