Disclaimer-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.


"What was that all about?" Renée asked.

"Nothing," I muttered.

She craned around to see what Jessica whom referring to. She saw Edward and nodded. "He's cute!" she whispered.

"Mom!" I blushed.

"I'm just saying!" she said.

"It's only been a six months," I said.

"Who is he?" she asked.

"Dr. Cullen's nephew, the other Dr. Cullen," Jessica said, her eyes lighting up. She always did like a good bit of gossip.

"He's a doctor, he's good-looking and he's single?" Renée asked. "How did that happen?" She giggled.

"It's not a mystery, Mom," I said.

"Is he gay?" Renée asked. I gasped, and Jessica chuckled.

"I don't think so," Jessica said. "We never quite got to first base, though."

"Are you with him, um…?"

"Jessica," Jessica said, reminding her of her name. "No, not any more. I'm seeing someone in Port Angeles."

"Oh, OK," Renée said.

"We went out a few times, but that was it. He's nice, though," Jessica said. "He's looking for somebody with a little more education. That's not really my thing. He wants to talk about politics and authors and books and ideas. I prefer to talk about movies and shopping and parties."

Everybody and their kid brother knew that books were definitely my thing. I read all the time. Every chance I got. If I got bored, I usually dug my nose in a book. I read in the night while nursing Jeannie when everyone else was asleep. "Bella?" Mom asked, arching an eyebrow.

"OK, you guys are embarrassing me," I said, getting up, taking my daughter.

"Hey, Bella, want a beer?" Carlisle asked as I passed them.

"Oh, no thanks," I said. I had already had one, and I needed to nurse Jeannie. I could feel the let-down happening and I didn't want her drunk off my breast milk. "Hi, Edward. How are you?"

"Good thanks. I came by to meet your mom," he said.

"Oh, she's talking to Jessica Stanley right now," I said. "Can I get inside? I need to feed Jeannie."

"Oh, sure," Carlisle said, stepping aside for us to get into the house.

As I nursed Jeanne inside, a few of my teacher friends filled me in on the latest gossip from the high school faculty. There was some retiring happening, a few 'scandals,' and a few new teachers transferring from different schools. We were getting a new principal this fall.

A part of me didn't miss being away from all the gossip and cattiness of being a school teacher. I missed reading the books and the papers, but I didn't miss the pressure of being a teacher. It was a lot of work, and having a baby was going to require a lot of me. I wondered if I could do something else- like be a librarian? There were few decent libraries in Forks/La Push. Well, I had Mike's life insurance to live off of for a while.

There was a scandal at the party- Emmett and some of the kids had stripped out of their shoes and waded into the Sol Duck River and two of them fell in. Nothing happened, they just got wet. Emmett rescued them from the undercurrent before anything happened, but Rosalie was furious. Their parents were livid, too.

Jeannie wanted to see everything that was going on around her. I took her outside to see everything.

Edward was sitting with Renée, Renée was chatting his ear off, flirting. Jessica had disappeared. I saw Renée pat his knee and flash her most charming smile. She had been drinking Cosmopolitans all night, they were starting to make her goofy. Edward laughed at something she said. Oh God. She was setting me up.

"Bella, come here! Show little Jeannie to Edward, here," Renée said. She was slurring her words a little. "I was telling him about how she gets the cutest little hiccups after she nurses, sometimes."

"I just nursed her and she's not getting them, sorry," I said. As if to contradict me, Jeannie hiccupped right there.

"Why don't you let Edward hold her?" Renée asked.

"Right now?" Edward asked. The rate of Jeannie's hiccups increased.

"Yeah, you've never held her!" I realized.

"Yeah, why don't you?" Renée asked. I handed Jeannie over to Edward. I was expecting him to be a little more experienced with holding a baby, but he wasn't very graceful with her. Jeannie was still hiccupping.

"Rest her on your chest," I said.

"There's a reason I never became an OB-GYN or went into neo-natal," Edward said. "I'm afraid I'm not too good with babies."

"Nonsense!" Renée cried. "You just need a little practice!" she whispered. "You should spend more time with Bella!"

Edward chuckled.

"Mom, please," I said.

"Just wait until you have one of your own!" Renée crowed to Edward, ignoring me. "You'll know exactly how to handle them, then! Why don't you go do dinner with Bella, sometime? I think she needs a meal with some grown-up conversation. Charlie's not too good at that. Never was. Fisherman at heart- they don't value conversation-"

"Mom!" I cried. "Edward, ignore her, she doesn't know what she's saying."

"Oh, Bella, I do too!" Renée said.

"I've only been widowed for six months," I reminded her.

"I understand, Mrs. Dwye- Renée. Bella's a special young woman, though. We'll just leave it at that for now," Edward said.

"I could have absolutely died," I told Charlie as I pulled into the garage. "She was trying to fix me up with Edward Cullen."


Charlie, instead of sympathizing with me, laughed. "Sounds like Renée. Always the busybody, trying to match everybody up."

"Aren't you going to have a talk with her?" I cried.

"When she's sober, yes," he said. "But, would it be so bad to consider moving on?"

"I had an entire life planned with Mike!" I cried as I got Jeannie's car seat out of the back seat of the car. "I can't just get over him like that!"

"Nobody's expecting you to," Charlie said. "She'd just like to see you get out and do something, I guess. So would I. You spend all your time taking care of everybody else, these days. You need to take care of you."

"With what money?" I snorted.

"You don't need a lot of money to take care of yourself," Charlie said. "Spend time with people who care about you. Not your old gimp Dad-"

"Hey!" I cried. "You're not a gimp! Besides, I'm planning a baby shower for Angela Black."

"You're taking care of it," Charlie said. "I think you and Jeannie are going to enjoy your week in Jacksonville with Renée and Phil. You need it."