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BPOV
I was so thrilled that Charlie wanted to go fishing with the guys. It made me sad to think that Billy was letting his prejudices ruin a 30 year friendship. But if this helped Charlie get closer to Edward and the rest of the guys, I was glad it happened.
The guys came in right when I was about to sit down to supper; I was starving. We girls had been down at the cottage most of the day. Not that they let me do a lot of work; but I did a little, so I did work up an appetite. Esme set my plate of delicious looking food and my glass of blood in front of me, and I began to dig in.
"Hey baby! How was fishing?" I asked him.
Well, that was something I never thought I would ask my vampire husband.
"It was fun, love. I never imagined myself out fishing with your dad; but we all had fun, and do I have some news to tell you," he said as he came around the table to give me a kiss.
The second I smelt him though, I had to clamp my hand over my nose and mouth; and I held my other hand out, so he wouldn't come any closer. The fish smell was so strong that it was completely covering up his natural delicious scent.
"Oh, love, I'm so sorry," he apologized; although, it didn't sound too sincere since he and everyone else in the room was chuckling at me.
"Yeah, well, you get no kiss from me until you shower and please burn those clothes; I don't want that smell anywhere in our room. Got it mister?" I said with my hand still clamped firmly over my nose.
"Yes ma'am," he replied.
"She told you Eddie!" Emmett laughed.
"The same goes for you too, Emmett Cullen," Rose said as she strolled into the room.
Alice and Esme nodded their head in agreement.
"In fact, why don't you all just make a pile of your clothes outside and burn them together away from the house. I don't want those stinky clothes in my house any longer than they need to be," Esme said.
All the guys hung their head and mumbled, "Yes, dear," and headed to their respective rooms to get cleaned up.
Once they all got upstairs, we all collapsed into our chair in a fit of giggles.
Later, all the guys came back downstairs freshly showered with clean clothes and not a trace of the fish smell on then.
Edward walked cautiously up to me. He stopped about a foot from me and held his arms out.
"Well, do I pass inspection?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
"Come here you," I said with a laugh and pulled him into a kiss.
"Now, you said earlier that you had some news?" I asked as I pulled him over to the couch.
He sat down, and I sat in his lap waiting for him to tell me.
"Seems like Charlie wants to get back into the dating scene," he told me.
"Really? Who is it?" I asked excitedly.
I was so happy at the thought of Charlie finding someone after all these years. I wanted my dad to be happy and not be lonely when we had to move away, and besides a daughter and not even a best friend could take the place of good woman by your side.
"You are so wonderful, love. You are right; nothing compares to a good woman by your side," he said as he rubbed my back.
I just blushed and laid my head on his shoulder.
"It seems that Cora, a waitress down at the diner, has caught his eye," he told me.
"Oh, she is nice. She has been there for years and has known my Dad since before Mom left. I like her; I think she will be good for him," I said.
"Well, he was having some pretty strong emotions when he thought about her. He likes her a lot, and it could easily turn into love if given the chance," Jasper said as he and Alice came into the living room and sat on the love seat.
"Let's not interfere though; I know my dad, and he will want to handle this his way," I said giving a pointed look to my pixie sister-in-law who was bouncing excitedly in her seat.
"What?" she asked trying to act innocent, but I could read her like a book and knew she was already making plans.
I just sat there staring at her with my eyebrow raised.
"Alright! Fine, I won't say a word," she promised pouting a little bit.
"Thank you Alice! And for being such a good sport about it, why don't we go shopping tomorrow for maternity clothes?" I said to her.
"Oh Bella you are the best!" she squealed and gave me a big hug.
I hugged her back. Rose came in then; and between the three of us, we decided to leave early in the morning to go to Seattle. I looked over to Edward, and he and Jasper and Emmett were just watching us smiling indulgently and shaking their heads. I suddenly didn't want to go without him.
"Hey, why don't you three come with us? We could make a day of it. You don't have to stay with us the whole time. You could go do your own thing, but I think it would be fun," I said.
I blushed a little bit at how desperate I sounded.
"Don't be embarrassed Bella; we go and do stuff like this together quite often. We've never done anything like this since you joined the family though; I think it would be fun. What about you two?" Jasper said.
"Sure, I'm in! As long as we make a stop at La Perla, and Rose models for me!" Emmett said waggling his eyebrows up and down.
Rose just blew him a kiss and winked at him.
"Anything for you, love," Edward said sweetly.
"Alright, it is settled! Tomorrow, we go shopping!" Alice declared.
I woke up bright and early the next morning. Edward said he would go get my breakfast ready while I got ready because Alice wanted to leave as soon as I finished eating. I went through my morning routine and got dressed and made it downstairs right as Edward was plating my food.
"Wow sweetie, this looks delicious," I said and began eating.
My wonderful husband had fixed me pancakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, eggs, and, of course, a fresh cup of blood. As I was eating, Alice came in and sat in front of me and impatiently began tapping her foot and watched me eat.
"Alice you can stare and tap that little foot all you want, but I am not going to inhale my food just so you can go shop faster," I told her without looking up from my food.
Jasper suddenly appeared in the room and took one look at me, and then he put his arm around Alice's shoulder.
"Alice, darlin', I suggest you come with me. Let the pregnant woman enjoy her breakfast. I felt her irritation all the way upstairs. Remember, she is also slowly changing so she is easily angered; I think it would be prudent to leave her in peace. The shops in Seattle will still be there, even if we get there 45 minutes later than you planned," he said as he led her out of the room.
Edward walked over to me and started rubbing my shoulders.
"Don't be too irritated with Alice, love. You know she just gets excited. She has never shopped for maternity clothes before, and you know she means well," he said as he kissed my cheek.
I instantly felt guilty.
"I'm sorry Alice. I didn't mean to snap at you," I said knowing she would hear me whereever she was in the house.
"I'm sorry too, Bella. I shouldn't have tried to rush you. You enjoy your breakfast, and then we can be on our way when you are done," she told me.
Edward gave my shoulders one last gentle squeeze and walked over to clean up the dished he had messed up making my breakfast. We discussed more about Charlie wanting to date while I ate, and he cleaned.
Soon, we were both finished; and we all piled in my car. Emmett was excited because he was going to get to watch movies all the way to Seattle.
"This is so cool, Bella!" Emmett said while once again playing with the volume controls on his seat.
We were halfway to Seattle, and Emmett had been playing with the DVD player the whole time. He knew he was irritating the whole car. I suddenly remembered you could control the DVD player from the steering wheel; you could also cut off the backseat controls from up front as well.
I looked over and smirked at Edward. He grinned back at me and pushed a couple of buttons.
"Hey! What happened? The movie stopped, and I can't turn it back on," Emmett boomed from the very back seat.
We all just laughed at him.
"Child safety controls, Em. You gotta love 'em!" Edward smirked, as we all continued to chuckle.
Emmett pouted for a little while, but was back to his normal jovial self before we made into the Seattle city limits.
Once we made it to the mall we decided to split up for a bit. The guys wanted to go to the Arcade, and we went in search of maternity wear.
We entered the first department store we saw; and as luck would have it, they had high end maternity wear Alice deemed fit for a Cullen.
Rose and Alice began to look through the racks of clothes and were gushing over what they found.
"Oh, Bella! Look at these clothes; these are so adorable!" Alice squealed out.
I tried on all the clothes and loved them; they were so comfortable. My favorite was a blue bandeau top; it could be worn several different ways, and it was beyond sexy. I was about to change back into my clothes, when a gold dress was thrown over the dressing room door.
"Here try this last one on Bella," Rose said through the door.
I slipped the dress on over my head and zipped up the zipper. It felt wonderful on. It was made from a shimmering gold material with a ribbon tied just under the bust the skirt flowed away from the hips and reached down to my knees. It was beautiful, but I couldn't imagine where I would wear it six months pregnant.
"Step out here and let us see, Bella!" Alice squealed.
I knew she already saw me by how enthusiastic she sounded. I stepped out of the room; and Alice was jumping up and down clapping, and Rose was grinning. I guessed they like it.
As I was turning so they could see me at all angles, I saw Edward and the guys come around the corner. Emmett and Jazz let out loud wolf whistles, and Edward was grinning from ear to ear. He came up to me and grabbed my hands and looked me in the eyes.
"You look beautiful! Please tell me you are getting this dress," Edward said as he kissed me.
"I don't know; let me think about it. Okay? I mean where would I wear this?" I said.
"You can wear it to the Christmas party at the hospital, of course. It is a really fancy affair; this would be perfect," Alice chirped.
"Well, I am hungry; and I can't concentrate on an empty stomach," I said.
"Okay, love. Let's go pay for these clothes, and you can think on it while you eat; then, if you decide you want it, we will come back and buy it," Edward offered.
"Thank you, baby," I said sweetly and gave him a peck on the lips.
The guys gathered up the clothes we had picked out. I didn't realize I had gotten so many. I had six pairs of maternity pants, six or seven tops, three dresses, some lingerie, and a pajama set. I was set!
APOV
We had found Bella some beautiful clothes. They were fashionable, yet comfortable; and she could grow in them. We were walking through the store when I saw Mrs. Mallory and Mrs. Stanley over in the dresses. They spotted us, and I saw they were going to try to hide. They were still embarrassed about the scene their daughters caused at the wedding. Rose noticed too, and I saw she had no intention of letting them escape.
"Oh, Mrs. Mallory, Mrs. Stanley!" Rose yelled across the store.
"Oh hello, there," they both said with fake smiles plastered on their faces.
We all walked over to them and acted like this was the biggest treat of our day.
"It is so good to get to see you ladies. How have you been?" I asked like it was the most important thing to me.
Mrs. Mallory was about to make a comment when Jessica and Lauren walked up. When they saw us, they both froze.
I felt bad for Mrs. Mallory and Mrs. Stanley. They looked so uncomfortable.
"Bella!" Mrs. Stanley practically screamed out and made Bella jump.
"How are you doing dear?" She asked her.
"Oh, I am fine. As you can see, I am growing out of my regular clothes so we had to buy me some maternity clothes," Bella said as she rubbed her slightly protruding belly.
Both Lauren and Jessica scoffed at that. Their poor mothers, clearly embarrassed again by their daughters, turned beet red.
"Well, it was good to see you all again, but we really must be going," Mrs. Stanley said as she grabbed Jessica's arm.
"Oh, we were headed to a check out as well. We can go find one together," Rose said excitedly. She obviously had no intentions of letting them get away.
I looked behind me, and Jazz and Emmett were trying not to burst out laughing at the looks on Jessica's and Lauren's faces.
When we reached a register with an attendant, Mrs. Mallory graciously allowed us to go first, to make up for their daughters rude behavior.
There was one other person in front of us, so we stood there patiently waiting. Lauren and Jessica began whispering to each other, not aware of the fact we could hear every word from their spiteful, jealous mouths.
"Would you look at Bella? She is huge now; she is so gross," Lauren said and giggled.
"I know right! I bet those clothes look awful on her," Jessica agreed.
"I don't know how Edward stands to look at her, much less touch her," Lauren said.
I looked at Bella; I couldn't decide if she looked mad or heartbroken. I wish she would ignore those hags. I suddenly had a vision. My brother was brilliant! I grinned at him and winked.
Edward wrapped his arms around Bella's tiny frame and rested his hands on her belly.
"You looked so hot in that gold dress Bella; I wish you would reconsider and buy it!" he said as he kissed the side of her neck.
"I don't know Edward. I will be too big for that by Christmas time," Bella whined.
We really needed to get some food in her.
"You are so beautiful, you will not be too big," Edward said, looking her straight in the eyes.
Her breathing hitched; he was breaking her down.
"But I am afraid I will look like a giant gold Christmas ball, just ready to hang on the tree," she said.
She still had a little fight in her. It was time he brought out the big guns.
"No no, love, you are always utterly exquisite to me, now more than ever. Do you want to know why?" he asked and held her face between his hands now and was looking her right in the eyes.
His voice pure velvet, it was the voice of seduction. He was dazzling her, and it was obviously working pretty well. Bella's eyes were glazed over as well as every woman around us, besides Rose and me. Em and Jazz were once again trying not to laugh. If they were human, they would be crying. Bella nodded her head yes because she couldn't speak at the moment.
"This," he said rubbing her belly. "You are carrying my child. You are so beautiful like this. I love for people to see you round with my child. I love you and everything about you. Now, I think that dress looks amazing on you, and I would love to see you wear it to the Christmas party. Will you please reconsider?" he asked.
I have to admit. My brother was good.
Bella could only whisper, "Okay, baby."
"Yay!" Rose said and ran off to find the dress.
I looked over to Lauren and Jessica, and they were scowling.
"You know, if you keep looking like that, your faces will eventually freeze that way," I said sweetly to them.
They just huffed and turned away like they were ignoring us. The other women in the area were shaking their heads, like they were trying to clear them.
I had another devious idea and shot Rose a quick text. Edward caught my eye over the top of Bella's head and winked at me.
Rose returned a couple of minutes later; she not only had the gold dress, but another arm load of clothes.
Bella snapped out of her daze and exclaimed, "Rose, what is all that?"
"Just a few other cute things I saw and knew you just had to have," she said sweetly.
Rose looked so hopeful that Bella had no choice but to accept. When Bella looked away, Rose winked at me.
Finally, it was our turn to check out. The clerk rang everything up; and with the new pile of clothes, Bella's total came out to around twenty thousand dollars. Before Bella could make a sound, Edward gave the clerk his credit card and signed the slip.
We all turned to Lauren and Jessica and smiled sweetly and waved with a quick, "See ya!"
We left those two speechless and gawking. As we left for the food court, Bella laughed and hugged Rose and me.
"You two are the best sisters I could have asked for!" she said.
"Hey, what about us?" Emmett asked pointing to himself and Jazz.
"I love you guys too," she smiled at them. They grinned back.
She went back to Edward and put her arm around his waist.
"And you, you are the sweetest, most wonderful husband in the world. Thank you for what you said back there," she said with tears in her voice.
"I spoke nothing but the truth, love," he said as the kissed the top of her head.
With that, Jazz and I decided to head off in our own direction. Em and Rose were going to take the bags to the car, then head off and do their own thing; and Edward was going to take Bella to eat.
I sighed happily; all in all, this was a great shopping day!
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