A Deathbed Promise

Chapter Two—Life Isn't That Neat

AN: Thanks you guys once again for the alerts/faves and the reviews that you have showered me with! Makes me feel great. Especially since I'm typing up chapter 6 and that is a hard chapter. So just beware when that comes up.

I saw some questions that you guys had and i will take a minute to answer them now. wolfygrr21 was wondering about how Anthony had died. That will be coming up later. As for the second kiss, Bella will answer that question below. This story will be a HEA with some bumps along the way. Meme had asked about the ages for Emmett and Anthony. Anthony was 35 and Emmett is 32. I hope I covered all of them.

And now the chapter!

Bella's first response was anger. Who did he think he was, forcing another kiss on her when he knew she hadn't wanted him to kiss her at all?

But as those unwavering lips moved over hers a second time, Bella's anger was crushed by a shocking discovery. Emmett's mouth on hers was not an entirely horrible occurrence.

Of course, I'm not really enjoying it, she kept telling herself for several totally baffling seconds.

When Emmett made no move to end the kiss, the pressure of his mouth increasing, if anything, Bella began to panic. What must the others think? The grip on her shoulders increased as well, his fingers digging into her flesh. When Bella felt his tongue demanding entry between her lips, she gasped and jerked her head backwards.

Her eyes, which had closed at some point, flew open, flashing anger. But Emmett was already turning away to shake the celebrant's hand.

"I never tire of seeing couples genuinely in love," the man said, pumping Emmett's hand. "But if you don't mind, Mr. Masen, could we sign the appropriate documents straight away? I really must hurry."

Emmett turned back to Bella then, his eyes and manner as composed as ever, while her face was burning up, her heart still beating madly in her chest. How dared he presume to kiss her like that?

Not that she didn't know what lay behind it. Frustration. He was frustrated with the situation his deathbed promise to Anthony had put him in. A kiss, Bella imagined, could be an expression of anger as well as love—both emotions capable of inducing a fiery passion.

It just showed what kind man Emmett was. Nothing like Anthony at all! Anthony would never have kissed her out of anger or frustration. Why, Anthony hadn't even kissed her at all till that fateful night. Even then, she'd been the one to initiate the first kiss. Not that he hadn't kissed her quickly enough, cupping her cheeks and covering her face with beautiful, gentle kisses.

Her eyes misted with the memory of the sweet pleasure they had evoked, of how they had satisfied all those wonderfully romantic dreams she'd been holding about Anthony for such a long time.

"Bella."

The impatient calling of her name snapped her out of her daydreaming, as did those harsh blue eyes glowering at her blurred vision.

"W-w-wh-hat?"

"Good God," Emmett muttered darkly.

"You have to sign the marriage certificate, Mrs. Masen," said a gentler male voice beside her. "It's all set up in Emmett's study."

She glanced over her shoulder up at Jasper Whitlock's smooth face. In his mid-thirties, Jasper was as fair as Emmett was dark. Apparently, he had inherited control of Whitlock and Sons, around the same time Emmett took charge of Masen Properties. He and Emmett had gone to school together, both of them excelling in their studies. But he possessed none of Emmett's hard-edged strength, either in his face or nature. He was a charming man.

Still, it was good to feel a kind hand on her arm for a change, and she liked the way he was looking at her. With admiration and respect. Not like her pretend husband. His eyes carried nothing but an ill-concealed exasperation.

"Best you bring her along, Jasper," Emmett said with a sardonic twist to his mouth. "You seem to have the right touch. Mother, you can help Maria with the refreshments while we get the paperwork out of the way. Esme! You have to come with us, bring one of the witnesses. This way, Mr. Webber. The study is just across the hall…" And he was striding away from them without a backwards glance.

"Yes, commander," Esme saluted to Emmett's rapidly disappearing back, and marched off after him.

Bella couldn't stop the giggle from escaping her lips.

"You should take a leaf out of Esme's book," Jasper whispered as he ushered Bella in the secretary's wake. "Emmett can't hurt you if you don't let him, Bella."

She lifted startled eyes. "Why should you think he can hurt me at all? You better than anyone know this isn't a real marriage. Emmett and I will be divorced as soon as the baby is born."

"That is your intention now, I'm sure, but Emmett is a very attractive man, or so the ladies say. What if you fall in love with him? What if he decides having a wife who looks like you is just what the doctor ordered?"

She ground to a halt in the doorway of the study and stared at Jasper, his last remark not even registering after his first absurd suggestion. "I will never fall in love with Emmett. Never!"

When Jasper suddenly frowned, his eyes darting to a spot behind her left shoulder, she spun round to find a stony-faced Emmett standing there. "Do you think we might get on with singing these papers?" he growled out.

"Sure thing," Jasper agreed smoothly, and waved Bella into the room.

She hesitated, her emotions seesawing between embarrassment and guilt. Yet why should she feel guilty at Emmett's overhearing her statement? He already knew her feelings about falling in love again, and while she could admit she might love another man at some point in the distant future, that man would never be someone like him. She could only love a man who made her feel good about herself, who made her feel special, not awkward and stupid.

But as she made her way across the polished parquet flooring on to the richly patterned rug that lay in front of the huge oak desk, flashes of the first time she'd stood in front of this desk jumped in her mind.

It had been the day after Anthony's funeral, a cold, wet, windy August morning on which she hadn't been able to drag herself out of bed. She'd been lying there, watching the rain slap against the window, when Maria had come in with the message that Emmett wanted to see her in his study when she finally did get up.

A guilty embarrassment had forced her out of bed immediately, hating for Anthony's brother to think she was going to be a lazy house guest. Showering quickly, she'd thrown on a pair of jeans and a pale peach sweater, put a few vigorous brushstrokes through her long dark hair, subdued its thick waves into a single braid then practically ran downstairs, only ten minutes having passed since Maria had come into her room.

Her knock on Emmett's study door had been nervous. Not so the barked, "Come in," from within. Taking several hopefully steadying breaths, she'd gone inside, shutting the door carefully behind her. Her sideways glances had been nervous, however, as she'd hesitantly approached the desk, the room being as intimidating as the owner. Wood-panelled walls, masses of bookshelves filled with heavy looking books, dark curtains at the windows blocking most of the natural light from entering. Not a welcoming room at all.

"You…you wanted to see me?" she asked.

When Emmett looked up from his paperwork, he leant back in his chair, removing himself from the circle of light from his desk lamp. His face fell into shadow, making him appear more menacing than usual.

"Pull up a chair, Isabella," he ordered. "We have things to discuss."

"D-d-discuss?"

He sighed. "Perhaps it would be better if you just sat down and listened."

Bella agreed wholeheartedly, hating herself for stammering all the time. She couldn't understand why he had such an effect on her. She'd never stammered before in her life. There again, she'd never had anything to do with anyone quite like Emmett Masen before.

She settled herself into a large brown leather chair, happy to fall silent.

"I'm sorry to intrude on your grief," he started, without much apology in his curt voice. He wasn't even looking at her, some papers on his desk holding his attention. "But there are legal matters I must make you aware of. Anthony's will—made a few years back unfortunately—leaves everything to his wife. The one who didn't even bother to come to his funeral yesterday," he muttered before glancing up and giving Bella a long, hard look. "Though perhaps it was as well she chose not to show up…"

He let out a weary sounding sigh. "Whatever, Anthony left her his entire estate, which includes the home at Roseville he once lived in with Tanya, and which she has been occupying since he disappeared, plus its contents, as well as a third share in Masen Properties, all up valued at approximately fifteen million dollars."

Bella simply gasped. Anthony had been a millionaire? And yet he'd lived so poorly during the years she'd known him, never buying any new clothes, growing his own vegetables, cutting firewood from dead trees. It had been a hand-to-mouth existence, his only extravagance being his art supplies. She'd often teased him about what he could do with the money when he became a famous painter. Now she understood why he brushed aside her fantasies, telling her instead that money didn't bring happiness and never believed it could.

"My lawyer informs me, Bella," Emmett went on, "that you could contest the will on the grounds that you lived with Anthony as his common-law wife for at least six-months preceding his death, and are expecting his child."

Bella opened her mouth to protest that first assumption then closed it again. She had lived with Anthony, she supposed. What difference did it make that they hadn't consummated their relationship till that last night? Still…contesting Anthony's will didn't feel right. He'd had enough time and opportunity to change his will, if that was that he'd wanted to do.

Anthony's words came back to her about money not bringing happiness and she knew then that she didn't want any of the money he'd left behind, the money that had obviously made him miserable. But before she could open her mouth again, Emmett interrupted her.

"Knowing you," he drawled, "I'm sure you don't want to do that anymore than I want you to. Besides, Tanya is not the sort of woman to go quietly in matters of money. Any contesting of Anthony's will could get very nasty and very expensive. There's no guarantee of your winning, either. So I would not advise that course of action. Anthony entrusted you to me, knowing I would never see you destitute, so I have set up a trust for yourself and the child, in exchange for which you will sign a legal waiving of your rights to Anthony's estate and any more Masen money. How does that sound to you?"

She hesitated. How could she refuse financial security for her and her baby? That would be crazy. And it wasn't the same as fighting for that obscene amount of money. Emmett obviously wasn't talking about millions, just enough for her to live on.

The only problem was that it was Emmett's money. Bella hated feeling indebted to him for more than he'd already given her. Dear heavens, he'd spent a fortune on her already, having Esme select her a new wardrobe and a host of other things. Still, she supposed he must be very rich too and wouldn't really miss it, so she swallowed and nodded her consent.

"Good," he muttered. "For a second there, I thought you were going to be stubborn and foolish. Again."

Bella blushed, knowing he was referring to her distress over the price tags on some of the clothes Esme insisted she buy. Bella had telephoned Emmett at his office in a panic, only to have her protest swept over the side with total exasperation. Instead of his admiring her for not wanting to spend his money, he seemed angry at her worrying.

She'd since learnt not to complain when he ordered her to buy something he thought she needed. Her dressing-table was covered in jars of make-up and vials of perfume she'd never opened. Her drawers were filled with expensive and very delicate lingerie she felt it a waste to wear on an everyday basis. As if she'd been interested in material things, anyway, when her Anthony was dying.

Emmett came forward on his chair and cleared his throat. "Now the matter of our getting married…"

Bella sat up straight. She'd been wondering when he'd get round to that. Of course, he wouldn't want to go through with it. No one could condemn him for that. People said anything to make a person's last days happy.

"If you'll just sign where indicated," he said, picking up a sheet of paper, turning it around and facing it towards her, "we should be able to get married next month."

"You mean you…you still want to m-m-arr-marry me?"

His coming forward in the chair to pass over the document had brought him into full light, so that so she saw the hard glitter in his blue eyes. "The word 'want' does not come into it, Isabella. I have no other option. I could not live with myself if I did not fulfill my promise to my brother, for it was the first and only thing he has ever asked me to do for him. I realize I am not the sort of man you would choose for a husband, but we only have to go through the motions. It will not be a real marriage. Later on, we can secure a discreet divorce."

Bella gulped when he directed a pen her way.

Her hand had trembled as she took it, her signature wobbly. Now, five weeks later, she was signing her marriage certificate on the same desk, and her hand was shaking just as much, if not more.

When she'd signed for the last time, Bella heaved a sigh of relief and gave the pen to Esme who stepped forward with her usual confidence. In seconds, she'd whisked her distinctive signature in the allotted spaces, followed by an equally charming Jasper.

Bella watched them both with a degree of envy. One day, she would be like that, she promised. Unconcerned by any situation, and totally in command of herself.

Her sigh carried a certain amount of disappointment in herself that all Anthony had achieved with her had turned out to be an illusion. She'd mistakenly believed he'd turned her from a shy, ignorant girl into a culturally informed young woman who would not have been at a loss in any company.

But she'd been wrong. Esme had done her best in the clothing department—she'd certainly been given enough money to spend—but a presentable face and good figure could not disguise Bella's innate lack of sophistication. Her recognition of her flaws had destroyed her self-confidence, everything only made worse by her unlucky reaction to Emmett's bossy, almost bullying nature.

Perhaps if he'd been a bit more like Anthony…

She sighed again, thinking to herself that she'd never known two brothers less alike.

All the formalities over, Emmett saw the hearty Mr. Webber to the door while the rest of them returned to the living room where Maria was still laying out the buffet supper she'd been preparing all afternoon. Elizabeth was standing around, looking lost. Esme immediately pressed a glass of white wine into her hands, Bella declining. Jasper moved off the pour himself a drink from the selection of crystal decanters lined up next to the food.

"I wanted to tell you how beautiful you looked today, my dear," Elizabeth complimented Bella.

"Gray's not her color though." Esme commented before Bella can say a word. "She'd have looked much better in cream, but Bella thought it was too close to white."

"I can understand her not wanting to wear white," Elizabeth murmured. "If only poor Anthony could have been here…"

The words hung in the air, the group falling silent as the wretched reality of the occasion sank in.

"Then there wouldn't have been a wedding at all, Mother dear," Emmett inserted drily into the emotion-charged atmosphere.

All heads turned to stare at him, Esme recovering first.

"Hardly a fair thing to say," was her tart comment, "especially when Anthony isn't here to defend himself."

"Oh I have no doubt that Anthony meant to marry Isabella," Emmett elaborated, that mocking edge still in his voice, "but he was, at the time of his death, still married to Tanya. It takes twelve months after the initial application to gain a no-fault divorce in this country and Anthony had instigated nothing in the three years he'd been away."

"Do we have to talk about the that today, Emmett?" Elizabeth looked quite distressed and Bella's heart went out to her. "We all know Anthony meant to divorce that woman."

Emmett, however, was not about to be swayed.

"He didn't divorce her, though, did he?" he drawled. "But that was just like Anthony, wasn't it? Always meaning to do something but never getting around to it."

"Emmett, don't," his mother cried brokenly, a hand coming up to flutter at her throat.

"I'm sorry Mother, but I'm the one who's always had to pick up the pieces whenever Anthony decided to run away from real life and embrace one of his fantasies."

Bella sucked in a sharp breath, but Emmett swept on, seemingly intent on slaying his brother's character.

"The man never grew up, never developed a sense of responsibility. I'm prepared to forget his business fiascos, but when it comes to his personal life I find it hard to be as tolerant. Tanya might be spoiled, selfish bitch, but she didn't deserve being walked out on without a word. She'd been in limbo for three years, for God's sake. The least Anthony could have done was give her a divorce. Then what does he do? He takes up with a girl almost young enough to be his daughter and makes her pregnant when he knew, he knew dammnit, that he was dying. What kind of selfish stupidity was that, I ask you?"

A hushed silence descended on the room once Emmett ran out of steam, and it was while the air vibrated with everyone's tension that Bella stepped forward and slapped him hard around the face. The sound of her hand cracking across his cheek echoed with the gasps of shock her action produced. But she saw nothing except a haze of red-hot fury before her eyes.

"Don't you ever," she launched forth, her voice and body shaking with emotion, "call my Anthony selfish or stupid again, do you hear me? He might not have been perfect. He probably made mistakes. But Anthony would never deliberately hurt another human being. He did whatever he did because he had to! As for his callously making me pregnant, nothing could be further than the truth! During the time I knew Anthony, not once did he make improper advances to me, even after he took me in when I had nowhere else to go.

If you must blame someone for my pregnancy, then blame me. I went to my Anthony's bed when he was obviously distraught and I comforted him the only way I could think of. Neither one of us thought of the child we might have as a consequence, but do you know what? I'm proud I'm having Anthony's baby. Extremely proud. He was a fine man and would have made a fine father. But I am not proud of being your wife, Emmett Masen. The day cannot come quickly enough that I can get rid of you!"

So saying, she burst into tears and ran from the room, dashing up the stairs and along the hall into her bedroom where she threw herself onto the bed, crying profusely into the green silk quilt.

Downstairs, Emmett was still staring after her, his face ashen, except for the bright red mark on his cheek.

"Well, Emmett?" Esme mocked. "I see the much vaunted Masen charm is still intact."

"Go after her, man," Jasper said. "Apologize. Beg her forgiveness."

"Please, Emmett," Elizabeth pleaded. "She's going to have Anthony's child…"

His eyes turned slowly towards his mother, their expression haunted. "Must I spend the rest of my life paying for the dubious privilege of being born in the image of my father?" he muttered.

When no one commented further after this cryptic statement, he whirled and strode from the room, mounting the stairs two at a time till he disappeared from the others' view. Maria returned from the kitchen at that precise moment to find three silent, drooping faces.

"What is it?" she demanded. "What's happened?"

"Emmett said something that upset Bella," Esme volunteered.

"Oh, no, not again! What's wrong with that man? Can't he see what a prize that girl is? Why, if he had any brains he'd snap her up himself good and proper."

"Life isn't that neat, Maria," was Jasper's wry remark.

"I don't see why not," the old lady muttered crossly. "She's a beautiful girl. He's a handsome man. They're married now. Why can't nature take its natural course?"

"She's having Anthony's baby, for pity's sake," Esme argued. "Give the man a break. This hasn't been easy for Emmett. Besides, Bella is still very much in love with Anthony."

"You're right," Maria sighed. "I'm just a silly old fool, thinking things can be all tied up with pink bows. So what are we going to do?"

"I know what I'm going to do," Jasper said, lifting his whisky and drain every drop. "I'm going to have another drink."

"Good idea," Esme agreed. "I'll join you."

AN: Once again, please ask questions. i will answer them. Review! I want the good, the bad and the ugly! Everyone who reviews will get a sneak peek of what will happen in chapter 3. Here's a little hint: Emmett isn't all that strong! Until next week! XOXOXO