A/N:

It's been a while, I know. I'm struggling a bit with this story again because I feel that the end is nigh!

I don't know in how many chapters but probably not many, and the ending is always the most difficult part for me to write. I know how I want it to end, I just need to get there xD

But I got this for you for now, and I hope you enjoy to read how Edward and Bella's relationship is slowly shifting into becoming that comfortable sort of relationship that you have when you really trust your partner!

Title: Forbidden Attraction

Author: MarieCarro

Genre: Drama/Romance

Rating: NC-17

Summary: To Edward Masen, Bella Swan was nothing more than his daughter's best friend, but that all changed when they both applied for the same weekly writing course. Suddenly, she didn't appear to be the young girl that had played with his daughter since her family moved in next door. What will Edward do when he realizes that he's developing a very forbidden attraction for a woman twenty-five years his junior? AH

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Word Count: 3, 110

CHAPTER 16

Bella looked so much more relaxed when I picked her up at the train station, and seeing her eyes light up when she saw me waiting caused me to smile.

"I told you not to pick me up," she admonished me lightly, but her greeting kiss told me she was still happy to see I'd ignored her request.

"You did, and I decided against it," I replied without making any excuses. She knew that my wanting to meet up with her wasn't about me thinking she couldn't take care of herself, it was my own impatience toward seeing her again. "Did you have a good time in Detroit?"

"It was great," she told me enthusiastically. "It was a completely different feeling to hang out with Ashley once she knew everything. And she was so understanding. It was liberating to not have to argue about every single thing." She looked at me and her smile was radiant. "Thank you for suggesting I go see her, Edward. I needed that more than I thought."

I stroke her hair gently before placing a gentle kiss there. "Everyone needs someone to talk to, and a partner isn't always enough. Friends are equally as important, and I would never dream of pulling you away from yours."

She leaned her head against my shoulder as we walked to my car. "Ashley was actually a bit jealous," she said with the hint of a smug smile."

"Really?" I asked, perplexed. "Of what, exactly?"

"She said she wishes Brian could showcase some maturity. He's twenty-two, but acts more like a seventeen-year-old; a bit clingy and gets insanely jealous when she wants to hang out with friends without him. She said it must be nice to be with someone who knows what's important in life."

"And you'd argue that I know that?" I asked with amusement. Age didn't necessarily equal maturity and maturity didn't equal in wisdom and knowledge about the big questions in life, such as what could be determined as important.

I had several friends older than me who were still searching for that answer. Hell, I was still searching myself, in a way.

When I was Bella's age, Mary and I were newlyweds, and I thought I'd found the answer. I was positive it was all about finding a good match, get the job, get the house, have the family, but in the middle of that all-American dream, I'd lost myself. Not until very recently, I'd realized how much I'd strayed, but I had plans to rectify all of that.

"You wouldn't?" Bella asked with equal amusement.

I gave her a one-shoulder shrug. "I'm still figuring some stuff out, so I wouldn't say I know it all."

She laughed softly in response. "Maybe not, but that right there, your insight about yourself is what makes the difference. Brian is convinced he knows it all, already."

A chuckle escaped me. "Believe me, baby, that boy's conviction is completely normal. He's just the typical college guy."

"How lucky for me that he is not my boyfriend, then," she told me and hugged my waist.

As I drove us back to my place, I told her about Charlie's surprise visit.

"He came to your apartment?" she asked in horror.

"Yes. He was very hostile at first, but he actually calmed down very quickly," I answered truthfully. "And once he got to ask the questions he had for me, he became more reasonable."

"I don't understand why you even invited him inside. If someone had come to my door, screaming at me, I would have shut it in their face."

"I can sympathize with him," I explained. "As a father, I know what he's most worried about, and how much it's been tearing at him when he hasn't been able to put those worries into words for you."

Bella looked at me skeptically. "Alright, then tell me, what is his biggest worry?"

I gave her a gentle smile. "It's the same worry every parent have for their child. He's worried that you'll get hurt; that I'm just playing around with you. He wants you to have it all, Bella, but he's scared you won't be able to while you're with me."

"And what exactly would I get with someone else that I can't have with you?" she questioned. "He knows children are out of the question for me, so that can't be it."

"I don't think it's anything specific per se." I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. "It's hard to explain it; that constant nagging feeling in your stomach when something concerning your child worries you." She opened her mouth as if to protest, but I already knew what she was going to say and interceded. "It's not an age thing. It's a parent thing. No matter what age you are, you simply can't understand it unless you experience it by yourself."

She closed her mouth again, and then let out a sigh. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Talk to them," I encouraged. "I advised Charlie that, this time, he should listen. Hopefully, by communicating more openly, they still might not understand our relationship, but they could perhaps accept it."

"I feel like we've failed as parents," Mary sighed over her coffee mug, and I nodded in agreement from across the kitchen table I'd built myself almost a decade ago. It felt strange to sit in what used to be my home, but in which I was now nothing more than a guest.

"I feel the same, but I refuse to believe there's no way for us to fix it," I said as encouragingly as possible. "It's true we've been too lenient with Alice and that she's become entitled. We can't change what we've done, though."

"She hasn't been home in a week," Mary complained. "I know she's at Jasper's because she still calls me, and she's legally an adult, so I can't exactly go there and drag her back home."

I let out a soft, frustrated groan and rubbed my neck. "She's still not talking to me. She doesn't even answer my calls. Has she talked any more about UPenn? Where will she live?"

"Since she won't be a full-time student, the dorms are out. Had she tolerated you, I'm sure she would have asked to live with you because it's closer to campus, but the last thing I heard her say was that she wanted to get her own apartment."

"With what money?" I asked in confusion. "Has she been secretly working?"

Mary sighed again. "No, I'm positive she's convinced we'll pay for it."

I exhaled sharply and leaned back in my seat. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

"What is?" Mary asked and looked at me questioningly.

"All we wanted was to give her a good childhood. We wanted to give her the things she wanted because we could and we saw no reason to deprive her. Now, look what that's done."

She let out a scoffing laugh. "Yeah. I guess we have no one to blame but ourselves."

"Does she still come to you for money?" I asked and leaned forward on my elbows. My own coffee mug was forgotten and the brew had gone cold long ago.

"Frequently, but I don't always give it to her. Only when she really needs it."

I looked out the window toward the Swans' house where I knew Bella was inside. She'd made sure to spend more time at home after she came back from Detroit, hoping it would warm her parents up to our relationship. It had worked to an extent. When I arrived outside Mary's house, Charlie had been mowing his front lawn, and while the nod he gave me had still been hesitant, it was still a somewhat positive greeting.

"Maybe we need to cut her off," I mused, not just to myself.

"What?"

I turned back to Mary. "Alice knows that she can come to us when there's something she needs. She's never had to work for the things she has. So maybe we need to cut her off."

Mary bit her lip uncertainly. "I don't know. That seems so cold. What if she can't get a job, or won't have the time for one while she studies? What if she can't afford food? Should we just let her starve?"

"Of course not, but there are plenty of college students who work alongside studies. Why wouldn't Alice manage that?" I asked her incredulously.

"Because she's never managed that sort of responsibility on her own before," Mary insisted exasperated.

"Then I say there's no time like the present for her to learn." I reached across the table to grab her hand. "She needs to grow up, Mary. She can't stay our baby forever. We've already done her a disservice by acting like we have."

"I know you're right," she agreed and grabbed my hand tighter, but her expression was devastated. "But I'm scared she'll do something drastic and dangerous if we do this."

I thought about her words, and I worried about the same thing. Alice was terrifyingly naïve and if we stopped being her bank, who knew what she'd come up in that dramatic brain of hers in ways to get money? I suspected there was one person who could help us, though.

"Maybe it's time we talk with Jasper."

I sat on my couch and rubbed my temples in an attempt to soothe the headache building behind my eyes, and when Bella offered me a glass of water and a Tylenol, I smiled up at her appreciatively.

"It got that bad?" she asked softly as if to keep from making my headache worse.

I swallowed the pill and drained the entire glass. "Yeah. The worst part is Mary and I brought it on ourselves."

"But you had Jasper on your side, didn't you? How did she react to that?"

"Not well. He didn't say much, but he didn't have to. She threw him out before trying to lock herself in her room. He was still outside the house when I left."

"At least he's dedicated to her. That must feel at least a little bit reassuring, right?" she asked and coaxed me to lie down with my head in her lap, and then she started to run her fingers through my hair. It felt so good, and I realized I could quickly fall asleep there.

"It's definitely reassuring," I agreed. "I'm convinced he won't hurt her, and even though their age difference bothered me at first, I'm hoping it will help her to mature now that Mary and I have given her these new rules."

Bella scoffed. "Their age difference bothered you?"

I smiled. "Ironic, isn't it? I want Charlie to accept us while I ground my teeth at the thought of Alice being with a twenty-eight-year-old."

"Yeah, to say the least," Bella agreed with me. She momentarily stopped her fingers and I opened my eyes to see if something was wrong. She appeared uncertain over something.

"What is it?"

"I don't want to sound arrogant or that I believe I am better in any way," she told me, still with that uncertain glimmer in her eyes. "But I can also understand your reluctance toward their relationship. With the way Alice has been acting, she could very well have been sixteen rather than twenty-one. It makes their age difference seem more significant somehow."

I sighed. "That's been my line of thought, exactly, but I've also felt that I don't have the right to express that opinion. It would surely only backfire on me if I did."

"Probably. I just wanted to let you know that I won't hold your thoughts against you because our relationship can't be compared to theirs. And also that I won't ever be anything but supportive of you in how you want to handle Alice. I'm not interested in being a co-parent."

I reached up to cup her cheek and gently traced her bottom lip with my thumb. "Thank you for that. Hopefully, that will make everything easier for Alice to get used to."

She smiled at me as if she didn't really believe that. "Yeah, hopefully," she said, though, and it had never been more clear to me how much she was prepared to face if that meant we could be together. She wouldn't hesitate to face Alice's hate for an entire lifetime, and while I wished that wasn't the case and that my daughter would eventually display some maturity, the young woman, with whom I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, amazed me to no end.

Bella resumed her combing through my hair, and that combined with the Tylenol, I felt my headache melt away.

"You're too good to me, you know," I told her after a moment of silence. My eyes were still closed from the pleasure radiating from my scalp. "I am nothing but a selfish hypocrite." I cracked one eye open. "Why are you with me, again?"

She smiled and started to laugh softly. "Beats me," she teased. "It used to be for the sex, but I don't even get a whole lot of that anymore," she continued.

"Is that so?" As revenge for her teasing, I started to tickle her sides where I knew she was most ticklish, and she shrieked as she tried to get away from me and my evil fingers. Once I had her properly pinned underneath me, I kissed her neck and collarbone as I traced my hand down her body and under her shirt. "Are you saying you feel deprived, Miss Bella?" I mumbled against her throat.

"Immensely," she replied breathlessly, and I chuckled.

"That won't do." I leaned away from her and stood up, which caused her to give me a disapproving look, but only until I put my arms under her and lifted her up. Then she gasped in surprise. "I'll make sure to rectify that situation immediately," I grinned at her as I carried her into my bedroom.

"I'm transferring to a special program at NYU Tisch when I go back to school," Bella told me over breakfast with a wide smile.

"Really?" I asked, intrigued by what was making her so happy. "What program?"

"Dramatic Writing."

My eyes widened and my own smile started to spread. "That's fantastic, baby. You got accepted?"

Her smile widened excitedly as she nodded. "Yes. I sent in a few of my poems from the course, and they really liked them; said I had potential, although they stressed that writing for stage and film productions is vastly different. Still, I'm excited to try something new."

I grabbed her hand across the table and brought it to my mouth to kiss her knuckles. "I'm really proud you," I told her honestly. "I already know you are a great writer, but I get why this acknowledgment means a lot to you."

She entwined her fingers with mine and looked at me with so much love, I barely knew what to do with myself, so I opted for just remaining in my seat and look back at her.

"Haven't you considered doing something with your writing?" she asked when we eventually resumed eating our breakfast. "I'm sure your poems would be successful. They reeled me in, after all," she pointed out with a wink. "Although, maybe, don't write about our private life for the public to read?"

I chuckled and poured us both some more coffee. "No, I don't know. I haven't really thought of it. It's more of a hobby anyway."

"Fair enough," she replied with a shrug. "Can I ask you a question, though?"

"Of course."

"If I start working as a screenwriter or playwright, I'll most likely move permanently to New York after college. In that event, what will happen to us?" she asked seriously, and she deserved a serious answer in return, so I thought about it for a moment.

Finally, I put down my coffee cup on the table and pushed my chair out from the table before I asked Bella to come over and sit on my lap, and she did so willingly.

"Bella, we haven't been together for very long, but I'm not going to deny that my dreams involve spending my life with you. However, I don't want to make another life-altering mistake by allowing my love-fogged up brain to make hasty decisions. I want us to last, and so I have to be rational about this." She nodded in understanding, but a hint of fear had crept into her eyes. "If you and I are still together when you graduate from college, I know I'd be ready for the next step, which would mean living together. I've made a promise to you that I won't ever hold you back from the things you would have enjoyed if I had not been in your life. If moving to New York is what you want and need when the time comes, I will be more than willing to go with you."

Her eyes got blank. "You really mean that?" she asked softly.

"Without a doubt."

The smile she gave me was radiant, and then she cupped my face to give me a searing kiss in gratitude.

"What about the carpentry?" she asked once we'd separated, but she still remained on my lap. She liked sitting there as much as I enjoyed having her there.

"I've already had thoughts of selling it for a while. I don't enjoy woodwork as much as I used to, but it's the only thing I know how to do, so that's why I remain hesitant," I explained.

"What is it about it that you don't enjoy anymore?"

I automatically shrugged. "People aren't looking for handcrafted furniture any longer. Not since the minimalist décor became trendy. All I do nowadays is repairing factory-made things that would be of better use as kindle. I guess it all has become tedious, and I miss the art of it."

"But you still enjoy doing it when you get to do what you want?"

"Yes, I do."

Bella took a deep breath as she appeared to be thinking of a solution. "I'll help you figure it out, and we'll work all of this out together."

A/N:

If you were in this situation, how would you solve it? Let's see if your thoughts are in line with mine! :-D