Five years later…
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy look what I drawed," Ava said as she ran inside from her first day of kindergarten. She jumped into Edward's lap as she shoved the paper into his face. "I drawed me, you, and Mommy."
"Oh, wow; this is great! I think it needs to be hung up on the refrigerator," he said with a smile. She jumped off of his lap and headed for the kitchen. Edward and I both looked at each other and laughed at how hyper she was.
"I'm going to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner to celebrate her first day, okay?" I asked as he nodded.
"That's fine, but get going. She's probably going to crash early," he said as I nodded.
"Ava, do you want to help me make dinner?"
"No, thank you," she said as she went and sat next to her daddy.
"How was your day?" he asked her.
"Oh my gosh, Daddy, I had so much fun! I'm glad I get to do this every day," she said with so much enthusiasm. "I sit next to Joey and he's my friend."
I stood behind my two favorite people and watched them for a few minutes before heading to the kitchen. It had been a long, hard five years. Every day seemed to be a battle. Carlisle and Esme have both tried their hardest to keep tabs on us, but Edward, for the most part, has kept his promise. Once he knew his mother was taken care of, he cut ties as much as he could. We had to change our number three times. We had no clue how they kept finding out what the new number was, but they did every time. Carlisle would call and say the most horrible things to Edward. I would eavesdrop sometimes, and I even heard Edward wish death upon Carlisle once. He would talk to me a little here and there when it came it Carlisle, but I knew he didn't want me to worry. Little did he know I always worried when it came to the crazy people he called parents.
We put both houses up for sale and stored his parent's belongings. We knew we couldn't keep up with Esme's house. Since Edward held all the power, he made the final decisions. He set up a bank account for his parents for whenever they needed it. He also made sure they had all their money, plus the money from the sale of their house. Aro was the go between man and he was in charge of anything that had to do with them. Last I knew, Edward was pleased with the way Aro was handling things. Edward wouldn't do it anymore and, I was proud of him for that. I felt that after everything they had done, he owed his so-called parents nothing. Edward had many demons that he needed to fight off and he was taking care of things one at a time.
A year after everything had happened, Edward's boss asked him if he would move to Chicago, and we took that as our way out. We agreed that after a year of staying in Forks, it was time for us to start our life. Chicago was where Edward was born, and we took it as a sign that was where we should be. We were going to start over where his life began. His real parents lived there, but they kept their distance. When we first moved into our new house, I ran into his mother while I was at the store with Ava. I knew who she was as soon as I saw her; I would have never been able to forget her.
"Isabella Cullen?" she asked as I nodded. "I'm Elizabeth Masen."
"I know," I said as her eyes filled with tears.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as if she thought I wasn't really standing there.
"Hi!" Ava said with a huge smile.
"Hello there, Princess," she said with a smile.
"Ava, Mommy," she said pointing to herself than to me.
"What a pretty name. I'm Liz," she said sweetly. I really didn't trust sweet people anymore.
"Wiz," Ava said proudly. I couldn't help but to laugh. My daughter was pretty cute.
"She looks just like Edward when he was little," she said as her eyes filled with tears even more. I knew she was going to cry and I wouldn't know how to handle it. Plus, I didn't know what to say. "How is he, if you don't mind me asking?"
"He's well."
"Why are you in Chicago?"
"Um…we live here now. Edward was offered a job and he wanted to come back to where his life began," I told her, knowing I was saying too much.
"That's awesome," she said with a smile. "Um…we gave Edward our number in case we ever wanted to talk…it's still the same."
"Okay," I said with a head nod. Ava yawned as if on cue. "We need to go."
"Oh, of course; I understand. It was very nice to see you," she said to me as I nodded again. That night when Edward came home, I knew I needed to tell him, but I had no idea how. Once Ava was in bed for the night, I stood next to the couch and chewed on the side of my thumb.
"What?" he asked, looking up to me. "Did Carlisle call again?"
"Um…no. Ava and I went to the store today," I told him.
"Ah, yeah; I told you that you could go," he said.
"I know, but I saw someone. I didn't want to be rude," I said as he sat up.
"Who? Did Esme get out?!" he asked, jumping up.
"No…no it was Elizabeth," I said as his eyes went wide.
"Fucking seriously?!"
"Yes, she stopped me. We only spoke for a few minutes," I told him as he stared at me.
"What did she say? Was she mean? Was she rude?" he asked, throwing questions at me.
"No, she was nice enough. She said Ava looked like you and that their number was still the same," I said as I backed away. I never knew how Edward was going to react anymore. Sometimes he would be fine, and then other times he would flip.
"Oh…" he said in response to what I told him. "You didn't make a date with her or promise we would see her again, did you?"
"No," I said, shaking my head.
"Good, because I'm not ready to deal with all that yet," he said as I nodded in understanding. "Plus, I don't even know if I would recognize them."
It took him two more years before he was ready to deal with his real parents. I may or may not have kind of put them in the same place at the same time. When Ava was three and a half, I saw Elizabeth again, and Ava told her how we were going to the zoo for Daddy's birthday. She was very excited to see all the animals. I may have mentioned that we were planning on being there at noon. As a mother, I knew if I found out after twenty-five years that my child was alive after being kidnapped, I would want to see for myself that they were okay. That was what I was giving this woman whom I didn't even know. Elizabeth and Tony weren't pushy people, and they respected Edward enough to leave him be. He said years ago he would cross that bridge when he was ready.
He would talk about them once in a while, but I never pushed him. I knew this was something he had to do on his own. Edward didn't want any help from a therapist because he said that was weak. I was pretty sure the weak talk was never going to go away. He needed to be strong for Ava and me. For the most part, I went along with anything he wanted to do. It wasn't often that I would disagree with him. I still asked to go places, and I let him know where and what I was doing every day. I did as I was told and I was still punished if I disobeyed. It wasn't often I defied him. I knew that was a part of him that was not going to go away. He needed the control and I allowed it. I gave him what he needed, and he gave me what I needed. I thought we were a pretty good team.
As we walked around the zoo, I saw Elizabeth and Tony a couple of times. It was Ava who made us run into them.
"Ava! Don't run!" Edward said as our hyper little one took off to the next set of animals. At that point, I thought the two of them had left because I didn't see them again. The next set of animals were the monkeys, and Ava pushed her way in between his parents so she could see through the glass.
"Monkey," Ava said, talking to Edward parents. Tony stared down at our daughter as his eyes filled with tears.
"I'm so sorry, Sir," Edward said to Tony.
"It's alright; she's just excited," Tony said. He looked so much like Edward.
"Ava, you can't run away from me and Mommy," he scolded as he scooped her up in his arms.
"Monkeys, Daddy!" she said, pointing to the glass in front of her.
"I see the monkeys," he said to her.
"Your daughter is beautiful," Tony said as he looked at his son.
"Thank you. I am sorry she pushed through like she did," he said.
"Wiz!" Ava yelled, waving to Elizabeth. "I wuv monkeys," Ava told her as Edward stared at the monkeys. He wouldn't look at anyone. "You wuv monkeys?" Ava asked, looking at the monkeys.
"They're my favorite," Tony said.
"Me, Ava," she said, pointing to herself. "Mommy and Daddy," she said pointing to each of us in turn.
"I'm Tony, and it's very nice to meet you," he said kindly. "Is this your first time here?"
"Yeah; me and Daddy wuv the monkeys and Mommy wuvs elephants," she told Tony. "I wike the fishes, too."
"They are pretty cool," Elizabeth said to her. When I walked up and put my hand on my husband's back, I felt him take a deep breath.
"I hope you get to come here often. Liz and I come here every year on this day. This day thirty-two years ago, we brought our son here for his fifth birthday. A week later, we lost him," Tony said looking to Edward.
"Fine him," Ava said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"We did," Elizabeth said. I could tell she was going cry.
"Daddy," Ava said, making him look at her. "I hold your hand so I not lost you."
"Okay," Edward whispered. He kissed her cheeks as we went back to watching the monkeys.
"I get down?" she asked as Edward set her on her feet.
"No running," I said to her as she put her face to the glass. I took Edward's hand in mine and he squeezed it. I wrapped myself around his arm so he knew I wasn't going anywhere. We all laughed when a baby monkey came up to the window and pointed at Ava. That made her squeal with excitement.
"He wike me, Daddy!"
"I think he does," Edward said with a laugh. Elizabeth patted Ava's head with her hand before she looked to Edward.
"It was very nice to see you again," she said.
"This has been the best day…" Tony said, taking Elizabeth's hand. "You have a beautiful family." They started to walk away when Ava turned to them.
"We have to see the elephants," she said as they started to walk away.
"And the tigers," Edward added, looking at them.
"We don't want to impose," Tony said, shaking his head. "We respect what you want."
"It's fine," he said, clearing his throat. "I can't make any promises, though."
"We understand," Elizabeth said with a smile.
That was how we got to know his real parents. We would talk in passing, and they came to Ava's birthdays and what not, but we were never able to tell her that they were her grandparents. I don't think either one of us were ready to allow too many people into our lives.
Jasper was still Edward's rock, and for that I would always be grateful. Alice was the one that filled me in on things with the Cullens that I didn't know. I knew Edward didn't tell me a lot of things because he knew I never wanted to hear it, but a part of me needed to know.
Alice was the one to tell me that Esme was released from the hospital. The weeks to follow were horrible. I couldn't sleep or eat. I was waiting for her to show up on my doorstep. Every time the phone rang, I was scared to pick it up. I knew she had found our number somehow, though. We were getting a lot of unknown and private numbers calling several times a day. Those calls didn't start until a week after she was released. I thought that if I didn't answer, she would give up, but she was relentless. I realized that I would rather talk to her than to let Edward do it. He had come a long way in the two years, and I didn't want him going backwards because of her. I knew what I needed to do. I waited for the phone to ring, and when it did, I took a deep breath and answered it.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Bella?" Esme asked.
"Don't call here…"
"Just listen," she said in a hurry. "I'm so sorry. I was sick. I'm so sorry."
"Sometimes sorry isn't good enough. I hate you, Esme. I hate you more than I hate my own father!"
"You are an ungrateful child!" she snapped.
"Oh yeah? I have Edward and my daughter — who do you have?" I asked before hanging up the phone. I smiled as I took a deep breath. I picked up the phone to call my husband to let him know it was time to change our number again.
"Hey, Babe," Edward said as he answered.
"I'm just calling to let you know we need to change our number. Is there a way to make it untraceable?" I asked as he sighed.
"I don't know. I'll call and see. Who called?"
"Esme," I said as he sighed again.
"Did you answer?" he asked as I bit my lip. He had told me time and time again not to answer if I didn't know who it was.
"Yes," I said as he groaned.
"Bella, I told you not to."
"I know, but it felt so good to hang up on her," I said with an almost whine to my voice. It made me feel better when I heard him chuckle. I thought for sure there would be a spanking in my near future.
"I've gotta go; we'll talk later," he said.
Like I said before, I never knew how he was going to react. He flipped the most when Carlisle would contact him. That was when I had to deal with the wrath of Edward. That was when I was punished. I took every spanking without complaint because I knew that was what my husband needed when he felt like he was losing control. I needed him to know that he had control over me. Not only that, but I knew if I let him have his time to punish me, he would never hurt Ava. I was grateful that he always kept it together until she was out of the room. I never wanted her to see her father punish me.
Even after five years, he has never done more than small tap to the hand if she touched something she shouldn't. I was more or less the bad guy in Ava's eyes and I was fine with that. I was the one that could remain level headed enough to punish her. Edward and I agreed with that fact. After all this time, we had finally found our balance to make us equal partners in our marriage.
Alice and Jasper were going strong, and they were married before we left Forks. Alice was on cloud nine when she was fully able to give herself to him. He had proven to her time and time again that he was very worthy of her. Jasper was one of the greatest men I knew. He never raised a hand to her, and he never forced himself on her at all. I was happy she found her happiness. I knew she and I were always going to be there for one another if we were needed. Alice and Jasper were also the only aunt and uncle our daughter had. We were still friends with Emmett and Rose, but when we moved, we grew apart. I knew Edward still talked to Emmett once in a while, but that was it as far as their friendship went. I was content with the little family I had for the fact that I knew they would all be there when it counted.
As I finished dinner and put it on the table, Ava came walking in with two outfits.
"Which do you like?" she asked with a big smile.
"The purple one," I said as she sighed.
"That's what Daddy said," she said as she looked at the clothes. "I wish Aunt Ally was here."
"They will come and visit soon. How about if you're not too tired after you eat, we will see if she's on Skype so you can ask her," I suggested as her smile grew.
"Okay, Mommy," she said with a huge smile as she ran out of the dining room.
"I love you," Edward said, scaring me half to death. He wrapped his arms around me as I bent over the table to put a plate down.
"I love you, too," I said as I stood with my back pressed to his chest. I loved our little love moments.
"You're happy, right?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Of course," I said, rubbing his hands. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah…" he said, sounding uncertain.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," he said more confidently.
"Family hug!" Ava half yelled as she wrapped her little arms around our legs.
"Everything is going to be fine," he said, kissing my cheek.
He was right. Everything was going to be okay, and we were going to have a long and happy life together.
So that's the end of that. There will be another pov to come, but I'm not sure when and I don't make promises. I'm hitting the complete button because this story is complete. I know there are some unanswered questions, but you will get your answers at some point.
This has been a long and bumpy road as far as this story goes. I have had so many people that have helped with this story. Thanks to Siobhan for her co-writing skills, she only bad this story better. Thanks to toocute24 for being my rock and the best beta I know. Thanks to weekitty for being an amazing sounding board. Thanks to teamalltwilight and krazi4twisaga for keeping me going and positive. All of you are the best bunch of women to work with EVER!
Also, the biggest thank you goes out the reader and all of you that have reviewed!