Stolen Dreams
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all other recognizable features are the products of their owners—including this story. It belongs to me. Don't steal. It's rude.
A/N: So . . . as promised, I'm combining chapters 14 and 15 for you. The chapter break you see below marks the division between them. There should be a lot of answers contained herein and I expect to hear a lot of reactions when it's all said and done.
Thank you to all my readers for your words and encouragement. Thank you to Jenny Cullen for betaing and for her wise words.
Chapter 14
I heard a lot of shuffling and the overhead announcement from the airport's loud speaker through the phone. Seconds passed with Edward and me just staring at his handset.
"I guess you hadn't told them?" I whispered.
"No." He shook his head. "I didn't think . . . after everything . . ."
The noise decreased dramatically. I could hear the tell tale sound of automatic dryers and the occasional toilet flushing, but the ambient noise of the airport was greatly reduced.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I had to get somewhere quieter. And sit down. There're benches in here." Elizabeth was rambling. "I thought you said . . . well, that Ryan was alive and you were going to see him."
Edward's jaw twitched from gritting his teeth so hard, and it didn't look like he was going to answer anytime soon.
"That is what he said, Mrs. Masen," I answered for him.
Her sharp intake of breath was audible even through the tiny speaker. Edward shoved the car into drive and veered onto the interstate. No one spoke for more than a mile. I even checked the phone to see if we were still connected.
"Bella, dear, is the diner still open in Forks?" Elizabeth finally asked. Her voice sounded strained.
"Yes, ma'am. Until midnight, like always," I answered.
"Good. Well, let me go and retrieve our rental car. We can change our hotel reservations on the way. Would you all be willing to meet us at the diner when we get in to explain all this?"
"Yeah," Edward said tiredly. "Or we'll just come to your room at The Lodge when you get in, if you don't feel like eating. Just let us know. That's where we'll be staying."
"We're staying at The Lodge?" I asked quietly.
"I am not pretending to sleep on your father's couch again," he retorted.
I nodded and giggled at the memory.
"I love you, sweetheart," Elizabeth said. "We'll see you in a few hours." I heard the noise level rise, and then Ed's voice, and I assumed that she'd left the bathroom. The line cut off a few seconds later.
"Fuck," Edward groaned. He ran one hand down his face and cracked his neck.
I dug around in the bag to find his burger and handed it over. I waited until he had a few bites in him before I asked the burning question. "Why hadn't you told them?"
He'd just bitten into the last half of his burger when I spoke, and he rolled his eyes at my stellar timing. I popped a few fries in my mouth while I waited patiently for him to chew and swallow.
"Honestly? Because if Dad was involved in this somehow, I didn't want him to warn Gerandy before your dad could arrest him," he said matter-of-factly.
"Do you really think he could have done that?" I asked. I hated that he doubted his parents.
"I don't know what to think, Bella," he admitted. "What kind of people uproot their kid after he's just lost a child and move him away from everything he's ever known and the girl he loves? Why would they do that?"
I didn't know what to tell him, because I honestly thought they had been beyond cruel to both of us. I also wasn't looking forward to seeing them tonight. Edward might have made his peace with them, but I hadn't. I was resolved to be nice for his sake alone.
We finished our dinner as the miles flew by, both lost in our own thoughts.
The Welcome to Forks sign appeared before I realized that we'd been in the car for almost four hours. Edward swung into The Lodge's parking lot, and we got out together to check in.
"Ah, Edward, good to see you again," Sam Uley greeted from the front desk. Sam and his wife, Emily, had taken over The Lodge from his parents a few years before, and one of them was always here.
"You, too, Sam. We need to check in, again," Edward said with a forced laugh.
"Right-o. Your parents called a couple hours ago to get a room. You want them next to each other?" Sam asked.
"No!" Edward practically shouted.
I startled and stared at him in shock.
His voice calmed considerably. "No, that's not necessary."
Sam eyed him with a funny look, and then flicked his eyes over to me, his frown turning into a smirk. "You got it, Ed. I put you in one-oh-four, if that's all right. I'll make sure your parents are on the other side."
"Good man, Sam," Edward said, shaking Sam's hand and taking the key.
We got back into the car and pulled it around in front of our room.
"Is there a reason that you don't want to be near your mom and dad?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged. "I want you to be able to get away if you need to. If we're right next door, you won't be able to escape from them . . . and neither will I."
As usual, he'd thought of me and what I would and wouldn't be comfortable with. "Thank you. I love you."
"I love you, too," he said with a smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes, though. "Let's go in and get settled. With the way my dad drives, they won't be far behind us."
He was right. No sooner had we lugged our suitcases in and flopped onto the king sized bed, Elizabeth called. They were about five minutes away and wanted to know where we wanted to meet.
Edward put the phone on mute and turned to me. "What do you think? In public, where there is a chance for gossip to get out, or in private, where I run the risk of hitting someone?"
I laughed. "You won't hit him. But let's do public. I think I'd do better with the buffer of food between us."
Edward raised his phone back up and told his parents to meet us at the diner in fifteen minutes. He reasoned with his mother that it would give them a chance to check in so that Sam and Emily didn't have to stay up any later than necessary.
Whether she was just excited to see her son, or to hear the news we had, I wasn't sure, but Ed and Elizabeth beat us to the diner. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet and threw herself at Edward when he got out of the car. He hugged her tightly. Despite his apprehension, it was clear that he loved her and had missed her.
I took my time getting out, watching Edward shake his father's hand and exchange pleasantries. I hadn't seen these people since I was seventeen-years-old and in labor. So many things had changed, and my welcome was far from certain.
"Bella, it's lovely to see you again," Elizabeth said kindly, wrapping me in her warm, motherly embrace. "You look wonderful." She hooked her arm in mine and led me into the restaurant, where she commandeered a corner booth.
Edward followed behind us with his hands shoved in his pockets. His father was behind him, still dressed in a business suit and looking rather uptight.
Norma, the red-headed waitress that had worked in the diner forever, handed out our menus, welcomed us back to Forks, and took our drink orders. The minutes stretched by as we each focused on the plastic coated menus in front of us instead of the real reason we were crammed around the table. The tension grew as Norma took our orders and disappeared behind the counter.
"Okay, you two," Elizabeth ordered, laying her hands flat on the formica and staring across the table at us. "Start at the beginning."
Edward huffed and rolled his eyes. "In the beginning, Bella and I created a baby."
I kicked him under the table.
"Ow!" he complained, glancing sideways at me. "That was the beginning!"
"I'm fairly sure they remember that part," I told him.
"It's the beginning," he said defensively. "And that's where I'm starting." He turned back to his parents. "We decided that we wanted to keep the baby, against your advice. After Ryan was born, both Bella and I were told he died in childbirth. Then, Dr. Gerandy told us all about the mix-up at the morgue."
"Yes, I remember," Elizabeth said sadly.
"When we were in town for our reunion, Bella was out running and saw the new doctor drop off his son for baseball practice. After we did a little digging with Charlie Swan's help, we discovered that Ryan didn't die in childbirth. He was stolen and adopted by the Cullens, who coincidentally moved here when Bob Gerandy retired."
Elizabeth gasped again. "How is that possible?"
I picked up the thread. "When I went into labor, Dr. Gerandy told me that Edward wasn't allowed to be in the room and Dad didn't want to be, so I was alone with Dr. Gerandy and his nurse."
"You were alone?" Elizabeth's voice rose in pitch. "I asked them if I could be in there with you since they wouldn't let Edward go back, and they said it wasn't necessary, that you had someone with you already!"
"I didn't," I told her sadly. "I also wasn't given anything remotely effective for pain, and after pushing Ryan out, I blacked out. It wasn't until I woke up in another room that they told me he was dead."
Tears lined Elizabeth's eyes, and she grasped my hand like a life line.
"From what we've been able to piece together, Dr. Gerandy made arrangements with an adoption agency out of state and had Susan Mallory deliver the baby when he was five days old. It was arranged months before Bella went into labor. The Cullens were told that we wanted it to be a closed adoption and wanted no information about him. The only thing that Susan Mallory insisted upon was that they name him Ryan, since that was what we had called him," Edward said.
"Oh God," Elizabeth whimpered. The tears she'd been holding back spilled out over her cheeks, and she held tighter to my hand. I chanced a glance at Ed. His face was stoic, impassive, disbelieving.
"You really think this boy is your son?" he asked.
Edward's tone turned hard when he answered. "No, we know he is. DNA tests proved it conclusively. Not that we needed them. Take any picture of me at ten, and you have Ryan."
Ed's shoulders sagged, and he stared at the hard table top. "How did this happen?" he whispered.
"What are you going to do?" Elizabeth asked us. "How can we help?"
The words were like acid on my tongue, and it was all I could do to hold them in. I wanted to tell her that she could have helped us both by not forcing us to deal with our pain alone. That if she truly cared, she wouldn't have kept Edward away from me and taken away the only motherly figure I'd ever known when I needed it the most. I carefully pulled my hands back from her and stared at them as they rested in my lap.
As if he knew exactly what was going through my head, Edward looped his arm over my shoulders and bent his head to my ear so that only I could hear him. "You're allowed to tell them how you feel, you know. Get it out if you need to. I'll still love you when you've said your peace."
I gave him a smile, and he shrugged. The Masens, however, were spared my ire at that moment by Norma bringing our orders to the table. I wasn't so hungry anymore, but I needed something to keep my mind off of things. Silence reigned as we gathered our thoughts and ate. My pique started to subside.
Then, Elizabeth stepped right back into the minefield. "How are your parents dealing with all of this, Bella? Obviously, your father has been involved in it, case-wise, but you haven't mentioned your mom?"
I stared at her in disbelief. "Really, Elizabeth?" I barely recognized my own voice. "My mother? She wasn't involved in my pregnancy at all because, in her words, she was 'too young to be a grandmother.' We didn't speak about it then, and we don't speak about it now. It's easier for her to pretend it never happened."
To her credit, she looked shocked. "Oh, I, uh, well, after everything, I thought she'd want to know. She came to town after . . . wards, right?"
My answering laugh was borderline hysterical. "What in God's name gave you that idea? No, she didn't come into town. She was running around after her new husband and was much too busy to comfort her grieving child. Besides, doing so would mean having to admit that I'd been pregnant in the first place! You, the only mother figure I'd ever had, just left without a word. Left me to cry and try to pick up the pieces of my shattered life with my emotionally stunted father and a therapist that couldn't have given two shits less about me as a person!"
Until the words came tumbling out of my mouth, I hadn't realized how much resentment was still bottled up inside me. My hands instantly flew to cover my mouth. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all that." I shoved against Edward to let me out of the booth, and he slid out easily. His eyes caught mine, asking silently if I wanted him to come with me, but I shook my head and ran. Several people sitting near us stared at me like I was crazy, and I supposed I could have actually looked and sounded that way at the moment.
The dingy diner bathroom hadn't changed in the intervening years. The mirror was little more than a rudimentary reflective surface, and water still trickled out of the broken faucet. I turned the tap to increase the flow and splashed some of the cold water over my face, washing away the angry tears I hadn't even felt falling. At that moment, I was grateful for my habit of not wearing make-up except on the most important of occasions. It was saving me from the inevitable raccoon eyes.
Through the haze and scratches on the mirror, I could see the strong woman I had become staring back at me. That woman wouldn't hide here in the bathroom. I wiped off the remnants of the water and strode back out the door.
"I need to go to her," Elizabeth was protesting. "She needs me."
"Leave her be for a minute, Mother. She's just embarrassed. If she's not back soon, I'll go check on her," Edward argued.
I stopped just out of sight so that I could hear their conversation without being seen.
Elizabeth socked Ed on the arm. "How could we have done that? We just left her here all on her own without another thought." She was still crying.
"And you have to be prepared for the fact that she might not forgive you for it," Edward told her seriously. "Bella's had to deal with so much on her own because of your decisions."
"But you've told her, right? Why we did what we did?" Elizabeth practically begged.
Edward scoffed. "How could I when I still don't understand your reasons?"
"We thought we were giving you a better life, one free of this town. Even though the baby was gone, Bella was going to cling to you and keep you from achieving all you could. We wanted what was best for you," Ed said. "Now, you're wrapped back up in her drama."
I could see Edward shake his head. "Her drama? In case you don't remember, it takes two to make a baby. I am just as involved in this drama as she is." Then he sighed. "You still don't get it. I love Bella. I always have, and I always will. I almost didn't come home from my first tour in Iraq because I didn't care enough about living to keep myself safe. Everything I cared about in my life was gone—because of you. Her drama? Is that all you see? She's pulled herself back out of the hell she lived in for years, got her PhD, and counsels children now. She has a stable job, a stable home, and a good life. She keeps me grounded and gave me a reason not to reenlist when my own demons got to be too much to handle again. If you can't see that, fuck you. Go home, and don't come back."
Edward stood up, grabbed my purse, threw some bills on the table to cover our portion of the meal, and strode purposefully back to the hallway where I was concealed. He raised his eyebrow and held out his hand, motioning to the back door. "I know you heard all of that."
I didn't even know where to start. "You were going to reenlist?" was the first question that popped out of my mouth.
He clasped my hand and led me out the door.
"Mmm," he hummed in assent. "I'd promised myself I wouldn't look you up, that I wouldn't interfere in the life you'd built for yourself. I wanted you to be happy; I just didn't want to see you happy with someone else. But being this close to where I believed you were, it was so hard. Being overseas in a war zone was easier. Then, I ran into you in the grocery store." We'd reached the car, and he opened the door to let me in.
"Wait! Are you really just going to leave them here?" I cast my eyes over to the window, where I could see Ed and Elizabeth arguing.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. I'm sure they don't need us to stay and give them directions."
"Edward?" I asked again. I wasn't used to seeing this more callous side of him.
"Bella, can you honestly tell me that you want to stay and listen to that?" He gestured toward them, and I could clearly see that their discussion was getting more heated.
"No, I don't," I admitted.
"Then let's go back to the hotel. We have an early morning, and we should get some sleep. Your dad is expecting us at the station at nine."
It was kind of sad that both of us were too emotionally spent to find comfort in each other's bodies, but it was reality. My mind played Ed's words over and over again as Edward drifted off to sleep, holding me against his body. Ed hadn't just been getting Edward away from the trauma; he'd purposefully gotten him away from me, believing that I was bad for him.
Sleep did not come easily, and when it did, I was plagued with nightmares of dead babies, Dr. Gerandy, and Ed Masen telling me I was evil and to stay away from his son.
~~SD~~
When Edward's phone alarm went off the next morning, I felt as if I'd already been for a ten mile run. No part of me wanted to wake up and start the day. After all, I'd only fallen asleep a few hours before.
"Baby, you've got to get up," Edward cajoled. "If we don't get moving, we're going to be stuck drinking the station's coffee for breakfast."
Memories of the foul-smelling sludge that my father's deputies drank day in and day out made the bile rise in my throat, but it did succeed in getting me out of bed.
"Sorry," I said with a small smile when I realized Edward was already dressed and ready to go. He was in his desert camo, complete with boots and gun belt. "I didn't sleep well."
"I know, sweetheart." He kissed the top of my head. "I had to wake you a few times."
"I'm so—" I started to apologize, but Edward held up his hand to stop me.
"It's fine. I just wish I could have made them stop," he assured me. He affixed the last bit of his gear to his belt and looked at me with a sly smile. "Do I look intimidating?"
Personally, I thought he looked sexy, but I hoped Bob Gerandy didn't think so. "You look great, babe. Let me jump into the shower, and we can go."
Twenty minutes later, we were out the door and stopping for coffee at a new bakery on Main Street. The muffins smelled delectable, so I got one of those, too. I regretted eating it almost immediately, when my stomach threatened to revolt.
Dad had Dr. Gerandy handcuffed and secured in an interrogation room at the back of the station when we arrived. The man was old and feeble, so it was probably overkill, but I figured he was trying to make a point.
"Bob has already confessed to the entire crime, from choosing to sell your baby to how he pulled it off. It's all on record. He's agreed to tell you what he did and why, but keep in mind that he doesn't have to. You can ask him anything you want, but you cannot compel him to answer." This last part was with a stiff look at Edward.
"We understand," I whispered, my nerves mingling with my unease over my restless night and making me so sick I could barely talk.
Dad led us back to the room and opened the door. Inside, as Dad had said, was an old man shackled to the floor. His bound hands rested on the table. Dr. Gerandy's hair, once salt and pepper, was now completely white and sparse on the top of his head. Deep dark circles hung under his eyes, and his shoulders were bent. Sad eyes roamed our faces as we walked in front of him, and his shoulders sagged even farther.
"Charlie said you would come," he croaked, his voice hoarse from long hours of disuse.
"We have," Edward stated frankly, his bearing rigid and strong—that of a military officer interrogating a suspect. "And you are going to tell us what you know."
Gerandy nodded. "Please sit. I can't go anywhere." He laughed ruefully, indicating his chains.
Edward held out my chair for me, and I sank into it. I wanted to appear strong and confident like he was, but I just wasn't feeling it. Edward stood beside me, his bearing erect. He indicated for Gerandy to start.
Dr. Gerandy picked at his fingernails and stared at his hands. "You two were such good kids," he started. "You had your whole lives ahead of you, and everyone could see just how far you would go. Then, Bella got pregnant, and you both were ready to throw it all away. Your parents tried to tell you, Mrs. Cope tried to tell you, I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen. We all knew that you couldn't have the life you wanted with a baby involved.
"The follies of youth," he mused. "You think you know everything and that adults don't see things like they are." He shook his head.
"What made you think you knew what was best for our family?" I spat. "Just because you were old didn't mean that you had the right to make our decisions for us and that our decisions weren't thought out."
"Because you were children," he sneered. "You didn't know what those choices meant, and you couldn't. You hadn't lived enough to know."
Edward's flat palms pounded against the table. The resulting bang resounded through the room and made me cringe. "So you knew best? What gave you the right to steal our child from us?"
Dr. Gerandy's already pale face blanched. "I was trying to give all three of you a better life. A colleague of mine from medical school knew them and knew they were good people that couldn't have children of their own. He's had a good life with them. And you, you have a good military career, and Charlie's always bragging about Bella's achievements with her own therapy practice. Do you think that either of you would ever have been able to get there with a baby to take care of?" He shook his head, his face set with his own sense of rightness. "No, you wouldn't have been. You would have been stuck here in this little town, working menial jobs just to pay the bills."
He felt no remorse for what he'd done. He sat there with his justification wrapped around him like a cloak. Once we found out all about his scheme, I was going to disabuse him of the notion that he'd been justified. He was going to know just how badly we'd suffered.
"Why don't you start at the beginning and tell us how it all happened? How did you get the idea to sell our son?" I asked, finding an inner strength I didn't know I had. My voice sounded sure and powerful in my ears.
Without us on the attack, Dr. Gerandy sat back in his chair, more comfortable now. "I tried for weeks to come up with good arguments to convince you, but I'd all but given up trying after your ultrasound. Even I could see the love you felt for that baby. But your dad, Edward, he was convinced that if anyone could talk sense into you, it would be me. He told me he'd pay me five thousand dollars in cash if I could get you to put the baby up for adoption.
"I tried. So help me, I tried. You wouldn't hear any of it, though. You thought you knew best, and you told me that you were going to take care of your family. Then, about a week later, I was having dinner with my friend, and he mentioned the problem that the Cullens were having. When I mentioned that I had two young patients that could benefit from adoption, he said that perhaps the financial benefits would interest you."
He picked at his nails again. "I thought I would continue to work on you. I worked through him and secured the Cullens as the baby's adoptive parents. They paid the fee to the adoption agency, and some of that was sent through for you. The only problem was that I couldn't convince you. Then, Bella went into labor, and I made the decision to give the deserving parents a child and give you your lives back."
"Was I given anything for pain?" I asked, a sneaking suspicion taking deeper root.
"No, and I am sorry for that. I loaded the syringes I gave to Susan with a placebo. I couldn't have you unconscious for the birth, unless I did a c-section, but I didn't want you to be clear-headed. The natural pain of childbirth on your body was the best way to accomplish that," he said matter-of-factly.
Anger boiled inside me as I remembered how I had begged for relief. My hands clinched into fists, and I had to sit on them to keep from beating his face in.
"After that, I made the excuses to get you to believe Ryan was gone, and Susan took him to Oregon on my orders. She didn't know that you hadn't agreed to it," he concluded.
"How much money did you get for stealing our son?" Edward asked, his rage barely masked.
"It was more than ten thousand dollars," Dr. Gerandy whispered. My blood ran cold. "I couldn't spend it, though. It didn't seem right. I put it in an account with your name on it, Bella. I haven't touched it."
I looked at him incredulously. "Do you really think that makes it all right?" I asked. "Do you have any idea what we went through?"
His look clearly told me that he had no idea what I meant.
I stood and leaned over the table. "How would you feel if one of your children died? How would you feel if you believed for more than ten years that it was your own body that caused that death?"
He paled again, and the look of righteousness faded.
"I spent months unable to get out of bed, unless my father forced me. I didn't eat, because all I could think about was that my dead baby would never get to do so, and I didn't deserve to. My therapists urged me to see that it wasn't my fault. Dad even brought Reverend Morris from Port Angeles over to assure me that Ryan was in Heaven with God. When I finally decided to get up, it was only so that his memory would live on somewhere. Every night, I cried. In one day, I lost my son, the love of my life, and the will to live.
"It took almost four years for me to come to terms with the fact that Ryan was dead and there was nothing I could do about. I couldn't get close to anyone, because no one could understand the pain I lived with. The pain that you gave me. And to find out that it was all a lie . . ."
Edward's hand on my lower back brought me back to myself, and I took my seat. He sneered at Dr. Gerandy.
"You had such grand plans to make our lives better. Instead, I almost lost mine. My parents moved me across the country and enrolled me in West Point. I was so lost in my mind, I couldn't even protest. The physical exertion and daily routine were the only things that kept me distracted enough from the pain of breathing, so I stayed. Later, while I was deployed in Iraq, I sat on my convoy and watched an Iraqi woman chastising her little boy for playing so close to the street we were patrolling. I didn't see a foreign woman in a war zone, though; I saw Bella and Ryan. I also didn't see the gun man come around the edge of the house. He opened fire on us, and three of my men were shot. One of them was sitting right next to me. Do you know what? I jumped off the truck and ran after the bastard, not caring if he shot me or if I died. I figured that if I did, at least that way, I'd be with Ryan."
He'd never told me the details of his brush with death, and hearing them cut me deeply. I'd come so close to losing him, and I hadn't even known it.
"Instead of granting us the freedom to live our lives to the fullest, you doomed us both to years of pain and heartache. And it's not even over. Now, we have a son we can't see, who lives with other people who love him, too. For the rest of all of our lives, we'll either have to split him between us or one of us will have to live without him. That's your fault, too." Edward sneered at the old man across from us.
"You took an oath," I reminded him. "Do no harm. All you've done is hurt people. Us, Ryan, the Cullens . . . your family. You'll never see them again, outside of jail. You know that, don't you? Your grandchildren will only remember you as a criminal, and you'll die in a cell. That's your legacy."
There was nothing else we could say. This man had made the choice to lie to us and take our baby. The fact that he didn't get anything from it didn't mitigate the harm it had caused. The only thing that money would do for us now was pay for the attorney we had to hire because of his folly. I strode from the room, my anger carrying me through the hallway. Dad came up behind us and met us at the door to his office.
"I'll get the info on that account, Bella. Since it's in your name, you won't have to wait to claim it," Dad said. "If nothing else, you can invest it for Ryan."
Edward snorted. "Because that's fair compensation."
"Didn't say it was," Charlie said placatingly. "The Feds are coming to get him on Monday. He's going to make a deal with the federal prosecutor."
"He's going to avoid jail?" I screeched. There was no way I could agree to that—not after his lack of remorse or understanding that what he'd done was wrong.
Dad shook his head. "No. They are charging him with three major felonies, two of which are punishable by up to life in prison. Since he's so old, they are going to offer him twenty years in a minimum security facility, I think." Dad ran his hand up and down my arm, trying to calm the indignant and angry look on my face. "It's time to heal, Bells. He'll pay for what he did, I promise. You guys just go and see that grandson of mine."
It was still early, just after ten, so Edward and I agreed to go back to the hotel and rest until it was time to go to the Cullens' house. Between my dreams the night before and talking to Dr. Gerandy, we were both physically drained.
"I hate that bastard," Edward muttered through clenched teeth as we drove up to the hotel. "He deserves to rot in Hell."
I wanted to be the bigger person and focus on the positives—that Ryan was alive and we got to be a part of his life in some capacity—but I just didn't have it in me at the moment. I contented myself with imagining Dr. Gerandy hopping from one foot to the other on a bed of hot coals in Hell. It was comical enough that I giggled out loud.
"Sorry!" I giggled when Edward shot me a look. "I was just . . . his hair was flopping all around, and he looked so funny!" Edward's now incredulous look made me laugh even harder.
"You're picturing it, aren't you?" he realized.
"Uh-huh." I nodded, tears building in my eyes from my mirth.
Edward laughed loudly and shook his head. "It's a good thing I love you, because you, sweetheart, are nuts!" He threw open his car door and hopped out.
I followed him into our hotel room, still chuckling. We flopped down on the bed beside each other with our legs hanging off the end. It was peaceful, just being there together, letting the anger we'd felt at the station dissipate.
It didn't last long. We'd been in the room no longer than ten minutes, when a knock on our door interrupted our calm. I cast a curious glance at Edward, who groaned.
"No one other than my parents and your dad know we're here," he said, making a nasty face. "And we just left your dad."
The person on the other side knocked again. Edward pushed himself off the bed and went to open it. I heard him sigh, and I sat up, trying to look around him. It wasn't necessary. He opened the door and stepped to the side to admit his mother. She looked uncharacteristically sad and nervous. I'd never seen her so . . . unkempt, either. Even working in the garden, she was a dirty fashion plate.
Her eyes locked with mine, and if it were possible, she looked even sadder. "Bella, I . . ." she started to say, but trailed off as another knock sounded on the door Edward had just closed.
He growled, but turned the handle and admitted his father. Edward's entire being stiffened as Ed squeezed past him.
"Now isn't the best time for a visit," Edward said evenly. "We have to be at the Cullens' soon."
"I know you want to see Ryan, but your mother and I have a few things to say, too. We care about you and want to clarify a few things," Ed said, reminding Edward who was the parent.
It didn't work. If anything, Edward became more enraged and took a step closer to his father. "You care about me?" Edward said, his voice deadly calm.
"Of course we do, honey. All we've ever wanted was what was best for you," his mother pleaded.
"Does that include trying to bribe Bella's doctor to get rid of our baby?" Edward asked. He no longer bothered to conceal his disgust.
Ed recoiled.
"Edward Anthony Masen," Elizabeth gasped, shocked. "How dare you? We would never do such a thing!"
Edward let out a humorless chuckle. "Really, Mother? Because Dr. Gerandy was under the impression that my father here offered to pay him five thousand dollars to convince us to give it up."
"He said what? Oh, Edward, he—"
Edward cut her off. "I suppose he didn't tell you that part. You see, that's where Dr. Gerandy got the idea to sell Ryan. If Dad was willing to give him five grand to convince us to adopt, how much would he get for the actual baby? In case you're interested, the answer is ten grand."
Elizabeth gasped and sank against the dresser holding the television. Ed stood up to his full height, still several inches shorter than his son, and squared his shoulders.
"I did what I thought was best. Raising at child at seventeen-years-old was not what was best for you," he defended.
Edward's fist connected with Ed's jaw with a deep thud. "How dare you?" Edward seethed as his father bent and held his jaw. "After watching how much I suffered and how much this tore me apart, you still stand here and try to defend yourself. You tried to sell your own grandchild. What kind of man—father—are you?"
"Edward, it's not . . ." Ed stopped at the expression on Edward's face that clearly indicated he had no intention of hearing Ed's excuses. Ed turned to Elizabeth, who looked just as angry as Edward did. "Elizabeth . . ."
"Did you offer Bob Gerandy money to convince our children to put their child up for adoption after they'd already made their choice?" she asked, her voice as cold as steel.
"It was the wrong choice!" he shouted.
"Oh, God, you did," she whispered. "You tried to get rid of our grandson, and then you dragged Edward and me to the other side of the country under the guise of a new job and a fresh start. How long did you plan that?"
Ed didn't answer. His gaze dropped to the floor.
"I asked you a question, Ed. How long?"
"Two months," he whispered. When he tilted his face up, he looked defeated. "I approached Gerandy in March. I thought . . . I thought they might listen to him. We were his parents, and we didn't know what we were talking about, remember? He assured me he would get them to agree. I thought it would be easier for Edward not to be constantly reminded of it, so I started looking at jobs in New York. It was a conditional acceptance," he added, as if it made it better.
"And if we hadn't agreed?" Edward asked menacingly.
"Then we would have stayed here." Ed was resolute. "I wouldn't have knowingly taken you away from your child, Edward. I just didn't think you had any reason to stay with him gone. I thought it would be better for you to heal without the reminders."
"You lied to me," Elizabeth whispered. "Did you know Renee wasn't coming to be with Bella, too? You told me she was coming."
"I told Charlie that we were leaving and that he should call her," Ed said.
I scoffed. "And you thought that would do it? My parents haven't spoken over the phone since I was old enough to handle the arrangements."
"He didn't tell me that," Ed admitted. "I'm sorry, Bella. I thought you were bad for my son, that he was only with you because he had to be. That you had trapped him."
"Did you ever stop to think that you should ask me?" Edward asked. "You considered me mature enough to go into the military, but not to know who I wanted to spend my life with?"
"Kids don't understand love!" Ed exclaimed. "You were kids. No, I didn't think you were mature enough to make that decision."
"You didn't think to consult me, either?" Elizabeth asked. "I'm sorry, Ed, but all these years, I've believed that we left when we did because we had to for your job. We agreed that it would be good for Edward to be away from here. But you let me believe that Bella was taken care of, too, and she wasn't. How could you do this to our family? To our kids?"
Edward huffed. "Well, if it isn't the Masen family on Springer. Don't blame this all on Dad, Mom. I didn't speak to you for two years. Shouldn't you have figured out then that it wasn't the right move?"
"I thought you were just rebelling," she whispered. "I thought once you had some time and perspective, you'd be better. You were getting better—with Tanya. Then, you moved out here, and now we're all broken again."
"Are you blaming me for this?" Edward stared at her shock. "My father tried to sell my son, moved our family across the country two days after I'd been told he died, made me abandon Bella when she needed me the most, and when it all comes out, I'm the one that broke our family apart?"
"No, no. I just . . . can't we just forgive and move on? Be happy that Bella is back in our lives and that we have a . . . Ryan to get to know?" she asked.
Edward's voice turned hard again. "Bella and I have a Ryan to get to know."
"Are you going to keep us from him?" Ed asked, now fearful.
"You didn't want him around in the first place," Edward challenged. He let it hang there for a minute, before he continued, "That's not what I meant, though. Because Ryan's lived with the Cullens for almost ten years, it's hard enough for Bella and me to get visitation, much less everyone else."
"What can we do?" Elizabeth offered immediately.
"I don't know," Edward told her. "Maybe we'll know more this afternoon, but for now, just . . . go."
Ed said something quietly to Edward and offered his hand, seemingly as a peace offering, but after staring at it for a second, Edward murmured something I couldn't hear and turned away. Elizabeth took a few tentative steps toward me, but let me keep my space.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. All this—" she waved her hand around "—this isn't how it should have been. Do you think you can ever forgive me for leaving you the way I did?"
Ever the peacemaker, my first urge was to tell her "yes, I forgive you," but I knew that wasn't an honest reaction. Nothing I'd heard over the last two days excused the pain they'd put me through and the additional suffering I'd had to endure being alone. I hadn't gotten over it in ten years. In the end, I nodded. "Maybe one day," I said.
She gave me a sad smile and hugged me. I remained stiff in her arms, though they felt as homey has they ever had, and patted her on the back lightly. Thankfully, she kept it brief and pulled away. She hugged Edward and pushed Ed out the door.
"Is this what we have to look forward to?" Edward groaned when the door clicked shut. "Those two are like a walking soap opera. Oh, God. Our lives have turned into a soap opera."
I laughed at him and collapsed onto the bed. "When are they going home?"
"Not soon enough," he complained. "I love them, but seriously, right now, I want nothing to do with them. Dad actually said that one day, I'd have a kid to raise, and I would understand."
I stared at him in shock. "Is that really what he said?"
"Among other things."
"What did you say?" I asked, eager to know more.
"That right now, I considered it partly his fault that I didn't. I told him I loved him, too, but that for now, it would be better if he left me alone."
My heart sank a little more. The coming months would be hard enough, but without the love and support of our families, I feared the road would be even harder. "I've said it before, Edward, and I'll say it again. I don't want you fighting with your parents over me."
He clasped my hand in his. "First of all, to me, you are worth fighting for. Second, it's not just you. Mom's different. I think she went along with his plans, like she always has, because she believed that he was acting in all of our best interests. It's not that she doesn't have a mind of her own, but usually, she defers to him. He, however, still doesn't understand what he did wrong. He's still defending indefensible actions, and I can't abide by that. At some point, he'll have to admit that he was wrong, and when he does, we'll go from there."
I gave him a smile, understanding where he was coming from. "I can live with that."
So, what do you think now? I can't wait to read your reactions.
Now, for some recs. I've been remiss for a few weeks and I've been reading lots of great stories.
Lissa Bryan has two new stories that are wonderful; check them out!
Dinner Reservations by quietruby—it's now complete and quite a ride.
Rosebud by Arabella's—mystery and intrigue galore.
Glimmer Darkly by Rochelle Allison—AU and so, so good.
That should do it for this week. Thanks for reading!