Chapter 33 – Realization

Edward

I was in a daze.

From the moment I saw Bella standing in front of the courthouse, and my lawyer leaned in to tell me who she was, everything changed. The world seemed to be spinning in the opposite direction, leaves blew upward instead of down, and I swear, the blue hues of the ocean and sky switched places. Were the clouds ever that shade of white before?

Bella was Bree's mother.

I didn't know what to think or how to feel, but I had an overwhelming need to get home. I just couldn't stand there; it was too much to process, and I truly felt like the world was caving in on me.

"Hey, you're home… really early," Emmett said when I walked through the door. "Uh, what happened? I thought the hearing didn't start until nine?"

"Where's Bree?" I asked absently, still swimming through a sea of befuddlement. Bree was Bella's daughter. The world just didn't make sense.

"In the bathroom with Rose getting her hair done," Emmett explained, his tone was still full of concern. "Edward, what's going on? Why aren't you at the hearing?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Emmett, I'm sorry, but I need you and Rose to leave now."

"Edward," he chided me quietly. "Don't do this, man. Don't take her and run."

I shook my head. "We can't run from this. Please, I just need you to go."

He must have seen the urgency in my eyes because after staring at me for a few moments, he nodded, and then went to the bathroom to get Rose. I could hear her muffled concerns, but Emmett just told her he'd explain after they left - I only wished he'd explain it to me as well, because I honestly had no idea what was going on.

"Edward, you're back!" Bree said excitedly as she followed Rose out of the bathroom.

I didn't answer her. In fact, I could do nothing but stare at her like a deer in the headlights.

Bella was her mother.

Outside of my stupor I could vaguely hear the sounds of Emmett and Rose saying goodbye, followed by the door shutting as they left. The moment they were gone, Bree's innocent excitement only doubled and she began bouncing in front of me.

"Is the hearing over? Rose said it could take a long time, but you weren't gone very long at all. Is it because you have a really good lawyer and winning was easy?" She kept firing eager questions at me, regardless of my lack of response, but then she asked the one thing that broke me. "Do we get to be a forever family now? Can I call you dad?"

She wanted to call me dad?

Bella was her mother and she wanted to call me dad.

My lawyer didn't say who her biological father was; I wasn't even sure if it was documented anywhere… but it didn't matter. Nobody had to tell me anything and not even a DNA test could reassure me more than I already was. In that moment it all became perfectly clear; Bree was conceived eleven years ago, on a city building rooftop, during the most perfect night that ever was. Bella was Bree's mom, and I was her dad.

She didn't have to just call me dad, I was her father, and somehow, someway, she had found me. She ran away from her horrible situation and sought me out because she knew we belonged together. She knew that I would save her and bring her home. I honestly didn't know how I missed it for so long.

And that was it. The realization of the truth hit me so hard that I lost all control and collapsed to my knees as I began to sob.

I couldn't remember the last time I cried, and I certainly didn't want to freak Bree out, but I just couldn't hold it in. It was all too much, and when she came over and hugged my neck, I just cried harder.

I had a daughter.

I already felt like I couldn't have loved her any more than if she was my own, but since she actually was my own, my heart grew even bigger for her. She was beyond incredible, and I was beyond thankful for whatever force that brought her into my life.

But as I feared, my hysterics freaked her out and she got the wrong idea.

"Please don't let anyone take me away," she cried with me. "I don't care that my mom wants me; I want to be with you."

She was holding onto me so tightly that I couldn't even see her face, so I forced myself to stop being a blubbering idiot, and I pried her arms loose from my neck just enough so I could lean back and look at her. "Bree, I swear to you, I'll always be with you."

"But my mom?"

"She can't even separate us. No one can. I won't let them," I said with a sudden bought of angry determination.

I had no idea why Bella gave her up, and I wanted to reserve judgment until I spoke to her, but I couldn't help feeling a truckload of bitter resentment. What on earth could have been more important than raising her baby? I just couldn't imagine it, and I had to wonder why she chose then to want her back.

And then dark thoughts invaded my mind - What if Jasper had been right about Bella all along? He had said that it was ridiculous to love someone I didn't know, and for the first time, I believed him. She could have been a terrible person – the vindictive type with ulterior motives. What if I had spent over a decade of my life pinning after some pathetic selfish bitch that would only want her child if there was something more in it for her? Riley and Victoria had been after the money attached to Bree's name, what if that was why Bella was now seeking custody as well?

I honestly felt sick.

But I was sure of one thing; I would go to the ends of the earth to protect her, even if that meant protecting her from Bella.

"Are we going to run away?" Bree asked suddenly.

"Why would you think that?" I asked her surprised.

"Because my mom is going to try to take me away, and you just promised you wouldn't let her."

"No, we're not going anywhere." I cradled her face in my hands and just stared at her full of awe, and once again, I couldn't imagine how I missed the truth for so long. She looked so much like Bella, which only made my chest tighten because no matter how much I tried to prepare myself for the possibility of a despicable version of the woman I loved, I just couldn't see it. Bella had that same beautiful innocence that was currently being reflected from Bree's eyes, and I instantly knew there just had to be more to the story. I didn't know-know Bella, but I was confident that I knew her heart, so I stood and grabbed my keys. "Come on, let's go."

"But you just said we're not going anywhere."

"I meant we weren't going to run away," I told her with a chuckle, though the feeling of laughing right then was more than a little odd.

"Well, where are we going then?" she asked as she pulled on her shoes.

"I'll explain on the way," I told her.