Long Way to Christmas

by That'sMzPeachesTYVM

She is brilliant and beautiful, and well respected at a very young age in her field, but she is all alone. No family. No friends outside of work. He is alone by choice, punishing himself for the sins of his past, but he has family to give him strength. Will a chance encounter, and a daily trip out of her way lead her to the family and place of belonging she so craves? AH/AU MA

15. Chapter 15

I am keeping things brief. I have to have my hubby take me to Urgent
Care this morning. I don't know if this is Flu, or just a severe cold, but
it is kicking my arse something fierce. And now, it appears to have
jumped into my left eye as well. I look like a battered spouse.

Anyhow, much thanks to Fran and to all of you for reading and reviewing.
Sorry I was fail in answering so many yesterday. I cannot promise to do
any better today.

For all with questions about ages, see me below.

-LWTC-

Chapter 15

"Rose, I'm sorry, but I have to take my car," Bella sighed, twisting her hands together.

"I thought you said you have today off?"

"Technically, Rose, I'm always on-call," Bell shifted, leaning her right hip out, and toeing at the snow with her left foot. "My patients come from all over the country. Because I'm based here, they come to me for their appointments, but if they have an emergent situation, I have to drop everything and run. My area of expertise is not like family-practice or being an OB. I am not just beholden to the hospital and people in this community. I have obligations to patients all over. I currently have over one hundred and fifty patients on my waiting list. I do one or two surgeries—depending on the length of the procedure—a day, three days a week. I spend one day in the ER as on-call trauma surgeon, then one day in my office, interviewing potential patients. My life is simultaneously highly-structured and complete chaos."

"Isabella, you don't need to explain any further," Esme stepped in, and touched Bella's shoulder while glaring at Rose, "Rose sometimes forgets herself, and pitches bratty fits when something doesn't go as she planned. She also forgets what it was like when she was young, and her father was one of only a handful of good trauma surgeons on this side of the state. He got calls to go to hospitals as far away as Ypsilanti, and Escanaba at the drop of a hat. We do understand. Alice, why don't you ride with Bella, honey? Rose and I need to have a talk. Let's get rolling, girls!"

Bella began to relax as Alice chatted idly about the gifts she was planning to buy for everyone, and how she hoped—if everything went to plan—to get all of the her Christmas shopping done today, in one fell-swoop. She half tuned Alice's rambling out as she thought about Edward's parting words. Have a good time, Princess. She knew she had not dreamed or simply imagined last night. How is it possible, she mused, that Edward could like a girl like me?

"Come again?"

"Huh?"

"You just asked how Edward could like a girl like you."

"No, no I didn't." Bella's face turned three shades of red as she did her best to divert Alice. "Where's that store you were talking about for getting Edward some new cookware and candy molds?"

"You really think I'm that easily distracted," Alice pouted.

"I love you, Ali," Bella put a fake pout on her lips, "but I am not going to apologize. I don't think you are that easily distracted … I know you are."

"Bitch! I am not," Alice slapped Bella's arm, "you take that back."

"Whatever you say, Ali. Where to first?"

"Well, the outlets are in Ann Arbor. There's this great store called Le Gourmet Chef, I love to get things for Edward there, it's great. I think we're going to have so much fun today. We'll shop the outlets until noon, and then we'll head back towards G.R., after we catch lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Then we'll hit the three, major Malls on the way home. It'll be great!"

Bella grinned to herself as Alice launched back into her diatribe about which stores they needed to 'hit' and in what order. She hmm'd and nodded at the appropriate intervals, and listened closely enough to giggle at her silliness, but Bella's mind was far away, remembering a near kiss, and the warmth and scent of that manly body wrapped around her.

-LWTC-

"Oh, Bella, that brown neckerchief and slide are so perfect," Alice squealed again as they were eating lunch.

"Well, I just want him to look sharp if he decides to get into that candy contest."

"Yeah, don't hold your breath, babe." Rose gusted around a mouthful of scallops.

"Manners," Esme rolled her eyes. "Really, Rose? You're thirty-six years old; I should not have to correct your table manners. This is ridiculous."

"Yes," Rose rolled her eyes back at her mother's correction, "it is ridiculous. Why don't you and Ali stop trying to change the subject?" She turned to Alice. "You know that filling her head full of the idea that he will join that contest is asinine. He's declined to do so every time you have brought him a pamphlet for the past, four years." She turned to Esme. "I am sorry I spoke with my mouth full of food. It was juvenile. Now, please stop interrupting my line of thought so I can ask her my question."

Bella sat and watched the three women who now called her family as they volleyed dialogue back and forth, trading jibes and jokes, insults and praise. She wasn't sure what it was that Rose was planning to ask her, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that A)it had something to do with Edward, B) it was an invasive question, and C) it would most likely make her uncomfortable. She knew by now that Rose was thetempest in the teapot. She was the kind of person who seemed abrasive, because she didn't play the games of social propriety, nor did she beat around the bush. She was a straight shooter, and although she had a way of rankling her feathers, Bella respected the fact that she was always up front about her intentions.

"Just ask me, Rose. Whatever it is, just spit it out, and I just might answer you."

"Fair enough," Rose stared Bella in the eyes as her mouth formed words that stabbed Bella right to her marrow. "What is it with you going all gooey on my brother, and then keeping him at arm's length?" She watched as Bella dropped eye contact and fiddled with the food on her plate. " Princess. He called you Princess? Edward doesn't do cutesy words and endearments, Bella. That man is head over heels-"

"Enough, Rose," Esme cut in again, "it is not your place to make declarations on his behalf. It is clear that he has … feelings for Bella. It is not up to us to declare them to her," Esme turned at looked at Bella, askance. "However, her question is of merit."

Bella squirmed in her seat, suddenly feeling very crowded. She knew it would be uncomfortable, but she was not prepared for the panic that flared in the pit of her stomach. Thankfully, Alice chose to speak up on her behalf.

"Mom, Rose? Bella has never been with a man … like ever … in any capacity. She's only been asked on one date, and she turned him down because she didn't feel any attraction. Do you really wonder that she's filled with self-doubt?" Alice dropped the volume and pitch of her voice. "She's seen the pictures from Chicago."

The silence around the table was deafening. Rose sat gaping, opening and closing her mouth dumbly, as if she were searching for words; while Esme bowed her head. Her heart was filled with shame that she had not considered how someone else might view her son. She knew he was a good man, with a sweet heart and gentle soul. Until that moment, it truly had not occurred to her what a gigolo he could appear to be. She also knew he had changed, but that might not be of consolation to a woman who had zero experience in life.

"It's not whatever you're thinking, Mo-, " Bella froze momentarily, stunned that the word came so easily to her mouth. "—Esme. I just. I can't measure up to those girls. I saw the pictures of them. They were a veritable parade of beautiful, flawless hair and bodies—blondes and redheads, all of them, not one brunette in the bunch. How could I hope to hold his interest?"

"You really think they held his interest? Rose scoffed. "That Bimbo-Barbie brigade was a joke. He steamrolled through them without a second thought because not one of them held his interest. Honey, you gotta talk to the man. Ask him how many names he remembers. Ask him how many repeat dates there were …" Rose shook her head, and grabbed Bella's hand. "Don't you get it? Ask me how long it took until I heard your name," Rose paused, and stared her in the eyes. "Give up? Six hours, Bella … six hours. Now, ask me how many of their names he dropped in conversation. Seriously, ask me."

"H-how many names," Bella asked in a whisper.

"None, Bella. Not a single one." Rose leaned back in her seat, releasing Bella's hand. "Do you want to know why I know he isn't going to lose interest in you?"

"Why?" The question was barely audible, and Bella dropped her gaze to her lap.

"Because, he has never tried before you, Bella. They say that doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity. Edward jumped the crazy train a while back. I saw it last night, Bella. It's in his eyes. He's about to start pursuing you in a very real way. The question is, are you catchable? Can you give him that chance?"

"I'm scared, Rose," tears dripped down Bella's cheeks as she admitted this. "I'm scared that I will wake up at seventy years-old, and have nothing to leave behind but new medical procedures. I love my job … it's my calling; I know it is, but … I want to leave a legacy, and I want to connect. For the first time in my life, I want to belong more than I want to succeed at my vocation. I want to belong to him … but I am so terrified that my reach has exceeded my grasp."

"Bella, you need to look at yourself objectively. You're beautiful." Alice spoke up, unable to stop herself any longer. "You have flawless skin, enormous, doe eyes, beautiful, long mahogany hair—the kind models would trade their soul for—and more than any of that, you have a pure and lovely heart. You are gorgeous from the inside-out. That is what Edward sees in you. That is why he won't lose interest in you. You're the bombshell that walked into his store, and stole his heart …" Alice looked to Esme, and shook her head. "And don't you start on me. I know his feelings aren't mine to declare, but I know what I saw that first day. You weren't there. Edward was lost from the moment she walked in."

-LWTC-

OKAY… there have been multiple questions about age. I have gone
WAAAAY back to my brainstorming file, and found that I mentioned
it in there. SO, here goes. Edward IS 39, and Bella is 35. TO those who
asked about other family members, Esme and Carlisle are now 74,
Rose is 36, Emmett is 38, Nathan is 10. Jasper is 35 (he and Rose are
Irish twins), Alice is 32, and their twins are 7.

The seeming discrepancy with Edward's age is that he was 30 when he
ran back to Michigan. He floundered for a good few years before he
opened his store and began to rejoin the 'land of the living.' My true
mistake was Carlisle calling her his youngest daughter… she is merely
his newest daughter. Sorry for the confusion, folks!

*huggles*