Chapter 6

BPOV

I paced around the room nervously. What was I going to do, what was I going to tell him. Surely he would want answers; surely they would be difficult questions. How was I supposed to face him? Lord knew he would find out, whenever you say something's off limits, he's the first one to go snooping around. I should have known that from the very beginning.

Why didn't I just tell him the truth? Why didn't I just tell him what had really happened? If Edward had figured things out, it would be a matter of days before he came knocking, what would I do then, how would I explain why I kept hi son away from him for 17 years. He would be furious with me.

"Mom?" I turned around. Masen was watching me with carful eyes, waiting for me to make the first mov

"Masen, I'm sorry I yelled at you." I whispered, taking a seat on our couch. He moved to sit next to me.

"'S no big deal. I'm sorry I went behind your back. That was my fault." He rubbed the back of his head.

"So you met your father…that must have been interesting." I drummed my fingers on my knee.

"Sure, that's one way to put it." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't like him, he's an ass."

"So are you." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm a different kind of ass. He's just mean. He doesn't like me and he expects me to go to school, to be normal. Heck, his whole family expects that."

"They don't know you Masen, they haven't seen the things that you can do. That was my fault." I breathed out. Time to finally come clean. "I didn't tell your father that I was pregnant with you. I left him."

"Well I can see why, he's a jerk.'

"Masen! He's a good man. Things just changed…a lot of things changed."

"Things got complicated when you got pregnant. It was unexpected, uncalculated." He sighed evenly.

"No…they were complicated before that, you were just the straw that broke the camels back." I was getting even more nervous. "I hated being around his family, they would talk about, Greece in the springtime, Japan in the summer. How certain designers went with other designers. I never could identify with the wealth, with the glory." I began. "But Edward wasn't like that, he was sweet, considerate. He knew how to make me feel comfortable without actually having to try." Masen scoffed at me. "Yeah, it's true, he was like that. Then, everything fell apart. Edward's musical compositions were getting more and more attention. Soon, he was becoming famous in his own right. There was no more time for the two of us together. When he came home, he was tired, when he was awake, he was writing. There was no more time, no more us…we were fading away. When I got pregnant with you, I knew Edward wouldn't be happy, I knew he…"

"Wouldn't have time to settle down? To live with a wife and child? I guess that wasn't in the Masen master plan." Masen leaned back into the couch cushion.

"But I didn't give him the choice. I was too afraid, to afraid he would reject you, too afraid that he would reject me. And what would his family say. Most of them already weren't that fond of me, how would they react? Me, Edward's first steady girlfriend? The pitiful girl form forks, pregnant with one of the Masen family heirs. It would have been awful." I pulled my knees to my chin. "You must hate me for taking your father away from you."

"Not really."

"What?"

"Mom, you really think wouldn't have grown up resenting someone who was barely there? It would have changed anything. I still wouldn't go to school. Just for different reasons. More so to rebel against him. I can't deal with the conformity, the straightforward clean cut side of the world. I need chaos, not tea parties and doilies. Not incense and classical music. I grew up here, you raised me. If he really loved you, he would have tried harder to find you. He has the money, why didn't he send anyone for you, for both of us?" okay…so that was a good question.

"He doesn't-"

"Mom! Please, I love you but god, when are you going to realize that you can't always see the good in people. You knew he was going to be successful, then he kicked you to the curb, put you on the back burner. I may not have been born then but it means I was put on the back burner too." he admitted.

"Please, I just don't want you to feel like he abandoned you. Edward would never do that. He loves you, he just doesn't know it yet." I kissed his cheek and pulled him closer. He laid his head on my chest and sighed again. Within moments, he was in tears. "Masen." I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders and held him close.

"I'm sorry. I ruined everything."

"No you didn't. No of this is your fault, it's never been your fault. You are my son. You never have to worry." I kissed both of his cheeks and pulled him even tighter. Sure, most of the time, he was an arrogant know-it-all, he was annoying sometimes but when it came down to it, he was still a child, still just a sixteen year old boy struggling to find who he really was. So I just held him like he needed to be held.

It had been a couple hours since Masen headed off to bed. I knew I should've been off to but…something kept me awake. Then the knocking came.

"Who in the world comes over at," I looked at the digital clock above my TV "12:30 in the morning?" I opened the front door expecting to see Jasper or something. But still, standing there in all his Adonis like glory was Edward Masen.

"Hello Bella." he said. And just like that, I went right down.

"Mom! God, what did you do to her, I bet you wanted to kill her didn't you?" That was Masen.

"I just wanted to talk. We need to work this whole thing out and fast." Edward really was there.

"Get out of here, she doesn't need you!" Masen shouted at him.

"Masen, stop yelling." I groaned.

"Mom, you're alright. You aren't dead."

"She was breathing, and you say I'm the nimrod."

"Say one more thing to me you son of a-"

"Masen, calm down. I need you to go to your room so I can talk to your father." I pleaded with him.

"He is not my father." Masen shouted more at Edward than he did at me. Edward glared at him.

As soon as he was gone, Edward turned to me.

"Bella." he greeted.

"Edward." my voice was barely a whisper.

"May I sit down?"

"Yes, of course!" I began clearing off the couch so he could sit. I immediately regretted leaving the house as messy as it was.

"Well…" he said after a few moments. "I suspect you know why I'm here."

"Yes. It all must have come as a shock." I didn't want to sit down next to him, that would have been to close.

"Obviously, we have some things we need to work out. It'd be best if we talk about this, my family obviously wants some answers. Like, why is he not attending school?"

"I try to get him to go-"

"Well obviously you aren't trying hard enough." He snapped. I was taken aback; I hadn't been expecting the hostility.

"Don't sit there and judge me Edward, you don't know Masen like I do."

"And who's fault is that?" he shouted, getting to his feet. "Who kept him away from me? Oh right, it was you!"

"Edward please, keep your voice down. He's trying to sleep, he needs his rest."

"For what, what does he do all day? He's not going to school. He's not getting an education. What do you expect is going to happen to him after he moves out, if he moves out?"

"Edward stop it! You think you know everything, you always think you know everything when you don't know anything!" I shouted back. "Yes, I left you but I wouldn't have done it for no reason. I loved you! Things just weren't working, you knew things weren't working!"

"What are you talking about, everything was going fine!"

"What about our life was going fine? See, this proves that you don't know anything! You didn't know anything then, you don't know anything now. The only things that's changed is the fact that I have a crazy sixteen year old who seems to have missed the hormonal car stage." Why didn't he get it?

"See? You always tried to see the worst in everything, what was so bad?" he demanded.

"You never did pay attention to me did you?" I put my hands on my hips.

"What the heck are you talking about, you were my life!" He yelled.

"No I wasn't Edward, work was your life. Work was always your life! You didn't have time for a wife and a child! You never had the time, you were always way to busy. 'Bella, can you wait a minuet, I'll be done is just a second.' Just as second my ass! I would leave and by the time I would see you again, it would be maybe six in the morning? Edward, I couldn't deal with that and I most certainly wasn't going to make Masen deal with that. He's a good kid, he's got a good heart. You just haven't had the chance to see it."

"Are you blind? He called my sister Carmen Miranda on crack."

"That's just Masen. He's different. Just a little bit different. He's a good kid Edward, if you actually sit down and talk to him instead of getting angry all of the sudden, you might actually like him." I smiled at him accidentally as I thought about my son.

"What is this about?" he whispered. "Why are you so angry with me? Bella," he reached out and touched my cheek.

"I'm not angry with you. I'm just…I was just confused, I was afraid. I was scared for me and I was scared for my baby. I didn't want him to grown up hating you for not being there, I didn't want him to grow up angry like I did." I whispered to him.

"Bella." he wrapped his arms around me. "I didn't want you to feel afraid, I wanted you to be able to trust me. Why didn't you trust me?"

"Your parents hated me."

"My parents did not hate you, they were just…"

"Confused as to why you chose me, the girl from down-home. They think I didn't deserve you." I told him.

"That's not true, Bella, they cared about you. They care about Masen too, they just expect to get respect from him. I expect respect from him."

"Masen doesn't respect anyone. You'll have to work for it." I shrugged.

"I shouldn't have to work for it. He should automatically respect me. I'm another human being."

"That doesn't matter to him. You want his respect, you have to earn it." I shook myself out of his arms. Edward looked hurt.

"You should leave, last time I heard, you were engaged. I won't get in the way of that."