EPOV
I watch Bella as she waits for her side dish to finish baking. She's wearing a navy wrap dress, her feet were bare, if it weren't for her father watching football in the house with my uncle and Gramps I'd drag her over to my bed.
I sigh, buttoning the last button on my white button-down. Bella turns on the barstool at the island to look at me.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"Nothing is wrong, looking at you in that dress is very right," I tell her, as I adjust myself in my jeans.
"Oh," she says in surprise. "Do you want help with that?"
"And have your dad murder me?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Good point," she says, sliding off her seat.
I watch as she moves around to check on her scalloped potatoes in the oven. A huff blows past her lips before she stands at her full height.
"How do they look?"
"Like scallop potatoes," she says with a sigh.
I walk up to her wrapping my arms around her before I start to sway us back and forth.
"I know you were hell-bent on making an elaborate New York Times Cooking dish, but this is just as perfect too. Not only my mom, but Aunt Esme will think you hung the moon for making this," I say against her temple.
Her arms squeeze tighter around me.
After about a minute of swaying, I pull back, moving my hands up to cup her face.
She only has mascara and lip gloss on, I love that I can see the freckles that rest on the bridge of her nose. When we met, she was heavy on the makeup which either way I didn't care. She was beautiful with or without it.
"What?" she asks, staring up at me with a smile.
"I love you, Bella," I murmured, brushing my thumb against her cheek.
As soon as I say it, she looks a little awestruck which makes me laugh. Things with her were just so easy, nothing was ever a big fuss and there was no pressure or expectations of being with her.
She had been dealt a shitty hand last summer, but she rose above it all with grace and humility that was sure to follow her throughout her life.
This is the relationship that I value and want to grow with. It had only been a few months but I could see a future with us.
She closes her eyes and when she opens them she exhales. "Good, because I think I've loved you for a while now," she says quietly with a small goofy grin.
"That right?" I asked leaning forward to let my mouth hover.
"Mmmhmm," she says, reaching up to attach her mouth to mine.
My hand finds its way under her dress giving her ass a squeeze, her giggle erupts against my mouth. I pull back grinning.
The oven goes off and she quickly pulls away from me to pull the potatoes out. I watch her assess them for a few minutes before she covers them with foil.
When I walk over to her she places her hand on my chest. "As much as I'd like to do whatever that kiss was leading up to, I want to head over to the house," she tells me.
I nod, understanding that she wanted to keep winning my family over even though they already adored her.
Even with Kate, their relationship was stiff at best and I knew my mother bit her tongue a lot because she thought I was happy. Over the past few days I've had conversations with her that left me surprised with what she went along with because she didn't want to disrupt the life I was building.
We came to an agreement that if she thinks something in my life is way off the mark then I'd appreciate her bringing it to my attention.
She gushed over how lovely Bella was inside and out, so I knew I was making the right decision moving forward with Bella.
I grabbed my shoes by the door while Bella slipped into her nude flats. She had taken a liking to my one coat so it pretty much became hers, most of my clothes did when she was at my place or leaving it.
We walked across the yard, her arm looped through mine as I carried her side dish over with potholders. Bella reached forward, opening the door for me. Mom and Aunt Esme were sitting at the island drinking wine, their giggles cut off once they saw us.
I sat the potatoes in front of them, earning wide-eyed shocked looks from them. "I didn't make this," I tell them.
Bella comes around to stand by my side with a shy smile. "I made this for dinner," she explains quietly.
The two of them bombard her with their oohing and ahhing of her creation, I want to roll my eyes at their antics but the beaming smile on Bella's face stops me. She deserves this kind of motherly affection.
Aunt Esme moves the dish to the oven to keep warm with the rest of the food she has in there for dinner.
"If it's all ready, then why aren't we eating?" I ask, grabbing a beer from the fridge.
"The Whitlocks can't make it until two," Aunt Esme informs me.
I get a glass out pouring Bella some of the punch my mom made earlier, she used to make this for Tanya and me when we were kids, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tanya now drank wine with the rest of us but I knew Bella didn't drink now, so the Kiddo Punch it is.
I handed her the glass and she took a small sip.
"This is good," she says.
"It's my specialty," Mom bragged.
I did roll my eyes.
I venture into the living room to see how the game is going. Bella's dad and Uncle Carlisle were vocal in their dislike for the game's outcome.
Gramps gives me a look over their heads causing me to snort. He had never been into sports; he always was more of a supporter of academics than athletics, but he did come to almost all my baseball games and track meets growing up.
I take a seat in the corner of the room watching how close Charlie and my uncle are. I knew they grew up together and have been friends since infancy. I couldn't think of a time when Carlisle would act like this with my own father.
I just remember when my parents divorced, I was sent here to spend a few weeks. Carlisle filled my days with endless activities; even with the way his work schedule was he made time for me. I remembered a day on Charlie's boat, Bella wasn't there and I for the life of me couldn't think of where she could have been. Since I've met her, I wonder if things could have been different if we had met then.
Would we have been friends? Would we have stayed in contact and would our lives have turned out different? These were all things we would never know.
Thinking about the past and my father, I know that I'll need to see him when I go to Chicago next month for Christmas. I spoke with Gramps last night and I made the decision that Kate needs out of my brownstone. It was a gift from my family. I was being nice to her by letting her have it but it was included in my grandfather's real estate portfolio.
She used my name to excel and I wanted no further ties to her. If she was serious about my father they could figure out their future away from mine.
"Breaking News," the newscaster on the television announces.
Me Too in a small town. The headline across the screen read.
"Seattle P.D. has arrested and charged the son of the Port Angeles District Attorney, Alistair King. King, who has been charged with multiple counts of rape and assault against three Forks High School students. It was reported that more girls have come forward, but only three of the girls had substantial evidence to make the charges stick."
"Goddamn it," Charlie growls, digging his phone out of his pocket.
He quickly calls who I assume is Detective Diaz barking questions into his phone. My grandfather is watching him closely glancing at me every other yell from Charlie.
I had told my mother the bare minimum about what Bella has dealt with, but now I think my grandfather was definitely going to insert himself into the situation.
Charlie hangs up his phone running a frustrated hand over his face.
"What can we do to help?" Carlisle asks.
Charlie shakes his head.
"Diaz said they think King's lawyers leaked the case to the media since Rosalie hasn't given her statement yet," he mumbles.
"They're trying to intimidate the accuser," Gramps says.
Charlie's head whips toward Gramps. "What?" he asks.
"It's a tactic used by some defense in these kinds of cases. If you have an accuser that hasn't given a statement it is used as a way to silence them. The accuser can see the feedback from the court of public opinion and retract their accusations," he explains.
Charlie looks like he's going to be sick.
"Bella is an accuser, Gramps," I blurt.
Gramps frowns and this is how we spend the rest of Thanksgiving holed up in my uncle's office strategizing possible scenarios of how this all can go. All while Bella sits quietly beside me.
A/N: Thank you CoppertopJ for your edits!