***A/N: I'm sure this chapter will upset some people. Just remember what the title of the story is ;)
The conclusion is coming, only a few chapters left.
Chapter 32 – The Last Thing
After a long discussion with the entire Cullen clan, my dad felt better and decided to trust Edward…well, as much as any father could trust the guy dating his daughter. They all reassured him that Edward was being honest about everything, and that was the most he could hope for.
Charlie contacted the police department about everything, and then there was nothing really left to do but wait and try to enjoy the last few days we had left of our vacation. Emmett decided to make his own investigation and spent some time trying to find James himself, but other than that we tried not to think about it too much. Of course, Edward was extremely protective and pretty much hovered over me every minute, not that I was complaining. It seemed James or whoever was lashing out at me to get to him, and there was no way he was going to let that happen again.
And after the evidence team took pictures, we had Renesmee removed from the tree and thankfully she wasn't completely damaged; although the wear around the neck would always be a painful reminder of this latest attack, but for once Edward was the optimistic one – "Scars are nothing more than memories of the battles we've survived" – he had told me. And he was right; what doesn't kill us can only make us stronger, and every day we proved that.
By the time the weekend came back around, we were starting to think James wasn't going to resurface again while we were in town, but then there was a breakthrough of the most unexpected kind…
Charlie was breaking his retirement and spending some time at the station, so Edward and I decided to head back to the Cullen's place, but a couple hours later Charlie showed up there to talk to us, and all the Cullens were there to listen.
"We've caught James, and he did confess to being behind the car, as well as everything with the statue…But he wouldn't give a reason."
"Okay?" Edward said, unsure how to respond to that. I felt the same way.
"Why don't you let me go talk to him," Emmett suggested in his 'tough guy' tone. "I'll get his motive out of him."
Charlie ignored him. "We also brought in the redhead he's been seen with. She was even less cooperative than James; she had no ID on her, and her fingerprints didn't match anyone in the system. She claims her name is Victoria, but we have our doubts she's being honest about that. Do you know anyone named Victoria?" he asked Edward. "Maybe from Chicago?"
Edward shook his head. "She's probably just some chick James picked up somewhere."
"We know nothing about her - not her real name, or age, or where she came from, but we have reason to believe that you do have a history with her, which may or may not explain why they targeted you and Bella."
Edward's obvious confusion only doubled. "I don't know what you mean."
"The two were discovered at a park…and they had a child with them," Charlie explained slowly. "The little boy looked to be about four or five…and he bears a striking resemblance to you."
Suddenly it felt like all the air was sucked out of the room, but Edward just shrugged. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Wait, are you saying this child could be Edward's?" Esme asked Charlie.
"My what?" Edward asked, seeming legitimately clueless, as if he couldn't fathom what my dad was saying.
"Your child," Charlie clarified.
Edward's face distorted into disgust, but before he could say anything else, Carlisle jumped in. "Has the department ordered a DNA test?"
"Yes, they're testing the woman and the child to make sure they're related, but I do think Edward should be tested as well. I'm not lying when I say that the child is the spitting image of him…just smaller."
"It's all bullshit!" Edward spat. "I don't have a fucking kid. Five years old? Five years ago I was fifteen, and living in Chicago; I know I did a lot of stupid shit back then, but unprotected sex with random chicks was not one of them."
"At what point did you lose your virginity?" Carlisle asked, sounding way too much like a doctor again.
Edward huffed. "Oh no, that's not an embarrassing question at all," he said sarcastically. "I have no problem discussing it in front of my entire family, and my girlfriend and her father."
"Just answer the question, Edward," Esme insisted.
He glanced at me, but when my eyes met his he quickly looked away. "Fourteen," he admitted. "But it wasn't with some red headed chick. I never slept with anyone with red hair."
"She could have dyed her hair," Rosalie offered.
"Shut up, Rose," Em hissed at her.
Edward gritted his teeth, but then reluctantly decided to continue. "Her name was Ashley, or something. I had a few other girlfriends before I came to Forks, but I really can't imagine any of them would do something like this, and I sure as hell never had sex without condoms."
"Look, I wasn't supposed to do this, but…" Charlie took out his cell phone. "I did take a picture of the kid," he said while pulling it up and then handing Edward the phone. Since I was sitting with him I could clearly see the picture as well, and I was absolutely shocked. Charlie was right; everything from the kid's hair to eyes, even the shape of his face was just like Edward.
My stomach twisted painfully, but Edward was still in denial. "This kid doesn't look like me. He just looks like a kid. Every third kid in the fucking world looks like this."
"Edward," I murmured. "What if this is your son?"
"He's not. This is ridiculous," he said while getting up and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" I asked him anxiously.
"To the police station. I'm going to see who this bitch is, and make her admit the kid aint mine."
"I'll come with you," Emmett volunteered.
"You can't go just yet. There is a process and she's still in the middle of it," Charlie told him. "Listen, I'll give you a call in a couple hours, and then you can come down and try to ID her."
"Fine," Edward fumed. "And I'll prove he isn't my kid."
Charlie went back to the station, and the Cullens gave us some space by dispersing, but being with Edward alone right then was probably the most awkward few moments that we had ever spent together.
"None of this is true," Edward tried assuring me. "I don't know why this shit is happening, but it's not true. I don't have a kid."
I bit my bottom lip. "But it is possible," I said quietly. "Edward…this is a really big deal. I mean, being a parent is a life altering thing. And if his mother is arrested for harassment, or whatever, this little boy may not have anywhere else to go. If you are his father, you need to take responsibility for him."
He shook his head. "I'm not anyone's father. It doesn't even make sense. If the kid was mine, why would James and this woman harass you because of it? Why the car, and breaking into my dorm, and hanging Renesmee? None of it makes fucking sense."
"Maybe she finally tracked you down to tell you about the boy, but she saw us together and got jealous?" I said hesitantly.
"No…How would she even get together with James in the first place? And what the hell does he have to gain from any of it?"
"I'm sure we'll figure it all out now that they're in police custody," I told him.
"Bella…I know I've said this a lot lately, but…I am so sorry for all this shit I brought into your life. God, I don't even know why you're still with me."
"Because I love you," I told him sincerely.
He shook his head again, and stared past me. "I just don't get it. I don't see how it could be possible…but that kid does look like me, doesn't he?" he said so quietly that I almost couldn't understand him.
"Yeah, he does."
Suddenly he exploded. "This isn't fucking fair! I never did anything to deserve this shit. I screwed up in the past, but I've done nothing but try to straighten my life out since then. I should have known something like this was going to happen. Things got too fucking good, and I'm not that lucky. Now what the hell am I supposed to do? I'll have to drop out of school and get some shitty job, and the Cullens are probably freaking, and you…you're going to leave me, aren't you?"
"Why would I leave you? None of this changes the way I feel about you."
"It changes everything! You certainly don't need to be dating someone with so much baggage…A fucking kid; what the hell am I supposed to do with a fucking kid?"
"You're going to do the right thing and take care of him," I told him confidently.
"Do you want to know what the worst part of this whole thing is?" he asked, forcing himself to calm back down . "When you…when you had that breakdown, and you wanted to get pregnant…that was the first time I ever pictured myself as a parent. It was only a brief moment, but there was a part of me that regretted not taking you up on it. I thought, maybe you were right. Maybe if we had a baby we'd just…find a way to make it work and stay together. Bella, I was just as fucked up as you were, and to this day I still don't know how I managed to turn you down and call your dad. Ever since then though, I thought…maybe someday. Maybe someday we would have kids together, but…this is definitely not what I wanted. I don't want a kid with anyone else."
"I guess sometimes life doesn't ask what we want. But Edward, just because you may have a child already, that doesn't mean that we can't have one together in the future. Nothing we have been though so far has made me want to run, and this certainly doesn't either. Look, I don't know how we would handle everything, but I do know we'd figure it all out. If he is your son, it may be difficult initially, but I'm sure having him in our lives would only bring us closer. A kid is nothing but love Edward, and maybe you can't see that right now because you don't know him, but… if he's yours, you are going to love him more than anything. A year from now I bet you won't even be able to imagine your life without him."
He stared at me for a moment. "I can't imagine my life without you."
"Well, you don't have to. One way or another, we will be a family someday. I don't have a doubt."
Edward was still freaking out and I didn't blame him, it was a scary thing, but I knew we'd get through it together, just like we got through everything else. We weren't at a place in our lives or our relationship to bring a child into it, but the way I saw it, it really wasn't any difference than a surprise pregnancy. We'd make it work. If the DNA test proved Edward was the child's father, he'd step up and take responsibility, and I'd support him every step of the way….