41
The Hermit
"How are you feeling?" Esme asks as the door shuts behind Edward.
Bella turns her focus from the woman in labor to find that the question is directed toward her. "Me? I'm fine," she replies honestly. "I'm excited."
"Well, I'm scared as fuck," Rose grunts and squeezes Bella's hand so tightly her knuckles turn white.
Bella winces in pain but focuses on trying to soothe Rose's nerves. "You're doing great," she assures her. "The nurse said you're progressing so quickly that we're just waiting for the doctor to get here to start pushing."
Tears fall down Rose's cheeks but her smile is blinding. "Before this little gremlin crawls out of me, I'm going to finish the plans I had for the day."
Esme excuses herself and joins the nurses who are preparing the warmer for the baby.
"She already interrupted my moment with my brother, but I'm going to have this." Rose pulls Bella down until their foreheads meet. "Bella, I love you. You're the sister I never had but always wanted, and the world is a better place with you." A contraction tears through her. "Hmmm, I forgot what I was saying. Anyway, this kid is going to need you because lord knows I'm going to screw up from time to time."
"You're going to be an amazing mother, Rose," Bella insists.
"Oh, shut up and stop blowing smoke up my ass." Rose half laughs, half cries. "I'm trying to make a point here. Kat is going to need someone to look up to, and I want it to be you, Bella. Will you be her godmother?"
A sob falls from Bella's lips. "She'll never want for anything, Rose. Of course, I'd love nothing more."
The doctor arrives just as Rose is breathing through another painful contraction.
The table is pulled down and everyone takes their places.
Tears fall unattended as Rose gives it her all, and Bella and Esme encourage her every step of the way.
There are screams and curse words spewed as Kat begins to crown. "Oh, my shit, she's splitting me in half."
Esme reassures her that the feeling is normal and urges her to keep going.
Bella can't speak as she watches the blood and mucus-covered blonde head emerge.
The doctor adjusts things and helps Kat's shoulders come through. He asks Rose for one last push, and all of a sudden, in just a millisecond, the population of the world goes up by one person.
One beautiful, perfect, wailing person.
Rose's arms give out as the doctor places Kat's squirming body on her belly.
"Hi!" Rose sobs. "Oh, my god, I have a kid now."
Everyone laughs while Kat shows off an impressive set of lungs.
Nurses work quickly, scrubbing her clean and keeping her warm as the doctor finishes with Rose.
A nurse holds out a set of surgical shears.
"Who is doing the honors, Mama?"
"Her godmother," Rose whispers, her full attention on her new baby girl.
Bella cries as she cuts the cord separating mother and child.
While the doctor checks Kat over and the nurses get her bundled up, Esme and Bella wipe Rose's sweaty face and praise her for doing such a phenomenal job.
"Can you go get Ed and Irina, please?" Rose asks. "I want them to come and meet my daughter. Because I have a daughter!"
Esme practically floats out of the room.
When the nurse offers Rose the little burrito baby, she shakes her head and points to Bella.
"I just pushed that thing out of me, and I'm a little bitter. Give her to her godmother."
The poor nurse isn't used to Rose's form of humor. Confused, she shows Bella how to properly hold the baby, supporting her head and bottom before she leaves the room with the promise that she'll be just a call button away.
Bella sits down next to Rose.
"I made an entire human." Rose laughs and wipes at her leaking eyes.
Bella can't take her eyes off Kat. "I've never felt this way before." she breathes, taking in the baby-fine eyelashes that surround deep blue newborn eyes.
"You're telling me, my vagina is on fire."
Bella snorts. "I'm talking about the way my heart is aching. The way I'd stand and take a bullet for a person I just met."
"It's called love at first sight, Bells," Rose whispers and caresses Kat's cheek with one trembling finger. "No offense, I thought it was love at first sight when we met, but this is totally different."
"Totally different." Bella agrees.
Something startles Kat, and instinctively, Bella stands to bounce her softly.
She's humming softly when Esme returns with Irina and Edward in tow.
Edward gravitates toward her with the strangest smile on his face.
"She's perfect. Look." She pulls the blanket down. "So beautiful."
Edward wraps his arms around both of them. "You are so beautiful. I can't wait until this is ours."
Bella grins. "Technically, she is. Well, half at least. Rose asked me to be Kat's godmother."
Edward chuckles and gently steals the baby from her arms. "Wrong, Ro asked me to be godfather before she went into labor."
The rest of the evening is spent passing Kat around and sneaking Rose candy from the vending machine. At some point, Irina has to leave to study for an exam she wasn't able to get postponed.
When visiting time is over, Bella is still on cloud nine after the nurses make their rounds to kick out stragglers, so Edward takes her to their diner.
It's still early and busier than usual but all of the excitement of the day has Bella on a high like no other.
Edward sits across from her with a goofy grin.
"Your sister is amazing. She did phenomenally, even the doctor and nurses said so."
"I wouldn't expect anything different from Rosalie."
Bella sighs and scrolls through the hundreds of photos she's taken today. "Kat is such a beauty," she mentions. "I always secretly hoped she wouldn't look like Emmett, and we got lucky. She is all Rose."
Edward chuckles. "Attitude and all. We're all going to have our hands full with that little girl."
"I can't wait to test your theory."
"Me too."
They share a banana split and talk about the little girl who's already stolen their hearts.
Bella and Edward are in the middle of their nighttime routine when she stops and turns to Edward.
"Huh. Something just hit me."
Edward rinses his mouth. "What?
"There's a whole new Cullen now. Isn't that amazing?"
"You're amazing," Edward says and pulls her into his arms. "I think the world deserves something else, something equally amazing."
"What could be just as amazing as the birth of a baby?"
"Gaining one more Cullen, of course." Edward kisses her confused smile. "Marry me, Bella."
Bella gasps.
