Blurry Lines: Chapter Fifteen

Edward

Ding…Dong….

Came the persistent sound of the Devils bell. Bella and Anthony were asleep so I quickly climbed out of bed and threw on my black robe that was thrown haphazardly over the brown chair in the corner of Bella and mines room.

With a yawn and a few very vivid words, I made my way toward the living room. Walking blindly was becoming-after stepping on one of Anthony's little blue hotrods- a hassle. So as I continued my journey I flicked on a few lights, illuminating my path through the walk way and into the living room.

As I entered the living room I glanced over at the clock on the wall; 2:15. Bella and I just barley closed our eyes. With exhaustion cloaking my body, I wrenched the door open and almost stumbled back what with who I found in front of me.

Age and time are two very different things. Age is an era, a period. Time is an occasion, an instance, a moment. Some say the two signifies the exact identical thing, but I beg to differ. Because at this instance, this moment, this time age was rearing it's ugly head and mocking the individual in front of me.

I couldn't help but let a small grin slither onto my face as I took in every wrinkle, every blemish and every flaw related with aging upon her all too familiar face. For someone who was obsessed with staying young forever, she sure did miss the memento that floated around about what make-up could do for your most prominent facial flaws.

"Renee, what can I do for you?" I asked flatly, my face sobering up and taking on a hard edge.

"Where is my daughter? Bring her out here now!" She demanded hysterically, her words slurring.

"Are you drunk?" I asked as her breath hit my face violently smelling of Jack and a few other unnamables.

"And it matters why? Where is that bitch!" She asked taking a step towards me.

"I'm only going to tell you this once. You will not call her out of her name, ever again. Do you understand me you hag? You don't get to come here and demand anything of us. You are not welcomed here. I will call and pay for you a cab and you will get in it and go as far from here as you came. I never want to see or hear of you ever again. And if you ever so much as breathe her name again I will personally make sure that your life is as fucked up as you made hers all those years ago. Do you understand me?"

"Edward?" came Isabella's soft whisper from behind me. I stiffened and squared my shoulders, blocking Renee who'd stood up on tiptoes to peer over me. "Edward, what's going on? Who's at the door?" she asked tiredly. I could hear her footsteps as she approached me.

"No one babe, go back to sleep." Ignoring me, she continued to come forwards.

"Edward, it's almost three in the morning. We have a big shift tonight. Come back to bed."

"Yeah Edward, go back to bed." Renee sneered. There was a gasp behind me, and as if in slow motion Bella's hand reached out to touch my arm and she brought herself directly in the line of fire. "Aw, there you are."

"What are you doing here Renee?" Bella demanded. Her voice and body language much harder than I thought either one would be.

"Can't a mother come and see her whore of a daughter." Bella winced, taking a step back and running into my body. I pulled her frame to mine and nearly closed the door right in Renee's face, but Bella-who must have guessed my plan-stopped me.

"What do you want?" Bella asked firmly.

"You owe me, remember? You're indebted to me. I came for payment."

"I don't owe you anything you twisted bitch. Get off of our property before I cut you with the sharpest scalpel I have. And don't you ever come back."

With that Bella slammed the door in her face and began heading towards our room. Through the door Renee had began to yell. "I'll tell him!" She threatened, making Bella stop in her tracks. "Give me what I want or I'll tell him and those nice little Cullen's your so fond of!" She yelled as she banged on the door. "Did you hear me you bitch? I'll tell them all, starting with lover boy there!"

Bella's body was now visibly shaking; her earlier display of bravery completely gone as she turned around, her eyes meeting my questioning ones. Whatever Renee had on her had her plainly traumatized. And the fear and pain in her eyes made me go to her quickly, but she shook me off.

"Let her in." She whispered. I shook my head, refusal. "Please Edward, just let her in."

"Tell me what she's talking about, now." I requested, my fist clenching tightly.

"I can't. Please, just let her in." She begged.

"Can't, I hate that word coming out of your mouth. You can do anything and you know it." She shook her head, a tear, sneaking down her cheek. "Bella, Bella, she can do it, she can do what no one can." I sung. It was something I'd made up when we were little. Every time she said she couldn't I'd sing that for her and she'd find the strength to do it. Because I was there for her, and as she would say, I had faith in my heart.

"Edward-"

"Just tell me Isabella, now."

"You'll look at me differently. I don't want that."

With a sigh I took a few steps toward her; once close enough I reached out and pulled her to me, flesh against flesh. "I could never look at you as anything other then the mother to our son and the woman I love. Whatever you tell me will not and can not change that. So start spilling Isabella."

With a sniffle and a shuddering breath, she began. "The first time that they took me, when we were fourteen, they brought me back to a house in Tennessee. I'd never been, so I tried to imagine something good about it, maybe the sites, the animals, something. But once we were there things did not turn out as I'd though they would. That was the first time he'd looked at me differently, Phil."

I stiffened, my arms tightening around her protectively. "He didn't…"

"Not that time." She whispered back. "He just looked. I would walk into a room and his eyes would follow me. It frightened me so mach that I told Renee. She laughed at me and told me to stop being a little whore. I never told her again. Years went by and I started to develop. Curves here and there, boobs, an actual rear-end. I was becoming a woman, and he took notice, but he waited.

"On the night before the morning of my eigthteenth birthday I guess he got tired of waiting, of looking. Renee was drunk somewhere trying to regain her youth so it was just him and I in the house. I was in my room and he was somewhere on the other side of the house, or so I thought. I woke up to this pressure on my chest. It was around 11:40 at night. Of course it was him. He'd taken the honor in raising down my shirt and bra while I was sleeping. His mouth was attached to my chest, sucking at my nipples.

"I told him to stop, to get off, but he wouldn't. His hands began to roam, his fingers going into my baby blue night shorts. I bit my lip as I struggled against him, but he was so strong. He touched me down there, his fingers crawling lower and lower, but he never put his fingers in me. Somehow I found the strength and the room to kick him in the balls. He rolled off of me and I ran for the door. He'd locked it, of course, but I got out and ran straight to Alice's house. I told her everything and she wanted to call the cops, but I told her to wait until tomorrow because I was just so tired. By the time the cops got there the next day he was gone, Renee with him. I never knew what he told her, but I knew that he would lie about it.

"Thanks to Alice I was able to get over it. She made me see that my body was mine and that it was my right to tell him no. You're the only person that I've ever allowed to touch me intimately Edward. And I'm happy about that."

"I'm proud of you babe. So very proud." I reassured her. "And Alice is right; this is yours to do with as you please. No one should ever touch you against your will. And the fucker that ever does again will answer to me. What does she want from you?"

"Probably money or something, I have no idea. I haven't seen her in years."

"We are not giving her money. And she's not walking in this house. I made a promise that nothing evil will ever walk through those doors. And I'm keeping it. How she found us, I don't know, but she won't be back after tonight. Okay?" I asked as I lifted her face, her eyes meeting mine.

"Alright." she whispered back, her lips lifting just a bit in a small smile.

"Why don't you go climb in bed with Anthony for a while? I'm going to get dressed and get her to a hotel or something."

"Okay, I love you."

"As I love you." I kissed her softly and watched her as she made her way to our sons' room.

-~~'\\%/'~~-

I drove two hours straight to get Renee away from my family. That was the furthest I could drive without being late to work. By the time I made it home to shower Bella and Anthony were gone. Bell left me a note on her pillow telling me that she was at work and Anthony was at school. She would have waited for me but Anthony would have been late to school and she didn't want to be home alone. I understood, and later I would have to reaffirm that she still felt safe in her own home.

I made it to work with fifteen minutes to kill. I went to the cafeteria and stood in line for a black coffee. I was craving it after the morning I had. Renee was a bitch the entire time I drove her to a motel 8 I knew was a few miles from the 'Thank you for visiting' sign that was located on the way out of the state. That's how far I got in two hours, almost out of town. I dumped her there and turned back to get home to my family.

I'd just made it to the on call room when Jessica Stanley, a nurse who I was very much starting to despise, walked up to me. She wore her always-hopeful smile and flipped her hair behind her back before asking me her regular question. "So, I was wondering if you would join me for dinner tonight?"

I sighed, which was apart of my regular response, and shook my head. "Jessica, I really appreciate the offer, really, I do-but I'm not interested."

"Are you like gay or something?" She asked bluntly.

I choked on my coffee, my eyes watering. I heard a small teasing laugh behind me, and turned to see Isabella standing there with her hands over her mouth. I glared-then biting my lip-pleaded with my eyes for her to help me out.

With a roll of her eyes and a heavy sigh, she walked up to me-pulling my face to hers and kissing me square on the lips. There was a furious sigh from our side, but Bella only smiled and deepened our kiss. I dropped my coffee cup, pulling her to me and gave just as much as she was giving.

She pulled away with dark eyes and swollen lips. "Gay," she said, turning to Jessica. "he is not. The proof is our son. Interested in you…again, he is not. But he really, really does appreciate it. It's like an ego boost or something when random trollops walk up and ask him out. Isn't that right babe?"

"Um…yeah, random trollops." I said still in a daze from our kiss. A screech picked me out of my trance-like-state and I watched as Jessica stormed away. "What just happened?"

"You know…the usual. The entire hospital is going to know that we're sleeping together now. Unfortunately she's going to ignore the fact that your Anthony's father." She said the last bit loudly in the direction Jessica ran off in. "Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen." Sighing and turning back to me, she brought her hand up to my face, tucking the loose hair there behind my left ear. "How did it go…with Renee?" she asked nervously.

"She was in and out of it the entire time I drove. She constantly insulted me and honestly, I wanted to throw her out of my moving car. She's still the same as she was all those years ago. How are you doing?" I asked cautiously. I hope this wasn't going to be a step back for us.

"I'm fine. I just wish she were it and Phil doesn't come looking for me too." I pulled her to me, hugging her closely. "Anyway, Anthony didn't hear anything which is just great. I don't want him around those people. He missed you this morning, though. He was all pouty because he didn't get to see his daddy this morning before he went to school. You know his birthday is coming up?"

"How can I forget? He's seven going on sixteen on October 1st and he won't let me forget it." I smiled remembering the conversation we had last week. Anthony was adamant on the fact that I owed him at least seven late birthday presents. I laughed, but he was very serious for a seven-year-old.

"What do you think we should do?" Isabella asked. I hunched my shoulders. I'd never given a kid a party, let alone my own.

"I think this is more your territory. What do you think he'd like?"

"Oh no. I planed the first seven, you get this one." She said backing out of my arms.

"How about you help me out a little? Since it's October that means we can do a little with Halloween stuff. How about a costume party? Have you done one of those for him yet?" she shook her head 'no.' "Well, we can do that and invite the kids from the daycare and his class at school. What do you think?"

"Perfect." She praised. "See, I knew you could do this parenting thing. Um…but on September 30th we have to have a family dinner. He always have one, as in it's a tradition I started for him. This year he'll have more family there. He'll love that."

"Yeah," I agreed. "he will. We should probably go before we get accused of being inappropriate in the on call room." She laughed, nodding her head before kissing my jaw. I smiled and watched her walk away, my favorite activity. But then I remembered about the dinner I wanted make for her tonight to have our conversation.

"Bell!" I yelled after her. "After work I'm not going to be home right away." She stopped turning around to ask why. I jogged over to her, not wanting anyone else in our personal business. "I'm going to head to the store. I'll take Ant with me so don't worry about going to the daycare after you're off."

"I get off like thirty minutes after you so I'll just see you guys at home."

"Why don't you just meet us at the store then? I can take your car and drive it home. Ant and I can take the bus to the store and by the time you get off and get to the store in the Volvo we'll just be getting there. We can drive home at the end of the day together."

"I think I'll like that. See you later and give Ant a kiss for me."

-~~'\\%/'~~-

"Dad, can I get out of the basket when we get to aisle three?" Anthony asked as he and I strolled through the automatic doors of 'Main Market.'

"What's on isle three?"

"Cereal." I turned seeing my beautiful girl walk in the door behind us. "He always wants to get out on the cereal aisle. Hey boys." She greeted, kissing Ant on the cheek and me on the lips. "What do you guys say we get this over with so we can get home?"

Shopping with Anthony and Isabella was a blast. She would put something healthy and nutritious into the basket and Anthony would put something far too unhealthy in the basket to cancel out her healthy choice. And as soon as he wasn't paying attention Bell took all of his items out and replaced them with more healthy items. I laid back and smiled as they went, picking up something every now and then.

"Dad, it's coming up, can you take me out now?"

I smiled, picking him up and placing him on his feet. He took off onto the next isle, Bella hot on his heels. "Just two Ant." I heard her tell him as I entered the isle.

"But this one has the new transformers."

"Ant, two." She stated firmly. Looking over the different oatmeal brands.

"But…." Anthony whispered glumly looking up at all of the different cereal boxes. "We have to get Apple Jacks. We always do. And we have to get Captain Crunch because he's the captain. And we have to get Fruit Loops because they have Transformers."

"Two Anthony. " She insisted.

"But mom…."

"Edward, please talk to your son." She exclaimed as she picked up Quicker oats and walked to aisle four.

"Dad," Anthony called, ready to bargain.

"How about this kiddo. We get the Captain and we get the Jacks. As for the toy…how about you and I go to the toy store tomorrow while moms at work? We can see if they have the toy there. You don't need to get an extra thing of cereal. So grab the Captain and the Jacks and lets go find mom."

Mom was on aisle six. Anthony went to her, tugging on her arm and when she turned to him, he gave her leg a warm hug. She thanked him, ruffling his hair and giving him and I a wink.

"So," she started before glancing at Anthony at the end of the isle. "how did you get him to pick only two?"

"I bribed him with promises of a new toy." She rolled her eyes with a small smile.

"Thanks for that."

"You're welcome." I wrapped my arms around her as we walked down the isle, our basket abandoned for the moment.

"Dad," Anthony whispered, coming up to me and Isabella.

"Yeah," I whispered back, letting go of Bella. He motioned for me to step closer to him and I did. I bent down on one knee, pulling him closer to me.

"There's a guy over there," He motioned with his little green seven-year-old eyes. "and he's taking pictures of me." My eyes snap up instantly. But Anthony pulled my hair and I winced focusing back on him. "I want to go home." I nodded, smiling big so he wouldn't feel so afraid.

"Okay, lets get mom and check out so we can go home." He agreed and we walked over to Bella, got our basket and made it to a check out line. Every now and again, I'd glance around and sure enough the same guy, face slightly covered by glasses and a hat was still taking pictures of Anthony, but not just him. Bella and me as well, all of us.

Why would someone want to take pictures of our family?