Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 10 Mother and Daughter

Renee POV

"Bella!", I called out, "Bella baby, are you here?"

The mass of blankets in front of the fireplace moved as I heard her answer, "Morning mom!"

I walked over and sat down on the love seat by the fireplace. My daughter had been asleep on what looked like a thick futon thrown on the floor in front of the fireplace, I looked around and noticed a try with cheese and grape remnants and a decanter that had obviously held ice around the bottle of wine that was still there. The boy defiantly had a touch of the romantic in him!

"Bella, sweetheart, it's freezing in here! You're going to catch your death a cold!"

"Oh, yea. I hadn't noticed with all these covers on me."

She sat up and reached for something blue on the floor. It was her nightgown, which she quickly put on.

"Edward had the air conditioning on high to keep it cool in here so that we could have a fire last night. I guess with the fire out, it is just too cold!"

She threw off the covers and started to stand. I reached my hand to help her, what with the cast and all I knew she could not bend her knee only to see her nimbly get up and head over to the thermostat on the wall.

"Bella! What happened to your cast?", I asked as she came to sit back on the floor and wrap up in the covers. It really was chilly in this room, but not the rest of the house!

"Carlisle let me take it off last night for the first time", she said as she stretched her leg out in front of her and rubbed it. "I only have to wear it if I am going to walk around much."

"I'm sure it is much nicer in bed without the cast, as well", I said as I lifted my eyebrows.

"I don't know about bed, Mom, since we slept on the floor! But yes, it was very nice not to have a cast on for the first time!", Bella said as she turned beet red. "Bella, you had never . . . I mean you were still . . .", I tried to get the words out. Bella and I had always been very open with each other and I did not think she had ever had sex before, but now I wasn't sure. She starred into my eyes.

"Mom, neither of us had any idea of what we were doing till we moved last week into this house, but we are figuring it out! Edward wouldn't make love to me till my injuries were healed."

I started to ask another question, but she shushed me, and blurted out the answer to my unspoken question,

"Yes Mom, it is really special since NEITHER of us had ever been with anyone before. There, now you know. Don't embarrass Edward by saying anything about it in front of him! Most 18 year old guys have had lots of girls, but he is the most old fashioned, you have to be married first person that you will ever meet."

"Have you had breakfast yet, mom?", she asked, purposefully changing the subject.

"Breakfast! Oh honey, its after noon and I had breakfast early this morning and coffee with your young man. Esme showed me her house, and I walked back down here to see if you were up and wanted some lunch sleepy head!"

"I'm so sorry, Mom. I guess I kind of overslept."

"From the looks of this room (my eyes glanced to the tray and wine and candles) and with what Edward had to say this morning, I gather that you didn't get to sleep till after dawn. He was quite happy when he left this morning with Charlie, a lot happier than you would ever expect a young man to be that was headed out to fish with a father-in-law that hates them!"

"Mom!"

"Well, you know it's true. You know that Charlie is still under the delusion that you will leave Edward and go home with him, don't you?", I watched her closely to see if she already knew this, or if it was new information.

"Mom! Edward keeps saying things like that, but surely Charlie understands that I married Edward, he's my husband and I love him! I'm not going anywhere that he isn't!"

"I'm glad to hear that, Mrs. Cullen!", Edward said as he sauntered over to me and bent to give me a kiss.

"Edward, I thought you were fishing!", I said as I held out my hand to him, excited to see him!

"I remembered that we turned the air on high last night because of the fire, I thought you might be cold without me and I wasn't sure you knew where the controls were yet, so I came to check", he said playfully.

I held his hand as he pulled me to stand and put his arms around me, my back to my Mom.

"I see why you would have come back to check - Bella, that nightgown is gorgeous, and it looks amazing on you! Just like that one in the movie, what was it . . . Pretty Woman!"

"That's exactly what I thought, Mom! That's why I bought it - well, actually it was my birthday present from Alice!"

Edward frowned. "That's really disturbing to know that my sister knows exactly what I would love on you!", he said as he nuzzled his face into my shoulder. "I really don't want to leave", he said as he pulled back a bit and looked at me, "but the guys will wonder what happened to me if I am gone too long!" He straightened my necklace and hugged me to him again before he kissed me goodbye. "Enjoy your day, love. I miss you!"

"Miss you, too. Hurry home!", I blushed as I turned to face my Mom.

"No need to feel embarrassed because of me, sweetie, that boy is a rare find and I would not blame you for staying in this room with him for days at a time!"

We both laughed. "He really is wonderful, Mom, and I love him so much!"

"And this room, Bella! This room is unbelievable! Did you pick out the bed?", Mom asked as she walked over and ran her hand over the soft comforter, "It looks like every woman's dream!"

"No, Edward did! Can you believe it! He had our room and the downstairs furnished before I saw the house. I picked out the other bedroom furniture. He offered to change anything I didn't like, but I liked everything he did! He has really great taste and he always seems to know what I like!"

"Come look at this, Mom", My daughter walked to a door on the other side of her bed and into a large bathroom with delicate blue tile and a jacuzzi tub! "Controls for heating the tub! The water never gets cold, we can sit in the tub for as long as we like!"

"Yes, it's certainly big enough for two!", I had to laugh at my daughters enthusiasm and the fact that she had not even realized she said we when referring to taking a bath.

"Let me get some clothes on and we can go have some lunch!", she said as she headed off through another door in their room. I followed her to see where it led and she was standing in a huge closet with what seemed like endless clothes for herself as well as Edward. I was so surprised! I knew that she had come here with almost no clothes, but this closet was full, most of them still with the tags hanging on them for her as well as Edward!

"Bella! Since when were you able to go shopping and when did you start liking it?", I asked astonished. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open.

"I didn't and I don't, Mom. Yesterday was the first time I went shopping for anything. Alice loves to shop and she buys clothes for the entire family. She treats clothing like it is disposable, meant for one time use!", I said laughing as I said it.

"And she can fit you?"

"Every time, Mom, it's down right scary how good she is at it! Edward just lets her indulge herself, he wears the things he likes and donates the rest to shelters, that way the closet doesn't get too crowded. I can't let Alice in here to thin out the clothes or all of my sweat pants and t shirts would disappear! For some reason, she hates me sleeping in them!"

"And Edward doesn't?"

My daughter turned to look at me, "No, he doesn't. He couldn't care less what I sleep in, though he really seemed to like that gown last night . . . but it doesn't really matter, we don't sleep in clothes, Mom."

"Bella, honey", I walked over to her and put my hands on her shoulders, "Are you sure you are OK with all of this?" I gestured to the house, the clothes, etc.

'Mom, I want Edward. The rest, the house, the money, the cars . . . they are just details. He would live anywhere I want, any way I wanted . . . and I would do the same for him. Alice loves clothes, we don't care about them. Let her buy them if it makes her happy. Edward loves fast cars, I don't care if he buys them or not. He built this house mainly so we could have some privacy - we seem to be a little noisy sometimes!", she blushed.

"Bella . . ."

"I guess what I am trying to say is, when you take away money as a factor in your life, everything else is really easy to deal with. You just do what is important to you and Edward is the most important thing to me"

She fingered the necklace he had given her last night, "It's like this necklace, Mom. If you take away the B, the E is incomplete, and if you take away the E, the B is incomplete. Edward had it exactly right when he designed this. Whatever we have to do, I know we will always work it out because we are the most important thing to each other!"

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks as I hugged my daughter. "Oh, honey, you are so right! You have got it so right at such an early age . . . most people never figure out what you and Edward already accept as routine! You are so very wise beyond your years, baby!"

"Remember when you were in the hospital, while you were waiting for Edward to come back just before the wedding - I think he had left to buy rings, or something. You were so sure, so sure you were doing the right thing. The boy had been gone for over 6 months without a word, had told you he didn't love you and it took you all of what, a half hour conversation with him to agree to marry him!"

"I remember", she said with a pained expression on her face.

"You decided in an instant, you took the opportunity in front of you because you knew it was the right thing for you. You know what is best for you, sweetie, you always have. I trust you. I trust that if you feel right about it, then you made the right decision and I welcome Edward into the family. He seems like he is really sweet and really smart."

"Thanks, Mom. Thanks for being there for me. I love you!"

"I love you, too sweetie. And there is one thing you haven't mentioned about him that I think is important!"

"What?"

I smiled and touched my forehead to hers, "He is REALLY good looking, I think the young person way is to say he is REALLY hot!"

"Mom! That's MY HUSBAND you are talking about . . . but yes," she said in a soft whisper, "he is REALLY handsome. . . and REALLY HOT!" We both laughed and laughed at each other.

She slipped on her jeans from yesterday and we folded up the mass of covers on the floor and grabbed the dishes to take downstairs with us.

"Have you seen the rest of the upstairs yet?", she asked me.

"No, not yet, just the room you have Phil and I in."

"Well, there are two other bedrooms, this one", she opened the door and showed me a large room with cream and blue decorations, it also had an attached bath. "This is the room Charlie has", she said, "and the other bedroom up here is empty. I haven't decided what to do with it yet."

"Maybe a nursery?", I asked with a smile. "Mom, where is it written that we have to have children? We haven't even had any time together alone yet!"

"You're right sweetie, it was just a thought. It's way too soon to think about that!"

She led me downstairs and put the dishes in the sink before showing me the library. "I guess you have seen the rest of the downstairs, this is probably the only room left to see. Edward knows I love books and he does too, so he added all these bookcases to his office," she traced her hand across one desk to the other that stood facing each other in the center of the room, "well, OUR office. He actually built these bookcases himself."

"Well you do certainly love books! Are you still re reading that book you like so much, Wuthering Heights wasn't it?", I asked.

She walked over to the bookshelf and removed a book to hand to me. "Look. He bought me a first addition of it! Isn't that amazing!"

"The boy loves you, that is obvious Bella! I asked him this morning how he planned to support you, and he told me about the money, sweetie. I'm so happy for both of you that you don't have to have that stress in your life, you're free to just go and do the things you choose to do! What a wonderful life you will have!" I hugged my daughter for a long moment, until I heard her stomach growl. "Let's get some lunch!"

Bella fixed sandwiches and iced tea and we went out on the patio to enjoy our day. I had not yet asked her about her time away from all of us, and I wanted to get it out in the open that I was curious. After we finished our food, I asked,

"Bella, how did you start riding motorcycles, you were never much for balancing, sweetie!"

"I don't want you to think I'm nuts, Mom, and I haven't even talked to Edward about this yet."

She fidgeted and looked away.

"After Billy died, Jake needed to leave, just to get away. He had been there for me - pulled me out of some of my depression after Edward left, well, you know . . . you came to visit that time to take me home with you."

"Yes, I remember. I remember, too, how bad off you were. You wouldn't even eat."

"Well, hanging out with Jake helped. He was just a friend, but he was a distraction for me, he made me laugh and kept me from always thinking about Edward. Mom - I found that if I did something dangerous, I could hear Edward telling me to be careful, not to get hurt. It was as if he was there with me. I needed him - I needed to hear his voice, so I did more and more things to get to hear him."

"Bella!", I gasped! "You could have been killed!"

"I really didn't care as long as I could at least hear his voice and see him in my mind, seeming like he cared for me . . . I didn't want to live without him anyway."

"Oh my God Bella!", tears streamed down my face as my daughter spoke. I knew she was devastated by Edwards' leaving, but I had not realized she didn't want to live!

"Mom, I want to talk to Edward about this first, but just know that seeing him was the reason I rode the dirt bikes, jumped off the cliffs in La Push and started riding the drag bike. Jake was working as the mechanic for the team, a friend of his owns the company and gave us jobs and an apartment in Calgary. I was actually good at racing, Mom. Did you know that I won the competition in Phoenix last spring? I was the number one rider and something of a phenomena because of being a girl!"

"My God Bella! Edward doesn't know any of this?", I looked at her in disbelief.

"No. He knows about my drag racing, of course. He is the one who saved me when I wrecked the bike, but he doesn't know the reason I did it in the first place. Mom, I have been so worried that he wouldn't want me when he found out how crazy I had been . . . hallucinating seeing him and all . . . I just don't want to loose him!"

She put her face in her hands and started sobbing as she sat at the table with me, she was almost hysterical.

"Sweetie, tell him. He loves you. I don't think you could do anything that would make him leave you!"

I moved my chair to stand and go to my daughter, but it seemed Edward appeared out of nowhere. Somehow she was on his lap in his arms and he was kissing the side of her head that was tucked into his shoulder.

"Baby, what's all this!", he glared at me as though I should fear for my life, a murderous glare, really. "There is absolutely nothing you could do that would make me leave you, sweetheart, short of ordering me away from you."

"Who is ordering you away?", Charlie said as he walked out onto the porch looking hopeful.

"No one, Dad! And you need to stop this!", Bella lifted her head from Edwards shoulder and raised her voice at her dad, "I am never leaving Edward! I love you Dad, but if you can't accept that Edward is my husband and I will always be with him then you need to leave our house, NOW!"

"OK, OK Bells, I get it. That's not necessary, I can stop, just calm down!", Charlie said with his hands up and both palms gesturing to her to calm down.

The rest of the guys had joined us on the patio by this time, apparently they had just arrived back from fishing and Edward had made it in the house first. Carlisle especially looking concerned for Bella. Edward stood and lifted her effortlessly into his arms, her head still cradled on his shoulder.

"We are going upstairs. Do NOT disturb us, I won't tolerate anyone upsetting my wife!", he looked directly at Charlie, "Even her family. She is not completely recovered and you WILL NOT hurt her!"

And he was gone. I had never seen anyone move so quickly, then I heard the upstairs door slam.

"I'm not taking that off of him!", Charlie almost yelled, "Bella is MY daughter and I will speak to her whenever I want!" He headed towards the door, his knuckles turning white from the fists he was making.

"What's going on?", Carlisle asked, blocking the door as Charlie moved to follow after Edward.

Charlie stood there fuming, apparently unable or unwilling to answer, so I did.

"Bella and I were discussing her time away and she got upset. Edward came in to comfort her and Charlie heard something out of context and made a comment that seemed as though he would be happy if Bella left Edward. Bella blew up at him suggesting that he leave their house. Your son was quite justifiably angry that Bella was upset and well, you heard him."

"Charlie, it's not a good idea to go after Edward when he is this angry and I know you don't want Bella upset any further. He can calm her better than any of us, and you know it", Carlisle spoke firmly to Charlie.

It was obvious to me that even if Carlisle let Charlie through, Edwards brothers would see that Edwards wishes to not be disturbed were respected. I gathered the dishes from lunch and headed past Carlisle to the kitchen.

"If you don't mind, Charlie, I would like to speak to you . . . NOW!

Carlisle and the boys adjourned to the living room, both to see that no one went upstairs as well as to give me privacy with Charlie. Phil excused himself and left for the other room as well, recognizing the look on my face and not wanting to bear the brunt of anything I might have to say right now. He knew me well.

Charlie POV

I followed her into the kitchen while she calmly put the dishes into the sink, my fists still clenched and my face felt like I had been out in the sun for a day or three!

"That little shit is NOT going to talk like that to me, Renee! That's our daughter! MY daughter! I will talk to her any damned time I feel like it and no wet behind the ears teen aged kid is going to tell me what to do, do you hear me!"

"Charlie, everyone hears you. The question is, do you hear yourself", she said to me quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean? That kid just told me not to speak to my daughter and she had said she was ordering him away from her! What the hell, Renee! Don't you care about her well being, her future?""

"Charlie, he did not tell you not to speak to your daughter, he told you that he would not allow her to be hurt, that he would stand up to even you to protect her. She never ordered him away, he told her he would never leave her unless SHE ordered him away."

I thought about that for a minute. Was I really only hearing the parts I wanted to hear? I guess it really did take something for a kid like that to stand between me and her, if he thought I was hurting her. I don't know that I would have had the balls to do that if Renee's father had started something when we were first married as teenagers. He sure was protective of her, I'd give him that. That is what a Dad wants for his little girl, after all, someone who is fiercely protective of her. Huh.

"She is just too young, Renee, she needs to come home and get a little life under her belt before all this!", I gestured around me.

"Charlie! Listen to yourself! She is older than I was when we were married! Think Charlie! Do you remember how in love we were that first year . . . remember! Doesn't she deserve a chance at that? You saw the way she was when he left her, well it turns out he was no better off than she was! They love each other . . . Charlie they are a part of each other, like we should have been. Let her have that! Stop this plotting to get her to leave him, you are only going to loose her, believe me. She will choose him over either you or me in a heartbeat without so much as a seconds delay. And she would be right, Charlie! She is right to chose her husband!"

I took a deep breath. She was right. Renee was right. The boy had shown himself to be everything a father could want in a husband for his daughter. This boy can already offer financial security like I can only imagine. He had made a mistake in ever leaving her, but he had searched for her, found her, and married her. He took good care of her, even when it was me he had to stand up against. They were young, but I was young when I married Renee, and I had nothing. If the truth be known, I had never gotten over Renee. . . never wanted anyone else, and I had been alone for years. I didn't want that for Bella.

"Renee, I just want what is best for her, I want her to have a bright future!", I said, now questioning my own motives and judgment. I looked into the eyes of the woman that I still loved, and she put her hands on my cheeks, looked at me and said,

"That boy IS her future, Charlie.