The Things That Make Me Happy
Chapter Five: Explanations
Bella's POV
I got up the next morning and went through Leah's closet and found an outfit to wear too work. After I took a shower and got dressed I brushed my hair and put it up into a bun. I made my way to the kitchen. I walked it to Seth, Leah and Leila sitting at the table with two plates piled with pancakes.
"Morning Mommy" I walked over to her and gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. She giggled loudly. I sat down next to Leah.
"Hey Belly Bean did you sleep well? She asked while pulling me into a hug.
"I slept well." I yawned and reached for a couple pancakes and began eating. "I have to work today so do you two think you can watch Leila?" they nodded "I get off at 3:45 today so I'll be here around 4:10." I looked to Seth and said this "and no sugar she's already more hyper then she should be"
"Awe Bella you just take the fun out of everything" Leah and I rolled our eyes at the same time "wow creepy you both can do that at the same time" I giggled. I looked up at the time it was 9 I had to be at work by 9:30.
"I have to go" I got up " he baby girl come give mama a hug" she got up and give me a hug and I kissed her cheek.
"Mommy do you have to go?" she does this every time I go to work. I sighed
"Yeah I do baby girl." she looked at my with tears welling up in her eyes "don't cry sweet angel. It'll go by faster then you know it. Plus you'll have Auntie Leah and Uncle Seth here with you." she nodded and said goodbye.
I got into my car and drove to the restaurant. I got there at 9:25. I walked in and was instantly greeted by Kara another waitress. I helped her get a job at the restaurant. I met Kara when I was pregnant with Leila she was also pregnant with her Son Cody at that time. Cody and Leila are best friends. They have pretty much been inseparable since birth. They have been since they were babies.
"hey Bella. How's Leila doing?" I smiled at her I loved it when people asked about my daughter first before me. She'll always come before me or anyone else.
"Leila is good. She didn't want me to leave this morning. How's Cody?" I asked while I motioned for her to follow me so I can get ready for work.
"Cody's wonderful. He's been asking when Leila can come over." I laughed quietly.
"Well I'll have to see what I can figure out. And I'll give you a call" she nodded and we walked out and got to work.
It was quitting time for me. I've been working six hours and I am tired. Thank god I have tomorrow off. I hopped in my car and started towards my dad's house.
I arrived at my dads house twenty five minutes later. I just put the car in park while I ran inside and got Leila. I just walked through the door when a small body slammed into me almost sending me to the floor. Leah followed her out of the kitchen.
"mommy mommy! Your home! How was work? I missed you!" Leila exclaimed while bouncing up and down. I sighed tiredly.
"how much-" I stopped myself. "you know I don't wanna know"
"it's best you don't know" Leah replied I nodded and said thanks for watching her. I grabbed Leila's backpack and we walked out to the car. I got her buckled and climbed in and we took off towards home.
Ten minutes later I pulled into the driveway and I groaned. Great. All seven Cullen's standing outside my house. wonder what they want.
"Mommy, Who are they?" I turned around to see my daughter standing in between the front seats.
"They are some people mommy knew before you were born" I told her trying to sound happy so I don't scare her but I suddenly felt angry. "baby girl I want you to go upstairs when we get inside ok? Don't come down till mommy calls you. Okay baby?"
"but why mommy?"
"because mommy said so okay" she nodded. And I got out of the car. And looked right at Edward who was looking right at me. He still looks as beautiful as the day I met him. The backdoor of the car opened and Leila came out but she only looked at the ground. I grabbed her hand as if saying it's okay. Leila looked up at them shyly. Edward was looking at her realization written all over his face. Well he figured it out.
"Bella" I heard him say and I looked up at him.
I didn't say anything as I walked past them and unlocked the door. I opened it and Leila ran upstairs. I held the door open and gestured for them to come in. I closed the door after everyone came in and led them to the living room without a word. They sat down and I stood in front of them. I didn't speak for the longest time after a few minutes I found my voice.
"Why are you guys here?"
"Well we moved back here-" Carlisle started but I cut him off
"No I meant here at my house?" I asked while going to take a seat on my chair.
"Well we wanted to ask you something" Esme said I looked over at her and nodded
"Okay what did you want to ask me?" I asked impatiently
"it's about your daughter….Leila" Alice explained. I sighed of course it'd be about her.
"What about her? How did you know about her anyways?" I looked towards Alice this time.
"I seen you in the mall the other day and I sort of followed you to the gap and I heard you talking to your daughter." Alice explained I sighed
"so what exactly do you wanna know about her?" I asked once again
"We want to know everything about her." Rosalie stated
"Why? Why do you have to know about her?" my anger was starting to show. Why would they care about me and my daughter now after the abandoned me six years ago.
"just answer us this; who is her father?" I thought about it for a moment; if I tell them then I don't have to hide anything from them but if I don't tell them then I'll be thinking about that for awhile and I did not want that on my mind constantly.
"why don't I tell you everything starting two days after my birthday" I started hoping that this would work for them. All of them nodded so I continued "the two days following my birthday I felt sick so I went to a doctor in Seattle." they looked confused.
"Why would you go to Seattle just for a doctor when there was one here" Edward asked that
"I went to Seattle because I didn't want any of you to find out until I was certain about what was wrong plus I was out there anyways visiting a friend of mine." I explained but continued right away so they couldn't ask any questions "but anyways I was there for a couple hours the doctor did various tests and about two hours later and told me the news that I was pregnant. Around the time I conceived I only slept with one person." as I said that I looked directly at Edward.
"So" he started to say "I'm her father" I nodded but didn't say anything.
"when I was six months pregnant there were some complications with the pregnancy. I was experiencing really bad stomach cramps so my dad took me to the hospital, where I found out that umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and they told me that she was in distress. I had an emergency c-section. On February 14th at 5:07 pm Leila Rosalie Cullen was born. She weighed three pounds one ounce." I stopped there to look at Rosalie who was smiling at me.
"you named her after me" she sounded shocked I nodded and she ran over and gave me a hug, which surprised me and probably everyone, and if she could cry she would have.
"I did. And I gave her the last name of Cullen. Since in my eyes she will always be. If you couldn't tell she looks nothing like me." I told them when Rosalie let go of me. But before they could say anything else my daughter ran downstairs with the phone in her hand
"Mommy! Mommy!" she sounded really scared as she ran over to me and handed me the phone. I looked at her silently asking what the phone is for.
"Mommy I know you said don't answer the phone but it was ringing and ringing and it was annoying and so I picked it up and Cody's momma is on the phone she said it was important that she talk to you. She's on the phone mommy" she stopped and took a breath. I nodded and put the phone to my ear. Leila ran upstairs again
"Hello?" nobody said anything so I tried again "Kara? Kara you there?"
"Yes I'm here. Bella can…can I bring Cody over for a while?" she sounded desperate.
"umm yeah you can. What's going on though?"
"He's found us!" she said in a hushed whisper. I froze and the phone dropped out of my hand. Raymond Daniels is Kara's ex-boyfriend and father to Cody. Kara left him when she found out she was pregnant. She wanted to protect her baby. Ray abused her and controlled her she didn't want her baby to grow up in that world so she took off the minute she found out she was pregnant. "Bella? Bella? Are you okay?" I snapped out of whatever shocked state I was in and picked up the phone.
"Yeah yeah I'm okay." I told her my voice shaky. "are you on your way"
"yes, I'm actually two minutes away so I'll see you soon" and with that she hung up. I was still shaking when I set the phone down on the coffee table. I didn't say anything to anybody. The door opened and Kara and Cody walked in. I walked over to them and knelt down so I was level with Cody.
"Leila is in her room why don't you go up" I suggested he looked back at him mom who nodded and he took off upstairs. I stood up and didn't say a word as I pulled Kara in for a hug as she cried on my shoulder. It seemed like an eternity later when she pulled back.
"are you gonna stay here too? You know you can if you want to." I told her she gave me a watery smile and said that she was gonna go to her moms for a bit and then left.
"What's going on?" Emmett asked I didn't take my eyes off the door.
"Her ex boyfriend found her." I explained briefly as I turned to look at them.
"Why is that so bad?" Alice asked curiously
I went and sat back down and put my head in my hands I took a couple minutes to collect myself before I started to speak "Kara's ex boyfriend is abusive and controlling. She couldn't go anywhere with out him driving her even though she was fully capable of driving herself. He'd check her phone, read her text messages and emails. He'd beat her daily half of the time just because it was fun. Kara told me that one time he beat her so bad that she was put into a coma for a month." I stopped and wiped the tears that were falling "once she found out she was pregnant she left. She walked two miles to her sisters house and her sister let her borrow her car and she drove. She didn't care where she went as long as she was away from Ray. I still remember when I first met her-"
FLASHBACK:
I was sitting in my room trying to figure out something to do today. I decided I'd go to the park for a bit. Something was telling me that I needed to go. I got out of bed and got dressed in black skinny jeans and a light blue top with a white cardigan. I put on my shoes and walked downstairs and into the kitchen. My dad was sitting at the table reading the paper. He looked up when he heard me come in.
"Hey Bells" he greeted me then looked at my outfit. Normally on Saturday's I stay in my pajamas all day but not this Saturday "are you going somewhere?"
"oh umm yeah I decided to go to the park for a while" I said as I poured myself a bowl of cereal.
"okay just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you or my grandchild." I smiled at him he took to my pregnancy really well. I nodded and said my goodbyes and walked out the door. Since the park wasn't that far away I would walk there.
I was trying to figure out what was going to go on in the park today. I walked to the park and was going over to the bench that I normally sit on when I seen this woman she looked around my age and she had straight brown hair that went down to her waist. I walked over to her and I shook her gently. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me strangely.
She yawned and sat up "where am I?" she asked me kinda confused
"you are in a park in Forks, Washington."
"oh" was all she said we fell into silence as I tried to find something to talk to her about. I wonder if she's the reason I why I felt like I should come to the park today.
"do you live around here?" I asked the woman she shook her head
"I don't actually I drove here from New Mexico. I got here sometime last night but I was tired of driving so I stopped here and laid down on the bench and I must have fallen asleep…" she was rambling at this point. "…so do you live around here?" I tuned in when I heard that question
"umm…yeah I live five minutes from here" I turned to her and noticed a bruise on her face "what happened?" I lightly touched her face. I expected her to slap my hand away and tell me not to touch her but she didn't. she did something I didn't expected. She started to cry. I did the only thing I could do….I pulled her into a hug and held her while she cried. "Everything will be okay" I told her while rubbing soothing circles on her back. After a while she stopped crying.
She sighed and told me everything about her abusive boyfriend, her many hospital visits and to when she found out she was pregnant and left.
"…so that brings us till now when you found me. I've been running from him for days I just hope he'll never thing to look for me here." she said through sobs.
"so do you need a place to stay?" I ask her and she nodded and said yes I told her that I could talk to my dad about her staying with us. "I just noticed I don't know your name." I said to her
"I'm Kara. Kara James." she said quietly
"Well hi Kara. I'm Bella." and we headed to my house
END OF FLASHBACK
"Wow that was nice of you to do for her." Esme commented. I smiled slightly
"I couldn't just leave her there" I said quietly "But anyways I'm sure you would like to properly meet Leila" I didn't wait for an answer I went upstairs and walked in her room I seen Cody and Leila asleep on the floor. Leila was cuddled up to Cody and he had an arm around her. I very quietly walked to my room and grabbed my camera. I went back to Leila's room and snapped a picture. The flash woke Leila up.
"Mommy?" she asked I put my finger to my lips saying to be quiet cause Cody's still sleeping
"Yeah it's me baby. There's some people I want you to meet" I told her quietly. She nodded and carefully removed Cody's arm and got up. We headed downstairs and walked into the living room.
"Leila" she looked at me "remember when you asked about your dad" she nodded "well your dad is over there" I said while pointing to Edward. She looked to where I was pointing. She waved to him but didn't move. I then introduced her to her grandparents Carlisle and Esme and her Uncles Jasper and Emmett and her Aunts Rose and Alice.
"Bella do you think you and I could talk in private please?" Edward pleaded with me I agreed and led him to the kitchen. I leaned on the counter "I wanna say I'm sorry for how I left things and if you'd give me another chance, I promise to you I won't do it again. I love you and it hurt me to be away from you for the last six years and then hearing I have a daughter that I didn't know about it just makes it worse."
"if it hurt you to be away from me for six years then why did you wait until now to come back? Why didn't you come back before? Or better yet why did you leave at all" my rant started out calm but I started raising my voice with every question
"I thought it was for the best. I left to protect you" he replied still calm. "Bella will you give me another chance? A chance to be the best boyfriend and father I can be."
"I don't know Edward you really hurt me when you left. This isn't a decision I can make right away." he nodded in understanding we walked back in the living room
"Where's Leila?" I asked noticing that she wasn't in the room
"She went upstairs to see if Cody was awake." Jasper answered
"Okay" was my short answer. It was quiet again until Alice decided to speak up
"Why did Leila smell like wet dog?" I groaned internally how would I explain that one
"Well Leah and Seth Clearwater watched Leila today while I was at work. And well they are-" I looked down and quietly said the last word "-werewolves" I heard everyone gasp I looked up to see an angry Edward looking at me
"you left my daughter in the hands of a werewolf! Why would you do that?" Edward said…no more like yelled at me like a child.
"First of all she's more mine then yours! And second of all Leah is like my best friend she's been there for me for everything over the last three years" I looked to Alice and she looked sad I gave her an apologetic smile and continued "and I left her with them because she loves Leah and Seth. Plus I didn't have time to bring them to the daycare because I had to get to work I was already late as it was and if I was any later I'd be out of a job. A job I really need." I yelled back at him
"you should stay away from them they are dangerous." by that time I was past angry I was furious how dare he come in here and tell me what to do.
"What do you want me to stay away from my dad too?" I retorted sarcastically "I'm sorry but I'm not going to stay away from them. You can't tell me what to do and who to hang out with."
Edward's angry face changed into one of confusion "what does your dad have to do with this?"
"Four years ago my dad married Sue Clearwater." I calmed down a little bit but not a lot "I think you should go I have to feed the Leila and Cody and then I gotta get them ready for bed." they nodded and left. After they left I made macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner when they were done they put their pajama's on and settled down in bed. I put on a movie for them and sat downstairs to read.
"Hey Bells" I looked up from my book and seen Kara standing there.
"Hey Kara" I said sadly. I hope she doesn't notice something wrong
"what's wrong?" I guess I was wrong she did notice.
"Leila's father came over" I said bluntly as I set the book down on the table.
"What did he want"
"he wanted another chance" I said with a sigh "but he blew that"
"what do you mean?"
"he doesn't like Leah or Seth or any of the boys from the reservation. He told me to stay away from them. he can't just come in here after six years and tell me what to do and who to hang out with."
"I think you should stay away from him till you clear your head. Don't let him control you that way you are an independent woman who has been doing things on her own since you had Leila. You also have to think how this will affect Leila. What would happen if he spent a lot of time with her then left again. He'd break her heart. I would just be careful around him don't get too attached."
"I know, I know everything you said was right. I'll be careful I promise. I'm not gonna let him in again. I can't be vulnerable like I was before."
She smiled at me and gave me a hug. I told her its been a long exhausting day so I'm going to bed. I told her that Cody is laying on the extra bed in Leila's room. I said goodnights and went up to bed.
"I hope tomorrow's a better day" I whispered to myself as I turned off the lights
Author's Note: 10 pages. Wow this is my longest chapter. Please tell me what you think.