Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews! I love hearing your theories on my story. Also, big THANKS to Gabby!
Seventeen months later . . .
Loud wailing made Edward flop on his back, cursing loudly. He felt Bella turning on her other side, pulling the pillow over her ears.
He nudged her with his foot.
"No way, dude! I stayed with her the whole day," she groaned.
"Fuck," Edward spat, rolling out of the bed. He stumbled to the crib by the window. On the way there, he stepped on God knew what hellish toy which squeaked loudly, which seemed to cut through his foot. "Piece of shit." He kicked away the offending toy.
As he picked up Cynthia, Edward cursed Jasper and Alice to the deepest pits of hell for dropping their daughter on their heads. Jasper had gotten a call from his folks, regarding his old man's health problems. Alice had said that environment was no place for a baby, and they trusted Edward and Bella to take care of their little girl.
"I'm here, shhh." Edward picked up Cynthia. She'd seemed to be the best-behaved baby on the times they used to visit their friends. Cynthia was showing her true colors now that she was alone with them.
They were barely day three into taking care of her, and Edward questioned himself for once upon a time wanting a baby.
"She's probably hungry," Bella said sleepily. "There's a bottle ready to be heated in the refrigerator."
"Up for some midnight snack?" he prodded the baby.
"No!"
"Of course." Edward rolled his eyes. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that word was her favorite. It wasn't like Cynthia could say a lot, but 'no' was her top favorite, up there with 'mama' and 'da'. She'd mastered part of Bella's name, calling her 'Ella', though she had yet to identify Edward as someone she knew better. Tanya was 'Nya', which was hilarious.
Edward worked on heating the bottle, before slumping on the couch to feed Cynthia. She slapped the bottle, and it took Edward's quick reflexes from spilling the milk all over the floor.
"Not hungry?"
"No!" Cynthia wailed, tears springing into her blue eyes.
"Shit. Don't start crying." Edward had no idea what to do.
Alice had brought over everything they could possibly need from a crib, booster seat for the car, tall chair for her feeding, diapers, formula and other jars filled with putrid smelling baby food, a shit-ton of toys, and even more clothes. What she had failed to leave with them was the instruction manual.
When Cynthia burst into tears, Edward knew she wasn't going to stop crying if he demanded for her to stop it. He'd seen Bella patting Cynthia's back to soothe her, and tried that. It worked for a few seconds only.
He tried feeding her again, hoping she'd calm down already.
He'd had a long day at work, which concluded with a business dinner, and arriving home close to ten o'clock at night. Bella had been asleep when he'd gotten in bed behind her.
Cynthia seemed to have conceded that she was indeed hungry, and started sucking at her milk. Edward went to the window, staring off into the visible ocean line.
The second anniversary of the fateful day that still haunted him was only a week away. Edward was bracing himself for the moment it would hit him. He'd caught Bella staring at him more carefully, but he'd done his best to ignore the looks.
The previous year, Edward had been set to completely ignore the day, but Bella had dragged him to the car, saying they were going out. They had ended up at the cemetery, where Jasper had been waiting for them.
He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the tall window. This could have been his life. He looked down at Cynthia to find her eyes dropping. She'd fallen asleep while eating.
Alice had lied to them, saying Cynthia slept through the night, considering she was eight months old. It might have been the new house, not seeing her parents, but Edward was eager to return her to them sooner rather than later.
Edward dumped the half-eaten bottle in the sink, returning Cynthia to her crib. She'd outgrown it several months ago, but Edward was grateful Alice had brought it over, instead of a bigger bed for Cynthia. It was enough his house was filled with so much baby stuff that it would put to shame any respectable baby store.
When he got under the blanket, Bella shifted closer, curling against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, thinking back on the day he'd told her everything about his first year in college and Siobhan. Edward had also talked about it with Jasper, and he was working on trusting other people not to implicitly hurt him if they touched him when he wasn't paying attention.
Jasper had instructed Bella to work on that with Edward. Being a lab rat had nearly cost Bella being punched and thrown away several times, but Edward was becoming more trustful about unsuspecting hands on his body.
Bella had accepted to move in with him around the previous Christmas, only because she rarely stayed over at her studio anymore.
She's taken her rightful job at the bar, as the owner. Garrett was her right man, but she handled all the contracts and deals, which gave her a regular schedule. She didn't even have to be there eight hours per day, but she loved Eclipse and always found something to do there.
"She asleep?" Bella mumbled into his neck.
"I thought you were sleeping."
"Yeah, right." Bella nosed at his neck, snuggling closer. Her breathing evened, which meant she was falling asleep, too.
Edward stroked a hand down her back, while combing his other hand through her hair. Bella had decided to chop off her hair several weeks ago for no apparent reason. Her explanation had been, "I felt like it."
Edward had to admit the new looked suited her as well as her previous one, but he missed her long hair. He used to love running his fingers through it, gripping it when they fucked, playing with some random strand escaped from her ponytail. He'd have to get used to this, and accept that women did all sorts of weird shit without a logical explanation.
Like, his sister sending Emmett out to the store in the middle of the night to buy her Oreos, only to call him while he was at the store and ask where in the hell he was. Granted, she'd told the family not a week later that she was pregnant.
Bella had told him that babies was something she didn't want, but if it happened due to a mistake, she would accept it. Edward respected her wish, and after having Cynthia over, he was sure he shared Bella's views on babies.
His mother had to live her grandma dream through Rosalie.
Bella's lips kissed under his jaw. "I want pancakes tomorrow."
It had taken Edward a long time to understand that sometimes Bella talked in her sleep. The first few times, he'd been intrigued by the conversations he could carry with her asleep.
"Anything." He kissed her forehead, chuckling.
In the morning, Edward seriously debated calling in sick. He knew there was no way in hell he'd be at work on time, having overslept due to not hearing the alarm. Bella hadn't woken him up and Cynthia was absent from the room, which had resulted into a peaceful sleep.
"More coffee?" Tanya offered, bringing over the carafe to the island, where Edward was still nursing his first cup. It took serious skill to hold the baby and anything else, really.
"If I have a second one now, then drink another one at work, I'll start climbing on the walls." He finished his cup in two long gulps. "Did Bella leave?"
"Mmmm…She mentioned something about a shipment arriving this morning." Tanya shrugged.
Edward knew that Bella usually allowed Garrett to handle that part, but she'd do anything to be away from the demon child.
"Are you going to work today, sir?"
"At some point." He had an important meeting around lunchtime, so he might make it then.
"Do you mind?" Tanya handed Cynthia to him. She went back to cleaning the kitchen.
Felix walked inside the house, while Edward was reaching across the island for one of Cynthia's toys. The last thing he needed, was to hear her start crying.
"Morning," Edward greeted him, rearranging Cynthia in his arms.
"Sir," Felix nodded solemnly. "Your mother just parked out front."
"What could she want?"
Felix shrugged. "Just letting you know."
His parents had gone on the East Coast for a short break. Edward couldn't remember when they were due back, but apparently they had returned.
His mom's impromptu visit during his work hours proved she knew she'd find him home, or maybe she was there to talk to her new BFF. Bella was on first name basis with his parents, and they had taken to her, always telling Edward how much they adored her.
Holding Cynthia in one arm, Edward went to the door, ready to shoo his mother away. It slipped his mind that she wouldn't know about them babysitting.
"What can I do for you this morning, Mom?" he asked, leaning against the open door, stopping his mother in her tracks on the threshold.
She stared at him in shock, opening and closing her mouth.
Cynthia turned to inspect the new person, while chewing on one of her toy bunny's ears.
Edward closed his eyes, realizing his lapse of judgement. When he chanced another look at his mom, she was staring curiously at Cynthia.
"No, you haven't lost your mind," Edward said teasingly. "This is Cynthia – Jasper and Alice's girl. We're babysitting."
"Oh, dear!" His mom touched her heart, giggling shakily.
"So, why are you here?"
"Aren't you going to invite me inside? I wasn't expecting to find you home."
"Well, here I am." Edward walked backwards. "Your bestie is at work."
His mom rolled her eyes. "Actually, I need to ask Tanya a favor. Is she around?"
"Tanya?"
"Yes." His mom looked around, spotting Tanya loading the dishwasher. "I'd like to throw your dad a nice birthday party. He's turning sixty. I'm gonna need help with the cake. I'm not a baker."
Edward pursed his lips. "Did you think, to maybe, ask me if I could spare Tanya?"
"We're talking about it now. She will be gone for a few hours at most."
"Maybe you should check with her if she wants to do it…" Edward narrowed his eyes at his mother. "She has no obligation to you."
Cynthia squirmed in his arms, bending down. Edward held her with both hands, then he slowly let her down to crawl around.
"Look, you can have Tanya, but only if she has the time. When do you plan on throwing this party?"
His mother stared at Cynthia, mesmerized, for some time, before focusing back on him. "This weekend. I've got everything else prepared. Your sister helped by calling his friends while we were away."
"Tanya?" Edward called over his shoulder. "Come here for a minute, please."
She approached them, curiously.
He was about to explain that she should consider helping his mom, or he'd never hear the end of it, when his phone buzzed from the kitchen island. As he went to retrieve it, he heard his mom telling Tanya what she wanted.
Tanya had helped his mom before, on several occasions, but Edward didn't like loaning his housekeeper to his mother. His mom hadn't even liked Tanya when Edward had first hired her, always complaining that he didn't need a live-in maid.
Maybe that was the main reason, Edward was reticent to allowing Tanya to go over to his parents' house. After the first time, Tanya had helped his mother with cooking for some social event, it had taken Edward a while to notice Tanya was upset. When he'd confronted her, she'd admitted that she'd rather only help him, not his whole family. Edward didn't have to be a genius to understand his mother had been unkind to her.
Though, over the years, his mom had warmed up to Tanya, even praised her for taking care of her son.
Edward answered his phone, heading toward his bedroom. "Yeah, Ben."
"Are you stuck in traffic?"
"Why?" Edward chose to ask, instead of telling his friend and business partner that he couldn't handle a sleepless night because of a baby.
"We've got a visit from Tyler Crowley."
"Fuck me."
"He wants to pull out. I guess our chat with his team, the other week, was a scheme to see how far we'd bend."
"Is he still there?" Edward kicked in the door of the walk-in closet. Fucking piece of shit Crowley. They had a deal about the new harbor reconstruction, but it seemed the man liked to keep his business in many places, testing the waters. Edward could bet his whole fortune that the shit was going to some other company.
"Yeah, right," Ben snorted. "He stormed in here, said his piece, then stormed out. Quite the lovely character."
"I'll go over to him."
"Try not to punch him," Ben joked.
Edward hung up, hurriedly getting into his suit. When he returned to the living room, he stared in surprise at his mother playing with Cynthia on the couch.
It was clear in that moment. He wasn't cut out to be a parent. He'd somehow forgotten about the kid.
"I have to go," Edward announced. "Where's Felix?" He looked around, frowning, at his missing driver.
"You said you'd head to work later, sir. Felix went to the store. We're down to three diapers," Tanya explained.
"Shit." He went to his mom. "See you on Saturday. We'll hopefully be baby-free by then." He leaned to kiss her head, then turned to Tanya. "Keep Felix here. I bet you'll need help with her." Edward pointed to Cynthia.
"Uh, Bella took your car, sir. Remember, hers is still at the garage?" Tanya said meekly.
"Good thing I have several others, huh?" Edward hurried to the garage, taking the keys for the Mercedes. He knew for a fact it had gas, having taken it for a drive with Bella the previous weekend.
Being behind the wheel, no longer terrified him, but when he hit the gas, the adrenaline rush teetered on the edge of pushing him into a panic attack. Edward kept his eyes on the road, not allowing his mind to slip. He had some business to deal with, there was no time for his head to go scary places.
How was this?
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