Chapter Forty One
Two weeks later, Edward was wringing his hands as he paced in front of the clock tower. "Daddy! Daddy!" Kaiya said as she ran at him, still soaking wet.
Edward's eyebrow rose as he grinned at Lynessa, who looked tired as she chased after his daughter. "She just needed to see her daddy. She said she thought you needed a hug."
He bent down and hugged Kaiya's dripping, shivering form. "I'm glad you came up here. I desperately needed a hug from you. Are you having fun with Aunt Lyn and your cousins?"
Her head bobbed, the wet ringlets bouncing about her head. "Yeah! I glad we came here!" she stated excitedly.
He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "When will she be here?" Lyn asked quietly.
Edward shook his head and glanced at his watch. "Soon."
"Edward, calm down," Alice said from where she was sitting, sipping on a cup of decaf coffee from the small coffee shop around the corner. "If it is meant to be…" she let the statement hang and he nodded. He knew he needed to calm down.
"I'm alright," he said. "Go on, Pumpkin, go play in the water park."
Kaiya grabbed Lyn's hand and pulled her toward the staircase that led to the indoor water park. When Angela had realized Edward wouldn't leave Kaiya at home, she recommended they meet at The Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina. It was close enough to where 'Bella' was coming from and would give Edward the adequate cover for as to why he and Kaiya were there at the resort.
He and Kaiya weren't alone, either. Charlie was shopping across the way at the Bass Pro Shop, mainly to keep himself occupied. Lynessa and Esme had brought their children, and Alice and Jasper had come along just because Alice couldn't stand the fact that Edward would get to meet with Bella by himself, plus, he had really needed Alice's calming presence. Because, even though she was a hyper little pixie, she knew what to say and how to help calm him down.
Edward walked back to where Alice was sitting, absently rubbing her stomach. "Fuck, Ali. What…what if she doesn't…? I mean, of course she won't, but…" He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm a wreck," he said as he sat down.
Her eyebrow rose. "No shit, Sherlock," she said as she picked up her doughnut. "You know, these are really good. Do you want one?"
He looked at her like she was crazy. "No, I don't want one," he said in a high, disbelieving voice.
She shrugged and took another bite. Jasper was out in the water park with Jacob and Carlisle, both who were trying desperately to be nonchalant and not get noticed by the public at large. At least wet and in just a pair of trunks, they weren't that likely to be noticed, especially since it was the middle of the week.
"Edward," she said, sitting forward and taking his limp hand in hers. "When Angela called you and said that the DNA results came back and this girl was in fact Bella, I was so excited. But…you have to realize, just because she's 'Bella' doesn't mean she's your 'Bella', you know?"
He nodded absently. "I just need her, Ali, even if it's not as my wife right now. I can…I can accept the fact that I need to take things slow and easy with her. And…I've got to be honest; I really hope that she doesn't remember. God, her hospital report…"
Alice winced. Once it had been proven that this woman was Bella, Angela had gotten hold of her medical records. There had been a lot of information that hadn't been told to them, but what had, was horrid. The fact that she had even been found alive was hard to believe. It was atrocious what had been done to her, but that she survived it? Alice closed her eyes. "Edward, you just don't need to think about it."
"How can I not, Alice, knowing what that monster did to her? Thank God that he's dead or I would kill him."
Alice's hand traveled up his arm to squeeze lightly. "It's over, Edward. She doesn't remember it, apparently, and you should try to forget too."
He blew out a breath just as a woman walked up to him. "H-hello?" she asked nervously.
"Bella?" he asked, uncertainly.
She held out her hand. "I guess?" she said with a slight smile and he saw it; his Bella shining through.
Relief flooded him but he didn't jump up to clasp her in his arms. He knew that she wouldn't welcome that. He held out his hand. "Let's try this again. Hello, I'm Edward. What's your name?"
She smiled a true smile this time and shook his hand. "Oh!" she said.
"What?" he asked.
"I just…I mean, sometimes I get like, flashes?"
"And did you get one now?" he asked, breathlessly.
She nodded. "I saw…I saw you, sitting in front of a piano, a soft smile on your face…" she smiled at the memory.
"Good, ah, that's good," he said. "So, what do I call you?"
She blushed that crimson flush that reminded him so much of his Bella. "I, uh, well; they didn't know what to call me so I was 'Jane Doe' for the longest time. But when I woke up, the letter 'K' was stuck in my head for some reason. They figured my name must have started with a K, so they just called me Kay. You can, too, if you'd like?" She sounded unsure of herself.
Angela had warned Edward not to mention Kaiya just yet, even though Bella had been warned she had a child. But to ease Bella into it, he ignored the fact that his heart stammered at the knowledge that she recognized the letter 'K' and said, "Kay sounds fine. Would you like to sit?"
She nodded and that was when Edward noticed Alice for the first time. "OH," Bella, Kay, whatever her name was, said. "Is this your wife?"
Edward watched Alice's eyes fall for a split second before her usual happy smile slid into place. "Nope! God, I'd kill Edward if I were married to him!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Alice Whitlock, one of Edward's best friends' wives."
Bella took her hand and said, "You were my friend, weren't you?"
Alice bit her lip as her throat clogged. "Uh, yeah, I was."
"I'm sorry," Bella said softly.
Edward and Alice both shook their heads. "It's alright," Edward said. "Things may or may not come back to you. Let's just sit and get to know each other, alright?"
Bella took a stuttering breath and sat down. "So, why are we meeting here? I mean, it looks fun and all, but…"
"Kids," Alice said and Edward shot her a look. "The guys are like big kids," Alice said with a wink. "They love anything that goes fast, and that tornado ride goes pretty darned fast, from what I hear. Not that I can try it," she said, rubbing her belly again.
"Oh! How far along are you?" Bella asked, interested.
"Too far," Alice said with a slight grimace. "He's really moving today. Would you like to feel?"
Bella's eyes lit up as she reached her hand over and Edward studied her. Her hair was the same; dark mahogany waves with slight auburn highlights. It was cut in a sort of a bob thing that went just to her shoulders, making the curls even more pronounced. Her brown eyes were shining with excitement and a hint of fear, the golden in them highlighted by her emotions, her mouth was upturned in that way that secret smile he knew so well, Her body was just the same five foot four inch petite yet now-curved body from their child and her womanhood…but that was where the similarities ended. Her face wasn't Bella's, not anymore, and he remembered what Angela had told him, how she had been found with most of her skull and almost all of her facial muscles shattered. That wasn't the extent of her injuries, but they were the ones that were the most appearance altering.
"Edward?" Alice said, bringing him back to the two women before him.
"Yeah?" he said with a slight smile. "Sorry, just wanted to give you two chicks some time, you know?"
Bella blushed and offered him another smile. "So, you probably want to know about me, right?" she asked.
Edward shrugged. "Look, Bella, I mean, Kay; I want to make you comfortable here, alright?"
Her grin grew. "Then let's go get changed."
His brow quirked. "Huh?"
She stood. "I want to check out the water park. I've wanted to come here since the place opened last year. I love the water."
Edward laughed. "Yeah, you do. You always did."
She sat in a hurry. "I did?"
Edward nodded. "I remember this one time when we were dating. We were, God, I think we were in Colorado? No. No, it was South Dakota. It was hot, I think it was August, and even for there it was incredibly hot, like, record highs. We were put up in this awesome plush hotel, only they had a power-surge and the power went out. It got stifling in those rooms really quick. They were working as hard as they could to repair it, but it was still unbearably hot. It was three AM and you couldn't stand the heat any more so we snuck down to the pool and went skinny dipping."
She giggled that 'Bella' laugh. "No, we didn't!"
Edward nodded. "We most certainly did and I thought we were going to get busted but…I'd go anywhere for you."
She gasped. "You know, it's not fair using your lyrics against me, Edward."
God, the way she said his name went straight to his cock, but he cleared his throat and said, "You know our music?"
"Two weeks of finding out you're married to a pop icon tends to make you want to listen to his music. I also found a list of all the songs I wrote or co-wrote and listened to them too."
He resisted the urge to ask her if she liked what songs he had written for her. "Do you remember any of them?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, I don't. I just…I try and try until I give myself a headache and I just can't…"
His hand reached across the table without his knowledge and grasped hers. "It's alright. I…just knowing you're alive is enough for me. If you are…comfortable in your own life, I would be willing to…"
Her other hand grasped on top of his, closing his much larger one between her two. "No, I want this, Edward. I've always known that something was missing and now that I know what is…" She bit her lip and he couldn't quite help the smile at her little quirk. "But, I have something I need to tell you first, okay? Something I wouldn't let Angela tell you."
A myriad of thoughts traveled through his head. He hadn't been able to see her medical records so he didn't know if the rapist had given her something, or if she was infirmed in some way permanently or… "Okay," he said softly. "Whatever it is you have to say, I promise I'll accept it."
She swallowed and nodded. "Okay. Uh, first, I guess I'll tell you what I know about what happened to me, alright?"
Edward wasn't really sure he wanted to know, but he took a deep breath. "If you think you want to, but if it's too hard for you…"
She shrugged. "I don't remember any of it. What I've been told is what's been pieced together from my medical and police reports."
"Speaking of police reports…I hate to be a spoilsport, but, you're a celebrity. Why didn't they type your blood or whatever to see if you were the missing person? I mean, I know Edward gave DNA samples and stuff…"
Bella shrugged. "I don't know. I was found in a very small town. I was transferred to a larger hospital, but I guess the order didn't go through. I was treated and the people that found me took me in. They're wonderful. Their daughter was about my age, but was killed in a car wreck a few years before. They found me on their property in the middle of the woods way in the mountains outside of Boone."
"How did they know that the man that kidnapped you was dead?"
"They found his van last year down in a ravine. He had…pictures of me all bruised and beaten. They figured that he must have been taking me to dump my body when we crashed. The police think that my body fell out of the van on the way down into the gully and that's where I was found, on a ledge of rock. They weren't sure how much of the damage done to my head and face was because of the rock or because of him."
Alice gasped and held her hands to her mouth. "How can you talk about it so calmly?" she asked.
Bella shrugged again. "I don't remember any of it. All my psychiatrists said that if I ever did remember, I would need extensive therapy due to what they found on the physical examinations. I, uh, I kinda hope I don't remember." She paused, then said, "Sorry, Edward."
He shivered despite himself. "If you forgetting what was done to you means you don't remember me? Yeah, I can totally handle that."
She felt something stir in her chest. It wasn't necessarily a remembrance, but it was as if her heart knew this man loved her dearly. She bit the inside of her cheek and continued her tale. "Well, after Ellie and Mac found me, they took me to the hospital, naturally. I was almost dead and in a coma for about four months. They couldn't believe I woke up and I guess neither could I. I had made a pretty decent recovery though; I hadn't been on life support for weeks, so I guess my brain just had to recover."
"Was it hard not knowing who you were?" Alice asked quietly.
Bella smiled as she thought of her secret. "No, not really. I had Ellie and Mac, and then I had someone really special help me."
Edward's heart seized in his chest. She met someone, he thought. She met another man and now they're happy. He didn't know how he felt about that. "You, uh, that's great that you've found someone to help you cope…"
She nodded and it was easy for him to see the twinkle in her eyes. Well, Edward, you had to realize this might happen. Just because you've been in love with a ghost for four years didn't mean she didn't move on. She didn't know she had a husband and daughter waiting for her…
"Yeah, the doctors really worried about me with him, but we've always gotten along perfectly…"
"That, uh, that's nice…" Edward said.
"I needed to tell you how I feel about him before you meet him, Edward."
"Kay, if he makes you happy, I mean, it's fine. I just, I just needed to know you were alive. You can feel free to live your life as you want. You…you aren't my Bella anymore. I can…I can accept that."
Confusion lit her eyes for a moment before she smiled. "I don't think you realize what I'm saying."
"Of course I do. You met a guy. I mean, it's not like you knew you were married or anything…" He stood then; thanking God he hadn't brought Kaiya to meet her. "I, uh, I'm sorry. I just…I need a few minutes…"
He turned to step away when Bella said, "He's my son."
Edward pivoted so fast, if it wasn't for the fact he had formal training in dance, he would have fallen over his feet. "What?"
She bit her lip again. "He, uh, he's my son?" she made it sound like a question, as if she was unsure of herself. "When-when I woke from the coma, I was almost four months pregnant. The doctors didn't know how he survived. They said that…they said he was my rapist's baby."
If Edward thought his heart couldn't break anymore, he was dead wrong. It broke anew with the news. Another man's child grew inside of her. And she loved it. "Edward…"
"How?" he asked.
She knew what he was asking, even when he didn't offer any other words. "I didn't think of him as anything but a miracle. And if he was brought forth from pain and anguish, well, I didn't know."
"I thought they automatically did D & C after a rape," Alice said.
Bella shook her head. "The 'Morning After' pill is issued to people that are coherent, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. When I was found, it was already a few weeks after I had been abducted, or so they assume."
Edward's eyes grew wide. "You were abducted on December 19, 2006," he told her.
She nodded. "That's what I was told. I was found on January 31, 2007."
His breath stopped. "How-how far along were you when they found you?"
"Almost six weeks."
Edward's knees gave out as he sat quickly. "Mine…he's mine."
Bella nodded. "I demanded a paternity test before we came. That's why it's been almost two weeks; I wanted the results back."
"Wh-what's his name?"
"Edison."
Alice gasped. "Do you know what 'Edison' means?"
Bella nodded again and this time tears were pouring down her cheeks. "Edward's son."
Edward swallowed hard, trying to stay in focus, but he failed and the whole world dimmed. His head was forced down to his knees and he smelled the same sweet freesia scent he associated with Bella. Her hand gently ran up and down his back. "It's alright, Edward. It's okay…"
He lifted his head. "I…" he started. "I have a son?"
He looked at her kneeling before him, and Bella nodded. "You have a son you don't know, I have a daughter I don't know. Shall we introduce them now?"
"Kaiya's downstairs with Lynessa playing…"
"Eddy's downstairs with Mac…"
Their eyes met and as Bella stood, she grabbed his hand. "Do you want to meet him?" she asked at the same time Edward asked, "Do you want to meet her?"
They both laughed and Alice smiled, seeing a rekindling of love right before her eyes. "If ya'll will excuse me, I think I'll go take a nap."
Edward looked at her worriedly. He knew she was approaching the end of her pregnancy and her doctor hadn't wanted her to come. "Are you alright?"
She smiled at him. "I'm fine, Edward. But if you see Jazzy, tell him I want him to come up to the room."
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again.
She shot him a look. "I need Jasper, Edward."
He looked at her and she winked. "Ohhhhh…" he said as he figured it out.
She nodded. "Yeah. Send him on, alright?"
"Yeah…I'll-I'll do that."
She gave him a little head-bob and sauntered off.
"I like her," Bella commented.
Edward snorted. "Yeah, I do too. It took her and Jazz a long time to get their shit together…"
"I know."
He just looked at her.
"I, uh, I watched the interview," she told him.
His eyebrow rose. "You did?"
She nodded and pulled him by their joined hands to the staircase by the clock tower. "Yeah, I did. Eddy wasn't feeling well; he'd had a tummy ache earlier in the day and he hadn't wanted to go to bed so I had fought him until finally after three rounds of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and two different renditions of 'Where is Thumbkin' did I manage to get him to sleep."
Edward laughed. "Well, I always need music to go to sleep. Maybe you need to put him a radio in his room."
She stopped short, halfway down the stairs. "Edward…I don't know where we go from here, but the main thing is that these kids stay happy, okay?"
He nodded. "I couldn't agree more. I just…I never thought if I got you back, I'd be getting more."
She smiled ruefully. "Edward, I don't know you, but my heart does, I think. This won't be easy…"
He shook his head. "Nothing in life is."
"But…I'm willing to work on it," she finished softly.
He pulled their still-joined hands up to his chest, right above his heart. "I am too, Kay, I am too."
"Bella," she answered quietly. "I know now; my name is Bella."
