Assumption Chapter 28

title

BPOV:

I stood in the doorway to Abby's room and watched as Edward soothed her and rocked her back to sleep. Once she was out again we walked back to his room hand in hand.

"Maybe she woke up and got scared when she didn't recognize her surroundings," Edward suggested.

"I doubt it Edward. I don't know much about babies and what they can comprehend. But if that is true then, unfortunately, she should be used to waking up in strange places. I just think that she woke up and wanted her daddy. She calmed down the second you picked her up," I said with a yawn as we both climbed into the bed and went back to sleep.

When morning came I went into Abby's room to wake her up and get her dressed while Edward was in the shower. I had picked out a specific outfit for her to wear to today. I was just finishing putting the clips in her hair when Edward walked in and laughed, "She looks really patriotic." The whole outfit was red, white, and blue and so were the hair clips.

"Well, it's her first election day. She has to look special."

"She looks beautiful. Do we need to stop by your house before we meet up with my family?"

"Nope. I brought everything with me that I need. Don't forget that Abby and I are going to spend the day at your parent's house helping prepare for tonight."

"Ok, do you need my car to drive over there, or are you catching a ride with Mom or Rose?

"We're going to catch a ride with your mom."

"Then I'll just meet you there after work?" I nodded at him as I grabbed the extra bag of Abby's stuff that I had packed for her and we walked out the door.

We walked down to the diner together to meet up with Edward's family for breakfast. Esme and Carlisle were already there enjoying a cup of coffee while they waited. Edward sat down and grabbed the pot of coffee off the table and started pouring him and me some while I got Abby situated in the high chair that was already at the table waiting for her.

"Doesn't she look precious!" Esme cooed over the patriotic outfit that I had put on Abby this morning.

I started looking at the menu, trying to decide what sounded good while we waited for Rose and Emmett to show up. "I swear he's going to be late for his own funeral," Edward groaned. "I need to order breakfast for Abby. She hasn't eaten."

"I don't see the harm in us ordering. I'm sure they'll be here soon," Esme said with a sigh.

The waitress was just finishing taking our order when Emmett, Rose, and Bree walked into the diner. Throughout breakfast people kept coming up to the table and wishing Emmett good luck and promising him their vote. By the time that we were done eating it was almost nine and time for the polls to open. The high school cafeteria was the polling place for Forks now. Edward told me that it used to be the library, but since they closed that down the high school became the next best place because it had the advantage of having a large parking lot. Edward and I rode with his parents to the high school where a reporter from the Fork Forum news website took pictures of Emmett and the rest of us as we voted.

Edward grabbed a ride back to the bookstore with Emmett since he was heading into the station to work. Esme needed to stop at the store on our way back to her house to pick up a few last minute things that we would need. It was the same at the store as it was at the polling place, people were coming up and telling us that they voted for Emmett or ask us if we thought that he'd be able to beat his opponent. We weren't foolish enough to think that he'd get everyone's vote but he only needed 51%, and that was definitely doable for Emmett.

We started the day baking pies. Esme had made the cream pies yesterday but today was baking a few fruit pies to add to them. Rose and I had a blast slicing the fruit while Esme made the dough for the crusts. Bree was playing with Abby with a set of blocks in the corner of the kitchen where they were out of the way but we could still keep an eye on them. When Esme was ready to roll out the dough she let Bree come help her. Bree was excited to work with the rolling pin and was determined to do a good job. And she did. She did such a good job that Esme asked her to help put the pies together.

While they were doing that, Rose and I starting chopping the vegetables that we would need to make the salads and vegetable trays later. We talked about my upcoming book release and subsequent book tour while we worked. I really hadn't had a chance to talk to them alone since we got back from New York. I wondered if it was going to be possible to live in a small town like this and keep my writing secret. Did I even want to live with such a big secret for the rest of my life? At some point someone was going to question what I did for a living and I didn't want to hurt anyone by lying to them. They'd all been so accepting of me and welcomed me with open arms and lying to them seemed so wrong. But I had time to think about it and talk to Edward about what I should do.

That was the thing that surprised me most about my life now. I couldn't see myself making any big decisions without considering Edward (and now Abby) and wanting to talk it out with him. I had only had Abby in my life for a total of four days now and already she was so special to me. I had decided that tonight I was going to have a talk with Edward. We hadn't been dating that long but with the way things stood now, we were going to be raising his daughter together and we needed to figure that out together.

We spent the rest of the day making pitchers of tea and lemonade and frying chicken. We fried a lot of chicken and assembled the potato salad, macaroni salad, relish trays, and fruit trays. At this rate I was going to end up spending the party asleep in Edward's old bedroom. Edward and Carlisle arrived home from work just in time to help us by decorating the house. We were going to set the food up in the dining room and let people serve themselves. Esme had bought red, white and blue table cloths, napkins, plates, and cups. At the moment she was instructing Edward and Carlisle draping red, white, and blue streamers over every wall and anything else that had the misfortune of standing still for more than two seconds.

EPOV:

"Mom, you realize that he's not running for president, don't you? Don't you think you're taking this color scheme a little far?"

"No. Here's some more tape. Make sure that the streamers stick well."

"How about I just use Crazy Glue?" I snarked at Mom.

"How about I just tell Bella to cut you off for the next month?" She snarked right back. I heard Rose and Dad burst out in laughter behind me and I turned to glare at them, but found Bella standing with them trying her hardest not to laugh. She was failing miserably.

"Stop picking on your mother," Bella said through giggles. "This is a huge night for your brother. We have to make it as special as possible for him. So, shut up and put up more streamers."

We finally got all ten million rolls of streamers that Mom bought put up around the house and even some outside on the porch. I wasn't sure how long they were going to last when it had been raining off and on all day long. But hey, if the rain disintegrated the crepe paper it just meant less to clean up later.

As soon as Dad, who agreed with me about the streamers but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, and I were done decorating we got ourselves some beers and crashed on the couch in the living room. Mom walked through a few minutes later carrying a glass of wine and turned on the television to a local station before continuing to move through the room and making sure that everything was perfect before the guests started to arrive.

Emmett walked in about twenty minutes later with a couple of his deputies. Well, we all hope that they would still be his deputies at the end of the night. "Mom! This is so cool of you! I love it!" He said as he walked in and took in the decorating. Dad and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

I turned to find that Bella had disappeared from the room. I turned to go in search of her just as she was coming back into the room with a beer for me and a glass of tea for herself. I tried to refuse, saying that I had to drive home, but she told me that she was going to drive home. She was also prepared to drive Rose and Emmett home as well. That made sense since we were all going to the same place. I nodded and grabbed the beer out of her hand as she turned and walked back out of the room.

The guests started piling into the house and I got into quite a few conversations with different people. The next time I saw Bella she was helping Mom put the food out on the table. I stood in the doorway of the dining room and smiled at how well Bella had fit in with my family. I was about to ask if they needed any help when Angela came up behind me with Abby.

"I was wondering where her diaper bag was. She needs to be changed."

"I'll get it," I said reaching out for my daughter.

"That's ok. I can do it. It'll give me a little practice. The doctor said it'll be anytime now."

"The bag is in your old bedroom," Bella spoke up as she turned to return to the kitchen.

"Come on," I told Angela. "I'll show you the way."

By the time we returned to the living room everyone was starting to head into the dining room to get food. Angela sat down on the couch as I moved toward the group of people heading into the dining room, "aren't you hungry?"

"Yeah, but everything I eat gives me heartburn and my back's been hurting all day. I really don't want to stand forever just to wait for some food that is just going to make me sick."

I nodded, "I understand that."

She sat Abby down by her feet, "I'll keep an eye on her while you go get some food." I was just turning to walk off when I heard Bella's laughter start to fill the room. I turned to see her and Michael walking into the room, each of them carrying trays containing two plates of food and drinks for two.

"Hey honey, I found some stuff that I think you can eat without getting sick." The plate contained some fruit, a few vegetables, and some macaroni salad. "Esme had some whole milk so I got you a glass of that. That always helps you feel better. And I made sure that your Tums were in your purse before we left the house."

"Thank you, Mikey," she smiled at him. It made me happy to see them doing so well. They both deserved happiness. Michael sat down next to Angela while Bella and I sat on the floor against the wall to eat. Bella had brought me another beer, it was my fourth and I was going to have to cut myself off after this one. I may not be driving home, but I didn't want to get too drunk tonight.

It was nerve-racking waiting for the phone call to come. The polls closed at seven and we knew from experience that it took them and hour and a half to count and issue the results. The ballots were still hand counted and they always counted them at least three times. As soon as half past eight hit it grew really quiet in the house. Emmett was pacing through the house, unable to sit still or settle into a conversation with anyone. A little after nine I noticed him slipping out the front door and decided to follow him.

"This waiting is driving me crazy! It must be close if it's taking them this long to call."

"It always takes a long time and you know it. You were there at Charlie's last election."

"Yes, but we knew that Charlie was going to win. Everyone loved Charlie. And it never took them this long to call with the results."

He had a point, that call should have come by now. "Yeah, like everyone in town doesn't feel the same way about you? I'm sure that you are going to win."

He shrugged at me. It wasn't like Emmett to be so unsure of himself. "At least one of us is." He took a deep breath as the rain picked up again. "Mom's probably put out the pies by now. We better get in there before the French silk is gone. I'm at the point that I might actually cry if I don't get a piece."

I laughed at him as I clapped him on the shoulder and the two of us headed back into the house. Sure enough, everyone was sitting around with coffee and pie. Emmett disappeared into the dining room while I held back and sat down on the couch with Michael and Angela.

Angela tried to stand a few minutes later, saying that she needed to go to the bathroom again. Michael stood up to help her to her feet since she was having so much trouble. It was then that two things happened simultaneously that stopped everything in the room. Angela gasped, grabbing her stomach and announcing that her water had broke just as Emmett's phone started to ring.

A/N:

First I want to thank my amazing beta, Sweetpea123. She is a Godsend. But I did make a lot of changes to this chapter so all mistake are mine because me and grammar are mortal enemies.

Second, I am so sorry that this is a week late. Here is what happened. I decided to let my 15yo move my car. He only had to move it like 2ft. Long story short, I was standing outside the car by him with the door open when he through it in reverse and slammed on the gas. I was dragged by the car door about 5ft before I fell off and hit the pavement. I landed on my knee and hand. I ended up with two sore ankles, a bruised, swollen, scraped up knee and elbow, sore wrist, bruised fingertips, sore shoulder, and bruises on my chest. Needless to say my injuries prevented me from writing. As for my son's driving lessons we're going to wait a year and then see how mature he is and how brave I am.

Third, Chapter 29 will post in two weeks and Chapter 30, the epilogue, will post two weeks after that. I already know what my next story will be but I won't post that until after On Our Own is completed.

Fourth, (and final note!) Happy Mother's Day to everyone that will celebrate this weekend. I am leaving in the morning for the Amana Colonies. I is a trip that we make every Mother's day (and a few more times throughout the summer and fall). Have a great weekend and I'll see you in two weeks. OH! And reviews will get teasers!