A/N: Merry Christmas, everyone! Many strong reactions from the last few chapters. I expect more this chapter...hang tight.
I was very excited when Bella called and said she was headed home. It'd been almost week since I saw her last and our relationship was better than ever. That didn't make Tanya very happy, but I wasn't responsible for Tanya's happiness. As long as her work didn't suffer, she could continue to be my assistant.
I'd spent the morning at the office, deflecting Tanya's advances, and getting the day's work done so that I could spend the rest of the day and night with my wife. I shopped at the local bistro and picked up a bottle of our favorite Sauvignon Blanc and headed to the apartment to warm up the food I'd purchased.
At first I had been angry my father confided details of my life to Bella, but it done the world to transform her attitude. I could work at accepting her eccentric tastes if it wasn't too out of hand. I'd told her that I would not be seen with her in public if she wore that bowling shirt, but she liked the idea that I hadn't forbidden her to wear it. I was learning it was best just to express my wishes and not forbid anything. She was much more pliable that way.
I opened the bottle of wine and poured two glasses when the garage attendant phoned me to tell me she was parking her truck. I was disappointed that she'd driven it down here because it meant that she would have to drive it back up there and I might have to follow her to bring her back home.
I set the plates down at our seats at the dining room table and even lit the tapered candles on the table. I wanted everything to be perfect so she knew I had changed. When I heard the elevator door open I rushed to see her.
"My love!" I said and pulled her into my arms.
"Edward!" she sighed and she melted into me. "It's good to be home." That was music to my ears.
"Come, I've prepared some lunch," I said, excitedly and pulling her towards the dining room. She placed her handbag on the counter. "Where are your bags?" I asked noticing for the first time that she was empty handed as we walked to the table.
"I left them in the truck. I can get them later," she said distractedly. That's when I noticed that she looked very wan. Sick even.
"Are you feeling unwell?" I asked as I pulled her chair out.
"A little, but I'll be okay. I've just come from the doctor," she answered. That surprised me. That meant she had left Forks very early. I took my own seat and scooted my chair a little closer to her.
"The doctor? Love, should I be worried?" I picked up my knife and fork and began cutting my chicken. Bella followed suit, but only picked at her food. That was different. She usually ate like a horse. And I'd ordered her favorite from that shop.
"No, nothing to be worried about. How are things at the office?" she asked. I could tell she was intentionally changing the subject. But I played along. I told her about a new resort we were designing and the architect search that entailed. She seemed truly interested, but I didn't tell her it was for the Second Beach property we'd just put in her name.
"Sounds exciting," she agreed. "I have some news that could be exciting." I smiled at her statement and looked at her plate. She'd finished about half of it, but hadn't touched her wine.
"Bella, drink. I bought your favorite," I urged.
"Well, I can't and that has to do with my news," she said, and put her fork down. She looked very nervous and she was chewing on her lip.
"Stop eating your lip, dear, and just spit it out. Why on earth can't you drink wine?" And the thought occurred to me just as the confession escaped her lips.
"Edward, I'm pregnant," she said.
Well that couldn't be. Bella had always told me, since we first met, that she didn't really want children. She had no objection to getting the IUD implanted and she even chose the copper one that would last longer but she'd continue to have a period.
"How?" I asked. I was at a loss for how this could be possible. "Did you have your IUD taken out and not tell me? Bella, you don't need to trap me, you have me."
"Edward, I didn't have it removed until this morning. It is very rare for this to happen, but we both are educated enough to understand that no form of birth control is one hundred percent."
I knew she was right, but this just couldn't be happening. I didn't want children. We talked about this just the other night. I explained to her why I wouldn't raise children.
"So when we talked about this, did you know?" I asked, the bitterness evident in my voice.
"No. I just found out and I went to the doctor to double check. He says I'm about six weeks along," she reported.
"Well, who's the father?" I asked, no longer hiding the disgust in my voice.
"You are," Bella said, vehemently. She was quiet for a few beats as the hurt washed across her face. "I knew you'd be upset by this, but you really need to be reasonable. I have never been unfaithful to you. I'm a little insulted that you'd even accuse me of it." She stood.
"You're telling me to be reasonable when you come home and tell me news like this? I had everything planned! I thought you were coming home because you missed me. But now I know it's just because you needed to tell me that you've broken the foundation of our marriage," I said.
"Broken the foundation? I didn't realize not having a baby was part of our vows. I distinctly remember saying for better or worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. I don't remember ever saying, unless Bella gets pregnant. Well, for better or for worse, I am going to have a baby."
"There are other options, Bella. I hope you have considered them," I said. I picked up my fork again just for something to do.
"Not for me there aren't," she said, firmly. "It's our baby. The only option is to raise it."
"Not if you're going to stay married to me." I slammed my fork down again. "You promised to love and obey. You have to make a choice, me or that baby," I said. She merely looked at me. She sighed, like this was what she expected and sat down again clutching her head. She looked like she was in pain and it broke my heart.
"Edward, it's not that baby. It's our baby. This is your son or daughter. You can't expect me to choose," she said, her head still down. What did she mean? She knew exactly why I didn't want a baby.
"You can't expect me to change my mind about something I made abundantly clear before we were married." I sat down again, too. Her voice was reasonable so maybe she was actually seeing reason. "If it makes you more comfortable, I can call my father and ask him the name of a good doctor and we can get this taken care of," I said soothingly, reaching out to stroke the back of her hand. She jerked away from my touch.
"Edward, I am not having an abortion. There is no reason to kill this child. We are married, we have plenty of money, and this was the natural consequence of the physical relationship between a husband and wife. We have no other children to care for, and my life is not in danger. I'm already in love with my little blip. I'm sure you will be, too, when you see him," she pleaded.
"Little blip?" I scoffed. "You already named him?"
"No," she whispered. "But I heard his little heartbeat. And we made him. Our love made him."
"I'm not even sure it's mine!" I yelled. She shirked away at my voice and her hurt turned to anger.
"Who else would be the father!" she yelled back. "You're the only person I've been with in over ten years, Edward Cullen! You can try to justify this away in your mind, but that won't make it true. I'm keeping this baby and I'll love him enough for the both of us!" I'd never heard Bella yell before. She was back to being unreasonable and I knew there was no point in furthering this discussion.
"If that is your choice, then you choose to leave this marriage. And you will take nothing with you, not even the car I bought you as a gift," I said quietly. There was no reason to yell to make my point. It hit home. She looked up at me, her lovely brown eyes filled with tears.
"If that is your choice, I don't want one fucking thing you ever gave me," she said and got up from the table. She opened her bag she'd placed on the bar and pulled out her key ring. She removed the front door key and pulled the elevator access card out of its sleeve and placed them both on the counter. She placed her bag on her shoulder and turned to me.
"I hope you change your mind. No matter what you say to me today, you are going to have a child in the world who will always wonder why his father didn't want him. If you change your mind, Edward, you have my number. And before you object, I've had this number since before I met you. I'll call tomorrow to be removed from your plan. Just don't shut off my phone. Give me a day or two to purchase another one and I'll send this one back to you."
"You can keep your phone," I said. I'd have Jasper data mine her text messages today to try to discover who she'd been talking to.
"Are you sure this is what you want? Do you want to take a day or two to consider?" she asked, a little defeated.
"I don't want a baby and you don't want to get rid of it. I guess we're at an impasse." She clutched her stomach, turned green, and ran for the bathroom. I followed her down the hallway past her bag she'd dropped in her haste. I understood what was happening and stood watching her from the door while she threw up the little bit of food she'd eaten for lunch. When she finished, she stood and rinsed her mouth out with water.
"Are you sure this is what you want? You already look terrible," I said. The look she gave me in the mirror would have made a lesser man wilt, but I stoically held her gaze.
"Maybe that's because the man who promised me the world just revoked his offer," she said and pushed by me to leave.
I didn't say anything back. I was too shocked. She's the one who was choosing a fetus over me. The thing was just a clump of cells at this point. It was no bigger than a tumor; a parasite. I always knew there'd be something or someone that was more important than me and today she proved it. I heard the elevator arrive and I walked towards her. She was already in the elevator holding the door open with her hand.
"This is your last chance Bella. Are you sure this is your choice?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. This is my chance to do something great. I get to create a life, Edward. I get to love and nurture a tiny human into existence. I'm sorry you're choosing your disease over your wife. Your inability to give up your controlled life is going to keep you from the greatest joys this world has to offer." She moved her hand and the elevator doors closed.
I paced the room while I thought about all the things that were said and that just happened. I'd made the ultimatum expecting she'd be too scared about not having any money or anywhere to go. I'd told her that she couldn't have her car, but then I remembered that she had that damn truck Jake had rebuilt.
She didn't seem shocked. Did she know this would happen? She just accepted it. Was this her plan all along? She has been acting very strangely for the past few weeks. Defiant and then over-conciliatory. She had to be having an affair. There was no other explanation. Knowing I would react this way to a baby, she was having an affair and this was her way to leave me, blame it on me, take everything she could, and walk away with a clear conscious.
Well, that wasn't going to work for me. Aro had talked me out of a pre-nup, so if she gets some of those properties, that would be his fault.
Crap! The properties. There were clauses in each to protect them, I needed to calm down. I didn't need to alert Aro just yet. I had to get evidence of Bella's affair. That's what I had to do. I had to go see Jasper.
I made it to the office without getting a ticket today, which was good. I'd called ahead to make sure Jasper was in.
"Edward, where's the fire?" Jasper said in his Texas drawl. Aro said it was charming, but I think it made him sound like a rube. But he was damn good at his job.
"I need you to find out with whom Bella is having an affair," I answered and paced behind his desk. "Can you pull up her texts and see who she's been texting?"
He looked up at me without raising his head.
"What makes you think she's havin' an affair? Bella doesn't strike me as the cheatin' kind." His fingers were moving fast across his keyboard and I could see he was looking at our phone records.
"It doesn't matter. Just find out who she's been texting," I barked.
"Well, it looks like you, mostly," he replied. He clicked on a few things. "That one is her dad. And that one is—" he clicked, "Rachel Black-Lahote. And that one is…" he clicked and typed a few times, "well that one is a bit of a mystery." He clicked a few more times. "Ah, that's why. It's unlisted because it's Jacob Black."
"That one!" I urged. "Can we read what they say?" I was shaking now. I didn't know if it was anger or excitement. He looked over at me now that I was standing over his shoulder. He clicked a few more times and the words of the texts appeared in a box.
"Looks like he's got a date that she's wished him luck on and she's headed to Seattle for a few days," he said. I could see for myself that it was true.
"I need you to do some digging into her background. Find out who her boyfriend was in high school. He broke her heart and I want to know if he came back into her life again. Find out what she's been doing with all her time when she's not been at the apartment. Hire a PI if you have to," I said.
"Okay. You're the boss," he said and clucked his tongue. "But I a'int gonna find nothin'. Bella is an open book. I pay y'all's bills and I see what she buys and how often. I've been doin' this a long time and none of her spendin' indicates she's been unfaithful. I'll do the digging into her background, but what good will that do? It'll just bring up hurt feelings for both of y'all."
"Just do it and let me worry about my damn feelings. How soon do you think you can have a report?" I asked.
"Well, it all depends on how secretive she's been or how active on social media. But I can't see the latter bein' true. Bella's not very social in person. I can't see her bein' social on the internet. Give me a few days. You wanna keep this out of Aro's attention, I presume," he predicted.
"Yeah. I don't want to bring this up until I have something concrete. Let me know when you do, okay?" I asked.
"Sure thing. But I don't think I'm gonna find 'nuthin'."
"Well, that means you'll find something," I said dryly. I was so irritated.
"Huh?" he asked looking up with his whole head.
"You used a double negative," I instructed. "It means that you'll find something."
"Did you understand what I meant? I am not going to find anything on Bella, because there won't be anything to find," he said with a perfect mid-western accent. "If you're too pompous to understand English, then I can't help you any more than I already do," he said.
I decided to let that go, because he did help me quite a bit.
"Just email me and use grammar check," I said. He smirked, but didn't look up again.
I went back to my office and closed the door. Tanya wasn't at her desk which I was glad about. I checked my email and did some other odds and ends before I heard a knock on the door.
"Mr. Cullen?" Tanya said as she opened the door.
"Yes?" I said a little distracted. I was going through pictures of our honeymoon. I couldn't believe she was throwing five years of marriage away and ten years of our life.
"I thought you went home to spend time with your wife," she said, hesitantly.
"Plans changed," I muttered.
"I'm so sorry. You sound so disappointed. Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
I looked up at her and saw that she was wearing the suit I'd once told her was my favorite. Her face made up to perfection. If Bella didn't want me, I knew someone who did.
"Yes, there is. Would you like to come back to my apartment for dinner tonight?" I asked.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Your apartment?" she asked.
"Yes, it looks like Bella will be gone for a while and you asked if you could help with anything…"
She smirked at me and looked pleased. "Sure, just let me know when you're ready to leave."
Thoughts? (Who saw that coming?)
