Hello Sister, Goodbye Life
Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight saga. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Warning: Adult themes. Language.
Author's Note: okay, so I'm sorry for the massively long wait, but, in my defence, I only got my laptop back last week and, even then, I had this massive ass asignment that I had to do. It's done now, and handed in, and hopefully, chapters won't be so far and few between... I hope this chapter makes up for the wait, though it's unlikely. This chapter goes into a little more depth of Rosalie and Jasper's relationship and chilldhoods, necessary for later in the story.
I don't think I'll do lemons, because the entire concept feraks me out a little and, if I do, it won't be me who writes it. And, lastly, there's an outtake replacing the AN in last chapter and it's a piece of shit but, if you want to read it, than go for your life. Happy reading!
Chapter Fifteen
Bella Swan
It was the Cullen family dinner the week following my and Edward's confessions of love and, given that Rosalie was dating Emmett and I, Edward, we were invited.
That was what braught Rosalie, Maddie and I in front of the Cullens' front door, once again. Rosalie wore a simple black knee length dress with thick shoulder straps and somehow managed to hug her curves, as if it were made for her, black three inch pointed toe heels on her feet. The heels made her stand at 5'10" inches, where I only stood at 5'8" in my two inch pointed toe leather boots I wore to go with the black boot leg jeans and cami I wore.
Rosalie pressed the door bell this time and it was Carlisle who answered, greeting us both with a fatherly smile and a kiss to a cheek. Once we were over the threshold and the front door was closed behind us, his hands pressed against the smalls of our backs and he led us, Maddie on my hip, into the formal dining room which, at the moment, didn't seem so formal.
Two high chairs were strategically placed beside two of the high backed chairs, across from which was a Dora the Explorer plate and cup, obviously for Eva. There was a baby monitor in front of the seat beside Eva's and Alice was currently sitting, her feet on the seat as she inspected her toenails. Emmett was in the middle of giving Jasper a nugie in the corner of the brightly lit room while Edward serrupticiously took photos with his iPhone, Eva giggling beside him. Anthony was in a playpen in another corner of the room where Anthony was currently jamming the wooden puzzle-things into the puzzle board. Esme was flittering around the room and kitchen setting food here and there and the room itself just had a sense of family, unlike most formal dining rooms I'd visitted in my life.
I set Maddie down in the playpen with Anthony and, after greeting Esme with a hug, Alice with a pat on the head and Eva with a kiss to the forehead, I wrapped my arms around Edward from behind, propping my chin on his shoulder.
"Hello, beautiful," he greeted, a beaming smile lighting his face as he slid his phone back into his pocket.
"Hey to you, too," I replied as he turned, wrapping his arms around my waist. He pecked my forehead and the tip of my nose before softly pressing his lips to mine, only to pull away a moment later when Emmett's booming voice filled the room.
"Rosie!"
Rosalie rolled her eyes, but grinned, as he wrapped his enormous arms around my best friend's waist, lifting her into the air and spinning her around. Rosalie laughed and gripped his forearms tightly when he set her down, regaining her balance. She gave him a kiss and, thankfully, kept it PG rated.
When greetings were over, Rosalie and I moved off to where Alice was still inspecting her toenails, sitting on either side of her.
"Hey, you two," she greeted Rose and I. "Sorry, Noah's starting to teethe and it's making for a lot of sleepless nights."
"I wish I could understand what you're going through," I said truthfully, "Then I could give you advice."
"Be thankful that you don't understand what I'm going through," she laughed and it made me smile. It was nice to see that, even though she was exhausted, she could still laugh.
"So how've you been, aside from Noah's teething, I mean?" Rosalie asked, changing the subject. "Any dirt on Jasper that I can give his parents?" She grinned evilly and Alice snorted.
"No way, that man is, I dunno, is either really good at not getting caught or is an ass kisser."
Rosalie laughed her belly laugh and I grinned widely. It was a rarity to witness said laugh, but when one did, it was a sight to remember. Her face would scrunch up, mouth open, eyes squinty and watery. "If I know him at all, I know he's the best of the best when it comes to not getting caught. He is a freak. When we were little, my family would spend our summers on our family's ranch in Texas and whenever he broke something, he'd say, looking into his father's eyes, with a dead straight face, that he didn't do it. It was incredible, especially when Uncle Morris believed him. You should try play poker with him; it's like trying to play with a brick wall. Completely expressionless. When Aunt Cass found out, Jasper got the biggest ass kicking, ever. It was our other cousin, the youngest Hale child's son, who happened to be six years younger than me, nine years younger than Jasper, who told Aunt Cass, of course. Jasper's older siblings practically kicked the little shit's ass, of course. Not Jasper, Matthew, our kid cousin."
"Do you have any siblings, Rosalie?"
"Yeah," Rosalie replied, "A junkie older brother and a younger sister who completely despises our parents. I don't blame them, though. Jasper and Matt got the better of the Hale relations. My brother, Ryan, he was supposed to inherit the 'family fortune' but after he got into drugs in high school, he dropped out and has been a pimp ever since. My sister, Regina, she was, I dunno, our parents hopes, I guess. After I turned out to be a disappointment, they turned their expectations upon her. The second she turned eighteen, she moved out and hasn't spoken to any of us ever since. That's when they realised I was their best bet in making sure the 'family fortune' remained to be a success. Fuck it, I plan to sell it the moment I inherit it, anyway."
"Her parents are assholes," I added, "They didn't raise Rose and her siblings, instead handing them to nannies and sitters."
"They don't care about us," Rose continued, "They just care about who will continue running our family business: who's the best suitor and shit."
Dinner was announced to be ready to be eaten then, and so I moved out of Eva's seat and headed to the playpen, scooping a one year old in each arm. Setting Maddie in one high chair, I let Edward take Anthony from my other arm and put him in the other baby seat before we both sat down between the two toddlers. Esme set a small bowl of mashed corn and potato on each toddler's tray-thing that came off of the high chair and both happily dug in – literally.
Edward entwined his right hand in my left as we both watched Alice serve Eva's dinner, squeezing it lightly. Rosalie sat on the other side of Maddie, making sure to stay far away from the aim of Maddie's food projectiles.
Jasper sat on Alice's other side, directly in front of Maddie, and Rosalie grinned deviously at Jasper's misfortune. Emmett sat beside Rosalie and, while Esme sat at the foot of the table, Carlisle took the traditional head of the table, he being the silent head of the family.
Family.
I looked around me, at Carlisle, at the head of the table in his button down shirt with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows, his platinum blonde hair combed back out of his face. To Eva, her copper hair and green eyes identical to Edward's, giggling at something Alice said. Alice, the volunteer I'd befriended at Maddie's daycare and whom I learnt loved shopping. Jasper, Rosalie's cousin, the quieter of the lot, and seemingly more observant than everyone else. Noah, who wasn't actually in the room, but was part of this family no less. Esme, maternal and loving and the mother I needed when I couldn't have mine. Emmett, the loveable teddy bear, the clown of the bunch, able to make everyone smile with his own stupid smile. Rosalie, my sister in everything but blood, who knew me inside and out, upside down and back to front. Who drove me insane sometimes and whom I loved dearly. Maddie, my sister in everything, including blood, my last link to my parents, with my daddy's hair and my mommy's eyes. Anthony, the boy I'd come to love as my own, as I'd come to love his sister, already with the same hair as his father. His father, Edward, who'd become my whole world in less than two months, my sun in the sky. These people had become my family without me even realising.
I smiled and took Edward's offered hand again, dropping our entwined fingers between our chairs and eating with our free hands.
Emmett had turned thirty a week before Maddie's birthday but, instead of moping about it like most people, he threw a party inviting a whole lot of people and embraced the big three-oh with open arms. So as he regailed us all with embarrassing stories from Edward and Alice's childhoods, Jasper with some of Rosalie's and viceversa and Esme and Carlisle of Emmett's, I laughed and I cried from laughing so hard and smiled, because I was happy, truly and unconditionally happy.
These people had welcomed Rosalie, myself and Maddie with open arms into their family and had accepted us unconditionally.
Rosalie told of embarrassing stories of my childhood, she being there through most of it, and I did the same in kind, of stories that Jasper had missed out on. I learned more about the Cullen family, that I, Maddie and Rosalie were now a part of, in the one night, than I had in the entire time I'd known them. Soon, the children were put to bed and the wine and beers were braught out as we moved into the living room. The room was large, with tanned leather furniture surrounding a large stone fireplace and a mini grand piano taking up one corner of the room. The mantle was taken up by a lot of family photos and I was surprised to find even a couple including Rosalie, myself or Maddie. The walls were lined with cheesy school photos and Rosalie and I made sure to tease Emmett and Edward of the photos taken during their adolescent years.
"You had braces!" I exclaimed, eyeing Edward's eighth grade photo. "And are those glasses?" I opened my mouth to make a teasing remark, but Edward had covered my mouth with his hand, blushing, but grinning all the while.
"I tell my mom, everytime I see these wretched photos, to take them down, but no, the woman insists on people seeing how her son came to be, and I quote, 'so handsome'." He rolled his eyes.
I smiled softly up at him, my eyes most likely dancing with merth. "I think you were cute."
In moments, he had me up against the wall, his fingers attacking my ribcage. "Cute, do you? You think I was cute?"
"Yes!" I squeaked, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but he wasn't having any of that. His body had me pinned against the wall, his head bent so it was looking down at my slightly tilted upwards face. I grinned and he did, too before he stepped back slightly, leaned down and kissed me.
A part of my mind was aware of the fact that Edward's parents, his siblings, and their respective partners were all in the room but I couldn't bring myself to care.
Of course, when Edward's hands went out of sight, I pulled away from him, pressing him back slightly. "Presence of your family, Edward," I mumbled, straightening out my shirt and hair. He mumbled incoherently and tried to lean in again. "God, your insatiable," I mocked with a teasing grin, pushing him back further. "Now, you horny fiend, sit down."
He grumbled, but did as he was told, sitting down beside Carlisle who, after smirking in amusement at his son, clapped said son's shoulder sympathetically.
When it was well past midnight, Rosalie and I called it a night and, after gathering a dead-to-the-world Maddie, we wished the Cullens' a good night and headed home.
At home, I tucked Maddie into bed and crawled into my own, falling asleep nearly immediately, with only one thought in my mind. My family.