Chapter 12 - My Great-Granddaughter's Follicles.
I didn't think Esme and Alice would attempt another run at the silver today, so I put my plan into action. I hoped Edward and Eddie didn't mind my intrusion, but something needed to be done, and it had to be done now. It was one thing to steal the silver, but to auction off such personal items as Elizabeth's jewelry was sickening.
I headed straight to the hardware store. I wasn't super handy, but I was pretty sure I could fumble through replacing the locks on his house. Superior exterior door handles were a bit pricey, but I knew what they would be protecting was priceless and so worth it. A worker showed me how to find a matching set for the front and back door that would use the same key. I didn't realize you could do that, but I thought it was very handy. Armed with my new locks and a tool kit, I headed back to the house.
They weren't back yet, but I decided to set up shop on the porch swing, while I read the directions on replacing door handles. After reading the book three times, I finally took the mechanism out of the package and started to assemble it like a trial run. Edward and Eddie pulled up to the house, looking confused, since I was surrounded by metal pieces. "It's to replace the locks," I pointed at the handle. "I read the book. I'm pretty sure I can do it," I said, waving my little instruction manual at them.
Eddie patted my cheek and winked. "Thank you, Bella."
"Go lay down, Gramps, I'll help her," Edward shooed his grandfather into the house. Edward pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly. I could see the stress weighing heavily on him. He kissed me softly and took the tools from my hands. I was about to protest, until I saw the amount of force he had to put behind them to loosen the bolts and screws, since they were weather worn and rusted and nearly impossible to remove. The veins in Edward's arms pushed to the surface under the strain, but he won the battle over the contraption. He let me step in and finagle the new door set into place. I held the pieces carefully, as he tightened everything I told him to. We made a great team. We repeated the same steps on the back door and were done in no time.
"Edward, there's something I need to show you," I said nervously. It was time to show him the site with the jewelry. "Can I use your computer?"
I expected him to pull out a laptop, but he led me down the hallway to the study and opened an old rolltop desk. He had a computer, a full size, barely working, running Windows '98 computer. "What do you need it for?" he asked.
"You know what, let's go see Jasper. He's the one who showed me what he found in the first place." I closed the rolltop desk and made a mental note to get the man a new computer or at least a tablet. He needed something that would actually boot up in this century and didn't use dial-up. Yes, ladies and gentleman, he had a dial-up modem. I wasn't sure what it was, until he checked the phone connection to it.
"I need to make sure Gramps gets his dinner first. You'll join us, right?" he asked, so sweet and hopeful.
There was no way I'd ever turn him down. "Of course."
I helped him make a light dinner, and I noticed Eddie seemed a little more down than usual. I knew once he found out about the jewelry, it'd get worse, and I wondered if there was a way to keep it from him.
"You're awfully quiet there, Eddie. Do you find my green beans offensive?" I asked teasingly.
It won me a smile, but nowhere near the size I had hoped for.
"Beautiful Bella, you could serve manure, and we wouldn't find it offensive."
"Liar!" I squealed, laughing.
"I didn't say I'd eat it, but I wouldn't be offended. I'd just end up with a pocket full of dirty napkins full of crap," he said, waving his napkin at me.
"You guys are silly," Edward said with a little grin and brought over a small container with Eddie's evening pills in it.
"This guy is worse than a Hollywood housewife when it comes to pill popping," he pouted at Edward.
"You have to take them, Eddie. You have to stay strong and keep those hips limber, if you're going to dance with me at our wedding."
"Our wedding! You hear that, Edward, she's leaving you and going to marry me. I knew you had a thing for me," he said, giving me a wink.
"You can't steal my girlfriend, old man, or I'll make you sleep in the garage," Edward threatened playfully.
"The garage was my sanctuary. In its heyday, we had a distiller. It made liquor that could grow hair on your great-granddaughter's chest."
"I sure hope not!" I laughed.
"Alright, old man, enough with your follicle threats against my children. It's time to get to bed."
Eddie looked at the clock. It was only seven thirty,so I was sure he'd complain. "Nah, you're right. I''d better get settled in, if I'm going to catch the start of the eight o'clock shows."
Edward helped Eddie up from the chair and then kissed my forehead. "I'll be right back. I just have to help get him settled."
I cleaned up the dinner dishes and put away the leftovers, while he put his grandfather to bed. It all felt very domestic, and it was easy to imagine Edward was putting our children to bed, in place of his grandfather.
I had just put away the last dish, when he came back into the kitchen. "He's down for the evening. Thank you for cleaning up. You didn't have to."
"No, but I wanted to." I pulled him into my arms, and it was easy to get lost kissing him. We were both so lost, that we almost didn't hear his phone ringing. He pulled back and glared down at his phone that was flashing Alice's name.
He let out a huff and answered the phone. "What?"
I snatched it and put it on speaker, being the pushy girlfriend I was. He rolled his eyes, but left it on. We could both hear Alice sniffling. "Edward," she whimpered.
"What do you want, Alice. Oh, and FYI, I changed all the locks on the house, so you're not getting in here again. Consider this place Fort Knox."
"This is important. I have to tell you something, but I want you to not get mad at me, okay?"
"Not likely," he grumbled.
"Look, you aren't using that stuff, and I need to make my car payment. It's your fault I can't. I'd planned to get a much larger commission off of the spa's remodel, but you scaled it back so much, I couldn't even make the promised down payment for my car without selling a few things. I needed to be able to showcase my talent and build my portfolio doing your salon, but you didn't let me, and now I'm struggling to pay for my car and-"
"Get rid of your fancy car, Alice. You don't need a Camaro to get you to and from work. There are plenty of cheaper cars out there," he griped and hung up on her.
I hugged him tight. "I'm so proud of you!"
Our celebration was short lived, because she called right back. He put it on speaker again and pulled me into his lap. "What?" he snapped.
"Let me just say that we can make a lot of money right now. It's already a done deal, Edward," Alice started.
"What are you talking about?" Edward asked.
"In my defense, I planned to take the listings down, but someone kept outbidding me on my own stuff! I had mom sign in and bid on the postings, but it just kept getting higher and higher. Edward, we're at $39,000, and she's still being outbid, and that's just for one set. I'm telling you, if we sell all three, we stand to make a lot of money."
"What are you talking about?" Edward was confused, but I wasn't.
"Tell her to hold on a minute," I whispered. He nodded then hit the mute button, so I could speak to him in private. "That was what I wanted to show you. Jasper found her eBay site, and it had three of your grandmother's jewelry sets listed. We bid $50,000 on each set to keep them from being sold."
His jaw was tight, he was furious. He put his sister back on. "What is it you're trying to sell?"
"Now you can't tell me you're using them, because I know you're not, unless you took up cross-dressing."
"What did you do, Alice?" he growled.
"Keep in mind that we can make some big money, Brother. These are things gathering dust in a box as it is. No one is going to see them or miss them."
"What is it?"
"There are a few jewelry sets that I may have listed. I'm pretty sure they're some sort of antique collectible or something, because this JLock character is bidding up a storm for them."
"Jewelry sets? Nana didn't have any jewelry sets."
"Yes, she did. She had a diamond set, a ruby set and a pearl set. See, you didn't even know about them, so you won't even miss them."
I hit the mute button, "The diamond set includes your grandmother's wedding rings. The pearls look like they were some sort of Mother's Day thing, and she's wearing the rubies at a Christmas party in the picture."
His hand flexed on my hip, and then he took the phone off mute. "Alice, this diamond set you're talking about, it's not Nan's wedding set, is it?" he asked through gritted teeth.
She was silent.
"You know there's no way in hell I'll ever sell Nan's wedding rings."
"Edward," she whined.
"Don't you even start with me! What are the other two sets?"
"One isn't even pretty. I'm sure not even Bella would want to wear them. The pearls are old-looking-"
"Pearls, you mean Nan's pearls that grandpa got for her ONE AT A TIME. They're the real thing, and he got them while in the service, cutting soldier's hair. Dad was born in June, Alice. Pearls are his birthstone."
"Well, it's not like dad's going to wear them, and no one else in the family was born in June, so we don't need to keep them. How do you even know that crap? Are you making it up?"
"No, I actually lived at home and spent time with my family. I know what importance each and every family heirloom held. That's why they were entrusted to me, not you!"
"Now you're just-"
"Enough, what else do you have on the site?"
"Well, I know this doesn't have any real significance. I doubt you'll even remember it. It's grandma's ruby set. I'm sure Grandpa Eddie got it for her for Valentine's Day or something."
"I know exactly why he bought her the set. I was with him, when he picked it out!"
"Well, then you know it's not important."
"It was for their fortieth wedding anniversary. He gave her the ring for their anniversary, the earrings for her birthday, the necklace for Christmas, and the bracelet for Valentine 's Day!"
"So nothing-"
"I'm not selling them, Alice. Get them off the site now."
"I'm telling you, $39,000, for just one set! Come on, Edward. You don't need all three. There's no reason to keep them anyway!"
He slid me off his lap and stood over the phone. "GET THEM OFF, NOW, or I'm calling the police!" He hung up on her. His whole frame was shaking. "Was that it? Was that all she had on the site?"
"Yeah, that was all that we could see, and the silver trays and the boxed silverware set went for nearly two thousand dollars, which was why she was trying so hard to get them."
"She's not getting in now," he smiled down at me.
"Please, tell me you have the jewelry in a safe or something."
He frowned down at me.
"Edward, she thinks she can stand to make forty thousand dollars if not more on the jewelry. A little lock isn't going to keep her out. I wouldn't be surprised if she busted through your windows."
"I guess I could rent a safety deposit box at the bank to store them," he sighed. "Problem with that, though, is Gramps likes to pull them out and hold them a lot. It seems to give him comfort and brings a smile to his face. With them locked away like that, he'd hardly get to do that," he said, looking so defeated.
"Do you trust me?" I asked, getting a crazy idea.
"Yes, of course."
"Okay, how about I wear the sets?" I suggested, and he looked at me confused. "Do you think your sister or your mother would ever try and take them from me?" I challenged.
He shook his head no. We both knew they would never come anywhere near me. His eyes scanned my hands, wrist, neck, and then ears. I was sure we both came to the same conclusion.
"I'd need to get my ears pierced a couple more times." I only had the standard single ear piercing, but having two more sets put in wouldn't be a problem.
"And you're okay with that?" he asked, sounding unsure.
"I'd do anything for you. Besides, a couple more earring holes are nothing in the grand scheme of things. You do realize, I plan to give birth to your children, and that's going to hurt a whole heck of a lot more than earrings."
He blushed and chuckled, pulling me into his arms. He felt warm and safe. I wanted to be that for him, and I wanted Eddie to be able to have access to something that brought him joy.
Edward led me down the hallway to his bedroom. In the closet was a little box on a shelf. He peeked inside of it and then looked at me nervously. "Bella, there's one condition to you helping me with this."
"You're giving me conditions?" I teased him. "Are these conditions going to have long-term pleasurable ramifications?"
He gave me a cheeky grin. "I hope so." He opened a little ring box and took a deep breath. "This is a wedding ring, Bella. I want you to wear it, not just to keep it safe, but to keep it…as your ring…a wedding ring." He looked at me bashfully.
"A wed…"
"We talk kids and…and…" the poor boy was scrambling to find more reasons, but there were none needed. I grabbed his face and kissed him hard.
When I pulled back, his eyes were wide. He stood stiff, like he wasn't sure what was going on. I finally took the ring box from him and slid my new ring into place. "That was a yes, if you hadn't figured it out."
A huge grin exploded across his face, and I was wrapped up in his arms instantly. We were going to be married. Even with his crazy family looming, at the moment, everything felt perfect.