Chapter 51: We are the Remnants
BELLA
We went to the meeting with John and his people armed, but kept our weapons holstered. We didn't want to appear threatening, but we also didn't want to seem weak.
As we travelled across the open water, the wind was gusting giving the ocean's surface the look of shattered glass, each tiny piece reflecting the sunrays.
I had to squint because of the reflections and the way that the spray from the saltwater stung my eyes. My skin felt stretched and hot from it drying on my skin.
The expanse of water stretched in every direction to the horizon, no wisp of land in sight, but eventually we saw a dot on the horizon that turned into a boat as we approached.
My nerves kicked up a notch as we got closer. I could tell the others felt it too from the way their hands strayed towards their weapons.
When Ian noticed our discomfort, he tried to reassure us.
"Our ship can hold a lot of people, but Nadia agreed to only bring a small group—John and two others."
Ben grunted in acknowledgement, but didn't relax at all.
Anyone who trusted things blindly hadn't survived in this new world.
I was apprehensive, but not scared. It was like a jolt of adrenaline coursing through my body that I didn't know how to control.
Edward saw that I was shaking slightly and grabbed my arm in concern, but I just smiled at him.
"I'm good. Just a little anxious," I said.
"Yeah," he said, kissing me on the side of the head and giving my arm a squeeze.
When we pulled alongside the boat, a few faces looked down at us over the rail. One of them was John, but I didn't expect to see Benito as well.
Once we climbed the ladder and stepped onto the deck, there was a moment of awkward silence as we all sized each other up.
Standing with John were three other people. To John's left was a woman whom I assumed was their leader Nadia. She was an imposing woman, tall and sharp featured with blonde hair pulled away from her face in a tight braid. Everything from the way she wore her hair to the way she dressed seemed utilitarian. The kind of thing you'd wear if you were heading into a battle.
Her eyes tracked each one of us with a frown wrinkling her forehead.
The other two were men who looked to be about in their mid-twenties. They stood to the other side of Nadia and just from their demeanor I could tell that they were here as backup in case of a fight.
It was John that stepped forward first and shook each of our hands with an easy smile.
"Thank you for coming," he said with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to make. Our survival up to this moment has depended on not trusting strangers, but you took a chance on Maddie and me. You used precious resources to save our lives and then let us go even though there was a possibility that we could return with a fighting force. We couldn't just ignore that."
John then gestured towards Nadia who had remained standing apart.
"I'd like to introduce you to my wife Nadia. She is the leader of our colony and Maddie's mother."
Nadia stepped forward then, the expression on her face inscrutable. She shook each of our hands firmly, but she never smiled or spoke a word. She seemed to almost be looking down at us with disdain, but it was hard to tell.
Ben introduced the rest of us, but after the brief formalities Nadia spoke.
"I was against this meeting," she said harshly.
We were all taken aback by the forcefulness of her voice.
Why did they bring us here if they were not interested in meeting?
I sensed the ripple of unease spread through my group as they tried to see if this was an ambush.
However, Nadia only paused for a moment.
"But then John pointed out some very important things to me. We all need to start thinking long-term, more than just our own lifetime. We cannot expect to remain insular. It is not feasible for our children and our children's children."
She spoke in a clipped way which gave me the impression that English wasn't her native language.
John took up the conversation then. "We don't know whether the mainland will ever be safe enough to return to, so we need to make alliances with island communities. However, we've met a lot of bad people over the years that have made us reluctant to do that."
"We have too," Ben responded.
"I would prefer to be the one to build relationships with other colonies rather than leave it to our children who I pray will not grow up dealing with the atrocities that we have seen done by humans in the last five years. So… here we are…" Nadia stated firmly.
The rest of us nodded uncertainly. We'd talked about the future as a group and what the next generation would have to cope with. One was that eventually we would outgrow our island in both food and space. However, we were leery of making alliances with other colonies. The more people you add to a network, the more chances of being betrayed. We had just created a stable life on Pendleton and I wasn't sure anyone of us was willing to risk it.
"We want to give you a gift in thanks for saving us and to show you what kind of things our colony could offer you in trade," John said, gesturing for us to follow his group inside.
Immediately we were hit by the scent of livestock, an earthy smell that reminded me of old barns full of straw. There were small cages resting against the opposite wall of the galley and in the middle of the room there was a table filled with a variety of wrapped bundles.
My eyes went to the cages first which I discovered contained a couple of roosters and hens.
"They won't provide much for your community at first, but you can breed them. In the meantime, we want to give you some cheese, yoghurt, and butter. The cheese isn't perfect yet. We're still trying to master the recipe with the ingredients we have, but it lasts quite a while and is nutritious," John said, gesturing towards a table that held quite a spread of goods. "It's not much for saving our lives, but we hope that opening trade between our communities will show our appreciation."
We all stared wide-eyed at it before Ben spoke.
"Nadia, John, thank you so much for this. We didn't save you and Maddie with the idea of getting something in return, but this will help us a lot. We have mothers in our group that really need the calcium and protein."
John nodded. "Seth and Benito told me as much. We do too. Once our farm was up and running it really helped them."
When John saw that I was staring at the large blocks of cheese on the table with barely hidden longing, he gestured towards me.
"Come on," he said. "Try a piece."
That was enough for us.
The cheese was hard and sharp in flavour, but after not having had any dairy for years it was ambrosia.
"Well, I guess you like it," John said with a smirk. "Heather will be thrilled. Her first batch smelled worse than blue cheese and tasted like something equally bad."
After that, things relaxed and there was easy conversation amongst us. Nadia didn't say much, but when John encouraged her she tried to add to the small talk. Maybe she had problems with social settings under any situation.
After about an hour of socializing, we got down to the business of discussing future trade relations.
Seeing the possibility of expanding the Sea Wolves business, Benito tried to take control of the meeting offering his company's services, but Nadia wasn't interested in working with any other group.
We found out from John that for years Benito had been trying to become trading partners with McManus island beyond simply offering his services to them. Of all the islands, McManus was the only one with livestock, so it would be a great addition to his business.
Nadia insisted on her people meeting with us alone, excluding the Sea Wolves from the discussion. Even though I was sure that Benito was just trying to make a deal, Nadia didn't trust him.
I was surprised by how open John was in discussing what their colony had to offer. It seemed like a very big leap of faith to tell us all of the goods that they had. However, Nadia made it a point to slip into conversation that they were well-armed and had fought and won against other groups in the past.
McManus had many things that our island did not. They used the cabins that had already been built for tourists and made them into living accommodations. Some of them even had solar power generators. They also had cows, chickens, goats, and sheep. The animals provided for most of their daily needs, such as food, but also wool from the sheep to make clothing.
However, I was surprised to find that even though McManus had a fully functioning farm, they were still missing some essential things. For one, they were short on medicine and didn't know enough about the local plants to make their own. They also struggled through the winter because they didn't have enough foraged food and what was provided by their animals and the ocean didn't provide enough nutrients. When they'd first relocated to the island, they'd brought enough seeds to have a large garden that could feed their people, but some kind of pest spread through their crops killing most of them. They'd scoured the mainland for seeds after that, but just like us they hadn't been very successful. We would have been in the same situation without Masen.
Cautiously, we discussed the things that we had on our island that we felt could help them. We knew it was a risk, but what they had to trade could improve our lives dramatically.
After several hours of negotiation, we decided that it would be in our best interest to trade with McManus. We would trade herbal medicines and show them what plants on their island could be used as remedies. We would also trade vegetables that we had an abundance of for cheese, butter, milk, yoghurt, and even wheat that grew wild on their island. My mouth began to water at the thought of freshly baked bread. Having wheat would greatly expand our diet, especially since we would have eggs and milk once a month.
The most significant trade that we made, yet the one that took the least negotiation, was related to John.
John wanted to train with Carlisle to be a doctor. He was McManus' only medic, but his knowledge was limited. John asked if he could live on our island for several months to study with Carlisle. In exchange, they agreed to give us a sailboat.
We were all in absolute shock. We would have probably allowed John to train with Carlisle for free, but before it was even brought up Nadia offered us the trade.
With limited fuel, a sailboat was one of the best modes of transportation to have for an island colony. It would allow us to travel to McManus or Whitehead island if we needed to. Our rowboats were just too difficult to use as a main form of transportation.
We didn't head back to Pendleton until later that evening, but we all went home with hopeful hearts about our future.
John stayed with us for almost four months, soaking up as much as Carlisle could teach him.
During that time, Edward, Emmett, and John became good friends. John had a very similar sense of humour to Emmett's which made his marriage to Nadia odd to me at first. Even once we'd become friends, Nadia wasn't easy to communicate with because she didn't share her thoughts easily. She was a little like Tia. However, when John was around, she smiled more and took his gentle teasing easily.
Even after his training, John visited our island frequently and we did his. It was a whole other world on their island. Unlike our rustic homes, theirs looked more like the old world. There had been enough cabins built pre-apocalypse that most families had one each. A lot of the single people lived in the bunk houses that had been built probably for kids that participated in summer camps on the island. The whole island had a summer camp feel. The only major work that they'd had to do was clear land for paddocks and barns for their livestock.
It was fun visiting them. We met a lot of people who were at first reticent to get to know us until they saw how John acted around us. We even became friends with some of them, like Nadia and a woman named Heather. There were many nights when I'd hang out with Rosalie, Nadia, and Heather while John took Edward and Emmett to one of the bunkhouses that they'd turned into a bar. They'd come back drunk on homemade beer which I thought smelled a lot like skunk, but it was funny to see how they staggered into the house with their arms around each other giggling like little school girls.
We were lucky enough to have had John visiting us when Esme went into labour. It wasn't an easy birth, but John was there to help make the difficult decisions for Carlisle when there had been a chance we'd lose Esme. However, in the end, both mother and child were saved and now they had a beautiful baby girl named Chloe.
The first-time Edward held Chloe, he looked up at me with such wonder and love that I knew he'd made his decision about us.
The night we decided to try to have a baby a bunch of us were visiting Carlisle and Esme for supper. Edward appeared from the room where we'd put all the sleeping babies, Clara, Nate, and now Chloe. However, instead of sleeping, Chloe had begun to fuss, so Edward had gone to get her. As she rested on his shoulder, he swayed back and forth, shushing in her ear.
I met his eyes from across the room, and when he smiled at me something passed over his face that caused my heart to beat fast. I couldn't even place what that look meant, but something in me responded to it.
When he rejoined me on the floor next to the fire, I leaned into him.
"I can't believe how much she's grown," I said, with a sigh as we watched Carlisle and Esme with Chloe. In only a month, she'd seemed to have almost doubled in size.
Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me tight to him.
"They're good parents," Edward said about Carlisle and Esme. "So are Jasper and Alice, and Ben and Angela."
"Yeah, they are." I sighed as I nestled closer to him.
Edward leaned down and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering there as he then deliberately took my hand in his and slid them down so they rested low on my abdomen, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth.
My breath caught in my throat when his other hand came down to join it.
"Yeah?" I asked, my voice quivering slightly as I looked up at his tender smile.
Edward nodded. "Yeah."
I startled him by spinning around and throwing my arms around his neck.
With a delighted laugh, he pulled me into a kiss that I felt in every part of my body.
"Hey! There are kids here!" Emmett barked from across the room.
Without breaking the kiss, Edward gave Emmett the finger.
We rushed up the hill to our home, laughing as we stumbled along in the dark too busy kissing to watch where we were going.
When we managed to get inside, I sighed with relief at the respite from the cold outside. We'd let the fire go out, but the cabin still sheltered us from the wind.
Before I'd even had the chance to take off my coat, Edward had me pressed up against the wall, nuzzling into my throat with sucking kisses.
My fingers wormed their way under his layers of shirts and sweaters until I met the warm, bare skin of his back, causing Edward to hiss at the cold before groaning into my mouth. I pushed my hands as high as they would go on his back, spreading my fingers over the smooth skin.
"God, Bella," he muttered against my neck. "We need to stoke the fire and get out of these clothes."
But instead of letting me go, he yanked me tightly against him with his hands on my hips.
I laughed, pulling my head away from his biting kisses.
"Well, stop touching me then," I said with a smile.
With a growl, he pushed himself away from me and quickly knelt next to the fireplace to stir it back to life and add more logs.
I'd barely finished taking off my coat when Edward was back and wrapping his arms around me from behind.
He hummed and leaned in to trace his nose along the edge of my ear.
"Now, where were we?" he said in a rough voice.
I reached up with my right hand and weaved my fingers through his hair tugging lightly, sending a full body shiver through him.
Pulling me backwards, we stumbled towards the ladder to the loft.
Once we were settled on our bed, Edward sat up and yanked his shirt off.
I sighed at the sight of him which caused him to smirk.
But I ignored the smirk and just stared at him for a moment.
I'd always found him handsome even when we were teenagers. However, now the softness of his youth was gone and what was left were chiseled features and defined muscles.
I was a lucky woman.
Instead of taking off the rest of his clothing, he sat back and watched me slip off my own.
Pulling off my last article of clothing, I dropped it beside me and tried to wrap my arms around his neck to pull him down on top of me. However, he held himself a little away as his dark eyes stared at my naked body in fascination, which caused me to laugh.
"It's not something you haven't seen a million times, Edward," I chuckled.
"I know, but I might not be seeing these lovely curves for that much longer," he said with a grin.
I swatted at him and then dragged off the remainder of his clothes, kissing every part of him that I exposed.
When he couldn't handle my playful kisses and caresses any longer, he rolled me onto my back and pinned me under his weight.
Edward moved against me, his lips tracing across my forehead until I looked up, and his lips found mine. The kiss deepened as he traced one hand down my side, reaching under my knee to pull it up, opening me to his warmth as he moved in closer.
When he made the first thrust into me, we both fell still enjoying the jolt of pleasure that always coursed through us from being joined.
However, Edward remained still, only moving his head away so that he was looking down at me solemnly.
"Are you ready?" he asked hoarsely.
"What?" I asked in confusion, too caught up in the sensations zinging through my body to understand him.
"Are you ready, Bella?" he asked me again, but this time with a slight turning up of his mouth.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, a hint of annoyance creeping in at the interruption.
When he just smiled at me, I drummed my heels against his backside.
"Edward…" I whined.
"Let the baby making begin," he declared and then attacked me with ferocity.
I shrieked as he left biting kisses along my neck and shoulder and I slapped the side of his head lightly at his ridiculousness, but couldn't resist laughing with him as we moved together.
Later as we both lay spent and out of breath, I held Edward tightly to me when he tried to pull away.
"Don't move. I want to give your swimmers a fighting chance against my egg," I said.
He made no sound for a moment, besides the gentle sighs of his breathing. However, after a moment, he let out a snort.
"You think they need your help?" he asked.
"Well, they have a pretty important job to do, so I want to take all necessary measures," I said as I stroked the damp hair back from his forehead. A smile curved his mouth as he turned his face into the side of my neck, with a sigh.
His hand passed down my side and wormed its way underneath to cup my bottom.
"You know I'm a determined guy. Once I set myself a task, I never give up. How could my swimmers be anything less?"
"I don't know. I think the pioneer life might be making you soft," I said as I pinched the skin of his bicep, which caused him to yelp.
We fell silent then and just enjoyed feeling each other breathe, the only other sound the crackling of the fire below.
"What do you want to name the baby if it's a boy?" he asked after a while, his voice sluggish and almost drunk-sounding.
"We could name him after you," I said, as I ran my fingers through his hair.
"No… I was little Eddie for years and I hated it… But we could name him after your father," he responded.
"Charlie is too old-fashioned. Our little one is going to be a part of a new world."
"We could always name him Neo," Edward said.
"You're joking…" I said, laughing. "We are not naming our child after the Matrix."
He held tighter to me as my laughter bounced him up and down.
He looked up at me with a smile.
"Okay…. Okay… but it might make a cool middle name. It's not like any of his generation will even know about the Matrix, so it won't seem cheesy to them."
That seemed to sober him up for a minute.
It was hard to imagine what our child's world was going to be like.
I sighed.
It was a huge responsibility picking a person's name.
My parents had argued almost nine months over baby names. They'd decided on Bella fairly quickly, but they couldn't decide on a boy's name. Mom hated Charlie's choice but he'd been adamant.
I remembered his explanation clear as day as I recounted it to Edward.
"Dad wanted to name me Finn. When I asked him why, he said that it was like the fins on a fish and that if I'd been a boy he would have loved him just as much as fishing."
Edward laughed and pulled me close.
"Well, we do belong to an island colony, so naming our child after a fish is appropriate. Finn Neo Masen. That's a strong name for a boy."
"We're not naming him after a fish. It's a real name. And we're not calling him Neo. Get that out of your head…" I said as he rolled us over so that I was draped across his chest.
I didn't get pregnant right away and when I did I didn't recognize what was happening to me. I expected to have morning sickness, but beyond feeling a little queasy some mornings I was fine.
It wasn't until I realized that I couldn't remember my last period that I started to consider the fact that I might be pregnant.
There was no way for me to really know. We didn't have pregnancy tests or any other way to determine if I was pregnant.
I was afraid to jinx it so I didn't say anything to anyone at first, but I did start paying attention to the signals my body was giving me.
I was more tired than usual and had dizzy spells. My breasts became tender. Edward even commented that they seemed bigger.
It was on that night that I decided to tell him.
It was late, but neither of us were sleeping soundly. It was raining hard outside which was thunderous against the roof.
"Edward," I said. My voice was low, hoarse from sleeping, barely loud enough to register above the drumming of the rain outside.
His head turned on the pillow, his features lost in darkness.
"Yeah?" he asked.
I scooted closer to him so that I could see his face more clearly.
Taking his hand, I slid it to my stomach where I knew a little piece of him and me was forming into our child.
"I think I'm pregnant."
Even in the darkness, I could tell how shocked he was.
He stiffened next to me, a frown marring his features. He swallowed and looked back down at where I'd placed his hand on my stomach.
"You're upset," I said, shocked and then crushed. I'd thought he'd wanted a baby. What changed?
One second I'd been so excited and now I felt devastated.
"It's not that," he whispered and pulled his hand away.
I slid away from him, wanting to put some distance between me and the source of my pain.
"Bella…" he said, reaching out and pulling me back.
"You said you wanted a baby," I said, feeling the lump in my throat grow at seeing his guarded eyes.
He brushed the hair back from my face before he began running his thumb back and forth along my cheekbone in a soothing gesture.
I waited for him to speak because I didn't think I could. If I opened my mouth, I would burst into tears and that wouldn't help.
"I do. It just doesn't change the fears I have."
I squirmed out of his arms and sat up, laying a protective hand on my stomach before speaking.
"Do you want us to get rid of it?" I asked anxiously, afraid of his response.
He sat up quickly as if I'd shocked him.
"Shit! No! Of course not, Bella!" he gasped, his eyes going wide.
I looked away from him.
Despite his words, he didn't want this baby.
"I'm just scared…" he said. "I can't lose you."
It was then that my mind made the connection to what happened only a month ago. One of the women on McManus island had died in childbirth. We'd arrived earlier that day to visit and were there when the woman's husband Michael came to John and Nadia's cabin covered in blood. His eight-month pregnant wife had died giving birth. It had happened fast so he hadn't had time to get John.
After hearing his story, Nadia immediately called some of the men to go to Michael's cabin because we all knew what would happen if the dead were left unattended. But before she was able to dispatch them, Michael said that he'd "taken care of it" and then he'd collapsed.
Nadia sent the men regardless and they returned with pale faces and heartbroken eyes.
Michael had not only taken care of his dead wife, but also his stillborn child.
Edward had been withdrawn for days after that.
And when he'd finally come out of it, he started pulling out again when we had sex.
Obviously, pulling out hadn't worked and now he was unhappy about it.
When he reached out and placed his hand over where I cradled my stomach, I looked at him nervously.
"I'm afraid of losing you, afraid of the future. It's not because I don't want this baby. I want this baby so much," he said, resting his forehead against the side of my head.
I sighed at his words.
"I'll be fine. We have a better diet now because of what we're getting from McManus and we have Carlisle. We're going to be fine," I said, reaching up to cup his cheek.
"I'm sure Michael thought the same thing…" he murmured.
"I know it was traumatizing seeing what happened to Michael. I felt it too, but I've seen so many other couples have healthy children. We can't let Michael's tragedy affect our choices."
He stared down at where his hand rested on my stomach, his brow furrowed.
"There are just so many dangers in our world," he said. "How am I supposed to protect our child? And you?"
"You'll be a great dad, Edward."
He looked surprised that I'd picked up on his other fear.
"How did you know?"
I stroked his jaw tenderly.
"I know you."
Edward closed his eyes.
"We're not alone, babe," I said. "We're all family. We'll help each other. It takes a village to raise a child. Don't you think the others will care for our child just as much as we care for theirs?"
We took care of Clara all the time and when the weather was warm we all took turns watching the children.
"Logically, I know that it's true, but its going to take a little while for my heart to catch up. But I'll get there, babe," he said, pulling me back down in bed and wrapping himself around me.
It took Edward a while to talk about the baby without anxiety in his eyes. It took seeing my stomach swelling with our child for the fear to be replaced with excitement.
I was getting undressed for bed one night talking to Edward about something that had happened during the day when I realized that he wasn't listening to me.
I was down to my underwear when I realized that he hadn't responded.
I looked up to find a dazed look on his face as he stared at me.
I stepped closer to him in concern.
"Hey. Are you—"
However, before I could finish my question, Edward had placed his hand over the small swell of my stomach. I just noticed it this morning too. It seemed like the baby had grown overnight. Yesterday, my stomach was still flat and this morning I could cup it with my hand.
I caressed his cheek, so relieved to see that Edward was becoming excited about the pregnancy instead of dreading it.
However, it wasn't long after that when we had our one and only scare.
Edward had already been up for hours and had gone with Jasper to the far field to work in the garden.
I was outdoors doing our laundry when I felt the need to use the washroom. However, when I was in the outhouse, I noticed a small amount of blood in my underwear.
Even though there wasn't a lot of it, my heart thudded painfully in my chest and I was finding it hard to breathe.
Cautiously, I pulled up my pants and made my way to Carlisle and Esme's house.
Carlisle was outside when I arrived, bouncing Chloe on his knee. However, the minute he saw me approaching, he called for Esme to take Chloe and rushed to me.
I drew the attention of some of the others who were outside as well.
When Rose saw me, she rushed to my side and told Emmett to get Edward.
Carlisle was in the middle of examining me when Edward burst in.
He stopped in the doorway, his eyes wild and his breath coming out in pants. He must have run all the way from the back field.
"It's okay," I said.
His hand came up to cover his mouth as if to hide some sort of gasp, cry, or whimper.
However, instead of coming to me, he just stood there for a moment, looking like he was afraid to move.
"I'm okay," I said.
My words snapped him out of his stillness and he rushed to my side and dropped to his knees next to the bed.
Cupping my face, he kissed me on the forehead and then on the lips.
"I love you," he said fiercely. "I love you so much."
"She's okay, Edward," Carlisle said soothingly. "She had a little spotting which is normal for some women at her stage of pregnancy."
"We're fine," I whispered to him.
I ran my fingers soothingly through his hair as he breathed heavily.
Edward never said a word even when Carlisle handed each of us the earbuds for the stethoscope so we could hear our baby's heart beating strong and steady.
Edward tried to hide his emotions, but I could hear it in his breathing that was slightly too fast.
Carlisle suggested that Edward take me home so that I could rest for the day. I didn't really think I needed to rest but I was pretty sure that his suggestion was just as much for Edward as it was for me.
Edward practically carried me home and then fussed around me as he insisted on me laying down.
After he got me settled in bed, he took off his jacket and pulled off his shoes before climbing onto the bed with me.
Turning me onto my side, he curled himself around me as if he could protect the baby and me by sheltering us with his body.
Quietly, we shared our fears and soothed each other until the tight band of anxiety that had been gripping us dissipated.
I expected Edward to be stressed and anxious about my pregnancy again. However, it was the opposite. Everything about my pregnancy amazed him. He was constantly touching my stomach and every night he would have long one-sided conversations with it.
It was probably for that reason that he was the first to notice the baby kick.
I was jerked awake one morning when Edward bolted up in bed.
"What?" I gasped, sitting up in alarm, but quickly I saw that he was staring down at my stomach in amazement.
Taking my hand, he moved it to rest on my stomach. Then, he began speaking to it like he always did.
"When you get here, I'm going to teach you so many things. I'll take you on adventures and tell you even better stories than I do now...I can't wait to see you. Are you my little Elizabeth or Finn?"
It was then that I felt a little tap under my hand. I gasped when I felt it. I'd been feeling movements for a while now, but nothing so definitive. Mostly, it had felt like the baby was doing somersaults. This time it felt like the baby was responding to Edward's words.
Tears came to my eyes at the sheer joy I felt and I could tell that Edward felt the same.
"Look what Maddie made for us," Edward said, dragging what looked like a large blue sack into the cabin.
"Ummm… Awesome…." I said. "What is it?"
"Well, It's obviously a cushion for our couch. She used the wool from her sheep to stuff it," he said with a wide grin.
"I think she's got a bit of a crush…" I said with a smirk.
Edward just shrugged. "Well I'm a charming guy…"
"And so modest," I said, waddling over to him and giving him a kiss.
All I could do now was waddle now. Waddle and sweat. God, I hated sweating.
"It's just as much for you as it is for me," he explained with a smile. "Won't it be nice to sit on a cushioned couch rather than hard wood?"
Dragging the cushion into the living area, Edward molded it to the wooden couch he'd made. It was a little too big for the couch, but when he encouraged me to sit down I sighed in contentment. Even though it was lumpy, it was heavenly on my aching body.
"Remind me to make her some blackberry jam for next time we visit. I think those are her favorite and I saw a bunch of them growing wild behind the cabin."
It was close to sunset one evening when John arrived unannounced.
It was a warm summer night so a lot of us were enjoying the lake either by swimming or sitting on the shore enjoying the slight breeze.
I was wading in the water, enjoying the coolness on my overheated skin.
I was around eight and a half months pregnant and being in the water seemed to be the only thing that took away my backpain. I was either in the lake or I was making Edward drag bucket after bucket of water up to our cabin to pour me a hot bath in the large barrel we used for bathing.
"Be careful, Max!" Edward snapped when the little boy threw himself into the water next to me and began splashing around like a madman.
"Aw, Edward…" Max whined, but Edward gave him the "stern father" look that he was mastering and Max fell silent.
"You need to be careful around Bella," Edward admonished.
Max looked crestfallen.
"Sorry, Bella," he said in a small voice.
"It's okay, bud. The splashes felt good, actually. But the baby wouldn't like it if you knocked me down," I said with a gentle smile. "Go on. Go swim with the others."
With a grin, Max dove into the water and headed towards Austin and Chris.
"Don't be so hard on him, Edward. He's just a little boy," I said.
Edward scowled in response.
"I wasn't too hard. He just needs to pay more attention to his surroundings."
As my clumsiness increased with my advanced pregnancy, Edward had become extremely overprotective to the point of hovering constantly.
At first, I was grateful for his hand at my elbow when I walked over uneven ground or needed help lifting things. However, when he started preventing me from doing things like going to see Rose by myself, taking care of Clara, or even washing our clothes, he began to get on my nerves.
Alice told me that I just had to deal with it.
"Men feel helpless at this stage, so they growl and snap because their inner animal is telling them to protect their progeny at all cost."
I grunted in annoyance.
"Well, he better not be like this after the baby's born," I grumbled.
Both Alice and Esme snorted.
"Good luck with that," Alice snickered.
I gritted my teeth and tried to release my frustration.
Edward led me towards a flat rock further in the water where I liked to sit.
"Go for a swim," I said to him. "I'm okay."
"I'll be right back," he said, kissing my cheek and then patting my stomach.
When Edward dove gracefully into the water, the baby kicked me.
"He'll be right back," I said with a smile.
It was amazing how responsive the baby was to Edward. Edward said that it had nothing to do with him and the baby was just more active now, but I knew that the baby was more active when Edward was around.
Closing my eyes, I sighed as I listened to the laughter and splashes coming from the swimmers.
However, it wasn't much after that when we heard a loud commotion coming from the trees.
Edward hurried to my side and gently but urgently tugged me out of the water.
"Get behind me," he hissed, his body coiled for a fight.
But it was John that came out of the trees and he was alone which was strange.
As he walked towards us, I could tell something was wrong from his disheveled appearance and the way his shoulders were hunched.
Edward passed me a towel and then ushered me past the rocky shore to the grassy hill. By that time, John had reached us.
"I'm sorry I've just shown up," he said, hoarsely. "I have to talk to Carlisle."
"What's wrong, John?" Edward asked, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie rush off in the direction of the houses.
John's shoulders hunched even more as if collapsing under some invisible weight.
"Lucas died," he said in an exhausted voice.
Lucas was Heather's son and he was only four years old.
"Oh, my god, John," I gasped with tears prickling my eyes. "What happened?"
"Heather and David were in the stables taking care of the goats and Lucas was in the pen next to them playing with the lambs. But somehow he wandered off without them noticing."
For over five hours, John and his people searched for the boy. However, it wasn't until close to daybreak that they'd discovered he'd fallen in a crevice near the edge of the island and died.
"He was so young," John sobbed, covering his face with his hands.
"What happened next, John?" Emmett asked. "There's something you haven't told us."
"Did you get to him in time?" Edward asked.
For a moment, I didn't understand what he was asking.
But then it clicked. It was something we all feared. The dead didn't stay dead.
"It didn't happen," John said and the confusion was clear in his bloodshot eyes. "He never turned into one of them."
There was stunned silence from everyone who had gathered. Everyone knew that when you died, you became a zombie.
"That's why I'm here to see Carlisle."
By this point the whole community had heard about John's appearance, so it wasn't long before Carlisle appeared.
He was as baffled as the rest of us. Five or six hours had been more than enough time for the child to have turned.
"What does it mean?" I asked Carlisle.
"I don't know. I have no way of testing Lucas to see if he's different from the rest of us. If it is a virus, he could have somehow had an immunity to it. There's just no way of knowing."
"Maybe children are immune," Katie said.
However, John shook his head.
"Before we moved to McManus, we had a ten-year-old girl that died during a fight. She turned within an hour. I also heard stories from others who had children that turned."
Carlisle and a few others travelled to McManus to examine Lucas and talk to Heather and David about their boy's medical history. However, they didn't discover anything.
A theory that many of us clung to was brought up by Jasper one night as a lot of us sat around the table in the cookhouse.
For weeks, theories were bounced around the colony. However, it was the first time that Jasper had added his thoughts on the topic.
"Is it possible that children who were conceived after the world ended are immune?"
My heart stuttered in my chest and Edward's arm which was wrapped around my shoulder squeezed tightly.
It was a while before Carlisle spoke.
"It depends on what the origin of the virus is. When the virus first started spreading in the hospitals, some doctors questioned whether it could be biological warfare. Others wondered whether there was some contaminant that got into the water or food supply that started the disease and it just spread from there."
We didn't really know whether other parts of the world were infected as well. The news broadcasts that we'd all seen before the electrical grid had gone down mainly showed American and Canadian outbreaks. The rest of the world could have simply quarantined us. There was no way to find out without a communication infrastructure or travelling a long distance. The Sea Wolves had never travelled that far either.
Looking down at Chloe who was nestled in his arms, Carlisle murmured, "I pray to God that's true."
Edward's hand settled over my stomach rubbing gentle circles on it. I knew that he was praying that it was true too.
Eventually, discussions died down as preparations for winter began. We had to accept that it was something that we may never know. However, for a lot of us new parents it gave us hope.
I went into labor in late August just before supper.
I had already gone past my estimated due date and I was desperate. I could never have imagined how uncomfortable in my own skin I could have been before becoming pregnant.
Everything was ready or as ready as it could be. All the baby clothes and cloth diapers were folded and stacked on our kitchen table. Edward and Emmett had built a cradle which made me cry every time I looked at it. All there was now was to wait.
I couldn't really do anything anymore because it took too much effort. I needed Edward for everything and then I got annoyed with him for hovering. I knew I was being horrible to him from the guarded look in his eyes and the way he tiptoed around me, but I couldn't help it.
So, I spent every day begging the baby to get the show on the road.
I was sitting at the kitchen table when my water broke. I was busy cutting up potatoes when I needed to pee for the umpteenth time that day. However, the minute I stood up I felt a gush of water pour out of me. My first thought was, Oh great… Now, I was peeing on myself too…
Then I realized that my water had just broken.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, "EDWARD!"
I heard a loud thump as Edward dropped whatever he was doing and burst into the house.
"What's wrong?!"
I looked at him triumphantly.
"My water just broke!"
Edward jumped up touching the ceiling with a whoop of happiness.
Edward and I paced the floor of our cabin while Esme worked away in the kitchen getting a meal ready. The last thing I wanted was food, but I knew that Edward must have been hungry. He hadn't left my side all night and into the next day.
Every time a contraction hit me, I tried to remain silent. At first, I managed to do it but soon the pain was intense enough that I couldn't stay quiet anymore.
It seemed like every time I whimpered in pain Edward echoed it.
I kept telling myself that every mother in history had gone through this. This was natural. I wasn't dying. This was natural.
It helped a bit, but not much.
Finally, it was time and Esme and Carlisle got our bed set up while Edward helped me onto it.
Once I was propped up on the bed, things seemed to really start moving. The agony of the contractions seemed to lessen now that I was able to push but I was deeply regretting not having the wonders of modern medicine.
I was quickly getting angry with everyone because they kept saying, "Push… push…"
"Isn't that what I'm doing?" I growled.
Edward laughed nervously, so I glared at him.
After a while, I started getting tired. I was pushing with all of my might but it didn't feel like I was making much progress.
However, Edward took that moment to whisper to me so that only I could hear.
"I know you're tired, sweetheart. But I know you can do this. You are the strongest person I know. I'm right here with you. Just push, babe."
Carlisle looked up at Edward and said, "Do you want to be the first person to touch your child in the outside world?"
Edward's eyes were huge as he looked at Carlisle and then down at me.
"Go," I encouraged, through gritted teeth.
He stepped around beside Carlisle and he looked up at me in horror.
"Oh my god, Bella!" he gasped in sympathy.
"Shut up!" I growled.
Then, I saw the look on his face as Carlisle took his hand and put it between my legs.
His eyes widened and then he gasped, "Bella, I can feel the baby's head!"
I smiled but then agony tore through me.
Edward hurried back up to me and wrapped his around my shoulders. helping to brace me.
Suddenly, he choked, "Bella, the baby's head is out!"
Ok, just a little more pain… Just a little more pain… I thought.
I pushed one more time and the pain pulled a scream out of me and then a flood of relief.
"What is it? What is it?" I gasped.
Carlisle held up the baby, but I couldn't quite see.
Edward looked down at me tears streaming down his face and choked out. "It's a boy!"
Then, I saw Finn's face. He was bright red, covered in gunk and crying, but he was mine.
Carlisle laid Finn on my stomach and I couldn't stop sobbing as I placed my hand on his back.
Edward rested his head against mine and then kissed my forehead.
"Thank you, Bella…" he whispered to me in a choked voice and then gently kissed my lips.
That just made me cry more.
"Do you want to cut the cord, Edward?" Carlisle asked.
Shakily, Edward walked down to the foot of the bed and took the knife from Carlisle and cut Finn's cord.
He was now separate from my body and I felt a small twinge of loss but it soon was replaced by incredible happiness. My family was now complete.
Once Finn was cleaned up, he was given to Edward to hold while Esme and Carlisle took care of me.
I closed my eyes as exhaustion took over. I could hear Edward humming a lullaby to Finn but it wasn't Edward's clear smooth voice. It was a little higher than usual. I cracked my eyes and looked over at Edward and I saw that his eyes were shining with tears in them.
When Edward saw me watching him, he came over to me and climbed onto the bed so that Finn was nestled between us.
I'd always heard that one of the amazing things about having a baby was that he or she was a piece of you that would carry on through the generations. But as I looked at our son, my only thought was that this baby with a halo of auburn hair was a part of Edward. As I looked between them both, I knew that there was nothing more special in this new world than this little piece of him. And when he looked up at me with shining eyes, I knew that he felt it too.
THE END