A/N: I don't own this. We all know who does.
Thank you for still being here! There are pictures for a few things in this chapter in my FB group – beegurl13 Fanfiction Beehive – so if you're interested in seeing them, make sure to check it out. You can search for the group on FB and request to join if you're not in there already. :)
Thank you, thank you, thank you to drivingedward for beta'ing this and Momma Laura for prereading. They're sweet and patient with me, and I'm so grateful!
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Chapter Fifty-Nine
The next few weeks flew by faster than I ever could have imagined. Edward worked during the day, trying to keep up with our regular business, in addition to finalizing plans for the new office location. I kept the kids with me and tried to get both of our houses clean and ready to sell. We spent almost every night together at one house or the other, and the kids were thrilled at the idea of a permanent sleep-over. I wasn't sure how long the excitement would last, but I reveled in it while it did.
After scheduling a time to meet with Bree to look at houses in Port Angeles, we saw several over the course of two days, but none of them felt right to me. The one that Edward loved initially wasn't in the best area of town, and I was hesitant to choose it. It also just didn't give me that "feeling" I needed to have, and I knew it wasn't the one for us. We exhausted all of the listings that Bree had and I was feeling pretty defeated, so we decided to take a break and meet again the next week. That Thursday she called us late in the evening, and my hopes started climbing.
"I just had a couple contact me about listing their house. They're relocating for work and they need to sell quickly since the husband has already started his new job. The house might be a little large for you, but I think it's worth seeing. It's not even officially listed yet, so I'd like to take you over tomorrow if that works for you," she said.
My stomach was in knots and after double-checking Edward's schedule for the day, I told her we would be there.
The next morning when we pulled up to the house I couldn't stop the tears that sprang to my eyes. Stepping out of the car my heart seemed to stop and without even going inside, I knew this is it.
"Bella?" Edward asked as he rounded the car to meet me.
"This is it," I whispered. "This is our home."
It was a two-story set on a hill overlooking The Strait of Juan de Fuca and in a nicer, newer area of town. The arched windows and the pitched roof gave me goosebumps and I couldn't wait to get inside.
"What do you think?" Bree asked as she approached us.
I just nodded, not able to say anything.
"Tears are either really good or really bad," she said hesitantly.
"Good. They're really, really good," Edward replied before taking my hand and leading me up the walkway to the front door. The inside was just as perfect as the outside, and when we got to the backyard I practically begged Edward to pay the sellers whatever they wanted – this was OUR house.
"It does need some maintenance, which is reflected in the price. It's only 12 years old, but being right on the water with the wind and all, there are a few issues. Nothing major, though. The sellers didn't have time to make the repairs themselves, but I figured with Edward being in construction they shouldn't be anything you can't handle," Bree told us as I took a closer look at the tree house built between several smaller trees at the edge of the backyard.
"Bella? Are you sure?" Edward asked.
I nodded again, smiling ear to ear. "I love it, but what do you think? You have to love it, too."
He looked around the backyard and I started to wonder if he was afraid this was too much for him. There was a huge section of grass, which would take a lot of upkeep, and quite a few trees as well as a seating area toward the tree-line at the back of the property. Plus, there was a wood-chipped area off to the side that would be perfect for a play structure someday.
"Well, there's a lot of space and they've already set it up pretty nicely, but I think we have plenty of room off to the right here to add an indoor swimming pool if we want to. That would eat up some of the grass and make things a little more manageable, don't you think? The kids would love a swimming pool. And maybe a hot tub?" The lop-sided grin on his face told me that was for us, and I threw my arms around him and kissed him.
"That sounds perfect," I told him with a smile.
"Bree, I think we want to make an offer," Edward said, his eyes never leaving mine.
She wrote up the offer that afternoon, and by Friday morning the sellers had accepted. After asking permission for us to see the house again, we packed up the kids in the car and set out to show them where we were all going to be living.
"How many bedrooms are there?" Emily asked.
I smiled back at her. "There are six. A couple of them are a little smaller, but they share a bathroom. That's kinda fun, right?"
She nodded. "So, I'll get my own room?"
"You can all have your own rooms," Edward told her as he pulled into the subdivision. Once we were parked in front of the house the kids all scrambled out of the car and onto the front lawn.
"This like a castle!" Mckenna yelled as she ran around the stone edging of the lawn, dodging between the bushes lining the step-up of the slope of the yard. "I'ma be a princess!" Seeing her so carefree and happy made me laugh. My heart melted a little bit when Edward chased her down to catch her before placing her on his shoulders as we walked toward the front door.
The kids were just as thrilled with the inside of the house as they were the front yard, but when they saw the backyard they nearly lost their minds.
"Is that a tree house?" Collin shouted as he ran toward the little wooden structure tucked between the trees.
"Why come they got no swing-set? I wanna swing!" Kenna pouted as she plopped down in the grass.
"Daddy can build us one," Emily told her before encouraging her to get up and go see the tree house.
"Okay," Kenna said as she stood to follow Emily. "Him can make a big ole' one so I swing super high, huh?"
The smile that had been on Edward's face all morning was suddenly gone and it took me a few moments to understand why. I reached over and took his hand, urging him to look at me.
"She didn't call me Uncle Edward," he said.
"No, I guess she didn't."
He cleared his throat. "I mean, to be fair she didn't really call me anything, but she went along with what Em said. What do you think that means?"
I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "That she sees you as her daddy, which you will be. You'll be the only dad she remembers. The only dad she'll know. She hardly even talks about Alec anymore." I watched him closely for a moment. "Edward, you'll be her daddy."
As we continued watching the kids run and play and explore their future backyard, he took a deep breath and cleared this throat.
"I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to be the best dad Collin and Kenna could have," Edward said softly. "I owe Alec at least that. And you." He looked down at me. "I'll be the best husband I can be, I promise you."
"I know you will, I have no doubts."
He leaned down to kiss me. "I love you, Bella," he whispered against my lips.
Tightening my hold on him, I pressed my lips against his several times. "I love you, too."
Hearing our children's giggles off in the distance made me happy, and it wasn't long before Kenna was clinging to Edward's leg, begging him to put her on his shoulders again so she could be as tall as a giant.
Alec was a wonderful father to our children, and a great husband to me. I never wanted Edward to feel like he was competing against a ghost, but watching him with my babies, I knew in my heart that he would be the best husband and father we could ever ask for. And Alec would have been okay with that.
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July came and went. We celebrated the Fourth of July with a big barbecue for our employees, followed by fireworks and Aro's famous homemade ice cream. Once our homes were listed for sale, we found ourselves at the mercy of our realtor, and I was constantly carting our children from one house to the other depending on which one had a showing that day. On a few of the busier days I gave up and took them all to Port Angeles to visit Jasper and Alice or Emmett and Rosalie.
The first time Jacob caught Edward and me making out in the office was a little uncomfortable for me. Jacob just laughed and high-fived Edward before telling us he was taking the rest of the afternoon off because he needed to bleach his eyes. Edward assured me that his new office in the Port Angeles location would have a sturdier lock on the door, and when we started looking at furniture for his office, he got very excited about the leather sofas. He finally settled on a larger brown one, and the look in his eyes assured me it wasn't really meant for clients, though he insisted it was.
Once the new house was in escrow, I registered Emily and Collin for school and tried to get them excited about making new friends and meeting their new teachers. There were a few other families in the neighborhood we were moving into, and their kids were friendly and anxious to get to know us. I soon found that with each passing day I got more and more restless and ready to start our new life.
The day we were set to close on the house, Aro called to tell us that he and Heidi had found a home in a senior community in Port Angeles and would be moving later in the fall. We were thrilled that they would still be close by and that we could see them on a regular basis. The kids were even more excited when Aro offered to have the new play structure they had installed in their backyard dug up and relocated to our new backyard. Everything had fallen into place and each day I had the overwhelming sense that we had angels watching over us. I knew who they were, and it helped my heart to heal even more.
After signing our lives away in Bree's office, Edward and I took the kids to lunch to wait until the sellers had finished their part of the documents. As I struggled to get Mckenna to finish her food before going to play in the children's play area at the restaurant, Alice called with some kind of emergency and begged me to come over right away.
"You go," Edward said. "I can drop you off at Jasper and Alice's house and keep the kids with me. We'll go back to Bree's office and pick up the keys and everything. Maybe Alice can just bring you by the house when you're done and then we can head home."
"Are you sure?" I asked. Even with all the packing we had already done, we still had a long night of packing ahead of us so that we could officially start moving in the next day.
"Of course," he said with a smile and wink. "I got this."
Once I got to Alice's house she seemed a little distracted and frantic. "What's going on?" I asked, still not sure why she needed me there.
She just looked at me for several seconds before bursting into tears. "I'm going to be a horrible mother!" she cried. "My goldfish died!"
I might have thought she was joking if it weren't for the tears streaming down her face and the sobs shaking her body.
"Alice, no, don't worry. Goldfish don't usually live that long, and human babies are a lot hardier than goldfish. You'll be fine."
She sniffled and whined for the next hour about every possible thing that she might do wrong, and for each example I did my best to reassure her. I wasn't sure what had brought this on, but I knew she was hormonal on top of recently growing out of all of her clothes, so I really hoped it was just a pregnancy phase that would soon pass.
After complaining about the plants in her flowerbeds being poisonous, which she just knew her baby would feast on as soon as he or she could walk, her phone chimed and she stood from the sofa and went to get it.
"Okay, it's time to go," she said as she walked back into the living room with her purse and keys. "Jasper will be home in a little while and I need to drop you off at your house so you can get home to pack. We'll be at your place bright and early tomorrow, so let's go," she said with a huge smile on her face. Her mood swings were killing me, therefore, I was more than happy to get back to Edward and the kids.
I texted Edward as we pulled away from her house, telling him I would be there in a few minutes. The fact that we would only be living a few miles away from Jasper and Alice was a huge plus for me, and it was even better that Emmett and Rosalie weren't too far away, either.
We're in the backyard. Come through the side gate, Edward texted back.
It had started to get dark, so I wasn't sure why they would be outside, but I also knew the kids were anxious to get back to the tree house. Edward was probably trying to wear them out as best as he could before our long and busy night. Alice was going to entertain them the next day so they wouldn't be in the way, but it would be better for all of us if they went to sleep early tonight.
Alice babbled on about random topics during the drive, and as we approached the house I saw several cars lining the street. I hoped that wasn't a normal thing for the neighborhood, but since we hadn't been there in the evening before, I wasn't sure. As she pulled up to the house I saw my car parked in the driveway and the side gate open. I could see light coming from the backyard which was odd since I hadn't noticed any lights back there before. Alice pulled in behind my car and stopped before turning to me with a smile on her face.
"Thanks for your help today," Alice said as she shifted the car into reverse. "You really saved me."
Apparently she was eager to get going, so I nodded and told her I was happy to help.
"See you tomorrow," I said as I stepped out of the car.
She just laughed in response. "Yeah, okay."
I shut the door and stepped away with a puzzled look on my face. She had been acting stranger than usual that day, which was really saying something because Alice was far from normal. I watched her back out, then park her car across the street. When she noticed me watching her she lowered her window. "I gotta text Jasper!" she yelled before raising the window back up and waving her phone at me. I shook my head at her and laughed, before turning back toward the gate. As I walked toward it I was sure I could see light coming from the yard, but before I had a chance to think more about it Collin was running through the gate.
"Mom! You're here!" he yelled, running to me and wrapping his arms around my hips.
"Did you miss me?" I asked with a laugh. His big blue eyes looked up at me and he nodded. "You look so much like your daddy, do you know that?" I said.
"Yeah, I know. You tell me all the time," he said with a smile. Then he reached for my hand. "Come on, we got you a surprise."
He pulled me through the gate and around the side of the house. When the full yard came into view my steps faltered and I stopped in my tracks. Before me were strings of overhead lights running from the house to the center of the yard, as well as between several of the trees. As I took them all in, my gaze gradually landed on a spot toward the back of the yard where the seating area was, and to the trees near it that were brightly lit. The tree branches had things hanging from them, though I couldn't tell for sure what they were. Between the trees stood Edward with Emily and Mckenna on either side of him.
"Come on, Mom," Collin said, pulling on my hand and smiling up at me.
"What's all this?" I asked him as we moved closer to Edward and the girls. It was then that I noticed the smile on his face and on the faces of my sweet daughters. I didn't see Emily as my niece anymore, and I would never consider her a that again.
"It's your surprise," Collin whispered, and continued walking with me toward the trees. As we got closer I realized the things hanging from the trees were pictures, and I started to make out what a few of them were. Pictures of me and Edward as children, as teenagers, as adults. Pictures of the kids both alone and with each other. Pictures of our parents, our siblings, Aro and Heidi, and us with Alec and Jane, and our families as they had been before our lives changed.
Kenna came running toward me. "Mommy!" she shouted as he ran into my legs and hugged me.
"Hi, baby," I said, picking her up and hugging her to me. "Did you do this for me?" I asked her.
"Yep huh, I did. I a good helper," she said, before wiggling down from my arms and running back to Edward.
When we were within a few feet of Edward, Collin and I stopped and he let go of my hand. "Is all this for me?" I asked.
Edward nodded. "Yeah, it's all for you. Everything here is for you." He stepped toward me, reaching out to take my hand in his. "Bella, I hope you know I love you. I always have, just not like this."
"I know," I whispered as my eyes began to fill with tears.
"This isn't what either of us planned for our lives, but I don't regret it. Not one second. Everything we went through brought us to this point and made us who we are, and it gave us Emily, Collin, and Mckenna, and I'll forever be grateful to Alec and Jane for that. And for bringing us together."
Tears slipped down my cheeks as I stared at him with more love than I had once thought I could possibly feel again after Alec died.
Edward stepped back and then dropped to one knee, his eyes never leaving mine.
"Bella, I love you with everything that I am. If you'll let me, I promise to love you every moment of forever. I promise to make our families one and love Collin and Mckenna as much as I love Emily, and as much as I'll love any other children that may join us someday. You're everything I've ever wanted, and I promise to spend my life trying to make you as happy as you make me."
I couldn't stop the sob that bubbled up in my chest as tears continued to stream down my cheeks.
Edward reached into his pocket and pulled out a sparkly ring, holding it up in his fingers between us.
"This was my grandmothers ring. My grandfather gave it to her when my mother was born. When I was young she always told me that someday I would meet my dream girl and that she would want to wear this ring because she loved me. I know that girl is you, and I would be honored if you would wear this ring as my wife, my lover, my best friend, my children's mother, my always and forever." He cleared his throat and squeezed my hand. "Bella, will you marry me?"
I was crying too much to say anything and after sniffling a few times and trying to settle myself down, I nodded. "Yes," I whispered. "Yes, I'll marry you. You're everything to me and I can't wait to spend forever with you."
His smile was blinding as he slipped the ring onto my ring finger before placing a kiss on top of it. Instantly he was standing before me, taking my face in his hands and kissing me like he'd never kissed me before. I could hear the kids giggling and shouting their congratulations, but then I heard other voices, too.
Once Edward pulled away, I heard my mother's voice coming toward me. "Oh, my baby!" she cried and I turned just in time to see her approach and throw her arms around me. Once the shock wore off I noticed my father behind her, and then Jasper and Alice, Carlisle and Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, and Claire, Jacob, and finally Aro and Heidi. All the important people in my life were there, witnessing one of the greatest moments of my life. Everyone I loved was with me, and as I glanced around Edward to where our children were standing, I saw a picture of Alec and Jane smiling and looking so joyful. A blur out near the trees caught my attention, and when I looked I could have sworn I saw them standing there just inside the tree line with smiles on their faces and looking more beautiful than I'd ever seen them look. I blinked a few times to be sure, and they were gone.
"Bella? Are you okay?" Edward asked, turning around to look toward the trees I was staring at. "What is it?"
"I just..." I said, not really knowing how to answer him. "I think I saw Alec and Jane in the trees, but they're gone," I whispered.
"Yeah?" he said, looking to the trees again.
"Yeah. They were happy, smiling. I think they know about us, and they're happy." I looked into Edward's beautiful green eyes, reaching up to rub my thumb lightly along his cheekbone. "I love you."
He smiled. "And I love you."
After greeting our family members and toasting with the sparkling cider that Emmett had brought, Heidi approached me.
"I'm so happy for you all," she said. "The pictures are beautiful. I'm so glad you didn't forget them." I could tell she had been crying, and I knew how hard it must have been for her to see Edward and I together and be reminded – yet again – that Alec and Jane were gone.
"We could never forget them. We love them, and the kids will always keep them with us."
Heidi sniffled a bit and wiped away a few tears. "Maybe it's just my wishful mother's heart, but I could have sworn I saw them in the trees just after Edward proposed to you."
I couldn't help the smile that stretched across my face, or the tears that filled my eyes as I nodded to her. "Me, too. I saw them, too."
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A/N:
Next chapter is the final regular chapter for this story. Then we'll have some outtakes before the epilogue / futuretake will post on March 1st and I'll mark this story complete.
Thank you for sticking with me through this story, and for the past nearly 9 years since I started writing these two. This is always the way I intended the story to go, it just took me a while to finish it. Life, man... :)
Reviews get a teaser for the next chapter. And a different teaser will post in my FB group on Monday, probably with a picture from the chapter.
See you Tuesday! :)