My dear little broccolis💚💚💚
💚 From Duty To Love 💚
💚 1. The Duty Of Marriage 💚
"I have married this man without ever expecting much from this union. But can I expect anything from him now that I am his wife?"
‼️Rated M - {Out Of Characters/All Human/Alternate Universe}‼️
‼️Romance/Family/Drama/Lemons‼️
‼️Bellward/Alice Williams/Tanya Denali/The Cullens/The Swans/Original Characters‼️
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Chapter 17: Farewell (1.8K)
Bella's PoV
When Sunday morning comes, I have no idea how I fell asleep. I remember coming to my room and sitting on my bed because I was feeling lightheaded, but nothing afterwards. In fact, I am still wearing my dress from yesterday. I try to get up, but my stomach and my head do not agree with that notion. My head is spinning as I feel blood rushing to my head and my ears ringing, so I lay back in bed, caressing my aching stomach and praying that there is nothing wrong with me. I refuse to think that there is anything wrong with the baby.
For a good hour, I struggle with my upset stomach, feeling my nausea become stronger and stronger as cramps become harder and harder, and I know I won't be able to go to church. I don't know if this is normal. I am the last one of all my cousins, and Rosalie was living in Seattle when she was pregnant. But I've heard of women being sick when they were pregnant, so maybe I am just a little too weak. Mrs Cooper did say I should eat more, and I barely ate yesterday.
With difficulty, I get up, my belly and my head telling me that I should lay back down and I struggle to change into my nightgown. It's not comfortable to lay in a dress. Then, I get back in bed after emptying my stomach in a pot. My head feels so … light and heavy at the same time, it's frightening.
I lay back in my bed, doing my best to ignore all the aches in my life. My tummy, my head, my heart. I'm still hoping that Edward will calm down and understand, but at this point, it seems like a lost cause. Edward doesn't want to listen to me. Who wants to listen to someone you respect as much as a prostitute?
I am so lost in my pain and in my thoughts that I don't hear Mrs Cooper knock on the door, and just see her come in with a tray of food. I struggle to sit up, noticing that she doesn't close the door. She looks at me suspiciously, before putting the tray on the bed and slightly opening the window,
"Mr Cullen would like to know when you will be ready to go to church," She lets me know, though it is clear that she doesn't like Mr Cullen right now. I shake my head, taking the tea in my hands as I let her know,
"I don't think I will be able to go to Church today, Mrs Cooper. If you could apologise for me to Mr Cullen."
She frowns and comes to me, touching my stomach without asking me first, "How are you feeling, Mrs Cullen? Have you had any pains?"
I look at her, panicked by her tone. Women have had children for millennia, she shouldn't be worried by a little bit of pain. I thought pain was to be expected for pregnant women. "It's normal, right?"
She reassuring smiles at me, telling me to eat and rest well before she leaves. But I can hear Edward's muffled voice asking her as soon as she closes the door,
"How is she?"
"You should get Dr Cassidy to pay her a visit after Church."
"How's her head?!" Edward questions, his voice sounding a little bit worried, but Mrs Cooper doesn't seem to appreciate his concern.
"That was a nasty fall, Mr Cullen! Didn't you see how she gripped her stomach and limped back to her room? If Dr Cassidy comes, he will be more worried about the survival of that baby than her head!"
"This is none of your business, Mrs Cooper. You're forgetting your place! The only reason I'm not letting you go for leaving my wife alone in my house so she can entertain other men is because you've been in the family for so long!" Edward threatens, and I move the tray from my laps. I can't let Edward treat Mrs Cooper like that. She has done nothing wrong.
"Go ahead, give me my leave. I will gladly ask to work for your father again and tell him how you are treating that poor girl. We both know how your father will take that news. And we both know Mrs Cullen has been nothing but faithful!"
Edward doesn't say anything for a moment, but I suppose he is glaring at her. To be honest, I think Mrs Cooper is quite bold speaking to him like that, but then again, she has known him since he was five years old.
When she speaks again, I am in my robe, ready to open the door but I never do.
"Have Dr Cassidy come and check on that child, Mr Cullen."
"I'm not spending a dime on that bastard. If you're so worried, track that Hunter and have him take care of it, since he was so keen to take care of my wife."
I hear him walk away and just stare at the door. Edward will never come back to his senses. He will never believe that our baby is his and he will take it out on our child. He will make sure that our child knows he is hated by his or her own father. He will make our baby's life a nightmare. And I won't allow that.
I go back to bed, listening carefully until I am sure that he has left for church. I refuse to let him mistreat our child like that. Not when he has no reason to. So I bite down on my pain and move as quickly as I can whilst no one is at home.
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When Edward comes back from Church. I am back in my room, looking at the wardrobe hoarding my secret. I have planned everything meticulously. Tomorrow, I will go to the orphanage where I know a young doctor comes to see the girls every Monday. If Edward does not want to pay for his child, I will do it. I have a few dollars I have brought with me from the few errands I used to run in town. It's not much, but it will do for what I want.
I barely sleep of the night, because I want to leave as soon as the sun is up. I don't want Edward to catch me and forbid me to leave the house.
I have everything planned. In just a few weeks, Edward will go to New York, and I will not go with him. Obviously, now that I'm a whore, he has no business taking me with him. As soon as he will be on the train, I will be on a train of my own, pretending that I miss him, but heading to San Francisco. There, I will say that I am a widow (Ms Bella Williams) and that my sweet and loving husband died at sea, leaving me and our child alone. I will sell his silly necklace, and his ring to have a little bit of money.
I saw in Edward's newspaper that San Francisco is looking for a schoolteacher in their brand new school. I don't want to risk sending a telegram as an answer, but I have written a letter proposing my services, and I will ask the orphanage to write me a letter referring my teaching to the girls. I'll say it's to show my parents but I will use it to find a job.
And I will raise our child away from Edward. I don't care if it's going to bring a scandal to his name, but I do feel bad that Rosalie and my parents will probably be shamed for my actions. I just don't want my child to grow up with so much hatred aimed at him or her. In fact, I will never tell them all the awful things Edward has said. That is for me, and me only.
It is my shame to bear. I have obviously failed somewhere in my duties as a wife for Edward to mistrust and hate me so much. But I will not fail as a mother.
As soon as the sun is up, I make my way out and I walk to the orphanage, which is quite a spell away from where Edward lives. Shortly after eight o'clock strikes, Mrs Cole is surprised to see me on a Monday, and so early but she welcomes me, and so do the girls. The doctor is not due for another couple of hours, so Mrs Cole asks me if I mind taking the girls to the park next door with her.
Just like I did yesterday, I ignore my cramps, praying that the doctor comes quick and accepts to see me and I focus on my plan. Just a few more weeks of name-calling and hatred, and then, Edward Cullen will be history. I idly wonder if he will even mind my going. He'll probably assume that I ran off with Mr Hunter for whom I so easily spread my legs.
Just a few more weeks.
I look at the girls playing. Some are skipping the rope, whilst others are playing with a ball. They are all so sweet, and I am definitely going to miss them. Coming to the orphanage has always been the highlight of my week because the girls are always so happy to learn something. And I often learn with them as Reverend Denali teaches them things I didn't know about religion. In fact, I was very surprised to find that the Reverend knew so much about other religions, and when I told him about that he simply joked that he had to know about 'the concurrence'.
As I feel another cramp that makes me bite my lip to not whimper, I see little Georgina run after the ball as it rolls to the street. Behind her, two horses are pulling a car much faster than they should in town, and so, without thinking I run after Georgina and push her away from the horses just in time so she is not trampled.
The horses rear at my sudden presence and I only realise my mistake too late, just as everything turns to black.
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💚Well, let me know what you thought of this chapter. What was your favourite part? What do you think will happen next?
‼️ Anyway, Stephanie Meyer owns the names of the characters from the Twilight franchise, everything else is mine (including the mistakes and grammar errors)‼️
Love, Mina 💚💚💚