STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

A slow smile began to appear on Edward's face and he leaned forward to quietly tell Bella, "Well, my friend, the mess is all over. So, I guess you have to accept that I did as you had requested. Now, we can get down to really getting to know each other and start moving towards that forever that I want for us."

CHAPTER 44: EPILOGUE

SIX YEARS IN THE MAKING

The first two years after Norma's arrest were of the best at times and some of the worst. The D. A.'s office did accept Det. Asher's recommendation concerning charging Bella with attempted murder. After looking over all of the evidence that had been presented to them in the final reports, it was decided that Isabella Harrison was acting in self-defense, so no charges were ever filed against her.

Edward did make the call to his law firm back in Chicago and pitched his proposal about opening a branch office in Seattle. At first, it seemed that it was going to be rejected since one partner was against it. But, after the events that happened after the first decision was made caused the decision to be reversed and all agreed to Edward opening a branch in Seattle.

One of the partners happened to be Amanda's father and he knew his little girl was determined to marry Edward. Although, he did think it was time to expand the practice, he rejected the idea because he didn't want it to be Edward handling the expansion. Edward needed to return to Chicago and to be available for his little girl.

It seems that Amanda had convinced her father that things were a lot more serious between her and Edward than what they really were. And, she explained that Seattle was too far away from her family and that she wouldn't be happy halfway across the country. This was the reason he did refuse to go along with the idea in the beginning.

Amanda had promised Edward before he ever left Chicago that she wasn't going to give him up and she intended to keep her promise. That was the reason why she arrived in Seattle and seeking to see his last client, one Isabella Harrison. Oh, Amanda had been kept up to date concerning the case that Edward had been handling in Seattle. And, it was her belief that this woman he had defended had something to do with his decision to remain in Seattle. That belief was strong enough to prompt her to go to Seattle and to have a chat with this Harrison woman.

Amanda knew that something out of the ordinary had occurred that prompted Edward to want to stay here. It was no secret that his parents were close to Seattle, but, that hadn't carried any influence in the past. And she knew that he wouldn't leave his sister, Alice, left alone in Chicago. So, it made her aware that something strange had taken place for Edward to want to stay in Seattle for whatever length of time he was planning. She was determined that that wasn't going to happen.

And, that was one of the bad times. Amanda showed up at the hospital to confront Bella before the D. A.'s office had announced its decision and introduced herself as Edward's fiancée. She explained to Bella that she had been by where he had been staying, but, couldn't find him there so thought that he would be here conferring with his client and she managed to leave Bella only moments before Edward showed up to visit with Bella.

Of course, that little piece of information put up some roadblocks between Edward's and Bella's relationship advancing for a while. It created a trust issue as far as Bella was concerned. However, it didn't take long for Edward to let Amanda know, once they managed to come face to face, in uncertain terms, that she was nothing more than an occasional scratch for his itch. That he had never considered her to be marriage material and never would. He also told her that her morals weren't up to the standard that he would want to introduce her to his parents. That she was a complete selfish bitch with no concern for anyone, but, what she could grab for her own benefit or use.

It didn't take long for Edward to get a hold of Amanda's father and told him without holding back on any details, about what would happen if he didn't change his vote for the expansion to Seattle. Edward also told him to keep Amanda in Chicago or wherever the hell else he chose, but, not in Seattle causing trouble.

After the couple were beginning to get beyond the Amanda issue it became evident that Bella was having other issues, but, was refusing to acknowledge that she needed help. It took a certain incident for Bella to finally admit that she did need help.

She and Edward had been out one night and got into an argument about something petty, but, it was blown up to a larger proportion in Bella's mind. Edward had raised his voice trying to get her to listen to him, but, Bella refused to be silent. Edward had raised his hands to grab her shoulders to give her a small shake and that was when Bella threw up her hands as she began to violently shake. She reacted like she thought Edward was going to hit her. Her mind had snapped back to the treatment that Frank had forced upon her when he was angry.

It took two years for Edward to get the office up and running with good personnel, good junior attorneys, paralegals and to build up a good clientele. During that time Bella had started her therapy and was making great strides in her recovery from the abuse she had suffered at Frank Harrison's hands.

After being in therapy for a while, Bella made a decision of what she wanted to do about the insurance money that was awarded to her from Frank's life policy and the income from his partnership in his business. With Edward's help she set up a foundation to aid abused individuals, women, men and children, in whatever way the help is needed. She didn't need the money and after all she suffered with Frank, she felt that his money should be put to good use. That it was time Frank Harrison and his family gave back instead of handing out suffering to others.

Of course, Norma's trial took place during this time and this had caused a small relapse in Bella's mental recovery. Bella, Edward and Alice had to testify against her. Emmett also had to give testimony as to how he was able to discover evidence that the police had originally overlooked. The trial lasted two weeks, however, it only took the jury thirty minutes to return with a guilty verdict. Then the judge sentenced her to death on the two counts of murder, but, gave her ten years a piece for each attempted murder charge.

The third year brought about Bella and Edward celebrating their wedding with family and friends. Then a two-month honeymoon period in Europe doing all of the things that Bella had only dreamed of doing.

Both Bella and Jasper made Edward the restaurant's legal advisor and Alice had a lot of decorating ideas for the interior of the restaurant, but, Bella put a halt to that happening. She felt that Alice was going a little over the top and asked Alice to please stay with designing her clothing line, not the interior of ISABELLA'S.

By the fourth year, Jasper and Alice were married and they took an extended honeymoon. Alice had her business up and going well in Seattle as well as the one in Chicago still going strong. She had very capable managers for both places and had no worries about the length of time she and Jasper were going to be gone.

Needless to say, that during all of this time Norma's attorney was constantly filing appeals on behalf of his client. Each time the appeal was denied.

Finally, a notice was sent to Edward's office to let his client know of the pending execution date for Norma. Edward did advise Bella of it and tried to reason with her about not attending it. But, Bella was determined to be there; not out of revenge or anything like that, but, because she felt that Frank needed to have that last representation for her to have final closure on the whole mess.

However, at the last minute a stay of execution was handed down while one more appeal was filed on Norma's behalf. And that took a while before a decision was handed down.

This was into the fifth year with everyone enjoying family, friends and attending the wedding for Emmett and Rosalie. And, it turned out to be a wedding that wouldn't be forgotten ever. During while the vows were being exchanged Rosalie went into labor and had to be rushed to the hospital, but, she refused to go until Emmett and she were pronounced man and wife.

The fifth year also brought about the welcoming news of a pending new arrival for both Bella and Edward. She was pregnant. Grandparents on all sides were delighted over this news. And, it made Bella and Edward realize that a penthouse wasn't the place to raise children. This brought about house hunting and Alice finally being allowed to help with decorating along with Esme.

Beginning the sixth year at one nanosecond past midnight, Edward and Bella welcomed into the world their baby daughter, Layla Marie Cullen. The grandparents, godparents, and all of the aunts and uncles celebrated the birth right along with the parents. Everyone was in attendance for the birth, no matter how far away they had to travel to be there.

Two other incidents occurred during the sixth year that put a small cloud on everyone's spirit. The first one being that the courts had commuted Norma's execution to life without parole in prison. And, the second thing was a news report that Bella and Edward heard on the morning news about Norma committing suicide in prison.

Layla was only two months old when this final news happened. It did manage to put a damper on the spirit for a bit of time, but, it didn't stop the happiness that Bella had found in the loving arms of the man that came to her rescue, even while she was unconscious in the hospital.

He had made a promise that he definitely fulfilled, and Edward had never looked back; only forward.

True, there were disagreements, but, at night as the couple went to bed there was always a meeting of the minds, or, bodies that brought about a sense of peace to the spirit because of the love that was present and that they shared.

All through their marriage Edward made sure that he kept every promise he made to his beautiful lady, so they would achieve his goal of the forever-ship.

All together Edward and Bella raised their four children, two sons and two daughters, making sure love was always surrounding the whole family.

A/N: Our story is at an end. Thanks for reading and looking forward to your reviews and thoughts. I will now began working on my other three WIP's to bring them to completion.