EPOV

Rose is pouring wine and laughing at whatever Bella is telling her when Emmett jabs me in the side, taking my attention away from the picture window.

"How's it been going with all of this?" He waves his barbecue tongs around. "You guys have been rather scarce since Marzipan's party."

"We saw you at my parents' house," I remind him. "Remember the cook off? Bella wiped the floor with your ass, and you pouted for the rest of the night."

"You know what I mean, asshole." He rolls his eyes.

I rub the back of my neck and sneak a glance back at the girls, catching Bella's eye for a fraction of a second. She's quick to look away, and Emmett clears his throat.

"It's been good, maybe even great," I tell him. "Marley is adjusting better than I thought she would. She likes having her mom here, and Bella's enjoying being able to experience things for the first time."

"I bet. Rose was worried with Bella around that Marley would forget about her."

"That would be impossible."

Emmett shrugs and closes the grill. "I think she might be ready to try starting a family again. She likes being a role model for Marley, but she understands that Bella is here now."

"Yeah?"

Emmett nods. "She hasn't come right out and said anything yet, but you know how she is. I'll eventually have to pry it out of her. Make it seem like it's my idea."

I sit down and grab my beer. "What are your thoughts on the subject?"

"I think it's time." He looks away. "We deserve the life we thought we were going to get with Emery."

I swallow hard and watch Marley, who's fashioned a towel into a makeshift cape, fly through the house. Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair is all over the place.

Ever since we got home from Disney, she's been pretending to be different animals. Today, she's a flying squirrel and tried to tell us at breakfast that she could only eat nuts.

I got to play bad cop and force a bowl of cereal down her throat while insisting that she leave the cape at home, and Bella got to play the good cop, packing her a Baggie of mixed nuts for snack time.

Good cop catches me staring and waves before turning back to Rose.

Marley waves and approaches the window, pressing her nose against it with a mischievous grin.

Emmett jumps up and bangs on the glass. "Hey! No pig nose inside the house! Go tell Rosie to get you some Windex, Marzipan. You're on window duty for the night."

Her giggle is muffled, but it's easy to read her lips. "No. Dork." She blows me a kiss and tries to wink, with both eyes, before turning and running off.

"Your kid is a mess." Emmett laughs.

"Don't I know it?" I hand him his beer.

"She makes me want it all though."

I tip my bottle to him, and we sit in comfortable silence while the food cooks, and the girls finish making the sides inside.

We both watch Bella trip over thin air and catch herself.

Emmett chuckles.

"It's crazy how similar they are. When I first saw her in Seattle it was like I was looking at a carbon copy of Marley in twenty years."

"I noticed that. Marzipan is practically Bella's clone, aside from the eyes." He gives me the side eye. "Marz isn't one of those test tube babies is she?"

"No." I choke on a laugh. "They've just got good genes."

"Speaking of jeans. I might be a married man, but I've got two eyes and twenty-twenty vision. Your girl Bella fills out a pair of jeans pretty damn well, if you ask me."

I shake my head and keep my mouth shut. I've known Emmett for years, and I'm used to the shit he gives me on a regular basis. I can't give him any indication that I have feelings for Bella.

"That's fine man. You don't have to say a word, but I see you looking. Appreciating that view."

The back door slides open, and a cape-clad Marley steps out barefoot. "I know I have to put my shoes on, but it'll only take a second." She climbs onto my lap. "I want to tell you something."

"What's that, Muffin?"

"I love you." She takes my face in her hands. "I really, really love you."

Emmett whistles. "Uh-oh. Sounds like she's trying to bait you, man. Watch out."

I bounce Marley on my knee and kiss her cheek. "I really love you too, Muffin. Now what do you want?"

She sighs dramatically. "Mommy said I had to ask you if I can have a cookie before dinner. I saw her and Aunt Rosie eating some in secret, but she said I have to ask you." She holds up her hands and makes a small circle. "It's just one, tiny, little cookie. Can I please have one?"

Emmett's laughing and flipping burgers.

"Sure, Muffin." I set her on her feet. "Tell your mother to stop trying to make me be the bad guy all the time."

She stops mid-step and turns around with her head cocked to the side. "You can't be the bad guy, Daddy. It's plausible."

"Impossible, kidlet," Emmett corrects her.

"It's what I said." She disappears inside, and we watch her head straight for the kitchen.

She delivers the message, and Bella mouths "sorry" through the window.

"That shits weird," Emmett mutters. "Tell your mother …"

"Yeah, I know."

~MM~

It's way past Marley's bedtime, and she's starting to get frustrated in her effort to stay awake.

Rose lays a blanket over the beanbag chair in the corner of the living room and tells her she can lie down if she wants, but Marley is determined to be a part of our activities at whatever capacity she can manage.

She's sitting on Bella's lap and blinking slowly as her mother kicks Uncle Emmett's ass in Boggle.

We already know how competitive the two of them are, and they are both unwilling to let the game end in a tie. The three of us—Rose, Marley, and me—have been watching them go at it for over an hour.

"I'm holding a kid on my lap and writing faster than you are," Bella goads while Rose tallies up the score for what feels like the fifteenth game. She rubs Marley's arms and sways her side to side.

"She's a lucky charm or something," Emmett argues. "Because there's no way you keep getting all these big words. No way."

Bella smiles into Marley's hair. "Just admit it, Emmett. I'm more intelligent than you."

He crosses his big meaty arms. "Never."

"I honestly can't believe this," Rose says apprehensively. "I checked it three times, but it's a perfect tie."

She turns to me. "The three of you might end up spending the night at this rate."

Bella picks up the Boggle board and hands it to an exhausted Marley to shake it up.

"One more game, McCarty. The winner gets bragging rights, and the loser gets to go to bed licking their wounds."

Emmett nods and cracks his knuckles before picking up his pen and pad of paper.

Marley turns and wraps herself around Bella with her face buried in her neck as Rose hits the timer and motions for me to follow her to the kitchen.

"I haven't had this much fun in ages, but that game is going in the trash tonight," she tells me as she wraps desserts in Tupperware. "Bella was telling me all about y'all's trip to Disney."

"We would have invited you guys, but the trip was for Marley and Bella."

"I know. She said it was a lot of fun. That Marley had a good time."

I scoff. "If having a good time means trying to get Bella and me together every chance she got, then yeah, she had a blast."

Rose laughs. "She mentioned that Marley was a little sneak."

"It's not like that though," I say sadly.

"Can you blame a girl for wanting her mommy and daddy to get together when they are so obviously perfect for each other though?"

"It's not like that," I repeat, and Rose rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, you've said that already. But everyone sees it, including a five year old—"

Emmett busts into the kitchen. "Marzipan passed out, and the timer went off forever ago, so come announce my victory. Bella wants to take the kiddo home tonight."

Bella wins.

Emmett pouts.

Marley sleeps the entire drive home.

I carry her into the house and up to my bedroom while Bella grabs a clean nightgown from her temporary room.

We work together to get her dressed for bed, and Bella tucks her underneath the covers, kissing her forehead before standing back up. Her eyes are misty and her nose is red, cheeks flushed from the wine she enjoyed tonight.

"I'll never get tired of doing that," she says softly.

I muffle a yawn against my knuckle. "Me neither."

Bella smiles. "Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight, cookie."