Where my Heart Lies
Chapter 19: Reality Bites
Bella
It had been a month since Edward got the notice form Jessica's lawyer claiming he lead her on. Things had gotten much better between the two of us and especially for the twins. I was happy that he and his dad started their own practice together since the hospital kind of let him go. I understood their point of view, but it wasn't fair for him to be punished after everything he has gone through. I was putting the finishing touches on dinner as I looked through my portfolio once again to make sure I picked the photo I wanted to send in.
"We're home," I heard the girls say as the door slammed shut. Edward had taken him to work with him so that his mom could spend the day with them. I still wasn't in the mood to get together with Alice and Rose, but felt the girls shouldn't be kept form cousin and the others. It was good they were homeschooled as well since they were gone all day.
"I'm in the kitchen, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner," I say as I feel two arms wrap around my waist.
"Did you get a lot down?" Edward questions as he picks a tomato out of the salad I had just finished.
"I did, I went through some old photos to send in so that I didn't have to go out, cleaned up the house and made my family dinner," I joke as he laughs.
"Mom, said the girls were angels at her house," he replies as he washes his hands. I am about to call the girls when they come running into the dining room. I noticed that both of them had their hoodie's on even though they were in the house which was odd.
"Girls, you know the rules no hates or hoods on in the house," I say as I see them look to each other before turning to us.
"Um, I would like to keep it on," Carlie says as she pulls on her sleeves.
"Carlie, your mother asked you to remove the hood. Emmalin, you need to do it as well," I hear Edward say as they look to each other once more before slowly removing their hoods. I was shocked when I saw their hair was cut and both girls had a streak running on one side of their hair.
"What happened to your hair?" I snapped as I got up and felt it to see if I was seeing things.
"Auntie Alice took us to the beauty salon for a girl's day and we cut our hair. The Emmalin got a pink streak and I got purple," Carlie says as I look to Edward who was just as stunned as me.
"Bella, we'll talk about this after dinner," Edward says before I could begin the rant I was just about to unleash. My daughters knew I didn't want to cut their hair. I was very upset. Needless to say dinner was very quiet for us. The girls ate their food without talking and it seemed neither Edward nor I had anything to say to each other. Once dinner was over Edward dismissed the girls to take a bath and then to meet us in the living room.
"How could Alice do this?" I snapped the moment I heard the water on upstairs. Edward was wiping down the counter as I loaded the dishwasher.
"I don't know," he mutters as I am about to turn around and lay into him. "I mean they look cute," he says softly as I slam the dishwasher closed and turned it on.
"I don't care if they look cute or not. They are our daughters not Alice's or anyone else's but ours. I have never had their hair cut before. I was saving that for a special mother daughter occasion. I can't have that now," I yell as I see him nod his head. I was livid that Alice just took it upon herself to do something so dramatic to my children.
"I know this isn't something she should have done, but she did. We have to accept that it's done," he says softly as I walk out of the room and upstairs to our room slamming the door shut. I was upset and he didn't understand why. I picked up the phone in the bedroom to dial Alice to give her a piece of my mind when I heard his voice.
"Edward," she says happily, as I was about to yell at her he spoke.
"Alice what is wrong with you," he snaps as I hear a sharp intake on her end.
"I thought it would be different for them," she replies as I hear him groan.
"That wasn't your place to decide for them. They are our daughters and you did something that Bella can never do with them. You had their first haircut. That wasn't your job," he mutters as I begin to cry knowing it was tearing him up to talk to his sister like he was.
"I didn't know. We all went to have our nails done and I was getting my hair cut and they asked to have theirs done. I didn't think anything about it," she says softly as I hear the girls talking in the hallway.
"It doesn't matter. You hurt Bella and you need to figure out a way to fix it. Until further notice I hate to say it, but I don't want you alone with my daughters. You took it upon yourself to do something like you did without thinking about Bella or how it would affect her," he says as I a begin to feel bad for getting upset with him.
"I made sure to record it. I'll send the video to you guys. I even had each of the girl's ponytails placed in a baggie to keep. I sent them with the twins," she says as I hang up the phone not wanting to hear anymore. I go back down stairs as Edward hangs up the phone. He looks to me as he begins to let the twins know how wrong it was of them to do something to their hair knowing I didn't want them to cut it. In the end he grounded them for a week and let them go to bed.
I headed to their room to tuck them in as I heard him go to our room and get in the shower. Once I tuck the girls in I head to the kitchen to place my photos into my portfolio and get it ready to mail off in the morning. I was working on my laptop when I saw I had a video from Alice. I clicked on it to see the girls getting their haircut and dyed. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched them play with their newly cut hair.
"I'm surprised they didn't cry at all," I hear from behind me as I jump in my chair since I didn't know he had come back downstairs.
"They've been hounding me for over a year to cut their hair. I wanted to keep it long because I liked the curls," I say admitting the only reason I hadn't cut it.
"I liked it long too, but now I can really tell them apart with the streaks," he says trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I know," I say softly as I feel his arms wrap around me.
"I called my sister letting her know how we felt about the situation," he says as I think about not telling him about eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Yeah, I heard some of it," I admit as he sits down beside me.
"I thought I heard the phone click, but just thought it was the line. I meant what I said," he says turning my face to meet his.
"I know," I say as I close my laptop and stand up. He checks the doors as I wait for him on the stairs. We walk to our room together and get in bed. I fall asleep to him rubbing circles on my thigh.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
It's been two weeks since the whole hair fiasco with the twins. Edward had been great with taking over more of the day to day things since I had to travel a little for work. I knew the girls would be at the clinic with Edward since I was home earlier than I thought I would be. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some groceries knowing Edward probably has been eating out or with his family. I had just grabbed a bunch of bananas when I saw the one person I had been avoiding.
"Bella," I hear Alice say as she gets closer to me. I looked away from her to see Jasper beside her. I could still remember flying home the first time and how he kept the girls busy. I hated not spending time with Alice and the family, but I felt like I was always being judged for the past.
"Alice, Jasper," I say walking around their buggy.
"Bella, are you ever going to talk to me," Alice questions as I pick up a bag of grapes.
"I have nothing to talk to you about Alice," I say as I place them in my cart.
"You haven't been to the last two Sunday brunches. Don't you think you've punished us enough," she mutters as I see Jasper whisper something to her.
"I haven't been punishing you Alice. I don't like the fact you took it upon yourself to decide something for my daughters when it wasn't your place. I am their mother, Edward is their father. I haven't been to the brunches because I have to work. I don't see where it's any of your business what my family does," I sneer at her as I walk off to pay for the groceries so that I could get home and rest.
I had just unloaded the last bag of food when I heard the front door open. I put the grapes in the colander to rinse them just as Carlie ran into the kitchen.
"Mommy, your home," she says as she launches herself at me. "I missed you. Daddy doesn't read the stories like you do," she continued as I kissed her forehead.
"I missed you as well. I finished up early so I decided to head back," I say handing her a bowl of grapes. She takes them and heads to the living room where Emmalin and Edward were sitting on the couch.
"Bella how was your drive," Edward asks as I sit down next to him on the couch handing him a bowl of grapes as well.
"It was fine. I took a lot of pictures along the route and back from California. I can't tell you how beautiful it is driving down there and back," I say as he passes the bowl to Emmalin who hasn't spoken to me yet.
"Maybe we'll take a road trip and see if it is as beautiful as you say it is," he jokes as I see Carlie eyeing up the last of the grapes in his bowl since hers were all gone.
"How was your day Emmalin?" I question as she turns slightly to look at me.
"It was fine," she mumbles as I look to Edward who nudges her. She continues to look at the TV.
"She got into trouble for wondering out the clinic door to follow after Alice and Rose when they passed by going to lunch," he says when she decided to not say anything. I could tell at one point Edward seemed a little edgy, but decided to put it off until we were alone to alone to talk about it. We ordered pizza and I quickly made a salad to go with it. After we were done eating the girls headed for their baths and then to bed.
"Is everything alright?" I questioned as Edward got into bed. He sighed loudly as he turned the light off and turned over on his side to face me.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice," he mumbles as I look him over.
"Things just seemed off," I say as he looks up at the ceiling and then at me.
"Your dad came by yesterday to see me," he starts as I cut him off.
"Is he fine,' I ask as he shakes his head.
"Yeah, he's doing well. He came by to talk with me about Jessica. It seems she committed suicide and left a note claiming it was all my fault," he says as I close my eyes relived she was out of the picture, but sadden because of what she said because I could tell it was already eating at him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask as he turns back to look at me.
"No, not really. I know that it wasn't really my fault but you know how I am. I keep going over our short time together and I never hinted at it being more than dating at the time. I know she had a crush on me while we were in high school, but I thought she had matured," he says as I sigh.
"Honey you can't be too hard on yourself. I think Jessica was sick and she planned carefully what she was going to do," I say softly running my hand over his cheek.
"It just bothers me that I didn't realize what she was doing sooner. I mean I dumped her and the next day the fire at your dad's house," he says as I nod my head.
"Yeah, and even though I left you she still went after you. Edward she drugged you and held you hostage making people think you were dead," I say as he kisses the tip of my nose.
"Yes she did. I'm glad that you came home though or I would still be there," he says wrapping his arms around me pulling me closer to his body.
"I ran into Alice and Jasper today," I say before I lost the guts to tell him.
"Jasper called and told me," he admitted as I chuckle.
"I love you," I whisper as he kisses me passionately.
"I love you as well," he replies as I lean into his chest more. "I am glad all the drama is over with Jessica, but now I think we need to focus on my devious sisters," he says causing me to laugh as I let the day wash away closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.