Chapter 32 – Up Close

I was nearly five months along, before word got back to Esme that I was pregnant. I felt a little bad for not telling her, but after everyone at work found out, I just assumed she'd hear about it from Alice, who would've been told by Jasper. That, or at least Jerry would have blabbed, but I guess he hadn't been kidding, when he'd said his lips were sealed tighter than a submarine.

She called Edward and talked to him a little and congratulated him on the baby. He promised to bring the ultrasound pictures of our little girl by next time he had to pick Jerry up for his appointment.

We had just found out we were having a daughter two weeks earlier. We were both excited for the ultrasound and had agreed that we wanted to cheat and know the baby's gender before it was born. We were thrilled we were having a little girl, but of course, we would have been thrilled if it was a boy, too. We were just all-around excited to have a baby. What was funny was we let Eddie tag along for the ultrasound. He'd never seen an up-close ultrasound of a baby.

"Look at that, it's in there and already looking like a baby wiggling around. The human body is just amazing," Eddie said in awe and talked the ultrasound tech into giving him a picture to keep for himself.

We showed Jerry the pictures, when he came in for his appointment with me. He was doing so much better. I had him off of the walker and only occasionally using a cane like Eddie did for stairs and such. He was a proud man, so I doubted he used it then, either. He did the sweetest thing as well. He gave me a pair of knitted baby booties. They were pink and had a little cotton eyelet trim.

"Where did you get these? They're adorable," I gushed.

I would have never believed it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Jerry blushed. "Mabel taught me how to knit years ago. I wasn't sure if I'd remember it, and it took me a few tries, but I knew she'd want our great-grandbaby to have a pair of booties. They're from the both of us."

I was a crying mess and hugged Jerry tight. He could be a sweetheart when he wanted to be.

"Is everything alright in here?" Emmett asked, when he poked his head in the door to see if Jerry was ready to go.

"Yes, everything is perfect," I said, kissing Jerry's cheek before he had to leave.

Emmett stayed back a minute and pulled me aside, once Jerry was out of earshot. "Bella, you wouldn't happen to have a spare pregnancy test laying around, would you?"

"I do, actually. It's in my bathroom at home under the sink. Do you think Rose is finally pregnant?"

He shrugged. "I want her to be, but I'm afraid to get my hopes up. Do you mind getting it for her, so she could take it?"

"No problem. It'd be nice if Rose was pregnant, too. Our babies would be close in age. I'd be fun for them to have a cousin to play with."

"Yeah, it would. Keep your fingers crossed," he said and slipped out the door to get Jerry home.

I discreetly slipped Rose the test, and she excused herself to the bathroom. She came back out looking pale.

"Are you alright, Rose?"

She looked at me stunned. "I did it…we did it…Emmett did it. I'm pregnant."

"That's great news, isn't it?" She looked to be in shock. "This was what you wanted, wasn't it?" I asked her.

Her hand settled on her tummy. She was dazed. "Yeah, yeah, I wanted this. I just didn't realize…it's kind of surreal, like I don't believe it yet."

Emmett came back and misread her lost look. He pulled her into his arms and promised they'd keep trying for a baby.

"We don't need to, Emmett. I'm pregnant." She still seemed a bit out of it, but that didn't stop Emmett from celebrating and doing a victory dance all around the shop.

I was so happy for them, but my bubble was burst, when Jake showed up with a rather frazzled-looking Vanessa in his arms. I hadn't seen her out of the house since she had moved into it.

I waved them into the back office immediately, hoping the enclosed room would make Vanessa feel more comfortable. Jacob sat down, and she immediately curled up into a ball on his lap.

"What's going on?" Edward asked, worried.

"The house was vandalized again. We were hoping you could pull up the footage, so we could see who it was."

"What did they do this time?" I really hoped we had caught them in the act.

"They wrote 'HE IS MINE' across the front of the house and threw another block through the window," Jacob answered me.

"He is mine?" I asked confused.

"I'm worried that someone is confusing you for Vanessa. She wears your clothes and lives in your house. She doesn't ever leave, so no one would get a good look at her, and you're about the same size and shape…well, you were before you were pregnant," Jake rambled.

"The only one who's interested in me is Tamara, my grandfather's dialysis nurse, and she doesn't let me being married stop her from flirting with me," Edward said dismissively.

"What?" I snapped. "Why have I not heard this before?"

"You knew she was a flirt."

"You're not taking Eddie anymore, I will," I insisted. There was no way I was letting that whore anywhere near my husband.

"I don't think it's Edward they're upset about. If they did think it was you, then we have to take into account that the first message called you a cheating whore. It happened not long after you were married to Edward. They might've seen me and Vanessa together and thought you were cheating on your husband."

"Then it must be someone from your past who doesn't want to give you up." I found it hard to believe anyone would want Jake, but that was just me. I guess he was good looking by worldly standards.

"Do you have any idea of who it might be?" Edward asked.

"I was hoping we could narrow it down with the surveillance," Jake said anxiously.

Edward finally got it pulled up, and we set them up to watch the footage. We'd gone over recordings before. It was insanely boring and time-consuming, even in fast forward, and we had work to do.

I noticed Edward slipped off and made a call to someone, but I didn't have time to ask him about it. I called Billy and let him know I wanted to come see the house and to meet me out there. I popped my head in the office door and let Jake know my plan, and he waved me off, letting me know he'd meet us there once he found the footage. Edward was going to stay behind with them and download the footage onto a USB drive as soon as they found it, so they could turn it over to the police.

When I arrived at the house, Billy was there with Deputy Johnson from Forks police department. "Hey, Bella, how's married life treating you?" the deputy asked.

"It's been great. Do you guys have any idea who might've vandalized the house?"

"No leads yet, but Billy was telling me that you had some cameras put up after the last incident?"

"Yes, Jake is going over the footage now. I'm sure you know how boring that can be. He and my husband will bring it down to you as soon as they find it. I hope there's a clear picture of someone," I worried.

"Jake thinks it may be someone from his past. There are a few disgruntled girlfriends who may be the culprit. He thinks they're working under the assumption that Vanessa is actually Bella, since they look similar. Vanessa never comes outside, so people can't see she isn't Bella," Billy told our theory to Deputy Johnson. He gave the deputy some addresses and frowned.

"These are all on the reservation. I'm sure you know I don't have jurisdiction there."

"I know, but I do. I can have someone go with you to give you a hand," Billy offered, and the pair stepped aside and made a few calls to make it happen.

I walked around and examined the damage. It wasn't bad. Jake and Billy must have cleaned up most of it. Whatever had broken the window had already been tagged and bagged. I also saw some dust left from where Deputy Johnson had dusted for fingerprints. I knew we definitely wouldn't get the brushoff in Forks. It was just a matter of time until they caught whoever was doing this.

I headed around the back of the house to see if there was anything done back there that might have been missed and saw that the gas line on the house looked tampered with. On closer inspection, it looked like someone had tried to cut it, but had failed, only puncturing the side of the now-crimped pipe.

I was about to call Billy back to come look at it, when I heard something behind me. I started to turn around to see who it was, but was hit with something over the head. It sounded like the attacker called me a cheating whore.

I woke up in the hospital, with Edward a crying mess. Eddie, Jerry and Esme were all standing in my room as well. My head was throbbing. "What happened?" I asked. My hand dropped to my tummy immediately, checking on my baby. I was rewarded with a resounding thump.

"You were attacked at your house in Forks. Billy heard you scream and a woman yell at you. He and the officer who were in the front yard ran around to the back and found you on the ground unconscious. The Forks PD are searching the forest around your house now. Were you able to see who it was?" Edward asked.

"No, she hit me before I was able to turn all the way around. The gas line, Edward, did they see it? She was trying to cut it or something. They need to make sure it's fixed before they do anything with it."

"I'll make sure they know. I don't know why they'd cut the outside line, though, that wouldn't make any sense," Edward wondered. He was right, it didn't make sense. The woman who did it was obviously an idiot.

They wanted to keep me overnight in the hospital, just to be sure I was alright. I had a mild concussion, and my knee and arm were bruised up from when I had fallen. I had landed pretty hard on my side, so they wanted to keep an eye on the baby, just to be safe.

Esme stood nervously in the back of the room. I assumed she was only there because Jerry wanted to come and check on me. He and Eddie were actually getting along and told me they'd bring me a deck of cards to help me kill time. They both had spent time in hospitals and knew it could be boring.

"Edward, are you going to be alright?" Esme asked him, while I fought droopy eyes.

"Yeah, if you can just take Grandpa Eddie and Grandpa Jerry home, I'd like to stay here with Bella tonight."

"Of course, honey. Please, let me know if anything changes."

My eyes drifted closed, I was really tired. I was sure everyone had left by the sound of the old man shuffle going on, but Esme's whisper was loud and clear. "Edward, I know you think you love her, but are you sure that's your child? There are rumors that she's taken up with the man who lives in her old house."

"What?" Edward snapped, appalled. My eyes popped open, watching the exchange, unbeknownst to Esme.

"They have history together, Edward. She's constantly leaving town to go 'check on her house' all the time. All the signs are there."

"Get out," Edward growled.

Esme let out a patronizing sigh. "I understand you not wanting to believe it. Just know that my home is always open. Your room is still exactly the same as you left it. There's no reason for you to suffer."

"I'm not suffering, Mother. You need to leave, now. Don't contact me again," Edward snapped.

"Just remember, I'm here when you're ready to leave her," she said and finally left. Edward was pissed. He looked over at me, and my eyes widened. I sure as heck hoped he didn't believe that bullcrap his mom was selling.

"I'm not cheating," I blurted.

"I know, honey. I thought my mother was past this crap, but obviously, she's not."

"Past what crap?"

"It's nothing," he mumbled. "I'm gonna grab a drink. I'll be right back." He was out the door before I could stop him.

I tried to rack my brain to remember the voice of the woman who had been behind me. I remembered thinking it sounded familiar, but I couldn't recall it for the life of me. It couldn't have been Esme, she could be a bitch, but I didn't think she'd physically hurt anyone. I didn't think she'd pull a stunt like that, just because we hadn't told her I was pregnant, either. It had to have been one of Jake's crazy exes. My money was on Leah, because she had been staying with her aunt on and off, giving her plenty of opportunity to see Vanessa and Jake together. The "HE IS MINE" message wouldn't be fitting for Esme, either. I'd have to have Edward call Billy and see where they were on questioning the suspects. I was more than ready for this to be over and done with.