A/N Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I know it's not the same for everyone, but school is out. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because I won't have to leave twice a day to take my son to school and pick him up... It's bad because he'll be home all day with me instead. Uh-oh! I'll do my best to continue posting regularly. My goal right now is to post at least twice a week, but we'll have to see how it goes.
I also wanted to thank everyone who continues to follow this story! Your support has been amazing! This is the longest chapter yet, so I hope you enjoy it. Please take the time to send me a review so I can stay motivated! :) FF has their review reply fixed, so I'll be able to start replying to each review again. Anyway... here you go!
Chapter 56 – Highs and Lows
Edward was horrified with himself for forgetting that Emmett and Rosalie would still be in the house when he and Bella headed for the bathroom. With everything that had happened in the last day, his brain was a little scrambled and he lost track of some of the important details. When he heard Emmett behind them, he spun around and froze in his tracks; Bella had done the same. She was just standing there in the hallway naked while Emmett, mouth hanging open, stared at the two of them.
When Edward's mind started functioning again, he quickly stepped in front of her, shielding her body with his own. He silently thanked the powers that be that it was Emmett though instead of Rosalie. He could just imagine the shit hitting the fan if she were standing in front of them. He guided Bella a few steps back so they were even with the bathroom door and felt her quickly disappear inside. Moments later, she came out wrapped in a towel and handed him one, which he quickly wrapped around his own waist. "Um, sorry Em. I sort of forgot you guys came in last night and that you'd be here this morning. I assumed everyone was already gone."
He watched as his brother got a mischievous glint in his eye and smiled a typical Emmett smile before opening his big mouth. "Well Bro, I came up about thirty minutes ago to see if you guys wanted to come down for breakfast, but you seemed to be a little…um…busy."
What Emmett did next absolutely shocked him. He knew his brother liked to tease Bella - that much was obvious; but when Emmett looked over his shoulder and winked at Bella, he thought she would die.
Edward's brain refused to send proper signals to his mouth, so all he was able to say to Emmett's comment was, "Oh." They stared at each other for a minute and then, simultaneously, they burst into laughter. He wasn't even really sure why; he just found the whole situation hilarious. It was almost as if he were punch drunk or in shock.
He felt Bella move from behind him and disappear into the bathroom. His laughter instantly died and he looked at Emmett who had stopped laughing as well, sobered by Bella leaving. "Go take care of your girl, Bro," he said to Edward. We can talk after your meeting this morning."
"Thanks, Man." Edward didn't waste another second. He turned and walked into the restroom only to find Bella sitting on the side of the bathtub with her head between her knees. He felt awful and closed the door quickly before he approached her.
When she looked up at him, he tried to convey through his look how truly sorry he was and offered her his hands. He needed to hold her, to hug her to him tightly and show her how much he loved her.
She immediately took his offered hands and he pulled her up and held her tightly, tucking her head under his chin. "I am so extremely sorry, my love," he whispered into her hair. "Please forgive me?"
It only took her a second to respond. "Of course I forgive you, Edward. I love you more than anything in this world," she told him before bringing her lips to his and kissing him softly. "Nothing you could ever do will change that, okay?" She brought her hands up to cup his face and stared deeply into his eyes. "Nothing," she whispered once more before freeing her towel and allowing it to pool at her feet.
His eyes followed her every move and as he took in every inch of her flawless, naked skin, a growl erupted from his chest. He dropped his own towel as he attacked her mouth with his own while he tried to start the water to the shower. He knew they didn't really have time for this, but at that moment, he honestly didn't care.
…..
After their shower, which took longer than it should have, Bella was ready to climb back in bed and go back to sleep. She and Edward had made love for most of the night, again this morning, and then once more in the shower. What should have been a fifteen-minute shower turned into almost forty-five, and by the time they were out, it was ten o'clock.
While Bella was drying her hair and tossing it up into a messy bun, Edward said he was going to call Pastor Webber to let him know they were running a little late. Ten minutes later, Bella was dressed and ready to go. She had decided to wear a knee-length black skirt and a nice button-up royal blue blouse. She wanted to look somewhat grown-up when they met with Angela's dad. For some reason she couldn't explain, she feared that he would say they weren't ready to get married and she needed to do anything she could to keep that from happening.
She walked back into Edward's room, and when she noticed he wasn't there, she figured he was down in the kitchen. He had mentioned grabbing a quick bite to eat, so it was the most logical place to look.
She slipped on a pair of black heels and headed downstairs to find him. When she walked into the kitchen, she almost turned around and walked right back out. Edward was sitting at the kitchen table with Emmett and they were talking quietly. Edward must have heard her come in because his eyes immediately rose to her, followed by Emmett's.
She felt herself turn bright red again as a replay of this morning flashed in her mind. Edward jumped up and quickly came over to wrap her in a tight hug. "It's okay, Love. Come sit with us and talk for a minute, please?" Edward asked her. She was worried that Emmett would say something to embarrass her again, but she also knew that he was going to be her brother-in-law in a little over a day. She figured she'd better try to clear the air, so she let Edward lead her back to the kitchen table.
When she got there, she smiled a little tentatively as Emmett before sitting on Edward's lap. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but Emmett beat her to it.
"Bells, I'm sorry about this morning. It was awkward for all of us and I didn't help matters with my comments." He paused for a minute and smiled at her fully, dimples and all. "Bella, you make my brother so happy and that's something I never thought I'd see. He was a broken man before you, but you've mended the pieces and for that, I am eternally grateful. I love you, little sis. I know it's not official yet, but welcome to the family!"
Bella was speechless. What Emmett had just said, he said with no humor whatsoever. Every word was sincere and she had never seen that side of him before. Once she took a second to recover, she said the only thing that seemed even remotely appropriate. "Thank you, Emmett." There was nothing else to say that would fit the situation, so when she was done, she turned her head into Edward's chest and hugged him tightly.
He squeezed her back and then whispered in her hair, "Are you ready to go see Pastor Webber? I told him we were running about thirty minutes late, so we need to get going."
"Absolutely," she told him as the butterflies swirled around in her stomach. They were really going to do this and she had never been more excited. "Just let me grab a bagel and then we can go."
She jumped up and walked to the counter to grab her bagel. She was just going to eat it plain, but Edward set some strawberry cream cheese on the counter in front of her with a knife; he knew her so well. She smiled up at him and thanked him before spreading the cream cheese on the bagel and grabbing a paper towel to put it on.
"Ready?" she asked him.
Repeating her word from a minute before, he smiled and said, "Absolutely." Hand in hand, they walked out to his Volvo and left to meet with Angela's dad.
…..
Charlie had arrived at the station at 9 am. He wanted to get started right away in doing what he could to find James. He didn't know if the bastard was even still in town, but he wasn't willing to put Bella at risk by giving up the search.
He started out by making a phone call to the detective in charge of the rape case down in Los Angeles. He thought that maybe he could get some insight into the type of places James liked to hang out or the things he liked to do. There really wasn't much to do in Forks, so unless he went to Port Angeles or somewhere else close by, his hideouts were limited.
The detective wasn't really much help to Charlie. He said that James' known hangouts were malls and movie theaters; anywhere there were girls. He said that he also liked to hang out with friends and smoke marijuana. There was a department store in Port Angeles, but the closet mall was Seattle, which was almost four hours away so Charlie quickly ruled those out. At a loss of where else he could look, he decided to have Mrs. Cope fax James' school picture over to him so he could send it to all the police stations in Washington. He had a feeling that James was still in Forks, but it was better safe than sorry.
Just as he finished faxing the flyer to the last station on the Olympic Peninsula, the bell on the station door rang, signaling the arrival of someone. Heidi wasn't due in the office for another twenty minutes or so, so Charlie found himself walking up front to see who had come in and what he/she needed. He was shocked to see Lauren Mallory standing in front of him. Her clothes were torn, her hair a mess, and she had tears streaming down her face.
The first thing that Charlie felt was rage; this was the girl who almost took his baby girl away from him. She was the reason that Bella had attempted suicide. He had never really liked her, but until what happened recently, she had never really caused any problems.
Seeing her like this, though, he knew he needed to be Chief Swan right then, not Charlie. "Miss Mallory what's wrong? What happened?" he asked. He knew he needed to stay calm and try to get her to do the same if he was going to get any answers out of her. She didn't say anything, she just kept crying, her shoulders heaving with her sobs.
"Come on, Sweetheart. Why don't we go into my office and sit down. Then you can tell me what happened, okay?" He walked up to her and placed an arm around her shoulder as he led her toward his office. Once there, he helped her sit down and then he walked around his desk and took a seat as well.
He picked up his pen and flipped to a clean sheet of paper. "Alright, honey, why don't you tell me what happened. Start from the beginning."
It took her a few minutes, but Lauren finally stopped crying enough to tell him what happened. "We were just hanging out before school. He said he had some weed and I was curious about it. He swore it would make me feel amazing. I don't know why, but I let him in. We were downstairs in the basement and shared a few joints. Mom and Dad were both at work, so it was just the two of us. Time seemed to fly by and the next thing I knew, school had already started so he suggested just ditching and spending the day with me.
"Things were going so well. I mean, he was being really sweet to me. Shit, maybe it was the drugs, I don't know, but I felt really mellow. He seemed like he did, too. I don't know what happened then. The next thing I knew, he was leaning toward me and then he was kissing me."
She took a deep breath that sounded more like a sob than anything else before she continued. "He's cute, so I let him kiss me; I kissed him back even. When he started to reach his hand up under my shirt I got kind of excited. He groped me for another minute while the kiss continued. Then his hand moved from my boob and down to my crotch. He started to slip it underneath my skirt and I panicked. I didn't mind him kissing me, but I wasn't ready to go farther than making out."
She was sobbing again, but she kept relaying the story to him. Charlie took copious notes all while wondering one thing… who 'he' was? He didn't want to interrupt to ask though, she he let her continue.
"When I felt his hand on my bare thigh, I grabbed it and asked him to stop. I told him he was going too fast but he just told shushed me. He told me it was okay and that I would feel amazing after he fucked me. He tried to say that the pot was an aphrodisiac but I wasn't feeling it at all.
"I shook my head and tried to tell him to stop again, but he wouldn't even let me talk. He pushed me back on the couch and lay on top of me, restraining my hands. I tried to yell for help, but no one was home; no one could hear me.
"That's when he started to tear at my clothes. He ripped my shirt and shoved my skirt up. Oh my god, I tried to break free, I really did, but he was too strong. The next thing I knew, he was ripping my underwear from my body. He… he… he touched me…down there," she said as she gestured toward her lower half. She was gasping for breath between sobs and he could tell it was getting more and more difficult for her to continue.
"Lauren, it's okay, sweetheart. You're safe now," he told her as soothingly as he was able. "Take a deep breath. You need to calm down if you can, okay?" After several deep breaths, she was finally breathing a little easier and her crying had slowed way down. "Can you tell me the rest?"
"After he was finished with his fingers, he stood up. I thought he was finished, but then noticed he was undoing the buckle on his belt. He was going to r… r… ra… rape me." She looked at him, visibly shaking, pleading with her eyes for him to understand. "I didn't know what else to do. I panicked, I guess, but I kicked him in his balls as hard as I could. He doubled over in pain and I took advantage of that by getting the hell outta there as fast as I could. I jumped in my car and came straight here."
Charlie felt a huge lump in his throat as he jotted down a few more notes on the pad in front of him. He didn't want to ask, but knew he had to. "Lauren," he spoke softly, "who was it? Who tried to rape you?" He already knew what her answer was going to be before the words were even out of her mouth but, still, he needed confirmation.
"It was James. James Ellsworth."
Shit! He knew that James hadn't left town even though he wished he had. James was still in Forks and Edward and Bella were out today to talk to Pastor Webber. "Lauren, can you excuse me for a minute?" he asked her. Without waiting for an answer, he walked out of his office and shut the door behind him.
…..
The ride to see Angela's dad passed in the blink of an eye. Edward was so excited that this was really happening. He wasn't usually one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but he was literally bouncing up and down in his seat on the way there.
When they got to the church, he jumped out of the car and ran around to open Bella's door for her. After helping her out, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her sweetly. After a minute, he pulled back and looked into her gorgeous brown eyes. "Are you ready for this, beautiful?" he asked.
Bella reached to grab his hand and quickly entwined their fingers before nodding. "I'm more ready than you'll ever know," she whispered. Hand in hand, they walked up to the door and into the church.
Pastor Webber was waiting for them and greeted them warmly the moment they entered. "Edward! Bella! It's really nice to see you again!" His smile was genuine and Bella seemed to relax almost instantly. "Why don't we have a seat in my office so we can talk?"
He led them down a short hallway and stopped in front of a door, which Edward assumed was his office. "Please, come in and make yourselves at home," he said jovially to them. Edward walked over to the couch against the wall and sat down, patting the space right beside him. No one in his family thought it strange that Bella always sat on his lap, but he wasn't sure how the pastor would react so he thought it safer if she sat beside him instead.
A look of disappointment flashed briefly across her face before she sat down as close to him as she could get. Once they were both seated, she reached over and took his hand in hers, holding it tightly. He could tell she was still slightly nervous so he squeezed her had until she looked at him. "I love you," he mouthed to her, making her smile brightly.
"I love you, too," she mouthed back before returning her attention to Pastor Webber.
The Pastor took a seat behind his desk and took in the sight of the two of them, sitting side by side, holding hands. After simply sitting and watching them for a minute, a big grin took over his face. "So, tell me," he began, "how did the two of you meet?"
They answered his questions for about thirty minutes; questions like when and how they met, when they first realized they were in love, why they wanted to get married so fast, would they be willing to work through any differences. They were very basic questions and the pastor must have been pleased with their responses because the smile never left his face.
"Well, alright. I think that covers all the questions I had. The only thing left to do is confirm the time and location for tomorrow night." He opened a calendar he had on his desk and tapped it with his pen. "Okay, so you mentioned that the ceremony would be on the observation deck of Point Wilson Lighthouse, is that correct?"
Edward answered this question. "Yes Sir. That's correct. I've already spoken to the keeper, Sam, and he said we could hold the ceremony there."
Pastor Webber nodded his head. "That will be beautiful, I'm sure. What time were you thinking of holding the ceremony?"
Again, Edward answered the question, this time looking at Bella instead of the pastor. "We would like it to start at sunset." She nodded in affirmation so he turned back to the man in front of him.
Pastor Webber jotted the information down in his calendar and then rose from his chair. He walked around the desk and extended his hand first to Edward and then to Bella. After letting them know that he would be at the lighthouse an hour early to ensure everything was ready, he bid them goodbye.
Hands still clasped tightly together, Edward led Bella back down the hall and out of the church. When they reached the Volvo, instead of opening the door for her, he spun her so her back was pressed up against it and placed a hand on either side of her head, effectively trapping her with his body. Ever so slowly, he leaned in toward her, his lips brushing against her ear.
"Bella, I love you so much," he whispered to her softly. "Can you believe this is all happening? That you'll be my wife in just over thirty hours?" Without giving her the chance to respond, Edward pulled back and crashed his lips to hers in a deep, passionate kiss.
He wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, but when they broke apart, they were both gasping for air. Edward was about to kiss her again when they heard police sirens in the distance.
Bella started to look around almost in a panic. "What the hell is going on?" she asked him. "That sounds like dad's crui…" She suddenly stopped midsentence as her eyes locked on something behind him. He was about to turn around when Bella suddenly screamed. "Edward, watch out! NOOOOO!"
That was the last thing he heard before he felt something crash into the back of his head just before everything went black.
A/N Please don't hate me... I know I left you hanging there, but it had to be done! My goal is to post again on Monday, but if I get a ton of reviews, I'll try to post again sooner! Let me know what you think!