Chapter Nine: "Surprise" Bella's POV

"Good night, sweet boy," I whispered to my sleeping son, being sure to tuck the blankets tightly around him. He smiled in his sleep as I kissed his forehead. I knew he was comfortable and warm in my old bedroom at my father's house, and he was especially happy that he was hanging out with his grandpa for a few days.

Life was pretty good, I had to admit. I had a lot to be thankful for.

I walked down the stairs to find Charlie flipping through the television channels. When I returned to my spot on the couch with the afghan I had knit for him years ago. My father was not a very verbose man—we cohabitated happily, but with few words-so it surprised me when he turned off the television and turned in his recliner toward me.

"So, tell me about this Edward I keep hearing about," he said, a blush already touching the tops of his ears.

My blush suddenly took over a lot more than my ears. "W-what?

"While you were at the Thriftway, Emerson kept talking about a girl named Emmy and her father, Edward. How you guys made a snow man and baked cookies and I don't know what all."

I cleared my throat self-consciously. "Emmy is his friend, and Edward and I arrange play dates for them."

"You sure you're not arranging more than play dates?"

"We just met," I replied. "And you know how I feel about focusing on Emerson. I really don't want to fall for another rotten apple like Emerson's father."

"Are you sure Edward is a rotten apple?" he asked me, surprising me with his sudden insight to his daughter's private life. "Emerson described him as awesome and cool and really nice. And Emerson is awfully protective of you already…"

"There is nothing rotten about Edward," I said confidently, "but I'm not rushing into anything." I picked up my novel, trying to convey the message that this conversation was over.

"Bells, honey, I worry about you living in Seattle by yourself," Charlie admitted. "I would love for you to find a good man."

"You don't have to worry about—"

"I really do. You're all alone in that big city, scrimping and pinching to make ends meet. I would even accept you living with a boyfriend as long as he could take care of you two."

I sighed. "I would love to get married, but right now Emerson is my main man."

"Give Edward a chance," Charlie told me. "Your son loves him already. That's a good sign."

I gave him a teasing grin. "Dad, since when do you trust a man within a five feet radius of me?"

He chuckled. "I just want you to be happy and taken care of, honey."

"I know. And by the way, you're taking care of me just fine. You didn't have to send me that cash in the mail. It was unnecessary but so appreciated."

"Of course I did!" he exclaimed. "I want my grandson to have a good Christmas. What are you buying him?"

"A bicycle, a helmet, and pads," I explained. "It's quite expensive, but I've been saving ever since he took the training wheels off of his old bike. I'm glad I did start to save, because he's way too big for the old bike."

"Every boy should have a bike," Charlie agreed. "I thought I would buy him one of those crazy handheld video games. What are they called?"

"The Nintendo DS?"

"Yeah. They have them on sale in Port Angeles. If you want, I'll buy it and you can give him the DS and I'll give him the bike."

"You know you have to buy games for it separately, right?"

"Yeah," he said, sounding almost offended that I questioned his knowledge. "I thought maybe two or three games could start him out on it. Kid-friendly games, of course. I don't like the violent stuff where you can kill cops."

I giggled. "I don't like that stuff, either. Well, I don't think we'll have to trade gifts, because I was planning on spending Christmas with you anyway…"

He gave me a bright smile. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah…so we'll just wrap them all and put them under the tree. He doesn't have to know who gave him what."

"Thanks, Bells," my dad grinned. "That makes me really excited."

"That makes two of us," I said. "Three, if you count Emerson. He loves coming down to Forks."

"You know, I think it's very admirable that you don't tell him Santa Claus brings his gifts," he said randomly. "It's not easy to explain to a child why Santa brought little Johnny a bike, video games, a TV, a trampoline, and a puppy…and why Santa only brought Emerson only two of those things."

"That's exactly why I've never played Santa," I replied. "But I tell him that it's our little secret…I don't want him to blab and tell his classmates that Santa doesn't exist."

Charlie nodded. "You're a wonderful mother, Bells. I just wish you could find Emerson a good father."

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We didn't want to leave Charlie's house, but of course school and work were waiting on us. Emerson slept on the whole drive back to Seattle while I played Christmas music.

When I made it to our apartment, I woke him up so he wouldn't sleep the day away. He sleepily held my hand as we walked to our apartment.

To my surprise, there was a note on the door.

Of course my first thought was, Oh, god…my rent check bounced.

"What's that, Mommy?" Emerson asked me.

"I don't know," I replied warily as I unlocked the door and pulled the note off. "Why don't you hang your coat up while I turn the heat on, and then we can make some chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch."

"Okay!" My son loved chicken nuggets. He immediately took off running for the coat closet.

I opened the folded note. Inside was a message scrawled in a beautiful script that could only come from a writer:

Look in the mailbox for a surprise.

A smile instantly sprang to my face. I knew exactly who the note was from. I opened the mailbox and found a few items: a long-stemmed white rose, two bags of gummy bears, and an envelope.

"What?" I murmured in true surprise. How did Edward know that Emerson and I loved gummy bears?

It was freezing and beginning to sprinkle, so I ran inside and to the Thermostat. I kicked on the heat and stripped my coat off. My sweet son had already hung his coat up and was waiting in the kitchen. "What's all of that, Mommy?" he asked me, eyeing the gummy bears.

"A surprise from Edward," I said absentmindedly. "You can have some after lunch."

"Awesome!"

I giggled as he ran to his bedroom. I put the rose in a glass of water and finally tore open the envelope.

One ticket to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" fell into my hands, along with a note.

May I have the honor of a "play date" between the two of us literature nerds?

I glanced at the ticket. The date was for Friday at seven thirty PM. I wondered how much this ticket had cost, and then I realized that I couldn't accept this gift. Edward struggled as much as I did with money.

I grabbed my phone and dialed his number. It rang once before he answered it. "Hey, beautiful," he said, a smile in his voice.

"Hey," I replied, my heart pounding at his compliment. "We made it home from Forks safely."

"Good!" he said. "How was your holiday?"

"It was wonderful," I admitted, going to the fridge and finding a bag of chicken nuggets and a bag of French fries. "It was nice to hang out with my dad. But I found a very sweet present in my mailbox…"

"Oh, yeah? Who was it from?"

I snorted. "Edward, I can't accept this gift. It's too—"

"Miss Swan, I'm offended," he teased me. "Are you opposed to the gift or the giver?"

I giggled. "The gift. I'm definitely not opposed to you."

Edward laughed. "That's good to know. But you should also know—and this will make me sound like a cheapskate—that the tickets didn't cost me a penny. My sister is playing the role of Helena, so I managed to snag free tickets."

"Oh," I said, a little astounded. "Wow. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend—"

"You didn't offend me," he assured me. "I would definitely feel the same way. But since you're a literature geek, are you interested in accompanying me?"

I smiled as I arranged the frozen food on a cookie sheet. "I'm very interested in accompanying you."

"Good!" he said happily.

"Let me call and ask Rosalie if she can babysit," I suggested, popping the cookie sheet into the heated oven. "Would you be okay with Emmy staying with Rose?"

"Definitely. If you trust her to keep Emerson, then I know I can trust her to keep Emmy."

"Rose is wonderful. Can I call you back?"

"Of course. And by the way, thank you. I've been worrying over whether or not you would accept the invitation."

"Edward," I said sincerely. "I really like you. Like, a lot. I'm not sure why you're worried."

"I think I just did a fist pump," he joked.

"But the question is: do you like me as much as I like you?" I pressed.

"Bella, I think that I'm the adoring one," he replied in a serious tone. "I'm actually quite smitten."

Once again, I couldn't stop a smile that Edward Cullen had planted. "Good," I squeaked. "I'll call you right back."

I dialed Rose, and she said that she and Emmett would be happy to watch Emerson and Emmy. I think she was desperate for me to finally meet a man, even though she did add, "No funny business, right?"

To which I responded, "Rose, mind your own sex life."

"I'm serious, Bella…"

I rolled my eyes and hung up. I dialed Edward again to tell him that the babysitting had been arranged.

"Great," he said lightly. "I'll pick you up at six."

"Isn't that kind of early?"

"Well, we should have dinner…"

I shook my head fervently, even though he couldn't see me. "No. I'm not going to take away from your beautiful daughter's Christmas. We'll have dinner at my house…at six."

"Bella—"

"Do you like fettucine alfredo?"

He sighed in defeat. "I love it."

"Good! I'll have a fabulous dinner waiting for you," I said. "But right now I have to feed my main man some lunch. So can I talk to you later?"

"Absolutely," he said, and I could once again hear the grin. It was probably a smirk of amusement, maybe that freaking gorgeous crooked grin. I sincerely hoped so. "In fact, feel free to call me all you want."

"I think your woman would get a bit jealous if I did that," I admitted.

"Nah, she likes you. She informed me that my kisses are only for her, though."

I giggled. "I'm not sure I can agree to that," I said a bit dryly, trying to sound nonchalant.

He joined my laughter. "Lucky for you, I totally agree with you."

"Oh, lucky for me, huh? You only kiss the lucky?"

"No, I only kiss the lovely," he replied.

"You'll eat those words one day," I said jokingly just as Emerson ran into the kitchen. "I really have to go. I'll call you tonight."

"I'll be waiting anxiously," he said sweetly. "Give the little guy a hug for me."

"Will do. Thank you, Edward. Oh, wait," I said as a thought occurred to me. "How did you know that we love gummy bears?"

"Emerson told me. Go feed him some lunch so you can call me sooner."

I snorted. "Yes, sir. 'Bye!"

"'Bye," he said just before I hung up.

"Was that Edward?" Emerson asked curiously.

"Yep," I answered. "Sweetie, you and Emmy are going to hang out with Aunt Rosalie and Emmett on Friday night."

He looked at me suspiciously, his brown eyes blazing. "What are you and Edward going to be doing?"

"Watching a Shakespeare play," I explained. "You would be bored throughout the whole thing, trust me."

He sighed. "Mommy, do you like Edward?"

I let out a long breath. "Maybe I do. Would that be okay with you?"

He bit his lip as he thought about it long and hard. Finally, he cocked his head to the side and examined me through squinted eyelids. "Only if I'm your only superhero."

I chuckled and crouched down to give him a kiss. "Trust me, you're my only Clark Kent. And you rescue me every day, sweetheart."

The date is next, and Edward will bring up Sinterklaas. It should be interesting.

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