Story of My Life
So, I am still alive. It's been what, 8 or 9 months since I updated last? Yeah, I'm sorry. I really suck. I hope everyone doesn't hate me. And that someone out there is still enjoying this story!
Isle Esme was like heaven on earth. Edward had spent nearly three hours taking me on a tour of the island after we had woken up that morning. He showed me the beach, the safe parts of the jungle, a little river, every inch of the house (twice) and just about everything else imaginable. But my favorite place was the beach, which is why I found myself there days later.
Edward was by himself in the water, attempting to surf. Okay, he wasn't attempting, he was actually surfing. It still astounded me that pretty much anything my husband put his mind to, he could do. It could be seen as a little intimidating to some, but for me it was just something to tease him about. He really had become Mr. Perfect. I didn't believe Edward was actually perfect, since no one was, but he was the closest thing to it. It was an absolute head trip to think of the person Edward was once and who he was today. Or the person I once was. I remember hearing, at some point in my life, that you become a better person when you fall in love. I believe I learned that first hand. I was lucky for Edward. He'd given me a second chance at life. But thinking about that made me think about a lot of other things. Things that shouldn't be thought of. I was supposed to be relaxing.
Edward was doing a top notch job of keeping me relaxed and content from the moment we got here. The second night we were on the island he'd planned a beautiful candlelit dinner by the beach underneath the stars. It was breath taking. He had cooked all the food himself and I was very impressed to see he knew how to cook more than just chicken soup. The next morning I had been awoken to find out Edward had a masseuse sent by boat to the island to treat me to a spa day. I was adamant on saying I did not need one, but her reminded me that Kimmi had already booked her day entirely for me, it wasn't like she had anything else to do. Because I felt bad that she was already there, I agreed and thank God I did. Kimmi had given me a hot stone therapy massage first thing and I almost fell asleep I was so tranquil. I'd only ever gotten massages from Edward before, and not that his weren't amazing, but Kimmi's massage was seriously the greatest thing in existence. I wanted to get her number and see if she did house calls. Afterwards, I was given a European facial, which I had suffered through once with Alice, but this was a little more relaxing because I was alone and able to enjoy myself. When my facial was over, Kimmi managed to do something about the gruesome state my finger and toenails were in. By the time I was done, I had been hugging Kimmi, ready to beg her to never leave. Edward was still teasing me for that back, but I just stuck my tongue out at him. I was not used to such lavish things as spa days.
Now that we were at the beach, I decided to catch upon some reading while Edward did his own thing. Even though it was only Edward and I on the island, I refused to wear a bathing suit. So I was lying on my beach chair in a tank top and Sofee shorts, with a nice big hat to protect my pale skin from the unrelenting sun. To anyone else I probably looked nuts, but I was not going to be one of those pregnant girls walking around in a bikini. I was not going to go around parade my stretch marks and glorifying being pregnant. No, instead I was going to attempt to just blend in and lay back and relax.
"Hello beautiful," Edward said from my left. I turned to see him, wondering how he'd managed to sneak up on me without noticing. "What are you reading?"
He stuck his surfboard in the sand before plopping down and leaning over me to read the cover of my book. "Isn't that one of those books from that vampire series?"
I nodded my head. It was no surprise to me that Edward would recognize the book. Almost every girl our age ( though girls much younger and older than myself read it as well) could be caught reading these stories, they'd pretty much become a frenzy. "It's pretty interesting I'm enjoying the love triangle thoroughly."
"I hope that doesn't mean you're interested in one," he teased lightly, resting his head on my shoulder while scanning the page I was currently opened to.
"I mean, if you're into that kind of thing," I said with the straightest face possible. Edward scrunched his nose in disgust before laughing.
"I don't share well," was all he said before butt bumping me off my chair. I was ready to start yelling at him, when I noticed that he hadn't let me fall, but instead was holding me by my waist and pulling me on top his lap. I squirmed in his lap; he was getting my clothes all wet. "Sit still!"
I wanted to explain to him that my clothes were going to be all wet and I hated wet clothes and I was pregnant so I should not be subjected to things I hate. Plus, he was the one who got me pregnant so he really shouldn't make me sit in wet clothes. Or else all my rage would turn towards him. But saying all that to him and then exerting the energy it took to be angry with Edward didn't sound like much fun. Instead I decided to sit and sulk.
"Oh don't be like that Bella," Edward pleaded, "Look I'll read the rest of the chapter to you before we go in and take our nap."
As much as I didn't like being treated like a child and being read to would certainly qualify as such, I couldn't help but debate Edward's offer. I was pretty tired and my eyes were growing weary. Being read to didn't sound so bad. In fact, it sounded quite pleasant.
"That sounds nice," I said, resting my head on his shoulder and shutting my eyes.
Edward kissed my cheek lightly before taking the book from my hands and beginning to read, with different voices for each character.
I rolled over and braced myself for a fall but wound up with pillows in my face. What happened to the sand? I blinked my eyes open to see I was in our bed, the blankets pulled tightly over me. Had I fallen asleep while Edward was reading to me? It was the most probable thing. Either that or I had been dreaming. I sat up, pushing the covers off me and saw Edward had changed me into black sweat pants and his grey Forks High School baseball shirt. I smirked before rolling out of bed. I could hear a bunch of voices out in the living room. Edward must be watching something or other on the TV.
"Honey, could you turn that down a bit," I said, popping my head out of the bedroom door. I was about to head back to bed when I noticed a bunch of suitcases leaned up against the wall and that the TV in the living room was off. Curious, I walked out into the hall. What the hell was going on?
The instant I walked into the hall one of my legs was attacked. I looked down to see a mess of curly black hair, "Ayden!"
"Mommy," he cried, clawing at my leg, begging to be picked up. I bent over and pulled him up onto my hip. Almost topping over in the process.
Edward came up and grabbed me from behind to steady me, "Surprise."
Ayden was kissing my cheek over and over again. "I missed you so much mommy!"
"I missed you pumpkin," I said before returning his kisses. As little as Ayden was, it was hard for me to hold him in my current condition. I walked to the living room and sat us down. I turned to thank Edward but he was no longer in sight.
"Momma," Ayden said, tugging at my ear. I looked at him, "Can we go a swimmings?"
"Of course we can baby," I assured him. He let go of me all together before rocketing off the couch and back into the hallway.
"Ali! Ali!" He cried as he ran. Was he talking about Alice? I stood up and followed him, absolutely confused by what was going on. I noticed the suit cases again, there was at least 10 of them. I noticed a set of Gucci bags, placed next to Ayden's notable Transformer's suitcase and assumed those were Alice's.
Alice was standing outside my bedroom door, Ayden at her feet bouncing around excitedly. "Momma said yes! Ali, I need my swimming suit! Where my swimming suit?!"
"Alice?" I asked after staring at her for a long moment. What was Alice doing here? Was this all a figment of my imagination and I was just imaging Alice and Ayden? They looked very real. Ayden was wearing the jeans Edward had bought him just last week with his favorite T-shirt, the one of Optimus Prime. I didn't understand how he managed to enjoy Transformers being so young, but nonetheless he could go on for days about Optimus and the other Autobots.
Alice must not have noticed me at first, but once I spoke her name she was beaming at me. she spread her arms out and shrieked, "Surprise!"
Alice wore giant sunglasses and a hat much like my own, but on her she looked like a little fashonista. She had on a green sundress that looked adorable against her pale skin, and had she not had her glasses on, I was sure it made her beautiful eyes just pop. I envied her ability to look stylish no matter what.
"What's going on?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"Edward flew us all in to surprise you. He knew you'd miss Ayden while you were away and he thought you might like to see your friends as well," Alice explained to me while she picked Ayden up, placed him on her hip and walked towards the suitcases. She began to dig around in one before pulling out Ayden's Finding Nemo swim trunks. She shifted Ayden so he was on her back, his little arms hanging around her neck. I assumed she was looking for his Little Swimmer's diapers. "Aha," she cheered as she pulled a pair out. "Now, the sun block," she told Ayden before going back into the bag and searching.
The truth was I did miss everyone. I loved all this alone time with Edward, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't used to the quiet. With Ayden, I was used to constant noise. I welcomed the familiarity. I had missed my son terribly. I loved putting him to bed at night, waking up to him jumping up and down on my bed, and all the adorable things he did daily. It made my heart swell with joy at the fact Edward acted as if Ayden was his own son and Ayden called Edward daddy. I loved my little family. At that though, I felt my belly, we're not going to be so little for much longer, I thought as I idly rubbed.
I was also excited to have Alice here as well. She was, after all, my best friend. Though I did spend most of my time with Edward and Ayden, that didn't stop Alice and me from being close. She always came over and spoiled Ayden with presents and would ignore me when I yelled at her for me. Because of Alice, and Rose, I was allowed to have my girl time. I was still getting used to that, since it had never occurred when I had lived with my mother. We would watch sappy chick flicks together and cry, then gush about our boyfriends or husband on my part. It had been a while since we had gotten to do that. I'm sure Alice was itching to ask how the honeymoon was going and tell me all about Jasper. I smiled at the thought.
"Momma gets your swimming suit," Ayden instructed me, pointing towards my bedroom.
"Okay, come here you little munchkin," I said, holding my arms out to grab him. He wiggled on Alice's back before jumping off and into my arms. I stumbled back a bit but managed to stable myself. "I'll get him ready. Are you going to swim with us?"
"Pwease Ali, pwease go swimmings with us!" Ayden begged, his little lip jutted out while he batted his long eyelashes at his Aunt.
"How could I say no to a face like that?" She said with a smile, stepping forward to kiss his chubby little cheek. "I'll go see if Rosie wants to swim too," she told Ayden before looking at me. I nodded my head at her. She turned to walk towards where I assumed Rose was but she spun around quickly and enveloped me in a hug, "I'm so happy to see you!"
It was hard to hug her back, but I managed to get one arm around her. "I'm happy you're here Alice, I missed you guys."
"We missed you too."
We held each other for a few minutes before Ayden started squirming. "I want go swimmings," he said, his voice slightly whiny.
"Sorry little man, I'll go see Rosie," Alice said before skipping off down the hallway. We both laughed at her before heading back to the bedroom.
Ayden leapt out of my arms once we were close enough to the bed. He began to bounce up and down on the soft mattress. "I thought you wanted to go swimming!"
"Sorry momma," he said before plopping down in front of me. Ayden was fast about getting his Little Swimmers on and his swim trunks. Even when I set about applying sun block to his entire tiny body, he stood very still and let me do so. We waited for the sun block to soak in a bit and then I pushed his arm floaties on.
"I have such a good little boy," I said before kissing his forehead. It smelled like coconuts and I had the icky taste of his sun block stuck on my lips, but I couldn't fight a smile when I saw Ayden begin to cheer.
"Your turn momma!" He chanted over and over again until I began getting ready myself.
I turned the TV on for him, locating SpongeBob on a channel before ducking into my adjoining bathroom to get changed, leaving the door open a crack so I could hear Ayden if he called me. Edward had put my clothes from earlier into the wash, so I had to find a new bathing suit and pair of shorts. Once I'd found what I was going to wear, I set about getting undressed. I was about to take off my bra when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. It had been a while since I last looked at myself naked in the mirror, not that I had ever really done it before but what I saw was slightly shocking. Aside from my stomach, everything had remained almost the same. I didn't get a big butt like some pregnant chicks and my thighs had not become thunderous. But my boobs did get a little bit bigger, which was an improvement from my itty-bitty-titty past. My belly was what really caught my attention. I looked ready to pop and I still had a full 3 months to go. When had I gotten so big? And why was I getting stretch marks now but I hadn't gotten them with Ayden? Starring at myself I felt far too exposed. It looked like someone had cut me open and shoved a beach ball under my skin. It was grotesque.
"Momma," Ayden said, poking his little head into the bathroom door. I grabbed my shirt and covered my chest. Even if I was still in my bra, I didn't feel comfortable standing in front of Ayden with no clothes on. He didn't seem to notice this. His little eyes were starring at my belly.
"My sister getting big," Ayden said with wide eyes. He was slowly making his way towards me, his eyes locked on my swollen belly. His little mouth hung open while he stared.
I laughed at this. "Ayden, we don't know if you're going to have a sister or brother. Remember, it's going to be a surprise?"
Ayden did not reply. Instead he lifted a tiny palm and pressed it against my belly. His hands were unusually warm, but it was probably because he had been dancing while watching SpongeBob. His little fingers tickled my skin while he dragged his hand across my stomach. His hand rested on one side of my belly button and he lifted his other hand to rest on the other side. He stood on his tippy toes and whispered, "I love you little sister," before pressing a kiss to my belly. My heart absolutely melted at this. Ayden was going to make the best big brother.
"Can we please go swimmings now?" Ayden turned his attention towards me, now tugging at my hands.
"Of course," I said, kissing his forehead before rushing to change into my bathing suit, opting on putting on sun block. The sun had probably settled a bit, I most likely wouldn't burn.
I had been wrong about burning. By the time we had gotten back into the house, nearly five hours after getting to the beach, I was the color of a lobster. And I was in immense pain.
Alice, Rose and Ayden were not the only ones who had come to the island, Emmett and Jasper had joined their girlfriends. Everyone had been in their suits and ready to hit the beach when Ayden and I came out of the room, Edward included. Emmett scooped my son up, threw him over his shoulder, and had run out of the house, kissing my cheek on the way. Ayden could be heard giggling the whole way down to the beach. Alice and Rose were supplied with tons of toys for Ayden to play with, while Edward and Jasper were carrying beach chairs and towels. I was slightly put out by that, there was nothing for me to carry.
"You can drag the little cooler if you want," Alice said, nodding towards the cooler behind her. Unlike Edward, Alice was not treating me like a damsel in distress. She knew I was not enjoying having everyone else do things for me. I smiled smugly at my husband before grabbing the cooler and following the rest of them down to the beach.
By the time we got there, Emmett was standing in the water with Ayden on his shoulders. Ayden was giggling loudly as the water splashed around Emmett the immobile statue. "Let me down," he cried after another fit of giggles.
Edward set down the stuff he carried quickly before pulling his shirt off and rushing towards the water. Ayden did not see him coming, so when Edward grabbed him, Ayden let out a shriek and then burst into laughter when Edward began to tickle him. "Daddy, stop it! Stop!"
"Okay, okay little man," Edward said before gently placing Ayden down. Ayden smacked Edward's thigh and shouted 'You're it' and then took off, running to hide behind Alice, who was in the process of setting up an umbrella.
We all had joined in on playing tag, except I wasn't very good at it seeing as I couldn't run, but the game was still fun. Ayden would run in and out of the waves to avoid his chaser, while Emmett protected him, claiming that they were a team. I was having such a good time, I hadn't realized how bad the sun was beating down until we were ready to leave.
"Momma, you got red," Ayden told me as we had begun walking back to the house. I looked down at my arms to see that they were not their usual pale white, but tinted an awful shade of red.
"Bella's a lobster," Emmett jeered while attempting to poke my burnt skin. Ayden poked Emmett for me when I couldn't reach him. He had a scowl placed on is tiny lips while he glared at Emmett.
"Emmie," I laughed, along with almost everyone else, at the fact Ayden still called Emmett 'Emmie' but if it bothered Emmett, he sure wasn't showing it, "Lobstas live in the ocean. Momma is not a lobsta. Name calling is not nice."
Emmett looked away from my son for a moment, looking thoroughly disciplined, "Sorry Ayden."
"No say sorry to me! Say sorry to momma," Ayden pointed at me before he marched back into the house. Ayden had his little hands on his hips as he stared up at Emmett, who was a good five feet taller than him. Emmett looked as though he was being yelled at by his own mother. He turned towards me.
"I'm sorry Bella, you are not a lobster."
"It's alright Emmett," I managed to say without laughing. I leaned over and gave Ayden a hug, despite the fact it irritated my burnt skin to move that way, "Thanks for defending momma."
"Ah course momma," Ayden said, hugging me back tightly, "No one talks about my momma!"
"What if we're going to say nice things?" Edward asked from behind us, a smile placed on his lips.
"That's different daddy," Ayden said as if Edward should have already known that. His attention was suddenly averted and he looked at Edward and I, "What's fo dinna?"
He grabbed his tiny belly and looked up at Edward, waiting for an answer. Edward, as always, knew exactly what to say. "What would you like? We have chicken nuggets! You know the dinosaur kind that you really like?"
Ayden's eyes lit up. "My dino nuggies came all the way here?"
"Yes they did, just for you," Edward announced before scooping down and pickeing Ayden up. He turned to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, Ayden following suit, before they both disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.
"Bella, you did burn pretty bad, I'm going to get you some aloe and possibly burn cream, okay?" Alice told me as se inspected my beat red arms. "Go lay down, Rose and I will be in there in just a minute."
I did as I was told, because I knew better than to go against Alice. As I walked to my room, I heard her telling Jasper and Emmett to busy themselves by playing chess or watching TV. I imagined Jasper was figuring out a way to con Emmett into playing chess against him for money, again, because everyone knew Emmett sucked at the game but would never back down from a bet. I threw myself onto my bed once I reached it and winced as my skin pinched. Getting sun burnt really did suck.
"Bella, Bella, Bella what are we going to do with you?" Alice asked as she walked into the room, Rose right behind her. She sighed for dramatic effect before lightly dropping down next to me on the bed. Rose set about finding a good channel to watch on TV, all while filing her nails.
I shrugged my shoulders as far as they would go, which wasn't far giving it pinched my skin awfully. Alice only rolled her eyes at me before nudging me, "Sit up, we're going to smother you in this stuff."
Alice must have had to put aloe on someone before because she was very gentle as she did so with me. I didn't have to grimace in pain once. Because of this, I was able to pay attention to other things. Like them, "So how has everything been back home?"
Rose looked at me as if she had been dying to talk about this since the moment she'd first seen me. "You will never guess what happened!!"
Alice seemed to roll her eyes at this. "I knew you would find some way to bring this up."
"Oh shut up," Rose said before scooting onto the bed next to me. "I was at work last week on," she stuck her tongue out as she paused to think for a moment. Alice glared at Rose for a moment.
"It was Tuesday," Alice said, annoyed with Rose's dramatic effects. Before Rose could quip back, Alice turned her attention to the episode of One Tree Hill on the TV.
"Whatever," Rose said, not fazed by Alice, "So last Tuesday I was just waiting tables like I always do when this guy comes in. He looks me over once and asks if I've ever modeled before. I thought he was some creepy guy trying to hit on me at first but then he pulls out this card. He is this famous photographer! Daneel Craig, weird name I know, but he has had shoots with all these famous models, so many I can't even begin to list them all! And he asks me if I would be interested in having some test shots because he has this spread in a magazine coming up he thinks I would be great for!! Of course I said yes, I mean it has only ever been my dream to be a model. Two days after we get back I'm going in for my shoot. He told me I can bring you two to watch, if you'd like to come?"
"Oh my gosh, that's amazing! Congrats Rose!! Of course I'll come," I told her, hugging her in excitement. "That's such great news!"
"Thanks," Rose said, a blush staining her perfect cheeks.
I was happy for Rose. Modeling was her dream and had been since she was a child. It was absolutely thrilling to know she was going to finally fulfill that dream. She was drop-dead gorgeous, making modeling an achievable dream for her. I could only imagine how famous and popular she would become if she got the spread in the magazine.
"I'm sure Emmett loves that he's dating a model," I joked. Rose did not laugh along with me, however. She and Alice shared a look before Rose's smile faltered. Maybe Emmett wasn't excited?
"He's happy for me," was all she said before averting her gaze back to the TV, obviously no longer wanting to continue our conversation.
I, however, was not going to let it slip that easily. "If he is happy for you, then why on earth did your mood just flat line like that? I may be married, but that doesn't mean I should be out of the loop. What's going on?"
Rose sighed before she turned back to look at me, her usually emotionless eyes were brimming with tears, "He thinks I'm going to leave him. He was so upset when I told him I may move to California in order to pursue a career. He said I was already too good for him and this whole modeling business was going to make me way too out of his league and once I realized that I would dump him. Which is so not true! You believe me, right?"
It was very confusing for me to see Rose like this. She never cried or freaked out, unless it had to do with something fashion related. I was scared by this turn of emotions, but I did my best not to show it. "Of course I believe you! You two were meant to be together, you're going to get married one day and have the cutest little kids. I just know it."
"I don't think he believes that," Rose said, a tear cascading down her porcelain cheek. Alice was rubbing circles on her back, quietly telling her to calm down.
"He didn't break up with you, did he?"
"No," Rose sniffed, "He thinks I'm going to leave him and that's almost worse. How could he think of me like that? Isn't he supposed to think the best of me and always support me?"
My eyes shot to the open door of my bedroom and I wondered if Emmett could hear all of this. I nodded my head for Rose, "He does think the best of you, he's probably just scared and feeling insecure. Don't worry Rose, things will be alright."
Rose leaned forward and placed her head on my burnt shoulder, I winced as it stung but allowed her to rest there. I lifted an arm up to pat her back in order to try and console her. "Please don't cry Rose, you're too pretty for tears," I tried to joke.
Even with how stupid my joke was, Rose managed to crack a smile and let out a tiny laugh. My fear slowly ebbed as she continued to laugh, "Bella, you're too much sometimes."
"That better be a good thing," I warned her as she pulled away. She nodded in response before wiping her eyes. I smiled brightly at her, hoping the gesture would do some to cheer her up. Alice was grinning at Rose too, I assumed she was trying to do the same as me. "How are things with Jasper, Alice?"
I could tell she wanted to jump up and down and begin to revel in every detail of their relationship, but she refrained from doing do for Rose's sake. "Things have been wonderful! He and I took Ayden to the park last week. I never knew how good with kids he was."
That was news to me. Jasper was always around but he and Ayden didn't really play much. The others would hog Ayden's time and Jasper wasn't the type to demand anyone's attention, so he allowed everyone else to dote on my son. The thought of the two of them playing and having a good time made me smile.
"Really? Does my son have another admirer?"
Alice and Rose smirked at this before Alice responded, "I think the admiration goes both ways. Jasper loves Ayden, he would not stop talking about how funny and cute the little guy was. But then Ayden kept going on about his newest friend Jasper, who tells the best stories and knows all the best games to play. It was the sweetest thing to watch, though I did feel a bit replaced."
"No one could ever replace you in Ayden's life," I assured her, knowing it was the absolute truth. Ayden adored his aunt and would do anything to make her smile. Their relationship was one of the best things Ayden had.
"Oh I know," Alice replied, placing a hand to her chest as she laughed. Something on her handle sparkled in the light and I had to struggle to see what it was. When I did, I gasped in shock. Rose and Alice both followed my line of sight, Alice blushing while Rose gawped along with me. I snatched Alice's hand and admired the diamond that adorned her ring finger.
"Tell me this is not what I think it is…" I said, my breath caught in my throat. I looked to see Alice's face break into a giant grin while she shook her head 'yes' quickly. I stared at her in awe for a moment before screaming "Oh my God!!"
I must have scared the others, because at once Edward, Ayden, Emmett and Jasper all rushed into the room. My face flushed red, well redder seeing as I already was red from my sunburn. I was a little embarrassed that I had shrieked like that. It was very out of character for me. Edward rushed to my side immediately, Ayden right behind him. "Is everything alright?"
I laughed at his concern, he was the cutest. "Oh, I'm fine. I just think Alice has a bit of news for us."
Everyone's attention then averted to my sister-in-law, who gave me a dark look before smiling at the others, "I was, well we," she gave Jasper a pointed look, "were going to tell you guys after the honeymoon, since we didn't want to invade on your personal time…but yes, there is a bit of news."
Edward clearly understood what his sister was saying and he turned to glare at Jasper, "You did not propose to my sister."