Disclaimer: To my own disbelief and pure greediness, I sadly don't own Twilight/New Moon characters, Miss Stephenie Meyer does.
A week before Christmas, I had scheduled my appointment with Carlisle, and then realized I hadn't seen him in a month, and so much had happened, and everyone knew in Forks about Jake, the hospital would be ere by all the stares at a widow in the hospital just waiting to delivery a baby that will never know it's father.
I thankfully did call Angela, and she came over, she was decorating the baby's nursery, which reminded me of my own nursery… the baby was due in 4 short months, and the empty blank room was just waiting, filled with nothing.
I had talked to Sam about the money situation, I was going to go grab a job teaching, but I couldn't with the baby and the school year was almost half way over. Till then I was completely relying on Jake's money. He still worked, apparently from his home on the reservation, for Sam, who still payed him the same amount, about 2/3 went to us, which I'd been saving, and could easily afford new clothes for the baby, furniture, formula, toys, etc. I was set, and had more money than I actually needed.
Angela came over and met Madeline and Mason, she kept repeating how much they looked like me, I just smiled and told them I'd be back in a little less than two hours. They seemed to really enjoy Angela, they were giggling as I left out the front door.
I went to the hospital, dreading the stares that lay ahead for me, and sympathy prayers and comments; hopefully Carlisle was all ready for me.
I walked in and no one noticed, yet. I went to the front desk and went over to the receptionist, Whitney.
"Hi, I'm here for an appointment with Dr. Cullen." I said.
I could see the receptionist's eyes travel up to my face. Today I was wearing casual jeans, a tan sweater and dark red trench coat, completed with a Burberry scarf that Renee had sent me for Christmas last year. I was clutching my black leather purse tightly.
"Oh hello Mrs. Black, how are you doing?" she asked with compassion.
I let out a breath, "Uh I'm fine."
"That's good, alright; well I'm going to have to ask you a few questions about your uh new information on your family before your appointment."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward coming down the hallway, I thought to myself, is he always going to be here when I'm here?
"Oh uh ok," I answered.
"Alright," she clicked with her keyboard, "Are there any changes in your insurance provider?"
I blinked, "No, I'm still covered by uh Jake's coverage."
She clicked some more.
"And are there any changes in address, phone number, etc.?" she asked.
"No, I'm still at my current address."
More clicking. Edward had finally reached the desk, he had a jacket on and sweater, he looked up and our eyes met, I casually looked away, trying to pay attention to the questions, as he hovered over the counter as well.
"And are there any changes within your name?"
"Uh yes… it's changed to Black-(hyphen) Swan, so have my children's names."
She clicked, I could feel Edward's burning questions at the tip of his tongue, but I didn't dare look in his direction. After she was done she was writing on my file and the kids' files.
"Alright Miss Swan, Dr. Cullen is expecting you in Room 5, this nurse will take you back to the room. Have a good day." She added a smile, and handed the charts to the nurse.
"Uh thank you."
I walked with the nurse to the patient room; I sat on the edge, just patiently waiting.
A minute later, which was short, Carlisle came into the room, looking down at more charts.
He immediately looked up and saw it was me, he put the charts on the counter as I smiled at him, he walked over and gave me hug.
"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry about Jacob," he rubbed my hair as he looked at me, "If there is anything I can do, or help you with, just tell me, don't worry."
At that moment I debated about whether or not to tell Carlisle's the truth, and I knew he knew something else was up, by the way he was looking at me, Alice couldn't see werewolves, so she had no idea about him imprinting, but she must have saw the accident, and thought he really did die. Being that Carlisle was like a father to me, I opted to tell him.
"It's ok Carlisle, the kids and I are doing great, "I smiled.
He smiled, "That's good Bella, I'm glad you're staying strong for the kids."
"Yea, uh Carlisle can I talk to you?" I asked.
He looked at me with concern, "Of course Bella, what is it?"
"Uh, it's about Jacob." I sighed.
He grabbed a chair and set it next to me, "Yes, and what about Jacob?"
I gulped… "He's not uh, actually dead."
Carlisle looked confused, "Is this something to do with werewolf powers, I haven't read about that, but then again we learn new things from them everyday… "
"No Carlisle, he uh… he imprinted on another woman." I finally said.
He paused, "Oh Bella, I'm so sorry."
I gulped again, "Yea I am too…"
"Yes, I remember when we heard about imprinting, how strong it is… you must have been devastated, but I don't happen to see how this deals with Jacob's so called death…"
I sighed, "Well, Sam and I talked, and when he imprinted, Sam decided it was unsafe for him to live with us, so we were just going to legally separate, but…" I felt the tears come down, "I couldn't let my kids grow up with a father who didn't care for them, it would be the exact same as if he died, so he staged the whole death and…" I started to cry… almost sobbing.
Carlisle hugged me again, calming me down, by saying 'it's going to be ok Bella, don't worry'.
I finally stopped crying, trying to make myself seem decent.
He hugged me again, rubbing my hair, "It's going to be ok Bella."
"Yea… but, he'll never see the kids again, I'll never see him again… the baby, she'll never know her father." I cried.
"Bella," he sat down across from me again, looking me straight in the eyes, "What you did, protecting your children like that, is what any mother would do. You are a wonderful mother, and you will have this baby and she will grow up with a terrific mother who will always know her father, and how much he would have wanted to be here. Do you understand, Bella, what you did was tough, but for that reason, you are a terrific mother, Esme, you should hear her, she is so proud of you."
He smiled and I smiled too, then he asked, "Alright, ready for the appointment?"
I smiled and said yes.
We did the blood test, checked the baby out on the ultrasound, and did everything.
I was walking back down the hallway as Carlisle stopped me and gave me a hug.
"Remember Bella, you are a terrific mother. Don't ever forget that."
"Thank you Carlisle." I smiled.
I went back to the receptionist and Carlisle went behind the counter, "Alright Whitney, please schedule Miss Swan her next appointment," then he looked up at me, "And have a great Christmas Bella," he smiled.
"Oh uh thanks, you too Carlisle." I smiled back.
He walked back down the hallway and disappeared into another room.
I scheduled my appointment for the end of January. I quickly left and headed back home, where I found Angela and the kids upstairs, playing in Madeline's room.
"Hey guys," I said as I got upstairs.
Angela quickly got up, "Hey Bella, we were just playing up here." She smiled.
"So how did your appointment go?" she asked.
I smiled, "Oh it was… it was good, baby's still due in April."
"Wonderful, well Bella, I have to be going actually, I promised Ben I'd be home after you came back."
I walked her downstairs as she headed off in her car.
I then made a quick lunch for Madeline and Mason, and talked to them as they ate.
"So you two, I realized the baby doesn't have her room painted yet, and has no furniture!" Madeline clapped, "Mommy, does this mean we get to go shopping?" she sounded excited.
"It sure does," I tried to sound excited, "And we'll have to go buy paint to paint her room."
Madeline finished her sandwich quickly as Mason did too. They rushed upstairs to grab their coats, as I cleaned the dishes off and started a load of laundry.
I opened the front door to discover it to be cloudy, but that was typical Forks.
We drove to Port Angeles as we picked out a white crib, a white changing dresser, a dresser, and a white rocking chair. Madeline then insisted we go buy clothing, so we stop at a baby's store, where we spent a fair share on newborn clothing and clothing up till the age that she is 1. This baby was set for life, as I smiled, driving.
I allowed Mason the honor of choosing the color her room would be painted, and he choose a tan color, because he liked the color of my Burberry scarf. He also picked out dark red and off white, which I decided could be stripes on the lower 1/3 part of the wall. He seemed extremely happy with his decision.
We came home with just the cans of paint; the furniture was going to be delivered tomorrow.
I looked at the time as we got home, it was about 5pm, so I made an early dinner for us three, and then we watched a movie. They fell asleep almost instantly, so I carried them one at a time up stairs.
I discovered as I went to close the nursery's door that the movers would move the furniture in here, and place it in the middle, but there was no way I could move the furniture to it's spot. I almost decided to open the paint cans and just paint all night, but my feet ached and I felt exhausted.
I went downstairs and finished the laundry, adding in the baby's new clothes.
I quickly finished then headed upstairs, I fell asleep almost instantly.
I awoke to find the van outside; the man was quickly getting out of his van, so I quickly put on my silky Japanese-inspired robe and brushed my hair, making myself look half way presentable.
Thankfully there were two men, and they moved the furniture up quietly, not waking up Madeline or Mason.
I thanked them and payed them, giving a few tips. The van disappeared quickly around the corner.
I went inside to see the room was now completely white, filled with everything white, except for the tan carpet.
Today, I decided, I'd paint to get this room finished.
I went and changed quickly into old sweats and an old t-shirt, putting my hair up into a ponytail and into an old baseball cap.
Then I heard the doorbell ring…
Author's Note: Hm, well. Looks like an interesting chapter, I'm so wrapped up into my story
and finishing it, that I realized, I was going to talk about my whole 'Emily' phone call in Chapter 13.
Well, I seriously was basing the whole funeral on the picture of Jacqueline Kennedy and Caroline and John.
She is such a hero to me, so it was like a semi-tribute of how strong she was during those hard times.
I still respect her even today. So I'm going to try, now, to give a link to a few pictures I had in mind
that gave me the harsh experience of writing about the funeral. Anyways, hope you're all enjoying the story.
Have a terrific rest of summer as well :)
Another song that I think would be greating listening to, when reading is 'Who Knew' by P!nk. I know,
it's an 'older' song, but I love the lyrics, go try and look it up on YouTube if you haven't heard it :)
Till Then, Elizabeth
Links: en./wiki/JacquelineKennedyOnassis
We'll see if that shows up on the computer, if not... anyways,
it's a photo that really inspired me to creat Bella to be a strong mother, just like
Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline, and John :)
(PS: If it doesn't show up, and you're interested, go to Wikipedia, search Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
and stroll down to 'Assassination and funeral of John F. Kennedy' and there is the picture.)
