Stolen Dreams
Disclaimer: Yeah. She owns that. I own this.
A/N: I believe exploding ovaries should be credited to Jadalulu, but I could be wrong. Thanks to whomever for creating the term. Thank you to all of you that read my silly, little words and tell me how much you love them. You have no idea how much they keep me going. JenRar, you are too fantastic for words.
Dear God. I am so freakin' tired and it's only day two. I'm back to working two jobs in addition to being the Mom shuttle. It's tax season, so my CPA husband is MIA. It's dark when I leave the house and it's dark when I get home. I swear that people were not meant to be up and about at 5:30 in the morning. Anyway . . . now you know why I'm having a hard time finding the spare moment to write. I still have several chapters in the back log, so we've got some time, but if I'm slow, you know why. I love you all and I promise that I won't ever abandon this, unless I'm dead, of course. If that happens, JenRar can post the rest of what she has for me. :)
Chapter 28
Ryan woke us early the next morning by jumping in the middle of our bed, which happened to be right on top of us. That wake-up call made me even more thankful that I'd thought it necessary to put on pajamas. Edward wasn't so pleased as Ryan's knee came dangerously close to his groin, but other than a deep moan and a strained voice, he tried hard to keep his personal pain from our son.
Breakfast was a hasty affair, as there was plenty to do to get ready for the barbeque that would be starting just after lunch. Carlisle and Edward dragged the long tables they'd used for Ryan's party back out, while Ryan kept watch on the television and issued weather reports frequently. According to the weather man, the day would be clear and warm.
Esme and I whipped up all of the dishes that needed to be prepared and sent Ryan back and forth from the kitchen to the serving table. Over the course of the morning, he set up all of the plates, napkins, centerpieces, cups, and flatware. I was sure there were delays caused by the two men milling around outside, but he was happy enough.
Around one, the guests began arriving. Many of them worked at the hospital with Carlisle and were all people we knew from when we'd lived here. Ryan took off with his friends when they arrived; on occasion, we would hear their shouts from the tree line. It felt a little awkward, knowing that many of these people were gossiping about us behind our backs, but that was small town life.
"Oh, good, they came," Carlisle said, unusually happy about the most recent arrivals. "I know it's a haul for you, but if you ever need a good mechanic, I found the best one a few weeks ago. The shop is in Port Angeles, but I was warned not to take my car to Dowling's."
"What happened to your car?" Edward asked. He sounded only marginally interested in the answer.
Carlisle shook his head. "It ended up just needing a tune-up and some brakes, but I thought I was going to need a new engine."
"And you invited them to your cook-out?" Edward asked, disbelieving.
Carlisle shrugged and looked a little sheepish. "Esme loves doing this stuff, and we don't know anybody. I figured that would be the best way to do it. And they're good people."
The driver's head poked out of the door, and Edward started laughing. "Good people, all right. Just don't get into a competition of any sort with him!"
The driver turned toward us, and I joined in the laughter. Emmett just looked confused. The three of us walked over to the car as Carlisle called out his greetings.
"So, they invited you, too, did they?" Rosalie said with a smirk as she got out of the passenger's seat. She immediately walked over to me and gave me a warm hug. "It seems that they'll invite anyone!"
For a moment, Carlisle almost looked offended, and then took in our proximity. "I take it you know each other?"
Edward nodded. "We went to school together. Emmett was my best friend growing up."
"Oh, good. You'll know someone here, then," he said off-handedly. "I'm glad you're here, Emmett and Rosalie. Welcome to our home. Eat, drink—there's plenty." He gave them both a genuine smile and sauntered back up to the house.
"I didn't realize you all were getting along well enough to be invited to backyard barbeques. Word around town is that you are in the middle of a nasty custody battle," Emmett murmured to Edward, just loud enough for me to hear.
Edward rolled his eyes. "Oh, how I've missed Fork's gossip machine. It's not like that at all. We had our custody hearing last week. The judge restored our parental rights and awarded us joint custody of Ryan. We're 'co-parenting,' as Bella calls it."
"They didn't give you full custody?" Rosalie asked, indignant on our behalf.
"Because Ryan is ten, they took into account what he wanted and what would be best for him at this point. He wanted to stay here in Forks for now," I answered. I couldn't say that I was happy with it, but I was content. My son was happy, and that was all I could ask for.
"Wait, when did this happen?" Rosalie gasped. She grabbed my left hand and inspected my new engagement ring closely.
The two guys got some stuff out of the car and left us to our "womanly gab." I told Rose all about Edward's proposal the night before. She oohed and aahed in all the right places and asked me what our plans for the actual wedding were. To say that she was surprised that we wanted to have it in Forks—not to mention the reception here at the Cullens'—would have been an understatement, but she was supportive. Slowly, we walked toward the rest of the party while we talked. Edward and Emmett already had their own plates fixed and were sitting around a smaller table talking with some other men I didn't recognize.
We fixed our own plates, and before we could find our own seats, Esme motioned for us to come join the little circle of women she was talking to. I recognized one of them as Mrs. Cope from the hospital.
"Bella, this is Shelley Cope—she's one of the nurses at the hospital—and this is Kimberly Marks and Susan Spears. Their sons, Michael and Trent, are running around here with Ryan somewhere," Esme introduced.
"It's nice to meet you. Are you married to Austin?" I asked Kimberly. There were only two Marks boys when I lived here, and Austin was the older of the two.
She nodded and smiled. "Yes. We met our freshman year of college and had Michael two years later. Did you know my husband when you were younger?" She cast her eyes over to the table Edward and Emmett were sitting at, and I realized why one of the men had seemed so familiar.
"I knew him by sight," I answered. "Edward probably knew him better than I did, as he'd already graduated when I moved here. I knew Lee a little better."
Lee Marks was a year younger than we were. To say I knew him was a slight exaggeration. He'd spent a lot of time getting into trouble with his motorbike, and Dad had complained about him constantly. I remembered Rosalie next to me and introduced her, as well. She remembered Austin better, as well as Susan's husband, Chris, and regaled them with stories of what the boys had done when they were younger. It wasn't long before all of the tension I'd felt when we walked up melted away and all of us were in stitches.
I didn't notice when Edward and Emmett disappeared into the house, and I probably wouldn't have noticed when they returned either, but they were working so hard to be stealthy that my senses were instantly alerted. Both men had something bright stashed behind their backs. They looked quickly from side to side; Edward's head was cocked, listening intently to something I couldn't hear. He jerked his head and flattened himself against the wall, pulling out a large water gun from behind his back.
Edward was in full battle mode. I'd never seen it before, but there was no mistaking the look in his eye. And judging by his expression and his movements, our son was his target.
The two grown boys slipped around the edge of the house, and within seconds, the screams of soaked children reached us. Ryan, Michael, and Trent came tearing through the yard. Their shirts were dotted with streams of water, and their hair was drenched. As a unit, they ran into the house, despite Esme's rather vocal protests. All of the adults had turned to find the source of the commotion, and they found it in Emmett's, Edward's, and Carlisle's laughing faces. Carlisle also had a water gun, but I guessed that he'd gone out the back door to ambush the kids from the other side. They strode around the corner of the house, high-fiving each other and laughing. None of them saw Ryan creep around the edge of the porch with his own water gun. I certainly wasn't inclined to warn them.
Ryan's gun was huge, and there was enough water in it to drench the three men. Their faces were frozen in perfect expressions of shock for several moments, before Emmett recovered and lunged at Ryan. Ryan didn't wait for Emmett to connect, taking off through the yard and laughing uproariously. Edward and Carlisle followed after the pair with what sounded like war cries. Austin had gotten up from the table at some point and had one of the hoses ready to spray.
When Trent and Michael reappeared with their own water guns, the rest of us decided to get out of the way, and Esme loudly warned the rowdy boys that they needed to keep their water fight on the other side of the house. A loud chorus of "yes, ma'ams" echoed through the yard, along with laughter and squeals.
By the time the sun began to set, all of the men had gotten in on the action, and they were all soaked. Luckily, it was a warm day, and the heat dried out the worst of it. Carlisle had Edward help him set off some fireworks, while Ryan sat with his friends next to Esme and me. All in all, it was the perfect end to the perfect day.
The next morning, Edward and I rose early to head back to Seattle. Carlisle was in the kitchen, preparing for what he said was going to be a long day in the hospital. We wished him luck and left a note for Ryan and Esme before leaving. They had gotten to bed late, and we didn't want to disturb them. Neither of us had to work, but there was plenty of painting, decorating, and packing to be done if we were going to be ready for Ryan to join us for his first two week visit.
"Why don't we start on my place?" Edward suggested as we drove into town. "I've not lived here as long as you have, so it should be easier."
He wasn't kidding. Most of his things, other than those he used on a semi-regular basis, were still boxed up. With his laundry in need of being washed, we packed up all of his clean clothes, his extra linens, and virtually everything in the kitchen. While I prepared some soup and sandwiches for a quick dinner, Edward carefully packed away all of his movies in order, so they would be easier to reshelve at the new house. We ate on the couch, talking lightly about where we were going to put everything and what still needed to be done at the new house. We didn't know much, as we hadn't been over there—per Alice's orders—but she was keeping me up to date with progress reports. By the time we went back to my apartment to go to bed, Edward's was completely packed up and ready to move.
It took all of Tuesday and half of Wednesday to sort through all of the things in my apartment and begin to load them up. Alice finally gave us permission to take things over to the house on Wednesday night. She was nervous as we opened the door, wringing her hands and promising us that if we didn't like anything, it could be changed so easily.
She needn't have worried. The house was gorgeous and just about perfect. Every detail made it feel homey and not overdone, but added to the effect of a home well-decorated. Jasper agreed to come over the following night and move our bed so that we could finally spend our first night in our new home.
In all the hustle and bustle surrounding the new house, I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Alice. She'd been out when I first called her from Forks, and one of us had been busy every other time we'd talked. But when she shrieked at me and grabbed my hand, making me drop the box of utensils I was carrying, I realized that I'd forgotten to tell her about Edward's proposal.
"Isabella Marie Swan! What is this?" she cried.
Edward took one look at my face and escaped from the room as fast as he could.
"I tried to call you on Sunday to tell you," I hedged. "But then I forgot."
"You forgot you got engaged?" she asked flatly.
"No! I forgot to tell you! We've been so busy moving that I didn't think about it," I said in an attempt to defend myself.
She didn't buy it and gave me a dirty look. Then, she made me recount the story of his proposal and spent several minutes ogling my ring. The excitement I'd felt a few days before leaked into my voice, and we were like two school girls gossiping over the new cute boy.
"I did want to ask you something, though," I said slyly. Alice was my best friend in the entire world, other than Edward, and I couldn't think of anyone in the world that I'd rather have next to me that day.
Alice looked at me hopefully, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Will you stand up with me and be my maid of honor?" I asked.
She shrieked again and jumped at me, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tight. "Of course! Yes, yes, yes! Thank you!"
"You'll have to walk with Jasper. I hope you don't mind," Edward commented. I hadn't realized he'd come back into the room. He was leaning against the door frame and smiling at the two of us.
"Oh, yeah, that'll be such a hardship," Alice said sarcastically. She couldn't keep the smile off her face. "What are the plans? When are you doing this?"
That was the part I couldn't tell her yet. I wanted to do it over the summer, but I didn't think there would be enough time to get it planned. That, and I was pretty sure Edward was going to have his week of training sometime in August and that would take out a huge chunk of time.
"We haven't set a date yet. I'd like to do it before the end of the year, though. Esme wants us to have the reception at her house."
"You're getting married in Forks?" Alice asked in surprise.
I shrugged and blushed. "I always wanted Angela's dad to marry us."
Alice gave me a smile, remembering, I was sure, our discussions from so many years before. "It'll be as beautiful as you always envisioned, Bella. I'll make sure of it."
I gave her another hug, and we called it a night. "See you guys tomorrow night. I'm going over to Jasper's to help him finish packing. Can we borrow you after we move the beds, since you won't be here Friday?" Alice asked.
I'd all but forgotten that Jasper was moving, too.
"Sure," Edward answered as he locked the door. "Depending on what we have on the board tomorrow, we might be able to get the beds moved during the day."
Alice hugged me again and congratulated us both, before getting in the car and driving away.
Edward laughed as soon as he closed the door. "I guess you're forgiven for forgetting to tell her now."
I laughed. "Good thing, too."
His expression turned serious. "I talked to Jasper today—not just about that. I'm going to take the night shifts next week while Ryan is here. Will you guys be okay at night without me?"
"We'll miss you, but yeah, we'll be fine. Isn't your Reserve weekend next weekend, too?" I was thinking about what Ryan and I could do together. We hadn't had a lot of one on one time yet.
He nodded, though somewhat miserably. "I hate that I have to miss our weekend with him."
"Yes, but at least he'll get to see how important your service is to you. He looks up to you, and this is one more thing that you can do to show him why he should," I answered.
"Do you really think he does?" Edward asked in a rare show of doubt.
I scoffed. "Have you not noticed? You've become his new idol!"
I thought that would please him, and maybe it did, but Edward's brow furrowed, and he didn't say another word for the rest of the drive; he was lost in his own thoughts. His disquiet continued as we got ready for bed, and it didn't lift until we were safely ensconced under the covers of my bed.
"I'm not sure I want him to idolize the soldier in me," Edward said into the dark. "I've always been proud of my service to my country, but I don't want my son to see and do the same things I have."
In a gesture of comfort, I ran my hand down the arm that was wrapped around my waist. "For now, it's enough for him to be proud of you. When he gets older, you can share your experiences with him so that he doesn't join up with misconceptions of glory."
"Glory . . ." Edward whispered absently, pulling me closer to his warm body.
The word seemed to strike some chord within him, and I felt, rather than heard, his uneven breathing. I tried to turn to comfort him, but he held me even tighter. Being there for him however he needed me while he let his pain out was the best thing I could do, so I lifted my arm and scratched his scalp until his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. Edward rarely talked about his time in the service; because of that, I didn't know what he'd gone through. My own imaginings ran through my head as I slept, making it an uneasy night for both of us.
The daily grind resumed the next morning, and it was unpleasant, to say the least. The only good thing to happen once the alarm went off for Edward was that there was hot coffee in the pot. I was used to him getting up to run before me, and usually, I went back to sleep. I couldn't, though, despite how tired I was. Instead, I got up to shower and slipped on a towel that we had put down the night before to cover a spill. With a bruised butt, I managed to shower and get dressed, but nothing I had left in the apartment was comfortable, and I was reduced to wearing a skirt and hose.
Edward jumped in the shower as I prepared to leave, since all of the stuff at his apartment was gone, and I couldn't get my car to start. Someone, namely Edward, had left one of the interior lights on the night before, and my battery was dead. My calendar indicated that I had an early appointment, so I had to go get Edward out of the shower to jump my car. He wasn't overly thrilled.
By nine-thirty, I was wishing I'd gone back to bed. My autistic patient hadn't had his appointment Monday because of the holiday weekend, and the change in his schedule had thrown him into a tailspin. He'd been doing so much better before, but now, he'd reverted back. I promised to see him at his usual time on Monday, after spending an hour calming him back down.
My next patient cried for the entire session. By that point, I wanted to join her.
Edward sent me a text after lunch to let me know that all of our remaining clothes and furniture had been moved by the three guys and that I was responsible for bringing pizza to the apartment that evening, because they were going to start moving Jasper's stuff around three. He also told me that one of my jackets had fallen on one of the painter's drop cloths.
"Kate!" I yelled in frustration. I knew she didn't have a patient at the moment, and I needed some therapy—preferably of the margarita kind.
"That's not a happy sound," she said, coming to stand in my doorway and suppressing her mirth.
"This day sucks, and I wanna go home and hide." I was pouting, and I knew it.
Kate laughed and strode to my couch, flopping down on it in a most unladylike manner. "Didn't you just move? Can you go home and hide?" She was smiling, and I wanted to hit her.
"No," I answered petulantly. "Apparently, there are painters at the house, too, and they just ruined my blue jacket."
Kate gasped as fakely as possible. "You mean the suede one that Alice gave you because no one would buy it? The one you hate?"
When she put it that way . . . "Okay, you may have a point," I conceded. "I'm just having a crappy day."
"Could it have anything to do with your nerves about this weekend?" Kate asked astutely.
I wanted to deny it, shoot her down and tell her that she had no clue what she was talking about, but I couldn't do that in good conscience. She was right. I was terrified that these two weeks wouldn't go well and that Ryan wouldn't want to come back.
"You know that he's going to love it, even if for no other reason than this is his first time away from home, right?" she said kindly.
"That's reassuring," I said sarcastically.
She glared at me. "It's not hard, Bella. He's a kid. Your kid. He loves you and is probably as excited about this as you are. Don't sweat it. It's new for both of you, and really, it probably won't go perfectly. All you and Edward can do is love him and do your best."
I let her words sink in and reassure me. "Thank you, Kate."
"Anytime, sweetheart." She stood and left the room and me to my thoughts.
From that point on, my day got incrementally better. I picked up the pizza on the way back to what used to be my apartment and greeted a giddy Alice in the kitchen. At my questioning look, her eyes lit up and she wiggled her eyebrows.
"It's really hot, and Jasper's furniture is heavy. They lost their shirts about thirty minutes ago." She was practically vibrating.
On their next pass through to what had been my room, my day got a thousand times better. There was no part of me that would ever stray from Edward—and he looked mighty fine with the sweat glistening off of him—but putting him and Jasper together was a recipe for making ovaries explode.
"You should have burned this fucking couch," Edward grunted as they set the aforementioned couch down in the living room. "It's fucking heavy."
I turned and raised my eyebrows at Alice. I really thought she would have convinced Jasper to get rid of it. She rolled her eyes and held up a package containing a slip cover. "I made him have it cleaned earlier this week."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the boys head back out while I set out the boxes of pizza. Moments later, they returned with arm loads of boxes and dropped them into the floor.
"That's the last of it," Edward announced with a smirk when he saw me gawking.
Jasper stretched; it was all for show, though. He was watching Alice intently, just as Edward was watching me.
"There's food," I blurted out in an effort to keep my internal organs from combusting.
Edward and Jasper both laughed, but they did save my future children by putting on some shirts. They ate most of a pizza each and left the third for me and Alice to share. We laughed a lot, but I could tell that Alice and Jasper were anticipating the alone time. As soon as we finished eating, I shooed Edward out the door, and he followed me home—back to our home, for our first night there and our last night alone for the next two weeks.
I hope you enjoyed! Leave me some love and make this week better.
Recs:
Sentimental Journey by btwnthestacks. Go now. Not only do you get a historical Edward and Bella, but you get a modern one too. It's fantastic. Oh, and grab some tissues.