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CHAPTER 20

EPOV

A week later, Bella and the crew were heading to the airport to head off to our first location. I think it was New York; I didn't really pay attention to the order. I just focused on the security of it. Emmett and Jasper would be coming with me as additional guards.

We pulled up outside the private hanger and walked inside. It held a beautiful lobby, marble floors, comfortable couches, and a nice little store over to one side. Bella and I walked to the store, looking for something to snack on during the flight.

I saw the magazine rack, many of them mentioned the interview with Bella, but one tabloid caught my eye. It's cover read "Isabella Swan and her new boyfriend!"

The picture on the cover was of me, pushing the hair back on Bella's face. Her eyes were closed and a smile played her lips.

Bella came up behind me. "What are you looking at?" She asked. I was pretty shocked, so I just pointed.

"Oh no!" She whispered and grabbed a few copies of the magazine. She ran to the checkout and bought them.

I followed her out of the store to find that she had already passed the magazines out to everyone with us.

She sat next to me and opened the article with me.

"International singer Isabella Swan has more than just a new tour in her life. It seems she has a new man, too. Although she's not eager to tell us the details, she did tell us a little. "I do write my own music" Isabella tells us. "...the songs are based on my own experiences"

When we asked her about her hit song, "Falling Hard for You", a song about a new relationship and new love, Isabella only responded with, "He's wonderful."

Of course, Isabella kept the name of her new man private, but we can make some guesses. Her security guard, a man by the name of Edward Masen, is our top candidate. The two seemed very... close... during our interview.

At one point, Edward walked forward and put his hand on Isabella's shoulder. Later during the day, Edward kneeled in front of Isabella and spoke words of comfort to her while his hand rested on her knee. Caught on tape recorder, Edward told Isabella she "...look[ed] lovely... like always."

Several pictures of the couple have been snapped, almost confirming our suspicions.

Sorry guys, but it seems like Isabella is very in love with her new man. Do I hear wedding bells? "...I think it's more fun for people to guess..." Isabella says.

Either way, Isabella, we're happy to finally see you with a man. Congrats."

On the next page were three pictures of me and Bella. One was of me with my hand on her shoulder. I was looking at her, and she was smiling up at me. It was when I went to "protect" her. I didn't even hear the camera click.

The next was of me kneeling in front of her. My hand very much on her knee.

The third was the same picture on the cover. I looked to Bella, who had tear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she cried into my shoulder.

"What do you have to be sorry for, love?" I asked, pulling her back.

"No one could want this kind of publicity. I'm sorry I drug you into this.

"It's fine, Bella. Maybe it's a good thing. Maybe now those crazy fans will back off since you are a taken woman!" I said. She laughed. That was good. "Come on," I said, snapping the magazine shut. "Let's not worry about this and get on that plane."

Bella smiled and grabbed my hand.

BPOV

The tour went quickly. Twenty days has never gone so fast. It was so much fun. I traveled to a new city almost every day, sang that night, and then went with Edward to our hotel suites to sleep. Edward was being so wonderful about the news article. It seemed like he didn't even care, but I could see him cringe when I would get out of the limo before the show. I could tell he hated that a million pictures were being taken of us. Any time he touched me, the cameras went wild. Any time I stepped out of the car, reporters started shouting at me. "When did you start dating Edward?" "Are you planning a future with Edward?" "Is Edward good in bed?"

We both hated it, but there was nothing we could do. So we ignored it all. We ignored the pestering question, camera clicks, and the fans (both for me and Edward) with signs that said "Have my babies".

Edward was always standing right on the side of the stage, along with Emmett and Jasper, ready to spring to action is someone would make it onto the stage. No one ever did.

This tour almost seemed like a vacation to me, in a way. Even though I had an agenda, I was with the people I loved the most. I was having fun every night, the girls dragging me to VIP night clubs, and I cuddled up to Edward every night. We learned so much about each other. It was all I could have asked for.

When the tour finally came to an end, we packed up all our bags and headed off to the airport. This time, Edward and I were expecting to see the tabloids with our pictures all over them. Most of the pictures were of Edward and I walking into a concert hall. I would be waving to fans and his hand was on the small of my back. A few had a picture of Edward and I walking into a hotel, hand in hand. They didn't seem to bother him so much anymore. I think it was because anyone could see the love between us in those pictures.

We made it home without incident and Edward drove us back to our "temp home" as we had taken to calling it. It was the perfect home for us, but the location was all wrong. We needed the beach. As soon as this mess was all over with my stalker, Edward swore to move us back to the beach. Which house, I didn't know.

I was unpacking my suitcase when the magazine from our first flight on the tour fell out. I guess I hadn't thrown it away. I reread the article, now finding it slightly humorous, and left it open for Edward to read if he wanted. I moved on with my unpacking, promising myself that one line in that story didn't get my heart racing.

"Do I hear wedding bells?"

EPOV

I couldn't believe how quickly the tour had gone. The group of us had so much fun together. We each got a little alone time with everyone, through some means, and It was more fun than I could imagine.

Before her last concert, Rose and I sat outside Bella's dressing room while Alice fret about what outfit to dress Bella in.

"Excuse me," Alice said as she stuck her head out the doorway, "but we're going to need complete privacy." She smiled and shut the door.

I laughed. "Should I be worried what they are talking about?" I asked Rose, who had also been shut out of the room.

"No, it's all good news. Alice is telling Bella about her and Jasper's engagement, but Bella kind of already knows."

I laughed out loud again. "So did I. Jasper called me the night before he asked Alice's dad. He was a nervous wreck."

Rosalie laughed. "Her parents are very nice, not scary at all."

"Rose, where are Bella's parents? Why hasn't she ever mentioned them?"

Rosalie looked back at the closed door and gulped. "When Bella first thought about a singing career, her mother, Renee, rejected the idea so fast it made Bella's head spin. But Bella was already going to auditions and seeing an agent when she told her parents. She had been told she had real talent."

Rosalie paused her story to rearrange her hair when a stage manager walked by. "So Bella kept the whole thing under wraps, so that her mother wouldn't get mad. Eventually, Bella had a record put together. The company was planning to release it within the next year, and so Bella gave a copy to her parents as a gift. It was the first copy ever made. Renee was outraged. She demanded Bella leave the house. She was no longer allowed in her own home because of her ridiculous career path. Renee said that Bella needed to learn that being a singer wouldn't pay the bills. Charlie didn't agree with Bella's choice either, but fought with Renee to let Bella stay. He begged her to sleep on it. Renee agreed and the whole family went to bed. When Charlie woke up the next morning, he found Bella's bed empty. Her entire room had been packed. Renee woke up and kicked her out in the middle of the night."

I stared at Rose, completely heart broken for Bella. I was furious with her parents.

"How could they do that?! How could Charlie let Renee do that? Why didn't he go look for Bella?" I asked, the malice in my voice not contained.

"Charlie hasn't spoken to Bella since, but he mailed her a copy of his divorce certificate about a month after she left. Renee's remarried, I think. To a baseball player named Will or Phil. Maybe Bill?"

"So how did you meet Bella?"

"Through Alice. Bella lived with her after everything, and then the three of us bought the house together and all moved in. We didn't expect our family to follow us, but I was glad they did."

I smiled at Rose. Tomorrow, this tour would be over, and we would be home.

I found the article Bella left on the counter for me and laughed when I read it. She had been so worked up about it, but it really turned into nothing. The press really did seem happy for her.

We left the temp home and headed off to our own beach houses for a little bit, to keep up the charade. Bella was meeting Rose and Alice there for a few hours.

I watched Bella walk in her door before I went next door. I settled down in the sofa and took a short nap. I woke up to the sound of cars next door. I sprung up from the couch and ran outside. Rose and Alice had just showed up. Bella opened the door for them with a big smile. They all went inside and shut the door behind them. They better have locked it.

Carlisle hadn't gotten a letter from the stalker since Bella's tour, and it had us slightly worried. In fact, as the weeks passed, not one letter graced the box. It frightened me, and I never left Bella's side. I followed her everywhere, but not because I was her body guard. I followed her because it hurt too much to be away from her.

It had been a few weeks since the tour, but Bella finally agreed to stay in the temp house until her stalker was caught. She hated going from house to house every day, and eventually, she only went to her beach house to pick up the mail and such. We weren't going to bother keeping up the act anymore. The stalked probably new Bella moved, but as long as he didn't know where, it shouldn't pose a problem.

It had been a leisurely few weeks, the kind that give you time to think. I had done a lot of thinking. The magazine that Bella and I found still sat in the top drawer of my nightstand, one line still bouncing around in my head. "Do I hear wedding bells?"

I finally decided why that line meant so much to me. I wanted to marry Isabella Swan.