Chapter 9

Bella

She didn't want to go really, but then she had no choice, it was an emergency. It was her duty. Even though she'd promised Renesmee to sit and watch her favorite cartoon movies with her, half an hour into one of those from Disney Renesmee had fallen asleep with a tub of Ben and Jerry in her lap and her phone had started vibrating. It was from the hospital stating it was an emergency and she would be required in an hour. Enough time to put Renesmee to sleep and call the au pair she'd given a day off. The girl could take fifty dollars for it, in exchange for calling her in the middle of a date with some college boy.

Lissa, the au pair showed up after half an hour, giggling, her hair rumpled despite an attempt to make it look like it had been before. Guess the date had gone all too well, Bella smiled, thinking of all that follows a good date. She tried to remember her last good date, it wasn't a surprise that she couldn't remember even one. It wasn't really her fault, after renesmee's birth, her time had been divided between raising a baby and attending classes and the remaining time was spent either in finishing her school work or trying to catch up with her sleep schedule. Her most prominent grocery item was coffee, that's how she'd survived. After three years, coffee has almost become ineffective before she went for a detox. All this never gave her time to date or even think about it. It wasn't like she had any dearth of askouts. She got hit on all the time, even now, being a mother and all. There was this guy, son of one of her patient's, and then one of Renesmee's classmates dad, and then one of her colleagues, one of Rosalie's friends. She wondered when was the last time she'd kissed a guy. Eight years, she knew the answer very correctly and even the circumstances.

"Hey, love," Edward called out as she entered the living room. She didn't reply but just threw the handbag and the books on the side table and went to the kitchen and took out a bottle of water and gulped it all down. She didn't know what it really was, the heat or the nausea of this kind of secrecy. She just headed for the bed room straight and curled up on the bed. After ten minutes, Edward followed her in and sat down on the floor next to her. "Bella, are you okay, honey?" he asked stroking her hair.

She muffled a nod, while her face was still buried in the pillow. He continued to stroke her hair, so gently that had it not been for what she knew, she'd have fallen asleep by now. Her father used to put her to sleep like that when she was little and before he got himself killed while taking care of a hostage situation. She couldn't bear it any more, she turned to face Edward. He was looking at her with so much tenderness that her heart felt torn with the intensity of it. It was too much to hide something from someone who loved you this much. It didn't matter how unwelcome this might be.

"Edward." She whispered carefully.

"Yes."

It took every bit of courage she had to say the next few words. "I'm pregnant."

It was in that moment that everything froze, the world stood still, time stopped with the sound of her last word. She didn't dare say another syllable. They sat like that for god knows how long, in that room, right where they were. Edward on the floor, his hands on the side of the bed and she lying a few inches away from him.

"You're pregnant," Edward finally spoke. Bella nodded.

"What do you want to do about it?" he asked, but there was something that told her that this wasn't really a question, it was a life choice. "You know like raise it, give it away – it can be given into adoption even, or you know –"

Bella didn't want to hear the you know, even though she knew what it was. Her maternal instincts pushed through her confusion and she knew what she wanted. Edward's hands had been covering hers by now, without her realizing it, she slowly it slid it out from under his and clasped both her hands together. "I want the baby." She spoke.

He sat there for a minute, still quiet and then spoke – "I want whatever you want. Let's raise the child." His eagerness came as a shock but then that's how Edward was, eager. He would decide something in a moment and that's how it was. He cupped her face and kissed her forehead and then looked her in the eyes. "I love you, and this child, too, now. It's a part of us. I want to be with you, and I want us to raise the child. Together."

Bella nodded, she didn't remember the lucky moment her tragedy struck life had stumbled upon the lucky moment when she'd found Edward. She felt outrageously lucky.

And then he kissed her life never before, it held love, and passion but also a promise, and warmth of safety, she kissed him back with a promise equally sincere, and we'll all live happily ever after, she thought happily. After that they made love and lay in each other's arms for hours before ordering lasagna from Bella's favorite restaurant and ate it with Coca-Cola in bed.

After that they just slept off, in each other's arms, when Bella woke up in the middle of the night she found his hand on her belly, she smiled at the warmth that was being exuded and went back to sleep.