Stolen Dreams

Disclaimer: It's all owned by their respective owners. Including the parts that belong to me.

A/N: Thank you to Jenny Cullen for betaing this. And thanks to KareBear for reccing this on her FaceBook fan page. She rocks! Thanks to everyone that reads and reviews each week. They truly make me smile.

Chapter 19

"Bella, your phone is ringing," Edward yelled from the bedroom while I was cooking dinner Wednesday night. Since he was already here, I'd left it in my purse on the bed.

"Answer it!" I yelled back. My hands were covered in raw chicken, egg, and breading, and I had grease popping on the stove. If I left, I was liable to burn down the whole building.

I gently dropped three chicken breasts in the skillet, and then turned to wash off my hands, just as Edward skidded into the kitchen. "It's Marjorie Hollings."

As fast as I could, I wiped off my hands and took the phone from his. "Bella Swan speaking."

"Hello, Bella, this is Marjorie Hollings. I'm sorry to call so late, but I actually just got back from Forks. Interesting little town."

I laughed. "That's one way to put it. How did things go?"

"Very well, actually. Ryan seems to be a well-rounded and level-headed young man. He's very fond of you and Major Masen already." I could hear the smile in her voice.

"I'm very glad to hear that." I couldn't prevent my own smile from taking over. "How can I help you this evening?"

"Well, I need to schedule a home visit with both you and Major Masen. Do you live together or separately?" she asked.

"Currently, we have separate apartments, but we are in the process of buying a house," I reported.

She hummed on her end, and I could hear the shuffling of papers. "I'll need to meet with each of you in your own homes, then. How does tomorrow evening work for the two of you?"

I mouthed the question to Edward, and he shrugged, answering, "I can be there anytime."

I returned to the call and made arrangements for her to meet me here at six. After a few more pleasantries, I handed the phone off to Edward while I pulled out the now blackening chicken and put it on to broil.

Dinner didn't turn out as well as I had planned. The chicken was slightly burned, and the green beans were cold by the time we got to the table. It was edible, though. At least the first half of the meal was, because mid way through, my phone rang again. This time, it was Esme.

"Hey, Bella, did I catch you at a bad time?" she asked after I answered.

I looked forlornly at my meal, sighed internally, and said, "No, not at all. How are you this evening?"

"I'm about to pull my hair out. Ryan is driving me nuts about this game this weekend. Do you know what the plans are?"

I tried to fight a smile and lost. "Well, that is sort of up to you, Carlisle, and Ryan. I think Dad's original plan was for Ryan, Edward, and him to go to the game, but it's a late afternoon game."

"Oh, that's Ryan's plan, too," she said. "He's been talking non-stop about it. I'm pretty sure that case worker got an earful about it yesterday, too. When is Charlie coming up?"

"We hadn't talked specifics, but usually, he comes up in the afternoon and just stays here until Sunday morning if he doesn't have to work the next day. When are you planning to come up?" I asked, wondering if I would only have to spend game time with them or the entire day.

She sighed. "Carlisle and I aren't exactly in agreement on this, so it's not set in stone. That, and I want to get Ms. Hollings' report first, but I wondered what you would think about Ryan riding up and back with Charlie."

"I'm sure Charlie would be delighted, and we would be, too. What is Carlisle's problem, if I may?" I asked carefully.

"It's nothing against you and Edward. Ryan just hasn't ever gone so far from one of us before. And sleepovers haven't gone over real well. He spent the night once with my brother across town, and Carlisle ended up driving to get him in the middle of the night. He was only six at the time, but getting woken up at two-thirty in the morning and hearing your child wailing the background made an impression." She laughed. "I'll be honest, Bella. I'm not sure what the right thing to do here is."

I knew from my own schooling that sleepovers were a common source of fear for young children, but rarely did older children have the same hang-ups. "What about the visitation stipulations?"

"I think the Chief of Police counts as someone that can supervise a visitation," she answered wryly. "Though I'll be surprised if it's required anymore. I would prefer, though, that they come home Saturday night."

"Let me talk to my dad. I don't think he'll mind, as long as the weather cooperates," I offered.

"That will work, then." She sighed and didn't talk for a few seconds. "Bella, why was that woman here? What are you trying to do?"

"We're trying to establish a legal and personal relationship with our son, Esme. We never signed away our parental rights. Ryan loves you and Carlisle, and I don't want to take him out of your lives, but I want him in ours. Can you understand that?" My tone was slightly pleading.

"I see. Well, we will do what can to help you build a personal relationship with him, but he's our son, too. I've been the one that has raised him, nursed him through the flu, and helped with his homework. You can't take him away from me. I won't let you." Esme wasn't being hateful; she was just letting me know where she stood.

"Ryan's very lucky to have two sets of parents that love him and want the best for him," I said as diplomatically as I could.

"Yes, he is. Anyway, I'll let you get back to your evening. Let me know what your dad says so we can plan appropriately." She didn't even wait for me to respond. She just hung up.

I stared at the handset in my hand, wondering what exactly had just happened.

"Bella?" Edward asked, worried.

I recounted the conversation to Edward and watched his brow furrow.

"It's going to get harder from here, Bella," he said with a heavy sigh. "We're going to have to decide what we want both for us and for Ryan and stick to it."

"I just don't know what the right thing is," I complained. "Part of me thinks that it would be best for him if we gave him one home and let the other set of parents be invited to big events. But I know we'd be devastated if we were the parents that only got to be around for the holidays. The other part thinks that it should be treated like a divorce situation with joint custody."

"There's no other option, is there?"

I shook my head. "Not one that would be fair to Ryan, the Cullens, or us."

"I don't just want him for every other holiday and two weeks during the summer," Edward argued, knowing that had been the arrangement my own parents were supposed to follow.

"We don't live in a different state, so that should make a difference. We can do weekends and school breaks, too," I suggested.

Edward made a face. "How about I call Aron tomorrow?"

I nodded my head and laughed weakly, suddenly exhausted. Instead of continuing with our heavy conversation, we cleaned up our half-eaten dinner and retreated to the couch, where we spent the next two hours watching our favorite shows on the DVR.

Thursday was nerve-wracking. I knew that Marjorie would be at my house shortly after I got home from work, and I wanted to give her a good impression of both me and my apartment. I wanted it to be a place she thought was safe for Ryan. I was also anxiously awaiting a call from Edward on how his visit went.

I jumped when my phone rang at one, a full hour before Mrs. Hollings was due to arrive at his place. It wasn't Edward on the other end of the line, though.

"Aron? What can I do for you?" I asked as I answered the call.

"Why did you tell me that you knew nothing about the adoption?" he practically growled.

"Because I didn't?" I said, though it sounded more like a question, even to me.

"Dr. Swan, I told you that you had to be totally honest with me if we were going to be successful. I am holding the adoption records for Ryan Parker Cullen, and imagine my surprise when I see forms in here, signed by both you and Edward, relinquishing your parental rights. They're notarized!" he shouted into my ear.

"I never signed anything," I swore. "I wasn't even allowed to sign my own medical forms, because I was under eighteen."

Aron didn't speak for several moments. "Bella, I realize that Bob Gerandy committed several crimes in this case, but are you telling me that he committed forgery, as well? That he went so far as to get a notary to falsify the document?"

"I don't know, Aron, but I do know that I didn't sign it. Can you fax it over here so I can see my supposed signature?"

"Yeah. Let me know, okay? We're getting some push back from the Cullens now, and this isn't going to help our case if it's genuine," he said tiredly. "I can see now why they've been content to agree to visitations and such. They honestly didn't believe you had grounds to remove him, despite Bob Gerandy's admission that he kidnapped Ryan."

"It's not genuine, Aron. There's no way it is. If you send them both over, I'll find something with our signatures from the time so you can compare them." I knew I had some notes that Edward had sent me while we were still in high school stashed with my other keepsakes.

Aron's fax came through minutes later, and as soon as I saw the paperwork, I laughed loudly, causing Chelsea to look up at me in alarm. Anyone that knew me would know this wasn't my signature. While the other girls my age had been doing their best to make their letters as big and bubbly as possible, my writing was small and slanted. The signature on the release form looked more like Jessica Stanley's than mine.

Edward's wasn't much better, though his was at least passable. I sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hey, Dad. Do you have anything I might have signed while I still lived at home?" I asked when Charlie picked up.

"Uh, yeah, I'm sure I do, kid. What's going on?"

"I just got a call from our attorney. There are signed forms in the adoption file supposedly relinquishing our parental rights. I have to provide some evidence that they aren't our signatures," I explained.

"How would they have gotten those, Bella?" He sounded uncharacteristically stern. Charlie didn't often use his Police Chief voice on me, but he was doing so now.

"I don't know, Dad, but I know that this doesn't look anything like my signature ever has." I looked at it again. "It looks like it was written by a ten-year-old teeny bopper."

Dad laughed. "I'm sure I have something around here. Can you send me a copy of that for the report? Those weren't in the copy I received."

"I'll have Aron send you a copy of the whole file, in case there's something else," I promised, mentally typing the email.

Dad agreed that it was fine, and we ended the call.

When I returned to my desk, I sent two emails: one to Aron, asking him to forward the adoption file, and one to Edward, explaining what new evidence had turned up. I didn't have time for anything more than that, as my patient arrived and demanded my attention for the next hour.

My last appointment ran long, and I was rushing to get home to tidy up before Mrs. Hollings arrived. Fortunately, Alice or someone had picked up the breakfast dishes that morning, and there wasn't much to be done.

Mrs. Hollings gave the apartment a cursory examination, asking about the sleeping arrangements and space available. The sofa in the living room pulled out into a queen sized bed, which I shared with her. We talked about what had occurred when I was seventeen and how the visits with Ryan had gone over the last few weeks.

She was very professional, but seemed pleased with what she learned. We chatted about some inconsequential matters, before she shook my hand and left. I called Edward after the door closed, only to hear his ringtone outside.

He wasted no time in opening the door. "That was nerve-wracking," he said with a sigh, falling onto the couch next to me. "Now what's this about the adoption file?"

I gave a half-hearted chuckle and shoved up from the couch. I retrieved the papers from my purse and handed them over, before going back to my room and pulling the box of my memories from the top shelf. The box remained closed and packed away most of the time—the memories had always hurt too much to relive, even once Edward came back into my life. Gently, I lifted out a picture of Edward and me at our fall homecoming, just before I'd gotten pregnant, and stared at it. It was a token of happy times, but I honestly couldn't say that I wasn't happier now. With that thought in mind, I gingerly lifted the small blanket I'd squirreled away when Charlie had purged the house of baby stuff. The satin trim was as fresh as the day it had been made.

Once it was free of the box, the rest of the memories I'd scraped together and hidden before I left home were revealed. Letters, pictures, ticket stubs, and a Valentine's Day card lined the bottom. With a smile, I picked up the Valentine's Day card and lost myself in the memory of the day Edward had given it to me.

I was five months pregnant, and my belly had recently reached the point that my "condition" was obvious to anyone that saw me. With many in our community so disapproving, Edward had put together an indoor picnic for us in his parents' basement. They had gone out for the evening to celebrate Valentine's Day, as well, so we had the house all to ourselves for once.

"This looks wonderful," I said shyly, staring at the blanket and pillows arranged artfully on the floor and the candles set around the room.

Edward blushed and shoved his hands in the pockets of the khaki slacks he'd worn for the occasion. Alice had encouraged me to buy a stretchy dress at the maternity store in Port Angeles the weekend before, because I didn't have anything else nice to wear. Underneath the silky fabric, my stomach rumbled—loudly.

"Hungry, baby?" Edward laughed.

"This child of yours eats like you do," I accused playfully. "I'm always hungry."

He held out his hand and helped me down to one of the fluffy pillows. Once I was seated with my legs folded underneath me, Edward plopped down next to me and opened the picnic basket. He pulled out some fruit, chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and bottles of water. "It's not much," he lamented, "but I made the chicken salad using my mother's recipe; I know it's your favorite."

Other than family meals at the Masen house, it had been years since someone had made me a meal. "It's perfect," I whispered, tears of happiness and gratitude leaking from my eyes. "Thank you."

Edward smiled, used to my emotional outbursts at that point, and wiped away my tears. "You're welcome, sweetheart. Now, let's get you two fed."

We ate together, laughing, talking, and hoping for the future. After the last of the homemade brownies were gone, Edward handed me a small package and a card.

"It's not much," he said, somewhat embarrassed. "I know we said that we weren't going to do anything so we could save for the baby, but I couldn't not get you something."

I opened the card first, surprised to find what Edward usually called "sappy stuff," instead of the humorous cards I'd gotten in the past. Inside, he'd added his own note.

Bella, I love you so much, and though the timing sucks, I couldn't be happier that you are having my baby. The two of you are more important to me than anything in the world. I can't wait to start our life together.

Love, Edward

I kissed him and ripped open the paper on the small box. A silver necklace was resting inside—a small heart nestled in a larger one, reminding me of the smaller heart beating inside of me. Edward's fingers trembled slightly as he lifted it out and fastened it around my neck.

"It's beautiful, Edward," I whispered, looking down to where it rested just above my now fuller breasts.

"You're beautiful," he breathed into my ear.

I turned my head a fraction to the right and brushed my lips against his. With my ramped up hormones, it didn't take much more than that to get me going, and as a seventeen-year-old boy, Edward never needed much more. He shifted and laid me back so that my head rested against the pillow, and then covered my body with his.

While we kissed, Edward's hands roamed over my silky body. He paused over my expanding belly and pulled back to look me in the eye.

"This is our baby, Isabella. We did this," he breathed in awe. "Next week, we'll know for sure if it's a boy or girl, and the three of us will start our life soon. God, I love you."

"I love you, too," I said with a watery smile, the tears welling up again.

Edward winked. "None of that now."

He kissed me again and let his hand move upward. I moaned as his hand found my breast, all sad thoughts forgotten. I snaked my hands down and grabbed his ass, pushing my hips into him at the same time. His answering groan spiked my lust even more. Soon, my dress was pulled up over my head and Edward's shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open. We could barely separate long enough to get our clothes off, but we managed eventually.

It wasn't the most comfortable of places that we'd made love, but it was certainly one of the most memorable. He drew my oversized panties down my legs and kissed his way back up the inside of my legs. When he finally got to my core, I was so worked up that it didn't take long for his tongue to have me thrashing against the restraining hands on my hips.

"Unh, Edward, please," I begged, feeling my orgasm coming closer, but he wasn't giving me enough to push me over the edge.

Edward grinned up at me from between my legs and shed his boxers quickly. I barely had time to ogle his naked body before he sheathed himself inside me. Over and over again, he drove into me, and he brought me over the edge twice before he came.

"I remember that card," Edward said quietly from the doorway, pulling me out of my memories. I blushed, and he smirked. "I can't believe you still have it. Whatever happened to the necklace I gave you?"

I vividly remembered the day I'd discovered it was missing. I'd cried for hours. "The clasp broke while I was wearing it, and it fell off somewhere on campus," I told him. "I was working on my Master's thesis and had been running around like crazy, so I didn't notice until later."

"What inspired you to go through your box tonight? Did something else happen today?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Actually, I was looking for this." I held up the card. "It has your signature on it."

I took his hand and led him back out to the living room, leaving everything spread out on my bed. I grabbed the sheet showing Edward's signature and held the card up next to it. The two signatures weren't even remotely similar.

"That should satisfy Aron on mine," he said with a wry chuckle. "Do you have anything of yours?"

"No, but Charlie said he did." I handed him the sheet with my supposed signature on it. "Does that look like anything I've ever written?"

"No, it looks more like Jessica Stanley's!"

We shared a laugh, but it was resigned. It didn't seem to matter what we did; there was always another stumbling block. This was just one more example of things being thrown up in our path to be together.

"Hey, I have an idea," Edward mentioned a few minutes later while we were lying in bed. "Why don't we see if your dad can come up early? We could take Ryan to see the two houses and see which one he likes best."

"I'll call Charlie in the morning. That sounds like a great idea to me." I kissed him and snuggled into his arms. I drifted off to sleep, once again reminiscing about our first relationship.

Friday was relatively uneventful, other than Charlie's early morning fax. I'd written him a letter when I asked to come live with him at the beginning of my freshman year. My handwriting hadn't changed much since then, so he was submitting it to the FBI as further evidence of Dr. Gerandy's crimes. He also confirmed that he was willing to come early, if Esme and Carlisle were agreeable, so we could spend as much time as possible with Ryan. Edward called Maggie and set up times to go see the houses before the games started.

By Friday afternoon, Aron let me know that he was satisfied with the evidence against the adoption papers and reported that Marjorie Hollings had given us a glowing verbal report as satisfactory people for Ryan to spend time with. She did say that Ryan loved the Cullens and was uncomfortable with the idea of leaving them permanently, but he seemed to like Edward and me.

My patients seemed to be stir crazy and ready for the weekend. I tried to keep them on track as best as I could, but my own preoccupation with Ryan's upcoming visit allowed my usual tight control to slip. I didn't think that any of them really noticed.

While I was getting ready to go to Edward's house, my cell phone rang, and I had to run to the other end of the apartment to get it before the call rolled to voicemail.

"Hello?" I answered, breathless.

"Bella, it's Esme." Her tone was clipped and cautious. "Did I call at a bad time?"

"No, not at all, Esme. I was just in the other room. How are you tonight?" I asked conversationally, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Hmm, I've been better," she answered vaguely. "Your father called today and asked if he and Ryan could leave here about six o'clock Saturday morning. I thought the game was in the afternoon. Have the plans changed?"

"Oh no, it is. We were just hoping that Ryan could spend a little more time up here with us that day, since I won't be able to go to the game with him."

"Ah." I could almost feel the tension lift slightly. "I hadn't even thought of that. What are you planning to do?"

I knew I needed to tread carefully, because I didn't want to give her the wrong impression. "Well, Edward and I are looking at houses, and we've narrowed it down to two. Edward's apartment is too small for both of us, and I live with my best friend, Alice, so we're getting a place of our own," I explained. "We were hoping to get Ryan's input on which one he liked better. We want him to have his own space when he comes to see us."

"You . . . you want his input on your house?" she asked with shock and a touch of fear.

"We're hoping this visit isn't a one-time thing, Esme," I said quietly. "Ryan loves you and Carlisle, and at least for now, having him in a home that's familiar and comfortable is the best thing for him. But we don't want him to feel like a visitor in our home, either. He's our son, too."

The line was silent for several seconds. "I guess I can see that," she said, her voice tight once again.

"Is there anything I need to know for tomorrow? Does Ryan have any allergies or is there any food he doesn't particularly like? Or something that he does?" I asked nervously. These were things that I should just know as his mother, and to feel so out of sorts with my own son made me sad and angry all at once.

Esme sighed. "No allergies to speak of. He eats almost everything, except for peas. He isn't particularly fond of those. I'm sorry, Bella. This is just really hard for me. I feel like you're trying to take my baby away from me."

"Esme, if you and Carlisle hadn't been such wonderful parents, I wouldn't hesitate to go to any lengths to remove him from you. But that's not the case. He's clearly happy and grounded. He loves you very much. It would only hurt him if we ripped him out of your lives." While the words intensified my sadness, I felt the truth of them.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'll call your dad and tell him I'll have Ryan ready. He's super excited about tomorrow."

"Thank you, Esme. Call me if you feel the need to check in," I offered. There had been so many times I had wanted to call her just to see how Ryan was, and I knew this would be a difficult day for her.

"I appreciate that. I'll try not to pester you too much," she laughed.

We hung up, and I sank into my kitchen, unable to believe it was all coming together and unwilling to suppress the hope and excitement blooming in my heart. Tomorrow, our son would be with us for the first time, and we'd make our first decision as a family.

So, you've all been asking how the court could have viewed the adoption as legal and this is why. There are affidavits saying that they gave up their rights. And a little bit of their history! Hope you enjoyed.