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Chapter 38
EPOV
After Bella took some pictures with the kids and we took a few indoor shots as a family, Esme and Carlisle came and retrieved the kids. Bella and I headed for the changing room to change clothes for our private photo shoot. "Why are we taking more pictures?" Bella asked as she changed into a white tank top and a pair of boy short panties.
"Because these photos will be for mine and your eyes only, baby. I know you have been feeling a little self-conscious since giving birth to our hefty lady bug and I want to show you how beautiful you really are." I told her honestly as I stripped off my shirt until I was in nothing but my shorts and belt.
She sighed and nodded. "My body's not the same as it used to be, Edward. It's going to take some getting used to." She said softly as she tugged on the hem of her tank top.
I smiled and nodded as I took her hands into mine. "That's what this private photo session is supposed to help with. Bella you look amazing to have just had a baby six weeks ago, and a 10 pound baby at that. You look more amazing to me every day because I know that you gave me a beautiful and amazing baby girl and you also are a wonderful mother to our son and wife to me." I told her as I squeezed her hands encouragingly. "Erin is not going to judge us, baby, she is just going to take some photos of us. If you feel uncomfortable once we get in there we can stop and go home. Okay?"
She smiled and nodded. "Thanks Casanova, you are amazing and wonderful daddy and husband too. I'm a little excited to do this with you. It will show our passion and love for one another without being vulgar or pornographic."
I pulled our joined hands to my lips kissing her fingers gently. "You mean so much more to me than just being an amazing wife and mother. You are my soul mate, my forever, my destiny." I whispered against her lips.
"God, I love you." She whispered against my lips.
I smiled and whispered back to her. "I love you too, baby, forever."
She smiled and nodded before tugging me towards the door that led into the studio. "Let's do this damn thing so I can get home and ravish my husband." She said as she opened the door.
I sat in shock for a few minutes because these last six weeks had been hell but Bella had needed the entire time to heal from giving birth to our daughter before following her into the studio. I was hard as a rock as we left the studio almost two hours after we had gotten there. The photo session had been sensual and erotic but nothing graphic or vulgar. I think my favorite one had been us in the metal claw foot tub that was full of water and bubbles. Bella had been between my legs with her head bent forward with me kissing the back of her neck with my arms wrapped around her breasts to cover them with my wedding ring showing and her arms bent backwards fingers sliding through my hair with her wedding ring showing and on the steamed up mirror behind us were the words 'Mine, Forever.'.
I groaned as I settled softly against the seat while readjusting my shorts that were tight to the point of painful. "Having issues there, Casanova?" Bella asked as she slid into her seat, her still wet hair piled high on top of her head, and her little shorts and tank top that she had bought from Erin leaving way too much skin exposed. We had gotten all wet when we had went to Erin's private outside courtyard that had an outdoor shower where we had taken some pictures with Bella pressed against the wall.
"You know damned well I'm having issues. Issues I sincerely hope you are going to help me resolve once we get home." I groaned as I started the car.
She just chuckled and nodded. "I do plan to help in the best of ways but why wait until we get home." She said reaching over to stroke me through my jeans as I pulled out into traffic.
"Oh God, Isabella. Please don't tease, baby." I begged her as she increased the pressure against my straining erection.
She just chuckled as she grabbed my zipper tugging it down knowing I didn't have any underwear on because mine were wet and I hadn't packed any extra. "Oh, babe, the last thing I plan to do with this is tease." She said as she bent her head down causing me to grip the steering wheel tightly and forcing my eyes to stay open.
It took everything I had to make the drive home safely but I done it anyways. The rest of the evening and well into the night was spent making love all over the house since we had it to ourselves for the week much like we did when we first got the house. "You ready to go pick up our kiddos?" I asked Bella as we climbed from the shower we had just shared until we were both wrinkled beyond belief.
She nodded as she wrapped the towel around her body tucking the end between her breasts. "Yes! I miss my lady bug and monkey." She said as she danced in front of the mirror running her brush through her wet hair.
I just laughed and shook my head as I went about getting ready for the day so we could go pick our babies up because honestly I missed them too and they had a busy day yesterday. "Where's mama's monkey?" Bella called when we walked into Carlisle and Esme's house. You could hear Gavyn's squeals from the kitchen at the back of the house.
"Mamamamama!" He called loudly.
I shook my head as I followed a grinning Bella into the kitchen. "He says it so easily now, it's not even funny." I mumbled under my breath as I headed for our daughter who was sitting in her bouncer on the counter top as she sucked on her bottle greedily. "There's daddy's lady bug. You're gonna say dada first aren't you?" I asked her as I scooped her and her bottle up into my arms.
"Dada." Gavyn said causing me to spin around and face him with a shocked look on my face. Esme stood there with a huge smile on her face.
"Did he?" I asked shocked as Bella smiled and nodded as she fed Gavyn another spoonful of his food.
Esme laughed and nodded. "He did. We've been practicing all morning." She said as she walked by placing a kiss on the side of my head. "Congratulations, son." She whispered as she walked out of the room leaving me with my little family.
"Can you say dada?" I asked monkey as I tickled his chin lightly.
He shook his head as he smiled broadly showing off his four little teeth. "Mama!" He said slapping at his high chair top indicating he wanted more food.
I groaned and hung my head. "Should've known, Mama's boy." I said ruffling his hair and kissing the top of Bella's head as I left the room to go get Arianna dressed. "I'm gonna go get her washed up and dressed." I told Bella.
"Okay, I'm gonna finish feeding the monkey."
I walked upstairs with my dozing daughter in my arms. "Come on, lady bug, let's get you on some clothes." I told her as I laid her on the changing table in the baby's room.
She flailed her arms and legs around as I dug in her diaper bag pulling out a clean onesie to slip her into. I pulled out the one that said 'Daddy's little Ladybug' on the front of it around a huge lady bug. "You're daddy's little ladybug, aren't you?" I asked her as I blew raspberries on her tummy as I wiped her down with the hand and face wipes we kept handy.
She flailed her arms and legs like crazy as I wiped her down, changed her diaper, and slipped her into her onesie, fastening it between her legs. "My sweet girl is all ready to go." I told her as I tossed all of her things into her diaper bag so we could head home as soon as Gavyn was finished eating.
I scooped her up in my arms tossing their diaper bag over my shoulder.
"Alice, can you guys take care of the dinner and party plans while we leave for a little bit?" I asked Alice who had shown up a little bit ago to spend a few hours with the babies and Bella.
She nodded as she blew raspberries on Blakely's stomach. "Yes, Edward. We will take care of it. Carlisle and Esme are on their way over too." She said as she smiled down at Blakely. It was kind of odd living apart but the separation since she and Jasper had moved into their own house had been good for all of us. She and Jasper still come over sometimes to have movie nights or dinner just so we could all catch up with one another.
"Casanova, are you ready to go?" Bella asked from the doorway with Arianna on her hip and Gavyn standing at her feet hanging onto her legs both of them had smiles on their faces because they just woke up from there naps.
I nodded as I shut the dishwasher. We were going to pick up our pictures that we had taken earlier this week. "Absolutely. Come to daddy, monkey?" I called to Gavyn as I squatted a few feet away from him, encouraging him to take a few steps. We had been trying for a few weeks now but he would take no more than a step or two before falling and crawling to wherever he wanted to go.
He smiled and jabbered away incoherently as he waved his hands at me excitedly. "Come on, monkey, come to daddy." I encouraged him as Bella stood perfectly still so as to not disturb him.
I reached my hands out to him and he stretched for my hands but I held them just out of his reach. "Dada!" he said as he took a tentative step forward.
I smiled broadly and pulled my hands a little further back to give him some more space. He let completely go of Bella's leg as he smiled and jabbered at me as he took another tentative step towards me before taking off, step after step until he collapsed in my arms. I picked him up tossing him up in the air in my excitement. "You did it monkey!" I told him as I swung him around causing him to squeal in excitement. "You are getting to be such a big boy!"
"I knew all that practice would pay off. Now he's gonna be into everything." Bella said as she fastened Arianna into her carrier.
I propped Gavyn on my hip picking up the diaper bag that was on the counter. "Let's go get our pictures, my loves."
Erin was beyond excited to see us when we knocked on her studio door. "Ah, the Masen's. Come in come in. The pictures turned out wonderfully." She said as she sat her bowl of food down on a passing table dancing into her studio. She lived in a studio apartment above her photography studio.
"Did you frame the ones we picked out the other day?" I asked as Bella and I followed her into the studio, each with a kid on our hip.
"I did. They are amazing. All of you guys, babies included, take pictures amazingly well." She said as she pulled out big wooden frame that caused me to smile and Bella to gasp.
"Oh it's beautiful." Bella said as she ran her fingers over the frame and picture inside. It was of the two kids. Gavyn was standing behind an old timey stroller acting like was pushing it while Arianna was curled up inside of it appearing to be asleep on a plush blanket.
Erin smiled as she nodded. "I thought it was precious. I have the rest of them too but they just aren't framed." She said as she laid a thick envelope on top of the framed picture. "I have six more that are framed; one of each baby alone, one of each of you with both babies, one of you as a family, and one of you two alone." She said as she pulled out frame after frame and laid them on the huge table in front of us.
I smiled as I saw picture after picture of our little family. I loved the one of Arianna laying among a fluffy blanket with a big 'A' propped beside her and her sucking her thumb. "That's a good one of Arianna." I said pointing to the one of her. Bella nodded in agreement as we continued to peruse the framed photos.
There was one of Gavyn sitting in a chair holding his monkey up for show with a huge toothy smile gracing his face and his hat on crooked. "Where did the hat come from?" Bella asked Erin.
She just laughed. "It's one of my many props. Just like the fluffy skirt on Arianna in the first one." She said as she walked us around the table to our family photo.
"Okay. These look amazing, Erin. You did such a good job." Bella told her as we stopped in front of our huge family portrait that we were going to hang in the family room above the fireplace.
It was the one Bella had liked best; with us sitting shoulder to shoulder and each of us with a kid. Gavyn was on her knees holding her hands while Arianna was cradled to my chest. "I like how you got our last name in this one." I told her pointing to the blocks that spelled out our last name.
She nodded and smiled.
We finished up with Erin, taking all of our framed photos and also the packets of unframed ones back home with us. "Did you get the personal ones of us?" Bella asked as we pulled back into the driveway of our house. The street was lined with cars already and we could hear the party noises coming from the back yard.
I nodded. "Yeah. I had her put it into a leather bound photo book so we could put it on our bookshelf and nobody would be the wiser." I told her as we climbed from the car, each grabbing a baby from the back seat.
"Okay. You gonna take the babies or get the pictures? They need to be gotten out of the car so they don't ruin." She said as she propped Gavyn's chunky self on her hip. I was always amazed that she could carry both of our babies around with no problem.
I chuckled and handed her Arianna. "I will get the pictures and take them up to our room until this party is over while you take the babies to get ready for this pool party." I told her as I kissed her lips lightly.
She laughed and headed ahead of me for the house taking the babies with her. I shook my head at the sight I walked into a few minutes later. Bella was holding Arianna in her arms as Gavyn climbed the stairs slowly beside her. "Come on, monkey, just a few more." She called to him as she took another step up.
I stopped at the bottom of the staircase and watched them as they climbed the stairs together. It seemed like my boy was growing and developing so fast I couldn't keep up these days. I didn't even know he could climb the stairs more less get all the way to the top. I shook my head and started up the steps myself when he crawled around the baby gate heading for his bedroom. I headed straight for the bedroom to unload all of our bounty from Erin's onto the bed before following the sounds of my family laughing in Arianna's room.
"What's going on in here?" I asked as I stood in the doorway.
Gavyn was holding onto Arianna's crib shaking it and laughing while Bella changed Arianna into her swimming diaper and swimsuit.
"Dada!" Gavyn said excitedly as he let go of the baby bed and started towards me.
He made it about ten steps before he stumbled and fell on his butt causing his bottom lip to stick out in a pout. "Oh monkey, it's okay." I told him as I walked over scooping him up spinning in a circle causing him to laugh out loud.
After Bella had Arianna dressed in her little yellow swimsuit with white polka dots we headed for our bedroom to get ourselves dressed for the pool party. I sat Gavyn down on the floor while Bella laid Arianna in the middle of our bed. Gavyn was dressed in little his little brown swim trunks with two tone blue swim shirt over it to protect him from the sun. Bella tossed me my red and white swim trunks which I quickly stripped and stepped into as she slipped into her blue bikini before tugging on her swim shorts to cover the tiny bottoms. We each grabbed a baby before heading downstairs to enjoy the pool party and dinner.