EPOV

"I have to go back to Seattle as soon as possible."

The words echo in my head on repeat, and I'm unable to move. Frozen on the spot, on one side of the kitchen island, I watch helplessly as Bella continues to fall apart. Even if I could move, how on earth can I try to hold myself together when it feels like I'm unraveling?

"I have to go back to Seattle as soon as possible."

Bella tells me all the time that she has nothing in Washington, but now, all of a sudden, she's saying she has to leave.

"I have to go back to Seattle as soon as possible."

We haven't talked about what Bella said before Marley caught us in the laundry room. I sort of thought it was implied when she listed all of her wants that involved us growing together as a family that she meant the whole reason she ever went back to Seattle would be to pack and come back to us. Even though she isn't referring to Washington as home anymore, this feels different, wrong.

Was I wrong to assume?

"I have to go back to Seattle as soon as possible."

"Edward," Bella whispers, her voice catching on a sob.

Not caring that I still reek of fish, I round the island and wrap my arms around her trembling body. She hugs me, and I can't tell who's holding on tighter. It's as if I can physically keep her from leaving, and at the same time, she's wanting me to try.

She attempts to explain her reasoning, but between the hiccuping sobs and my jacket, I can only make out random words.

"Basement" and "Hope". It's the latter that makes her cry even harder.

I try my best to soothe her and can only hope that Marley is upstairs making a mess of my bathroom because she doesn't need to see this. Both of her parents falling apart.

"Bella, baby, you have to calm down or you're going to make yourself sick."

Minutes pass before she can speak. She doesn't let go but leans back to meet my gaze. She looks guilty, ashamed. "All of her things might be ruined, Edward. I have to go."

"Who's things?"

Bella lets go and fights out of my hold. My arms are already cold when she takes a step back. How am I going to let her go?

She dabs at her eyes with a dish towel. "My super called while you were gone. A pipe burst and the basement is flooded. He thinks my storage unit got hit. I have to go."

I start grasping for straws. "Tell me what's in the unit, and I'll help you replace whatever it is."

Bella shakes her head and breaks my heart. "You can't. It's all priceless. It's all of Hope's things."

This time, I gather her in my arms in an effort to physically stop her from going. I lean down and inhale the sweet scent of her hair. "Bella …" I plead. "Stay."

"You don't understand, Edward." She cries as a fresh round of tears begins to fall. "It's all of her baby things. I can't just sit here and act like it's nothing because those things … they were all I had left of her. I needed them, and now I need them so much more."

I'm confused but don't comment.

"I thought about trying to get a hold of Kate to see if she could go check for me, but she hated that I kept all of it, which makes a lot more sense now."

"Okay."

"I had to keep it, Edward. Those things—Hope's things—were all I had to keep me going sometimes. I can't let any of it get ruined even though I have Marley now. Now those items are even more special because I can share everything with her and with you." She cradles my face in her hands. "Please, don't get quiet, Edward. Please."

I nod and try to get my emotions in check. "I understand."

Her eyes search mine. "Do you? Do you really?"

"I do. I'd offer to come with you as emotional support but just you leaving is already going to kill Marley."

It's in this moment that we both realize that our heartache is nothing compared to Marley's reaction. At this point, I know there's nothing I could say or do aside from using our daughter as a bargaining chip, and I refuse to sink that low. It doesn't go unnoticed that Bella isn't asking me to try and convince her to not go. Nor does she mention her plans to return.

"This is something I need to do on my own, and I'll sit down with Marley and try to explain things to her."

"Okay, I'll go check flights for you."

Does she hear the sadness in my voice? Can she hear my voice cracking right alongside my heart?

Bella refuses to look at me. "I've already booked my flight. I leave tomorrow at eleven."

It physically pains me to refrain from asking her if she booked a one-way or a round trip.

"I'll keep Marley home from school so we can take you to the airport."

As if on cue, Marley comes rushing into the room and grabs her apron before scooting her stool over to the stove. "I'm clean and ready to help."

Bella smooths the collar of my jacket and drops a kiss on my frown. "Go get cleaned up while we work."

I almost don't want to leave the room because I know what's going to happen when I go, but I smell and that can't be easy for her.

Knowing that Bella is going to tell Marley and that she wants to do it alone, I take my time mopping up the mess she made in my bathroom and spend a good amount of time decompressing in the hot shower.

This can't be happening. I want to go to bed and wake up tomorrow to find that this was all just a bad dream. I'm a rational adult, and I know I'll be saying goodbye to Bella tomorrow, and I won't know when she plans on returning.

I wish I brought my phone upstairs with me because I could use my best friend and her words of wisdom right now.

I dress in my coziest pajamas, hoping for a lazy last night with my girls, and sneak up to the kitchen door to make sure I'm not going to interrupt their moment. For the most part, I can only make out Bella's voice, talking softly about the ingredients for meatballs.

I open the door and find Bella working on dinner with Marley attached to her front. Her face is buried in Bella's neck, and her legs and arms are wrapped tightly around her mom.

"Once we add the egg, we will mix in the breadcrumbs," Bella explains, and I can hear the tears in her voice. "I usually make my own breadcrumbs, but we're going to cheat this go around."

Marley harrumphs and tightens her hold.

"Hello, my girls," I greet, and Bella is the only one who acknowledges me. She turns, and my heart sinks.

Marley's silence makes more sense now because her body is shaking with silent sobs, and Bella looks like she could break down again any second.

"Do you think you could finish dinner going off the recipe? I printed it out," she asks, her lip trembles as tears well in her eyes.

"Of course." I silently ask if everything is okay, and she shakes her head and pats Marley's back.

"We're going to go talk in the living room. Don't burn the meatballs; they're Marley's favorite."

I hold the door open for them and watch Bella try to sit down with Marley still attached. I want to stay and listen. I want to try and help Marley understand what is happening and why. Bella catches me watching and mouths to me to go.

I follow the recipe that Bella printed from her blog and fight the urge to check on them every thirty seconds. There are moments while I'm cooking where I can't catch my breath. The thought of driving Bella to the airport and saying goodbye is physically painful.

I'm straining the pasta when they join me. Red-faced and bloodshot eyes. Marley's nose is running, and when she sees me, she lets go of Bella's hand and rushes to me. I catch her and put her on my hip, and she buries her face in the collar of my shirt. I massage the back of her neck, knowing when she gets this upset, my scent can calm her down.

I whisper the same words I said to Bella. "Shh, Muffin. Calm down or you're going to make yourself sick."

"Mommy … Mommy is leaving me." She all but wails, and I realize that I've been so focused on myself. Marley deserves all of my attention, and it doesn't matter how I feel.

"I know, Muffin." I bounce her and pat her back. "It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not, Daddy." She cries harder.

I look over, and Bella is just standing by the door with her hand over her mouth in an effort to keep quiet. I'm fighting my own tears.

Marley's hiccups die down, and I talk her into eating dinner, knowing that she has to be hungry because she barely ate lunch, aside from her milkshake.

I help her wash her face while Bella gets everything ready in the living room. Tonight feels like dinner and a movie night could help Marley calm down. She scowls when she sees what movie Bella loaded in the player.

"No 'Stasia," she says, and her voice is so rough. "Toy Story. Please."

"Okay, precious. I'll change it."

Marley barely pays attention to the movie and almost falls asleep while pushing her food around her plate.

When I try to carry her to bed, she cries for Bella, and they end up taking my bed. While I clean the kitchen, I try not to check the clock because I don't want to know how much time we have left. I do a load of laundry and dry mop the first floor before heading to bed. Wanting Marley to have the last bit of Bella's time to herself, I decide to sleep in her room. The blankets and pillows smell like Bella, and when I do finally fall asleep after hours of tossing and turning, my heart still aches.

~MM~

I wake up to Marley and Bella talking quietly as they pack Bella's things. They talk about the items in her storage unit and the things she really hopes aren't ruined because she wants to share them with us. A paper mache cast of her belly when she was eight months pregnant, clothes and toys and more pictures just to name a few. I pretend to be asleep while they talk about how they will stay in contact.

It's hard to keep up the façade when Bella tells Marley that they can talk all the time on the phone and the computer and that she'll come back to visit.

I was right. We didn't have enough time to talk about Bella's wants, and now it's too late. I'm out of time to convince her to stay with us forever.

When I "wake up", the bags are packed and more tears are shed.

I try to find a moment to get Bella alone to tell her about my wants and my needs, but Marley is clingy, and her wants and needs are more important than mine.

The drive to the airport is silent. Bella is sitting in the back with Marley, and she avoids making eye contact with me in the rear view mirror.

JAX is relatively quiet, so we get through security and check in far too quickly for my liking. When it's time to say goodbye to Bella, Marley loses it. She hugs her neck. "Mommy, please don't go."

Knowing that Bella doesn't have a choice, I peel Marley off of her.

"Call me as soon as you land," I whisper.

Bella bites her lip and nods.

"We'll miss you."

"Me too," she chokes out and picks up her bag before walking away from us.