Assumptions Chapter 29

The Best Moments in Life

BPOV:

Edward ran outside to pull Michael and Angela's car as close to the door as he could so she wouldn't have to traipse through the pouring rain and mud. I went over and helped Ben get Angela to the door while I watched Emmett, who was still on the phone with the guy with the election results.

Edward walked back into the house and took over helping with Angela until she stopped walking and pushed them away, "Wait," she turned to face Emmett, "I have to know. You won right?"

Emmett smiled as the room went silent, "With sixty percent of the vote." As the rest of the room went crazy congratulating our new sheriff, Angela and Michael slipped out of the house with a promise to Edward and me that they'd call after the baby was born. Both of their parents were right behind them. It reminded me that I had been a bad friend to Gianna and resolved to call her tomorrow to see how her pregnancy was going.

Before everything had a chance to settle down Esme and Carlisle carried out several bottles of champagne and some cups for us to toast Emmett with. It was loud and everyone was excited that he'd won. I didn't hear anyone at the door but from the corner of my eye I saw it open and that reporter from this morning walked in. I walked over to greet him, "I knocked," he said with a smile, "but I don't think anyone could hear me over the celebrating," he said with a laugh.

"So tell me, as Charlie's daughter, how do you feel now that Emmett is the new sheriff?"

"I'm thrilled for him. I know that Charlie would be proud to know that Emmett succeeded him. I am positive that Charlie would have personally endorsed Emmett to replace him if he was still alive and had merely retired. As it should have been."

"I agree." He started to go on but he was interrupted by the crowd of people urging Emmett to give a speech.

"I'm not much for public speaking. I guess in that respect you won't notice much of a difference between me and Charlie's time as your chief. I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for voting for me. I will do my best not to let you down or destroy your confidence in me. I also want to thank my wife and my daughter and the rest of my family for their support. Rose, you and Bree are my life and the light that guides me every day. My family has always had my back and encouraged me no matter what it was that I wanted to do. I wouldn't have had the courage to put myself out there like this if it wasn't for them. I probably don't say it enough, but I love you guys. I can only hope that I can live up to the example that Charlie set and be half the sheriff that he was. It's a damn shame that he was taken from us the way that he was. I guarantee you that I am working hard with the prosecutors to ensure that the young boy who did this receives the appropriate punishment and the help that he needs, not just for the town of Forks and the surrounding communities that are part of the Forks family, but for Bella, Charlie's daughter, whom I am proud to call a neighbor and friend. Bella, I can honestly say that my whole family and I are glad that you finally found your way home to Forks. Especially Edward. I know that Charlie will always be watching over you and, well, all of us, always. Thank you for all your support."

"To Chief Cullen!" someone yelled out, starting everyone cheering again. In the chaos I saw Esme taking Bree upstairs to put her to bed while Emmett and Rose walked off with the reporter in the direction of Carlisle's office. I looked around and noticed that Edward was no longer in the room and took off in search of him.

I found him in the kitchen making Abby a bottle of juice. I stood in the doorway where I could watch him with his daughter and not be seen. I loved watching him with Abby. He was so amazing and caring with her, it made my heart ache whenever I thought of all the time that he'd been separated from her. I couldn't understand how Tanya could have been so dismissive of the little angel; I had only been around her for a few days and I wasn't even biologically related to her. Maybe it was normal for stepparents to become attached to children and fall in love with them this quickly?

I made a mental note to call Phil and talk to him about being a stepparent as I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar. We maintained a comfortable silence while he fed her the juice. We stayed that way until Abby fell asleep in Edward's arms and we decided that we'd better head on home.

We found his family in the living room talking with the guests that were remaining. Most people had left after they found out the election results. It was a work night after all. We found Emmett and Rose and we all said our goodnights to everyone and went out to Edward's car. Emmett's phone rang as I was pulling away from the house, it was his opponent calling to congratulate him on his win. If Emmett was overexcited before that phone call, he was literally vibrating after the call and didn't settle down the whole drive home. Not that I blamed him, I'd be the same way if it was me.

EPOV:

It had been a little more than a week since Emmett was elected Sheriff and we had all been invited to the police station for a small ceremony where the mayor was going to swear Emmett in. Between Mom and Rose they took about a million pictures and Dad got the whole thing on video. I was so proud of my brother. He deserved this. He was great man and police officer. Rose and Emmett were planning to celebrate with a few of the guys later tonight and Bella and I had a date night planned. Mom and Dad were excited about the idea of getting both of their granddaughters for the night. In the meantime, Bella and Mom were heading back to the bookstore together. They were going to watch the store and Abby together as a team while I went to a meeting with my attorney. I had posted notices that I was looking for a part time employee but I had yet to hire anyone.

As I passed Newton's store I thought of Angela and Michael. Angela gave birth to a healthy baby girl a little after three in the morning the night of the election. Jessica weighed a little over nine pounds and was beautiful. Bella and I went up to the hospital as soon as I closed the store that night. She had made a run to the store to buy a ton of pink balloons and flowers for Angela. I was really beginning to see this kind of future for Bella and me, and not too far in the future.

Bella and I had not spent a night apart since the first evening we got back from New York. Mostly we stayed at her house. I had always loved my little apartment but Bella's house was a lot more comfortable and bigger. In all honesty it was more of a home. That was one reason that I wanted to take Bella out tonight. There was something that I really needed to talk to her about.

I walked into Jason's office and his receptionist immediately greeted me and offered me something to drink. I agreed to a cup of coffee as she led me back to Jason's office. I sat down in the chair across from him as he pulled my file out of his desk.

"We heard back from Tanya's lawyer. I am shocked, to be honest. I didn't expect a response so quickly or for the response that they gave us. It was like they were ready and waiting for my motion."

"What did they say?"

"She's willing to give you custody."

"Really? It's that easy? She's not going to fight me at all?"

"That is what this response suggests, Edward."

"I don't understand how she could do this, or why."

"Personally, I don't get it either. But we should have this finished quite soon. With your blessing I'll send all of this over to the judge, then it's one quick appearance and then this will all be done. But Edward there is one more thing that they added to the response that I wasn't expecting."

Jason handed me some papers and I was dumbfounded at what I was reading. I was positive that Tanya was going to fight me on the visitation issue. I had asked for limited supervised visits in Forks where I knew that Abby wouldn't be handed over to strangers and was safe. Even throughout everything that I had learned about Tanya's abandonment I never even considered that Tanya would do this.

I took my time walking back to the shop and took a detour through the elementary school playground. I sat down on one of the swings and let myself get lost in my thoughts. Tanya had changed a lot since she left me. This shit that she was pulling was not her. The Tanya I knew loved to enjoy a quiet evening at home with my family. She loved to learn to bake cookies and cakes with my mom. She wanted a family. It was something she said she had missed out on as a child. Carmen, her last foster mom, was great at a lot of things, but cooking wasn't one of them. I then thought about Bella and how amazing she had been with Abby. My daughter was quickly becoming her world. It amazed me how Bella could love and care for Abby more than her own mother did. I wondered what my life would have been like right now if Tanya had not left me. Would she have been a good mother to our daughter if she'd stayed? I shook that line of thought from my brain because it didn't matter to me at all really because she did leave and I found Bella. She was the most amazing thing that had happened to me besides my daughter. Tanya had made her choices and my life was better now than it ever was. I was happier than ever. I sat there until I realized that I had been there for well over an hour and it had started to rain and I was soaked to the bone. I sighed, stood up, and walked back my store.

Mom and Bella were busy with customers when I walked in so I slipped right through and went upstairs to change into some dry clothes. Once upstairs the chill of the rain hit me and I decided to jump into a hot shower. I stood under the hot water for the longest time, letting the hot water warm me and loosen my muscles until my hands were pruney.

I walked back out into the bed room and was surprised to find Bella sitting on the bed. "I wanted to make sure that you were alright. We were worried about you."

"We got a response from Tanya that we weren't expecting."

"Oh?"

"She's offering to terminate her own parental rights to Abby." Bella sat there staring at me and blinking for a few moments.

"Did you just say that she was walking away from Abby? Permanently?"

"Yeah."

"I…I…I have no idea what to say to that. Abby's so amazing. I don't understand this."

"That makes two of us."

"Do you want to cancel tonight? Just stay in. The three of us."

"No," I said smiling at her. I sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped my arms around her, "I am looking forward to spending the whole night alone with you." We went back downstairs and Bella left with mom and Abby. Mom was going to drop Bella off at her house and pick up Bree before heading home with both girls.

I pulled into Bella's driveway and jumped out of the car and practically ran for the front door. I had quickly changed clothes as soon as I closed the store. I was in a hurry to get here. I just didn't want to be apart from her one more second. She flung open the door before I was able to knock and threw herself into my arms. I guess I wasn't the only one eager for our date. "I was watching for you," she said before kissing me. I took her hand and led her to the car.

I took her to a nice steakhouse in Port Angeles. As soon as we were seated and the waiter came over, I ordered us a bottle of wine. As soon as we both had a glass I the chance to start the conversation that I really felt we were due to have. "Bella, I have something that I have wanted to tell you for a while now. I know that we haven't been dating that long, but I love you. I love you so much. I didn't want any more time to pass between us without me telling you that."

"I love you too, Edward. I am so glad that we got that out there because it makes what I have to talk to you about a lot easier."

"I have something else to talk to you about, too."

"Me first. We love each other. We just made that clear and I hate the idea that you and Abby would ever spend another night away from me. I'm selfish enough that I want you two with me every day. I love going to bed with you every night and waking up in your arms. I get excited every morning when I wake up and realize that Abby is in the other room safe with us and I get to spend the day playing with her. I want you and Abby to move in with me."

I couldn't help it. I just started laughing. Bella looked at me like I was crazy and I could tell that she was nervous about my reaction. I calmed myself down as quickly as I could so that I didn't upset her any more than I already had. "I was going to suggest the same thing. I want us to be a family." She had the most brilliant smile on her face as I reached across the table and kissed her.

When I pulled back she took my hand in hers, "Let's skip the movie and go home and celebrate." I couldn't get the bill paid fast enough. I laughed out loud again as she nearly took my arm off dragging me out of the restaurant. The other customers thought that we were crazy and maybe we were, but we were crazy in love with each other.

A/N:

I know that I am a big fat failure right now. All I can really say is that I am sorry. Thank you to Sweetpea123 for betaing this quickly since I failed to send it to her when I was supposed to and didn't realize it. Oye. Just want to remind everyone that the next chapter is the epilogue.

I signed up for the fundraiser for Oklahoma. I live in Tornado Alley myself. I feel so bad for them. I am looking for ideas for what to write. Mainly some prompts for a new one shot (bella & Edward ofcourse), but I will consider outtake ideas for any of my twilight stories. Even if you are not donating to the compilation I am interested in your ideas since I will be able to post it here in September. Leave an idea in a review or a pm or even on facebook or twitter. Oh! And even if I don't choose your idea for the fundraiser doesn't mean that I won't write it.