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Chapter 48

New Home

Edward

"Can I actually drive my motorcycle again?" asked Bella then in the middle of breakfast without warning.

I would have had an instant answer: No. Never. When hell freezes over, or similar. But somehow, I had the feeling she wouldn't really follow my reasoning.

I quickly searched for a basis for discussion that did not involve me simply being afraid for her. However, I did not find one with which I could sufficiently convince Bella.

The kids had seen my frantic subliminal look, grinned to themselves, and waited with anticipation to see who would win this little battle.

They bet on their mother.

"Am I already getting on your nerves so much that I can't drive you to work?" I asked instead, offended.

"You've always gotten on my nerves with your constant patronizing," she countered sharp-tongued, and had recognized my reason, of course.

"Your life is the most precious thing I have. Are you condemning me now for wanting to preserve it?" I continued to ask, with a gaze that sent her breathing out of control, gently sliding my fingertips over the side of her neck and breathing a kiss into the hollow below her ear.

Jake and Leah reconsidered the presumed winner of this discussion.

"No, but I got by for nineteen years without your exaggerated precaution," she said after she regained her composure.

This had worked even better in the past.

We discussed it further.

Fortunately, it did not occur to her that she could ask me simply because of my promise. And I didn't want to give away my free wish for something so fundamental.

At one point, Jake yelled at me in his thoughts for brief attention.

'Look at this and give up already!' he said and held something in his hand, which he had pulled out of Bella's handbag.

A participation booklet from a motorcycle riding safety training course that Bella seemed to repeat regularly.

Defeated, I let my head hang.

We quickly cleared the table and I said farewell to Bella. Unfortunately. The twins were already sitting in the BMW and I still had Bella in my arms.

"Please drive carefully. I still need you!" I said seriously.

When we got to the parking lot, I retrieved my school supplies from the trunk. I chuckled to myself.

Bella had called after me whether I had done all my homework. Both my siblings and I were usually exemplary students, but today I was actually missing an assignment. I would do it quickly in Spanish class.

My family was already there, which didn't really surprise me today. After our visit with them yesterday, it was just as Carlisle had predicted to Jake and Leah. My siblings not only accepted them and respected them for being wolves, but took them into their hearts.

The small incident with Mike was quickly forgotten, only Brandon was bothered about it anymore.

He had apparently seen some things in the last week that puzzled him, but had no real explanation for it.

Just before the bell rang for the first class, I received a text message.

I arrived accident free!

I smiled and was grateful to Bella.

In music, Becky had to tell everyone how good my piano playing is first thing. Especially our teacher.

So far, I had been able to successfully conceal this, since I already knew from experience where this would lead. I would have to provide musical accompaniment for any school performances and the teacher pulled strings to get me to make it big.

This was also the case this time, and our teacher's contacts were also excellent.

He used to be an aspiring violinist, but then broke his hand in a complicated way and had to give up his solo career. Instead of being bitter about it, however, he was fulfilled by bringing music closer to young people.

Of course, I had to play on the existing keyboard, but I used the song I composed for Esmé. The teacher then executed very passionately what I had played purely technically - key, time, accolade and so on - while Becky sat next to me.

"It's very beautiful, but it's not the one from yesterday! How many songs have you already written yourself?" Becky asked me quietly.

"There are a few," I smiled and put headphones in the device that Becky put on.

I didn't want to interrupt the teacher and started a new piece. A new composition, but it was really not finished and only in a very small part existed.

Becky listened intently to the sounds and then looked quite caught off guard.

"It kind of sounds like I should know it," she noted, concentrating. "It sounds very romantic, but not melancholy ... More playful ... and happy," she considered further, pulling the headphones off her head.

"That's what goes through my mind when I see you together with Jake," I replied.

This melody had already been in my ears since yesterday and I had now played it for the first time. She asked me to play it again. There really wasn't much of the song there yet, but the two of them inspired me.

Afterwards, I was playing Carlisle and Esme's wedding song for her, when the bell already rang. (Carlisle & Esme's Lullaby)

After school, I drove into town. I needed pajamas or something similar.

I smirked to myself.

For one thing, it was the first time in seventy-four years that I had bought clothes for myself; for another, it was what I intended to buy. But it would be remiss of me if I let Bella sleep all night without something between us on my cold body. She had already sneezed this morning. I didn't want to be responsible if she got a permanent cold because of me. Wrapping Bella up in her blanket like in the past was out of the question after I had felt her so close to me again last night. I didn't want to miss that anymore.

A young lady came straight up to me as I entered the store and asked if she could help me.

I explained my request and she showed me some men's silk pajamas, but the material did not appeal to me.

Silk would adjust too quickly to my body temperature. My gaze fell on an exhibited set of dark blue flannels, in rustic plaid. It looked pretty comfortable and was nice and fluffy.

I got it.

Then I looked around some more.

When one has not entered a clothing store for so long with the intention of spending money, one now saw it all with completely different eyes. I do not know exactly how, but somehow, I was then landed in the lingerie department.

A male salesman around forty approached me this time.

"Are you looking for something for your girlfriend?" he asked helpfully.

"I'm not sure," I said, relatively unsure.

I was just a bit overwhelmed by the diversity of the selection. I had never dealt with such things, but I had no problem imagining Bella in all the lingerie.

But we had only been together again since yesterday. Bringing her directly underwear was certainly not appropriate.

"Of whether she is your girlfriend or what you should get her?" the friendly gentleman further asked and smirked. 'To be so young again!' he considered in his thoughts.

"We've only been together a short time. I don't think it would be appropriate so soon," I said truthfully.

"In that case, I would rule out anything provocative in any case ... But look at something like this," he said, pointing to a combination of a tank top and some kind of boxer shorts.

Peach color. Sweet. But also, something like that seemed inappropriate to me.

"Very pretty. But I think it's too early for that. Thank you for your help," I said farewell and left the store.

'He'll be back when he's three steps ahead,' the man thought, but I doubted he'd be right.

But I would still bring Bella something from the city.

Something more innocuous.

Then I drove home.

Home!

I tingled joyfully as I thought about it. I felt very comfortable in the cozy, yellow-painted house, where I had spent more time in the past few days than in my own.

I asked myself if Bella had chosen it with the silent hope that one day I would be with her again. Because it was right next to the forest and surrounded by trees. Just ideal for vampiric visitors.

But I discarded the thought again.

She would have rather thought that the two wolves remained undiscovered.

As I stood in front of the house door, I noticed that I didn't have a key. I looked around the small porch. Somewhere Bella had surely hidden one. On the side stood a few flower pots and I lifted them up one by one.

Voilà. Key.

I was alone in the house.

Bella had said she would be a little late.

I placed my school bag, as well as a bag with the rest of my school papers, on the dining room table for the time being and searched the cupboards for a vase. I took my shopping bag and went upstairs. In the hallway, I paused. I opened the first door on the right side of the hallway. A door that had always been locked so far, so I had no idea what was hiding behind it.

Aha ... a guest room. Probably Charlie, Renée, or Billy Black came regularly for family visits.

I threw the bag on our bed and went back downstairs.

Until Bella arrived, I would do my new homework, turning on music as I did so.

When I heard the Honda in the driveway, I immediately jumped up and opened the front door.

I took her a bagpack from her, helped her out of her jacket, and took her into my arms with enthusiasm to see her again.

I had gotten a small glimpse today of how much Jake would suffer from his punishment. It was unusual not to see her for so long. In the past it had only ever been for a few hours when she was working or I was hunting. But today, those nine hours felt like an eternity. Although I had gotten through this eternally long period of school last week, with the prospect of seeing Bella again afterwards, today had been almost excruciating.

"I missed you!" she whispered in relief.

"Me too," I replied and carried her into the living room onto the sofa.

"How did you get in?" she then inquired.

I smirked.

"I found the spare key."

She smirked back, grabbed the bagpack I'd taken from her at the front door, and rummaged around in it.

"You won't need it tomorrow," she said, holding up a shiny silver key. "The key to OUR home!" she added.

This small gesture meant a lot to me. My key. To our home!

Moved, I took the silver metal part from her and kissed my angel. Then I pushed her gently away from me and hurriedly fetched my key ring from the dresser to immediately add my new front door key to it. I pulled her backwards into my arms.

"We live together," I stated happily, holding up my keychain proudly.

"Oh yes," she whispered, driving her fingers reverently over the many keys I had on that ring. "A vampire pendant?" she then asked in surprise.

"My first-day-of-school gift from Alice this year," I explained, and she chuckled adorably when I told her about this tradition between us.

As if out of nowhere, I in turn then held out a ring with a key and a small electronic device to her in turn. Jasper had made these tonight and given them to me before school.

Confused, Bella turned to me.

"This one is the radio control for the gate. It opens and closes automatically when you're in range. And the key fits all four houses - including ours!" I explained.

She was surprised. She had not expected that I would give her the same small but meaningful gift.

She also added it to her keychain. Reverently she viewed it.

"What's that?" she asked in wonder after leaving with the bagpack toward the kitchen.

"Flowers! Ever seen it?" I teased her.

She slapped me on the butt and walked towards the huge bouquet.

"Is there a particular occasion?"

"That I love you?"

"That's one reason ... They're beautiful ... Thank you very much," she said, in between smelling the flowers, then took me in her arms and we kissed.

"Would you have preferred lingerie?", I asked.

Apart from the fact that her cheeks turned slightly pink and she smiled a little embarrassed, her eyes sparkled beautifully, but I didn't get a direct answer.

I would probably go to the store again tomorrow to get an answer from her.

Then she looked at the rest of the table and saw my school supplies.

"You need a little space," Bella stated to herself.

"Not really," I smiled. Since I only needed minutes for my schoolwork and generally didn't need to study, it was basically enough if my bag found a place in the storage room.

Then in the kitchen she unpacked the bagpack completely. Some fresh ingredients for tonight's dinner and new chocolate. She sat down on the kitchen counter and summoned me to come to her. Her arms wrapped around my neck.

My answer was not enough for her and she would clean out her closets once again anyway.

But I really didn't need much space. Just a spot for my school supplies and some space in the closet. Her music collection was already quite to my taste and everything else in music I had on my laptop, which I also had here. Her bookshelf still contained some unknowns for me and otherwise I only owned mementos that I didn't need to live, especially since we would spend the weekends in my small house. I also owned a large jewelry box with all sorts of inherited trinkets, but Bella would certainly not want to hear about that.

After my explanation in this regard, Bella was satisfied and we kissed devotedly. It was such a tingling burn where her small warm hands touched me and I liked they cuddled my neck and drove through my hair.

"Jake and Leah are here," I whispered in between.

They both had not said a word and promptly disappeared upstairs. It was not their way not to greet their mother.

Bella looked at me worriedly. Therefore, I consciously listened into your thoughts for a moment to see if everything was all right.

"They're fine. They just don't want to watch us today of all days," I explained to Bella about the unusual silence of her children.

"Because of Ben ... and Becky, who he's not allowed to see," Bella noted.

I nodded.

"But they're hungry."

"Then I should make my little predators something."

She wanted to jump off the countertop, but I wouldn't let her. I looked at her challengingly.

I wanted to cook. If I was living with three human people under one roof, I should learn how to do that. What I knew from the various cooking shows were apparently quite specialized dishes that required certain ingredients. These were not available in Bella's kitchen. I had already looked.

So, she told me what to do and Bella cleared out one of the cabinets in the dining room for me and set the table.

I smiled with satisfaction as I noticed that everyone was enjoying it.

Jake, however, couldn't help but ruin my little pride about that again.

'Under Mom's supervision, anyone can cook!' he had thought smugly.

Shortly after Jasper and Alice came to visit and Leah and Jake went outside to play basketball. I had already considered who would show up here first.

Bella greeted them warmly, but wondered a bit.

"I would have thought Carlisle and Esmé would have come first," Bella considered.

"They rolled the dice to see who gets to go first," I explained what I had just taken from Jazz thoughts.

Bella laughed.

"We wouldn't want to ambush you all at the same time," Alice announced.

"Who's dumb enough to want to win against you?" asked Bella, amused, and Alice demanded a tour of the house.

As usual, Alice chattered incessantly. In each room she said how nice it was, so bright, so coherent, so friendly, so practical, so, so, so... Only the closet, in each room, was too small for Alice's taste.

Jasper and I stood alone in Jake's room for a moment as Jazz glanced at the open history book.

'My youth,' he thought reminiscently. "How is he in history?" he inquired.

"Bad," I replied immediately, grinning at Jazz, "Becky sits diagonally in front of him."

"I see ... If he needs help ..." he offered.

Maybe that would be a real help to Jake on this subject. He would certainly pay more attention to a witness to the Civil War than he would to the teacher. At least if Becky wasn't there.

"You appear happier and more outspoken than I've ever seen you," he noted inhumanly quietly as we left the room.

"Because I am."

"Happier than nineteen years ago?"

"Oh yeah."

"Is there any particular reason for that?" he now asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mentally, the question of sex was very clear. He didn't want to be indiscreet, but wondered how that worked practically ... because of the physical differences.

"I can't explain it to you, but it works. I don't have to think about not hurting her," I tried to say.

He nodded in understanding.

"And the temperature difference?"

"Doesn't bother her at all. Rather the opposite."

"And at night, when she's sleeping?"

"Guess what, I bought a pair of pajamas today," I grinned and he grinned with me.

He was amused by the same fact I was – a pajamas for a never-sleeping vampire - not about the fact that I needed one. But he warned me that I should just not tell Alice that I was shopping without her.

Back in the living room, we sat down with Alice and Bella, whom I pulled backwards into my arms.

Bella had a lot to tell about what she had been doing the last few years.

We were laughing boisterously as Leah then told us about a costume party when I heard Jake swear in thoughts and Jazz also momentarily winced a little. I immediately stood up and looked out the window.

"Jake hurt his hand," I noted, eavesdropping more closely on his thoughts.

He suspected that we had noticed it and delayed going into the house a bit to give us a chance to react. He had already forgotten my warning from this morning, but it had just slipped back into his memory.

"Don't worry, Bella. It can't be that bad," I said immediately when I noticed her heart.

It raced.

I quickly considered what to do.

I was seventeen, and with my siblings, with the mother of a classmate! I was aware that my love for Bella brought problems with it. Societal problems. She was a mother of teenagers. Parents' evenings, the parents of her children's friends, the friends group itself, teachers, her friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, neighbors, and so on. Not everyone would accept that Bella had a relationship with someone who was obviously underage. She would be aware of that too, but we hadn't spoken about how to handle it yet. Brandon hadn't seen me yet, but he already knew that Alice and Jasper were there.

"Be all nicely startled when he comes in and then you take him upstairs to the bathroom," I said to Bella in particular. In Leah's direction, I added, "And keep Bran from going upstairs."

She nodded.

Lightning fast, I ran upstairs and searched the medicine cabinet more closely.

The way I had seen the hand through Jake's eyes, a fracture was truly not out of the question. He himself was sure he had heard the break. I would have to add some fast-acting painkillers to the cabinet. Jake and Leah were preternaturally fast-healing creatures, but Jake was mentally cursing in pain ... Carlisle had said that morphine had done nothing for Leah.

Damn. Then the two really just had to endure such pain?

I didn't like the thought at all. I would speak to Carlisle about it. Maybe he could think of something.

"Since when does blood not make you sick and dizzy?" I asked Bella curiously after sending Jake and Leah back downstairs.

She was just starting to tell me it was only like that with her children and seemed to be birth related when Brandon's thoughts startled me.

'You're not a normal person!' he thought out of nowhere, going over some of the things that struck him as odd about Jake.

And he had a spontaneous plan to prove his guess right now. He threw the basketball with all his might in Jake's direction.

"Your kids are being exposed right now," I immediately explained to Bella and went downstairs with her.

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