Ch. 77 Starting Fresh

As we pulled up to our new home, I gasped out loud. Oh, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen you are in so much freaking trouble. It was a huge, gray, rectangular, flat-fronted house with two stories of symmetrical windows built across the front, and four dormer windows jutting out from the roof. There were shrubs neatly lining either side of the wide front steps, and about twenty large crape myrtles also growing on either side of the home. Did I mention it was BIG?!

"Cozy, right?" Edward smirked as he began unloading the car of the little bit of possessions we flew over with us. We would be purchasing furniture over the next several weeks apparently judging the size of this place...

"It's a bit much for just the three of us." I continued to gawk as I walked up the two front steps and through the oversized, double-doored entryway carrying my three suitcases Alice had packed.

Thea pushed past me unable to contain herself in all her excitement. "Cool! Can I choose my own room?!" She was zipping back and forth from one room to the next as she explored.

"Go for it, but don't get lost...you might want to leave a breadcrumb trail..." I said in a daze, and she shrieked exuberantly as she disappeared up the stairs.

There was a wide, formal sitting room to my left and an equally sizable dining room to the right. "Is that for our dinner, dear?" I laughed.

"You never know when you might need to entertain..." Edward answered cryptically. Huh?

I couldn't even respond as I continued to take the house in. This had to be nearly 15,000 square feet. What was this, the governor's mansion?! Why can't anyone in this family just live comfortably? Look, I'm no Bella, and I like nice things...But this is just ridiculous! You know, for how little our species wants to stand out, we Cullens sure like to buy the largest, most ostentatious, fucking places in the world! OMG.

I had trusted Edward with the purchasing since he did this more often than me with all his moves across the world with Esme and Carlisle, but clearly I was mistaken. He couldn't be trusted to make large purchases...

"Iris, we're out on the edge of town. No one will see us out here anyway. I just thought that if we had more space, the family would have somewhere to stay if they wanted to visit. You don't like it?" Edward sounded genuinely hurt.

"It's beautiful...but this is a lot of house. Holy Martha Stewart..." I stopped and stared at the gigantic kitchen. "We don't eat!" I shrieked as I stared at my husband accusingly.

"Here Thea will have space to run and play, and you have plenty of room for studying. The White Mountain National Forest is only 50 miles away..." Edward explained.

Then Thea came bounding down the second staircase—that's right, the SECOND set of stairs because one wasn't enough apparently—which emptied at the back of the kitchen. "I love this house! There's a pool with a water slide!" Of course there is a pool with a slide...Good God. I do enjoy swimming though. Maybe there's a hot tub too...hmmm..."Thank you Mommy and Daddy!" She hugged us both together...Oh Thea is so dangerous. She's so cute and pudgy. There's no denying her anything.

Edward grinned ear to ear. "You're so welcome. Your mother and I love this house too." He winked at me. Ugh. Fine Cullen. Keep the governor's mansion, but it will be your job to maintain it since you're jobless. I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. "Deal." He whispered directly into my ear and I shivered unnecessarily from the sensation.

•PTaT•

You can do this. It will be fine. You've been avoiding human blood successfully for over a year, so this will be nothing. You will be just fine. Perfect. Right?

Today was my first day of nursing school, and I was just a teensy but nervous...Nursing School in the 1970s was a bit different than my first go around. In this time, student nurses worked in the hospital along side their future peers. They slept, studied, attended lectures, and completed written class work during their "off hours," and then it was straight back to the hospital for more work. Let's just say this was going to be a busy two years...

"Thea and I will be close by too. Don't worry so much. You WILL be just fine, love." Edward kissed my temple as he pulled me into his chest.

"Is mom freaking out again?" Thea didn't even look up from her notebook where she laid on her stomach on the floor kicking her feet back and forth as she drew. Sweet and sassy just like I liked her.

I narrowed my eyes playfully at her. "I resent that." I pulled back from Edward enough to see that her sketch was a perfect rendition of a young, round-cheeked boy with a long nose, sharp jaw line, light hair, and deep eyes. He was cute, but I couldn't remember seeing him anywhere. There was something to his eyes though...She probably made him up. The kid was a genius, and I'm not just saying that because she's mine.

Edward looked down to admire her work too. "Thea, that looks very realistic. Do you know him?" If I didn't know Edward so well, I would think nothing of the question as he knelt down to ruffle her hair, but I did know him. His eyes were tight at the corners—discerning—even as he smiled lightly, and I stiffened as I tried to guess what had him so worried. What is it?! "Probably nothing..." He said softly just below Thea's hearing registry. Probably? PROBABLY?!

"He's just some boy I keep thinking about. I just wanted to draw him." She shrugged as her pencil continued to move across the page.

Edward narrowed his eyes a bit more. It was the face he made when he heard something in our thoughts that he didn't like. "You had a dream about him?" A dream? What? My almost one year old daughter is having dreams about boys?! Hell to the no!

"Yeah." She answered nonchalantly.

"But you've never seen him before?" Edward probed further. Wait. Why aren't you freaking out about our tiny baby daughter dreaming about boys?!

"No, Daaaaad." She groaned in exasperation. There was our little threenager. Or would it be a one—eenager? No that doesn't work...Focus, Iris. Thea is having dreams about a boy! Shit!

"Oh...Why does he have this scar here?" Edward pointed casually to a jagged line along the boy's neck as he continued his interrogation.

"I don't know. He just does." She was still oblivious to our concern, but obviously impatient with Edward's questions. "Can I go play outside?" Then under her breath she said, "Sometimes I really miss Uncle Emmett..." Gee thanks, kid. Love you too.

"Hey! I'm way more fun than Emmett!" I stated obviously, but Thea only smiled at me. I am fun. I'm a cool mom. Right? RIGHT?!

"Of course you can but not too far. Stay on the lawn." Edward said in a distracted tone, ignoring our daughter's remark and my thoughts as he flipped through the pages of Thea's notebook, looking intently at the other drawings, but he gave up when nothing else seemed to interest him.

I watched quietly as Thea skipped outside, taking a basket with her probably to collect flowers. The light reflected brilliantly off of her golden hair which I had tried—and failed—to brush into submission, but it still billowed out beautifully wild and free from her back as she ran through the yard. Then I turned on Edward, AKA Nancy Drew. "What is it?" Why do you have that look on your face?!

"Her thoughts...she's been dreaming about this boy, but the dreams appeared very life-like when she replayed them in her mind. I always thought that I could hear all of her dreams, but she hasn't had any for weeks since before we arrived here...or so I thought."

"What kind of dreams? Our precious, smart, and beautifully spunky daughter is dreaming about a boy, and you're not worried about that?!"

"No, it's innocent, of course. They were just playing in the woods behind the house...it's just odd how tangible it seemed just then." He held up the drawing of the boy once again, staring at it as if he would jump off the page.

"Oh, well, It's just a dream. Why are you worried about that? I used to have weird dreams all the time." I made a goofy face in an attempt to bring Edward back to reality.

"That you did." Edward chuckled and looked back up at me as I mentally recalled the time I dreamed that I was somehow locked in a Krispy Kreme over night but the "hot n ready" sign remained blinking. It was pure bliss. Man, I wish I could still enjoy doughnuts. What? It was a pregnancy craving! "That particular dream occurred before you were pregnant." He corrected me and laughed again.

"Ok...Well, my point is that Thea clearly didn't fall far from the dreaming tree. Just monitor her thoughts like you always do, and I'm sure you'll come to find that you're just worrying for nothing again." You'll go gray if you're not too careful, Mr. Cullen...That earned me an eye roll.

"I'm sure you're right." Edward suddenly looked to the clock on the wall. "You need to leave. You don't want to be late on your first day. Thea and I will come see you for your lunch break."

"Are you sure you'll be alright with her all alone?" I asked incredulously.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He retorted with a quirked eyebrow.

"It means that you have never been alone with her by yourself."

"That's ridiculous. Of course I have been."

"Oh? When?" No Esme, no Rosalie, no Alice, no Jasper, or even Emmett...

"Just last Saturday while you ran to the store to get that juice she likes." He said smugly.

We had been trying to get Thea to willingly take more human food as we knew our lives were about to became more intertwined with the humans. Concord was the capital of New Hampshire so the chances of Edward and Thea crossing paths with a human were much higher here than our Scottish estate. Our cover was that Edward was a trust fund baby, and he would stay home to play house-husband with our daughter while I attended school and worked in the hospital if anyone asked, which I doubted anyone would really care but just in case...

"Oh, you mean the day that you wound up covered in mud head to toe while Thea walked in perfectly clean? You went to the grocery store, Edward. How did you end up covered in grime?!"

"There was this squirrel and—it's not important. You're going to be late."

"Mmhmm..." Just watch out for mud puddles. It's awfully rainy out there...He narrowed his eyes at me, and I laughed. "I'll see you later...wish me luck."

"No luck needed. You'll be fine. I love you." He leaned forward and kissed me as if he hadn't seen me in a long time. Hey, sparky. I can probably be a few minutes late..."Go." He chuckled.

"Love you..." I called as I turned to leave. "Bye, Thea!"

It's going to be fine. It's going to be great. You're going to be amazing, Iris. Right?

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