18
ANOTHER FAMILY MEETING
We went to Carlisle's house and I was silent on the way, thinking about a beautiful homeless little girl and her confidence in me. Edward and I sat in the living room with all the Cullen's that evening, there were plenty of things needing to be discussed and things which some of the Cullen's were unaware of. Carlisle, Alice and Edward had not disclosed my 'pregnancy' to anyone because they wanted me to be the one to tell, we also had to discuss Jenny.
Of course Emmett did know how I had spent the previous night because he had helped rescue us.
"So, how was last night?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes," Carlisle said, "I almost forgot to ask how it went."
I smiled, "It was too beautiful to talk about, so please don't joke about it Emmett, don't destroy the good feelings I have," I pleaded.
Alice put her arm around me, "At least let her keep it sacred otherwise she'll be too embarrassed to do it again."
"Do you see her doing it again?" Emmett persisted.
"I definitely see her doing it again," Alice said smiling.
All of us laughed and Edward pulled me close and hugged me.
"How about you, Edward?" Carlisle asked, "I know you were hesitant to do this at first."
"I have to agree with Bella, it was too beautiful to talk about and I know Aro will say the same thing," Edward said beaming.
"If I know Aro, the whole castle will have been informed by now," Carlisle said laughing and we all nodded in agreement, "Bella has some news to tell those of us who are unaware," he added.
"I'm…, that is, Aro, Edward and I are going to have a baby," I said.
"How is that possible?" Rosalie asked.
"With the help of a very wonderful young lady who I have had the pleasure to meet but Bella has yet to meet her," Carlisle said.
"Is she human?" Esme asked.
"Yes love," Carlisle told her.
"But won't she die?" Esme asked again.
"Yes she will and she is very well prepared, Aro is deeply grateful to her. He searched far and wide for such a woman who looks and acts a lot like Bella," Carlisle said.
"She's just a child then?" Esme asked with concern.
"I'm afraid so, but the circumstances of how this was arrived at are known only to Aro and I, Bella is not privy to this information at this time but Aro wanted her complete unconditional trust and he has it. Bella will discover why this girl is willing to die as she becomes acquainted with her.
"Is it necessary for Bella to have a child?" Esme asked.
I answered this one myself.
"Esme, I never in my dreams ever thought of being a mother, it didn't bother me as it has Rosalie or you; I was content to have Edward and then of course, Aro. I loved being with Jenny and in a way I guess it calmed my instincts to want a child. Aro wants me to have a child as a wedding gift; he wants to give me something that Edward would never do because it involves having sex with another woman. Aro has had sex with many women and one more for a good cause, he is willing to do. He asked my approval and after he explained things to me, I agreed. He wants me to be there when the child is conceived and I must live this pregnancy myself, empathizing with this girl even through the pain at the end," I ended my explanation.
Alice smiled, "This is so touching, I would cry if I could," she said as she came over and hugged me.
Edward spoke, "This child is going to belong to all of us and Bella and I will need your help; even though she is not actually pregnant, she will be made to look and feel pregnant and the girl who is actually pregnant will be her constant companion."
"You will have two pregnant women to deal with instead of just one but Bella is two months pregnant as we speak because we are treating her pregnancy like a human pregnancy; in order to keep up the appearance for the sake of her human family. The other woman will not conceive until Bella's wedding night and so Bella will soon know she's pregnant I'm afraid, the baby will be born around July," Carlisle said.
He winked at me then he continued.
"We suddenly developed a little complication in the form of Jenny who wants to live with Edward and Bella; I saw the longing in Bella's eyes, didn't you Edward?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so but we have to discuss this," Edward said, Alice has seen this happening, but with the other 'pregnancy', I don't know if Bella should be allowed to handle another child at this time; then of course Jenny is completely human and would be living in a vampire world."
"Bella, I don't know how you manage to get the best of both worlds, two husbands and two children," Rosalie said smiling, "You know how much I always wanted a child and I will be the first to help you get through this if you want me to."
"Me too," Esme said, "I'd love to meet Jenny and it will be my pleasure to have two more children to love, of course we'll have to work on getting a larger house for you and Edward, possibly in Forks so Carlisle and I don't have to travel so far every time you have a disaster…" She started to go on but Edward stopped her.
"Don't forget Mom, Bella and I will have to spend at least half our time in Italy, maybe even more than that."
"Oh yes of course, but you will still need a home here and there are other grandparents besides us," she said.
"Oh," I said, "How will I deal with that?"
"Bella stop conjuring up things to worry about," Alice said, everything is going to be fine just as long as Edward realizes you can handle two children."
"I don't want her to be overwhelmed," Edward said, "She is still a newborn, believe it or not, she has gone through a month of terrible trauma and again recently she was traumatized. She has to live through a very difficult pregnancy and deal with the loss of life of someone who she will be companion to for quite some time, she has a wedding to go through, much more stressful, than ours was for her and you know how she feels about weddings. She is finally accepting two husbands and is now dealing with new responsibilities as Aro's wife; believe me he expects a great deal from her, not to mention what I expect from her and I'm not going to let up on her either. Having two husbands is not just having sex, that's a small part of a marriage plus she has school which Aro and I are going to make sure she finishes. On top of all that she has two human parents who need to know what she is doing, her mother is aware she has two men but not two husbands and her father is going to find out pretty soon too, as Alice will tell you and it's not going to be pretty. Renee will want to see the baby and will know at once it isn't mine; the wedding will probably be world wide news, even if it's only a blip in this country but Charlie reads newspapers and so do students and faculty here. All this is going to take a great deal of explanation," he finished.
"I want Jenny," I said, "I realize what I have to deal with but I have a lot of help, I just can't see Jenny going from foster home to foster home, please say yes, Edward."
"I'll talk to Aro and see what he thinks because he'll soon be your husband too and he may agree it's too overwhelming," he said with finality.
"I agree it should be thought out," Carlisle said, "You are after all a delicate flower and will definitely have more responsibility than you realize."