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ENJOY!
10/15/2022
Chapter 26
BPOV
"Oh, Alice, it'll happen; I promise. You know these things sometimes take time. Maybe you should focus more on your wedding coming up. It's less than a month away and you still need to find that perfect dress." I was doing my best to sooth my best-friend. She'd been down in the dumps over not being pregnant yet. Her doctor had told her it was a waiting process considering she'd been taking the shot for so long. Her body was still accustomed to being on birth control and was only now, getting used to being without it.
The months had flown by since I gave birth to Avery. She was so big now. She was sitting up on her own. Well, barely. She still toppled over if she got too excited about something. She does the army crawl everywhere around the house, too. The day we realized she was moving on her own, Edward and I baby proofed everything.
The day he came home and told me we were moving, I thought he was joking. I had just spoken with my brother the day before and he said things were moving along smoothly and we'd be moved in before we knew it. I nearly bumped Avery out of my lap when I realized he wasn't joking.
Edward had burst through the door; he had a determined look on his face. "Pack your bags." He said seriously. "You're moving."
I looked up at him wondering what the hell he was talking about. "What?"
"I said, pack your bags. I want you out. I can't have you living here anymore. There's bigger and better things out there for you." He looked serious when he spoke, but I couldn't figure out why he was being so abrasive toward me. What had I done to make him this way?
"Edward..."
"No, you can't live here anymore. Avery needs to go, too." He was still standing by the door as he spoke.
Tears began to form in my eyes and falling over my cheeks. A lump formed in my throat from the thought of being kicked out of my own home. If anyone was going anywhere, it'd be him.
"You're scaring me; what happened? I haven't done anything; I've been here taking care of our daughter. I haven't even been out of the house long enough to socialize with anyone. Please tell me?" I was begging for him to come clean with what he thought I'd done.
He shook his head and turned away from me. I could see his shoulders shaking. I assumed he was crying before I heard a low chuckle escape him. "Edward, this isn't..."
"Oh, Bella," he said, cutting me off, turning around with a huge smile on his face." I can't hold it in anymore. I tried to be serious, but the look on your face was too much."
"What the hell are you talking about? Why're you laughing at me?"
Avery was sitting on my lap watching her father as he approached us. She started waving her hands in the air, wanting him to pick her up. "We're moving, not just you and Avery. The house is ready. My dad and David took me over there just before I came home. It's ready. We have a house now."
"What?!" I shrieked." I just talked to James yesterday and he told me it was coming along, and we'd be ready to move in soon."
Edward walked closer and stood in front of me. "That's our surprise. James knew he could keep you from finding out as long as he talked to you on the phone, but if he saw you face to face, he wouldn't have been able to not tell you."
"Well, that little shi..." I stopped my sentence, considering Avery was sitting in my lap. I didn't want her first word to be shit. "And you..." I said hopping up. Avery slipped a little, but I caught her. "Oh, sorry, munchkin."
I put Avery in her bouncy seat and launched myself at Edward, hugging him as tight as I could. "I can't believe it's ready." I released him and because he was being an ass when he first came home, I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, trying to catch his breath. It wasn't a small love-tap kind of punch; I put all my strength behind it. "That's for making me think I did something wrong."
"I'm sorry," he said through gasps of air as he clutched his stomach. "I was only kidding."
"Don't ever do that to me, again or you'll get it worse. You can't joke with me like that," I said in a stern voice. "I was ready to start freaking out."
After a few minutes, Edward finally caught his breath and was able to stand up straight. He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. "I promise not to do that, again; it was cruel."
I was so in love with my house. I have my very own little sanctuary and Edward has his. We hadn't used them much because everything was still so new to us. I use mine more during the day while Edward's at work. It's pretty easy to lay Avery down for her nap and bring the monitor with me. Edward uses his, now and then, but mostly, we spend our free time with each other.
The day after we found out the house was ready, we hired a moving company to come and pack up all of our personal belongings. All the furniture was staying because we purchased all brand new stuff, for the house. David decided to have an estate sale and get rid of all of his furniture before he moved to Washington. He didn't want the memories of Phyllis lingering everywhere he went, and he said a lot of the stuff still had her stench on it. I didn't blame him, and honestly, I probably would have burnt it all.
We donated our bed and Avery's nursery items, to one of the shelters that I've volunteered at. They needed new stuff to replace some items that were worn from years of wear and tear. We were more than happy to help with what we could. Edward had donated all of his stuff to various shelters around the city when he moved in with me, so we wanted to make sure we did the same with a few of our items that weren't going with us to the new house or any that David wanted.
As I'm pulled from my thoughts, Alice was sitting in front of me, brooding over her situation. We were having lunch at a little bistro in downtown Seattle. We were waiting for Rosalie to arrive. I hadn't seen her much the last few weeks. "I already have a dress."
"You do? Since when?" I didn't know anything about her buying a dress. I thought we were going together to get it.
"I'm sorry. I did a photo shoot for an executive at Couture and they cut me a huge deal on a dress. The one I picked out was $15,000 and I got it for $6,000."
I jumped up and hugged her. "Alice, that's great. That's a little much for a dress, though, isn't it?"
She looked at me like I grew two heads. "No. This will be my one and only time getting married and I want the best."
"So, you're saying my dress was shit because I paid less than a thousand dollars for it?"
"God, Bella, no. That sounded too snotty. I'm sorry; I loved your dress. I'll just shut up," she said, waving her hand. "There's not much left to do for the wedding. Everything's already taken care of. The invitations are being mailed out on Friday. The caterers, the church, the reception hall, it's all done."
That pretty much left nothing for me to do. I wasn't much of a Matron of Honor.
I spotted Rosalie walking towards us, pushing a double stroller. She looked haggard and her hair wasn't the normal pristine it usually was. It was pulled back into a ponytail and her bangs were hanging free and straight.
"Sorry, I'm late. These two keep me from getting anywhere on time, anymore," Rosalie said as she came walking up with Jacob and Riley. They were smiling from ear to ear when they saw me. "Say hi to Auntie Bella and Alice, you two."
Jacob was a spitting image of his father. He was a complete Emmett mini-me. He had dark hair and bright blue eyes. Riley, on the other hand, was a perfect mixture of both Emmett and Rose with blonde curls and bright blue eyes. They were as cute as ever, but because I'm biased, not as cute as Avery. She had my dark hair, and her eyes were a blue green. More Edwards color than mine. It depended on her mood for the day.
"You're fine. We were just talking about Alice's dress. She already has it. And it's Couture." I leaned forward to get closer to the twins. Riley reached her hand out to grab my nose. "Hey, you two. I hope you're being good for mommy."
Rosalie had Riley's hair in tiny pigtails and she was wearing a full body snow suit. "Rose, I know it's cold out, but they look like they can barely move in those things."
"I don't want two sick kids on my hands." She walked around the front of the stroller and pulled Jacob out. "Will you help me get them out?"
"I'll help," Alice said, hopping up from her seat and heading toward Riley. "You look like a little Cabbage Patch Kid."
"That's what Emmett said, although he thinks they're more like the Garbage Pail Kids 'cause they make huge messes without even trying," Rose said, chuckling at herself. "Esme even told me that Emmett wasn't any better when he was their age."
"Hey, that's a great idea for them for Halloween. Dress them up as Garbage Pail Kids. Avery can be a Cabbage Patch Kid." Rose's face morphed into a slightly pained look. "What?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing." She continued undressing Jacob down to his regular clothes so she could seat them in the high-chairs.
"No, not nothing. It's just Halloween, Rose. I'm not actually calling your kids Garbage Pail kids." I knew she was being run from one end to the other. She hadn't even gone back to work, much like me. Momma Whitlock made it so I could work from home and only have to go into the office once a week. That day was usually on a Friday and Esme or Alice would watch Avery for me.
She shook her head. "I know, I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night. With the new season going full force and knowing Emmett will be gone a lot, it's just been bugging me a lot."
I stood so I could wrap my arms around her. "Oh, hon, I'll help you out. Edward's gone a lot, too. We'll stick together, plus, we have a whole village to help us out. Alice, Jasper, Momma Whitlock, you name them and I'm sure they'll bend over backwards to help us out."
"I know. I guess it's just something I'll have to get used to," she said, taking her seat after our hug.
"You can definitely count me in. I love these little Angels." Alice made googly faces at all three babies. "Your Auntie Alice will love to play with you."
I looked up at Alice. "You're more their cousin than Aunt. You know that right?"
Alice waved her hand at me. "Who cares. Aunt, cousin, who needs a direct title anymore."
Rose finally spoke up. "I'll definitely keep that in mind. I wanted to go back to work, but we haven't decided if we wanted to get a Nanny or put them in a daycare. I much rather have a Nanny, but then we'll have to interview for that and I'm not sure if I'm up to it." Rose sighed and slumped back into her seat after she opened her menu and laid it flat on the table.
I reached over, placing my hand on hers. "I can help. We can do the interviews at my place on a day that Alice has free. You just set everything up and we'll get you a Nanny. It'll only be part-time, though, right?"
Rosalie nodded, "Yeah, I only planned to work three days a week to start. Once the playoffs, then the Super Bowl is over, then I plan to go full time."
"Is the school okay with you only doing part-time, right now?" Sometimes the kind of schools that Rosalie works at prefers to have a full-time teacher, and Rosalie is very good at her job. Her favorite part is getting them into the special Olympics.
"They don't have any choice and they already told me that they'd take me anyway they could. They're not willing to let me slip through their fingers that easily," she said with a victorious smile. "I'm good at what I do and I love it."
Alice and I smiled over at her. "You are good at what you do. You have so much patience with those kids. That's why you're a great mom, too."
"I hope to be at least half the mom you are," Alice said. "By that I mean, I just want one kid. That's being half the mom you are, isn't it?" We all laughed together.
The waitress came and took our orders. The twins and Avery were having some of the homemade baby food that I had made. I found it cheaper and healthier for them. I usually made enough to freeze for a whole month.
"You'll have to teach me how to make stuff like that when I finally have a baby," Alice said, after taking over feeding Avery while I ate my Caesar Salad. "This even looks appetizing to me."
"I can't let Edward feed her half the time because he snitches some of it. If I leave the room for five seconds, he's stealing her food," I said, shaking my head and it was true, Edward was always nibbling at her food. He would take a bite then give her one, but his bites were always bigger than hers.
Alice giggled. "She definitely has him wrapped around her finger, though."
"That she does and she loves her daddy. She squeals every time he walks through the door and when he's gone for the away games, she can tell. She fights to go to sleep and ends up sleeping in the bed with me."
Rosalie shook her head. "Oh, Bella, you're gonna regret that when she's older."
"How do you figure that?"
"She's not gonna want to sleep in her own bed. Maybe if you Skype with him before she went to bed, she'd go right to sleep," she suggested and it wasn't a bad idea at all. "That's what we do with Em. They go right to sleep as soon as they see their Daddy."
"Does Edward have a laptop?" Alice asked, spooning another bite into Avery's mouth.
I nodded. "Yeah, he just got a new MacBook Pro. I'll have to tell him to download Skype. I can't believe I hadn't thought of that sooner."
We finished up with lunch and we all headed toward Bainbridge Island, to see Carlisle and Esme. Edward and Emmett were meeting us there after their practice. They had just gotten home a few days before from their away games. Emmett's team won and Edwards' team sustained their first loss since he became coach. I expected him to be more upset than he was, but he couldn't put all fault on his players especially when one of his players blew out his knee during a play.
Jasper came walking out the front door when we pulled up. "Hello, beautiful ladies. We've been waitin' for ya."
I shook my head as Alice threw herself at him. "Hey, sweetness, have a good lunch with the girls?"
"Always," she mumbled against his lips. "Rose is lucky I don't take one of her babies."
"Hey now," Emmett says as he walked out behind Edward. "Those are mine, too, and I'm not willing to spare one. Get your own."
Jasper tried to make a sexy growl noise, but failed. "Oh, we're tryin'"
Emmett and Edward helped us with the babies. With Avery's seat handle hooked over one arm, he pulled me to him and placed a lingering kiss on my lips. "Mmm...Caesar Salad, again?"
I playfully smacked his chest. "Yes. Does my breath smell like it or something?"
"Or something," he said, teasingly before kissing me again and turning his attention toward Avery who was squealing for her father's attention. "We'll be in the house in just a second, Munchkin. Jeez, let me say hi to Mommy first, for once."
I glanced over and saw Emmett hoist both twins up over his shoulders before leaning down and kissing Rose.
Alice and Jasper were already walking toward the front door when Esme came out in search of her grandchildren. "Get my grand-babies in this house; it's cold out."
We made our way inside, where it was warm, and headed straight for the living room. Esme had a play area set up for the babies. There wasn't a baby toy left in the store once she was done buying for her grandchildren.
It was still so unreal how everything turned out. Rosalie and I having our babies on the same day. Yes, the twins were born a few hours before Avery, and hopefully they wouldn't tease each other about it, but we all know they will when they get older. I was sure Emmett would have a lot of encouragement behind it.
I spotted David sitting across from Carlisle, engrossed in a conversation. He had become quite the permanent fixture in our family. We've all welcomed him into our homes and it was like he was always meant to be here.
James and Victoria finally got moved out here, too. It seemed like it took them forever, but Victoria had gotten hired at Esme's law firm after she took the Washington State bar exam. Her credentials from her previous law firm were a positive push toward Esme offering her a spot as a prosecuting attorney. Esme and Victoria were a force to be reckoned with when it came to prosecuting. They were wicked, and did the job right.
Today was just part of a routine that we had settled into. We all started meeting at Carlisle and Esme's on Sunday's. James, Maddie and Victoria were included. My parents would sometimes make the drive down if my Dad was in town. He'd been home a lot more lately, and thinking about taking early retirement. Mom said she wasn't getting any younger and was also thinking the same thing. Alex and Gracie were still young enough for them to do some traveling before they got to the age where they didn't want to be around their parents anymore. If they turn out to be like me when my mom first met my Dad, I'd want to spend every minute I possibly could with them.
They were lucky though. Mom was considering homeschooling and traveling so she didn't have to worry about them missing any school. The only downside, they were planning to travel outside the United States, which, I was reluctant to give my blessing, but I was an adult now and needed to keep my big girl panties on. My Dad could protect them and from all the places he'd been throughout his career, I was positive he'd know what places not to travel to.
Everyone was all gathered in the living room playing with the babies on the floor. I sat on the couch looking around at everyone and enjoying the warm cup of hot chocolate that Esme just placed in my hand. My heart swelled constantly at how big our family had grown and it kept growing. Yeah, I'm pregnant again, but Edward doesn't know it yet. I knew I said I wanted to wait a couple of years to have more, but Avery was growing up way too fast for my liking, so I stopped taking my pill. It'll be quite the surprise because I didn't even tell Edward about it. Avery's only six months old, but her and her new baby brother or sister will be close enough in age that I hoped they would be just as close as they grow up.
I didn't want to mention it to Alice because of her predicament. I hoped she became pregnant soon and then she and I could share our pregnancies much like Rose and I did together. I also planned on telling Edward tonight after we put Avery to bed. I'm pretty sure he'll be happier than a pig in mud.
Thanks again,
Reason
