DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.
A Heartbeat & a Bump
Edward's POV
When we arrived at Dr. Johnson's office, Bella took my mother over to the counter and introduced her to Nurse Elliot. The three of them had a lengthy conversation about Bella and how much she looked like Renee these days. Bella smiled the entire time, not a single tear coming into those chocolate eyes of hers. I smiled, glad that she was able to hear these stories and actually enjoy them now.
Bella was finally called into the back and she practically skipped down the hall to meet up with Mallory and have her vitals taken. Bella wasn't all that happy with the weigh-in. Personally, I wasn't pleased with her blood pressure, but I kept quiet, waiting to see what Dr. Johnson would have to say about it.
Bella, my mother, and I were led into one of the exam rooms and left alone for Bella to change. Once she was in her gown, I lifted her up onto the table, just as I had done the previous visit and planned to do at every single visit. The last thing we needed was for her to fall while trying to hop up onto an exam table.
"I'm so excited," Bella chirped, squeezing my hand tightly.
"I know," I said, giving her a stern look. "Your blood pressure clearly showed that." Okay, so I wasn't going to be able to patiently wait for the doctor to mention it. But in my defense, too many things could happen from elevated blood pressure and I wasn't going to let Bella take chances with her life.
I tried to relax and think of what Emmett had told me. He'd said it was important to enjoy the pregnancy and not worry about things outside of my control. If nothing else, this baby was helping to make Emmett and me closer.
"It wasn't that bad," Bella protested, calling my attention back to her.
"It could be worse, but it certainly needs to be better," Dr. Johnson said, entering the room. "Hello, Bella, Edward."
"Hello," Bella chirped.
"Hi," I said, chuckling at Bella's enthusiasm despite my worries over her health. "Dr. Johnson, this is my mother, Esme."
"Ah! The lucky grandmother," Dr. Johnson said, shaking my mother's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Esme."
"And you, Dr. Johnson. Bella speaks very highly of you," my mother replied with a smile.
"That's good to hear. Hopefully, it means she's going to listen to me." Dr. Johnson turned his attention toward Bella, giving her a stern look. "Now, Bella, we need to talk about your blood pressure."
Bella pulled up her bottom lip and blew out a breath, ruffling the hair that was lying across her forehead. "I'm sorry for being so excited. But in my defense, I've been waiting weeks for this appointment."
"What exactly has you so worked up about our visit today?" Dr. Johnson asked, sitting on his stool and sliding it over to Bella's side.
"I want to hear my little boy's heartbeat," Bella replied, her eyes growing moist as her smile widened.
Dr. Johnson smiled along with her and patted her hand. "Why don't we do that first then? We'll give you a chance to relax and then we'll take your blood pressure again. If it's down, then we know you really were just overly excited."
He rolled out the ultrasound machine just as he'd done last time. He also warned Bella about the cold and then applied the gel to her stomach. The only differences were that this time, my mother was at my side and there was a fast-paced heartbeat filling the air around us.
Bella gasped and tears started to trickle out of her eyes. She looked up at me, giving the biggest smile I'd seen yet. "It's so beautiful, Edward! It's so fast, too."
"That's perfectly normal at this stage," Dr. Johnson assured her. "The rhythm is steady and strong, both excellent signs." My eyes were glued to the small screen as Dr. Johnson continued to move the wand along Bella's abdomen.
"Is that a foot?" my mother asked excitedly, leaning across Bella and pointing at the screen.
"Yes," Dr. Johnson chuckled. "And here's the other one," he added, moving the wand just a little more. The wand slowly inched across Bella's skin until the baby's head was in view.
"Is that…Is he…" I stuttered, not quite believing what I was seeing.
"If that is indeed a 'he', then he is sucking his thumb, Edward," Dr. Johnson replied.
"It's definitely a boy," Bella assured her doctor. "And he's going to look just like his daddy."
"Edward! Use your camera phone thingy and get a picture of that for your father," my mother ordered, shaking my arm.
"And send it to Emmett after. Oh, and Rosalie and Alice and Jasper, too! And don't forget Angela and Ben. And Jacob if you have his number." There were hardly any breaths between Bella's words.
"Isabella," I called, getting her to stop and take a breath.
"Sorry. I'm relaxing! I promise," she said sheepishly, relaxing completely against the table. "Is he still sucking his thumb?"
"Yes, Dear," Esme replied, moving up to stroke Bella's hair and help calm her. "But if you start moving around and getting all excited again, Edward won't be able to get the picture for you."
I quickly took a few pictures, knowing Dr. Johnson didn't have all day to spend on just us. He took a few measurements to calculate the baby's rate of development, and let Bella listen to the heartbeat one more time before turning off the machine.
"Yuck," Bella muttered as I helped her to wipe the gel from her stomach. "I'm going to need a shower when I get home."
"How about you take a bath instead?" I suggested.
"You're only saying that to get me off my feet."
"And your point?" I asked, smirking at her.
She poked her tongue at me, and then she smiled, letting me know she wasn't really upset with me.
"Time to check your blood pressure again," Dr. Johnson said, fixing the cuff against Bella's arm.
I didn't realize how nervous I was until my mother grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I gave her a thankful smile and a kiss on the cheek, glad that she was here with me. She knew about Bella's family history, too.
Dr. Johnson smiled as he lifted his head up. "Back within normal ranges," he announced happily. "But, Bella, you really are going to have to work harder at keeping yourself calm. It's not good for you, or the baby, for your blood pressure to be elevated for long."
"So what do I need to do?" Bella asked, as I helped her to sit up.
"First of all, calm down," Dr. Johnson said, giving Bella a stern look. "This is your first pregnancy, Bella. I want you to relax and enjoy every part of it. It'll make it that much better for you and your baby. As long as you're working, I want you to rest every chance you get. And if you're excited about something, sit down and tell someone. No jumping around, young lady."
"Yes, sir," Bella replied, looking repentant.
"Secondly, you're going to have to pay more attention to what you eat. Stay away from salty foods and snacks. Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, and stay away from caffeine as much as possible," Dr. Johnson instructed. "I would also suggest cutting back on sweets and red meat. Just practice moderation and you should be just fine," Dr. Johnson assured her.
Later that night, I held Bella in my arms, watching her sleep and waiting for my favorite part of the night to begin. She'd fallen asleep on my chest while we'd been discussing the types of houses we wanted to look at. My mother had recommended the daughter of one of her garden club members, and Bella and I would be viewing houses with Heidi this weekend.
"No, no baby," Bella sighed as her sleep-talking started. "Don't put the purple paint on Uncle Emmett. He likes red better." She shifted a little in my arms and then relaxed, a goofy smile spreading across her face. "You have daddy's hair. No, Alice. No hair-care products. He's only a baby."
I chuckled at her imaginative dreams, only slightly jealous that she hadn't said my name yet. In the past few weeks, more and more of her dreams were about our baby. But I knew my name would the last thing I heard before her talking stopped—that never changed.
"Rose, don't tell Edward," Bella sighed, her face scrunching up in aggravation. "The chicken wing followed me home and I had to eat it. Yes, it did the chicken dance. Why do you think I ate it?"
I couldn't stop myself from laughing loudly and I quickly pushed my lips together, hoping I hadn't woken her. She started to stir and her eyes fluttered a bit so I started to hum her lullaby, hoping to coax her back into a deep sleep.
She slowly relaxed, pulling herself closer to me at the same time. "Edward…" Her lips curled up into a smile as she repeated my name.
I still had no clue how I'd gotten so lucky, having this beautiful woman drop into my life and end up loving me. I'd never really put myself out there, too afraid of being hurt. If not for Alice being such a bossy big sister, I might never have met Bella…and my life certainly wouldn't have any sunlight to it. All of the warmth I felt came from the angel in my arms.
I carefully moved her off of me and under the covers, fairly certain that she would stay asleep. I had a few papers to look over for my classroom and I also wanted to sneak in some time at my piano.
My feet had just touched the living room floor when my cellphone buzzed, playing Emmett's very apt ringtone of "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182. If I didn't personally know him, I'd never believe he would be twenty-eight years old soon.
"Hey, Em," I answered.
"Eddie, what's up?"
"I still hate that name," I sighed, knowing that was exactly why Emmett did it.
"Thanks for the pic of my little nephew. Can't wait for when the little guy gives us a shot of his wanker. I'm putting that sucker on the fridge." And it was phrases like that, that made it impossible for me to believe Emmett was older than me.
"What can I do for you, Emmett?"
"You can put my baby sister on the old tel-e-phone."
"She's asleep."
"Already?"
"She had a full day."
"Yeah, and she is preggers. I remember how Rosie used to fall asleep on me all the time. So what'd the doc have good to say?"
"He said everything looked good with the baby and that the heartbeat sounded strong. He also wants Bella to work on relaxing more and watch her diet. Her blood pressure was a little high today."
"How high?"
"Only slightly elevated and Dr. Johnson assured us it was because Bella was so excited about the appointment today. He made her lie down and when he took her pressure again, it was back in the normal ranges."
"I know this kid isn't much to look at, but with his thumb like that, he's a cute kid already," Emmett chuckled, trying to move away from the serious part of the conversation. "But are you sure that's his thumb, Edward? Babies are pretty limber in the womb."
"Emmett, you're a pig."
"And your point?"
"None at all, Em. None at all."
"Hey, Rosie's calling for me so I'll talk with you later."
"Night, Emmett."
"Night, Eddie-boy," he chuckled before ending the call.
I shook my head as I put my phone away, knowing no amount of pleading was going to get Emmett to give up "Eddie" as a nickname for me. It was as permanent as Bella's "Tutor-boy".
I made my way into my music room, spreading my papers out across the top as I sat down at my bench. I'd just started working when my cellphone starting ringing again, playing another very familiar ringtone. I smiled as I pulled out the phone. "To what do I owe this honor, Mrs. Hale?"
"He's beautiful, Edward," Alice sobbed into the phone.
"What are you crying for?" I asked, trying not to laugh at her. She could be as silly as Bella some days.
"It's just so amazing, Edward. He's part of you and part of Bella and it's amazing."
"You said 'amazing' twice," I chuckled.
"So where is my best friend?" Alice sniffled.
"Sound asleep."
"Good. She needs to rest and take care of my little nephew."
"We're all going to be in trouble if this baby ends up being a girl," I laughed.
"No, we won't. We'll just have a beautiful little girl to spoil and dress up," Alice chirped. "So did Mom cry when she saw the picture?"
"Actually, Mom saw straight from the ultrasound screen, but there were no tears."
"Mom got to go?" Alice gasped. "How come I wasn't invited?"
"It was a last minute decision. If you want to be at an appointment, talk to Bella about it. I'm sure she won't mind."
"Of course she won't. I am her best friend after all."
I chuckled at my sister's silliness. "And as such, you'll have to behave. The doctor said to keep Bella calm, so you're going to have to tone down your exuberance around her. You know she gets just as hyper as you when the two of you get together."
Alice ignored my lecture, having heard it once before already. "So what did you think of seeing the baby today, little brother?"
"He's beautiful, Ali. Just like you said," I replied, smiling happily at the thought of my baby and his amazing mother.
"Jasper just came through the door," Alice announced, sounding very excited.
"What's he doing coming home so late?"
"Big, big project at the office. That promotion is so close. I'm so glad I just did the small wedding so Jasper could be here to work like this."
I could hear in her voice that she was excited to have him home, so I decided to let her off easy tonight. "Well, if anyone deserves a promotion, it's Jasper. Why don't you go tell him I said that?"
"Are you sure, Edward? I don't have to cut our call short."
"It's fine, Ali. I have some papers to grade anyway."
"Alright. I love you, little brother."
"I love you, big sis. Night."
"Kiss Bella and the baby for me!" Alice said quickly before hanging up.
I smiled as I laid my phone on the piano, wondering how Jasper put up with Alice's exuberance all day every day.
The next time I glanced at the phone, it was nearly midnight. I quickly gathered up the papers I'd brought downstairs and headed up to my room. I hadn't meant to stay up so late, but I'd started making progress on the baby's song and couldn't bring myself to stop.
I watched Bella's sleeping form as I changed into pajama pants; the way the moonlight came through the window and rested against her cheek made her skin look like porcelain from here. But I'd touched her face enough times to know her skin would feel like silk under my fingertips.
I slid under the covers and snuggled Bella closer to me, careful not to wake her. I placed a soft kiss on the small bump of her stomach and then whispered goodnight to my beautiful little family.
My Thursday morning started out in the best possible way…with my lovely wife whispering my name and kissing my lips. My arms wound around her as my eyes opened to take in the glorious sight of my angel. "Morning, Love."
"Morning, Edward. As peaceful as you looked sleeping, I had to wake you. We each have to go be Professor Cullen for our students."
"And you have to do it from your chair behind your desk," I reminded her.
"Sure, sure," Bella sighed. And then she instantly perked up. "Can we schedule lunch together today?"
"As long as you take something to snack on. I don't want you waiting until one-thirty to eat, Bella."
"Shows what you know," she chuckled. "Esme has been packing me snacks for the last two weeks. And before you even ask, yes, they're healthy."
"In that case, I would love to have lunch with my beautiful wife."
And because I had something so wonderful to look forward to, my day dragged on and on. It seemed nearly every one of my female students found a lame excuse to take up the little bit of time I had between classes. And one student in particular was more annoying than the others because she was actually holding me up from lunch with my wife.
"Victoria, I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to speak with you about this now. Come by my office tomorrow between four and five-thirty during the hours I normally set aside for my students. I have an extremely important meeting that I must get to," I explained while gathering my things and heading for the door.
"Okay, Professor. I'll see you tomorrow. It's a date," Victoria assured me as she made sure to try and leave through the door at the same time as me. But I'd seen girls like her before and I was able to move away quick enough to avoid her touching me. There was only one woman I wanted that close to me and she was probably growing very impatient with me at the moment.
With Victoria safely gone, I took off running, crossing the campus as quickly as I could. I'd promised Bella I would meet her at her classroom as soon as the period was over and now I was fifteen minutes late. I'd never liked being late, and I hated keeping my wife waiting.
I met up with Bella halfway to her building. "I'm so sorry, Bella," I said, putting an arm around her shoulders as we started walking toward the parking lot.
"It's fine," she said. "James entertained me until I got too bored waiting for you and decided to come find you myself."
"James?"
"He's one of my students. He's probably going to be the brightest in the class. His writing is a little rough, but he has great comprehension skills."
"And you just went completely over my head, Professor Cullen," I joked, leaning down to kiss the side of her neck.
"So why are you late?"
"One of my students ambushed me after class and I could barely get in a word to tell her I had somewhere extremely important to be."
"Her, huh?" Bella asked, looking up at me. "I've been wondering something, Honey."
"What's that, Love?"
"Do any of the females who take your class actually pass? Or are they all too distracted by the amazing Professor Cullen to get good grades?"
"Funny, Bella," I said, shaking my head at her.
"I'm just saying! If I was a student in your class, I'm sure I would have trouble tearing my eyes away from your green ones, or your hair, or the rest of you," she said, giggling at the end.
"Just get in the car," I chuckled, holding the door open for her. It was a nice change to have the teasing Bella back for a bit, even if she was giving me the hard time.
I drove us to Bella's new favorite spot—Panera—and stood in line for our food while Bella found us a place to sit. When I was finally able to join her, I found her sitting in a booth and rubbing her stomach.
"Are you feeling sick?" I asked, putting the plates down on the table.
"Nope!" she answered with a bright smile. "I'm finally getting a bump." She pulled me to sit down next to her and took my hand into hers, placing them both under her shirt. "Do you feel it?"
I was pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot, but I couldn't have cared less. This was too amazing not to be excited about it. "Yeah, I do."
"Just think, Edward! In four or five weeks, we should start to feel him kick for the first time."
"That'll be an amazing experience for us. Now, how about we get some food in you?"
Bella nodded her head and I took my hand back, sliding her plate in front of her. "Did you get everything like I wanted?" she asked.
"I asked for everything like you wanted, but I can't vouch for if the staff listened."
She lifted up a corner of her bread and inspected her sandwich. "Turkey, onions, cheese, pickles, mustard, ketchup, and just a little ranch…Yep! It's all here."
"Yum," I lied.
"Liar," Bella chuckled.
"Completely," I agreed.
"You know, you should leave the bacon off your Bacon Turkey Bravo. One of your perfect abs lost a fraction of definition and we can't have that. You must always look like a Greek God for me. I think you should diet," Bella announced, barely stopping herself from laughing. We both knew she was only teasing since we were exercising together in the afternoons to make sure Bella did her Baby Yoga like she was supposed to. Plus, I always left the bacon off since neither Bella nor I liked the stuff.
"And to think I was actually missing that sense of humor of yours," I teased, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
Bella just shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of her sandwich. "You're perfect, you know. Well, at least as much as any man can be."
"Thanks, I think," I laughed.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way. Just sometimes you get too protective, like Em. But I know you mean well."
"I do," I agreed.
As was usual with Bella, her next sentence had nothing to do with her previous one. "Edward, can you please either cook for your parents or send them out to dinner one night soon? I want to show them how much I appreciate everything they've been doing for us, especially your mother. I still can't believe she did our laundry like that."
"She really didn't mind," I assured Bella.
"I minded," Bella snorted. "It wouldn't have been bad if it had been our work clothes and stuff, but my unmentionables were in there."
"Unmentionables?" I laughed, unable to help myself.
Bella laughed, tossing a chip at me. "Yes! Especially to your mother! That racy black number you bought and like so much is not exactly something they had in your mother's time."
"Excuse you, but my mother is not that old. Her time isn't up yet and she has a few little racy items herself."
"And how do you know that?" Bella asked, looking shocked as she handed me her bottle of water to open.
I figured she was in a good mood and I could risk the truth. "When she helped me pick out your black outfit, she picked up a few things for herself."
"It's both nice and strange that your parents aren't the kind that pretend they've never had sex."
I nearly spit my own water all over myself at Bella's words. "Yeah, really good thing," I laughed. "Especially since Alice and I prove that they at least have some working knowledge of the mechanics of it all."
Bella gave me a bright smile as she looked up at me. "I love how you get wordy when you're nervous or surprised, Tutor-Boy."
I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, getting a wonderful kiss from my beautiful wife. "You spoil me, Isabella."
"And you don't do the same to me?" she laughed, scooting closer so that she was practically resting against my side. "At least the way I spoil you doesn't involve tons of money being spent."
"Eat your lunch," I said, shaking my head at her.
"We house hunt this weekend," Bella mentioned, pulling a pickle slice from her sandwich and popping it into her mouth.
"Yep. Maybe we'll see something we like and can afford."
"Yeah, well, the afford part not so much. At least not until Emmett can sell the house."
"He called last night. He finally got in touch with Heidi and she's going to go look at the house with him tomorrow. If she thinks there's potential, she's agreed to be the agent for a very reasonable fee."
"Please, please remind me to call Em and Alice tonight before I fall asleep. I haven't talked to either of them in days and they've got to be annoyed with me."
"No, they most certainly are not. They know you're pregnant and they both would rather you rest for you and the baby than to spend time listening to their nonsense."
"That's not true," Bella said, singing the words a little. "Alice never calls her fashion world nonsense. It is the axis of the world."
"Do you still want to go to the museum? Or was that just a late night idea?"
"Late night idea. I forgot about the house hunting. Oh! You know another great idea? We need to come up with a music list."
"For?"
"For the baby, Silly! We can pick which songs we want to expose him to, and then figure out what sort of taste in music he has. I hope he'll be eclectic and like lots of stuff."
"If he's anything like his mother, I'm sure he will be."
Bella's face lit up at my words, and I couldn't get over how much I'd missed seeing her smile like this. The second trimester was definitely a favorite of mine so far. Now if we could just get lucky with the house hunting, things would really be falling into place for us.
Thanks to George for being proofreader / idea bouncer-off-er.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I'm trying to help the Click for Free Mammogram website reach their monthly goal. Anyone who visits the October is Pink section of my webpage and emails me to let me know they've clicked will get a sneak peek at the Vampire Bella story I'm writing especially for Halloween. The link is on my profile page. It only takes a minute and it helps saves lives!
And thank you all for continuing to read and to enjoy this story! It makes my weekened to see how much you guys love them as humans.