AH! I AM SO SORRY. I didn't mean to be a meanie : ( when I wrote that cliffhanger. Okay, okay, I'll make it up to you. Oh thanks to MartaSwan who corrected the Italian on Ch 7—IT WAS THE INTERNETS FAULT (b/c I speak no Italian)! XP Here's Chapter Eight...
Disclaimer: If I had another three wishes they would be: 1.) my brother to do all the chores—2.) I could go to Paris—and 3.) To be Stephenie Meyers…and yet that wish still will NEVER come true. Darn! I wasted two wishes : (
Chapter Eight
Bed Rest & Talk
Three months bed rest…
I heard the words repeat through my head as I looked at Bella, resting in one of the hospital beds. She had been here now for three days, stable. Her diagnoses: Incompetent Cervix. I felt my heart stop at the thought. (A/N: Incompetent Cervix is when the cervix—the lower part of uterus that leads to the vagina, normally "closed" during pregnancy—is dilated or stretched without labor or contractions that can happen between the 2nd and the early 3rd trimester. If it happens to open, you can have a spontaneous abortion—miscarriage—or pre-term birth. Sorry just had to explain what it was for those who didn't know.) She could have lost the baby…
Carlisle was explain to Charlie in the background the reasons why Bella should stay with us but I tuned them out as Bella's brown eyes traveled from the ceiling where they had been for the last few moments to mine. Slowly, she raised her hand and with a frown of thought on her face, she signed the letters W—A—T—E—R……P—L—E—A—S—E.
"Bella knows sign language," I pointed out to anyone who happened to have been listening and made my way to the door.
Charlie, who had been looking and listening to Carlisle, turned to look at me and nodded. "She had a friend in Phoenix who was deaf. She learned some so she could speak to her from time to time."
I nodded. As I entered her room, her heart and fetus heart monitor gave each a deep at different times. I filled the cup and handed it to Bella. I watched her as I took a seat besides the bed. She finished the glass and left it on her lap as she stared back at the ceiling.
She sighed once before saying emotionless, "Am I stupid for wanting to keep this baby?" She turned her head back towards me, tears in her eyes, her heart monitor speed up as panic spread through her.
"Bella," I said, standing and went over to the edge of the bed.
"I could have lost her, Edward," she gasped, tears coming down her face.
"Sh," I said, taking her face between my hands. "It's all right, Elizabeth is fine, and so are you."
She hiccupped and looked away from me. Her voice was so quiet that I hardly heard her. "That night I was raped, I thought about how it hurt, t-the pain, and Elizabeth was created from that. So many people told me that I sh-sh-should have gotten an a-abortion and now-now that I could have lost her, it would have been—"
"Stop," I said, forcing her to look back at me. "You can not think of that, Bella. You can not just give up on something just because of one little thing."
"But I could have—"
"I know what could have happened Bella," I snapped, feeling angry with her. "I am a doctor. I know you could have lost Elizabeth that night. I'm not stupid Bella. And you are not stupid for keeping Elizabeth, it makes you…stronger…makes you more beautiful." I brushed tears that came down her face. I saw the questions in her eyes but her lips didn't ask them as they quivered. "What you have gone through, how you're here now, Bella there is a reason for that. And you can not just give up just because…cervix just happened to open slightly because it was torn when you were raped."
I sighed and looked down for a moment to clear the anger from my head before I looked back up into her brown eyes. "I could have done it differently, Bella, that night." I saw her understanding flash through her eyes as they widened. "I would have gotten to know you, like the other night. Found out what you liked, what you didn't, what ticked you off. I would have kissed you good night and kissed you any time you wanted. After awhile, I would have…when you were ready I would have made love to you. I could have done it differently, Bella, and the only tears you would have were ones of joy not pain…I swear, Bell, with all my heart. That is how much you mean to me."
I wanted to kiss her then, to show her, but instead I just rubbed my thumb along the edge of her lower lip. Her lips quivered more before one corner turned up in a slight smile. "You would have?" she asked me.
"Of course," I said, leaning away from her face. "Now, Miss Bella, you are about to go home and stay in bed for the next three months."
I had to chuckle at the sound of her moan.
"No worries," I said, smiling. "You're staying with us thanks to Alice. Something about…shopping over the internet?"
"Oh god," Bella moaned, her head sinking back into the pillow, her eyes closed and her face tilted up. "This is going to be some three months."
"Well," I said, thinking. "I guess I'm going to have to make you dinner since we can't go out for our second date."
She raised one eyebrow and opened one eye to look at me. I chuckled at her look.
"I don't remember you asking me out on another date?" she said.
"No," I said, nodding. "But you know you were going to manage me into another date even if I asked you or not."
She laughed and shook her head. I smiled and thought that Bella was defiantly one special woman. Hmm…I'm going to need a few cooking lessons if I am going to have to make Bella meals for three months…wonder if Jaspers available…
A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart. — anon
Hmm….okay hopefully that makes up for the cliffhanger I wrote last chapter. Whew! My fingers got a work out. AND one of my spoilers is in this chapter! Did you see it? Wow…lol, okay you know what time it is…It's REVIEW TIME—Good lord that sounds like a kiddy show! Come on you know you want to…Tell me what you think—no flames please—and offer any suggestions or ask ANY questions. The next chapter…is coming soon…. Ciao for now, Nollie