Hello! Are you ready for the last chapter? I know you are but first I wanted to thanks you for your support, help and reviews. They kept me going and gave me inspiration. Honestly, when I decided to publish this story I thought that it wouldn't receive many reviews because it was my first fanfic. I thought that if I got 100 reviews until the end of the story I would be happy already but you gave me 5 times more. There are no words to thank you enough. You are the best fans anyone could ever wish for. Thanks for all the suggestions and corrections you made. And for putting up with my ramblings. I just hope that my next story is as successful as Consequences. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!
PS: To Those who reviewed last chapter, Alice will plan your wedding. You just have to tell me the date and she takes care of everything. LOL
Disclaimer: SM owns all the characters, except Luke, the triplets, Kae, Amanda and Natalie.
Chapter 23 – Epilogue
Bella's POV
Edward and I had come back from our honeymoon two days ago. It was wonderful. We spent the first two weeks travelling through Europe. I loved it. The other two weeks were spent in Isle Esme, in the first week we were alone but then we asked Alice to bring the kids so that they could stay the last week with us. We missed them so much. I had never been away from them for so long.
The wedding had been just like I wanted: small and simple. We invited the Denali clan and Aro, Marcus, Caius, Felix and Demetri. My mom was not able to come because the doctor had forbidden her from travelling until the end of the year.
Alice, Esme and Rose were my bridesmaids and Luke, Jasper and Emmett were Edward's groomsmen. Both Carlisle and Aro walked me down the aisle since I couldn't pick one. Lizzie was the flower girl and Lilly the ring bearer. Luke decided to sit and watch since he's a bit shy and would get embarrassed if he had to do anything.
After the ceremony, that was held in the Cullens yard, everyone danced and talked. The Denali clan was amazed with the kids. Everyone had a great time. Edward did not leave my side, except when Esme insisted for him to dance with her. Of course that also made very hard for other people to dance with me. Alice had stay faithful to her promise of kidnapping me and not allowing him to see me which made both of us extremely anxious. I guess it was payback for threatening to blow up her closet.
Now we were packing everything. The Cullens had accepted to come back with me, the kids and Luke, who was now very happy with Kae. I couldn't be happier for him. He was such a great support for me that it was only fair that he found someone to share his life with and Kae was the perfect girl for him. She is a bit shy but very sweet. You can only imagine Alice's happiness when she realized that Kae needed and entire wardrobe since she had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
Edward was moving in with me and the kids and Luke and Kae would stay with the Cullens, who had bought a huge mansion next to our house. First I had refused to stay in Luke's house while he moved in with Cullens; after all it was his house. He would have none of that so I just insisted for him to stay with me, Edward and the kids but he refused. He said that we needed our space and that he would love if we took his house. He was very excited about moving in with the Cullens since he and Carlisle had become great friends. In the end I accepted, so here we are now helping the Cullen's to move. Luke already returned with Kae to pack his stuff and because he had to start working. He helped Carlisle getting a spot on the same hospital where he works.
Edward is very excited with the prospect of going back with us. Alice too is extremely giddy. Not even Jasper can calm her down. She and Esme had already been in town to get their house ready. They showed me some pictures and it was a lot like the one they had in Forks.
"Love." Edward called after setting one last box in the trunk of the Volvo.
"Yes Edward?" Instead of answering he kissed me, pushing me against the car.
"We need to help the others putting the boxes in the cars." I said breaking the kiss.
"I think they can do very well without our help." He said leaning to kiss my neck.
"What's wrong with you? You've been insatiable. We just came back from our honeymoon!" I
"Well... I... do... have... five... years... to... make up... for. One moth... was not... enough." He said between kisses.
"Edward, could you please stop squishing your poor wife against the car and help us?" Emmett yelled from the inside of the house. Everybody laughed and I chuckled against Edward's shoulder.
"Looks like you have somewhere else to be handsome." I whispered in his ear.
"Nope. The only place where I have to be is your arms, so I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place." He replied. God! His voice makes my heart melt. I don't even dare to look in his eyes.
"Edward, I swear that if you don't take your hands off of my little sister..." Emmett started again.
"Come on, we have to help them!" I insisted.
"Fine but first let me give you something."
"What Edward?"
"This." He said holding a heart-shaped crystal. It was beautiful. "It's a charm for your bracelet. Something that represents me. It was from my mother and I want you to have it."
"It's beautiful. Thank you." I said planting a soft kiss on his lips and allowing him to put the charm in my bracelet. "Now let's help the others!" He groaned but followed me to the house.
Finally everybody was ready to leave; since Luke had already taken the Passat, the kids and I would ride with Edward.
During the ride I thought about how everything had changed. In a little more than two months my life turned upside down. I found Edward again; we got married and are now starting a new life together with our kids and our family. I had missed the Cullens so much in the past few years. I had missed the sense of family that I feel when I'm with them. I wanted my kids to feel that too and now I have all I ever wanted. Edward held my hand during the entire way. I couldn't be happier.
Edward's POV
When we arrived I looked around taking in the place. The two houses were close to each other and were situated in a secluded part of the town, surrounded by woods.
"Luke enjoys his privacy." Bella stated helping the kids to get out of the car.
"Home!" The kids screamed running to the front door. Bella followed quickly to open the door for them, coming back to my side once they were inside.
"So... do you like it?" She asked, uncertainty filling her voice.
"I love it." In front of me was a two story grey and white house. It had a path that connected the driveway to the porch and it even had a scarecrow, thought the only thing that was there was grass. Bella noticed the way I looked at the scarecrow.
"There's nothing planted there but the kids talked about it at school and when they got home they wanted to build one." She explained. "Let's go see the interior?"
"Sure." She took my hand and pulled me to the door. Once we were inside Bella gave me a tour. Each kid had his own room and there was another one besides mine and Bella's, which used to be Luke's. Lizzie's bedroom was white and it was about ladybugs, everywhere you looked you could see ladybugs. Lilly's room was in tons of blue and green and Luke's room was sports themed. Bella's room was white and her comforter was in tons of blue and green which brought some color to it.
"I didn't use it much, just when the kids wanted to sleep together or when I wanted to be alone. We can remodel it if you don't like it." I didn't fail to notice the way she talked about the room. She didn't use it much. Past, this means that she will be using it a lot now, hopefully in my company...
"It's great love. We don't have to change anything. In fact as long as I can be with you, I don't even care where we live." I gave her a quick kiss and she continued to show me the house."
I was happy to notice that there was space in the living room to put my piano. As if reading my thoughts Bella walked to the space.
"Here, we will put your piano. I asked Luke to rearrange some stuff so that there was enough space." She said smiling.
"Thanks but you shouldn't have bothered, I could put it in the other house." I said making my way to her. "I'm sure Esme wouldn't mind."
"And not being able to hear you play when I want? I don't think so, besides I heard that you offered yourself to teach Lizzie how to play the piano. It will be easier if it's here." She explained. I put my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. Since the wedding I was completely addicted to her presence. My body craved her touch every second of the day and if she wasn't near it was like if my whole body was burning, aching for her. I think that the five years I had spent without her were starting to show, like if I was trying to make up for all the lost time.
I felt her lips brushing mine, bringing me out of my thoughts, I immediately captured her lips and she smiled, allowing me to deepen the kiss.
"Mommy!" At the sound of Lizzie's voice Bella broke the kiss immediately. Two seconds later Lizzie was standing in front of us.
"Yes hun?"
"Are we going to school tomorrow?"
"Of course, you already missed today." Bella said.
"Will daddy take us?" She asked excited.
"We are both going to take you tomorrow." I answered. Lizzie squealed and ran to Lilly's room. Bella turned to me and smiled. " There is no way I am going to miss the chance to make everyone in this town take back all the awful comments they have made about you and our kids."
"Everyone woman in this town will be green with envy." Bella stated. I didn't quite understand her statement.
"Really?"
"Well, of course. I will be walking around with a Greek god claiming to be my husband." Her smile widened at the word husband, as did mine. Sometimes I still couldn't believe that she had married me and it pleased me to no end to hear her call me her husband.
"I think it will be the other way around. All the men will be jealous because I managed to marry an angel. You are my angel. All mine!" I said, suddenly feeling very possessive. She was just mine.
"Okay Mr. Possessive, then your angel is telling you that here are a lot of boxes in the Volvo's trunk that need to be brought to the house so maybe we should get moving."
"I can bring them all you don't need to bother." I said, the gentleman in me kicking in. She just looked at me and rolled her eyes, ignoring me and starting to unload the trunk. Life couldn't get any better...
***
The next day Alice kidnapped Bella to go shopping which meant that she couldn't take the kids to the kindergarten with me. After a quick explanation about how to find the kindergarten and a short kiss, Alice forced Bella to enter Rosalie's BMW and took off.
I put the kids in the Volvo and head off to the kindergarten. I found it easily but we were already a few minutes late, since I didn't want to drive too fast.
"Hello Miss Baker." The kids said when a blonde girl appeared at the door. She must be their teacher.
"Good Morning kids." She said happily. She seemed to be nice; her thoughts were peaceful though curious.
"Good Morning." I said. She looked at me and her eyes widened.
He is so good looking! Maybe he's single! What am I THINKING? I haven't even seen him before.
Apparently her thoughts aren't as peaceful as I thought.
"Good... Morning..." She stammered. "Who are you? A friend of Miss Bella?"
"No Miss, he's our father." Lilly answered. The woman's eyes looked like they were about to pop out.
"Father?" Father? He certainly looks a lot like Luke but hadn't he left when miss Bella got pregnant? I thought he didn't even know he had kids. Are they together? Maybe he's too good for me but I can try. Maybe he and Miss Swan aren't together. Maybe I could...
"Yes. Our daddy came back. Is it great?" Lizzie gushed happily.
"Yeah." She answered. "I'm sorry, is everything okay with Miss Bella? It's usually her who brings the kids."
"My wife is perfectly fine. She just went shopping with my sister so she couldn't come." I answered. Hopefully that would make her stop trying to wonder about ways to ask me out.
"Wife?" She asked disbelievingly. They married? Before she left the town she didn't even know where he was, how are they married now? Did she just forgive him?
"Mommy and daddy got married. It was so beautiful. Mommy looked like an angel!" Lizzie stated.
"Correction Liz, your mom is an angel." I said smiling.
"Oh! I had no idea!" Miss Baker stuttered, still thinking about my marriage with Bella.
"Leaving Bella was an awful mistake and when I found her again I wasn't going to let her go. I already lost too much time of my kids' lives and I love Bella very much. We got married a month ago." I explained
"I see." Disappointment was clear in her voice. "My name is Anne Baker; I'm your kids teacher." She extended her hand for me to shake.
"It's nice to meet you. Well I'm sure you have to go now. Bye kids."
"Bye daddy! Will you come get us in the afternoon?" Lilly asked.
"Of course. And I'll make sure to bring mommy with me." I smiled and kissed them goodbye, leaving a very shocked Miss Baker and my excited kids behind me. On the way home I decided to stop by the park. If Bella was at home I would have gone straight there but my evil pixie sister had decided to abduct my wife, so I didn't have much to do.
I sat in a bench thinking when the conversation of two ladies seated in the bench behind mine called my attention.
"... Have you heard that Isabella came back yesterday? I heard doctor Luke talk to that pretty girl he brought with him when he returned from his vacation. He seems to be very happy with her; I think her name is Katelyn or Kaelyn... I'm not sure."
"I didn't know, but I heard that there was a new family moving here. I think that they arrived yesterday too. Dr Cullen will be working in the hospital and brought his family." So the town was already talking about our family?
"Really? What do you know about them?"
"Well, he and his wife are in their mid thirties but they seem much younger. With them live Mrs. Cullen's nephew; I think his name is Edward and Dr. Cullen's niece and nephew, they are twins. I heard that when Mrs. Cullen's sister died they adopted her son and when Dr. Cullen's brother died they did the same with his kids. I think they can't have kids of their own."
"How old are the kids?"
"They are in their early twenties. Dr. Cullen and his wife were very young when they adopted them. Dr. Cullen's nephew and niece are already married but they still live all together."
"What about Mrs. Cullen nephew?"
"I don't know. Mrs. Cullen and Dr. Carlisle's nephew's wife have been renovating the big house next to Dr. Luke's. They are both very beautiful."
"I don't know why they chose to live in that house; it only has woods around it not to mention they won't have a minute of peace living next to Isabella and her annoying little kids." This woman was so jealous of Bella.
"Amanda! Miss Bella's kids are very polite and intelligent."
"Exactly, they are too perfect. It's sickening. And I'm tired to hear you defend Isabella. She thinks she's perfect. Her boyfriend left her, didn't he? Probably the best decision the guy made. Did I tell you that when I called her to invite her to Melanie's party she said she was visiting family? Of course I didn't believe her! Everybody knows that it's just her and her brother! They don't have anyone else. I pity Dr. Luke. He has to put up with her and her perfect kids. And she was extremely impolite. I already told Melanie to avoid her kids; they don't even have a father, who knows what Isabella is putting in their heads." I couldn't believe this! Then this was the woman who had called Bella to invite her and the kids to a party. Was this the type of comments that Bella had to hear from the whole town? How could she ever get used to hear this?
"Amanda, don't be so harsh. I'm sure it's difficult for her to be a single mom."
"And whose fault is that? She probably got drunk at some party and woke up the next morning pregnant. Maybe her ex- boyfriend isn't even the father of her kids..." If this woman doesn't shut her mouth in the next five minutes, I will do something very bad to her. How dare she saying that my kids are the product of a night of drunkenness? How dare she saying that Bella might even not know who the father of her kids is?
"I think that Isabella looks a lot like Mrs. Cullen and the wife of Dr. Cullen's nephew. They all have white skin and are very beautiful. I'm sure that if Mrs. Cullen nephew isn't committed to anyone he will be interested in Isabella."
"Are you insane? Who would be interested in her? Do you think that a young man like him would want a single mom that as three kids?" She really thought that? "Besides she's not even that beautiful..." She didn't know what was coming to her. I would make sure she would die of embarrassment this afternoon...
"Excuse me..." I said to the women, turning around in my bench. They both looked at me. "I couldn't help to listen to your conversation. I'm sorry."
"No. It's fine. You probably should be warned. Do you have any kids? Are they in the kindergarten?" Amanda asked. She was thinking about how gorgeous I was and that I was too young to have kids.
"As a matter of fact, I do. And yes I just dropped them at the kindergarten, we were a bit late. We just moved here." I tried my best to keep my voice controlled, when the only thing I wanted to do was kill the damn woman for everything she said.
"Well... If I was you I would keep them away from Isabella's kids. We have to go now. It was nice meeting you. Maybe we will meet again when we go pick up the kids. Bye." They got up and left, but not before Amanda tried to flirt with me. Seriously? I just told them that I had kids and from what Bella told me she's married.
It doesn't matter. I just want to see their faces when they find who I am!
***
When Bella got home I was slightly calmer. I told her everything and then talked to her about my plan. She loved it. Then I proceeded to tell the rest of my family what I had heard. Jasper and I almost had to hold Emmett and Rosalie to stop them from chasing the woman. Alice was calmer because she had seen my plan. Bella and I returned to our house to wait for the time to go get the kids. Jasper and Emmett were entertained with a surprise for the kids.
When the time to pick up the kids arrived I was eager to put the rest of my plan in action. Bella insisted on driving so while she parked the car I entered the kindergarten. Like I expected the women from that morning were already there.
"Hello! Your wife?" Amanda asked. Maybe he doesn't have one. Maybe she had died or he's divorced. She didn't really want to know where my wife was, just if I had one. I almost laughed.
"She's just parking the car." The woman's face was full of disappointment. I didn't know what to think! Maybe she wasn't happily married. Unfortunately she wasn't thinking about her husband so I couldn't know.
I was now waiting for Bella to finish my plan. Though before Bella appeared I saw the kids running to me. This was going to be even better than I thought. I smiled at them and they smiled back.
"Where is your kid?" Amanda asked looking at the kids who were now exiting the room. I didn't answer.
"Daddy!" Lilly said hugging my leg. By the corner of my eye I could see Amanda staring shocked. I picked Lilly up while Lizzie and took my hand and Luke stand beside me. I could see that Bella was already coming to us.
"I didn't even introduce myself, how rude of me." I started speaking sweetly. "My name is Edward Cullen and this is my wife Isabella Cullen." I said in the exact moment Bella arrived. She took Lilly from my arms and I extended one hand towards Amanda. She didn't make a move to shake it. Her thoughts were a mess and she was staring at me with a stunned expression. I wanted to laugh so hard! The look on her face was priceless.
Well done handsome! Bella thought, smiling at me.
"You know what they say, love: payback is a bitch" I spoke too low and fast for humans' hears. Bella's smile widened. From what I could say from other parent's thoughts, Amanda had told to a lot of them about out talk in the park this morning which had turned this into a public humiliation. She had told everybody how I looked like, which meant that everybody knew I was the same person she talked to in the park this morning. I quickly informed Bella of this. The room was completely silent.
"You... are her... kids' father?" Amanda asked after a few minutes.
"I am."
"But you left her."
"That was the biggest mistake I ever done in my life. I thought I was protecting Bella. I had no idea she was pregnant. But now we found each other again and we got married. I love her and our kids more than everything." I said so that everybody in the room could hear.
"You... a..." She didn't know what to say but it was fine for me. Nothing of what she could say interested me.
"I heard that in the past few years some rude and fake comments have been directed to my wife and kids and I would really appreciate if that stopped." I politely asked.
"Of course." She stammered. Everybody started leaving and a few minutes later only Bella, I, our kids, Amanda, a little girl and an old lady were left. I still had a few things to say.
"Kids why don't you go and wait there?" I said pointing to a few chairs on the other side of the room. They happily obliged and the other little girl, that I assumed was Amanda's daughter, followed them.
"So you are the jerk?" The old lady asked.
It's Amanda's mother, Natalie. Do you remember? Bella thought. I remembered. Bella said that Natalie had helped her and was a friend of her.
"I am. Leaving Bella was the worst mistake I ever made but we are happy now. I love her very much."
"You better take good care of her!" Natalie said smiling.
"I will ma'am. I just wanted to clear a few more things with..." I looked at Amanda. I didn't know her last name.
"Amanda Geller." She said.
"With Mrs. Geller before we leave." I said looking at Amanda. "You don't mind do you, love?" I asked Bella.
"Of course not." She answered. I put my arm around her waist.
"First, Mrs. Geller, our kids are not the product of a night of drunkenness but of a night of love. Bella and I were both very lucid." My voice was cold but the feeling that invaded me at the memory of that night was warm. "Second, my wife does not think she's perfect, she is perfect and she's raising our kids very well. No one would do better. Third, you think that if I didn't know Bella, I wouldn't be interested in her just because she has three kids, well let me tell you that you are seriously mistaken. And last my wife is the most beautiful woman I ever laid my eyes on and you can believe me when I say that I have seen many beautiful women." I felt a lot better when I finished. Amanda was looking at me terrified, while her mother smiled.
"I must say that I think you are the perfect guy for Bella." Natalie said smiling. "You have to go see me someday; I want to hear everything, especially about the wedding." Bella nodded.
"Maybe we should get going, love. I'm sure the kids will want to see their surprises." I said.
"Surprises? What surprises" They asked excited running to us.
"Well, Uncle Emmett and Uncle Jasper were preparing two surprises for you." Bella said.
"What is it? What is it?"
"If we told you it would not be a surprise!" I said. They started pouting at Bella.
"Come on mommy. We love you! Tell us! Pleeeaase!" Bella looked ready to give in. I just hoped they didn't try with me. Especially Lilly. She looked so much like Bella that I wouldn't be able to say no if she begged me like that. Natalie was thinking this was very fun and sweet and the little girl was dying with jealousy. I felt sorry for her. It wasn't her fault that her mother was not a good person.
"Daddy? Please. Tell what our surprises are. Please!" Lilly begged unleashing the force of her brown eyes on me. I couldn't resist those chocolate brown-eyes.
"Lilly!" Bella scolded. "Don't dazzle your father. It's surprise so when you get home you will see. Now say goodbye."
"Goodbye. Come on daddy. Let's go! We want to see our surprises." They said running to the door.
"Let's go, love. Goodbye." And with that Bella and I left the kindergarten.
When we got home, everyone was there and the kids demanded their surprises so we went to the garden where a big tree was. When the kids looked up they saw the huge house tree Jasper and Emmett had built for them. They were so excited. Then Alice went to get their second surprise. When she and Bella went shopping Alice bought three bikes. It was impossible to describe their happiness.
Jasper, Emmet and I would be teaching them to ride the bikes. The kids were ecstatic. While they explore the tree house Bella and I sat in the grass, watching them.
"In the kindergarten... it went well, don't you think?"
"Well? Well? You were amazing! I had never seen Amanda Geller like that! I didn't even need to be Jasper to feel the jealousy and the embarrassment coming off of her. Though you could have been less cold. The woman was practically shaking with fear." She said, letting escape a small laugh. "And I didn't really like to humiliate her so publicly but I guess it was her fault. She shouldn't have told everybody."
"Maybe now she will learn not to gossip and comment on other people's lives. After all the things she said about you, you still care about her? You are too good to be true my Bella. My angel. Maybe one day I'll wake up and see that this was only a dream."
"Vampires can't sleep, silly."
"Sometimes I'm afraid that these last two months didn't happen and that this is all my imagination. I'm scared of closing my eyes, afraid that you will disappear." I said truthfully.
"This is not a dream or a product of your imagination. You're not that imaginative and I'm not going to disappear. There's nowhere I'd rather be than here, with you. I'm yours forever. I love you." And she kissed me. I didn't care if the kids or our family were watching because right now, all that mattered was us. Bella and I. This was our moment. Just ours.
When Bella broke the kiss we looked around. Alice, Emmett, Luke (Sr.) and Jasper were in the tree house with the Lizzie and Luke; Rosalie and Carlisle were helping Lillian to ride her new bike and Esme and Kae were cheering. This was our new family. Everyone was so happy.
I got up and pulled Bella with me. I grabbed her by the waist and spun her around while she laughed. Then I stopped and cupped her face with my hands.
"Bella, I love you."
"I love you too Edward." Forever
"Forever, love."
***
During the next few weeks Bella and I were topic of conversation through the whole town. When we passed people whispered, some were jealous, others were shocked but there was also some that were happy. And there were a few that actually apologized for the way they had treated Bella. But we came to the conclusion that we didn't care anymore. It didn't mattered what people thought or said about us. We had each other and our kids. We were happy and we loved each other and our family very much. That was the only thing that was important. We had accepted and dealt with the consequences of our actions and, in my case, my mistakes and our love made us strong and brought us to where we are now. It brought us our happy ending.
Men must try and try again. They must suffer the consequences of their own mistakes and learn by they own failures and they own successes.
Lawson Purdy
So... What did you think? Did you liked it? This was the last chapter of Consequences. I'm not going to do a sequel. At least not for now. I'm very excited about my new story. I hope you check it out. I'll try to post the first chapter in the middle of next week. The pictures for the outside of the house and the kids' rooms are in my recently created website:browneyedcullengirl(dot)webs(dot)com. There's a link in the bottom of my profile. Again, thanks for your support and love. You are truly amazing. Thank you so much. REVIEW PLEASE!!!! HUgs
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