Chapter 23: Never Apart Again

Bella's POV

The moment I saw Edward it was as if no time had passed at all. The amount of love I had for him hadn't lessened in the slightest. In fact it had only grown. Never in my life did I imagine that I would be in my husband's ice cold arms again. I didn't want to let him go and I could tell that he didn't want to let me go either.

"So this is where you have been hiding this whole time," Edward spoke after several moments of silence.

"I'm sorry Edward. I've never wanted to hurt you. I love you. I just-"I couldn't finish my sentence as I suddenly broke down in tears.

"It's okay Bella," Edward held me tightly.

"I was afraid that when you found out about the pregnancy you would think I cheated on you. I didn't want to hurt you by yelling you what happened so I thought leaving was best so I-"

"You thought leaving was best?" Edward sounded confused and maybe even slightly angry. "Bella do you have any idea how much pain you caused me by leaving? Do you have any idea how much the whole family has been suffering since you left? You are my wife, a daughter to Carlisle and Esme, a sister to Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper. You are family to us. We have always and will always love you. You're absence nearly killed all of us,"

"I'm sorry," his words were like a punch to the gut. "I never meant to cause so much pain,"

"I don't understand what made you think that leaving was the best thing. You should have told me what happened. You should have told me what Jacob did to you!"

"I was terrified you'd think that I cheated on you the night before the wedding. I felt guilty and I couldn't stand it. Then when I realized I was pregnant during the honeymoon I thought there was no way I would be able to stay so-"

"Bella please. Your logic makes absolutely no sense at all. Jacob raped you. Forced you to do something against your will. I would have never blamed you for anything. Yes finding out you were raped by that monster would have hurt me. But you leaving, disappearing without a trace, that hurt me a lot more. I think I can speak for the whole familu when I say that you disappearing on us caused us a lot more pain then simply telling the truth would have,"

I cried. "What about the babies? You and the rest of the family would have hated them,"

Edward took a deep breath. I didn't need Jasper's gift to know that he was getting angry. "If you really believe that we would have hated the babies then you don't know us very well at all. If you wanted to keep them I would have raised and loved them as if they were my own. I already love all three of them simply because they are part of you. The way they were conceived would not have mattered. The family and I would have loved them regardless of how they were created. I can't believe you really believe that,"

Words failed me because he was right. Carlisle and Esme would've loved having grandchildren around. The others would have loved their niece and nephews to pieces. I was stupid to believe otherwise. I couldn't think of anything to say. There was nothing that I could say to erase all the pain and suffering that I caused.

"Bella please say something,"

"I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry," I sobbed. "But I know that 'sorry' won't be able to fix this. I just hope that you all don't hate me,"

"Bella we don't hate you. We just hate what you did. Everybody is ready to welcome you back into the family. Believe me. However be prepared to get the same spiel from everyone,"

"Edward there is something I have to tell you,"

"What is it?"

"I was raped again,"

"I know," he said. "I already disposed of him,"

I shuddered at the very thought of how he 'disposed of him'. "I'm pregnant again from that rape," I whispered that last part.

"It's okay Bella," Edward said in a soothing voice. "It will be okay,"

I couldn't believe my rotten luck. First Jacob raped me and now it happened again. When I was in a coma nonetheless. At least Edward didn't seem angry anymore.

"Edward there was a problem earlier. Nessie attacked and bit a police officer in front of a crowd of people,"

Edward stiffened. "She did what?!" I flinched at the tone of his voice. "She's venomous so that's not good,"

"I know," I whispered. "My boys also phased in front of the crowd,"

"The crowd was recording everything on their phones Edward do you know what this means?!"

"Not good. If this gets to the Volturi then-we have to do something now!"

I was sure that this was the first time that I had ever seen Edward panic. He was usually much calmer and levelheaded. The truth was though I was also panicking at the the very thought of my daughter being in danger. If anything happened to her or any of my kids I didn't know what I would do.

Speaking of Renesmee where was she? It had just occurred to me that my daughter was gone.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Nessie. Where is she? She's gone,"

How did neither one of us notice her leaving?!

"Don't worry I will find her. We have to keep an eye on her. Her vampire side is coming in nice and strong and she doesn't know how to control her urges yet. Besides I think we will both feel better if she stays close by right now,"