I'm really not trying to make you all wait so long between chapters. Work has just been so busy. But I'm so thrilled with your sweet reviews and kind words. I love that you love this story. I hope you continue to love it.
Chicsarah, as always, made this better.
Disclaimer: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.
"It feels amazing outside," Bella sighed into the phone.
"It does," I agreed. I was walking back towards my office after going a few blocks down the street for a coffee. We had coffee at the office, but it was Friday and I was in the mood for something a little more refined than Folgers.
"I've got my windows down, and I don't even care if my hair gets tangled from all the wind," she laughed, and I smiled.
It was mid-September, and we were having our first real cold front of the season. Granted, for Charleston, that meant it was still pretty warm out, and I was still feeling beads of sweat on my forehead as I continued walking back to work.
But the humidity that was always present and always oppressive in the summer had all but disappeared for a few days. It would be back; it always got hot again, even through October, before we got true winter temperatures. It was nice to have a weekend of good weather ahead of us, though.
"I like you even with your rats' nest hair," I told her, pulling the office door open and walking into the lobby.
"Back at you," she joked. I'd just gotten a much needed haircut, but she'd had a lot of fun at my expense when it was longer.
"You heading to see your mom?" I asked her, smiling at Gianna as she looked up at me when I passed her desk before turning left into my office.
"Yeah. Dad's been back at work for a few weeks, so I'm trying to spend my free Fridays with her when I can. I'm actually taking a craft for us to do," she laughed.
"A craft? Going to try to get her to paint again?" I asked, sitting at my desk and nudging my computer mouse so that my monitor would come back to life. I stifled a groan at the mounting emails in my inbox; work had not seen any shortage lately.
"No, that's something she'll have to come back to on her own. But I have been watching a ton of videos on making clay earrings. They seem to be all the rave right now. I thought it might be fun to give it a try and just get her to do something creative, you know?" Bella explained.
"Definitely," I agreed, a little distracted by work.
"But she's definitely been doing better. She asks about you all the time. You really made an impression," Bella said.
I sat back in my desk, smiling at just how much of an impression I'd probably made.
That night several weeks ago at dinner, just when I thought I'd escaped the topic, Renee asked again about what Bella meant when she said I'd been putting flowers on her aunt's grave.
I wasn't usually one to stumble on my words, but I'd gotten incredibly nervous to tell the story. Bella told most of it, letting me chime in to clarify and try desperately not to make myself sound like a weirdo.
To my surprise, Renee had reacted exactly how I hadn't expected: she'd let out the loudest, most genuinely gleeful laugh. She laughed to the point that she was crying, working to catch her breath.
Charlie had laughed, too, albeit not as hard as his wife.
Bella and I chuckled, a little unsure of her mom's reaction, which seemed to border on a nervous break.
"That...is...hilarious," Renee had gasped, wiping at her eyes.
"I was so worried I'd offend you," I told her honestly.
"Offend me? Why would that offend me?" She asked once she'd caught her breath.
"You know, buying flowers for...him..." I said.
"Oh, pish. It's not like that fucker can see them from where he is now," Renee shrugged.
"Mom!" Bella gasped.
"What, you can say it and I can't?" Renee asked.
"So you don't think it's weird?" I asked.
"It's classic. It has Vicky written all over it. She had such a funny sense of humor. I have no doubt she orchestrated all of this," Renee said, waving her finger between Bella and me and smiling.
I laughed to myself at the memory, both of dinner that evening and at how happy Bella had been when we left.
The entire ride back to my house, Bella had gushed about how well it had gone. Her mom had been, overall, in such a happy mood when we left. Bella said she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her mom smile so big or laugh so hard.
Since that night, Bella had taken to spending most Fridays with her mom. With the extra day off work and free time she now had from dropping the Market booth, she was taking advantage of the time to spend with her.
Charlie had returned to work when the new school year started, so Bella took her mom grocery shopping, helped her around the house, and tried new recipes for baked goods.
She also came by my place during the week to harvest from her small garden. She had a plethora of cherry tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and radishes. She and her mom cooked with as many of the vegetables as they could each week, as the season was nearing its end.
She had some small pumpkins coming in that she was most excited about.
I was just happy to see her getting so much fulfillment from her garden.
"Anyway, I just stopped to grab us some breakfast," Bella said into the phone, bringing me back to my present conversation with her.
"Are you going to ask her about it?" I questioned.
"Yeah," she sighed, and I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
Last week, Bella had brought home the box of her aunt's. She'd left it with her mom for weeks but decided she wanted to go through it again.
When Bella and I were getting ready for bed that night, we sat on the bed and she opened the box. We took our time reading all of the newspaper clippings.
We laughed as we smelled the very strong bottle of perfume.
Bella found a few more pictures we'd missed before, as well as some other newspaper clippings about Laurent. There were some from the early 2000s, about his architectural achievements around the world with the company he worked for. He'd designed some of the most incredible buildings internationally, and it looked like Vicky kept up with as much news about him as she could.
There was also a magazine that had a four page write up about his company here in the states. He'd moved to New York and opened his own architecture firm about ten years ago.
Bella and I had been impressed to learn about his success, and Bella said again how much she wished her aunt could have married him instead.
We both carefully avoided and ignored the black velvet ring box tucked in the corner of the box.
It wasn't until we were packing the box back up, when Bella picked up the magazine we'd been looking through and some of the pages fanned open, that a tiny Manila envelope fell out. It was no bigger than a notecard and didn't have any markings on it.
Bella and I glanced at each other before she set the magazine down on the bed and opened the envelope. She tipped it over and two hospital bracelets fell out.
Bella turned them over in her hand and gasped.
One, an adult sized bracelet, was marked Victoria Higginbotham, 3/19/80.
Along with it was a tiny bracelet that just said Baby Girl, 8/26/97.
"What the...?" Bella said, confusion on her face.
But I'd spent many years in a career that involved unnamed babies and birth dates. And I was pretty certain I knew what these bracelets meant.
Bella had been sitting on the secret for a week, planning to ask her mom about it today.
"Hopefully you'll get some answers," I said.
I'd not offered my thoughts, not wanting to make assumptions or cloud Bella's own mind with something I knew nothing about.
"I hope so, too. I'll let you know tonight," Bella told me.
"I'll make dinner," I promised.
"Perfect. I'll see you later," she said.
"Can't wait. I love you," I said quietly.
"I love you," she said, her voice light and lovely again.
After we hung up, I dove into work, determined not to have to work late on a Friday evening. A small part of me wanted to do some research, to see if I could find anything online or in some adoption archives I had access to. But that was an invasion and was completely unfair to Bella, so I vowed to wait and let her tell me. I couldn't deny how curious I was, though.
Around lunchtime, I hadn't heard anything from Bella. I figured that meant she and her mom were busy, or talking, or both. I just hoped it was going well.
My dad and Emmett were both pretty busy today, too, so we'd decided to order lunch in for the office.
I was walking to the kitchen to grab a plate when I heard a familiar laugh coming from Jasper's office.
"Hey Edward," I heard, and I turned to poke my head in his office door.
"Alice, hi. How are you?" I asked, stepping in. She was sitting in a chair across the desk from Jasper, talking to him while they ate. It looked like she'd brought him some lunch.
"I'm great. How are you? How's Bella? I feel like I haven't seen her much in weeks," Alice frowned.
Bella had told me the two of them were like ships passing in the night. Alice was still on a different hospital shift, and she had days off throughout the week where Bella had her weekends off. Alice also worked mostly nights, and when she wasn't working, Bella said she spent most of her time with Jasper.
"She's good. She's at her mom's now," I answered.
"That's good," Alice hummed.
"What are you up to today?" I asked.
"Just thought I'd pop in for a visit to see Jasper before I went into work tonight. We've also been talking about a weekend getaway. Maybe somewhere upstate toward the mountains to see the leaves changing," Alice said.
"Yeah, looking at cabins to rent for a few days," Jasper said, nodding to the travel site he had pulled up on his computer.
"Hey, you two should come! We could make it a couples' getaway!" Alice said excitedly. Jasper smiled and nodded.
"That could be fun. I'll talk to Bella and see if she's interested," I told them.
"Great!" Alice said, jumping up from her seat.
"Great," I smiled, unable to match her enthusiasm at the moment. I was still thinking about Bella and whatever her mom would be telling her. And how that news might affect her.
"Okay, I need to get home and get myself ready for a long shift. I love you!" Alice said. Jasper stood and they embraced in a tight hug, kissing each other in a way that made me look away to give them privacy.
I thought it a bit soon that they'd also reached that point in their relationship, but knowing how inseparable they'd been since they met, I wasn't at all surprised. You can't always help it when it finds you.
"I love you, darlin'. Call me tonight when you can," Jasper told her, kissing her forehead once more before they broke apart and she walked towards the office door.
"Bye, Edward!" She said, leaving in graceful flurry.
"Have I thanked you yet for bringing her into my life?" Jasper asked me a few seconds later. We both laughed, but he was genuine. "I'm going to marry that girl," he said with conviction. I believed him. And I knew the feeling.
That night, I was in the kitchen doing my best not to botch some shrimp Alfredo when I heard the front door open.
"Anyone home?" Bella called as she usually did when she came in.
"In the kitchen," I said, listening as her light footsteps grew closer.
"Something smells good," she said, placing her purse and the small overnight bag she always brought over on the kitchen island.
"I'm making some pasta and garlic bread. And a salad to even out all the cheese and starch," I laughed. "That okay?" I asked, turning to look at her. She was in jean leggings and a soft, shear tunic shirt. Her long hair was swept up on top of her head, and though beautiful, she looked tired and weary.
"Pasta is always good," she smiled lightly.
"It will be done in about 20 minutes," I promised. "I hope it's alright, but I also went ahead and did the watering today. I thought you might just like to relax tonight," I told her. Although not as hot, the sun had been bright and strong today. The garden looked dry when I'd gotten home from work, and I didn't want to make the plants suffer any longer.
"Thank you. I'm going to take a shower before dinner," she said.
"I'll be here when you get back."
I was just plating up our dinner when Bella returned, padding gently into the kitchen. I turned and saw her standing in one of my t-shirts and a pair of leggings. Her hair was wet from her shower but pulled back up on top of her head.
Without a word, she walked around the island and wrapped her arms around me. I pulled her tight against me, feeling her relax a bit as she folded into my chest.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hi," I said into her wet hair, taking in her clean, lovely scent.
"You hungry?" I asked.
"Starving," she replied. I bent down to place a soft kiss on her lips.
We broke apart and walked to the table, each of us with a plate of pasta in our hands. I'd already set our Caesar salads, drinks, and a plate of garlic bread on the table.
"This looks delicious. Thank you," she smiled.
"Of course," I told her, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Oh, and there's zucchini bread for dessert. Mom and I used the zucchinis I picked from the garden. One loaf has chocolate chips and the other is plain," she explained.
"Perfect," I nodded.
We ate in silence for a while, Bella humming around her food each time she seemed to particularly enjoy a bite.
I was anxious to hear about what she'd found out, but I wasn't going to push her.
After we finished most of our food, Bella sat her fork down and took a long sip of her wine.
"So, I talked to Mom," she started.
I nodded but kept quiet, waiting for her to continue.
"I asked her to tell me more about Aunt Vicky as a teenager. And then I asked her if she'd ever wanted kids," Bella said.
I'd known Victoria and James were childless. I'd never asked if Bella knew if that was by choice or circumstance. I suspected the latter as I'd learned more about their often tumultuous marriage.
"I could see in mom's face that she was starting to realize that I'd found something or knew something," Bella explained.
"What did she say?" I asked.
"Well, I just pulled out the bracelets and told her I'd found them in the box between the pages of a magazine. She looked a bit surprised at first. But then she just nodded and said it was time I found out. So she told me what I was starting to suspect. Aunt Vicky had a baby when she was 17. A girl, obviously. I was almost four years old," Bella said.
"Mom said she and Laurent were juniors in high school. And Aunt Vicky had been scared out of her mind. They'd debated keeping the baby, talked about it at length apparently. My grandparents were obviously pretty upset at first, but they didn't force her to give up her baby. It was actually Laurent's family who was pushing for that. He was already getting a lot of college offers and had a pretty bright future ahead of him. They didn't want him tied down here with a wife and child so young," Bella told me.
"Anyway, they decided that they weren't ready and put the baby up for adoption. It was a closed adoption, so they had no contact with the child or the family," Bella said.
"Wow," I said, having already drawn similar conclusions myself but still shocked at this information that even Bella hadn't known.
"Yeah," Bella sighed.
"I asked my mom why I never knew about it. She said most people hadn't known. Our family is pretty small and we only saw each other occasionally. It was pretty easy to keep under wraps. Mom reminded me that there weren't all these forms of social media back then, so there weren't pictures and posts about every little thing. I assume that once it was decided they'd give up the baby, they didn't take a bunch of pictures. Obviously there were no baby showers or mementos of the pregnancy to hold onto. Mom said she didn't even meet the baby. Only Laurent and Grandma were in the room. As far as she knows, no one even held the baby. The nurse took her, cleaned her up, and took her away immediately," Bella said, and I could see her eyes fill with tears.
I held her hand and rubbed it gently. This was the kind of thing I saw all the time. For most, it wasn't easy at all. Most birth mothers had the option to hold their baby, but many opted not to. For no other reason than that it was too painful.
"Mom said it took Aunt Vicky months to get over the sadness. She spent a lot of time in her room, and she and Laurent didn't go out much for a while after. It affected them both, and mom said she wondered often if Aunt Vicky regretted it. If she was half as good a mom as she was an aunt, she would have been incredible at it," Bella said.
"That makes me sad for them both. How different her life could have been," I considered.
"Truly. But that's how she was. She always sacrificed her own happiness for others. She knew she wasn't ready to be a mom, and as much as Laurent loved her, she probably didn't want to set his life on such a different path. Unfortunately, those sacrifices were made for everyone. And when she finally decided she'd had enough, she barely got a month of freedom before she was gone," Bella said. Tears were streaming down her face now, and I leaned over to pull her until she stood and moved to sit in my lap.
She leaned her head on my shoulder and her arms wrapped around me while she cried. I held her as she quietly wept for a while before she sat up and wiped at her face.
"I would love to hear his side of things," Bella said softly.
"Did he ever email you back?" I asked.
"No. Not a word," Bella shrugged.
Bella had found his company website pretty easily, and though it was a long shot, she'd emailed the only address she could find, a generic info line for his company. No personal contact information for him had been listed, and even if she could have found a number, she thought email was probably better. It'd been a few weeks since she'd sent the email, but so far she'd gotten no response.
"I wonder if I ever met him. I don't remember him at all. Or any of this. But I guess I was too young to remember her being pregnant. Although mom said I hadn't been around Aunt Vicky much while she was pregnant. At least not visibly so. She had a hard time being around anyone. The latest months of her pregnancy had been in the summer. Mom said baggy clothes helped her keep it hidden at school, and then she just stayed home for the rest of her pregnancy. I just can't believe I never even knew," Bella said quietly.
"It's probably something that was too painful for them to discuss. Does it change your view of her?" I asked.
"Not at all. If anything, I'm even more in awe of the person she was. To know that her life had so much pain and still ended in tragedy just really fucking sucks. She deserved so much better," Bella said angrily.
"I didn't know her, but I'd be willing to be that her life had some pretty beautiful spots, too. She clearly adored you. You heard your mom; you were the love of her life. She treated you like her own—"
"Like her own daughter," Bella said with a gasp. "That's why she always doted on me. All the motherly ways she treated me. The gifts, the girls' nights, the way she was always there for all the biggest moments. She was making up for the daughter she had to give up. She was giving all of her instincts over to loving me," Bella said, her tears flowing freely again.
"She really cherished you, sweetheart. I wish I could have had a chance to meet her," I said sadly.
"Me, too. So much," Bella said.
We spent the rest of the evening, after Bella had a chance to calm a bit, relaxing in bed with a movie.
About halfway through, Bella slipped her hand under the blankets and into my waistband. It didn't take long for her to have me panting with her mouth around me, but I stopped her before I could finish.
She sat up and pulled all of her clothes off, helping me take my own t-shirt and shorts off while I was still laying on my back.
Quietly, Bella moved over me and lined us up, sliding herself down onto me and making us both moan.
She looked ethereal with the glow of the TV behind her in the darkened room.
"I love you," she sighed as my thumb rubbed her until she was shaking around me, urging my own release.
"I love you, angel," I whispered as she laid down on my chest, still connected to me.
I wasn't sure if sex was always the best way to deal with heartache, but with her, for us, it was so much more than just sex. It was pure, head over heels, can't live without each other love.
Later that night, we were both nearly asleep when her phone chimed lightly from the nightstand.
She reached for it in the dark and I heard her unlock it.
"Oh my gosh," she said, sitting up.
"What, what is it?" I asked.
"He emailed back. Laurent. He got my email and finally replied. He's going to be in town next month. He wants to meet me. They want to meet me," she said shakily.
"They? Who's they?" I asked.
"Laurent and Rachel. His daughter."
Thoughts?