Before I forget! Because I keep forgetting LOL. Edward's friend Riley is NOT the Riley Bella is dating. You can chalk that confusion up to me forgetting that I'd already used the name. Apologies for that!
Thank you all for your continued patience and support! I'm struggling a lot lately with writer's block, but I'm pushing through and I still have a few chapters in the bank. The Caught In A Riptide epilogues (part 1 and part 2) will be coming in the next week, and then I'll have time to focus on this and my other new wip. I'll be posting teasers for that in my reader group-CiaraShayee's Dreamers on Facebook-soon.
Anyway...
Someone Else's Baby
April 14th 2021
As footsteps thump their way toward the kitchen, Edward slides his hand away from Bella's and then freezes, wondering if he's about to meet her son.
His biological son.
His heart starts to pound and his breath catches in his lungs, rushing out in a gust when the tall man Bella brought to the coffee shop rounds the corner.
Her boyfriend...Jacob? he thinks, managing a polite smile as Bella slips off her stool into Jacob's arms.
For a moment, he's jealous, the long-subdued flicker of am I doing the right thing going into this parenting gig alone? igniting within him. If he had someone, a partner, he wouldn't be so alone in this. Just for a little bit, Edward had felt the stirrings of camaraderie and comfort when he saw his emotions reflected back at him in Bella's face. Now, as he watches Jacob crouch a little to peer into her eyes, Edward slides from his stool and straightens his shoulders, closing off the part of himself that had started to cling onto the tentative hope that he and Bella might be able to lean on each other, being in the same boat, and all.
Except they aren't, and as Jacob and Bella turn to face Edward again, his arm draped around her shoulders, Edward manages a weak but polite smile. "Jacob, right? Edward Cullen."
Jacob shakes his hand, worry etched into his forehead. "It's Jake, but, yeah, I remember you." His dark gaze bounces between Edward and Bella. "You left a voicemail...is it...do you…"
"Know?" Bella whispers, finishing his unfinished sentence. She doesn't seem to be able to look at Edward as she exhales heavily, her breath stuttering as she slowly nods. "Yeah, we know. The results are on the island."
With bated breath, Edward watches Jacob reach for the paperwork on the counter.
As Jacob's hand trembles and he raises the page so he can read words that will be imprinted in Edward's brain forever, his eyes follow Bella over to the sink where she pours a glass of water and downs half of it in one go. Edward's gaze wanders, trailing over a trio of small, hand-painted flower pots containing daisies on the sill. One is much neater than the other, the lines of paint straight and tidy. The other has a small, messy handprint wrapping around it, a smudge of blue paint tearing across the pale yellow underneath.
Edward's Adam's apple bobs. Hanging in his great room back in Washington is a clay hand- and footprint set. It's framed and hangs below Edward's first picture with Lucas.
Nausea crawls up his throat as he realizes that the photo is of one baby, but a different newborn had his feet and hands pressed into clay a few days later.
"Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck," Jacob groans, hands hitting the counter with a thud, the test results floating to the tiled floor almost in slow motion.
Sucking in a deep breath, Edward bends to pick it up, vision blurring as he reads the words that make this whole nightmare a reality.
Probability of paternity: 0%
"This can be redone, right? There must have been a mistake or something."
If it wasn't for the grim acceptance of the loss of his life as he knows it spreading through his body, Edward might have smiled.
In the last month, ever since that fateful day in the doctor's office, he's spent many, many hours clutching at straws. Whole days wondering how.
How he never knew Lucas's blood type.
How he never suspected.
How it happened in the first place, or went unnoticed.
And, perhaps even more troubling…
How they deal with it now that they know they've been raising each other's sons for the last twelve years.
In an effort to be helpful, Rosalie has been forwarding Edward articles about other times this has happened. Trying to prepare himself for what he thought was the impossible, he'd read the stories and tried to picture himself in these people's shoes.
Not in a million years did he imagine that he'd find himself standing in Bella's kitchen wearing the very same shoes as all the other unfortunate parents who've walked this path before him.
"Jake…" Bella murmurs tiredly, stress etched into her features as she reaches out to squeeze his hand with a familiarity that makes Edward ache for a partner of his own. "The test is conclusive. It's not...there's not a chance…"
"Fucking hell." Jacob's gaze swings around the room until it lands on Edward. His dark eyes narrow, tears clinging to his lashes, and Edward wonders how long they've been together, whether Bella's son calls him 'Dad.' "How did this happen?" He turns back to Bella. "Did you hear from your lawyer?"
"No," Bella admits, twisting a hairband around her wrist. "She told me to sit tight and she'd call as soon as she had any news."
"My guy said the same," Edward says, managing a weak shrug when Jacob and Bella look at him. He's tired. Exhausted, actually. "The CEO of the hospital is running an investigation, but my lawyer already advised me not to expect an airtight response. The odds aren't really in our favor."
"What the fuck, why?" Jacob's anger radiates out of him like a fog. Edward only feels sympathy; he's already battled through this phase, although he anticipates a revisit.
Disbelief.
Confusion.
Anger.
Sadness.
A little more anger.
Fear.
Edward's been on that rollercoaster. As he watches Jacob hand over his ticket and climb on for the next ride, his chest pangs with sympathy.
"This doesn't happen in real life! B, you've gotta get the test done again." Jacob turns to Bella, spinning her to face him with hands on her shoulders. "Get the test again," he repeats, desperation saturating his voice.
Bella's eyes flick over to Edward before lifting to Jacob's face along with one of her hands. He bows his head, leaning into it.
"Jake...I need your support now," she finally whispers. "I can't do this by myself. This...we need to find out what happened all those years ago and…"
With a lurch, Edward's stomach knots.
He always trails off at the 'and,' too. He doesn't know what comes next either.
And it seems they're not the only ones.
"'And…' what?" Jacob asks, straightening up. "What next, B? What happens if you find out that those results are real?"
"We…I, Jake…"
Wrapping his arms around Bella as she starts to crumble, Jacob tucks her into his chest and expels a deep, loud sigh. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Edward starts to say that he'll give them a moment when the other man drops his head to speak against Bella's hair.
"God, what are you going to tell Milo?"
Edward freezes, vaguely registering the startled hitch of Bella's breath.
Milo.
~ oOo ~
"Dad! Over here!"
The relief that washes over Edward like a tidal wave is instantaneous the moment he spots Lucas, waving like crazy sandwiched between Esme and Carlisle.
"Hey, pal."
For a split second, as he steps off the escalator, drops his bag, and wraps Lucas in a bear hug, he can't stop himself from cataloguing every detail.
His deep, dark chocolate brown eyes.
His rich chestnut hair.
The smattering of freckles over his nose and cheeks.
The way his nose scrunches, just a little, when he pulls back and smiles tentatively.
He looks just like her.
The sucker punch lands and Edward squeezes his boy tighter while he composes himself.
"Uh, hi? Did you miss me, or something?"
"Or something," Edward murmurs around the lump in his throat, forcing a grin when he catches his dad eyeing him shrewdly. With an arm still draped around Lucas's shoulders, he prays the relief at being back with his son overshadows the grief of knowing he's not his biological son.
The proof is currently burning a hole in his jacket pocket, and he doesn't want to fall apart here. Not in front of Lucas.
"All right, shall we get goin'?"
"Let's," Esme agrees, slipping her arm through Edward's as Carlisle and Lucas lead the way out of the airport. They don't get very far before she tilts her head up, eyes burning a hole in the side of his face.
To be fair, he'd only been cautiously optimistic that they'd make it to the car before she attempted to drag the truth about his trip out of him.
"Can we talk when we get home?" Edward asks softly, dragging his eyes away from the back of Lucas's head just long enough to see his mom's curiosity morph into concern. "Luke is going over to Em's anyway, right?"
"Right," Esme murmurs. "We're dropping him over there on our way home. Vera's down with a raging cold, so we're not going out tonight but Henry asked if he still wanted to come for a game night with him and Emmett."
He'll love that, Edward thinks, watching his dad reach out to ruffle Lucas's hair.
"Edward…" Esme tugs him to a standstill, reaching up to touch his cheek. Her eyes, green eyes she passed onto him and possibly to...to Milo...shine with worry. "Are you all right?"
Blowing out a big breath, he says the only thing he's able to. The honest thing. "No, Mom, but nobody is sick. It's nothing like that. I just...I need to be home, and I can't...Lucas needs to not be there when I explain everything. Okay?"
Esme simply stares up at him, obviously torn between wanting to force the truth from him and wanting to respect his need for a more comfortable setting.
"Are you two coming?" Lucas calls, laughter in his voice as he cocks his head and then shakes it, sharing a grin with his Grandpa. "C'mon, Grandpa. Let's go get a Starbucks while they chit-chat back there."
Forcing a shaky smile, Edward loops his arm around his mom's shoulders to tug her after Lucas and Carlisle.
~ oOo ~
Watching Lucas jog across the street to his aunt and uncle's house tears at something in Edward's chest.
Lucas pauses before letting himself in, turning to shoot his dad a dimpled grin and a cheerful wave. Edward forces a small, unconvincing smile and raises his hand, but Lucas is already opening the door and his voice carries across the street as he calls out to Henry.
Blowing out a big breath, Edward rubs his tight chest and takes a moment on the porch to prepare himself. His parents are waiting inside, antsy and undoubtedly coming up with all kinds of scenarios to explain Edward's sudden trip out of the state and his undeniably odd behavior since.
How do I tell them? he wonders as he closes the front door, his footsteps loud on the hardwood. Every step toward the kitchen, where he can hear his parents' low whispers and Sienna's nails tapping the floor, feels like a mile.
Carlisle's head pops up when Edward appears in the doorway, and Esme is quick to spin around to face him. Their faces are etched with fear. As he leans against the counter and tries to muster the words my son was switched at birth, Edward wishes he could put their minds at ease.
It's only when his throat closes up and his stomach lurches that Edward realizes he doesn't have to say the words at all. Not yet.
Reaching for his jacket draped over the back of a bar stool, he ignores his trembling fingers and pulls the folded piece of paper from the inside pocket, hesitating for a second before holding it out toward his parents. They eye him with obvious trepidation, then finally, Esme takes the paper and slowly unfolds it. Carlisle cranes his neck to read over her shoulder, but Edward can't watch, so he doesn't see the moment that understanding dawns.
The moment that Carlisle and Esme read the same words Edward wishes he could forget.
Probability of paternity: 0%
"Ed-Edward," Esme begins shakily, Edward white-knuckling the edge of the counter. "What...what does this…Ben?"
"No," he breathes, shaking his head as a tear splashes the countertop holding him upright. "No, he's not Ben's." He understands why her thoughts have gone there—it was one of his first thoughts, too. He'd wondered if Angela and Ben had made a mistake, if she'd fallen pregnant with her husband's child instead of Edward's, but the fertility clinic had been so precise with the timings.
"Son." Carlisle's hand lands on Edward's shoulder; he hadn't even heard his father moving, his mind spinning. "You're hyperventilating. Come and sit down before you fall down."
Am I?
Now that he's pointed it out, Edward realizes his dad is right. Sucking in panicked breath after panicked breath, he lets Carlisle guide him to the table, falling heavily into a chair and dropping his head into his hands as Esme coaches him through what he recognizes as a panic attack.
"That's it, baby," she soothes a little while later, smiling at Carlisle when he sets a glass of water on the table in front of Edward. "Have a few sips."
Edward does as he's told, feeling both drained and desperate for the normal life he'd been leading just six weeks ago.
"The hospital. There was a mix-up at the hospital," he admits quietly, staring at a droplet clinging to the rim of his glass. Esme gasps and Carlisle murmurs something too soft for Edward's ears. "The night Lucas was born, there was another boy, too. Just two boys that whole day."
It's crazy, really. Seven babies born on June 19th, 2008. Only two of them, boys. Edward's, and Bella's.
Milo.
Gulping, Edward forces himself to meet his Mom's tear-filled gaze. "They switched the boys, Mom. They gave my boy to someone else, but Lucas...Luke is my boy, too."
"Oh, sweetheart."
Esme wraps her arms around Edward as he gives up fighting tears and lets them fall, clinging onto her like a life raft in the middle of an ocean.
"He's my son, Mom," Edward croaks. "I've spent twelve years raising him, but he was never mine to raise."
As always, sending loooots of love and thanks to my wonderful team of ladies who help keep me in check and my writing tidy-annaharding, maplestyle, and hotteaforme!
While I'm on the subject, hotteaforme and lozzoflondon have a new collaboration currently posting and it is a RIOT! If you haven't checked it out already, their penname is hotforlozz and the story is called Spies in Disguise. It really is a hoot and it's freaking wonderful. I'm one of the lucky ones getting to pre-read and it just gets better and better. I'd share the summary, but it's classified ;)
Also, lozzoflondon has another WIP, Entitled Brats & Hallway Spats, and I'm equally in love. Go check it out if you like a snarky Bella, rich-boy Edward, and looots of hilarious banter!
Summary: New money meets old money. A hallway shared and no love spared. When Bella moves into an Upper East Side apartment building, her arrogant neighbour 'introduces' himself by way of words on paper. They say communication is key, but what good has ever come from verbal sparring—the old school way? Twilight, M, English, Romance & Humor