Assumptions Chapter 27

Learning

EPOV:

Bella arrived at my apartment first thing Monday morning. I let her in and went for a quick shower before Abby woke up. I ended up taking longer than I had planned to. I was stressed and worried about the meeting with my lawyer this morning that every muscle in my neck and back were tight. I stood under the hot spray for a long time just trying to relax the muscles a little. I was still pulling my shirt over my head as I walked out of my bedroom and went to check on Abby. I was surprised to find that she was not in her crib, but figured that she obviously must have woken and was with Bella.

I found them in the kitchen where Bella was feeding her scrambled eggs and applesauce. I smiled as I walked into the kitchen and went straight to the coffee pot where Bella, as the best girlfriend ever, had brewed a fresh pot. "Your breakfast is keeping warm in the oven," she told me while not even taking her eyes off of Abby. I opened the oven and found a plate with scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast. Did I mention that I had the best girlfriend ever?

I sat down to eat my breakfast and noticed that Bella didn't have a plate, "What about your breakfast?"

"I already ate before I came over." I nodded and then looked around and realized that Bella had not cooked in my kitchen.

"How early did you wake up?"

"Early. My mother can never seem to remember that there is a three hour time difference between us and always ends up calling at like five in the morning. I didn't know what you had in the way of food here, so I thought that I would bring breakfast."

"Thanks, I appreciate a hot breakfast, but Mom and Rose struck while we were gone. I came home to a fridge full of food, for both of us, and a ton of diapers in her new size," I said, finishing my plate.

"I found the same thing at my house, too." I nodded and moved to put it in the sink. I had expected as much, seeing as they would naturally assume that Abby and I would both be spending a lot of time at Bella's as well. It only made sense to keep stuff there for her so I didn't need to worry about packing her stuff all the time. "I don't mean to be rude and eat and run but my lawyer will be here soon and I need to be downstairs to open the shop."

"Go. Work. We'll be just fine here. We're just going to do girly things anyway." I kissed them both before heading for the door that led straight down to the store.

I went ahead and unlocked the doors and turned the sign to open before wandering around the store a bit. I knew that I was going to have to sit down with my books today and look at hiring someone part time but that would have to wait after my meeting with Jason. I heard the bells over the door jingle and turned to find Jason walking in with his daughter.

"Go look around sweetie while Daddy talks to Mr. Cullen."

"She's grown a lot since I saw her last."

"Yes, well, her mom has a job interview morning and I forgot that I'd promised that I'd take her with me to the office until Sara could get back from Port Angeles. I didn't think you'd mind me bringing her along. Especially since I can never say no to her when she wants me to buy her new books."

"I don't mind at all. She's starting school this year too, isn't she?"

"Yes, that is why Sara is looking for a part-time job. She just wants something to keep her busy while Rena is gone."

"Bree is going to be in her class then. Rose is absolutely going to go crazy unless she finds a hobby or something to occupy her time." I looked over to see that Rena had curled up in a ball on the easy chair in the corner with a picture book.

Jason and I got down to business and an hour later we had the beginning of a solid plan to sue for full custody of Abby. He said that while there are judges that prefer to leave the child with the mother, he didn't think we'd face that obstacle since Tanya had asked me to take her. He also thought it would end up being settled out of court if we could convince all of the "babysitters" that Tanya left Abby with to give depositions. I handed over Zafrina's number and address and hoped that she hadn't changed her mind about helping me with the custody case.

Jason and Rena left as soon as he had everything from me that he needed to go back to his office to prepare the documents that he needed to file the appropriate motions with the court, and that included a check from me. But, like he said, he didn't get Rena out of the shop without buying her five new books. I walked them to the door and then went to my office and pulled out everything that related to the financials of the store that I needed and sat down at the front counter to get to work.

I had a few customers here and there throughout the morning but was never overly busy. It was about noon when Mom walked into the shop with sandwiches and fruit for lunch. I filled her in on my talk with Jason. She looked at me with sadness in her eyes, "I am so thrilled to have my granddaughter here with us. I just can't understand how Tanya could behave that way. I never would have seen that kind of behavior coming from her. She always talked about having a family someday."

"I know. It's just not the Tanya that we know, that I loved once." Tanya had grown up jumping from foster home to foster home until she was placed with Carmen and Eleazar in seventh grade. She always had a big heart and just wanted a family to belong to. I thought that I had given her what she had needed and wanted, but I guess I didn't.

Mom helped me look over my books and she agreed with me that I could take on a part-time employee to work two week days and every other Saturday. I thought about opening on Sunday and having that person work that day but Mom reminded me that only the church, diner, and emergency services were open on Sunday's in Forks. I might offend people if I tried it. I nodded at her.

"You'll figure this out, Edward. Everything will be fine," she kissed my forehead as she stood up. "Now, I am going to go spend some time with my granddaughter before I head home. I told Bella that I would be up after we had our lunch. I hope that I'm not too late to help put Abby down for a nap. Don't forget that I am more than willing to babysit any time that the two of you need some alone time without a baby interrupting 'adult time!," I groaned as she laughed and headed for the door that led upstairs.

BPOV:

Abby and I were having a ball playing together. First thing after breakfast I gave her a bath, then we went to the living room where we played ball. I was going to have to tell Edward that he had a future soccer star on his hands, she loved to kick the ball back to me and she had a really strong kick. Esme called while we were playing and told me that she was planning to bring Edward and her lunch and wanted to know if I needed anything. I thanked her but declined. I had packed myself a lunch this morning that I was looking forward to. She also asked if I minded if she stopped up to see Abby after lunch and spend some time with her. I didn't mind in the slightest. I was a bit more nervous about watching Abby than I had let on to people. I wasn't used to babies and wasn't sure what to do when I had to go to the bathroom or needed to start cooking. I tried to ask Mom this morning, but she's a bit flighty and didn't really pay attention. She was too busy talking about the chances of Phil's team making the playoffs and how she was going to manage traveling with him once school started again. Maybe I could ask Esme what she'd do.

Esme made it upstairs just as I was putting Abby in her highchair to feed her lunch. I let her take over feeding her while I got to eat my lunch. I was starving but I had figured that I could wait to eat until after Abby was down for her afternoon nap. I was so glad that Esme stopped by and I wasn't going to have to wait. I had been looking forward to my chicken salad sandwich since I made it this morning. I watched Esme feeding her granddaughter her lunch and she was in heaven. I smiled at the look of absolute joy on Esme's face at getting to be with Abby. After we were done eating Esme cleaned up the baby before taking her to her room. I decided to run to the bathroom before I washed the dishes that were starting to pile up in the sink and peeked into Abby's room. I stood there for a minute, watching Esme reading to Abby while rocking her to sleep in the beautiful rocking chair that was sitting in the corner of the room. I had seen that chair this morning when I came in to get her when she woke up. I recognized the chair as being the one that Charlie had had in my room when I was growing up. I had completely forgotten about it.

I went back to the kitchen and started a pot of water brewing for tea while I ran the dish water. When Esme finally had Abby down to sleep, she and I sat down in the living room with a cup of tea and had a nice chat. She put my mind at ease about taking care of a baby. She told me that as long as I didn't leave anything down that she could get hurt on, like leaving a cup of hot tea on the end table, that she should be just fine while I was in the bathroom or ran into the kitchen for something. Just leave the bathroom door open so that I could listen to what she was doing. She said that everyone has to learn how to balance watching a mobile baby with doing things that need to be done around the house, and if I really felt nervous about it then I could get Rose to give Edward these plastic walls that are used to corral a baby, for a lack of better term.

Esme left before Abby woke up and I had a good half hour where I pulled out my laptop and starting typing out the notes that I had written the other night when I couldn't sleep before Abby woke up. In all, the scenes that I wrote weren't all bad but they definitely needed some work.

After Abby woke up we played some more ball before I decided to paint our nails. I held up two bottles of polish for her to choose from, coral and soft pink. She chose the coral. It was the same color that I liked to have on my nails.

After our nails were dry she and I went to the kitchen where I put her in her high chair and gave her a snack that she could try to feed herself while I started cutting up vegetables for the salad for dinner. I had taken out some hamburger and was going to make Edward and myself hamburgers with homemade fries. I figured that I could peel and cut the potatoes in the living room while I watched Abby play after her snack and that was what I did.

By the time that Edward came upstairs at five he looked absolutely exhausted. "That looks good, but I don't expect you to cook for me every day. Even though I really appreciate it tonight," he said, looking over my shoulder at the pan of hamburgers frying. Then he walked over to Abby and picked her up from where she was playing with a stuffed cat. "You did her nails?"

"I told you that we were going to do girly things. We did our hair and nails and we talked about cute boys."

"Hey! No talking about boys with my daughter until she's forty!" I laughed as I took the last burger out of the pan and put the plate of patties in the oven to keep warm. I listened to Edward talk and play with Abby while I took the potatoes out of the fridge, dried them off with a paper towel, and put them into the deep fryer.

Edward insisted on doing the dishes while I got Abby ready for bed. I took her to him after I had her ready to allow him to put his daughter to bed himself. He missed out on too many nights of doing this when he thought that Abby was being cared for by her mother. While they were having quality time I finished cleaning up the kitchen and then moved on to picking up the toys in the living room. I was just finishing when Edward wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I should go home soon."

"Stay," he said kissing my neck.

"Are you sure?"

He moved his hands from my waist to my breasts and lightly squeezed them, making me moan, "Very sure," he whispered in my ear.

I grabbed his hands in mine, tightened his grip a little while I turned my head and kissed him. He pulled his hands away from my breasts but kept my hands in his, allowing me to lead us to his bedroom.

I let go of him long enough to for me to crawl onto the bed. I barely got my second knee up onto the bed when he tackled me from behind. He leaned up so that I could roll over onto my back before he attacked my neck again with his mouth while his hand made its way inside my yoga pants. I arched my back then pressed my hips up into his, making him groan.

Minutes later we were both naked and I was straddling him. He put his hands back on my breasts and started massaging them, causing me to throw my head back with a shuddering breath. His hands only stayed there briefly before moving up to my neck and pulling down so that he could kiss me. Then his hands were on my hips, holding them still while he moved in me with as much force as he could muster, given the position we were in.

When we were done, I remained lying there on him with my head on his chest, "I'm glad that I stayed."

"I'm glad you stayed too," he laughed. I shifted off of him and curled into his side as he wrapped his arms around me. We had only laid like that for a few minutes before we got up to get ready for bed. I was glad that I'd left a few things here as well as a toothbrush. We brushed our teeth side by side in the bathroom and I was so surprised at how easy it was for us to fall into a domestic routine together. We crawled into bed and Edward wrapped his arms around me and held me to him. I had just fallen asleep when I was woken again by a scream coming through the baby monitor on the night stand. Edward jumped out of bed and was out the door before I even had a chance to sit up.

A/N:

Happy Saturday! Thanks to Sweetpea123 for beta an awesome beta and friend. I did make changes after she sent it back to me so all mistakes and booboos are mine. I will see all of you in two weeks.