Chapter 9

Promises -

Edward

I bounded up the stairs to the next floor, reaching the closed door to my room seconds after Carlisle had shut the front door. I could hear Bella's heart beating faster than normal. Was she scared? In pain? I knocked on the door.

"Bella?" I called softly. I heard the rustle of pillows, but she didn't answer.

When I opened the door, she tried to shift her body away from me, in order to hide her face. The sudden movement made her gasp, probably because of the pain in her ribs. I rushed to her side, wrapping her in a blanket as I gently took her in my arms, making her face me.

"Are you comfortable?" I asked her, breathing in her luxurious scent.

She nodded, still not looking at me, even though our faces were just inches apart. What was wrong? Did she still not want me to touch her? I thought about releasing my grip on her, but didn't. The slight pressure of my arms acted like a tight wrap, actually making it easier for her to breathe. If I was helping to relieve some of her physical pain, I couldn't let go. I thought of Rosalie's earlier words, pondering them. Was Bella too ashamed to look at me? Surely not. I couldn't blame her for how she had reacted the last time she had seen me; she was in emotional turmoil!

"Bella, look at me." I tried to keep my face composed while her gaze moved slowly to mine hesitantly, her brow wrinkled, and her eyes full of remorse.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed. I closed my eyes to keep Bella from seeing the pain reflected in them.

"Shhh..." I quieted her, "Don't apologize." She needed to stop blaming herself for hurting my feelings, and start worrying about her own wellbeing.

She looked as though she were going to open her mouth to apologize again.

"You have nothing to apologize for, my love," I stopped her, brushing her hair back from her beautiful face, bruised from last night's ordeal. She softly began to cry as I took her hand in my own and kissed the salty tears off her face.

As I held her hand, partially encased in her cast, I remembered what I had retrieved, just under an hour ago. I pulled my mother's ring -Bella's ring- out of my jeans pocket and carefully slipped it onto her ring finger.

"I will always love you," I promised her, "always."

I could smell the morphine that Carlisle had given her circulating through her system, making her sleepy, and causing her words to slur.

"How'd you get this back?"

I dodged the question.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Bella." I would tell her in the morning, after she had some rest.

"Sleep now, love." She tried to resist the pull of sleep, but when I started to hum her lullaby in her ear, she quickly surrendered to sleep.

I held her as she slumbered, watching her eyelashes flutter and droop, hearing as her breathing deepened, and her heartbeat gradually slowed.

I assessed the situation at hand. Even though Rosalie, Emmett, and I had gotten rid of those fiends, we couldn't get rid of the marks that they had left on Bella physically and psychologically. Almost every inch of her was bruised, including an eye that was almost swollen shut, she had 2 broken ribs on one side, and they had snapped her left arm clean just above the elbow. She had scratches all along her body, and it was difficult smelling the fresh blood that rose from the wounds. As for her ribs, it would take at least 3 weeks for them to heal, maybe more. The scratches would heal in days, as would the the bruises and black eye, and the broken arm could heal easily in the cast it was in. Bella would be perfectly healthy in a little over a month, maybe less with the exceptional health care she would be receiving from Carlisle, Rosalie, and myself. The only thing I was unsure of how to heal was Bella's spirit. I had seen through Bella's eyes tonight, the pain and torture she had gone through in the warehouse, and the look in her eyes had frightened me more than anything I had seen in my life.

I could fight off the nomads who thirsted for her blood, and I could keep a secure hold on her heart , even with a werewolf for competition. I could do all that and more to keep her safe, but the one thing I wasn't sure of how to fix was broken. Bella's spirit was crumbling. She had been broken, used, and left for dead by pathetic excuses of men. She had been broken by a man who was so much stronger than her, who used his strength against her to break her. She had gone through hell and back.

I looked down at her sleeping face, crumpled close to my chest. I would be patient for her. I would be there to comfort, love, and cherish her, and prove to her how much she's worth to me. I promised her, then and there, that I would show her how much she meant to me, every minute of every day.