Chapter 12

I turned back in my seat and sighed. If only ice cream could take it all away.

Edward was on the road already when he asked, "There's a Denny's here?"

I looked over at him and chuckled lightly, "They apparently built it like four years ago. It was under reconstruction two years ago when we came for my dad's funeral," I told him.

I gave Edward the directions and we got there a couple minutes later. I got out of the car and unbuckled Carlie from her car seat. I set her on my hip and we walked inside together. She gently reached up and kissed my cheek, "Does that feel better?" she asked.

I smiled at her, "Yep." What a lie. It was still stinging. They gave us a table and we ordered our food.

"What did you guys do yesterday?" Carlie asked us.

I looked over at Edward and pursed my lips, "We watched movies all day."

"What movies did you watch?" she asked.

"Umm…" I looked over at Edward for help.

"We watched some scary movies," he told her.

"Why?" she asked confused, "Halloween was last month."

"We know that but…daddy wasn't here last month so he wanted to watch them," I lied to her. A lot of people had been doing that to her lately.

She seemed to accept that lie so we went back to eating, "Do you want to tell your parents that you're here before we get married?" I asked.

"You're getting married?" Carlie asked with a grin on her face.

I smiled at her before I lightly tucked a curl behind her ear, "How would you like to be the flower girl?" I asked.

She clapped her hands together and jumped a bit in excitement, "Can I wear a dress?" she asked.

One thing me and my daughter didn't have in common was that she liked dresses and I felt repulsed by them, "Sure," I said before I continued eating.

"Are we going to grandma and grandpa's after we finish eating?" she asked before she put a piece of pancake in her mouth.

"Actually we were going to the store so that you can buy the movie you wanted," I told her.

"Okay," she said happily, "Then can we go to grandmas?" she asked.

"That's the plan." I looked over at Edward once I noticed that he was quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet. He had an expression on his face that read anger and defeat. "What's wrong?" I asked him as I lightly placed my hand on top of his.

"Nothing," he lied as he looked back at me.

"Do you…not want to see your parents?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head, "No it's not that."

"Then what is it?" I asked.

He quickly looked up at me before looking down but I got to see his eyes look at my cheek. I gently touched his cheek making him look up, "I'm fine…really."

He sighed, "I don't like it when someone hurts you," he told me softly.

"I know that," I told him.

"I don't even care of it was your own mother. How dare she even touch you the slightest?" he asked in anger with a shake to his head.

"I told her something," I informed him.

"About what?" he asked. I stayed quiet and glanced over at Carlie to see her fascinated in the crayons and paper they had given her. "What could you have told her that would have made her mad enough to slap her own child?" he asked.

I sighed in defeat and looked back at him, "I told her that you weren't Phil."

"Phil? Wait isn't Phil her husband?" he asked.

"They got divorced two years ago," I notified him.

"Why?" he asked perplexed.

"He found someone younger and hotter. So he left her. That's why she keeps trying to tell me and Carlie that you're leaving. That you never loved us. Because that's what happened with her and Phil," I kind of felt sorry for her now.

He shook his head lightly, "But I would never leave you…again," he corrected himself towards the end.

"I know that. But she can't come to terms with the fact that I have someone that actually does love me. She can't accept that her daughter has someone and she doesn't," I said with a small frown.

"That's…sad," he summed up.

"Yeah…but it still doesn't give her a right to put bad things in my daughters head," I said a bit angry again.

"You keep saying my daughter a lot," he said with a small smile.

I smiled sheepishly at him, "Sorry. I kind of got used to putting it that way."

He nodded in understanding, "Just try and remember she's ours."

I chuckled lightly, "I will." I took my cell out from my pocket and looked at the time before I placed it on the table.

"Do you have to be somewhere?" Edward asked me making me look at him.

"No…just wondering if we'll have time to do everything," I said as I lightly picked at the food on my plate with a fork.

"Can I play with your phone mama?" Carlie asked.

I looked down at her, "Sure," I told her.

She took the phone in her hands and started going through it. I looked back at Edward, "You're going to invite your parents to the wedding right?"

"Of course I am…did you tell your mom?" he asked as he glanced at my cheek again.

I looked down and nodded, "Yeah," I looked back up at him, "Right before I told her off."

"I'm still infuriated at the fact that she did that to you," he said as he reached across the table and lightly caressed my cheek.

"Santa have you seen my soldier?
Let him know that I miss him and love him too
Santa bring my soldier home
I need him here in my arms
Cuz love's worth fighting for
Santa bring him home"

We both turned to look at Carlie. She had played Edward's ringtone. And I'm pretty sure she did it on purpose. "Sorry," she apologized with a guilty face, "I just wanted daddy to hear his song."

I looked back at Edward, "That's my ringtone?" he asked.

I pursed my lips, "Yeah…well it fit perfect with our situati–," he leaned over the table and caught my lips on his.

"Ewww," Carlie said making us split apart with a smile and look over at her.

"What?" we asked in unison with the same tone of humor.

"That's gross," she was covering her face with her small hands.

I smiled wider before I lightly tried to take her hands off her face, "Are you blushing?" she would always do this when she blushed in public.

"No," she replied back as she moved her head away from my hands.

"Yes you are," I told her as I gently tickled her side.

"No I'm not," she giggled out.

"You are so blushing," I told her as I tickled her tummy.

She squirmed as she giggled before she peeked at us from between her fingers, "Mommy!" she whined.

I chuckled lightly before I stopped tickling her. She covered her face and breathed slowly before letting her hands down. Her cheeks were still flushed but they were pink now instead of red.

"Can we go to the store now?" she asked as she looked between me and Edward.

I looked up at Edward, "You ready to go?" I asked him.

"Yup," he replied back before he got out of the booth. I stood up and took Carlie's hand in mine as we started walking out of the restaurant with Edward behind us.

We stopped at the front and picked out the flavor of ice cream we wanted. Carlie and I picked butter pecan while Edward picked chocolate mint. I paid for the bill and we all went outside and headed for the car. Carlie and I were oddly enough licking our ice cream in unison.

We decided to finish our ice creams outside the car before heading for the store. Edward was leaning against the hood. Carlie and I were sitting on the sidewalk in front of Edward eating our ice creams.

He chuckled at us making me look at him confused, "What?" I asked as I stopped licking my ice cream.

"You guys are like twins," he commented on our licking.

I shook my head and looked down at Carlie, "Can you believe he called us twins?" I asked her.

She looked up at him and glared at him lightly. She stood up and wrapped her arm around my neck–our cheeks touching, "You're just jealous."

A/N: So how was this chapter? Review please!