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Chapter 2: Respect!
We were sitting at a big table in a private dinning room at the Country Club. My dad wasn't a member, but had been invited to come whenever he wanted ever since he had gone above and beyond to save the owners granddaughter after a car accident. Apparently he dove off of a bridge into ice cold water after the minivan, and went straight for the baby in her car seat. Yeah, my dad was awesome.
We had just finished ordering, everyone got steak, most of them 'rare.' Mine was well done; me and blood don't mix well. Which is funny considering I'm marrying a Vampire, and am going to be turned into one after the wedding. Sitting in this dress was torture. It was so poufy that I had to squish the skirt down just to fit under the table. Edward was beaming in joy at his family and Charlie. Charlie was trying not to scowl too much. He hated Edward, but was making a valiant effort to be civil.
With the way Edward was looking at me, all adoring, and slightly patronizing, I felt like I was his prize poodle or something. My love for him was the same as it ever was, and maybe that was the problem. I loved him enough to risk my life just by being with him, to lie to my father who only wanted what was best for me. I had loved him so completely, and when he left me that didn't change. When he came back I still loved him like he had never left. But not more than I had before he left. I had grown up some since he left me, but my love for him hadn't changed at all. The maturity I had achieved through the months he had been gone, made me realize that the love I felt for him wasn't as all consuming as I had believed. It was everything to me as a seventeen year old, but I was almost nineteen now, and I could see how shallow and superficial that love had been.
Lately I'd realized how disrespectful it was of me, and Edward, to lie to my father like we had been. I mean, of coarse I couldn't say anything about the Cullen's being Vampires, but lying to him about being at the Cullen's to sleep over with Alice, when I was really sleeping in his room with Edward, and Edward sneaking into my room to sleep in my bed, just seemed wrong. Charlie had only ever wanted me to be happy and safe, and lying to him about this, disrespecting him as my father, and in his own house no less, was starting to eat at me.
At the very least Edward should have been mature enough, being decades older than me, to realize how disrespectful we were being to my father. Carlisle and Esme, as the parental figures, should have stepped in to say how wrong it was to lie to Charlie unnecessarily. The only people to say anything about it, weirdly enough, were Rosalie and Jasper. Edward shut them down quickly though. I was his mate after all.
In this moment, staring across the table at my loveable, and devoted father, I realized that I was treating him similar to how Edward and Alice were treating me. Like I knew what was best for him, and made decisions based on what I thought, what I wanted, not respecting his point of view or opinions. I owed Charlie more than this. More respect, and more consideration.
The food arrived, and I set to cutting into my delicious smelling steak. A hand appeared above mine, and took my steak knife away. I looked up to see Edward as he pulled my plate toward himself.
"Let me, love. I don't want you to hurt yourself." He said.
I stared at him incredulously. "I can cut my own meat Edward."
He smiled at me like I was a cute, yet stupid child. "Of coarse you can, love," he said patronizingly as he cut up my steak. "But, I would feel better if I did it. This knife is very sharp."
"The steak knife is sharp? No way!" I said sarcastically. "I'm not a child, Edward. Give me back my knife."
"Just calm down, Bella. I'm almost done here," he said as he continued to mince my steak. He was cutting it into itty bitty pieces. My delicious steak was being murdered!
"Are you going to chew it for me too?" I said with venom in my voice. "There might be hidden gristle, and I could choke to death."
He looked at me considering, "No dear, this is a good cut. There isn't very much gristle. "
My eyes widened incredulously. Seriously? I thought. "Edward," I said as calmly as I could, "Give me my knife back, and step away from the steak."
He quickly finished his ruination of a prime cut of perfectly cooked and seasoned beef. I looked at the hashed up steak on my plate with actual pain. I was so looking forward to eating that, and now it was destroyed!
My dad cleared his throat. "Have you no respect for a good steak, boy?" I was still speechless in my growing rage. I looked surreptitiously at Jasper across the table. He looked like he was trying to warn Edward off, but at the same time he seemed resigned. He knew I was about to blow.
"Surely you don't want her to choke, Charlie? You know how accident prone she is. I had to cut it small enough not to choke her." Edward said.
My breathing was fast and shallow, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Charlie looked at me with apprehension; He knew what was coming. It was rare for me to blow up, very rare, but he knew the signs. Like one would smell smoke and think 'fire, run!' my dad saw the impending explosion and wanted to be elsewhere. But, being the kind of man he is, he stayed to support me.
"Firstly, Edward," Charlie said, "don't talk about Bella like she's not right here." he looked over at me. Charlie knew I hated that. "Secondly, Bella is almost nineteen years old. She can cut her own damn meat!" I knew my dad knew that I was still in the incredulous/ speechless stage, and was trying to help defuse the Bella bomb. No such luck.
I took a breath to say something, but was interrupted by Edward. As he spoke across me, I saw Charlie and Jasper both cringe. Looked like Jasper knew what was coming too. "I can speak for Bella, if I wish to. That is what husbands do. Maybe if you had had more control of Renee she wouldn't have left you," Edward was saying. I think a vessel in my eye just ruptured from the sheer amount of pissed off I was suffering. "I know what is best for her, she's mine. Besides, since when do you care about her? You're always too busy fishing and watching television to even know her anymore." Edward said this with a sneer on his face.
My brain was in meltdown. Oh, no he DIDN'T! He just insulted Charlie, and intimated that my father didn't care about me. That was it. I was done. I stood so abruptly that my chair would have fallen over if Edward hadn't caught it.
"Watch it, love," he said. "You'll hurt yourself."
I looked around the table. It was a shame I had an audience, but I didn't really care. After all Edward had shown enough disrespect for me, my father, and his family to start this, and I was damn well going to finish it!
