So, life is rubbish, COVID is a massive pain in my ass, there's so much going on in the world to make me miserable, but I come back to E and his Princess all the time, - they make me laugh, so I thought maybe they needed a sequel? Unless you've read the P and the E, it may not make sense. There will be no schedule, I will write it as I think it, but I want to thank my Facebook people, I'm not on there often, but they check up on me and I appreciate them.
As always, I do not own Twilight, there is swearing, and sorry to disappoint, but there's no sex or violence in this chapter. :)
Chapter 1
I picked up my phone the second it started buzzing on the kitchen counter, Rose was six days overdue with her 2nd child, and we were all anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest Cullen.
Emmett and Rose had struggled to conceive after they had Lily, and I know Rose had worried that she might not be able to another child, she'd always wanted a large family, so when she had announced her pregnancy last Christmas, we were all excited.
Alice and Jasper were perfectly content with Chloe, I couldn't see them having any more children, and after our daughter was born five years ago, Edward and I had felt our family was complete.
We'd, however, never struggled to conceive, and Max was now almost ten months old.
I'd been worried about telling Rose I was pregnant again, but she'd never been anything other than loving and supportive to me, and I was thrilled for her when she fell pregnant so soon after Max's birth.
"Hello," I answer the phone in a rush, I don't recognise the number, so I'm hoping it might be the hospital with some news.
"Hello Mrs Cullen, it's Miss Davies, Father Patrick's secretary,"
"Oh, hi, are the children alright?"
"Yes, Mrs Cullen, so sorry, I didn't mean to concern you. Father Patrick would like to meet with you at three if you and your husband can make it."
"Can I ask what this is about?" I frown, and Miss Davies explains why we're being called in. I agree to be there shortly, sighing as I hang up.
"Edward," I shouted from the kitchen.
"What's up Princess?" Edward asked, coming down the stairs in just his jeans, fresh from a shower. After ten years of marriage, he still took my breath away.
"That was the school on the phone," I told him.
"Is something wrong?' He frowned, "The boys?" His eyes widened, and he gasped, "My baby girl?" He immediately leapt into action, grabbing his keys and starting to head out of the room.
"Edward, they're all fine," I assure him, and he relaxes a little, putting his keys down and turning to me for a better explanation.
"And were you really planning on rushing down to the school without a shirt on? Because I know some of the moms would love that."
He rolls his eyes as if he doesn't believe me, but I've seen the looks and heard the whispers at the school about my handsome husband.
"What did Father Patrick want?"
"He wants to have a meeting at the school. Apparently, our charming little girl hit Riley Hunter. He wants to meet with us, the kids and Riley's parents to see if we can come to some sort of resolution."
"Well, what did the little fucker do to my baby to make her hit him?" Edward asked, and I sighed. Edward loved his daughter; she could do no wrong in his eyes, and whilst I loved her just as much, from the moment Anabel Mia Cullen had come kicking and screaming into the world, she'd been a handful.
"He simply tried to hold her hand at recess."
"Right," he nodded. "And?"
"And...," I raised my eyebrows at him; he knew his daughter. "Anabel asked him 'what the hell he was doing?' and then she hit him!"
Edward snorted with laughter, he looked proud, and I shook my head at him.
"Edward, she's only just five! She has to learn that she can't use that language, and she cannot go around hitting people!" I told him.
"Ok Princess," he held his hands up, " So, we'll go to this meeting, apologise to the little perverts' parents, warn them to keep their handsy little shit of a son away from my baby girl, and it'll be done with." He shrugged.
I tried to hide my smile. I knew it wasn't right for our daughter to act like this, but at five years old, we knew her personality.
And it was all Edward.
She looked just like me, with dark brown hair and big brown eyes, so different from my sons, all of whom were the image of their father. Thankfully the boys had inherited my personality. Anabel, however, was a Cullen through and through.
"Hunter, Hunter.., why do I know that name?". Edward frowns and runs a hand through his hair. I can almost see the wheels turning in his brain.
"Mason and Logan are in class with Megan Hunter, Rileys older sister. You had Jasper look into the Hunters more thoroughly when they had the boys over for one of Megan's birthday parties."
"Oh yeah, I remember, the mom's hot, dad's a Dr, he's about 50 years older than her,"
"She's hot, is she?" I arch an eyebrow; I'm only teasing, Edward loves me, and only me.
I'm also very aware of Victoria Hunter, hot mom of Megan and Riley. She is beautiful; tall, thin with flawless pale skin and fiery red hair. I have to admit I'm a little intimidated by her. She comes across as so accomplished and confident. She's an imposing figure at the school gates.
"Not as hot as my wife," Edward smiles and pulls me towards him, "What times this meeting?" He asks, hands wandering, and my body reacts before my brain kicks in.
"Three, so we don't have time for..., this," I say, removing his hands from me to run upstairs and get changed as he groans and follows me.
Edward puts on a shirt, and I ask him to get Max ready as I pull out a pencil skirt and silk top from my closet. Edward and I are still much younger than most parents at the expensive private school our children attend, so I don't want to turn up to this meeting in my usual jeans and hoodie.
Mason and Logan had attended for five years, Lily was the year below them, and Chloe started the year later. They've all thrived there; the Cullen children have been model pupils, and their parents had made many generous donations over the years, so the school was more than happy for us to enrol our daughter within months of her birth.
They hadn't, however, anticipated Anabel.
She, unlike her brothers and cousins, was not made to toe the line; she marched to her own beat, and more often than not, it wasn't in time with the rest of the band.
In the five year's her brothers had attended the school, we'd never been called in to meet the Principal, and now less than a month after Anabel started, we were being summoned.
"What the fuck are you wearing?" Edward asks as I come down the stairs and pull my hair up into a high ponytail.
"I just want to look like a responsible parent. I don't want the Principal to think we're young and stupid and can't control our daughter," I tell him.
"Who gives a fuck what he thinks?"
"I do!"
"Ok, but just so you know, you look like a sexy librarian, and we will be revisiting that later." He smirks at me.
I roll my eyes at him, the man often only has one thing on his mind, not that I'm complaining, but we have more important things to worry about at this moment.
"We don't have time for your dirty fantasies," I tell him, "Can you get Max in the car?"
We leave the house to make our way to the school. Edward still opens car doors for me; ten years of marriage hadn't changed that, and he waits until I'm settled before taking off.
Max's arrival ten months ago had meant Edward had been forced to buy a larger car, it's neither elegant nor fast, he absolutely hates it.
We walk hand in hand into the school; Max is sleeping peacefully in his car seat. The receptionist directs us to the Principal's office and when we arrive at the door, Edward knocks once and enters.
"Ah, Mr and Mrs Cullen, thank you for coming." Father Patrick stands and shakes both our hands. Riley's parents are already seated, Anabel and Riley are sitting to the left of them.
"Daddy!" Anabel cries and rushes toward Edward as soon as she sees him.
"You ok baby girl?" He asks, setting Max's car seat on the ground. Anabel nods, she's fine. Riley, however, looks like he's been crying, his eyes are red and he's sniffing loudly.
Edward picks Anabel up and she sits on his lap while we wait for the Principal to say something.
"It's only a small matter, but I thought by bringing you all here today we can nip it in the bud and hopefully we won't have any further problems." Father Patrick says. "I've been in my job a long time, and I think that the children want to be friends, they're just having difficulty expressing it."
I nod, agreeing with his assessment, Victoria I see, agrees too.
"Anabel, Riley, I'm sorry that I've had to call your moms and dads in today, but our school has rules and we do not allow students to hurt each other. Do you understand?"
Both children nod and he continues, "Riley, if Anabel doesn't want to hold your hand you need to respect that, can you say sorry to Anabel?"
"Sorry," Riley says immediately.
"Thank you, and Anabel, if you don't want to hold hands, that's ok, but we should never hit anyone, can you say sorry, I'm sure you didn't mean to make Riley cry."
"I did," Anabel says, just like her father Anabel doesn't say anything she doesn't mean.
"Anabel, you don't want Riley to be sad do you?" he tries again and Anabel shrugs, cuddling into Edward.
"Come on sweetheart, you can say sorry to Riley, can't you? Victoria cooed, it wasn't her fault my daughter wasn't so easily swayed.
I pulled her from Edwards's arms and lead her over to Riley, who's picking his nose and swinging his legs on the chair.
"Hi Riley," I say and he looks up. " I'm Anabels' mom, I hope you are ok, I'm sorry that you got upset, Anabel shouldn't have hurt you, it wasn't kind of her."
"S'ok" He sniffs,
"Anabel, you made Riley sad, can you please say sorry?" I ask her.
"But I'm not sorry." Anabel frowns at me and I look to Edward for some help. I don't know why, his parenting often leaves a lot to be desired.
"Hey baby girl," He crouches down beside her and she leans into him. I melt because he's such a good dad, he loves his children so much and they all adore him. "If you say sorry, we can get out of here and I'll take you for ice cream."
"Sorry," Anabel mumbles, and Edward turns and beams at me, I gape at him, he's unbelievable at times.
"Thank you, Anabel," Victoria says, pulling Riley's hand from his nose and smiling at her.
"Do you wanna come to my house and play?" Riley asks Anabel.
"No, I'm going with my daddy to get ice cream," Anabel says happily, jumping into Edwards's arms.
We listen as Father Patrick lectures the children about behaviour and responsibilities, and once he's finished we leave the room and head to the car,
"What the hell was that Edward?" I say as we're walking out of the building.
"What?"
"You just rewarded her bad behaviour!"
"I did not, I offered her a reward for saying sorry, which is what everyone wanted."
"I wanted her to say sorry and mean it, not say it so she could get ice cream with you."
He shrugs, "She said sorry, didn't she? And fuck me, I'm not being funny, but I'd probably hit that kid if he tried to hold my hand. Did you see how far his finger went up his nose? Gross."
I swatted at him but couldn't help laughing, "Riley probably just wants to be her friend. Now she's going to think that she can do what she likes and then go for ice cream."
"We could take the little nosepicker with us? Would that help?" He nods in the direction of Riley and his parents, who are heading to their car.
"Yes, actually that might be good for them."
I make my way over to their car, "Hi, sorry, but we were wondering if Riley would like to come with us? We're going for ice cream, and then home, but maybe Riley could come and play with Anabel?"
"Oh, thank you, Bella, is it?" Victoria asks and I nod, "I'm Victoria, this is my husband Bryan" He waves in my direction as Victoria shakes my hand. "It's very kind of you to offer. Would you like that Riley?" Riley nods, looking excited and takes my hand. "Say thank you to Annabel's mom"
"Thank you."
"No problem," I smile down at him, "Shall I bring him home later?"
"I have to run some errands so it might be easier if I pick him up if that's ok? Around six?
"Sure, no problem," We swap numbers and I give her our address before making my way back to Edward who has put Anabel and Max in the car and is talking heatedly into his phone.
"Everything ok?" I ask as I strap Riley into the back seat.
"All good," he smiles and we head off to a local ice cream parlour.
Once Anabel and Riley have had their fill of ice cream we head home and I set them up in the kitchen, standing them on chairs at the counter. Both of them are keen to bake, so I take out some ready-mixed, just add water, style cookies and give them each a big bowl and a spoon, some cookie cutters and they chat away happily while they mix and I start fixing dinner.
"Princess," Edward appears from his office, Max on his hip cooing happily. He kisses me on the cheek, handing me our youngest son, "How are these two getting along?" He dips a finger into Anabel's mixture.
"Daddy," she whines but she's smiling.
"Love you baby girl" Edward winks at her and licks his finger, "Best cookie mixture ever," he says and Anabel beams at him.
"I need to stop by Eclipse quickly, then I'll get the boys. I won't be long."
"You're going to the club?" I ask the clubs don't open till late, and Edward rarely went into work before dark.
"Just need to pick something up, that way I shouldn't have to go in tonight and you and I can play sexy librarian." He wiggles his eyebrows and I laugh. After dinners, homework, settling the older children down and getting the baby to sleep there was barely ever time for Edward and me to enjoy ourselves before we fell asleep.
While the cookies are baking, I sit Anabel and Riley at the table in the kitchen with some colouring, I put Max into his Jumperoo while I finish off the lasagne I'm making.
"What's up motherfuckers?" Emmett bellows as he enters the kitchen. "Oh shit, sorry I didn't realise you had company." He says as he notices Riley. "Ana Bana Boo!, who's your new friend?"
"He's not my friend," Anabel tells Emmett seriously and I cringe.
"Emmett this is Riley, he goes to school with Anabel, Riley this is Emmett,"
"Hey buddy," Emmett ruffles Riley's hair, Riley is looking absolutely terrified of the giant who's let himself into our home. "Is E here?" he asks me as he picks Max up, and I shake my head.
"He's gone to get the boys from school, he'll be back soon. How's Rose?"
"Fucking massive," he laughed, "Although, don't ever tell her I said that.
"Shouldn't you be at the school, getting Lily?"
"Nah, Jazz is picking her up when he gets Chloe, he's heading over too."
"Is something wrong?" I frown, we all saw a lot of each other, probably more than is normal, but it was rare for Emmett and Jasper to come over without Rose and Alice in the afternoon, if the boys needed to meet they usually arranged that for the evenings at one of their clubs.
"Nothing major," Emmett said cagily and I arched an eyebrow at him. I'm about to challenge him further when I hear chatter in the lobby, and Mason, Logan, Lily and Chloe come through, they're chatting happily, not a care in the world.
Edward and Jasper follow them in, and I kiss my boys hello and hug the girls, "You all have homework?" I ask and they nod and traipse through to the dining room, each of them getting out laptops, they're all really good kids, conscientious and studious unlike my daughter who's currently using a purple felt pen to colour her fingernails.
"What time is Marcus expected?" Jasper asks.
"Marcus is coming? Edward, what's going on?"
"Not here Princess," Edward says eyeing the children warily. "My mom's bringing Rose over, they'll pick up Alice on the way. My dad and Alec are due to land in an hour. Not gonna lie, Anabel's playdate couldn't have come at a worse time, what time are you taking him home?
"His mom's picking him up around six."
"She's coming to the fucking house!"
"No, she's gonna pick him up from the corner at the end of the street." I roll my eyes at him. "Of course she's coming to the house."
"Sorry," he mumbles, taking my hand and leading me into the sitting room.
"What is it, Edward? Why is everybody coming here, is there some kind of threat? Are the kids in danger?"
"I'm not sure, but we're safe here. Listen Princess, there's been some chatter for a while, at the moment it's just rumours, everyone coming here is a precaution, we need to keep the family close."
"I don't understand, what's happened?"
"We heard a few weeks ago that someone was out to get us, but that's not new, we deal with that all the time, but then Liam called me earlier, someone approached him, they had details about us, our addresses, the kid's school and their activities, they thought he might find it 'useful'." He uses finger quotations around the word useful.
"Now you know Liam, he's not interested in starting a war, he's happy with his position and everything has been ticking along nicely."
I nodded, we'd had Liam and his wife Maggie over with their three girls a few times, I liked them.
"As I said, normally this wouldn't worry me, it happens all the time, but someone was following us when we left the school earlier."
"What! You never said anything."
"What could I say? We had Riley in the car, I couldn't do much, I tried to lose them, but they tailed me to the ice cream place, and then back here, obviously, once we were through the gates they couldn't follow, but until we find out who it is I don't know what it means. I've had Embry and his team looking into it and so far there's nothing suspicious to report. But Em and Jazz don't have the same security detail set up as us, so I'd rather everyone was here until we work out who's offering this information, it's best we stay close."
"Who do you think it could be?"
"I have no fucking idea, I can't think of anyone that would threaten us, or why they might want to, none of it makes any sense. There has to be something I'm missing." He pulls me to him, and kisses me, "It'll be ok though Princess, I promise."
I nod, I have no choice but to trust him.