This is just something I've been tossing around in my head for a while. I hope you guys like it, if I get a positive response I'll be updating probably once a week.
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. However, I, under the penname listed above, do own this story, plot and its variations. I prefer it not to be plagiarized and thank you in advance.
"I should really be going, love. Your fiancé will be home soon." Jasper kissed my forehead and moved to get up. I climbed on top of him before he could and put my head on his chest, leaving a soft kiss where his hearts located.
"Don't call him that, Jas. I know it hurts for you to say it, so don't even bother."
"That's what he is, baby. I can't deny it or change it. Soon you'll be married to my brother, and I'll be married to Alice." He captured a piece of my hair in his hand and began playing with it.
"I know." I whispered, no one was at my home except for us, yet I felt the need to whisper my heartbreak. I loved this man underneath me. I loved him more than any man I'd ever been with, including my fiancé.
"I have to go, Bella. I can't be here when he pulls in, I don't want to get you in trouble and he'll probably call Alice. She thinks I'm having a late lunch with a colleague." He grabbed my hips and lifted me off of him. "I love you." He kissed my cheek once before getting off the bed to gather up his clothes.
"I love you, too. You know that, right? I don't want you to think I don't." Jasper stopped getting dressed and sat back on the bed. He pulled me onto his lap and gave my shoulder a kiss.
"Of course I know you love me, baby. I know the situation that you're in with Edward and I know you'd change it if you could, just like I would." I closed my eyes and nodded. "Bella, look at me." I listened and opened my eyes. His soft blue eyes held unshed tears.
"What's wrong, Jasper?"
"We can't keep doing this to them, Bella."
"I know, but you just said you understood my situation. I can't just call off my engagement." I pressed my hand against his cheek and stared into his eyes. I grew confused when he began shaking his head.
"I'm not saying to call off our relationships with Edward and Alice. We need to stop this. Me and you. It can't happen again." I climbed off of him and looked at him in disbelief.
"You were just telling you loved me. Now you don't want to be with me?" I felt the tears slide down my cheek and I made no move to wipe them away. He opened his mouth when the phone rang. Ignoring his question to forget about the caller, I quickly picked up.
"What?" I answered sharply and regretted it instantly. I had no idea who was on the phone.
"He's about to leave the office now, Bella. If Jasper is there get him out. Edward is in a really bad mood today. No one can be there when he gets home but you. Hurry, he's leaving now." My best friend, Rosalie, worked with Edward and knew about me and Jasper. She was team Jasper and helped out whenever she could.
"I love you, Rose. Thank you so much. I'll call you tonight." I quickly hung up before she could answer and pointed to the door.
"He's going to be home soon. Get out. He's had a bad day and you cannot be here when he gets home. Leave."
"Bella, we should talk about what just happened."
"We don't have time. Aren't you listening? Get out, Jasper! You're going to get caught in here!" He sighed and quickly ran out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house. I wanted to watch him leave, I wanted to sit on the bed and cry, but I didn't have time. I quickly threw the bed sheets in the washer and lit a candle before I got in the shower.
When I got out Edward was already home. I could hear him stomping around downstairs and I wasn't sure if he'd been in the room yet or not. I threw on my robe and walked carefully down the stairs.
"Edward? Is that you?" I knew it was.
"Yes, Bella. Who else would it fucking be?" His voice and heavy footsteps came from the kitchen so I went in there.
"I don't know who it would've been, but I had to ask." He nodded his head and kept rummaging through the refrigerator. "What are you looking for?"
"Beer. I know we had some in here left from the party we had last Sunday. Where is it?" He hit the fridge and slammed the door.
"I keep it in the garage fridge, Edward. You know I don't like using up the room in this fridge for stuff like that. You hardly ever drink it so it says in the garage."
"Don't get smart with me today, Isabella. I've had a bad day." He stomped passed me and roughly hit my shoulder.
"I don't care if you've had a bad year, don't talk to me like that, Edward." I followed behind him quickly. I was mad at him today and I'd be sure to show it.
"If you had such a bad day drink the good stuff, scotch or something. That's what I'm going to do." He stopped walking and turned to look at me.
"You had a bad day? You sat at home all fucking day and did nothing. How could you have a bad day? Was your stupid soap opera not on?" He shook his head and kept walking.
"I hate you." I stopped walking towards him and went to go back to the bedroom when he called back to me.
"I know, darling. I hate you, too. We're just one big hateful family. Why don't you go pick up that kid and we can all sit in the living room and hate each other together." I clenched my teeth in anger and walked back towards him. He was in the garage by now, going through all the beer.
"That kid is your daughter and she loves you."
"She's four; she doesn't know what she loves." He finally found a beer he liked and grabbed four or five of them. "I'm putting these in the fridge so I don't have to keep coming out here."
"Whatever."
"Put some clothes on, Bella. Go get Elizabeth and just leave me alone the rest of the night."
"No, Edward. I'll go get Lizzie, but neither of us is going to just leave you alone. We have things to discuss and if Lizzie wants to see her dad I'm not going to tell her no." He ignored me and continued into the house.
I really hated my parents for doing this to me.
XX
"Mommy, can I color when we get home?"
"Of course, baby." She clapped her hands and smiled widely.
"Is daddy home?" I told her he was and she smiled again. "Will he play with me today? He always says no." She frowned and looked out the window. I wanted to strangle Edward. I understood bad days, I understood him not liking me too much, but I couldn't understand how he wasn't just head over heels for this little girl. She was adorable and she was still naïve enough to believe her daddy hung the moon.
"I don't know if he'll want to play today, Lizzie." She sighed and I smiled at her. She was so grown up for her age. "I have an idea, baby. How 'bout we go visit grandma Esme? I'm sure she'll love to play with you."
"Okay, mommy." She shrugged her shoulders and her curly brown hair bounced from the movement. She really looked nothing like Edward in most places. The only thing that set her apart from me was her sparkling green eyes. I'm sure if she hadn't gotten his eyes, Edward would have demanded a DNA test. He wasn't going to be stuck with me for the rest of his life if the baby wasn't even his.
When we pulled into Edwards's parents' house I could tell Lizzie was getting more excited. She loved to visit people, especially her grandparents.
"Bella, what are you doing here?"
The person who answered the door was not who I expected and I groaned to myself. "Lizzie wants to play with her grandma, if that's alright with you, Jasper." I pushed passed him with Lizzie trailing behind. She didn't acknowledge Jasper and I smiled. She only ignored someone if she could tell her father or I was annoyed with them. Jasper scoffed at Lizzie after he closed the door and went to pick her up.
"No." Lizzie took a step away from him and towards me.
"No?" Jasper tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"No, Uncle Jasper. My mommy is mad at you, so am I." I chuckled and looked down at her. She smiled up at me before giving Jasper a disapproving look.
"Why is your mommy mad at me, Lizzie?"
"I don't know, but she's always mad at you. You make her cry, too. When she's asleep. Daddy says you are saying mean things to her in her dreams, but you don't say sorry, mommy does."
"She does, does she?" He looked up at me with the saddest eyes and I quickly turned away from him.
"Lizzie baby, let's go find grandma."
"Okay, mommy." She ran in front of me while I quietly followed behind.
I heard Jasper whisper my name and I fought the urge to turn around and sob in his arms. I still wasn't entirely sure what had happened back at my house, but I couldn't talk to him here where everyone was. We'd have to wait until we got alone time again. Whether it was over the phone or in person we had to do it soon.
I turned the corner into the kitchen and smiled softly when I saw Elizabeth perched on the counter swinging her feet back and forth. Esme was at the stove mixing something and humming quietly as Lizzie told her about her day.
"And then Tommy told me that his mommy told him that girls have cooties. Is that true, grandma? Is that why my daddy doesn't like me and mommy? 'Cause he doesn't wanna catch our cooties?" My mouth opened in shock and Esme halted her movements before turning around to face Lizzie. We made eye contact for a second before she turned to her granddaughter.
"Honey, you're daddy loves you very much. He loves your mommy as well. Please don't ever think he doesn't." I watched silently as Esme took Lizzie's hands in hers.
"He always yells."
"That doesn't mean he doesn't love you, baby. Sometimes he has to yell."
"He hit mommy one time. Does he have to do that?" I gasped and rushed over to Lizzie. Esme had moved away from Lizzie's hands and had hers covering her mouth. She had turned pale white and I could see a formation of tears in her eyes.
"Lizzie, when did you see that, baby?" I asked quietly and calmly though inside I wanted to scream for her to answer. She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the floor. I hugged her to me and pulled her off the counter before looking at Esme.
"Why didn't you tell anyone, Bella? He hits you now? I'm telling Carlisle right now." She moved to rush out of the kitchen but I grabbed her arm and set Lizzie down.
"Lizzie go play while I talk to grandma, please." She nodded and ran away from us to find her toys.
"Esme, it was only once and he was beyond drunk. He had just lost a new client. A big one. I don't even remember what I said to him, but I know I was being incredibly bitchy that day. He hasn't hit me since then, and it was on the leg. It didn't even leave a mark." I tried to reassure her, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that it wasn't working.
"If it was only once you wouldn't have asked Lizzie to clarify when she saw it? How many times, Bella? Honest to God truth this time."
"For or five. I don't really keep track much. But it's always on the leg, and it never leaves a mark. And it's only if he's drunk off the hard stuff and I'm being overly bitchy. He apologizes the minutes he realizes what he did, Esme. Your son may hate me, but you raised him right. He knows it's wrong, and he drinks less whiskey and such because of it." I hated Edward, but I would never let his mother think that he was a malicious man that beat women. At one time in my life I liked Edward, obviously if I was willing to have sex with him. I wasn't a slut or anything like that. Edward and I had genuine feelings for each other until about three weeks after I found out I was pregnant.
I never found out what changed, but at some point we developed a strong hate for each other. I loved him once, years ago, but I was never in love with him. Edward was never in love with me either, and I always figured our hate grew because we were forced to stay together, eventually Edward probably got bored with me. He wanted to go out and party, but our parents kept track of us. If he was somewhere I was not an explanation was demanded. Edward was expected to stay loyal to me, as I was to him. My loyalty stayed to him until about three years ago. I'm not sure when Edward started straying, but I assumed it was as soon as we'd found out the parents had stopped tracking our every movement. That was about the time Lizzie was born.
Our parents were old fashioned and definitely got whatever they wanted from their kids. Although I was eighteen when I got pregnant, and just recently turned twenty-two, my parents still dictated my life. I never broke free from it, Edward hadn't either. Both of our parents were high up in the community. Our mothers did weekly charity events, Carlisle was Chief of Medicine and my father was a big shot Lawyer. They both came from ancient money, and both 'Cullen' and 'Swan' were high respected names. They weren't going to have their kids walking around unmarried with a child on the way. Carlisle bought a ring and shoved it on my finger; they split the cost to buy us a house, and told us to keep the smiles on our faces. We were never really told what would happen if we didn't pretend to live happily ever after, but we never questioned it, either. It was just something we had to do, and if we truly loved our parents we would make the sacrifice for them, since they have sacrificed so much for us. These were of course Carlisle and Charlie's words, Renee and Esme didn't have much of a say in the whole thing. They didn't agree with it any more then Edward and I, but they kept their mouths shut in fear of pissing off their husbands. We've been engaged since then, and no one really cared enough to start the wedding planning.
"I don't care if you forced him to, Bella. I've kept my mouth shut long enough. This I put my foot down on. I'm getting Carlisle and we're getting this whole thing figured out." She walked past me in a huff and shut my eyes tight, rubbing my temples.
"Why didn't you tell me, Bella? You know I could have stopped it. One word from me and Carlisle would stop the whole fucking charade." I opened my eyes to reveal Jasper in the kitchen doorway.
"You're engaged also, Jasper. Wouldn't it be suspicious if you knew so much?"
"It doesn't matter if they were suspicious, Bella! You can't keep something like that from everyone. It's stupid, and not safe. Does he hit Elizabeth, too? Jesus, Bella, I thought you were smarter than that." Jasper was pacing in front of me, and he looked pissed.
"Jasper, he's never once laid a hand on Lizzie, he barely even looks at her. He's never once been left alone with her, I wouldn't put my daughter in danger, and you should know that." He stopped in front of me and opened his mouth to speak, but Carlisle interrupted him.
"Isabella, we need to talk, now." I threw my head back and groaned.
"No, we don't. I don't take orders from you, Carlisle. I may listen to my father, and Edward may listen to you, but I won't do as you tell me. Esme should have dropped it. This isn't going to stop whatever fucked up thing that you've made my life into. It'll do nothing but cause me problems. Don't talk to me or look at me like you're even going to try and call of this engagement. We all know it won't happen and I won't pretend like it will. Carlisle, you know as well as I do, that Edward isn't the type to beat a women the way Esme thinks he's doing, and all you're going to do is pretend to care until Esme forgets all about it."
Carlisle gaped at me and lowered his gaze. He knew he wouldn't really call off the engagement, and he was probably upset I had called him out.
"Carlisle, you can't be serious. We can no longer keep them in this relationship. They aren't happy, and by now the people in this town have to know that they aren't. You're punishing Edward and Bella. Not to mention Elizabeth. She knows something isn't right. We can't force them to live fake anymore. They are too old to be playing pretend." Esme had tears in her eyes, Carlisle was looking at the ceiling and I could hear Jasper breathing behind me where he had moved to stand after Carlisle came in. I knew he was pissed, but he'd get over it eventually.
"We need to talk about this later, Lizzie is in the room over and I won't have her listening to this." I walked out of the kitchen quickly to find my daughter.
I hated the life that I was forced to live, but I wasn't going to pretend like it wasn't my life. I had to work with the hand I was dealt, and if that meant being married to a complete ass, while I fell in love with his brother, then I had to make the best of it. I wasn't going to get false hope, and I was going to do whatever I could to make sure my daughter stayed blissfully ignorant.
I was Isabella Marie Swan, twenty-two years old, mother to Elizabeth Abigail Cullen, arranged fiancée to Edward Cullen, in love with Jasper Cullen, and I was completely screwed.
Please, please, please, let me know what you think. Good parts, bad parts, questions? Anything.
If I get a good response the next chapter will be up hopefully next week.