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.
Thanks for all the alert/favourties and reviews. You guys ifairyu, aurora18, Bee, OliveTrusty, tonya2417, tuckers89, jerseyhalliwell, Lizzie, makki, CharmLightLove, boulie12, acrimonious4vitality, tbonemom0512, elliemay101287, Archerywoman, TexasTwilight77, hooker81, ConfusionPixie, sober alcoholic, solarstar17, csy, dbmncgreen, p, Ori1, Troyis, MyCrazyTwistedMind, frankfart101, cullengirl08, luvinlife11, C4BrassKnuckles, mommytwilight, krazzy hopeless romantic, TearsInTheDust, twilightlover1710, girlfrakes, mom2my3kids, electrickisses111, Foxnomore, queenyus, Ethyl The Pirates Daughter, gabzCoatz, kayla paige, darkwildrose, klcivinski, MiszSpunkRansom, MidnightSun03, BonesnBooth4ever, ZooeyD and beans and cornbread are amazing!
So I hope you like this chapter more than the last one. This one is quite long and all new stuff. None of you guess James' past but you may be able to at the end of this. By the way, you may get to a section of the story where you're thinking "WTH?" but I had no idea what I was writing about so I had to make it up. See if you can guess which bit ;)
Hope you enjoy this, and to all those in UK and anywhere else that celebrates it, going to/went to the fireworks tonight like me, HAPPY BONFIRE NIGHT!
Forever Bound
Chapter Fifteen – So Here We Are
Tanya had gone inside, claiming it was too cold for her. There was quite a chill in the air, but Edward enjoyed the feel of it on his skin. He stood in the middle of the garden, feeling the wind blow across his cheek. It was the most relaxed he had felt in weeks.
As Edward turned away, he thought he heard the faint cry of "Edward" coming from somewhere in the garden. He stopped and listened. He did not hear it again so became to walk back into the house. The situation with Tanya must have tired him out so much he was beginning to hear things.
As he was about to step into the house, he heard the cry again, "Edward please!"
He was sure he heard it this time.
Walking back into the garden, Edward tried to work out where it was coming from. Tanya was in the house so he knew it was not her and he did not even know where Bella was. Bella!
Walking quickly towards the start of the trees, Edward begged for the voice to come to him again. He needed to know if it was his wife calling for him.
As if God was listening to him, the call came again, louder this time. "Edward!" The voice was definitely Bella's. It was coming from the middle of the trees.
Starting to quicken his pace, Edward began to worry. What on earth was Bella doing this deep into the garden? He had seen the dress she was wearing and knew that she had brought no coat with her. Was she trying to catch her death of cold?
"Edward please!" the scream came again. Panic began to build in Edward. Bella had never asked him for anything, and hear she was, screaming his name, begging him to come to her. He had never heard her sound like this before.
Edward broke out into a run and ran into the trees. It was so dark in between them, the moonlight barely piecing through the numerous leaves. How was he meant to find Bella like his?
"Please, stop. Please!" Edward heard Bella's voice beg through the trees. What the hell was going on?
Edward ran towards the direction of her voice and froze at what he saw. Bella was pressed up against a tree by none other than James Hunter. Bella had tears streaming down her face and was trying to push James away, but Edward could see instantly that it was pointless; James was too strong for her.
After the shock began to wear off, the anger bubbled to the surface and Edward's blood began to boil. James had one of his hands up Bella's dress while the other was lowering it down her shoulders. The top of her petticoat had already been exposed. Not wanting to watch a second longer, Edward charged at James, taking him by surprise and knocking him to the ground. He heard Bella cry out in fright.
Not giving James a chance to recover, Edward pinned him to the ground and delivered punch after punch, blow after blow. James tried to fight back but his arms were pinned underneath him and Edward was sitting on his legs.
"How do you like it you bastard!" Edward screamed at him. "How dare you attack an innocent woman! A PREGNANT woman! MY WIFE!" Edward had hit him so much that James began to cough up blood but Edward did not stop.
"She was begging you to stop and you ignored her! You monster! You rapist!" Edward yelled at him. It looked as if James was about to attempt to reply, so Edward threw all his strength behind the next punch. It knocked James out cold. Edward delivered a few more blows to make sure James was really out of it before finally standing up.
Edward looked down at him. His face was covered in blood and already beginning to swell. Edward spat on his face and kicked him in the groin. He would not be running away anytime soon.
Turning around, Edward looked for Bella, expecting to find her leaning up against the tree. She wasn't. She had slumped down to the base of the tree, passed out.
Edward hurried over to her to examine her. She had nail marks trailing down from her neck to her shoulders, there were a few scratches on her face, but what Edward saw when he turned her over to her side made his blood run cold; the back of her dress was soaked in blood.
Edward scooped her up into his arms and ran back towards the house. He did not bother going inside. Running straight passed the front door Edward hurried into the front garden and ordered one of the stable boys to fetch a coach and driver.
Just over a minute later, though it was a minute too long for Edward, a coach and driver pulled up right in front of him. Seeing the state Bella was in, the drive hurriedly vacated his seat and opened the carriage doors for the pair. Bella was still unconscious.
Edward gently laid his wife across one side of the carriage, quickly shutting the door behind him before he knelt down next to her. He checked her pulse; it was slower than it should have been but nothing to worry himself over.
He scanned over her body once more. There was quite a large gash on her shoulder where the tree had dug in. Wanting to stop the blood loss, Edward ripped the bottom of his shirt and tied it around her shoulder, saturating the blood.
Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the carriage pulled up at Edward's house. Luckily the driver had the sense to open the doors once more for Edward, so all he had to worry about was holding onto his wife.
Edward sprinted across the front garden and banged on the front door with his foot. Angela hurried to open it and gasped when she saw the state her mistress was in. Edward ignored her and ran up the stairs as fast as he could, and entered Bella's chamber. Laying her as gently as he could on the bed, Edward began to rip the dress off her body; not caring to avert his eyes.
Angela burst into the room, "Oh Sir, what on earth happened to Bella?" The distress was evident in her voice but Edward did not have the time to explain. He needed to work out where all the bleeding was coming from. He prayed it was not a sign of a miscarriage.
"Angela, I need you to fetch my bag from my chamber, heat some water until it is boiling and bring me some rags and towels," Edward ordered. Angela complied immediately.
Pulling the petticoat off his wife's body, he noticed a large cut that ran along the base of Bella's back. He prayed this was where the blood was flowing from. At that moment, Angela re-entered the room with Edward's bag and a handful of towels and rags. "The water is boiling sir. I will bring it up as soon as it has finished," Angela vowed. Edward nodded his thanks.
Five minutes later, Angela arrived with a bowl full of steaming water and Edward put it to use right away. He wiped the blood away from Bella's face and the cut in her shoulder. As he rinsed the rage he was using, the water turned a dark shade of red, but Edward had no other choice but to continue using the same water; there was not enough time to change it.
Rolling Bella onto her side, he began to attack the cut on her back. Luckily, the speed of the blood flowing from the cut has decreased considerably; the edges were now beginning to crust over with a little blood still seeping through.
As he was wiping away the remainder of the blood, Bella began to come to. As she opened her eyes, she looked confused, but as he gazed at her, he saw her memory beginning to work once more. She instantly began to sob.
"Not my baby, please! Not my baby! They're all I have!"
Edward tried to calm her down a little, "Bella, if you worry too much you may lose the baby," Edward did not want to think about the possibility that it may be too late already.
Edward could see Bella trying to calm her sobs and she placed her hand on her stomach. Edward focused on bandaging up her back wound. "Bella, I do not wish to raise your hopes too high, but I do believe the blood on your back is due to the cut located on the base of your spine and not a miscarriage. I will have to check. I'm sorry, but I need you to open your legs." Edward muttered, embarrassed but willing to do whatever it took to make sure his child was still alive.
Surprisingly, Bella instantly rolled on to her back, wincing a little in pain, and opened her legs. Edward knew then that she would do anything for the child they may still have. She would be a wonderful mother one day; hopefully one day soon.
Quickly Edward checked her nether regions. He could see no blood coming from there. He sighed in relief. Although this was not one hundred percent certain, he felt positive that Bella had not suffered a miscarriage. "Bella, with as much assurance as I can give, knowing that this method of checking is not always correct, I believe our child is still alive and resting in your womb. We will need to contact Aurora as soon as we can tomorrow, but for now this is what I believe."
Bella began to cry, gasping in air as the tears pounded down her face. She still seemed not to care about her nudity; she threw herself into Edward's arms and began to cry into his shoulder.
Edward instantly placed his arm around her shoulder and began to soothe her with whispers.
The husband and wife sat like that for at least an hour, Bella crying out her relief and fear while Edward comforted her, his relief flooding him on the inside; relief that his wife and child were still safe and relatively unharmed.
When Bella's sobs had silenced completely, Edward glanced down at her and noticed that she was in a slumber. As gently as he could, Edward lifted Bella from his lap and laid her down under her quilt. Through all this, Bella's hand was firmly gripped in his own. As he tried to pry his hand out of her firm grasp, Bella's eyes snapped open, and if it was possible, her grip tightened.
"Please do not leave me tonight." Bella begged, the tears filling her eyes once more. "Please Edward. Please, I cannot be alone!" She whispered.
Edward could not deny her and he felt ashamed of himself for even considering leaving her side in the first place.
"Of course I will," he whispered to her, and he moved a stray stand of hair away from her face.
He crawled into bed with her; only bothering to remove his shoes. To his surprise, Bella crawled into his arms and rested her head against his chest before closing her eyes once more.
Edward stayed awake for at least another hour, watching his wife, making sure she was truly sleeping. As he glanced at the watch that still rested in his pocket, he saw that it was almost two hours past midnight.
Finally closing his eyes, Edward fell asleep almost instantly, and for the first time in their marriage, Bella and Edward slept willingly in one another's arms.
-o-
At five hours past midnight, Edward woke up to a screaming Bella. He sat up quickly and cast his eyes to his wife. She was still asleep, yet she was screaming. Edward began to call her name loudly, so that he could be heard over her. He was afraid of shaking her awake in case it caused her distress due to the events of the previous night.
Bella did not wake. She carried on screaming and suddenly began thrashing. Running out of ideas on how to wake her, Edward finally touched her. He stroked up and down her arm gently, praying it would be enough to wake her before he was forced to shake her.
Thankfully, it did work and Bella's eyelids began to flutter open. Tears were once again pouring down her face and her screams had not ceased, though the trashing had.
"Bella? What is it? Please calm down. You really cannot stress right now!" Edward reminded her.
Bella instantly silenced her screams, but Edward noticed she was trembling. He pulled her against him once more, taking care not to touch her cuts. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to soothe her, but he knew nothing could wipe away her memories.
Bella began to sob into his shoulder once more."Please, make it go away; just make it go away," she begged. Edward wanted to do nothing more than grant her wish but he knew that he could not. Instead, he asked her what she had been dreaming about; although he was sure he could hazard the right guess.
"James took me further into the trees. I called your name but you did not come. He pulled my dress off and killed my baby. I kept calling for you but you still did not come. He attacked me and I screamed your name but you did not come. You did not come," Bella whispered as the tears overtook her once more.
Edward felt guilt fill his body, but he had to remind himself that it was only a dream; that he did get to her in time. "Bella, it was just a dream. I did get there and James did not attack you. You must remember that. I know it must be extremely difficult, but you must remember that he did not rape you. He was stopped before he could. I know the feelings must overwhelm you, but you have to fight back, fight back or he has won!"
"But I feel so dirty!" Bella sobbed, "I put our baby at risk! I should have known not to go for a walk alone with a man!"
Fury boiled in Edward's blood, but not at Bella, at James. "Bella, this is in no way, shape or form your fault. You had no idea what he would do, that it would lead to this! You chose to see the good in him. This time it was a mistake, but that is what makes you who you are. You cannot let him change you." Edward instructed his wife.
"It is too late for that," he heard Bella whisper before she surrendered to sleep once more.
-o-
A mere four hours later, one Alice Brandon-soon-to-be-Whitlock came bounding into Bella's chamber.
"Good gracious Edward, it is almost noon and you are still in bed! Wake Bella up immediately, I need her help and we do not have a moment to lose!" Alice ordered as she pulled back the curtains.
Edward growled at her, "Shut those curtains right now Alice! I will not be waking Bella up this morning. She had a restless night to put it lightly. You can have Rosalie help you today; she has managed to get away from it for the past week. It is her turn to work, allow Bella to rest. And it is not almost noon; it is nine hours past midnight." Edward demanded as he rose to get out of bed. He himself had not been able to sleep since Bella's nightmare, but he was not going to leave her.
Alice noticed he was still in his suit. "Why are you still wearing last night's clothes?" she inquired, "And why was Bella's night restless?"
"I will answer all your questions if you would just leave us in peace for a few moments so that I may be allowed to dress and retain my modesty. Gather everyone in the living room and I will explain to everyone shortly." Edward told his cousin flatly, beginning to undo the buttons on his shirt.
Alice look extremely bemused but left the room in a hurry.
Ten minutes later, Edward re-emerged from Bella's chamber, after making sure she was deeply asleep and would not miss his presence. He had been surprised by her need for him, but put it down to the fact that he was the one who rescued her from James' assault.
As he entered the living, he saw that Alice had literally gathered everyone. He did not know how they had managed to ride over to the house so quickly, but his parents were there. Esme was sitting in the armchair with Carlisle standing behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders. Alice and Jasper were sitting next to one another on the settee and oddly, Rosalie was standing next to the settee in Emmett's arms. It finally all clicked into place. Rosalie was at the house but never to be found helping Alice and Bella because she was with Emmett, and Emmett was constantly smiling because he was always with Rose.
"You have all noticed that Bella is not here with us," Edward did not know where to start so began with this, "This is because I have left her in bed, as we have had a very distressful evening and night."
"Where did you go after dinner?" Esme interrupted, "After we returned from the conservatory, we could not find you two anywhere. Tanya did not know where you were either."
"Allow me to explain mother. Tanya and I went out into the garden to talk about recent events," Edward did not know how else to phrase it, "and we could not find James or Bella anywhere. After Tanya had returned to the house, I heard someone yell my name. I did not know where it was coming from but as I heard it again, I realised it was coming from deep within the garden and it was Bella who was calling for me. I tried to find her amongst the trees. When I did, James was attacking her. He was about to sexually abuse her. He had pulled her dress halfway down her chest and his hand was running underneath it, on her thigh.
I was able to pull him off her before he could go any further, although he had already gone too far. I beat him until he was unconscious and then went to Bella. She had a few cuts and some minor scratches. However, the back of her dress was soaked in blood and I feared she had miscarried. I picked her up and ran into a coach, in a hurry to get home, I'm sure you understand. As soon as we arrived home, I began to clear her cuts and discovered one on the base of her back. We believe this is where the blood has come from and pray that she has not lost the baby. We need to call the midwife over as soon as possible however to confirm."
Carlisle moved away from Esme, "I shall do that right away son; you stay here with your wife and the others." Edward nodded his thanks towards his father before turning his gaze on every other couple in the room.
Alice was crying into Jasper's shoulder while he comforted her, looking disgusted at the thought of what Bella had gone through. Edward's mother had tears streaming down her face and her hand was covering her mouth. Rose had turned around and was trying to calm Emmett, who looked murderous.
"What was this monster's name Edward?" Emmett hissed.
"James, James Hunter. He is Tanya's fiancé." Edward stated.
As soon as he uttered James' name, a gasp was heard throughout the room and Edward searched around for the source. It was Rosalie.
Her face had been drained of all colour and she appeared to be shaking slightly; leaning on Emmett for support.
"What is it Rose?" Emmett asked lovingly, all the anger leaving his voice.
"Did you say James Hunter?" Rose asked shakily. Edward nodded, extremely confused.
"What about him?" Emmett asked, fury lacing his tone once more at the mention of that poor excuse for a man.
Rose took a deep breath and looked at the floor, avoiding everyone's gaze. "Four years ago, when I was fifteen, James Hunter tried to sexually assault me."
---
What do you think?
Are you starting to like Edward now? I hope so!
Until next time. :)
