Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
So I've managed to get a chapter out. I tried to make it longer than normal so that it may make up for a late update. I'm sorry if you don't like it and if you think it is rushed, but the things that happen in the chapter needed to happen if we want to move on with the plot.
Thank you to everyone who put this on alert/ in their favourites and all you reviewers, who were amazing as always! IssyBell91, Cece86, jerseyhalliwell, makki, CharmLightLove, Lizzie, TearsInTheDust, Night Orchid, frankfart101, queenyus, OnyxTwilight, sexyNaNa25, winternow, tuckerjnp1, klcivinski, dbmncgreen, ConfusionPixie, vampgirl138, Archerywoman, sambois, tidyKat, sambois, Flora73, rara4444, girlfrakes, gabzCoatz, krazzy hopeless romantic, elliemay101287, mommyof3boys, cademan24, Troyis, twilightlover1710, raven1212, hooker81, sober alcoholic, tbonemom0512, mommytwilight, p and dariussane. And thanks to everyone who wished me luck with school :)
I hope you enjoy!
Forever Bound
Chapter Twelve – Forget About Tomorrow
Emmett punched Edward a few more times before Bella came to her senses.
"Emmett, stop it!" she cried, however Emmett punched Edward again, "Emmett please! Stop it! PLEASE!"
Emmett stopped delivering blows, but still held Edward by the scruff of his neck. "Why should I Bella? This man has made your life a misery, he is the reason you can barely stand! He deserves this." Emmett told his sister.
At this point, Edward weakly coughed and raised his head, looking Bella straight in the eye. "He is right Bella. It is my fault. I AM the reason you are like this," he whispered weakly, due to Emmett beating all air from his lungs.
For the first time in almost a month, Bella addressed her husband for the first time. "I realise that, of course I do. But you don't deserve this," she said quietly, blushing. She turned her gaze once more to her older brother and glared at him, "Put him DOWN Emmett."
Emmett dropped him, causing him to collapse in a gasping heap on the floor.
As quickly as she could, which was not very quick at all, Bella made her way off the bed once more and over to the heap on her floor that was her husband. Kneeling down beside him, she lifted his shirt up as gently as possible; trying not to touch the places he had been hit.
His stomach was already purple and blue. Bella blew the air out between her teeth; her brother could throw quite a punch.
"Why are you helping him? He's been a monster to you all this time." Bella didn't answer him; still carefully examining the damage done to her husband.
"Place him on the bed please Emmett." It was not a question, it was an order. Emmett rolled his eyes and did as his sister asked.
"You're heart is too big sometime Squirt. I'm going to take a look around the house. Call for me if he is any trouble." And he walked out of the chamber door.
Bella carefully unbuttoned Edward's shirt and pulled it off him as softly as she could. He hissed in pain.
"Sorry," Bella apologised quietly.
"It is okay," Edward managed to gasp out. Bella guessed his still had not filled his lungs with enough air. He was lucky they had not punctured with the force Emmett threw behind his punches.
Checking his stomach once more, Bella noticed the bruising was getting worse. Luckily, due to her numerous accidents, Bella had the perfect lotion for bruises. "I'll be back in a moment," she told her husband, before slowly making her way out of her chamber and into Edward's.
She came back with a clear bottle, filled with a white cream. She made her way back over to Edward, who had is eyes scrunched up; most likely due to the pain.
"This may hurt and be a little cold. I'm sorry," Bella told her husband, who just nodded curtly. She unscrewed the cap and poured some lotion onto her hands. As gently as possible and applying as little pressure as she could, Bella applied the ointment onto Edward's bruised midriff. He gasped as it touched him for the first time, but she was not sure if it was from pain or from the coldness.
For five minutes, the couple sat there in silence as Bella applied the lotion to every inch of Edward's battered skin; the only noise that penetrated to room was Edward's occasional gasps and hisses of pain.
Finally finished, Bella replaced the cap and made a move to get off the bed and wash her hands. Before she could, Edward placed his hand on her arm. Bella gasped at the unexpected contact. Turning his head to face her, he asked quietly, "Emmett is right. Why are you doing this for me? Helping me?"
It took Bella a moment to think out her answer. "Because although you have not treated me well, you did warn me, I should have expected it. Neither of us wanted this marriage. You're just behaving the only way you know how. And to answer your last question, I'm helping you because I hate seeing people in pain." She carefully extracted her arm from his grasp and made her way into the bathroom.
"Bella?" Edward called softly; she turned her head, "Thank you."
-o-
The next morning Bella, Jacob, Edward and Emmett all ate breakfast together; Edward sitting at one end of the table, Jacob, Emmett and Bella at the other.
Although they were not speaking, Bella and Edward occasionally exchanged glances and shy smiles with one other; Emmett and Jacob scowled whenever they notice. Edward seemed to be having some trouble moving around due to the bruising to his stomach; Bella made a mental note to check it after breakfast.
Halfway through their meal, the butler entered and just as he had a few weeks previously on that fateful day, passed a letter to Edward. Edward took it and smiled in thanks. It was the first time Bella had ever seen Edward thank his staff for something.
A few minutes later, Edward addressed her for the first time that morning. "Bella, Jasper's sister Rosalie has come to stay with him for the month. Alice was wondering if you would mind if they came over later this afternoon. So you can get to know one another. What shall I reply?"
Bella beamed, she longed to see Alice, "Reply of course she may come over! I have not seen her in so long, almost a month!" Edward and Jacob looked a little awkward as she mentioned this. She did not know why but decided to let it go.
Edward smiled at her, "I shall inform her right away." He got up to leave and compose a letter to his sister when Bella stopped him.
"Edward, I am still worried about your bruising. Would you mind if I apply more cream, just for my peace of mind?" She asked, blushing at her obvious concern for him. Edward nodded and smiled at her once more before he left the room.
As soon as the door shut, Emmett and Jacob pounced.
"Bella what on –"
"—earth are you doing?" They finished one another's sentence.
"What?" Bella asked, pretending she had no clue on what they were talking about.
"You know what! Why are you being civil with him? Have you forgiven him for everything he has done?!"Jacob asked sounding outraged at the very thought.
Emmett backed him up, "Exactly Bella! He treated you like a worthless item, he caused you to become severely ill and yet here you are, sharing glances and smiles! I do not like where this is going!"
Jacob nodded along, "Just seeing him smile at you as if nothing ever happened is making my blood boil! I want to punch him in the nose all over again!"
"You punched him?" Emmett questioned, sounding impressed. Jake nodded, "High five man!" Emmett cried and they slapped their hands together, laughing.
"Are you two quite finished?" Bella snapped at the brother and best friend. They stopped laughing instantly. "Jacob, I don't know when or why you hit my husband and I do not want to know. I do, however, want you both to know that if you ever hit Edward again without my expressed permission, you will not be welcome in this house. Do I make myself clear?"
Both boys shook their heads, no. Bella raised her eyebrows; allowing them to give their reasons. Emmett decided to be the one to speak up.
"What Jacob and I would like to know is why you are even giving Edward a second chance. You gave him one before and he destroyed your soul! Why put yourself at risk once more?" Jacob nudged Emmett in the side, "And also, we both think the man you are married to is a twonk!" Jacob nodded in agreement.
Bella burst out laughing; it was such an Emmett thing to say! Once she had finally controlled her laughter, Bella's face turned sombre. "I'm giving him another chance because I can see he is trying to change. I know we will never love each other, but are you going to deny me my right to be a friend to my husband? Jake, you're married to the love of your life and Emmett, you still have the chance to find yours. I do not. Is it too much to ask that I find happiness in my marriage if I cannot be allowed love?" Bella placed her hand on her stomach under the table, "We are going to have a child together. It would be unfair on the child if we were to always be at odds with one another. Please, let me have this." She begged her brother and Jake.
They both looked quite moved by her speech. After exchanging glances, they both nodded and embraced Bella in a large hug. "We'll stand by you, whatever decision you make Bells," Jake whispered into her ear.
Emmett kissed the top of her head but had to have to the final word, "I still think he is a twonk though."
-o-
Bella entered Edward's chamber after knocking lightly on the door. She found him on his balcony, staring out onto the grounds. She cleared her throat and he turned around.
"Oh I'm sorry Bella; I did not hear you come in." Edward apologised.
"That is okay; I'm sorry I did not knock louder," Bella countered. Edward walked inside and over to the bed; taking his shirt off on the way. Bella blushed.
She made her way over to the bed and focused on removing the bottle cap instead of her husband's chest.
As she began to apply the salve to his chest once more, Edward began to speak. "Yesterday you said that neither of us wanted this marriage and that you should accept the way I've been treating you because I warned you. Although it is true that neither of us want this marriage, it has become clear to me that I have not been treating you well. I am truly sorry for that, and I deeply apologise that you had to see Tanya and I together." So Tanya was her name, "And although I love someone else, I hope we can be friends, especially since we have a child on the way," Edward reached out his hand and his fingers lightly brushed Bella's stomach. It was the first time anyone but herself had touched it, "Do you agree Bella?"
She nodded. "I think that is a good idea Edward. If we cannot have love in this marriage, at least we can have friendship. It is the only thing that would be fair to bring our child into." Bella explain. Edward nodded quickly.
"Friends?" he asked as he held out his hand.
Bella hesitated for a moment. Although she agreed that they should try and make some sort of relationship out of their marriage, Edward had been terrible to her their whole marriage, bar the past couple of days. "But you want this," a voice in her head whispered, "You do not want your child to think their parents hate one another." That was the deciding factor. Although she had only known about her child for two days, Bella knew she would do anything for it. "Friends," she nodded as she placed her hand in his.
Five minutes later, Edward had replaced his shirt and Bella was exiting the bathroom after clearing the lotion from her hands. He was sitting on the bed and stared at her as she left the room. Bella began to blush, uncomfortable at having him stare at her.
"Bella, you deserve to know the story between myself and Tanya. It was not something that just occurred on the night of the ball, I was not trying to spite you. Will you please allow me to explain?" Edward pleaded. Bella was not sure that she wanted to know, but decided that it would be better for her peace of mind if she did. Hopefully it would stop any repeats of her dream coming back to haunt her.
She nodded and sat on the chair that was placed behind the desk.
Edward took a deep breath and started his tale. "It all began in the summer of 1870. Although we had known each other our whole lives, our family and the Denali family have been friends for generations, I had never really noticed her before then. But that day, she took my breath away. We became inseparable after that night. I began to court her and had been for a year when it was sprung on me that I was engaged to be married. We had not told anyone about our relationship in case it was not going to last and would make things awkward between our families. I believed that telling Tanya that we could no longer be together would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do. However, although she was upset, she reminded me of the fact that it would be perfectly acceptable for me to take a mistress once I had a child to continue my family name. I know I should not have told you so harshly that this was our plan, especially on the morning after our wedding, but I believed it was only fair that you knew what was going to happen. I hope we can still be friends, but once our baby is born, I still plan to take her as my mistress. She is the woman I love; I'm truly sorry Bella." Edward did sound extremely remorseful.
Although Bella's heart felt like a small hole had been ripped in it, she could not deny Edward his chance at happiness. "I do understand Edward. I am not fully accepting of it and I wish it did not have to be this way but I do not have the right to take you away from your love. I'm truly sorry that you had to marry me to begin with."
"Oh Bella, please do not say that. Although we will never have a conventional marriage and life would have been a lot easier if the event had not occurred, I have begun to feel grateful that it has. You are the woman who is making me a father, something I have wished for my whole life. So thank you." Bella smiled.
They were not friends right now, but at least they knew where one another stood. They would take it one day at a time and forget about tomorrow.
-o-
At an hour past midday, Alice came running into Bella's living room, dragging a girl alongside her. Bella stopped short at the sight of who she presumed to be Rosalie Whitlock. She was tall and slender with long wavy blonde hair. She was truly beautiful, the most beautiful woman Bella had ever seen. Her eyes were like violets and she had a small smile on her face, aimed at Bella. Bella smiled shyly back at her.
"Bella, it has been too long!" Alice cried, embracing her in a tight hug.
"Alice please, not so tight. It will not be good for the baby." Bella gasped, her air flow being restricted by this tiny pixie girl.
"Baby, what baby?" Alice asked confused.
"Oh, I thought Edward would have informed you. I am with child," Bella grinned at her friend, though soon that smile turned into a grimace as Bella had to cover her eyes to protect herself from the loud shriek coming from the girl in front of her.
When Alice finally stopped, most likely because she had run out of air, Bella slowly removed her hands from her ears. "Oh Bella, this is so exciting! How far along are you? Have you thought of any names? Can I make baby clothes? What do the Cullens say?" Alice shot out questions at a hundred miles a minute.
"Aurora, my midwife, told me two months, no we have not as we only discovered it three days ago, yes of course you can and they are all thrilled." Bella took a deep breath.
"Congratulations Bella," a quiet voice came from behind the two girls. Bella turned to look at Rosalie, who looked slightly nervous.
"Thank you very much. You are Rosalie I presume?" Bella asked, smiling at the woman.
"Oh please forgive me for being so rude!" Alice cried, her cheeks flushed, "Bella this is Rosalie Hale, Jasper's sister. Rose, this is Isabella Cullen, my cousin."
Bella reached out her hand to shake Rosalie's, "It's a pleasure. Although please call me Bella."
Rosalie took her hand and smiled, "Only if you call me Rose." Bella could clearly see the similarity between the siblings, although one thing confused her.
"Please take a seat," Bella requested."If you do not mind me asking Rose, why do you and Jasper have different surnames if you are brother and sister?"
Rose smiled at her once more, "Not at all. Jasper is my half brother. His father died just before he was born. Our mother remarried my father soon after Jasper turned one, and a year later I was born."
"Okay, enough family history!" Alice ordered, "We came here today to discuss the wedding."
"What wedding?" Bella asked dumbly.
"My wedding of course! It is in a week and a half."
"A week and a half?!" Bella was astounded.
"We're getting married on New Year's Eve. Now all we really need from you today is your measurements."
"Measurements for what?" Bella asked. She was quite lost with this conversation.
At that moment Emmett walked in. "Bella, Jake and I are going out hunting so that I have something to show mother whe—" Emmett stopped short when he saw Rosalie and his mouth appeared to drop a little. Bella looked towards Rose and noticed that her eyes were transfixed on Bella's older brother.
"So you what Emmett?" Bella asked, struggling to contain her laugh.
"Oh, ermm," Emmett broke out of his daze and shook his head, looking a little lost.
Bella was a little surprised; she had never seen Emmett lost for words before. "You said something about hunting," she hinted.
"Yes, I did. Jake and I are going hunting so that I have something to show mother when I return home." Emmett finally finished, his gaze once again attached to Rose, who appeared to be blushing.
"I've never seen Rose blush before and I've known her for years," Alice leant over and whispered into Bella's ear.
"Em, this is Rosalie Hale, Alice's future sister in law. Rose, this is my fool of a big brother Emmett Swan."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Swan" Rose muttered quietly, her eyes finally connecting with Emmett's.
Emmett walked forward and picked up her hand, kissing it, "The pleasure is all mine Miss. Hale. Call me Emmett." Bella was sure he winked and Rose burst into a fit of giggles. It was quite a strange sight to behold.
"Only if you will call me Rose, Mr, I mean Emmett." Emmett nodded. He had raised his head from her hand although he had yet to let it go.
Just then Jake entered the room."Emmett what is taking you so long?" he hollered, though when he saw Emmett he mumbled, "That's what."
He made his way over to Rose and Emmett and tore Emmett's hand out of her grasp; shaking it himself. "Good afternoon Miss. I'm Jacob Black, its lovely to meet you. I'm sorry to break you apart, but Emmett and I have planned to go hunting, and if we wish to return home before dark we must leave now." He turned to Emmett who looked murderous, "Come on big man! I'm sure you'll see her again if she is anywhere near as smitten as you are!" He grabbed Emmett by the shoulders and tried to push him out the room. It took a phenomenal amount of effort as Emmett began to resist, wanting one final word with Rose.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Rose. I hope I see you again soon!" Rose blushed and looked down at the floor, though it was clear to see that she nodded.
Satisfied with her response, Emmett finally allowed Jacob to pull him from the room.
Rosalie stared at the door for a moment before shaking her head a little. Bella and Alice shared a knowing smile. Emmett and Rose had only just met yet Alice and Bella could tell they were already besotted with one another.
"You were saying Alice?" Bella decided to continue with their previous conversation.
"Oh yes. We need your measurements for your Maid of Honour dress. I would use the set your mother sent me, but since I have just discovered you're pregnant, I'll have to take another set."
"You want me to be your Maid of Honour?" Bella asked, shocked.
"Of course. I would have asked Rose to share it with you, but she is not yet married. She will be head bridesmaid with her small cousins Dena and Thomas. You'll love them as soon as you meet them; they are absolutely adorable! Now, let's take your measurements!" Alice demanded, not wanting to waste a single minute.
Just then, the door bell rang out throughout the house. "Hold that thought for a moment Alice," Bella smiled and pulled herself off the sofa and into the lobby.
Bella was smiling as she opened the door, though the smile quickly dropped off her face and she wished she had not bothered to open the door.
Standing on her doorstep was Tanya Denali.
---
So did you like it or hate it? Let me know, because I myself have mixed feelings about this chapter.
By the way, I have a poll on my profile to do with this story which you may want to take a look at.
Until next time :)
