Review this chapter to receive a teaser of what's happening in Florida. Warning for Teaser: NO child rape, just Renee and Charlie and mystery-sex baby.
Old AN: We're on chapter 27. Wow, this is soooo shocking, and this story is far from over, so no one needs to cry. Yet. But we do need to have a very firm talk. I didn't get many reviews last chapter, which would explain why it's taken so long for this chapter to have an update. And even while I'm writing this I know that this chapter probably won't be out for a week or two. Just saying. Makes me sad with no reviews and even mad when I can't seem to write anything down.
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New AN: Merry late Christmas! I am so sorry for the delay still, but I thought I would give you guys something as a little late present-type thing. Its short, I'm sorry, but love me more!
New Twitter account, personal beyond belief. TheMCHeels
BPOV
It was five in the morning and I was still up with Emma in full swing, while Sophie and Mell were passed out in their new beds. After figuring out how to work the TV in the living room, I curled up on the couch while Emma played. She wouldn't sleep and was wide awake; I constantly had to shush her and hide the noisy toys in the pantry. I was certainly used to being low on sleep and up this early, but the bed the Cullens had put me was absolutely extraordinary! The mattress itself was so soft and caressing, and then the bed sheets almost blew my mind. Fleece. Real, warm, tickly fleece. I was in heaven until I heard the cries of Emma.
And just like that, I was out of my haze. Damn.
I didn't expect that I would get to back to sleep anytime soon so I settled into the couch, struggling to keep my eyes open at the same time. I could only imagine the trouble Emma could create with no one watching. I hated that she was entering the "terrible two's" group because she slowly became more and more independent and stubborn, which also meant she wouldn't let you rock her to sleep. She became more difficult and I didn't like it. I guess Sophie was slightly behind Emma in development, but so far, I was okay with how we stood there.
"Shit, I must be dreaming."
I jumped at the sound of that male voice, startled from thinking I was alone. I jumped up on the couch, hand pressed to my heart and breathing rather heavily. "Jesus, you scared me."
"Sorry," Emmett yawned. He rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, sorry, the munchkin just scared me. Forgot she was here."
"Where are you going?" I asked cautiously, looking up and down at his basketball shorts and blue sweater.
Emmett rubbed his eyes again. "A run, then hitting the gym," he informed me as he laced up his sneakers and pulling a big navy bag from the closet. "Edward and I do this three days a week, its tradition. He was gonna try to get out of it because you're here with your little minions, but I set his ass straight. We're going, and we're gonna sweat so hard we bleed."
I winced. "Sounds like lots of fun."
"I'd ask you to tag along, shorty, but your elves need you." I knew he was joking but it twisted something weird in the pit of my stomach. Of course they needed me. Trying to make light of his words, I played it off with a simple statement of my repulsion to physical activity. A few seconds later I heard heavy footsteps banging down the stairs and Edward emerged, looking pretty pumped and awake.
He jumped when he saw me. "Wow, what are you doing up?"
I gave him a small tired, pretty much trying to say, "No, I'm not tired." "Have been for a while."
"You up for good?" he asked.
"Probably. They'll sleep to about nine and then the party really will start," I joked.
He grinned. "Well, we'll see you in about three-four hours, okay? If you need—"
"That's enough, Edward," I sighed. "I've lived for years without your help, nothing has changed, it doesn't matter that I'm in a foreign place." I tried to add much more gently, "I don't need you watching over me." Some things I could take – say physical abuse – but I couldn't take it when people tried to just help me without my invitation first.
A hurt look crossed his face but it was gone before I could read too much into it. "Okay, I'll back off," he said easily. "Just wanted to help."
Edward was out the door first, followed closely by Emmett. Why did I feel so horrible? I didn't do anything wrong, I just told him the same it was. Just because I was staying in his house for a while didn't really mean I had to change my lifestyle, did it? Gosh, I really did want to make Edward happy in such a simple way that my life wouldn't allow. I felt like I was tugging on his heart. I wondered what he had to be feeling.
I must have drifted off after that because my eyes flew open when I heard a loud crash, and Emma was nowhere to be seen. My stomach dropped and I think I left it somewhere on the couch when I jumped up and jogged toward the kitchen. And there my little girl was, standing on a chair against the counter and licking something blue off the tiles. Beside her was Mrs. Cullen. I leaned against the doorframe and took a deep breath, my stomach catching up to me, my heartbeat decreasing.
"Oops, look what I did, honey!" Mrs. Cullen giggled, covering her mouth with her hand and pointing at the floor. Emma stared at her finger. "I dropped it!" Emma nodded once and shouted, "Yeah!" in what could only be the frustrated voice of a child. I smiled. She had quite the exaggerated attitude for not even being two. I watched as Mrs. Cullen bent down and emerged with a glass bowl. "Uh-oh, the bowl chipped."
Finally, I took a step forward. "You didn't have to do this," I said quietly, laughing slightly to make myself feel less awkward in the situation. It didn't work.
"Oh, you're up!" Mrs. Cullen let out breath. "I'm sorry about the noise but I just wanted to let you sleep. You can go back to bed if you—"
I felt my eyebrows pull together. I should have thanked her, I probably should have taken the offer too, to show how thankful I was. But instead, I felt anger. I felt angry at her and some leftover for Edward earlier this morning. I didn't need sleep. I didn't need someone taking care of my girl. I can do it myself, I don't need or want any help, I thought. "No I'm fine," I said a little sharply, finding a weird fascination in floor. My mind was busy trying to make sense of these feelings I had.
"Well okay, but if you want to…" she offered again, trailing off as she put the bowl in the sink. I watched as she helped Emma push icing around on a big cookie – which ended in a big mess – hating the smile she had on her face. I never got to do things like that with the girls because there just weren't enough people to help with four little girls.
I was mad but not a hundred percent sure why.
Finally, I just turned away and headed upstairs towards the room I was staying in. I went over to gently prod Sophie's back, feeling her stir under my hand and whispered some encouraging words, before leaving her to go to the bed. Melly was buried in the thick, warm blankets, sleeping so soundly that I almost didn't want to wake her. But if I didn't, she wouldn't sleep tonight. She was much easier to wake up and was sitting up in minutes, rubbing her eyes.
She was just too adorable.
She looked up at me with big brown eyes, shifting uncomfortably. "I peed the bed," she whispered, looking down at her lap.
Placing both my hands on either side of her face, I lifted it to look at me and gave her a gentle smile. "It's okay, sweetie, we'll get you cleaned up, okay?" I didn't remember Caitlyn's potty-training experience but Melly's had been hard from the first day of trying, however, I did think she was getting the hang of it. I guess not.
The three of us headed back downstairs and I didn't offer any words to Mrs. Cullen when I sat the girls in the kitchen. She, however, did have some words. "Bella, I want to talk to you later, okay?" she asked, her tone implying there was little room for 'no.' "When we have a little more privacy."
"Yeah, sure," I answered hesitantly, going into the refrigerator for bread.
"Bella, sit down and I'll get to breakfast," she said dismissively, continuing to spread icing around cookies. Emma still stood in her spot, now licking the pink off a cookie. "I know they're hungry but I'll get to it, because when Emmett gets home from his work out, he has a monster appetite."
I frowned. "Well, Emma and Sophie need to eat now, they didn't eat much last night," I said carefully, pulling out a loaf of white bread. "I doubt they can wait."
"All right," she sighed, sweeping flour off the counter. There was a lot of tension here, around us, and it was getting to me. If I was a burden, I needed to know so I could fix it. Another family didn't need to be under stress because I was in a slight rut.
Ha. Putting it lightly, I see.
"Mrs. Cullen, if there is an issue with this loving situation, then I'll take the girls to my…" I was hoping by that point that she would have stopped me with a speech on how I was indeed welcome and I wasn't actually imposing. But she didn't and I came up short with my words.
"Bella, I'm not just going to kick you and three little girls out on the street with nowhere to go, I am not heartless. And I bet if I did, my family wouldn't even talk to me ever again!" She smiled slightly. "But that's not the point. You are – you all are welcome here and I had no problem watching this little angel any time you need me to—"
I sighed. "And that's where I need to stop you," I interrupted. "I don't need you watching any of them, I am so used to it that it would feel wrong not to be doing it. I don't mean you any disrespect…but that's the way we live our lives."
It took a few seconds for her to respond, but even then she didn't seem like she knew what to say. "Well, Carlisle and I talked for quite a while and he made me aware of your situation. And…I just want to let you know…" Her eyes dropped to where her fingers played with the silver zipper of her sweater. "We're going to help you get through high school and move onto college."
"No." It was my instant response. I. Didn't. Need. Help.
"Please Bella, just think…"
I was shaking my head before she even finished. "I can't. Look, I really do appreciate it but...Esme…this is just too much," I muttered, sitting down, bread forgotten.
"But what are you going to do after high school? A job at the food market isn't going to pay to get you through college or education for any of these girls," she said softly. It felt like she was trying to let me down easily. "We can help you with this, I promise." Suddenly her hand was on top of mine, sending my heartbeat to the stars.
Pushing myself away from the table, I went to get busy making toast, ushering the girls away. Little Melly stayed by me, asking to help and I set her up on spreading peanut butter on the toast. The kitchen became uncomfortably quiet.
"How?" I asked quietly.
"Wha—oh. Um, funds. I mean, we have a lot of money, Bella, from inherences on my side of the family. Jasper and Rosalie are adopted, right, and they're parents left money behind for them in the will. We have money and we can help you." She sounded so sad that I turned to look back at her; her face was uncertain, eyebrows pulled together to form a line that shouldn't have been on such a pretty face. "Why won't you let us?"
How did I explain to her, someone who had it all, what it felt like to be on your own for so long that you couldn't count on anyone? It felt wrong to count on anyone? Edward, well it was a start when I told him about the abuse – it was amazing. My trust in people was minimal.
I wanted to trust more but I just didn't know how.
I hope I'm back in the updating role now. I'm back to school on Monday so I'm hoping to update this story two more times. So review.
Next chapter…we're working on getting CAITLYN BACK! Yay!
Important: Review this chapter to get a teaser of what's going on in Florida. No graphic child rape, I promise, just an update on Renee and Charlie and the mystery-sex baby. Hints at the baby's sex, perhaps. I'll start writing it tomorrow and have it sent out before next update.
But you must REVIEW for the teaser!
Goodnight xx Glitter