Chapter 3. Pillow Talk- October 14th

Bella took her hair down out of its bun and kicked off her shoes at the door. Following in behind my wife, I set my bag down on the table beside the door and unlaced my loafers before sliding them into their cubbyhole beneath the bench. I walked through to the kitchen and turned off the slow cooker, setting the lid beside it on the counter.

We both had been stuck at school late, Bella for a meeting and I had papers to grade. I plated our dinner while Bella changed out of her work clothes into pajama pants and a t shirt. Even after four years together, two of them married, she still smirks when she sees me staying in my dress clothes until bed time. Bella doesn't understand that I can be as comfortable in slacks and a dress shirt as I can in jeans and a well worn Henley. I claim it is due to my family's insistence on being "company ready" from when we leave our private chambers in the morning until we retire at night.

We ate the crock pot lasagna with a slice of bread, or three on my part, and I cleaned up while she packed our leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. It was already going on eight pm so we curled up on the couch to read a bit before calling it a night. I was three pages into the last chapter of an autobiography on Goethe when the phone rang, our land line, not the cellphones. Mom.

Bella and I looked at each other before she opted for the easy way out of answering and put it on speakerphone so we both had to speak. Please do not get me wrong, I love my parents. I just love them more an hour away where they still live in the mansion along the lake.

"Hello, Mother." Bella's voice echoed with, "hello, Elizabeth."

"Tanya came to visit me today. She and Mark are having a little baby boy! Isn't that fabulous news?"

Bella and I exchanged the look before letting out a sigh. My parents had met our "friends" Tanya and Mark shortly into the relationship; Mom and Tanya became great friends as they spent a lot of time in the same social circle. Elizabeth and Edward had not been made aware of the exact nature of our friendship with the other couple which is a blessing for all of us.

"When are you and Bella going to give your father and I grandchild or two to spoil? Weren't we good parents?"

Bella let out a soft giggle and ran to the kitchen where I heard my cellphone ringing. My mind was split between speaking with my mother and listening to Bella and Emmett's conversation.

"They are? Why don't you..." My mother's voice interrupted what I was trying to hear from Bella. "That sounds great; let me talk to Rose about it. Good night, sweetie!"

"Now, Edward, we'll be there Saturday morning for coffee. Don't have Bella go to any trouble with making food, we'll stop at the bakery for pastries or have Laurent send some along with us."

"Yes, Mom, we will see you then." I was eager to get off the phone and hear what Bella was planning.

I climbed off the couch and ended the call, going in to the kitchen where Bella was bouncing around the kitchen, She was going through what sounded like a menu plan with Rosalie. I mouthed, "what's going on," and was quickly shooed out of the kitchen. Women.

Figuring she would explain when she was off the phone, I went upstairs to shower and put away the rest of the clean laundry. Having the washer and dryer installed by the bedrooms was a stroke of genius by the designer. "Aunt" Esme was nothing but thorough, and our loft was everything we could have wanted from a space that had been concrete floors and walls just two years ago. Within a matter of four months, Esme had turned the former storage space into two thousand square feet of comfortable loft living with a view of the park in Arlington Heights.

We brought the beds from our apartments along with our clothes, but Esme, Carlisle, and my parents provided the rest as a wedding gift. I paid my way through college working for Esme. All the manual labor had kept me fit. When most guys put on the freshman fifteen in fat, I put it on in lean muscle. Jasper had worked the same construction team, and we bonded while putting up dry wall one summer. I introduced him to Alice and that was that. They were engaged before the school year had ended, and were married prior to graduation.

As I finished hanging the last of my work shirts, Bella came upstairs, smiling widely. "We are going to have company for a few days."

I looked at her over my shoulder, my eyebrow raised.

"Emm. The kids' school is closing for a week due to the flu bug going around. Rosalie's family invited them up for the rest of the week and weekend. Emmett has to work Wednesday evening and does not want to drive all the way up to Door County by himself, so I invited him to stay with us for a few days."

I nodded and slowly undressed, my mind swimming as I thought about having Emmett in our home. "Won't he be lonely during the day?"

Bella shrugged and climbed into bed after brushing her teeth. "You're off on Friday after second period while the third through sixth graders are on their field trip and we only have a half day on Thursday. I think he'll be fine, love. He spends all day at his house alone, remember?"

I slid beneath the sheet and looked at my lovely wife. "What do you think it will be like to have Emmett here for Thursday and Friday?"

"Oh, he'll be here through Sunday, so I think it will be a great chance to just spend time with him. We do not get a lot of time to just relax as the the girls and Chase are around. I am looking forward to cooking and spoiling you both. I thought I can make steaks, twice baked potatoes, and a Caesar salad on Thursday, maybe we could go out on Friday night, and then Saturday, I am going to make a brunch and then we could make chicken Alfredo with fresh bread sticks for supper. Does that sound good?"

Saturday, brunch. Fuck.

"Uh, Bella, honey..." Her eyebrow rose and I watched as her full lips pursed together. "My parents are coming over on Saturday morning."

"I guess they are meeting Emmett."

I nodded and then closed my eyes. "How will they handle that? Do we say he is our friend, our boyfriend? I don't know what to do. We never had to deal with that regarding Tanya. She had to keep it quiet because of her job. I don't want to mess this up."

Soft lips met mine, urging me to be quiet with a kiss. I let my lips part, my tongue gently asking permission to enter her mouth. Bella whimpered as my tongue stroked against hers and then pulled back to rest her forehead upon mine, lips pressed together chastely.

"I think we need to talk to them about it." Bella climbed out of bed and only the light creak of the fourth stair alerted me she was going down. Her phone rang as she came back up.

"Thanks for calling, Rose. Is Emmett on too? Good. I'm going to switch it over to the speaker if that is okay."

Bella slid back into bed.

"Are you in bed?" Emmett's voice was audible from the space between our pillows where Bella rested the phone.

"Yes, we are. Bella and I found out something and wanted to talk to the two of you about it before any situations arose."

"Is it that bad?" Rosalie was concerned, her tone cautious.

"No, no, no. I found out after getting off the phone that Elizabeth and Edward senior are coming for breakfast on Saturday while Emmett is here."

It was quiet on the other end.

"Do you not want me to come then? That is fine. I can keep myself busy around here." I could hear the slight pain edging in despite his words to the contrary.

"We want you here, do not worry about that, Emm. We are absolutely ecstatic to have you stay with us for a few days. The reason we called is to find out how we should introduce you. What are you comfortable with?"

"Do your parents know about your alternative lifestyle?" Rosalie spoke up after a few seconds of silence.

"No, Rose, they don't. It never came up with Tanya and Mark, and obviously not with Jasper and Alice since that was our first real foray into things. Bella's parents are out of state; Charlie is in Washington and Renee is in Florida. Mine are local."

It grew silent again before Emmett said something to Rose. "We're gonna get changed and climb into bed too, give us a second."

We listened as they undressed. I heard the soft fall of a satiny material on skin and my mind conjured up images which had my body responding. From images of Rosalie in a red silk peignoir to Emmett in boxers, my cock pulsed to life, stiffening until it pressed against the opening in my boxer briefs. Fabric rustled, joints popped audibly, and then Emmett let out a content sigh. I wanted to see him stretch out in bed beside us.

"That's much better. Oh shit, Rosie, I forgot to turn on the monitor for down the hall, can you hit the button? Thanks, hon. Hey guys. Yeah, we still keep a baby monitor on for Chase. He walks in his sleep some times, so we have his room gated so he can't fall down the stairs by accident. So, meeting the 'rents. I am good with it. I care about the two of you and do not care who knows. Up here, we have to be discreet in public for a few more years because of the kids and school, ya know?"

Rose spoke up next. "My family already knows about you. Jan and Bob, Emmett's parents, know that we are poly but have asked to not have any other details. They do not want to know."

"My folks are pretty conservative. I am just glad they didn't disown me or stop acknowledging the girls when we told them. When Rosie became pregnant with Chase, the first words from my dad were 'is it yours?' You can probably imagine how badly I blew up at them."

Bella and I nodded before realizing they couldn't see it. I would much rather have this conversation in person, but over the phone was better than not at all.

"Emmett, Edward and I still want you to stay here. We are really looking forward to you staying. I am willing to risk some drama with Elizabeth and Edward to let them know about you. You both have a special place in my heart, and I do not want to hide you or lie about our relationship."

I reached over and squeezed Bella's hand in silent support. "I feel the same way. Emmett, Rose, the two of you are important to me, to us, and I want this to work. I am trying to work on my communication skills; I have lived inside my own head so long that it is hard sometimes, but I am ready to go public here. My parents already know about Alice and Jasper; Esme and Carlisle are their neighbors so learning about Maria was going to happen."

I could sense Bella's wheels turning. Emmett said something about he would follow our lead.

"What if we have Jasper and Alice over for breakfast too? They could certainly use a distraction now that Maria's last weeks are coming up before her next sixty day leave. Jasper is the king of communication and would be a great asset to the discussion. What do you think, Edward? They are your parents."

I smiled at Bella. "I think it is a great idea, love. Rosalie, I am just sad you won't be here to meet them as well."

She let out a laugh. "On the other hand, I am glad that I won't be. Emmett can take all the heat and tell me about it later. No, seriously, Cara and Kailey already refer to you as Uncle Edward and Aunt Bella, Chase can't stop singing your praises, but they don't need to be around any drama regarding our personal life. I am just a phone call away and want to hear how it goes."

The rest of the conversation was spent making plans for the weekend and talking about how our day at work went. With the kids in school, Emmett had finished painting the recreation room in the basement and started work on refurbishing the old bar we had helped him carry down in pieces and then put back together.

Their basement is a walk-out and also has two bedrooms on the wall facing the side of the hill. One of them is a locked "play room" with some of their toy collection including some cuffs, a wall of rings to be hooked to, some floggers, and other things that I was too embarrassed to ask the use of.

Emmett took one look at my face, smiled, and then issued us out of the room shortly after showing it to us. "Don't worry, that's just for Rose and me; although eventually, if you are interested, we would be glad to show you what it is like. Not everything hurts, and I've found that a little discomfort makes the pleasure that much more intense. We would never intentionally hurt you, mentally or physically."

As we walked out, his hand slid down my shoulder to rest on my hip. The heat of his palm went through me and I suddenly found myself turning to hold him, my head tucked into his neck. Emmett squeezed me tightly and then we just stood there in our embrace, silently acknowledging our growing feelings and desires.

We said our goodbyes with plans to see Emmett Thursday at eleven forty five. Bella and I would walk to the train station and take it to work that morning and Emmett would pick us up when classes let out for the early release day. Bella let out a small squeal and had a huge smile upon her face as we ended the call. I am not sure whose smile was larger.