A Deathbed Promise

AN: Thank you for adding me to alerts/faves list. A special thank you to wolfygrr21 and jessa76 to being the first ones to review. It was more than I expected for a chapter that was barely 200 hundred words. So here is the first offical chapter.

Chapter One—The Name of Masen for her Baby

"It's time, Isabella."

A shudder rippled down Bella's spine at the sound of the quietly spoken words. Taking a deep breath, she turned from where she'd been standing at the bedroom window, staring blindly out at the lengthening shadows.

She tried not to look as miserable as she felt. After all, a bride was supposed to be happy on her wedding day. But it was impossible to smile, or feel anything other than depressed.

The man who was about to become her husband filled the open doorway, looking impressive in a beautifully tailored blue grey three-piece suit. Bella had always thought him a handsome man, with his strongly sculptured face, jet-black hair and compelling blue eyes. But it was a cold, forbidding kind of beauty, and she had never warmed to it. She shivered when his dark brows drew together, narrowed eyes sweeping over her.

"You're not wearing white," he said harshly.

Gulping, she glanced down at the light gray floor length dress she had chosen. Mostly because the empire waist disguised her rapidly changing figure. It had a matching hat—a small soft thing with a flower on one side and a wispy veil that came down over her forehead.

When Esme had tried to steer her towards something white, she'd been firm in her refusal. White would have been hypocritical. Not because she thought herself impure, but because her wedding was not a romantic wedding. It was simply a fulfilling of a deathbed promise.

"No," she said. "I'm not."

Her brief answer was not stirred by defiance but by fear. Emmett Masen frightened the life out of her.

Bella had never met a man as intimidating as Anthony's younger brother. Not even Phil, her bullying stepfather, had produced the sorts of reactions in her this man could produce. She fairly recoiled in Emmett's presence, becoming tongue-tied or simply stupid. Sometimes she even stammered, which was why she tried to answer him in monosyllables.

"You are entitled to wear white," he growled. "Any wrongdoing lay entirely with my brother."

Her dark brown eyes flung wide at this unfair misconception of what Anthony had supposedly done. Perhaps he should have told her he was married, but there had been no heartless seduction, no taking advantage of her young age, or forcing her against her will. She'd gone to his bed willingly and would have done it more than one time, if she had the chance.

But of course, she hadn't had the chance. Anthony had collapsed the following day and within a few short weeks, he was gone. She would never see him again. He would never see his baby…

Tears filled her eyes. Again.

"Come now, don't cry," Emmett ordered curtly, drawing a snow-white handkerchief out of his jacket pocket as he strode across the room. "What's done is done. Don't go messing up those lovely eyes of yours."

This most uncharacteristic compliment upset Bella, as did the feel of Emmett's large hands pressing the handkerchief into her trembling fingers.

That was another thing about him that she found intimidating. His size. He was a very big man. Not only tall, but powerfully built with broad shoulders, a massive chest and long muscular legs.

Anthony had been much shorter and of a slight build, almost feminine hands. He hadn't towered over Bella's five-foot-three frame as his brother did; hadn't made her feel like a child by comparison. Emmett could pick her up and snap her in two, if he wanted to.

"Th-thanks," she said, her voice and hands both shaking as she dabbed at her eyes.

"Why do you always act as though you're scared to death of me?" Emmett growled.

There was something other than exasperation in his voice that made her look up at him through her wet lashes. But the hard blue eyes that looked back at her were as remote and unreadable as ever.

"I…I d-don't mean to," she whispered, but her husky stammering contradicted her words.

A guilty remorse curled in her stomach. The man deserved better that her irrational and no doubt irritating nervousness whenever he came within three feet of her. His treatment of her since Anthony's death had been perfect. He'd brought her to live in his own home, provided her with every material thing she could possibly want even had his own secretary befriend her so that she wouldn't be lonely for female companionship.

And now…now he was about to give her what no other person could. The name of Masen for her baby. Her beloved Anthony's name.

The least she could do was show gratitude, not fear. After all, he wasn't expecting anything from her in return. The marriage would be name only, to be quickly terminated at some future date.

"Smile, then," he commanded.

The smile she dragged up proved that acting was not her forte. When Emmett sighed, Bella's smile faded, her misery returning. Only by an utmost effort of will did she keep the tears at bay.

His hand on her arm was as firm as his voice. "Come along. People are waiting."

Instant alarm had her resisting his pull. "People? But I thought…I mean…"

Emmett's face carried frustration. "For pity's sake, don't get me wrong. People do not mean a crowd. There's only Mother, Jasper, Esme, Maria and the celebrant. OK?" he asked with exaggerated patience.

Her eyes told him that things were far from OK, but she nodded her compliance.

"Shall we go then?"

"I suppose so," she replied resignedly, the first smoothly delivered answer she had ever given him. Odd that it seemed to irk him as much as her usual gibberish.

Bella realized at that moment that Anthony's brother found everything about her a trial of the first order, not just her lack of confidence and sophistication. He'd done his best to hide his frustration with her and the disagreeable position his vow with his brother had put him in, but she could see now that the coolly aloof manner he adopted with her hid a very real annoyance.

The thought upset her, so much that as Emmett was leading her down the wide sweeping staircase, she felt encouraged to say something.

"Emmett," she began, doing her best not to stammer or bumble her way over his name.

Unfortunately, he stopped walking and looked over at her, the last thing she wanted. That cold blue gaze was as unnerving as the rest of him. "What?"

Bella licked dry lips before launching forth. "I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you're doing today. I…I also wanted to reassure you that I'll set you free of me as soon as possible."

There! She'd managed to say it all with only the one little slip-up. She even managed a small smile.

Not, however, with any good effect. That wintry gaze grew frostier, if anything.

Dismay washed through her as her earlier conclusion about Emmett's feelings was confirmed. Nothing she could say or do would ever really please him. As soon as possible was not soon enough.

"I think, Isabella," he returned coolly, "that Anthony had a more permanent arrangement in mind when he made me promise to marry you. He wanted his child not only to carry the name Masen, but to be brought up a Masen with all the advantages that would give him or her. Of course, I appreciate that you might wish to be free to find another man like Anthony to share your life with, which is why I originally suggested a divorce after your baby is born. But please do not feel any pressure to set me free of this marriage."

"But I cannot stay married to you," she protested. "Not…not forever."

His shoulders lifted and fell in a casual shrug. "I am not suggesting that you do. I am, however, telling you that there's no hurry on my part to get another divorce. You've lived here several weeks without disturbing my stability. In fact, you seem to have fitted into the household exceptionally well. Both Mother and Maria gave grown quite fond of you. Since I have no intention of ever marrying again, feel free to embrace the sanctuary of being married to me for as long as you like."

His mouth pulled back into a mocking smile. "If you are concerned for my sex life, then don't give it a second thought. I have never had any trouble finding women to keep me well satisfied in that regard and see no reason why I shall in the future. Naturally, I will be discreet. And I expect you to be the same," he finished on a sharper note.

She stared at him, her eyes widening. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Did he honestly think that at four months pregnant she would go looking for…for…?

A fierce blush invaded her cheeks. "I don't think you'll have to worry about me on that score," she flung at him, outrage making her words flow. "I loved Anthony, and I will love him to my dying day. There will be no other man for me. Not ever!"

The corner of his mouth lifted in a cynical fashion. "A nobly romantic sentiment, I'm sure, but not a very realistic one. You're only nineteen, Isabella. A young woman not yet in her sexual prime. Someday, there'll be another man for you."

"Maybe so," she said heatedly, "but certainly not in the next five months. I don't know how you could suggest such a disgusting thing. I'm carrying Anthony's baby!"

Their eyes clashed and for a split-second Bella could have sworn she glimpsed something dark and dangerous swirl within those icy blue depths.

"Is there anything wrong, Emmett?" came a shaky voice query from below.

Both their heads snapped around and down.

Elizabeth Masen stood at the bottom of the staircase, a frail, white-haired figure dressed in a green chiffon dress. She was looking up at them with a worried expression in her faded blue eyes.

"Not at all, Mother," Emmett returned smoothly. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"You sounded as if you were arguing," came her sad remark when they joined her on the Persian rug that covered the black and white tiled foyer.

"Isabella was under the misconception that I might want a divorce as soon as her baby is born," Emmett explained. "I was reassuring her that wasn't the case."

Elizabeth turned alarmed eyes towards Bella. "Dear child, you shouldn't be worrying about such things at this moment. Why, even when you and Emmett do eventually get divorced, you're going to stay here with us and we're going to look after you and your baby just as poor Anthony wanted. We all love you already, don't we, Emmett? You're the daughter I never had, the sister Emmett never had. Tell her she must stay."

Though touched by Elizabeth's warmth and kindness, Bella only needed a quick glance Emmett's way to see he didn't concur with his mother's sentiments. There was no affection for her in his staunchly held face, not even a brotherly one. She was a burden he had to endure, a cross he had to bear. All she could hope was that time would soften his hard heart towards her. Maybe when his niece or nephew was born, his attitude might change. Babies had a way of winding themselves around even the hardest of hearts.

And she did want Emmett to warm to her. He was the brother of the man she'd loved so very deeply. She wanted her baby's uncle to like her at least. It hurt her that he didn't seem to, especially when she didn't know why exactly.

To be honest, she didn't like him very much either. He made her so uncomfortable. Maybe she made him just as uncomfortable. One didn't always need a reason to dislike someone. It could be an instinctive reaction.

Come to think of it, Emmett had been cold to her from the very first moment they'd met, in Anthony's hospital room. At the time she'd thought he was embarrassed, because he's walked in on them embracing, but, looking back, she believed there had been an instant antagonism on his part.

"I've already told Isabella she was welcome to stay," Emmett informed his mother somewhat impatiently. "And that there is no hurry for a divorce. What there is some hurry for, however, is the marriage itself. The celebrant told me he has another appointment at six, so let's go in."

The celebrant looked relieved as the tree of them entered the formal living room where the ceremony was to take place. So did the others.

Esme shot Emmett a reproachful glare, which brought a tiny smile to Bella's lips. Bella was astounded at the way Esme spoke to her boss sometimes, but then again, Emmett gave as good as he got. Worse, most of the time, Bella suspected that if she'd been his secretary she'd have to quit within a week. In a weird way she gained a degree of secret satisfaction at Esme's liberated stance.

Esme's scowl vanished when she shifted her regard to Bella. Now she smiled, mouthing, "You look beautiful." Bella smiled back, feeling a warm gratitude swell her heart. Esme had become a good friend over the past few weeks. If it hadn't been for her good sound common sense and sensible advice, Bella suspected she might have cracked up entirely.

The lady standing next to Esme had been similarly supportive. Maria had been the housekeeper in the Masen household since...forever. No one knew how old she was, but sixty-five would not have been far astray, though she was very sprightly for her age. And a hard worker.

She'd been cool to Bella at first, till Bella had made it clear that she had no intention of lounging around Masen Mansion like some leech. From day one, she'd insisted on her doing her own room and en-suite, as well as helping in any way she could.

Bella has had plenty of practice with housework during her growing up years and saw no reason to sit around like a useless lump, simply because she was pregnant. Maria had become her supporter in this regard a week or two after her arrival when Emmett expressed the opinion—quite assertively—that she shouldn't be doing the cleaning in her "condition."

"The girl's pregnant, not sick!" Maria had argued with bluntness reminiscent of Esme. "When I had my James, I worked right up till they carted me off to the hospital. Provided the girl is healthy, then no harm can come to her. What do you expect her to do, sit around painting her nails all day?"

Bella had been amazed when this last remark seemed to strike Emmett dumb, though his eyes, though his eyes spoke volumes. He'd given Maria a savage look and marched off, clearly furious. Maria's smirk of secret triumph had sparked a curiosity within Bella that she yet hadn't satisfied. Though she did suspect that the lady who had filled her time painting her nails must have been Emmett's ex-wife. Who else could have stirred such a reaction?

Bella found herself thinking of Emmett's ex-wife again as they stood, side by side, in front of the marriage celebrant. All she knew about Emmett's first marriage was that the divorce had become final only recently. Had his wife been beautiful? Had he loved her as much as she loved Anthony? If so, who had divorced whom, and why?

Esme had implied once or twice that Emmett had been deeply hurt by his divorce, suggesting that his wife had been at fault. Maybe she'd had an affair…

Bella found it hard to imagine any woman being unfaithful to Emmett. Who would dare?

She slid a sly glance over at him, standing ramrod-straight, and his shoulders as squared as his chiseled jaw-line. There wasn't a weak line in either his face or body. Bella realized some women might be attracted to Emmett's strong silent type, but she knew she could only ever be drawn to a man who showed a degree of sensitivity and compassion.

Anthony had been all sensitivity and compassion.

Bella could still remember the day they'd first met, when she'd stumbled, weeping, into the old orchard behind the deserted farmhouse next door. She'd thrown herself down into the cool sweet grass under the spreading branches of an ancient apple tree and cried and cried till there were no tears left.

It was then Anthony's gentle voice reached her ears.

"What has happened, love, to upset you this much? Sit up and tell your Uncle Anthony all about it."

Frightened at first, she had shot to her feet, about to run, but the sight of Anthony sitting at his easel, looking so unlike an accoster of young ladies, eased her fears. His eyes were a gentle green, his soft black hair already receding, and he had a way of looking at one that warmed and gladden the soul.

Emmett had accused his older brother of being a dreamer and a fool, but to her he'd been a saint and a rescuer. She hadn't fallen in love that first day when she'd poured her heart to him. But by the time he'd given her sanctuary two years later he'd meant the world to her.

Her whole chest contracted, her eyes shutting momentarily as she struggled to gather herself. She shouldn't have started thinking about Edward. Biting her bottom lip till the pain propelled her out of her reverie, Bella still found that her fingers had begun twisting feverishly together.

Emmett clamped both of his large hands over hers, holding them in a rock-like grip as the celebrant started speaking.

"We've come together on this lovely September evening to celebrate the marriage of Emmett and Isabella…"

He droned on, Bella hating the sentimental words, hating the way Emmett was holding her still, hating Emmett. It should have been Anthony standing beside her, not this cold, heartless individual. Anthony, with his love of everything fine and gentle and romantic. He'd taught her so much, about music and poetry and literature and art, shown her a world she hadn't known existed, a world he'd always loved but had been denied him most of his life.

Not that Bella had known about Anthony's background prior to his falling ill. She hadn't gathered much about his past life even then, from either Anthony or Emmett or Mrs. Masen, who was so upset by her son's advanced cancer that she was incoherent most of the time.

Esme had finally filled in the missing pieces for her: how Edward Masen's first-born son had not taken after his father at all, inheriting instead his mother's softer nature, as well as her appreciation of culture and propriety. As a teenager, Anthony had desired to become first a dancer, then a painter, only to have both his ambitions ridiculed as effeminate by his overbearing father.

Anthony, as the older son, was supposed to follow in his father's footsteps in the family property development business, but he'd hated the ruthless cut and thrust of the real estate world from the start. Not that he hadn't tried to conform to his domineering father's wishes. He had, even to marrying the daughter of another wealthy property tycoon, though his failure to sire an heir had only added to his general sense of inadequacy.

When he deserted the family company and his unhappy marriage shortly after his father's death of heart attack, no one had been seriously surprised. Neither had anyone been surprised when Emmett had slipped into his father's shoes to make Masen Property Developments more successful than ever. He was the spitting image of his father in looks, business insight and ambition.

While the family business had benefited by Anthony's defection, his mother hadn't. Elizabeth became ill with worry over wondering where Anthony was and what he was doing. His only communication had been a letter with a Sydney postmark which he'd sent shortly after he left, saying he was alright but that he had to live his own life and not to worry about him.

Emmett had tried to trace his whereabouts but could never find him, not knowing that Anthony had changed his surname to Cullen and was living in a run-down farmhouse just outside the old mining town of Lithgow, over a hundred miles from Sydney.

Any happiness and relief Elizabeth felt when Anthony had finally contacted his family had been superseded by her devastation at his illness and subsequent death. Bella took some comfort from the fact that in five months' time she would be able to put Anthony's child in Elizabeth's arms. Maybe then the woman would come really alive again.

An elbow jabbing into her ribs jolted Bella back to reality.

"Say 'I do'", Emmett hissed in her ear.

"I…I d-d-do," Bella stammered, to her embarrassment.

"God," came the low mutter from beside her.

Emmett bit out his 'I do' as if he were giving a guilty verdict for murder. When the celebrant pronounced them 'as one' in a flowery way, followed by a smirk and a 'you may kiss your bride', Bella darted Emmett an uneasy look.

She didn't want him to kiss her but she couldn't really see how they could avoid it. Everyone else knew their marriage was a sham, but the celebrant didn't. Emmett looked just as hesitant to oblige, but, seeing perhaps that he had no alternative, he took Bella firmly by the shoulders, turned her his way and bent his head.

Bella steeled herself for the cold imprint of his mouth on hers, so she was somewhat startled to find that the firm lips pressing down on hers were quite warm. Her eyelashes fluttered, her mouth quivering beneath his. His mouth lifted, and for a second he stared down into her surprised eyes. Something glittered in that cold blue gaze.

Then he did something that really shocked her.

He kissed her again.

AN: I hope you enjoyed. Please ask questions. I will answer them. I know things are a little confusing now but everything will be made clear...eventually. Review! I want the good, the bad and the ugly!