I know, I know, it's been forever. I'm so sorry! My muse has been a nightmare, and if you're friends with me on Facebook or in my reader group (if you're not, why not? ;) It's CiaraShayee's Dreamers and everyone is welcome!) you'll know that my husband and I are in the middle of having fertility treatment to have our own little Milo or Lucas! So life is...busy.
Still, I have up to chapter sixteen written and edited, so you can expect a return of regular posts, I just need to get back in the habit. Please feel free to nudge me if I forget, my brain is otherwise occupied a lot of the time at the moment.
Anyways...enough of me babbling. Enjoy!
Someone Else's Baby
April 18th 2021
"This doesn't make sense."
Jacob scrubs his hands over his face, dark brows furrowed when he looks across the yard at Bella, his black eyes confused. "It's too coincidental, right? I mean...this guy's gotta be some wacko who's just…"
"Just...what, Jake? Tracked me down for my money?" Bella snorts, throwing back the last mouthful of rosé in her glass. "My life has turned into a soap opera," she laments, leaning into the lounger cushion and staring up at the sky. The sun hovers on the horizon. Taunting. Teasing. Just minutes away from dipping below and hiding for another night.
Bella wishes she could hide from this. From all of this.
"Are you still there?"
Jacob sighs, looking at his cell resting on the wicker coffee table. "Still here, Ness. Sorry. We're just…"
"Processing?" she guesses tentatively. "B, I'm so sorry. I wish I could give you a massive hug right now."
Bella's chest squeezes. "I'll take you up on that next time I see you."
Switching off speaker mode, Jacob scoops his cell up and raises it to his ear as he steps down off the porch, leaving Bella semi-alone with her thoughts.
Finding out that her life would forever be interwoven with that of a relative stranger was jarring enough—without then discovering just how small her world was by hearing her friend admit she was also, inexplicably, friends with the man who'd been raising her baby.
Lucas.
Palming her chest, Bella wills her heart to remain steady as she rolls the name around her mind.
Lucas. Lucas. Lucas.
Edward had told her his name after Jacob accidentally said Milo's. They haven't shared anything else about the boys, just their names, but it makes him real in Bella's mind. She's started to picture him. Lucas Cullen. The boy she carried, sang to, and delivered into the world. The boy who was handed to another family just hours after she met him.
Does he look like her the same way Milo looks like Edward?
She doesn't know.
But, thanks to Jacob asking his sister Nessa if she knows anybody in Forks by the name of 'Cullen,' she now knows that Edward is the principal of Taylor's school and 'a real stand-up guy.'
Bella also knows that she needs to get a grip on her emotions, fast, because her lawyer is working on setting up a meeting with Edward's lawyer and the CEO of the hospital in Forks.
She hasn't been back there in years. With their family—Jacob and Claire, and their kids—they've visited La Push plenty of times, but Bella always avoids Forks.
There are too many ghosts there.
"Mom? Are you back there?"
Clearing her throat, Bella straightens up in her seat, plastering a smile on her face as the screen door clacks open, then shut, Milo loping out onto the porch. Nudging her legs over, he flops his butt down between her and the armrest, squeezing himself into a space so small they're squished together.
"Oof, it's okay, I don't need to breathe," Bella laughs, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"That's good," Milo says cheerily, leaning into her. "Who's Uncle Jake talking to?"
Bella swallows hard. "Aunt Nessa."
"Oh, cool. Are we still going to see her and Tay when summer break starts? I want to go fishing with Tay and Papa, and Nana said she'd teach me how to make her frybread."
The rock in the pit of Bella's stomach rolls; she has to fight to keep the wince off her face. "I don't know, buddy...our schedule is kind of up in the air, and Nana and Papa might not be free…"
Milo pushes away to cock his head at his mom. "What are you talking about? We always go to La Push at the start of summer break, and Nana and Papa always want us to come visit more. They tell us that all the time."
"I know, but—"
"But, what?"
As Milo stares at her, brows furrowed and emerald eyes snapping with frustration, Bella's breath catches in her throat. In that moment, she can't see anything but the striking similarities between him and his...his biological father.
Edward's hair is darker than Milo's, but Bella has noticed Milo's mop darkening this last year or two. It's still very red, but having met Edward, knowing that his blood runs through her son's veins, Bella's pretty sure it will continue to darken into the same rich bronze.
Loosening her arms so he can slide off her seat with a huff, Bella watches Milo stride off the porch toward his uncle. She chokes on Jacob's name as she calls it across the yard.
He spins, spotting Milo heading toward him, and manages a grin as he tells Nessa the boy wants to speak to her.
"You warned her…"
"Of course," Jacob murmurs a few moments later, squeezing Bella's shoulder as Milo slides his legs through the tire swing and grumpily tells Nessa that his mom is being noncommittal about their annual trip. "What's got him all cranky?"
"I said I wasn't sure about La Push," Bella admits wearily, rubbing the niggling pain in her temple. "I need to get this meeting with the Forks Hospital CEO out of the way before I do anything. And I need to talk to my lawyer before I take him anywhere near Forks again, Jake." Looking up at him, she beseeches him to understand, to agree. "You understand that, don't you?"
His dark eyes are narrowed, but he nods after a pregnant pause, dropping into a crouch beside her. "I understand. But, Bella, you said it yourself. You're going to need all the support you can get if this...you know, if this gets nasty."
"What? What do you mean? Why would it get...nasty?" Bella frowns, knotted stomach twisting, head pounding just a little more.
Jacob couldn't look more uncomfortable, but he rubs his neck and clears his throat. "B, have you thought about, you know, what happens now? What if this guy comes after you, after Milo?"
Bella's eyes drift over the yard to Milo. He's not on the phone anymore. Legs stretched out, he's leaning back as far as his grip on the rope will let him, head tipped toward the grass so the sun can shine on his face.
Jacob hung the tire there when Milo was two; it was his birthday gift that year because Bella was up to her neck in school and barely had the money to make rent, let alone pile up lavish gifts for her toddler son. Ten years later, it's still one of Milo's favorite places in the world. He'd swing there for hours if the real world—and, more often than not, Jacob and Claire's twins—didn't interfere.
"Milo, where are you?" Sammy yells, clattering out onto the porch with his toy digger. Benji is right behind him with an armful of Hot Wheels and what looks like a crushed bag of Doritos.
Milo's head pops up, and Bella watches a crooked smile stretch across his face as he slips out of the tire and drops down on the grass to play with his honorary cousins.
Not for the first time, she wishes she could have given him a little sibling to dote on like he does Sammy, Benji, and their baby sister, Lucy. He would have been such an amazing big brother.
Then, remembering what Jacob just asked her, she stiffens.
"You don't...he...I don't think…"
Gently tugging her up out of her seat, Jacob calls out for Milo to watch the twins for a second before leading Bella inside. Trembling, she drops onto a chair at the dining table and stares at Jacob with wide eyes.
Shame rushes through her body when she realizes that she hasn't once considered the notion of Edward trying to take Milo. It should have been the first thing she thought of, shouldn't it? A natural conclusion. That's what people do when they mix things up.
When she was seven, Bella accidentally took home her best friend's coat, and her friend took hers. The coats were identical, a result of a temporary phase they were going through in which they had to have everything the same, so it was an easy mistake to make. Over the weekend, once their respective parents realized what had happened, they met up at the park and switched back.
Bella's heart skips a beat. They can't just meet up at the park and switch back this time.
"He ca-can't take Milo a-away," she finally stammers, palming her racing heart. "Jake, Milo's my baby."
"I know, B. I know," he soothes, stroking her hair out of her face. "What did your lawyer say about it all?"
Wracking her brain, Bella tries to remember everything Siobhan told her at their last meeting. "Th-that we needed to hang on and see what the CEO of the hospital said," she breathes shakily. "And that cases like this, cases of switched...switched babies...they're usually discovered much sooner."
"Did she say what our legal standing is? If this guy comes after Milo?"
If it weren't for the fact that she can see how much it pains Jacob, Bella would yell at him for even suggesting that such a thing could happen.
Instead, she swallows and dashes tears from her cheeks. "We didn't talk about it. I didn't...it's not something I even considered. I feel foolish...l-like a total idiot."
Wrapping his arms around her shoulders and dropping a kiss on top of her head, Jacob sighs. "Maybe we need to prepare ourselves for that, B."
~ oOo ~
April 23rd 2021
"This place looks so awesome, Mom! I can't believe you're missing this!"
Bella smiles, then quickly murmurs an apology to the woman whose toes she just ran over with her suitcase. Looking around for her gate, she distractedly says, "That's great, baby. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself! Is Uncle Jake behaving?"
Milo snorts. "He's being a big baby. He won't even go on the amateur climbing course."
Hearing Jacob grumbling in the background, Bella laughs and collapses in a nearby chair. Her gate is the closest, thank God, and there's still almost an hour until her evening flight, so she takes the opportunity to relax and make sure Milo is having fun on his impromptu weekend trip with Jacob, and Liam and Alistair—a friend from school and his dad.
"You're having fun, though? Even though Uncle Jake's being a baby?"
"Yeah," Milo breathes, and she can hear the smile in his voice. "Me and Liam are gonna try the more advanced course tomorrow, but we have to do the beginner one first. Uncle Jake says we can do that after dinner, so we just came back to the hotel for some food. What are you doing?"
Bella looks around at all the people rushing from one place to another. Families heading on vacation, business people tapping frantically on laptops, and a mom helping her toddler son balance as he tries to walk along the line separating the carpet and the parquet.
Wistfulness curls in her stomach, the little boy beaming up at his mom.
"I'm just watching TV, baby," she lies. "I'll let you get back to your boys' weekend. Speak to you later?"
"Uh-huh."
"Love you, Miles."
"Love you, too, Mom," he hisses in an embarrassed whisper, his friend obviously within earshot.
~ oOo ~
"Oh, Bella love. It's so wonderful to see you!"
Until she collapses into Sue's arms, Bella hadn't realized just how much she needs this. A mother's embrace. Tears fill her eyes and the rock that seems to have taken up permanent residence in her stomach does a flip.
"Thank you for coming to get me."
"Oh," Sue breathes tearfully, pulling back just far enough to flash her a shaky smile. "I wanted to come and get you the moment you told me what was going on, but someone wouldn't let me…"
"I don't want Milo to know anything is going on," Bella reminds her gently, reaching for the handle of her case so they can get out of the way of the hustle and bustle. "He'd definitely catch on if you just showed up out of the blue."
When Sue doesn't say anything, Bella glances at her and deflates a little. Sue's dark eyes are flooded, her trembling fingers covering her mouth. "I'm so sorry, love. So sorry that this is happening. I still can't...I can't wrap my head around it all. Did the woman at the hospital give you any kind of explanation?"
Regretfully, Bella shakes her head as she reaches out to take Sue's hand. "Not yet."
~ oOo ~
They're holding hands on top of the console in Sue's car the following morning when she drops Bella off at the hospital. It's finally time for the meeting with the CEO, as well as all the lawyers involved.
Bella would be lying if she said she isn't nervous.
"Are you sure I can't come with you?" she frets, squeezing Bella's hand over the console.
"It's okay, I'll be fine. Siobhan, my lawyer, is meeting me here. And Edward is coming with his lawyer, too," Bella reminds her for the third time this morning.
With a sigh, Sue makes her promise to call if she needs her, pressing a firm kiss to Bella's forehead before watching her hurry from the car to the dry safety of the awning fanned out over the hospital entrance.
A little while later, Bella finds herself in a conference room on the second floor as the mouthpiece for the hospital admits that their investigation has revealed some troubling evidence. Evidence that guides them to the answers they've been looking for. To the whys and hows of their incredible situation.
The CEO doesn't look how Bella expects her to.
Charlotte Laurent is tall and thin, blonde hair piled on top of her head in a beehive style that went out of fashion decades ago. Her demeanor doesn't put Bella at ease, not at all, and the way she repeatedly asks if Bella or Edward ever suspected anything is a sucker punch.
It makes Bella wonder how she never knew, how she never felt it.
Shouldn't I have known? she frets while they wait. Am I a bad mom for not knowing? I must be. Who doesn't know their own baby?
Charlotte fidgets with the pen in her hand, each click sending a burst of frustration through Bella. She's tense in her seat, Edward just as rigid beside her. Their lawyers are present, too, both sitting across the table with fierce expressions on their faces. The lawyer representing the hospital stepped out for a moment, but when he steps back in a few moments later and drops into the seat at the head of the table beside Charlotte, he sighs.
"We've looked into the staffing records at the time of your respective children's births," he says when Charlotte nods. Looking between Edward and Bella, the bob of his Adam's apple is obvious. "There was a big reshuffle around that time, when a new board of governors took over. The maternity unit was short-staffed as a result, and we believe that, combined with other mitigating factors on the day in question, played a part in the grave mistake that was made when your children were switched—"
"Hold on, hold on," Edward interjets, hand slamming down on the table. Bella jumps, her eyes sliding over to his deep frown.
It's like looking into Milo's future.
"Are you...are you admitting that our children, that Lucas and M-Milo…"
Bella's chest squeezes as she watches his lips wrap around Milo's name. It's the first time she's heard him say it.
"Mr. Jenkins, if this is you accepting liability and admitting that the gross negligence of the staff at this hospital resulted in my client's and Mr. Brooks's client's sons being mislabelled, being separated from their biological families, this meeting needs to be a very different one," Bella's lawyer—Siobhan Stevens—says firmly, brow cocked.
Mr. Jenkins tugs a handkerchief from his pocket, dabbing his forehead. Beads of sweat reform almost instantly as he pulls at the knot of his tie.
The air seems to rush from the room as he shoots an almost desperate look at Charlotte, who studiously ignores him. Bella's heart thrums double time as Mr. Jenkins's Adam's apple bobs again. "Ms. Stevens—"
He's interrupted by a tentative knock on the door. All six heads in the room turn toward it, and Mr. Jenkins calls out a weak, "Come in!"
The world jerks to a halt on its axis when the door slowly opens and a familiar, but not, face steps into the room.
As always, massive hugs to annaharding, hotteaforme, and maplestyle for being total rockstars and helping me deal with my fickle, abandoning muse.
And to all of you for sticking with me! We're two reviews away from 700 on this story which just...blows my mind. Nine chapters and we'll probably cross over into the 700 review mark...it's crazy. Thank you, thank you, thank you! xo