ESPOV
I'm woken by gentle, cold fingers drawing patterns on my bare arms. I don't want to open my eyes, so I don't, but I can feel Carlisle's gaze on me.
"Are you watching me sleep?" I ask with my eyes still shut.
"I'm admiring your beauty." He says and I can hear the smile in his voice.
"Well stop. It's creepy." He barks out a laugh, and I can't help but open my eyes to see his beautiful face.
"Good morning" he says smiling and leans to kiss me.
"Good morning…creeper." I tell him before he can get to my lips and he laughs again. I giggle along with him and he pulls me to his chest. It's on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I love him, but I don't. Is it too soon? I've been away from my husband for a week and a half, and I've only Carlisle for that long. Our relationship has already progressed faster than normal, but then again this isn't normal; I'm a vampire's mate, there's nothing normal about it.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" His cold fingers smooth the wrinkle between my eyebrows.
"I…I need to brush my teeth. Morning breath and all." I can't exactly tell him that I'm debating whether it's too soon to love him.
"Hmmm…well I like your morning breath. It smells like pure Esme." He whispers before taking my lips in a soft kiss. When his tongue caresses my lips, I slowly open my mouth and meet his tongue with mine.
I just can't bear for him to stick his tongue all of the way into my mouth yet. Charles used to shove his fat, hot tongue into my mouth, even though I didn't want it there; he would almost choke me with it.
The heat between us burns and simmers as I run my hands along Carlisle's chest. I sigh and pull away from his mouth so I can see him. His body is perfect: chiseled but not super muscular like Emmett. I can see the outline of each of his abs and I blush thinking about licking them last night.
"Your body is perfect" I whisper. I don't even realize I've said it until he responds.
"I don't even compare to you. Your beauty takes my breath away. My unnatural looks come from the supernatural. Believe me, I didn't look like this when I was human; I was scrawny with bad skin and thin hair. Everything is enhanced and made better when you become a vampire. Your beauty, however is all natural and it's perfect."
I blush and look away.
"I really don't know what to say when you say things like that."
"You don't have to say anything. Just know that I'm telling you the absolute truth and believe me." He kisses me on the nose and throws the covers off of us. "Now, sleeping beauty, your breakfast is ready so let's go feed peanut, okay?"
I nod and take his outstretched hand.
We walk downstairs hand in hand and find Jasper, Emmett, and Edward playing some kind of shooter video game on the big screen TV. The girls are in the kitchen helping Bella cook breakfast. Alice and Rosalie have been learning little bits about cooking for the past week. They say they want to be able to cook for the baby.
"Good morning girls." Carlisle says going over to kiss each of their cheeks.
"Good morning, Carlisle, Esme." Bella says.
"Your breakfast is ready. We made an omelette today, we're trying to perfect our recipe." Alice says setting a plate in front of me, and my stomach growls when I see it. I inhale the scent and immediately throw my hand over my mouth and run for the bathroom. I make it just in time to vomit in the toilet. My body is wracking with each heave and there are tears leaking from my eyes. I've never had morning sickness this bad before, usually I just get a little nauseated.
"Esme?" Carlisle is right behind me and he takes ahold of my hair, gathering it at the nape of my neck. "Oh baby" he whispers rubbing my back.
I finally manage to stop heaving and lean back against Carlisle's chest. I'm resting all of my weight on him, but he doesn't seem to mind as he wipes my mouth with a washcloth. My eyes are shut and my body is shaking slightly from the exhausting episode that I just had. Carlisle kisses the top of my head and wipes my forehead with a new, wet washcloth.
"You'll be okay sweetheart, just take a minute."
I take comfort in him for a few minutes before opening my eyes and wobbling to my feet. Carlisle hurries to help me and I lean against him some more as I brush my teeth.
"Do you know what triggered it?"
"I think it was the smell of the eggs. It's never bothered me before, but just thinking about it now makes me queasy."
"I'll make sure the girls know."
"Oh no! They'll think this was because of their cooking! That wasn't it at all. I'm sure it tasted great, it was just my stupid pregnant body."
"Hey! I happen to love this body." He tells me, emphasizing it by grabbing my waist.
"Even when its puking?"
"Even then, but I don't like seeing you hurting and miserable like that. We'll just have to keep peanut happy so it doesn't happen again."
I smile at him and he leads me to the comfortable chairs in the living room, where he pulls me in to the cuddle with him and throws a blanket over us. His fingers are running through my hair making me relax against him and I sigh.
"You okay, Esme?" Jasper asks.
I look up to find all three boys looking away from the TV at me. They all look worried and I give them a small smile.
"I'm fine. The baby definitely doesn't like eggs."
I shudder just thinking about it and the boys smile at me before going back to playing and trash talking each other. I close my eyes and lean against Carlisle's chest wondering how I got so lucky to have this family.
CPOV
"She's asleep." Edward murmurs and I look down to find my angel completely unconscious.
"I hope that doesn't happen a lot." Jasper says.
"Me too" I agree.
"She was absolutely miserable. I could feel how scared and in pain she was. I'm glad I can't hear her thoughts." He says shuddering.
"It's often…difficult to hear her thoughts." Edward says. "Let's just say if her ex-husband ever shows up, we may have to flip a coin for who gets to kill him."
I just grimace in response and hold Esme tighter to me.
"Is she okay?" Alice says, coming out of the kitchen and I nod.
"Just a little morning sickness. No more eggs."
"No problem. I already threw them out."
"Thank you Alice. Don't feel bad. This wasn't your fault."
"I know, I just hate that she's sick."
"Me too. I'm going to take her upstairs. Hopefully she'll sleep for an hour or so. Morning sickness can really wear out the mom."
They all nod and I carefully pick Esme up and carry her to her room. She must be exhausted because she doesn't even stir when I tuck her in and climb in with her.
After about 30 minutes, her stomach growls and it makes me smile. Nothing's going to keep peanut from his food.
I slid the covers down and lay my head on Esme's belly.
"Hey little peanut. I'll make sure you get food in a little bit, but right now your mommy needs to rest. You really took it out on her this morning. Try to go easy on her, baby, she loves you so much and would do anything for you. I hate seeing her sick. You're the luckiest baby in the world, peanut, you already have a whole family who loves you and the best mommy in the world taking care of you. Go easy on her, she's been through a lot, but she's the most amazing woman I know. We all love her and I know you will too. I can't wait until you get here, peanut, you're going to be the happiest baby in the world and I'm going to make sure you want for nothing and neither does your mommy."
Fingers in my hair startle me and I look up to see Esme's smile.
"Hi" she whispers smiling.
"Hi" I smile at her but don't move my face from her belly. "How long have you been awake?"
"Long enough to hear you promise to spoil our baby-" I don't hear anything after the words 'our baby'. Wow, that sounds so good. I never thought I would ever hear that. Once I was changed, I gave up hope of ever having a baby.
"-he has to have some boundaries. No one likes spoiled kids, not even their parents. Carlisle…are you listening to me?"
I give her a goofy grin and lay a soft kiss on her mouth. "Sorry love."
"It's okay" she grumbles.
"How are you feeling?"
"Okay…hungry."
"Do you want to try some crackers and ginger ale? They'll be easy on your stomach."
"Yeah, I think so."
We walk downstairs together and find the kitchen empty. I get Esme some saltines and ginger ale before taking a seat next to her.
"So, love, have you thought any about the nursery?" I ask her.
"I have a little bit. I was thinking the guest room next to yours might be good if that's okay."
"Thats perfect. He'll be close and there's a beautiful view from that room. We could even build a balcony for him when he's older."
"That would be beautiful, but the risk would worry me. That's a two-story drop."
"Esme, I would never put our little one in danger. We would make sure it was completely safe."
"Okay…I'll think about it."
"We have time." I tell her and kiss her cheek.
"Yeah we do."
After shopping most of the day, I finally found Esme's Christmas present. It's beautiful and perfect, just like her.
After her stomach calmed down, Esme disappeared upstairs with Alice. Apparently they need to work on my present and I was banished from the house until evening. At least that gave me time to go to Port Angeles and Seattle to find Esme's present.
I hide Esme's gift in the glove box of my car when I get home and hurry inside to find my girl. Her and Alice are sitting on the couch together huddled around a laptop.
"Alice! I can't wear that nightgown! It's completely lace and see-through."
"Come on, Esme, you've got a great body let's show it a little."
Well they've caught my interest.
"Hey Carlisle" Edward calls out with a smirk. He's sitting in the living room also, but with a book on his lap.
Esme's head snaps up and she blushes when she meets my eyes.
"Hello" I tell them and wink at Esme who quickly shuts the laptop.
"How was your day?" Esme asks, changing the subject.
"It was good. How was yours?"
I take a seat on the other chair even though I'm dying to pull Esme into my arms.
"It was good. Alice and I got a lot done."
"Oh really? What are you working on?" I give her my best Alice puppy dog eyes.
"Nope!" Alice says "Not going to work."
"Well I had to try." I laugh.
Without warning, Edward's head snaps up and he growls. At the same moment, Alice's face goes blank with a vision.
"What is it?" Esme asks worried.
"We have a visitor." Edward says.