Happy Friday everyone. I just want to take a second and thank all of you for all of the awesome reviews you have given me. It seems everyone is in agreement that Renee overstepped her boundaries as a parent when she messed with Edward and Bella's relationship, even if she was still grieving over Charlie's death. This chapter jumps ahead in time a bit so we can move things along for our favorite couple. Hope you like it, see you at the bottom. As always there is a picture on my blog to go with this chapter under the tab titled after the story.
Thank you My-Bella and Hope4more, for all the time you put into the edits and re-edits and for making sure I put all those annoying commas in all the right places. You both Rock!
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, plot, names, nicknames are all the property of the author. Unauthorized use of such material is plagiarism. In simple terms— it's theft. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. And of course just in case that doesn't cover it, Stephenie Meyer owns anything and everything relating to Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended.
Eight months later
August 24, 2011
~*Bella*~
The past eight months had gone by so fast it hardly felt liked I'd been back in Forks for almost a year already. Between spending as much time as I could with Edward, looking for a job, and helping as much as I could with Gran, the time had flown by. But I guess that's what was bound to happen when you were juggling all of your time trying to make sure you spent enough of it with the man of your dreams and your dying grandmother, not to mention becoming just as close with Alice as we'd been before I'd left Forks.
"Here," my mom said, walking up behind me with my grandmother's jewelry box in her hands. We'd spent the day going through all of Gran's things trying to decide what we wanted to keep and what to donate. There was a sadness in my mother's eyes that told me she missed Gran just as much as I did. "Your grandmother wanted you to have what's in here."
"Mom—what—No, she was your mother, you should have her jewelry," I sputtered in protest as my mom held the wooden box out to me.
"I've already taken the few pieces I wanted as well as those I knew she wanted me to have. But the rest is for you." She continued to hold the box out to me.
The past several weeks had been hard on us both as we grieved over the loss of my grandmother. I knew it had been particularly hard on my mother as it dredged up a lot of those emotions she had felt when my father had died. It was hard for me too, but I somehow handled it much better than her. Maybe it was because I had Edward to help comfort me. He had been there for me every step of the way, staying here in Forks at his parent's house so he could be close to me when I needed him.
I tried to be there for my mother as much as I could, but she seemed to push me away at times and cling to me in others, making it hard to tell what she needed. So I just did what I could when she let me.
"Are you sure?" I asked her as I hesitantly took the box from her while I searched her eyes for the truth.
"Yes," my mother replied sincerely. "She made sure I was well aware of what she wanted before she passed."
I nodded and lifted the lid. I fought to control the wave of emotions that were washing over me. As I focused through my tears on the glittering trinkets in the box, I found it was still hard to believe Gran was gone even though it had been two months now since she'd passed. Despite the fact I'd spent many afternoons and evenings reading to her, watching television with her or just talking, I still wished I'd had more time with her. I'd love to have just one more afternoon with her enjoying her favorite TV show or listening to her telling me stories about when my mom was little. A small smile formed on my lips as I remembered how she'd had a thing for watching Betty White on the Golden Girls. I had to admit I found the show pretty entertaining myself.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I looked up at my mom and thanked her. She hugged me and then said, "I'm going to get a few more boxes out of the garage," giving me a few minutes alone with my grandmother's memories.
"Okay."
With the thud of my mother's footsteps fading as she made her way down the stairs, I looked back to the pieces of jewelry my grandmother had left me. My eyes instantly went to the locket I remembered her wearing when I was a little girl. I remembered once asking her what was inside of it and she'd told me her heart. At the time I hadn't really understood since I was only about four years old. But as I sat on the edge of her bed and opened the locket, I instantly knew what she'd meant when I saw the tiny picture of my grandfather inside.
My thoughts traveled to a conversation I'd had with Gran a couple of weeks before she'd died.
"I want you to promise me to always remember one thing, my dear."
"Sure, Gran, anything," I'd promised, knowing if it was an important enough promise for her to ask of me that it was surely one worth making and keeping.
"Never let go of true love once you find it. If the love you feel for any young man is real and true it's worth whatever you have to endure to hold onto it."
"I will. I promise."
"Just as long as you don't lose who you are in the process. No man is worth being untrue to yourself. And that's the beauty of true love, it or him would never ask you to do such a thing."
The sun peaked out long enough to cause the gold locket dangling between my fingers to shine in its light, bringing my thoughts back to the present. I smiled to myself knowing that Gran was absolutely right.
I was fairly certain she had been talking about Edward and me. I knew that she had been aware that we'd dated before and that we were again. In fact she had even told me what a handsome young man she thought he was "a real looker" she'd said. At the time, I had felt like she'd been looking straight into my heart and could see how much he meant to me and was telling me not to let him go again. What Gran hadn't known was that I would never let Edward go again willingly. He'd have to be the one to end things and even then I think I might still try to fight for him. I'd found true love and I knew I'd do whatever it took to hang on to it this time.
"Bella, are you coming? Let's get this done." I heard my mom calling me from downstairs to come help her finish packing up the things we'd carried downstairs.
"Yeah be right there."
I carefully placed Gran's locket back in the box and took it to my room and then made my way back downstairs. As I began packing again, I thought about the time I'd spent here with Edward.
After our magical New Year's Eve date, Edward and I had spent the next few months catching up on all we had done during the time we had been apart, along with getting to know each other again. It hadn't taken me long to fall completely head over heels in love with him again.
That wasn't to say that our relationship hadn't hit some bumpy spots. Those first few months, as we got to know each other again, were a little tenuous at times. It had taken us a few disagreements before we completely trusted and believed in our feelings for each other.
It had seemed that despite the fact we both desperately wanted a second chance at our relationship, some of the ghosts from our past had still haunted us until we'd finally gotten them out in the open and had laid them to rest.
I'd been afraid to really accept he didn't harbor any resentment towards me over the way I'd ended things between us the first time and as a result failed to let myself truly relax and believe in his feelings for me.
On the other side of things, Edward had been secretly afraid that once Gran passed I'd leave Forks again. He'd told me he was afraid my mom would use her death as she had my father's to lure me away again. I had assured him it wouldn't happen and once we'd finally got all of our insecurities out in the open and discussed them, it became much easier for us to be ourselves and enjoy what we had while falling in love all over again. And let me tell you falling in love with Edward Cullen the second time was so much better than the first.
Our love was different this time because we were different. We had both grown and become adults and while that sweet, starry eyed kind of love you experience the first time you fall was great, having suffered heartbreak and being a more mature person really did add to the level of intensity of our feelings for one another. Not that I would diminish what we had felt for each other in high school, because I don't doubt that we did love each other, but it was just different now. Better, stronger, and more powerful.
In the process of falling for and getting to know each other again, I learned Edward had gotten a teaching degree in college and was the math and music teacher at the high school in Port Angeles, which was named after the town just like Forks High. He also gave some private piano and guitar lessons a couple of days a week after school.
Edward's career choice hadn't surprised me at all. He'd always liked school, he'd been a math whiz kid and well…anyone who knew Edward knew about his love of music. So the fact that he taught pre-calculus, calculus, and music seemed to fit him perfectly. Although I had teased him when he'd told me why he'd chosen the high school in Port Angeles, and not the one here in Forks.
"It would have been just so weird to be teaching alongside some of the teachers that had taught us when we were there," he had claimed.
I'd told him he was just worried about old Mrs. Cope still being there and eyeing him like she used to when we were in school. It had creeped us all out the way she would smile at Edward any time she'd see him. He hadn't admitted it, but the horrified look on his face, along with the slight blush, when I'd mentioned her told me it was at least part of the reason. A couple of his other reasons had been better pay in the bigger city as well as it offered him a little more privacy since Forks was so small and everyone knew everything about everyone. Both of which were reasons I couldn't argue with.
He'd told me how his beloved Volvo had died right before he graduated college and that Emmett, who was with the Seattle Mariners, had bought him the Aston Martin as a graduation present much to their parents' dismay. We had both laughed when he'd said he'd thought he was pretty cool, fresh out of college driving around in a hot little sports car. That was until the first time he'd driven it in the snow. He'd said it was then that he realized he was going to have to get another vehicle and that was how his shiny silver truck came to be.
I'd filled him in on my getting a degree in Journalism with a minor in Literature and then we'd had the dreaded talk about our dating histories. He'd had a couple of long term relationships and had been broken up with his most recent girlfriend about three weeks before I had returned to Forks, stating that they had grown apart and lost interest in each other and it had been a mutual decision. I'd told Edward about my one long term relationship and how it had started to crumble when the guy had been ready to take our relationship to the next level—living together—and I hadn't been ready. It was only a short time later that Jimmy broke things off with me completely because I couldn't tell him if I'd ever be ready. All of that had been about a year before the move back to Forks and I hadn't dated anyone in all that time. Edward's response had been something similar to my mom's; he'd felt I hadn't been ready because I'd never gotten my heart back from him.
"How much do you got left over there?" my mother asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
"I think this is the last of it," I told her as I taped the box I had just finished packing full of Gran's things shut.
"Good, I'm ready for a glass of iced tea," she said as she moved around me and headed out to the porch with a box. "Want one?" she asked looking over her shoulder back to me.
"No thanks," I said as I bent to pick up a box.
I had taken the day off from my job at The Peninsula Times in Port Angeles to help her pack up some of Gran's things. I'd been there for about six weeks and was really enjoying my job as Junior Editor.
The Editor had been a little leery at first of hiring me since I'd only been out of college for about a year at the time I'd applied. However since I'd had a similar position in Arizona and my boss down there had given me a glowing recommendation, he'd agreed to give me a shot at the position, saying inexperienced or not, I'd been the most qualified applicant he'd received and he couldn't wait any longer to fill the position.
As sad as I had been to see my grandmother pass, I was grateful she was no longer suffering and that I'd had several months with her. Last December when my mother and I had moved back to Forks, we had been told by Gran's doctors that she had maybe three to five months due to the deteriorated state of her heart. They had said it all depended on how long her heart held on. While it pained me that she had refused the open heart surgery that could have possibly enabled to her to be with us longer, I also understood her reasoning for not going through with it. She had stated that she was eighty-six years old and had lived a wonderful, full life and was ready for whatever God had in store for her. She had been with us a month longer than they'd thought she would be and I had seen each day with her as a blessing.
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket indicating I had a text as I set the last box on the porch for the charity that was going to pick them up in the morning. Pulling the phone from my pocket, I saw Edward's name on the screen.
Edward: Wanna grab some dinner? My last private lesson canceled so I'm all yours for the rest of the evening if ya want.
Bella: Do you really need to ask if I want? :)
Edward: No not really, but I know you were helping your mom. I can be there in about an hour and a half. I just want to run home and change real quick. Sound good?
Bella: Sounds perfect. What'd ya have in mind for dinner?
Edward: Let's do casual. It's been a long week.
Bella: Works for me. I'll see ya soon.
Edward: Love you.
Bella: Love you too.
I could practically hear the fatigue in his text. His summer vacation had come to an end and he'd gone back to work last week. While the first week had been teachers only, his classroom this week had been full of students. He'd also started giving after school music lessons again.
I knew he loved offering music lessons, but I couldn't help being happy that his last appointment had canceled. It meant I got to see him sooner this evening than planned. I hadn't seen him since Tuesday evening when we'd met after work for dinner. It may have only been three days, which wasn't really a long time, but I had seen him every day over the summer and adjusting to the new routine was hard. I had missed him more than I thought humanly possible and couldn't wait to see him.
Thinking about how tired he must be gave me an idea for dinner. It would be quiet, romantic and just the two of us.
"Mom," I hollered when making my way back inside and heading to the kitchen. I thought she'd be in there drinking her tea but she wasn't.
"Up here," I heard her call as I pulled open the fridge door.
"I'll be up in a sec," I called back to her.
I was happy to see we had plenty of stuff for the picnic dinner I had decided upon. I was a little tired myself and thought a nice quiet dinner by the lake would be better than dragging ourselves to a restaurant or getting takeout. I grabbed the picnic basket and an old blanket out of the hall closet and set them on the kitchen table until after my shower.
After hurrying up the stairs, I found my mom in her room.
"I just wanted to let ya know, I'm going to shower and then Edward is picking me up for dinner. I'm going to pack us a picnic dinner from our leftovers if that's okay."
"Oh. Sure…take whatever you want," she replied, her tone was a bit cold. I got the feeling something was bothering her, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
"Thanks."
As I turned to leave her room, she asked, "Will you be home tonight?"
"Since its Friday, I doubt I will." Who was I fooling? I knew I wouldn't, I thought to myself. "It's the weekend and I haven't seen Edward since Tuesday night. I'll probably be at his place all weekend," I added.
I was curious why she had asked. I'd been spending most of my weekends at Edward's apartment for a few months now. At first it had been just a night here and there, but since I had taken my job in Port Angeles it just seemed to make sense to spend the weekend with him there instead of him driving to Forks to get me and then back to his place. This was the first time she'd said anything about it and I didn't know why. Up until now she had acted as if it were not a big deal.
"It's getting to be a habit of yours. Spending all weekend at Edward's place."
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked a bit surprised by her statement.
"I just worry that you're moving a bit fast with him. You're too young to be tied down to one man, Isabella," she retorted.
"Mom, I'm hardly a child. I'll be twenty-four in three weeks. And as far as moving too fast…well…I don't know what to say except Edward and I love each other. I don't see anything wrong with us spending time alone in his apartment."
"I guess I forget that you are a young woman now. Have a good time." She smiled and went back to the show she'd been watching. But there was something about the way she smiled and the curt tone in her voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I couldn't put my finger on why, but I had a feeling this wasn't the last time I'd hear about spending the weekend with Edward. I wished I could believe she was just being overprotective but there was something in the tone of her voice, and the fact that her mood had done a complete flip flop set me on edge.
Determined to not let her ruin my time with Edward, I let it go and left to take a quick shower. Once I was finished, I threw on a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top and grabbed a long sleeved flannel shirt of my dad's I still had incase it got chilly by the lake. After tying the flannel shirt around my waist, I packed a bag, grabbed a dress in case we went out, and my work clothes for Monday to take with me to Edward's for the weekend.
With my bag, purse, and clothes in hand, I headed back down to the kitchen to pack Edward and me a dinner. Setting my purse and bag by the front door, I hung the other things on the coat tree next to it and went into the kitchen. I packed some leftover fried chicken, pasta salad, fresh strawberries, cheese sticks and then threw in a couple bottles of water. I then added some plastic utensils, plates and paper napkins. After getting it all situated, I closed the basket and tucked the blanket through the handles of it and took it into the living room to wait for Edward to arrive.
*X*X*X*X*
"I missed you," Edward said softly while pulling me down on the blanket next to him.
He buried his nose in my hair and I could hear him inhaling deeply. He'd told me he loved the smell of my coconut scented shampoo and body wash.
"Mmm, I missed you too," I whispered as I rolled to my side and snuggled up against him.
"Thank you for the picnic dinner. It was perfect." He placed a kiss on the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me tighter.
"Well when you'd said you'd had a crazy week I figured the last thing you needed was to be sitting in a crowded restaurant and I thought a picnic would be better than take out. And besides it's so quiet here and it's—"
"Our spot," he said, finishing the sentence for me as he rolled me onto my back.
I gasped softly as his lips skimmed down the slope of my throat until he reached the spot where it met my shoulder. He switched between gentle sucking and wet open mouthed kisses that sent shivers down my spine.
I could feel my heart thumping wildly in my chest and my hands tugging on his hair as his lips traveled even lower until they were kissing the top of the valley where my breasts came together. Soon his mouth was traveling back up and along the sensitive skin of my neck.
"I love you," he whispered, stopping as he reached the corner of my lips.
"I love you too," I breathed, hardly able to speak due to the sensations he was stirring within me.
We remained like that for a while, kissing and making out like a couple of high school kids. When his hand crept up under the hem of my shirt I thought perhaps he wanted to make love right here by the lake.
I'd never made love outside or in any public place for that matter, but with Edward it somehow seemed incredibly perfect and I knew if he wanted to I wouldn't stop him.
However just as his hand reached the underside of my breast, he pulled away while whispering, "We should go."
"Mmm, do we have to?" I mumbled. I opened my eyes to see the bright sun that had been shinning before had faded into the soft glow of the twilight lit sky.
"Unless you want me to ravish you in front of that guy fishing around the corner of the lake, we do."
"What?" I shrieked and sprang up into a sitting position causing Edward to fall over on his back chuckling at me.
I looked across the water sure enough there was a man casting his line into the lake about a hundred feet or so from us.
We stood to gather our stuff and with the heat from the sun and Edward's kisses gone, I pulled my father's shirt on, which reminded me of the conversation I'd had with my mother earlier.
I must have sucked at hiding my distress over the conversation because as if sensing a shift in my mood, the second he had the truck on the main road Edward said, "Penny for your thoughts," as he wrapped his hand around mine and linked our fingers together.
"I had I guess you could say an argument—disagreement…I don't know…words with my mother today," I stated along with letting out a frustrated sigh.
I knew he wasn't going to be happy with what I was about to tell him but we'd promised not to keep any secrets from each other and to talk about everything since we'd finally cleared the air over our fears about the past.
"Was it your grandmother's things? Did one of you want to get rid of or keep something the other didn't?"
"No. We argued over you. Or more specifically my spending my weekends with you. To put it simply she doesn't like it."
"Well it doesn't matter if she doesn't like it. You're a grown woman, Bella," he huffed in his frustration. I could feel his hand twitch a bit and was sure he was dying to run it through his hair like he was prone to do when something was bothering him.
"That's exactly what I told her."
"Yeah? What did she say to that?"
I blew out a loud sigh and then told him what she'd said. He didn't take it too well. The muscles in his jaw were twitching along with his hand now.
"Why now?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"We've been spending our weekends together for a while now. So why is she just now saying something if it bothers her so much? I don't get it."
"I don't either," I told him. "And I get the feeling it's not going to be the last time I hear about it."
"Why do you say that?"
"Just a feeling I got. She let it go too easily. It's kinda scary when I think about it. It's almost as if she's up to something."
He looked over at me briefly before putting his eyes back on the road. It was dark now and you never knew when a deer might dart across the highway with no warning.
"Do you think she would try to come between us again?" he asked nervously. I could see his hand tighten on the steering wheel and I knew that old fear of his was resurfacing.
"I don't know, I just have a weird feeling I can't shake." I pulled his hand across my lap and scooted as close to him as my seatbelt would let me. Wrapping my other hand around both of ours I told him, "It doesn't matter though. The only person who can take me away from you is you, Edward."
"What if she wants to move away again?" he asked quietly as if he were afraid of my answer.
"Doesn't matter. I won't be going with her this time."
"Promise me."
"I promise. I'm not going anywhere, Edward, unless you send me away."
"That's not going to happen," he said, squeezing my hand more tightly.
We remained quiet for the rest of the trip to his house. It wasn't a tense or uncomfortable quiet, although when I'd glance up at him from time to time I could tell he was deep in thought, no doubt trying to figure out what was going on with my mother.
*X*X*X*X*
We didn't discuss my mother the rest of the weekend, but by the time Sunday night came and I was packing my bag to go home after work on Monday, I could sense Edward getting a bit tense and clingy. He had to be constantly touching me in some way, even it if was just our legs touching side by side on the couch as we watched a baseball game, and it felt as though he couldn't completely relax.
I had already told him on Friday night that I wasn't going anywhere and other than time showing him I meant what I'd said the only other way I could think of to reassure him was to show him.
I waited for him to go take his shower and then began to search high and low through his apartment for some candles. When I was unsuccessful my brain began to churn, trying to come up with some other way to soften the lighting in his bedroom. For lack of any other choice, I took a dark blue pillow case and draped it over the lampshade of the small lamp on his nightstand. It actually worked perfectly, allowing just enough light so he'd be able to see me and where he was walking when he came out.
Next I found the hair band I had in my purse and pulled my hair up into a messy bun on my head and then dug out the black lace bra and thong panty set I had in my bag. I hadn't been sure what we'd do this weekend and had brought it to wear under my black silk dress in case we went out.
I quickly put them on and had just grabbed the small bottle of baby oil I had for after shaving my legs when I heard the water to the shower shut off.
I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to come out of the bathroom. As soon as I saw him I stood and went to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the bed.
Taking notice of what I was wearing and the lamp, he ran a finger along the lace edge of my bra and asked, "What's going on here?"
"What's going on is I am going to help you relax and show you how much I love you."
"But I know you—"
"Shhh," I told him as I placed my finger over his lips to silence him. I then pushed on his chest to get him to sit on the bed.
I crawled up on the bed behind him and grabbed the baby oil off the nightstand. After applying a small amount to the palm of my hand, I put the bottle back and then rubbed my hands together so they were coated with a light sheen of the oil.
Perched on my knees behind him, I began to move my hands over his shoulders and massage the stress out of his tense muscles.
"You've been tense all evening," I told him softly next to his ear.
"Have I?" he asked and then turned his head and gave me a soft kiss.
I kissed along his neck and behind his ear before whispering, "You have. And I know why too." He didn't respond other than to let out a soft moan as I pressed my fingers into his shoulders a little harder. "You're worried, baby, and I want to show you how much I love you. My words apparently aren't enough so I'm going to love you and show you I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I don't mean to doubt you."
"It's okay, baby, I know you don't. And I understand why you do. So just relax and let me love you."
I ran my hands down the expanse of his back. Edward's back muscles were firm, well toned and defined, but not in an over done way. I switched between using just the pads of my fingers and thumbs to using the heel of my hand to dig into his flesh and work it to help him relax.
"Jesus, Bella, that feels good," he moaned as I dug in a little harder with my whole hand, gripping his muscles and kneading them.
The longer I kept going, the more he began to loosen up and relax. I could feel the tension leaving his body as I continued working up and down his back and across his shoulders. After a few times back and forth across them both, his head slumped forward and his shoulders relaxed, letting me see he was finally giving in and letting go. It was then that I moved back and told him to lie down.
He turned and scooted back on the bed and lay down on his back. I climbed over him and grabbed the oil to get a little more on hands. I then straddled him and began to work across his chest muscles much as I had his back. They were just as firm as his back muscles were and felt incredible under my hands.
When I felt that while his upper body muscles had begun to relax, I scooted back further so I could work his abdominal muscles.
We both groaned as my new position lined us up in the most intimate way. The movements of me rubbing up and down his chest and abdominal muscles were causing his mind and those muscles to relax, but other parts of him were becoming very tense and rigid. The motions of the massage weren't only affecting Edward, and with him in nothing more than a towel and me in a pair of lace thong panties, it was easy for each of us to feel what the grinding together of our most intimate parts was doing to us both.
Only a few minutes later his hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me flat against his chest. I slid easily against his bare skin since he was coated in baby oil. Edward bent his knees and brought his legs up behind me to help hold me in place, as his hands grasped my head and his lips hungrily engulfed mine in a searing passionate kiss.
With one hand still tangled in my hair while he continued to kiss me, his other moved down my back and quickly unclasped my bra.
Using both hands he slipped the straps down my arms and said in a voice that was barely more than panted breaths, "This black lace looks exquisite on you, but it's got to go."
I pulled my arms the rest of the way out of the straps, allowing him to tug it from between us and let it drop to the floor next to the bed.
I gasped softly from the sensation of my bare breasts rubbing against his slippery skin.
"Mmm, you like that, baby," he murmured gently as he used his finger and thumb to lightly pinch, roll, and caress my hard nipples.
"God yes, I love it, but…but this…is supposed to be…about you," I said through my heavy breathing. The combination of his hands on my breasts, his lips on my neck, and the grinding movements we were still making, had my head spinning with desire for him.
"No, baby," he whispered in a husky tone while his hands slid down to my hips. "It's about us." I heard a fast ripping sound and then felt the lace of my thong panties being pulled out from under me. "Love me, Bella. Love with me. Now," he panted. "I need to feel you," was the last thing he said before I felt him tugging on the towel around his waist.
I rose up allowing him to open the towel and remove the last barrier between our bodies.
He lowered his legs and I sat up allowing our most intimate parts to line up perfectly. I slid over him and took him in me completely. As I started to move he brought his legs back up and pulled me back down against his chest and wrapped his arms around me, holding me to him so closely that I could feel his heart pounding in his chest. I slipped my arms under him and grasped his shoulders anchoring myself to him. I never wanted to let him go.
"I love you so fucking much, Bella. I don't ever want to lose you again," he told me as we slowly moved together showing each other just how much we meant to one another, but I could still hear a faint hint of fear in his voice.
"You won't, I promise. I'm yours for as long as you want me."
"Always, Bella. I will always want you. Tell me you want that too."
"I do. Always, Edward. I will always want you and I will always love you."
No more words were needed as we showed each other how much we loved one another through each touch, each caress, and each kiss we gave to one another. I could feel the connection—the bond between us solidifying and becoming so much stronger than it had been ever before and I was sure he felt it too.
I knew I could never let him go now. Didn't think I could even if he wanted me to. He was a part of me and I'd never survive without him. I'd been a fool to think I could before.
Our movements remained slow and tender while we held each other closely until just before we reached our climax. As we felt it building, our movements became more needful, more frantic. I sat up, taking him in me even deeper as we rode out the explosive waves of our love making and reached the pinnacle together.
~*Edward*~
The next morning when Bella and I woke up we couldn't help but laugh at the fact we were both covered in baby oil. Our hair looked like we hadn't washed it in days and the bed was a mess too. You could see dark spots where the oil had soaked into the sheets and the comforter.
Didn't matter to me though, it had been an amazing wonderful night for us, one I would never forget. So if the bedding was ruined—well it was well worth it.
We stripped the bed together while Bella continued to giggle. While I put clean sheets on it, she put the comforter in the washing machine. Her giggles were infectious and I chuckled a few times myself. I loved seeing her so happy and carefree.
After showering together and making love again while doing so, we both dressed for work and had a quick breakfast before I took Bella to work.
Unfortunately my day seemed to go on forever with me finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than Bella. She was in my thoughts frequently on a normal day, but today I just couldn't get her out of my mind. Everything from her conversation with her mom, to our talk about it, to her hovering over me and making love with me last night plagued my thoughts.
When the bell finally rang at three to signal the end of the school day, I was grateful I never gave private lessons on Mondays; with them being the first day of the week they were usually hectic. I left right away, bringing any papers I needed to grade home with me instead of doing them at school.
Once home I used the time I had left before picking Bella up to dry my comforter and toy with an idea I'd had bouncing around in my head. For the past couple of weeks I'd been mulling over the idea of asking Bella to move in with me. But now I worried she would think I was doing it out of fear of her leaving me again. And that pissed me off. Because last week at this time if I'd asked her she would've known I was doing it because I loved her and wanted her with me all the time. Renee had already interfered whether she realized it or not and I didn't like it at all.
I finally made up my mind to wait a couple of weeks. I could admit that last night before Bella and I had made love, there still had been a slight amount of fear in my head that she'd let Renee come between us again.
However after what had transpired between us last night—what we'd shared—and the connection I felt between us, I was certain now that Bella wouldn't let that happen. I would just have to remain patient for the next few weeks and then ask her. Maybe I'd even do it for her birthday. It was coming up and I could give her a key as part of her gift and ask her to come live with me.
Bella ended up working late so I was able to get all my papers graded and the bed completely put back together by the time I had to pick her up. Images of the night before had flashed through my mind as I had finished making the bed. They'd made me even more determined to make sure no one came between the two of us again.
About an hour and a half later, I had picked Bella up from work and we were pulling into her driveway. I carried her bag and the picnic basket in for her and after kissing her goodbye, I was just about to leave when Renee came down the stairs.
"I thought I heard a car in the driveway," she said. The door was still open with Bella and me standing in the doorway. She seemed to be in a good mood so I just smiled.
"Let me run this stuff up to my room, change real quick and I'll help ya with dinner, Mom," Bella said as her mom moved past us and into the kitchen.
Poking her head back around the kitchen doorway Renee replied, "Oh. Well…it was getting late. I didn't think you were coming home so I ordered pizza. Edward, why don't you stay?"
"I really don't want to intrude," I replied while trying to remain polite to Renee. Bella may not have caught the change of tone in her mother's voice when she'd mentioned she didn't think Bella was going to be home, but I certainly had.
I knew Bella was pre-occupied and stressing over an article that wasn't up to snuff for the end of the week paper. Her boss had put it on her to make the proper edit suggestions and make sure the journalist fixed it. It was the first time he'd given her so much authority and it had her on pins and needles. She was worried about how Vicki, the journalist, would take to being given orders from Bella since Vicki had been with the paper much longer than Bella. Years longer to be exact.
"You won't be intruding. Would he, Mom?" Bella added.
"Of course not, honey."
From where Bella was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor she could see me but not her mother. And while the tone in Renee's voice had been completely pleasant this time, the look on her face was anything but. She had rolled her eyes at her daughter as if to say she really hadn't wanted me to stay, that she had only offered because it was the polite thing to do. Although I doubted it was about being polite. It was just another instance of Renee playing games with her daughter's life and trying to maintain the facade she had going.
"Then you'll stay?" Bella asked me while giving my hand a squeeze, as if to say please, letting me know she really wanted me to.
"Sure. I would have probably just ordered a pizza when I got home anyways," I told her. If staying was what my girl wanted then I'd do it regardless of what Renee wanted.
"Good," Bella said before giving me a quick peck on the lips and heading up the stairs to her room.
Bella had taken her bag from me but I was still holding the picnic basket in my hand. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I walked into the kitchen and asked Renee where she'd like me to put it.
"Oh just set it on the counter for now. I'll take care of it later."
I nodded and placed the basket where she'd told me to. I then turned to go wait for Bella in the living room, but the sound of Renee's voice stopped me.
"So, did you and Bella have a good weekend?" She was probably trying to sound sincerely interested but I'd heard the hint of sarcasm in her voice; she was obviously only asking to dig for information on where things stood between Bella and me.
"We did," I replied not really wanting to offer up any more information than I had too. As far as I was concerned it really wasn't any of her business what Bella and I did when we were together.
"She's usually home much sooner. She really should learn to let me know if she is going to be late. I could have cooked if I had known."
"Renee, Bella is a grown woman. She had to work late. It happens. You could have cooked and I'm sure Bella would have been perfectly content to warm it up for herself once she'd gotten here." I paused as I contemplated whether to say more. I realized if I never called her bluff and let her know I was on to her, I might never get any answers. So I asked her, "Are you sure that's what really has you so flustered? If there is something you want to say to me, just say it."
"She had to work late? Is that what you're calling a roll between the sheets these days?" came her snotty reply.
"Let's cut to the chase here," I told her while pulling on my hair in frustration. This woman obviously cared about no one but herself. It amazed me how she had raised such a wonderful daughter. Of course from what I knew and remembered about Bella's father, it was clear that she got her loving and caring personality from him because she was definitely nothing like her mother. "I'm aware of the conversation you had with Bella on Friday. So why don't you just admit that what you really have a problem with is me."
"I guess it shouldn't surprise me that she told you."
"Bella and I have no secrets from each other. So why would that surprise you?"
"Look, Edward, it's not you personally I have a problem with. It's your relationship. I just don't see it lasting and I don't want my daughter hurt."
"Just why is it that you don't see it lasting? I love your daughter. I have no intentions of losing her again." I couldn't believe the gall this woman had to tell me that my relationship with Bella wouldn't last. Who the hell did she think she was? "You obviously have no clue about how Bella and I feel about each other," I added getting more pissed off the more she prodded into my and Bella's private lives.
I kept chanting in my head, Keep your cool, Cullen. She wants to get a rise out of you.
"I know you think you love her and she you. But come on, we both know what's really going on here."
"By all means enlighten me since you seem to think you know so much about how I feel about your daughter."
"You are looking for someone to warm your bed, scratch that itch every young man your age gets. And Bella—Well Isabella is simply clinging to any part of the happy childhood she had here in her effort to try and start over again. Eventually you will both grow tired of one another and move on. You are just each other's current distraction. I am only trying to make her see that now so that it's easier for you both."
Cool headed Cullen had officially left the building. I'd had enough of her insane reflections and accusations.
"Let me tell you something, Renee," I said through my gritted. I had my teeth clamped together so hard it hurt. I stayed like that for a few moments in an effort to keep my mouth shut and control the anger that was coursing through me. But when Renee shot me a condescending look it no longer worked. "You have no clue whatsoever about how Bella and I feel about each other. And I can promise you that it is so much more than the shallow feelings you believe it to be. I love your daughter as she does me and because of that there are two things I am absolutely sure of."
"Well as you said before, please enlighten me," she spat.
"One, you are going to lose your daughter if you keep up this plot to tear us apart. Our love cannot be broken this time. Two, I will not let you come between us again. I will do everything within my power to make sure I never lose your daughter again. She means entirely too much to me. I will fight for her this time, Renee, and you will be the one who loses."
Renee opened her mouth to respond, but just as she did, we heard Bella coming down the stairs and at nearly the same time there was a knock on the front door indicating the pizza had arrived.
"I got it," Bella called as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"The money is on the table by the door," Renee called back to her. Then casting a glare in my direction she turned and began pulling plates out of the cabinet.
"Sorry it took me so long before," Bella apologized as she entered the kitchen. I got a call from my boss on some last minute revisions he wanted to add to the article I have to work on. She turned her head and kissed me quickly as she set the pizza on the table.
"No worries, dear. Edward and I were chatting about the nice weather we've had recently. It's really so rare we get a dry spell like this, much less the sun to go with it."
Nice weather? What the hell? What a fucking piece of work she is, I thought. If she thought I was going to keep our conversation from Bella she was so wrong. Now might not be the time or place, but I would be sharing it with Bella when the time was right. Especially if she continued to cause Bella grief over our relationship.
*X*X*X*X*
Over the next few weeks things seemed to calm down. The weekend after my argument with Renee I had told Bella about the entire conversation I'd had with her mother. It upset her and caused her to apologize to me profusely for her mother's actions. However I assured her that she was not responsible for Renee and was in no way to blame for the things her mother had said to me.
During that time Bella and I were both relieved that Renee had appeared to let the topic of our relationship go, leading Bella to think that perhaps her mom had just hit a bad spot over the fact that they had been packing up all her grandmother's things and had been feeling clingy towards Bella since Renee had now lost her mother too. But even if that were true, I still worried that she'd feel even more alone as Bella and I continued to grow closer and spend even more time together. I was afraid that as our feelings grew deeper for each other, that Renee's feelings would resurface causing her to try and force Bella's hand again.
However I was determined not to let that happen. I knew what Renee was capable of this time and I vowed I wouldn't let Bella go again. It was too soon to talk marriage with Bella, but I knew I wanted forever with her. There would be no stopping me this time unless Bella herself told me it was not what she wanted. That she didn't want me.
Although I was cautiously hopeful that maybe my talk with Renee had gotten through to her once she'd had some time to think about it, but I didn't let my guard down completely. Call it intuition—gut instincts or whatever, but I just couldn't completely shake the feeling that Renee wasn't done messing with us.
It was Monday, September seventeenth, and last Thursday had been Bella's birthday. Despite Bella's protests and her desire to spend the evening alone with me, we spent the evening with her mother since Renee had insisted on making Bella a special dinner and had baked her a cake. It had turned out to be a pleasant evening, at least as pleasant as it could be given our company, but it still ticked me off that Renee had insisted on having things her way.
We were both extremely happy when Friday evening came and we had our alone time to look forward to. Remembering from when we were younger that Bella didn't like to make a big deal about her birthday, we had spent the weekend like any other weekend she stayed with me except I had set up a candle lit dinner for us. She had loved it even though she had felt silly eating her favorite food, mushroom ravioli, by candle light.
I had two gifts for her but had saved them. I definitely didn't want Renee anywhere in the vicinity when I gave her either one of them. One I planned to give to her today and the other tonight after dinner. Bella and I had both taken the day off and were going to Seattle to go to Emmett's baseball game. It was a day game and Alice, Jasper and Rose were going too, then afterwards we were all going out to dinner at The Space Needle.
I had just come out of the bathroom and was rubbing a towel through my hair when I heard Bella on the phone.
"What do you mean a sold sign, Alice? The house wasn't even for sale. How is that possible?"
She was quiet for a second like she was listening to whatever my sister was saying to her and then she said, "I hate to ask this but are you sure it was my grandmother's house? Could it have been in the neighbor's yard? To a passerby it could look like one big yard since the houses are so close together."
I watched as Bella's eyebrows scrunched together and she began chewing on her thumbnail. I walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. Placing my hands on her hips, I pulled her to stand between my legs and mouthed to her "what's wrong".
She quit chewing on her nail and held up her pointer finger as a signal for me to wait a minute.
"Okay, thanks, Alice. I'm going to fill Edward in and then we're going to head back to Forks. I need to find out what the hell is going on. Yeah. I'll call you as soon as I can."
As soon as she clicked the button on her cellphone to end the call I asked, "What's going on? Why are we going back to Forks?"
"Alice and Jasper were on their way here to ride with us to Seattle. When they drove past my gran's house they saw a sold sign in the front yard and a moving van in the driveway."
"What!" I exclaimed. My blood was boiling. I'd had my doubts that Renee had truly given up on her ploy to come in between Bella and me, but this was fucking ridiculous and totally uncalled for.
"Yeah, she said it looked like my mother has sold Gran's house."
What the fuck had Renee done now, was all I could think. It was clear from the heartbroken look on Bella's face that she was hurting. I wrapped her in my arms and held her tightly. She slumped against me and I could tell this was going to be extremely difficult for her. I just couldn't begin to comprehend what the hell Renee was thinking.
As I held Bella and tried to comfort her, I assured her we'd get to the bottom of this. If what Alice was saying was true, not only had Renee sold Bella's grandmother's house without even mentioning it to Bella, but she'd also denied Bella the opportunity to buy it herself. I was livid and knew there'd be no holding me back in saying anything to that woman. She'd gone too far this time and I refused to let her hurt Bella anymore.
Dun dun dun! What has Renee done now? And why? Let me know your thoughts. I can't wait to hear them.
I have a special request for all of you, my wonderful readers. One of my readers who has been with me through every one of my stories has started posting her very first story this week. Show Teamswiterlandmom some love and check out her sexy little Christmas fic called, Twelve Days of Lingerie. I promise you won't be disappointed. You can find the link for her under my favorite authors list on my profile page and the link to her story on my favorite stories list.
Also, for those of you reading my collaboration with My-Bella, Beneath The Surface, don't forget to stop by our live Q&A session on Twitter tonight at 8pm central time. You can find us on Twitter at, (at)teammasen. We'll be on for about an hour and you can ask the characters questions or chat with My-Bella and me. We might even indulge you with answers about any of our other stories.
Thanks for reading!
EA