-1Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Beta'd by melanieintn
BPOV
It was hard to believe that the last few months had passed by so quickly, but they had. When we came to Calgary, I had decided I would start a career as a writer. I decided I would wait until everybody had gotten settled into their jobs before I got started. Edward and Carlisle were starting their jobs today, and I decided it would be the day that I began my own career as well. After Edward left for work, I fed Ren a bottle and then put her down for a nap; she was sleeping peacefully, which gave me the chance to get a shower and dress for the day. By the time I was finished with that, Ren was awake; so I went to the nursery and got her ready. I got her dressed and her diaper bag packed, and then we got in the car and were on our way.
The day was full of errands to run; I had to get all my supplies for writing bought. In the afternoon I had to meet with some people about being a ghost writer for me. I didn't want to have my face plastered all over the world or have to go on those book tours and other things that writers had to do once they became famous. Essentially, I guessed you could say that I wanted the fun part without the work; oh well, that was my prerogative.
After a day full of errands, I made it back home about twenty minutes before my first appointment arrived. I had Ren settled in her swing in my office and was getting my supplies in order, when the doorbell rang. I picked Ren up and went to answer the door.
"Hello, I have a meeting with Mrs. Isabella Masen at this address," a petite young woman said.
"Hello, I'm Mrs. Masen; please come in...," I trailed off.
"I'm sorry, my name is Lisa, Lisa Bennett; it's nice to meet you Mrs. Masen," she said with a smile.
"Wow, I am so envious! This woman must be married to a very rich man; I wonder what he looks like,"she thought; I had to hold back a giggle.
I led her to my office and set Ren back in her swing and then sat down behind my desk.
"First of all, I insist you call me Bella, Miss Bennett," I told her with a smile.
"Okay, then I ask that you to call me Lisa," she replied smiling.
"Well, she may be rich, but at least she's not a total bitch,"she thought.
We had a good meeting and seemed to get along well. I still had two more people to interview though, and I wanted to see how those went before I completely made up my mind.
"It was nice meeting you, Lisa; I have a couple more interviews, but I will let you know as soon as I have chosen who I want for my ghost writer. I also will be hiring an assistant. So if I don't hire you as my ghost writer, I may hire you as my assistant; if you'd be interested in that position," I told her.
"That would be fine; I simply need a job, Bella," she said.
I was seeing her out, when Edward was coming in.
"Hello, gorgeous; how was your day, love?" he asked, as he took me in his arms.
"Hi, honey, welcome home; my day was good. It was busy, but also productive. Edward, this is Lisa Bennett; she came to interview for the ghost writer job or my assistant," I explained.
"Ah, well, it's a pleasure meeting you, Lisa; I'm sure you will love working with my beautiful wife, should you get the job," he said smiling.
"I'm sure I will like working with her, if I get to look at you on a regular basis,"she thought.
I rolled my eyes at her silliness; I knew there was not another woman that would ever turn my husband's head.
"Well, if you ladies will excuse me, I'm going to say "hello" to my other beautiful girl," he said, as he pecked me on the lips and passed through the foyer.
I finished seeing Lisa out; then, I went to join him in the living room, where he was playing with Ren. We talked about both of our days, and I was pleased to learn he had a good one. The afternoon passed quickly with my other two appointments. They were both nice, but I really felt like Lisa was going to be the most qualified to be my assistant. Moreen Hillman, it seemed, was going to be most qualified to be my ghost writer.
Six months later…..
It was so hard to believe a year had passed; we had been so immersed in our new lives that the time flew by very quickly. It was hard to believe Ren's first birthday was this week. We have had a fabulous year in Calgary; everyone's businesses were flourishing. They were each the most sought after in their chosen profession.
Rose even had to stop accepting new patients; she had so many. Her staff was wonderful though; I still didn't care for Pamela, but she performed her job well and she had good people skills, so Rose kept her around. The look on Pamela's face when I brought Ren in for a check-up was priceless.
Begin Flashback…
I walked into Rose's clinic with excitement. Rose never let Pamela know that she knew who she was. I was anxious to see how that cougar would react to me. She always made it a habit to run by while Edward was outside making sure to have on her skimpiest workout clothes. She was always bright smiles and giggling, trying to get Edward to talk to her. When I would come outside, she would scowl and say she had to leave; it was needless to say that the woman couldn't stand me.
"Hello, welcome to...Bella! What are you doing here?" she started off friendly; but her voice changed to a sneer, when she saw it was me.
"Hello, Pamela, I am here for Renesmee's appointment," I said, trying to be polite.
Even though the woman was extremely rude to me, I still tried to be polite; you know, respect my elders and all.
"What!" she screeched rudely.
Rose then pretended to walk by and hear her receptionist's raised voice.
"Is there a problem out here, Pamela?" she asked; she was acting like she didn't see me yet, as she stuck her head out the door. She then looked up and "saw" me.
"Bella! Ren! It completely left my mind that you were coming in this morning; I was thinking it was tomorrow," Rose said, while giving me a hug and looking so pleased to see us.
"You know each other?" Pamela asked, trying to sound politely curious.
"This is my sister-in-law and niece," Rose said in a baby voice, as she took Ren out of my arms.
"How is my beautiful niece this morning?" Rose asked Ren, leading us to the back and completely ignoring Pamela's white shocked face.
After that, Pamela had been much more polite to me. Although her thoughts were anything but polite; and she still hit on Edward.
…End Flashback
Esme now had a staff of six architects working in her firm, and she couldn't be happier. Emmett had the reputation of being the best child advocate in the city and had to unfortunately turn down some cases. He was in the process of taking on some partners and expanding his firm because he didn't want to turn anyone away.
Jasper was loved by all his patients; he had some very tough cases that he was able to help, and it made him so happy to be able to help these children. Alice's clothing line was a success; "Sparkles" was what she called it, and it catered to teenage girls, ages thirteen to sixteen. The clothes that teenagers wore had always been a worry to Alice, and now she was trying to take care of it.
Carlisle was almost as good of a principal as he was a doctor. The children in his school all respected him. His staff was very competent, and the kids in his school got the highest marks on their midterm exams in the whole city. He couldn't have been more proud.
Edward loved being a teacher. He was happy and confident that he seemed to be getting through to his students, despite the few minor problems he had. He put his foot down and let the troublemakers know he wouldn't tolerate their foolishness.
My first book was well under way; Lisa was a wonderful assistant. She never hit on Edward, for which I was thankful; and Moreen and I worked well together. She wasn't married and had no children, so it would be easy for her to do book tours and signings. It wouldn't be long before my book was ready to publish, and I was very excited.
Ren was the light of mine and Edward's lives. She was such a sweet tempered baby. Although it probably helped that she was able to communicate her exact needs to us. She grew more beautiful every day; her hair was the exact color of Edward's, but it still hadn't grown very long. Her eyes were the exact color of my human eyes; and whenever we went somewhere, people were drawn to her. Her personality was coming through now; she was even tempered, but also stubborn. Her physical body was progressing at a regular human rate, but her mind was like ours. She loved all kinds of music, but loved it best when Edward would play the piano for her. She and I would sit in her playroom, where I would read to her for hours. She loved to listen to Uncle Jasper talk about the Civil War, and she played dress up with Aunt Alice. She would let Aunt Rose rock her for however long she wanted, simply because she liked the extra attention and adoration she got; with Uncle Emmett, she could just be a kid. With Grandma Esme, she would dig around in her flower beds trying to help her plant flowers; mostly she would just wind up covered in dirt and had grandma in a fit of giggles. Grandpa Carlisle would take her on walks through the woods and talk to her about different plants and animals; I thought it must have satisfied the scientist in him.
She was already walking; she took her first steps at nine months old. She wasn't talking yet, but that was because she communicated so well with her talent. She was still exclusively on human food, but Carlisle thought that would change as she grew older. He was convinced that more of her vampire nature would manifest when she started to reach puberty. Because of her intelligence and early development, he thought she would reach puberty a bit earlier than other regular human children.
Dad and Cora haven't been able to visit because of his job and the distance they had to travel; but we sent them pictures and video's every week, so they didn't miss a thing. We were thrilled that they could make it for the party, and would be arriving tomorrow. Ren's party would be so much fun. She would love her cake or so Alice said. She would have her own individual cake along with her Princess cake.
The day of the party had finally arrived; the whole family gathered in the backyard. We had set up a couple of long folding tables; one had the food and her cake on it, and the other was for sitting down to eat on.
Ren was at one end of the table with Edward and me on each side of her. Carlisle and Charlie had built her a special princess highchair and painted it pink. It was really cute. Ren loved her cake just as Alice had predicted and had it smeared all over her face, feet, and hands. She smiled for the camera with cake icing smeared all over her face. Emmett tried to get her to put it in her hair, which caused me and Alice to glare at him. Pictures were snapped by the dozens, and then I got her cleaned up so she could open presents.
Edward and I had gotten her a platinum charm bracelet from Tiffany's. Edward picked out a tiny piano charm with 'We Love You' engraved on it, and I got her a book charm with her name engraved on it.
"Thank you, mommy and daddy," she told us with a sweet smile and a hug.
"You're welcome, little one. Mommy and I will add a charm every year; how does that sound?" Edward asked, kissing the top of her head.
"I love it, daddy; thank you," she thought, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck for a big hug.
Next, Alice and Jasper got her a huge trunk full of dress-up clothes. It had everything in it, including clothes, jewelry, shoes, crowns, hats, and feather boas. She had princess dresses, a doctor's uniform, a safari suit, and tons of other things. She squealed and gave Alice and Jasper a huge hug.
"I really tried to talk him out of this, but you know how he gets when he has his heart set on something," Rose stage whispered when it was her and Emmett's turn to give Ren her present.
Edward chuckled when he saw what Emmett wanted for our baby. I opened my mind to him, not having the patience to wait the two minutes to see what the gift was. I rolled my eyes at what I saw.
"Emmett, you do realize she is one, right? She won't be able to use that thing for another two years," I said, giving him my best mom glare.
"I know! I know!" he exclaimed, looking completely unrepentant.
"That is why I had another one made special for her, as well," he announced looking extremely proud of himself.
He then walked inside and came right back with a huge package balanced in one hand and a smaller identical package in his other. He set the packages down in front of Ren; she squealed tearing into the largest first. She had to have a little help with it; the box was taller than she was, but Uncle Em was happy to oblige. When she got all the paper off, she stared at the package in awe. There in front of her was a Barbie Jeep complete with all the bells and whistles. I think her Uncle Em had just become her new favorite person.
"Now, squirt, your mom is right; this one is way too big for you," he started to explain, as he put her in his lap.
"So, Auntie Rose and I had this specially commissioned for you; this one will be the perfect size until you grow into the big one," he said, grinning at her and dragging the other package over in front of them.
Ren grinned at Rose and Em as she tore into the brightly colored paper once again. This was more like it; they had built for her a miniature of the Barbie Jeep, perfect size for her. It was just like the big one, there is no telling how much they had to pay for this; but who am I to deny them spoiling their only niece?
Carlisle and Esme had opened Ren her own banking account; what a one year old needed with a banking account was beyond me. They had wrapped the information so she would have more presents to open, not that she didn't have a ton already.
"Grandma! Grandpa! What's up with the boring gift? Where is something exciting?" Emmett exclaimed from the floor with Ren, as she sat staring at the pieces of paper in confusion. Edward took all the paper work to file way, as Carlisle and Esme ignored Emmett and handed Ren a much larger present. This present was much more to her liking, as she clapped her hands in excitement. They had bought her a gardening set of her own because she loved digging in the dirt and "helping" Grandma Esme.
"Now, you need to be very careful with this package, Renny. In fact, why don't you let Daddy help you open it," Carlisle said handing the package to Edward.
"Hey! I could have helped her open it! I am sitting right beside her," Emmett pouted, as Edward helped Ren open the delicate package.
"Of course you could have, sweetheart; we just don't want Edward to pout," Rose said winking at me over the top of Em's head. Emmett looked placated; and Edward rolled his eyes, as he lifted the top off the box. Ren squealed in delight and reached for the contents of the package.
"Be careful, little one; this book is very old. You can't play with it and must only look at it when Mommy or I help you, okay?" Edward explained to her.
"Yes, Daddy," Renesmee responded sweetly.
"I was never able to get you interested in fishing, Bella; but I was hoping since Ren here is such a daddy's girl that Edward could talk her into going fishing with me, if he came along," dad said, as he handed Ren a long, thin package along with few other smaller packages.
I laughed when Ren opened up a small princess fishing pole, tackle box, and a pink princess fishing hat and matching vest. Everyone laughed when Ren immediately put on the hat and vest. If it involved clothes, my baby was in; I think Charlie just found a new fishing partner.
Later, while Ren was taking her afternoon nap, the men were all down in the game room watching a ball game. The women were in the family room talking, while Cora drank some coffee. We were filling Cora in on our lives a bit more. She was fascinated by all the stories.
"So, how much trouble do you girls have up here with females throwing themselves at your men? I know what trouble Bella had in Forks," Cora said, looking at us slyly.
"Well, we had a bit of trouble with Emmett and Edward. Jasper and Carlisle rarely ever have trouble. Carlisle just ignores them, and they eventually give up; and girls are usually too scared of Jasper to approach him," Rose said with a giggle.
"Well, this sounds good; what happened with Emmett and Edward?" Cora asked, cutting herself another piece of birthday cake.
"Emmett's secretary had been very quiet and very professional, so he had no clue she was attracted to him. Well, Alice came to me and told me evidently a client that was meeting Em at his office for lunch had canceled. His secretary wasn't going to inform him, but was going to take that opportunity to seduce him," Rose said, her eyes narrowing at the memory.
We all giggled at the memory of what she had done.
"What did you do, Rosalie?" Cora asked when we started giggling.
Rose got a mischievous look in her eyes.
"I did what every good wife would do; I went and lay claim on my husband!" Rose smirked.
"Uh huh and that was what exactly?" Cora asked, wanting details.
"I went to his office right before lunch. His secretary protested, as I walked in without giving her a second glance. I went into his office and locked the door. I informed him his lunch meeting had been canceled, and I was there to make sure he didn't get bored. I don't want to give away too many details, but I made sure his secretary knew who Emmett McCarty belonged to. She hasn't given a second thought to trying to seduce my husband," Rose said, very satisfied with herself.
Cora almost fell over laughing.
"I really like you, Rose; you get straight to the point. Now what about you, Bella? What kind of trouble did Edward have?" she asked me.
"Edward got the attention of the queen bee of the school; she was a spoiled girl, who was used to getting everything she wanted. I had to go show her she didn't stand a chance with my man," I said with a smirk.
Flashback…
Edward had told me Deanna was beginning to get more aggressive in her attempts to get him. She hadn't come straight out and told him what she wanted, but she was getting ready to. I wasn't about to let that spoiled hussy ruin his school year and possible try to get him in trouble after he turned her down. She was the type of person who would say he was the one making advances on her; I would not let that happen. I got to the school 15 minutes before his last class before lunch was letting out; I was meeting Edward since I was already in town. I had dropped the baby off with Esme; she wanted to show her off to some of her colleagues. This was perfect too since the hussy was in this class. I knew it was childish, but I was staking my claim, letting her know she stood no chance with Edward.
I walked to his classroom after checking in at the office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," his velvety voice called through the door.
I heard all the girls in class give a collective sigh. I opened the door; all the girls gasped, while the guys gave lustful groans.
"Bella! Baby, what are you doing here? Is something wrong with Ren?" Edward asked in surprise.
I hadn't told him I might join him for lunch; I wanted this to be a surprise.
"I came to surprise you for lunch; I hope that is okay," I told him.
"More than okay, love," he said and all the girls awed, except for one.
"Class, this is my wife, Bella Masen. Bella, this is my senior English/Lit class.
"WOOOO, Mr. Masen! She is a hottie!" yelled one cocky jock from the back.
"Yes, she is, Andrew," Edward agreed, giving me a wink.
I noticed one girl scowling at me; this had to be Deanna.
"With a wife like that, you don't stand a chance, D. You might as well give up before you embarrass yourself. No wonder he wouldn't give you the time of day," the same cocky boy leaned over and whispered to Deanna.
"Mind your own business, Andrew!" Deanna hissed.
"That is Andrew, Deanna's ex-boyfriend and booty call. She evidently told him of her plans, and he seems to disapprove," Edward told me, too low and fast for the class to hear.
"Come over here and have a seat, my love. Class, you may talk quietly amongst yourselves, until the bell rings," Edward said.
We talked quietly at his desk, until the bell rang. Once all the students were out of his room, I couldn't resist bringing Edward's face down to mine for a sweet kiss.
"Deanna is coming; let's make sure she knows you are mine," I whispered against his lips, and I deepened the kiss. Once she caught sight of our kiss, we heard a very frustrated huff and Deanna muttering to herself, as she started back down the hall.
"That ought to do it, sweetheart!" I said, pulling him into one more kiss before we headed to the teacher's lounge for our "lunch".
…Flashback End
"After that, she never bothered Edward again. She said she was bored with him, and he was too old anyway. Edward also said that Andrew dumped her as a booty call. Her status in the school has fallen considerably; she is no longer the queen bee," I said smugly.
"You girls definitely showed them," Cora said with a giggle.
After the birthday girl woke up, we played with all her toys. I still couldn't believe my baby was a year old, but it had been the best year of my life. The only way it would have been better, is if my mom and Phil could have been here too. Unfortunately, Phil had a game, and he needed mom to go with him; so that was why they couldn't make it. They sent her gifts from them though. They sent her a Leap Pad and a bunch of the little cartridges that go with it. The way Ren's little mind was growing; she would soak up the knowledge like a sponge.
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