CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
TONY'S POV:
I watched Mommy and Daddy in the car on the way to the shake place to see if they were in love, but I don't think the mission worked. There was no hand holding or smiling at each other. No yucky kisses. Mommy was looking out the window, and Daddy was just driving. Did they not have a 'mantic evening? Maybe they were fighting, and now they aren't talking to each other. This is not good.
"You okay back there, buddy? Why are you frowning," Daddy asked me. He was looking at me in the middle mirror that sees into the backseat. I didn't realize that I was frowning, so I quickly put a big smile on my face.
"I'm okay. Just trying to decide what kinda ice cream drink I want to get. The one you talked about sounds yummy with the marshmallows. But how do you make hot chocolate cold and frozen? Isn't it not hot chocolate anymore then?" I asked him.
"I know it seems silly that something can be both hot and cold at the same time. They use the hot chocolate cocoa mix to make the frozen treat. So, it still is hot chocolate, just at a different temperature," he explained.
"That's so cool. I think I want that one. But I still don't know. What other kinds of flavors do they have?" I wondered.
"They have the usual flavors like chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla; but they always have new specials that they create every month, so we'll have to wait and see the menu when we get there. We're almost there."
"Are you excited Mommy for ice cream drinks?" I asked her, trying to get her to join the conversation. She hasn't said much since we left Aunt Alice's place. I hope she isn't still mad at me for being a rude boy.
"Sounds yummy," she told me with a smile. I guess she isn't still mad then. "Have fun. With Sophia?" she asked.
"It was so much fun Mommy! She has bunk beds—that's two beds in one! We took turns who got to sleep on the top, and who got to sleep on the bottom. We set an alarm for the middle of the night, and then we switched beds. Aunt Alice told us to stop being silly and just to sleep though."
"Doesn't sound. Like you. Got. Much sleep," Mommy said. "Thought you. Were tired."
"I got lots of sleep. We only switched the one time, and my eyes were still closed when we switched beds, so I was almost asleep already when I laid back down. I liked sleeping on the top bed though. I was so high up Mommy! I think I want bunk beds at home"
"Maybe. Might like. Other beds, too," she offered.
"There are lots of big boy beds out there. For example, there are beds that are loft beds, so they have the ladder to get up there, like the bunk bed. But instead of a bed underneath, there is space where you can put a desk and do homework, or you could set up a play space for make-believe games."
"Really? That sounds awesome!"
"Yea. Maybe we can go look at them one day, so you can see all the different choices. You don't want to settle for the first cool bed you see—you might miss out on even cooler ones," Daddy told me.
"That's true. I don't want to miss out on the others. When can we go look? Tomorrow?" I asked him.
"I'm back to work tomorrow buddy. But we can go on my next day off, I promise," he said.
"But I like when you spend all day with me," I whined.
"I like those days best too buddy, but I have to work. The hospital needs me."
"I know, but I needs you too," I said, crossing my arms. Now that we are here in Chicago, and I get to see Daddy more, I want to see him all the time. And I need to see him all the time in order to get my mission to work since it seems to have done badly yesterday.
"Tony, stop. Still see. Daddy. After work," Mommy explained to me.
"Yup, we can have dinners at Grandmas. Or maybe the three of us can go out sometimes to eat to mix things up. There will be plenty of other adventure days too. We can't do them everyday though, because then we'd run out of things to do. That's why we have to spread them out."
"I guess that makes sense." I said, uncrossing my arms.
"We're here! Let's go get some shakes," Daddy said, rubbing his hands together showing how excited he was. I giggled at his behavior.
I watched from my booster seat as Daddy got Mommy out of the car and into her wheelchair. I still didn't see anything that showed they were in love with each other. I guess I will have to use this lunch as another 'mantic opportunity. I'll have to think of some good tricks. Once Mommy was settled, I unbuckled myself, and took Daddy's hand, and we walked towards JoJo's Shake Bar.
It was very crowded. I don't like when there are a lot of people, but at least this place wasn't too noisy. Daddy squeezed my hand which made me feel better. I didn't want to get lost. That would be scary. Even though there were a lot of people, we didn't have to wait for a table. The lady at the door brought us right back to sit down, and handed us our menus.
"I like all the colors in here," I said, looking around at all the decorations.
"Happening. Place," Mommy added.
"It is always this crowded, but that's because they have the best shakes, and everybody knows it. Let's see what the shake specials are for today," Daddy said. He looked at the chalkboard on the wall, and read all the choices to me. Each shake had so many different things in them. I was torn between the Three's Company one that had strawberry, banana and pineapple with chocolate, peanuts and cookies in it, and the Lucky Charms hot chocolate one that Daddy mentioned in the car. I didn't know which one to choose.
"What. Are you. Thinking," asked Mommy when she saw that I was thinking hard.
"I don't know which one to choose. I wanna see the frozen hot chocolate one since its cool to be both things at once, but the Three's Company one sounds yummy too," I told her.
"Might I make a suggestion buddy? The Three's Company one is always on JoJo's menu, so you can get that one next time. But the Lucky Charms one is only a special for Saint Patrick's Day, and since that happened already, it's going to disappear soon. I would get that one so you can try it and not miss out," Daddy told me.
"I want that one then!" I spoke. I definitely didn't want to miss out on it.
"Me either. I pick. Get Lucky. Shake," Mommy said.
"You want to try and get lucky?" Daddy asked Mommy. Mommy smacked Daddy in the chest. I was confused, because Daddy was just repeating what Mommy said.
"Why did you hit Daddy? He was just checking if that is what you wanted," I asked Mommy.
"Yea Bella, why did you hit me? That was mean." Daddy had a pout on his face. I guess they really weren't getting along. I think their dinner make things worse. I wonder if Aunt Alice will know how to fix things.
Instead of answering our questions, Mommy rolled her eyes, and asked Edward, "Which are. You getting?"
"Hmm. Well, since I didn't get to have any dessert yesterday, I'm in the mood for something extra chocolaty today. I think I'm going to go with their Chocolate Nirvana shake."
"Why didn't you have dessert? Were you bad?" I asked him, hoping to find out what happened.
"No, we just ate too much food, and were full."
"Can I have a taste of your chocolate one when it comes Daddy?" I asked him, because that one sounded good too.
"Sure, you can. Maybe we can all try each other's. How does that sound?" I nodded my head, pleased with that idea. Daddy then turned to look at Mommy, "Would you share your shake with us, Bella? It might be good enough to bring all the boys to the yard."
"What?" she asked Daddy. I wasn't sure why Mommy's drink would make boys come to our yard. Daddy wasn't making any sense.
"Just another euphemism. Think of songs from the early 2000s. Anyways, I just think you should let me try yours because I think my chocolate would go nicely with your mint one."
"Maybe. If you. Behave."
"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm on my best behavior," Edward said, though he laughed while he said it. I think that he might be lying, but I wasn't sure. Grown ups are confusing sometimes.
EDWARD'S POV:
I admit, I was pushing my luck. But I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to not touch and be with Bella while Tony is around. It's been barely an hour, and I'm already struggling. The only thing working for me here is that if I talk in innuendos, Tony won't know what I'm referring to. I just don't want to go too far and make Bella uncomfortable. It was a fine line I was toeing, but I was willing to risk Bella's ire to see how far I could take things. I was having fun talking in code.
Focusing on Tony, I asked him, "So, now that we figured out drinks, what are you going to fill your belly with?"
"I think I want to Chicken Fingers."
"Good choice. I know the shake is going to be extra yummy, but you have to eat all of your chicken okay? Otherwise, your Mom is going to yell at me for letting you eat too much sugar. Do you think you can do that for me?"
"Sure! I'm a big boy, and I will make all the chicken disappear."
"Alright good."
The waitress made her way over, and we spent time giving her our orders. I chuckled to myself when I heard Bella order the Walking Taco Salad. Man, could I take that one for a run around the park, but I bit my tongue. I needed to space out my innuendos. I think she was onto me though because she spared me a look before handing her menu back to the waitress. Figuring she was onto me anyways, I texted her my dirty thought:
You gonna Taco dirty to me? –Edward
I figured I'd start with a play on words, and test the mood. Bella snorted, but didn't reply. So, I upped my game.
Walking taco? Is that pussy to-go? –Edward
I heard her quick inhale of breath. I guess she wasn't expecting me to go there. Still, she didn't respond. I was getting ready to text her one more time, but Tony distracted me by asking a question.
"So how was dinner? Did you guys have a good time?" he inquired. You could see the hopeful look on his face. It truly was adorable. Chancing a look at Bella, I saw that she was biting her lip. I wasn't sure if she was still thinking about my text, or if she was figuring out what we were going to tell Tony. I guess she was leaving it up to me to answer the question.
"Dinner was good. We tried a restaurant that your Mom wanted to go to. It's owned by famous people that Mommy watches on TV. The food was delicious, and we'll have to go back and try new things next time."
"You had a good time Mommy? With Daddy?" he pressed further. Apparently, I didn't give him enough information.
"Was ok. Missed you. Though," she replied.
Tony frowned slightly, but caught himself. He put a smile on his face. "I missed you too. I just was so tired though. But we're together now, so we can make up for it. No more missing me."
"Why do you think you were so tired? I hope you aren't getting sick," I asked him, seeing how far he would take this.
"I don't feel sick. I think my body was just so excited about all the things we did and saw yesterday that it got sleepy all of a sudden. But after sleeping all night at Sophia's, my body feels all better."
"That's good. Was worried," Bella said.
"No need to worry. I'm all good. I like spending time with Aunt Alice and Sophia. I don't mind going over there sometimes. And it's okay to have some time alone without me. All grown-ups need no kid time. I heard Ms. Angela talk about that at the fun center."
"Did you?" Bella asked, her eyebrow raised. I get the sense that she didn't fully believe Tony.
"Yea. Brittany was sad that her Mommy and Daddy would go out at night and leave her at home with Mrs. Ateara as a babysitter. Brittany said Mrs. Ateara was old and smelly and boring, and she just wanted her parents there to tuck her in and read her bed time stories, but Ms. Angela told her that sometimes parents need to be without kids and enjoy grown up time. Or else they would get cranky and yell at kids more."
"I see," Bella replied. Sounds like he was telling the truth, though I doubt that was the reason he faked tired yesterday. There was more to this.
"It's true, parents need adult-time. But thankfully, there are so many people in our family that you don't need to worry about not liking a babysitter. I'm sure Aunt Alice, or Uncle Emmett, or even Grandma can watch you to give your mother a break." I purposefully left myself out to see how he would respond.
"What about you?" he asked me, playing right into my hands.
"Well, sure, I can watch you too when I'm not working."
"But..." he trailed off, clearly not sure how to ask why Bella and I wouldn't be together.
"But what. Tony?" Bella asked him.
When he still didn't answer, I added, "You can tell us anything; you know that, right? You don't need to be shy."
Though he still seemed unsure, Tony finally said, "I thought that you and Mommy were working on becoming friends, so I thought that you should be together more so that you could become good friends. Not be separate."
"Oh, so you want Mommy and me to go out together more alone, so that we can work on becoming close again?" I asked him, wanting to clarify. At least he was being partially honest with us.
"Yeah, that's it. I think you should go out together more. And I can go spend time with the family," Tony said excitedly.
"While I personally would love the opportunity to Netflix and Chill with your mother, I think that there might be more to this than just you wanting us to be better friends."
"No Daddy. Netflix is at home. You guys need to go out of the house together," Tony explained. I love how he is just messing up all my euphemisms today.
Not wanting Tony to miss the point that I was trying to make, Bella leaned forward, and took Tony's hand. "Acting. Suspicious. Yesterday. What's new. Mission?"
"I can't tell you about my mission. A spy never tells. It's a secret, and needs to stay a secret," he replied, though you could see he was worried that we knew about the mission.
"Well, what if we guess what the mission is? Does it have to be a secret then?" I asked, trying to move this along.
"You can try, but it's top secret. I don't think you will guess," Tony sassed.
"Well, before we went to Aunt Alice's, you mentioned romantic dinners, so I think you may want your Mom and I to be more than just friends."
Tony's eyes widened. I couldn't help but laugh at his expression. Did he really think he was being that smooth and hiding his true intentions? I guess so.
"Uhh…" he said, trying to backtrack. Lucky for him, the waitress chose that time to bring us our food and drinks, so the conversation got put on hold.
Tony must have spent five whole minutes talking about his shake and how wonderful it was. He tried both mine and Bella's shakes too. You could tell he was trying to distract us from the conversation. We appeased him for a little bit, but then Bella jumped right back in. "Is that. The mission? Romance?" She asked him.
Tony just gave us a shrug. We obviously weren't going to get a real answer out of him. To avoid making him uncomfortable, I figured it was up to me to explain to him the situation.
"I can understand that you want your Mom and me to be together and be in love. That is what most parents are like. But your mom and I don't have to be romantic and in love for us to be a family. There are so many different kinds of families out there. Some have two parents that live together, some have two parents that live apart. Some have more than two parents. Some even only have one parent, like you did in the beginning."
"I know all this," Tony said, his expression so sad.
"Well, while we appreciate you trying to set us up and send us on a romantic dinner, we just want you to know that you don't have to do that. Mom and I will continue to hang out and spend time together because you are right, we are working to be better friends. And to do that, we need to spend time together alone. But we just don't want to get your hopes up if you are thinking this is going to end up like a Disney movie and we are all going to live happily ever after together."
Tony mumbled something so quiet, that I didn't pick up on what he said. I asked him to repeat himself. After much reluctance, he said, "But that is what I want. To live happily ever after, together." His emphasis on the last word making the situation a little clearer.
Bella was right. Us living under one roof in Washington confused him. Well, it didn't confuse him—it just showed him what he wanted. Hell, it's what I want too, but that's not the point here. This just proves that them being at Mom and Dad's clearly is the right choice here, until Bella and I hammer things out. I'm hoping her time here in Chicago will help us figure out what we're going to do.
"We will. Be close to. Daddy. Always. But not. Same house," Bella tried to explain, but was frustrated by her limited speech.
"But why? Houses are big. We could make it work all together. Like in Forks, Daddy upstairs, you downstairs. We could still be together."
"That's just not how things work buddy. I don't know where we are going to end up—whether its back in Forks, or here in Chicago. But regardless where we all live, we will be close. And we will be a family. I promise you buddy," I emphasized, hoping to assure him that regardless where we laid our heads at night, we would still be a family.
Tony wasn't happy, but he still was willing to push the boundaries. "How close? Can you live next door to us then? That's close. We can share a yard."
I laughed at his tenacity. "We'll figure that all out in the future. Right now, we are just focusing on Mommy and me working together, and the three of us being a family, okay? Your Mom's gotta learn how to share you with me. That's a hard lesson."
"Hey!" Bella said, acting all mad. "I'm sharing. Pretty good."
"You are. But there's always room for improvement," I cheekily replied.
I thought we were done with the conversation, but Bella had one more question for him. "Who's idea. Was the Mission? Was it. Alice?"
Surprisingly, Tony shook his head no. "It was mine and Sophia. We were playing house, and I was sad because the house wasn't like my house, and I wanted Daddy to live with us, so we decided to come up with the mission to get Mommy to fall in love Edward. We watched all the Disney movies to get ideas. That's why I told Daddy to take you to get spaghetti, like in Lady and the Tramp."
"Did Alice know about the mission?" I asked, because she clearly was way too excited to help out yesterday.
"Not right away, but Sophia said she was good at advice, so we asked her for help towards the end."
With that awkwardness out of the way, we switched topics, and asked him more about his time with his cousin. He told us about how since he was tired yesterday, they just watched a movie, had a light dinner of pizza bagels, and then they both went to bed. Seems he wasn't that far off from the truth despite his bad acting. Tony went on to explain how he was surprised that Aunt Alice had boy's clothes at her house since Sophia was a girl, but that he had lots to choose from for pajamas, and today's outfit. That really didn't surprise me. I bet Alice went out and shopped for Tony the second she learned about his existence.
In no time, we finished up our lunches, and decided just to head back to Mom and Dad's to relax before the crowds arrived. I just wanted to spend as much time with my family before I had to go back to work tomorrow. These last two days I was spoiled. I felt like I was on vacation again, but it couldn't last. Thankfully, my hours weren't that extreme that I could see them in the evenings. And boy was I looking forward to my evenings now that Bella was mine.
To pass the time, we decided to play a boardgame. Tony went through all the games Mom and Dad had in the rec room. He came back with Clue. "I've never played this before, but now that I'm a spy and I'm good at missions, I think I might be good at this one."
I looked to Bella for guidance, but she just shrugged. "Okay, we will give it a try. It might be too hard though—so if you get frustrated, let us know, and we can try a different game, or work as a team."
I hadn't played Clue in such a long time, and maybe I was out of practice, but for some reason, as Tony and Bella would call out their guesses, I wasn't envisioning murder. Mrs. Scarlett with the rope in the library? I was picturing bondage. Throw in the lead pipe, or the candlestick, and my mind was just thinking BDSM scenarios. Essentially, this child's game was turning me on, and because of Tony I couldn't touch or kiss Bella or do anything about it.
I must have done something right for the gods blessed me with a reprieve. Tony said, "I gotta go potty. I'll be back," and ran off, finally leaving me alone with the woman I wanted.
I took advantage of our time alone, sliding closer to Bella on the couch. I kissed her good, but not too long as I did not want to get caught. Pulling away, I leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "When did Hasbro make such a dirty game?"
"Huh?" Bella asked me, confused by my question.
"I swear this game is talking about bondage and BDSM situations. If I hear you ask about Mrs. Scarlett and that lead pipe one more time, I'm going to have to show you where I'd like to put my lead pipe."
"Edward!" Bella exclaimed. At first, I thought I might have pushed her too far, but she didn't look mad. Simply flushed. Hmm, I wonder if this game is turning her on too.
"Is this game making you think dirty thoughts too Bella?"
"Not. Going there," she replied, turning away so I couldn't see her red cheeks.
Not wanting to push my luck, I laid a kiss to her neck, then mumbled, ", I didn't realize how hard it was going to be not to kiss you any time I wanted. You spoiled me yesterday. How am I going to cope now?"
"Save kisses. Up. For later. More to. Look forward. To," Bella offered, though I think I could sense a bit of longing in her eyes as well.
"Quick, give me one more before he comes back. Wouldn't want to undo all the groundwork we laid out at lunch." Bella appeased me with a quick peck, before pulling away, and putting distance between us. Needing a moment to settle down myself, I went to grab the three of us drinks in the kitchen. There I found Mom prepping for dinner.
"Having fun in there? Tony sounds so animated every time he makes a prediction," she asked, as she laid another layer of her lasagna down in the pan.
"I don't think he fully gets the concept of keeping track of what has already been revealed, but he's doing pretty good regardless."
"And how are you doing? Having trouble keeping your hands to yourself?" she asked, a knowing smirk on her face.
"Mother! That is none of your business," I told her. Seriously, has she no boundaries?
"What? I simply ask because after your PDA this morning, I figured this must be killing you to keep a low profile in front of Tony. That's all." She tried to sound all innocent, but I didn't believe her. My family is way too nosey.
With a sigh, I told her, "This is all just an adjustment. We'll get the hang of things eventually."
"I'm sure you will, baby. I'm just so happy for you. In the end, you get the girl and the family. Its just so storybook, you know?" she gushed, as she went about her work.
"Don't jinx it Mom. This is all so new—there's still time for me to mess things up, or for her to pull back and change her mind. And if you and the family put pressure on her, I'm worried she's going to turn tail, and run back to Washington. So please, lay off. And spread the word."
"Sweetheart, we aren't going to do anything that will jeopardize this for you. Everyone just wants to see you happy, and this is too important to mess around with. You'll see. Just have a little faith. And follow your heart."
"It will lead me to her, Ma, always," I told her, as I picked up the drinks, and headed back to my family.
Telling Bella what the game brought up for me probably wasn't a great idea, because I swear, she was phrasing her answers differently now, and was putting extra emphasis on the weapons. Or maybe I was just too far gone at this point and was making it all up in my head. Either way, she always seemed to make eye contact with me when predicting what was in the envelope. For the rest of the game, I was distracted, and it should come as no surprise that she ended up winning. Tony was happy for his mother's victory, and wanted to play again. Thankfully Bella bowed out, claiming we didn't have time for another game. It looked like he was going to argue, but again, she distracted him with a task.
"Go see. if Grandma. Needs help. Guests coming. Soon"
Tony dutifully ran off to offer his assistance. I needed to reward her for her quick thinking. Leaning forward, I told her, "You." *kiss "Are." *kiss "Such." *kiss "A." *kiss "Smart." *kiss "Lady."
After giving me one more substantial kiss, she pulled back, and said, "I try."
Now that we had some more time alone, I asked her, "How do you think lunch went? I explain things okay?"
"You did. Fine. It will. Take time. For him. To understand."
"Its hard not to tell him that what he wants is possibly in the works. I just want to see him happy," I confessed.
"But don't. Want to get. His hopes up. If things. Don't work out." Bella rationalized.
"That is not an option for me Bella. You are it. Forever. And always. This is going to work. We know what went wrong last time. We are going to work on our communication so things can't ever get as bad as they did before. You are going to be my wife one day. We are going to live together. We're going to expand our family. The only thing we need to work out is how quickly are we going to move in this relationship."
Bella was silent as she processed all that I had said. The longer she went without responding, the more I started to worry I had said too much. I keep forgetting that we've only been an "us" for less than 24 hours at this point. And here I was talking about marriage and babies. I can be such an idiot sometimes. Figuring I needed to save face, I added, "Again, I'm not saying this all is going to happen tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. But that is my endgame Bella. You, me, and Tony. In one house. Together. I'm not saying all of this to pressure you. If anything, I'm trying to reassure you that I'm serious, and I'm all in. Don't freak out on me now. We can take this as slow as you need to."
"Not. Freaking out. Just. Need slow." Bella finally answered me. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I hadn't messed things up already.
"We've got nothing but time baby. For now, let's just focus on getting you better, and reconnecting. Everything else will fall into place when the time is right."
The doorbell rang, alerting us that our moment alone was coming to an end. I gave her one more kiss, before pulling away from her. "Hopefully that'll last me until I get you alone again. You ready for the wolves to descend?"
"Think so. Hope they're. Not too. Obvious. Around Tony." Bella worried, as I helped her off the couch and into her wheelchair.
"They know better. I think the only one you have to worry about is Emmett and his big mouth, but even he has a sense of when to keep quiet. Come on, let's go give Mom her family reunion."
Dinner with the entire family was loud and boisterous. I have been to my fair share of dinners over the years, so I spent the time watching Tony interact with everyone. You would think that coming from a household of just him and his mother to all of this, all ten of us, he would be overwhelmed. But instead, he seemed to be thriving. Unlike his mother, Tony loved attention, and everyone wanted to talk with him, and listen to what he had to say. I'm sure as we have more dinners, and this becomes a normal occurrence for him, his enthusiasm will wane. But the joy he was exhibiting right now was just infectious.
Tonight, he was sitting next to Emmett, and he was telling him all about our adventure yesterday at the Navy Pier. While Tony was talking, the big lug kept stealing bites from Tony's garlic bread. Each time Tony would confront him, but Emmett would deny it. The proof would literally still be sitting in his mouth as he slowly chewed. Rosalie, who was sitting beside her husband, was smiling at their banter, but was quick to jump in and help Tony when she noticed he was getting frustrated.
Whacking Emmett in the back of the head, she told him, "You've got enough food on your own plate. Leave Tony's bread alone. He's a growing boy, and he needs his food."
Tony thanked Rosalie, but still looked unsure. Wondering what was up, I asked him, "What's wrong Tony?"
"I thought it was wrong to hit people. At the fun center, Ms. Angela says, 'You hit, you sit', which means you've been bad and need to sit in time out. But no one said anything to Rosie about keeping her hands to herself. Emmett was being naughty and eating up my bread, but he shouldn't get hit."
The table got quiet as they listened to Tony rationalize. What he said was 100% true. But what he doesn't know is that Rosalie is always hitting Emmett—it's just a part of their weird overly physical relationship. How was I going to explain this to him? Thankfully Mom stepped in and saved the day.
"Ms. Angela was right—it's important to keep your hands to yourself, and not hit others. But do you see how big Uncle Emmett is? He's like a bear, or a huge animal, right? And sometimes, when you need to control a big animal, you need to smack them. Over time, you will see Rosalie hitting Emmett, but it never hurts him. It's just to remind him to behave."
"But does it hurt Emmett's feelings getting hit?" Tony asked, trying to understand.
"If Emmett didn't like it, he would have spoken up, and told her to stop years ago. It's just something they do. I promise, it doesn't hurt him," Esme reiterated.
Emmett ruffled Tony's hair, before adding, "Yeah squirt. My head is as hard as a rock. It would take more than a little hit from my Rosie to hurt me. I think of it more as a love tap. It's her way of telling me she loves me, but I need to stop being so silly. And it worked, right? I haven't eaten anymore of your bread."
Tony looked down at his plate to see that what Emmett said was true. "I guess you're right."
"If it bothers you Tony, I can try to stop. But it may take me awhile to unlearn the behavior since I've done it for a really long time," Rosalie told Tony. The table looked at her in shock. No one tells Rosalie what to do, ever. The fact that she was offering to change her behavior for Tony was huge. Seeing all the eyes on her, she sent us all an icy glare that caused us to divert eye contact. Then, turning back to Tony, she asked, "What do you say?"
"I think that now I understand more, and if its something that Uncle Emmett needs to be a good grown-up, then its okay. As long as it doesn't hurt." Tony offered Rosalie a smile, to show that he was okay with it.
The conversations picked back up again, and I focused my attention at the other end of the table. Bella was sitting next to Alice, who was clearly grilling her for details. Bella was looking slightly flustered, but she seemed to be holding her own. She made eye contact with me, and I raised my eyebrow at her, essentially asking her if she was okay and needed saving. She simply offered me a shy smile, before answering another one of Alice's questions.
I was pulled back to the present when my tablemate addressed me. "That's quite a smile you've got on your face Edward. You get lucky already?" Jasper drawled, thankfully in a whisper so nobody else overheard.
"Nah man, just happy that we're all together. This dinner—this is everything I didn't know I was missing," I tried to explain, but I don't think I did it justice.
"I understand man. The switch from bachelorhood to fatherhood is a giant step, and it drastically changes the way you look at the world. Welcome to the club."
"Thanks J. It's a membership I didn't even realize I wanted, but now I can't imagine not being a part of it."
"Well, I'm here for you man, if you have questions, or need to bounce thoughts off of. I'm no expert, but I can relate. And considering our kids are besties, I'm sure we'll be spending more time together too."
"Besties? You hang out with Alice way too much, Jasper," I joked.
"She is my wife—who else would I rather spend my time with?" he countered. Sparing a look down the table at Bella, I could understand that desire as well. "You're lucky your son is distracted with Emmett because you're being too obvious man. You got to tone it down some," I heard to my right.
Turning back to Jasper, I asked, "Why? I'm being good?" I questioned, though I wasn't too secure in my answer. What was Jasper seeing?
"You look like a thirsty man looking for water in the Sahara Desert. Clearly, you are in the honeymoon stage of your new relationship, and yet, thanks to that parenthood club, you can't really act on your impulses. But, if you are trying to keep things low key to not get Tony's hopes up, you've got to hide it better. That will come with practice."
"I hate hiding it, but I understand not wanting to put the cart before the horse."
"Just be lucky that he's young, and his bedtime is relatively early. That gives you and Bella a reasonable amount of time alone each night to enjoy to your heart's desire," he offered.
"Can't wait," I mumbled, counting down the hours until I could have Bella in my arms again.
"I'll hurry Alice and Sophia out after dinner so you can get you some," Jasper chuckled.
"We're taking it slow, J, but thanks for the offer."
"Well, we'll still book it so you can spend some time alone at least. Alone time as a parent is few and far between. You've got to take advantage of it while you can," he reasoned.
"Truer words have never been spoken," I heard from my left. My Dad was weighing in as well. "Take advantage of any time you are given. Don't let the romance die because the kids take up so much of your time."
"Uh, thanks?" I said, not really wanting to hear this from my own father. He just chuckled at my resistance, before turning back to listen to Sophia talk about the latest picture she colored.
My family may never learn to butt out of my life. They will probably always be overly involved, and stick their noses where it doesn't belong. As annoying as it may be, I wouldn't want it any other way. I know they have my back, and they're going to help me navigate this new parenthood role. Or save me from ruining things with Bella. Hopefully with them behind me, I won't mess things up. And maybe sometime in the future, this entire table will be filled with Cullens. Tony already had my last name. There was just one more person I needed to convert. And I love a good challenge!