Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Chapter 18 Leaving Forks
We arrived at Charlies around noon. I had spent an hour or so, after a rather long session of our morning routine, arranging for the items we had selected to be picked up and shipped to our home in Highlands. Bella had insisted that the few things she had wanted from Charlie's hose would fit in the R8 and the one item that wouldn't - the rocking chair - I had arranged to ship with the other items.
Sue was already there as well as Charlie, barbecuing on the back patio!
"Bells!", Charlie exclaimed when he saw her, "I'm just so happy you didn't get hurt last night! That whole thing just has me shaken up! It's one thing to get hurt riding those damned motorcycles, but to just be sitting minding your own business with a few friends in a restaurant and have the wall cave in is just unbelievable!"
"Any word on the driver, Charlie? What caused the crash?", Edward asked.
"Seems the old guy had a fatal heart attack. Stranger passing through, not a local. Coroner says he's never seen anything like it, like the guy had been scared to death! Maybe he lost control and it scared him, thought he was going to crash or something, I can't figure it," Charlie said as he shook his head, "Just doesn't make sense that he was going that fast but they say a dead mans foot presses the pedal heavy and all that. I just can't see it."
Bella placed her hand on her fathers shoulder telling him that she was sure he would figure the whole thing out, then changing the subject by asking him if he had gone fishing this morning.
Sue brought a salad out to the table and quietly nodded to me. Her thoughts were on our conversation yesterday and she was filled with worry over Bella being around me. I guess I needed to go and talk to her while Bella spent some time with her dad, there was nothing I could do to solve the mystery of why there was a vampire smell in the car that crashed, but maybe I could make some headway with Sue and answer some of her concerns.
"I'd like to speak to you Sue, if you have a minute", I said standing in the kitchen doorway.
"Ah! . . . Edward, I didn't hear you!", she gasped and held her chest. Apparently she had not expected me to follow her into the kitchen.
"I didn't mean to startle you!", I said taking an extremely non threatening posture by sitting down at the kitchen table. It didn't help much. Her heart was racing and she was scared to be alone with me, she had no idea what I wanted and I terrified her.
"I wanted to let you and Sam know that the car that crashed into the pizza parlor last night had the smell of vampire inside it. A vampire I have never smelled before, someone I don't know. I think we should investigate to see if that could have had anything to do with the wreck, though the body of the driver had not been drained."
Sue was startled. There had been no evidence of vampire around here since the pack had killed Laurant after Billy died.
"Thank you, Edward. Yes, we certainly should know about that and I assure you that we will get to the bottom of it," she said stiffly.
"Sue", I spoke softly, trying to let my voice sooth her, "is there nothing I can say that will allow you to feel calmer around me? I have no intention of hurting you. Though I'm sure you are worried about it, there is no need to be concerned for Bella's safety either."
"Edward, how can you be sure of that? It's just not natural for a vampire to spend that much time with a human, is it?"
I looked directly into her eyes, willing her to believe me, "I love her Sue. She is a part of me, I could never live without her. I love her more than my own life."
"If you love her so much, shouldn't you leave her alone! You two can never be together - a life together! You can never be a husband to her, you would kill her! That's what all the legends say!", Sue declared with certainty.
I took a long, unnecessary breath and tried to calm myself, anger was not going to help here. "Sue, we have had part of this discussion before. The reasons you are imagining are exactly the reasons I left her last year. I wanted her to have a long, human life without the dangers I brought so close to her. It didn't work Sue. You were here . . . you saw what happened to her. For better or worse," I smiled at the words, having said the vows at my wedding to Bella, "we love each other and we are together."
"Edward", she looked horrified, "how can you be a husband to her? She is young, she had needs that . . . well, if the legends are true, you would kill her if you tried to be with her physically . . . your strength. Hell, Edward, what am I saying. You should not be able to be around her, much less 'with' her!"
I shook my head, my elbows on my knees, looking at my fingers as I slowly turned the band of gold on my finger around and around, feeling the smoothness and weight of it, as I decided how much detail to use to comfort sue. She wanted Bella happy and she saw how she was with me. I was aware that she and Charlie had gotten quite serious about each other and the idea that the mother of wolves and the father of a vampire would soon be married amused me to no end. There would be no secrets then, I suppose we should start now.
"Sue, I am a husband to her. I do make love to Bella. Other than a couple of small bruises, I have never hurt her . . . ever", I told her as I starred straight at her.
The blank look on her face told me she was not processing what she was hearing. Charlie and Bella were still talking out by the grill, so I continued.
I walked over to where she was leaning against the kitchen sink and held my hand out in front of me. "Touch my hand, Sue. Don't be afraid."
She slowly reached her hand out, her fingers brushing across the knuckles of my hand, crossing my wedding ring. She grasped it, feeling the smooth of the skin and the cold hard granite feel of the muscles. I listened to all of her thoughts, trying to figure out what to say that might make a difference. Then it came to me.
"I never asked for this, Sue. It isn't a life I chose. I was 17 years old and dying of Spanish influenza when I was changed. I would have died otherwise. I have human feelings and emotions, just like you do. I was a 17 year old HUMAN male, Sue," she starred at me.
"I know it scares you for me to be with Bella, it used to scare me, but I love her. I'm in love with her and by some miracle, she feels the same way about me."
"But you'll end up killing her, you'll make her one of you!"
"Yes . . . if she decides that, the yes I will. She wants to be immortal so that she can live forever with me, Sue", a small smile started on one side of my face, "She says it is every woman's dream to be young forever!"
Sue starred into my eyes for a long moment, searching for something . . . sincerity, truth . . . I had no idea. Apparently she found it, though it didn't even convert to words in her mind.
"Alright Edward, I'll try to be more accepting for Charlie's sake. He loves that girl and I hope you are right that you can keep her safe! I'll speak to Sam and the council. It's not something we have ever dealt with, a vampire married to a human, being with her like you are and her remaining safe. You are a very unusual creature Edward Cullen and I will try to keep that in mind."
"Thank you,Sue, it would mean a lot to Bella and me."
Bella walked into the kitchen, concern crossing her face when she saw our proximity. She crossed the room and put her arms around my waist, reaching up on tiptoes to kiss my jaw. "Everything okay in here?", she asked.
"Everything is great, sweetheart. I was just trying to ease some of Sue's concerns about me".
"Well, you had better come and help your plate, lunch is ready!", she grabbed plates and headed back outside.
I groaned audibly and Sue chuckled at me, "You're going to eat it, aren't you?"
I looked at her in disgust, "I'm going to try!"
~oooOooo~
We took Esme's car from the garage to pick up Alice and Jasper.
"Bella!", she squealed and hugged my wife, "I have missed you so much! We never get to do anything now that you are better and Edward monopolizes all your time!" She cut her eyes at me as Jasper and I loaded her suitcases into the trunk. We exchanged information about what we had seen at the restaurant and Alice explained what she had seen.
"Best we get out there and see what trails we can find", Jasper suggested, "Alice can stay at the house with Bella while you and I go."
"I would love that!", Alice said, "I need some Bella time . . . okay with you, Bella?"
"Sure, Alice! I have missed you too!"
We left the car and the girls at the house and headed off towards the restaurant. The front was boarded up but the smell still lingered. We traced the car back out of town, but only encountered a faint trail just a few dozen feet from the street outside the boarded up storefront. It would seem that whoever it was was outside the shop, then entered a vehicle just a few hundred yards up the street. Further up the road, Sam walked out from the woods to meet us, seeming really surprised to see us.
"Find anything?", Sam asked.
"Just a scent a few dozen feet up the street. Nothing else, no trails around here, nothing," I told him. "It seems too much of a coincidence for it to just have been someone passing through, the drivers body was not drained."
"No, but Jessica Stanley's' body was!", Sam informed us. I gave away nothing, I just nodded. I was glad we were leaving to go home in two days, I needed Bella away from here! It seemed that the treaty now extended to almost a truce, both sides working to discover who the intruder was and to stop them from causing any further problems.
Jasper and Alice would spend the next day combing the area for traces. Though Alice had seen nothing, we thought maybe a smell would turn up!
~oooOooo~
Bella and I had brunch with her Dad. I hadn't realized that some foods were actually much more disgusting than others on their way back out. Spaghetti, for instance, was about the same in and out, but eggs! Eggs, orange juice and coffee, now that was truly disgusting coming back out!
I heard the bathroom door open and close softly, a warm pair of hands on my shoulders, stroking and scratching gently.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. That was the nicest thing I have ever seen you do in front of Charlie, eating the breakfast he fixed for you!", Bella told me.
"No, love. Not draining him back at our house when he yelled at you, planning to take you home with him, that was the nicest thing I ever did for Charlie!", I corrected.
"Edward!"
"Bella, you have to start remembering that I am a vampire. Just because I would never hurt you, that doesn't make very one around me safe. I have killed a lot of people, Bella," I told her as I looked into her eyes.
"I know that, sweetheart. I have known it from the beginning, you told me in the meadow. Every single day you rebel against your nature by feeding off animals. You make that choice every day and I love you for it, but Edward, you need to understand . . . I would love you anyway."
Sweet mother of all that is holy, did my very human wife just tell me that she would love me even if I drained humans to survive! There was no end to the love this woman had for me. I had no idea when I left her in the forest that day so long ago, no idea at all of the depths to which she loved me. I was a fool to walk away from her and thank God I found her again and she took me back!
"Bella!"
It was all I cold manage to say. I held her in my arms as tight as I dared. When I finally loosened my hold on her, we walked to her room to finish packing. She had a small box of photos, some letters from her dad and mom and some jewelry that she was bringing back with her, as well as some of her books. I watched as she packed, realization dawning on me.
I lifted the loose board in the floor at the foot of her bed. She turned to see what the noise was just in time to see me lift he photos of us from their hiding place in the floor. She dropped to her knees by the opening and reached in for the rest of her things.
"I had forgotten about these, Edward. I thought they were gone!", she looked up to me and said with tears in her eyes.
"I couldn't take them, love. I had to leave a piece of myself with you", I told her, my eyes begging her to understand.
She walked to her desk and loaded the CD I had given her for her 18th birthday into the player, her lullaby filling the room. Her eyes then made it to the note I had left. It was simple, left on a post it note. It simply said
B
I will always love you.
Please forgive me.
Your Husband,
(if only in my heart)
E
BPOV
I launched myself at him, surprising him and knocking him flat of his back on my bed with me covering him. I was holding every part of him that I could find to hold on to, my lips embedded in his neck, my fingers dug into the flesh at the back of his neck and shoulder, my legs trying to envelope him and secure him to me. I was sobbing, violently.
"Edward, I just love you so much. I could never have lived a lifetime without you and one lifetime will never be enough! You have to change me soon, after Christmas when everyone comes to Highlands", I sobbed.
"Sweetheart", he said as he rolled me to my back, moving at his speed as he blurred, locking the bedroom door and returning, "after Christmas then", he whispered in my ear as he removed the rest of our clothing. We were naked and in my bed under the covers in absolutely no time. I understood. We had to be one, entwined with each other, sharing the same space at the same time. We moved together gently, slowly, melting into one as we tried to breath each other in. I held everything right there in my arms. I loved this man beyond all reason.
I would have stayed in that bed under the covers for days or weeks if we could. Charlie was downstairs and we were leaving in the morning. I knew it was one of the last times I would spend with him, maybe the last time in this house.
Alice and Jasper stopped by to discuss what time we wanted to meet in the morning and Alice wanted to say goodbye to Charlie.
"I'm glad you two are here to drive back with them, Alice!", Charlie told them, "It's safer this way. I still worry about my little girl you know, even now that she is growing up and married!"
Charlie starred at me a long moment, his eyes telling me what he could not say. He was a lot like me in that he didn't like to really talk about things, emotions made him nervous and tears sent him over the edge.
Edward left with Jasper and Alice to tend to last minute details at the Cullen house. I stayed to cook dinner and spend time with Charlie. I wondered if there were really things to tend to or if Edward just really didn't want to have to eat food again! The thought made me chuckle. He was such a little kid, avoiding things in such a round about way! In all probability, they were out getting dinner themselves!
I cooked steak and potatoes, Charlie's favorite, and we finished our meal and he helped wash the dishes instead of going to sit and get the sports results from the TV. I knew he was feeling it too, the need to be close for a little longer. I hugged him goodnight and headed up to bed figuring Edward would join me later.
I showered and changed into panties and a tank top to sleep. I didn't like to go to bed naked unless Edward was there. My mind was full from the last few days events and I was tired, drained really, my energy gone. I pulled the covers up just as I heard something outside my window. Edward stepped in.
He moved to sit on the foot of the bed, eying me warily.
"Do you do this often?", I asked him . . . remembering.
"Just the last couple of months", he said, looking at me longingly,
"I just wanted to try one thing . . .",
I moved towards him as he leaned in to kiss me . . . slowly, so slowly he edged closer to me. When our lips met, the familiar fire was there and he climbed up my body to hold me close and deepen the kiss.
I cupped his face in my hands, willing him to continue the kiss but it was chaste. He pulled away slightly, covering me in blankets and moving to lie on top of them beside me. He was trying to recreate some of our past for me. A memory.
"I have always loved you, you know. I've just always been scared", he told me as he ducked his head down.
"I know, sweetheart. I think I loved you from the first moment you walked into the school cafeteria and I saw you. You were so handsome, but you seemed not to care about anything around you, I didn't think I stood a chance!"
"It took everything I had to give you that chance. I came so close to having you for lunch that first day! Our being together, my being able to make love to you without hurting you, Bella its more than I ever even imagined. I need you to know, to understand just how much I love you!"
With that, my husband kissed me again. This time his tongue begged entrance and his arms tightened around me. I felt his arousal even through the blankets he had covered me with. My hands tangled into the mess of hair on his head and scratched. He was purring, the noise that so embarrassed him but made me so happy and content it almost brought tears. I started to undo the buttons of his shirt as I had done so long ago, but of course he didn't stop me this time. His shirt was on the floor as well as his pants. He slipped under the covers with me, his hand moving to my waist.
"Why, Mr. Cullen, you never allowed this before! I believe you have loosened up some since the days when we used to sleep together in this bed!", I whispered to him as I licked his neck and bit his earlobe, sucking it into my mouth.
"Well, Mrs. Cullen", he said as he moved to cup my breast with his palm and gently caress his thumb across the nipple, "I would not have been able to control myself if I had let it go this far . . "
He looked at me with those golden eyes, molten fire showing in them.
" . . . and I can't control myself now!", he said as his lips devoured mine.
Edward came unglued. I don't know if it was the place or the memory, or something else that stirred him, but his entire body tensed. It somehow felt like the first time, like we had never been 'here' before, like we had climbed to a new plateau. It was all we could both do not to scream each others names. Our lips entwined and tongues shared stifled most of the sound, waking Charlie wasn't something either of us wanted to face.
I fell asleep with my leg still hitched over him. It was the perfect way to sleep and there were no complaints heard from my husband.
I awoke to my husband continuing to make love to me. I wondered for a moment, if he had ever stopped when I had gone to sleep. I didn't care, I loved the feel of him and his cool temperate kept any soreness to a minimum even when we made love for hours on end. I pushed against him and he rolled us over so that I was on top. I traced the lines of his chest, the spattering of soft hair that decorated the center, the steel bands beneath the velvet cover that rippled each time he contracted them. It was an insult to describe his stomach as simply toned, simply a six pack. There had to be a far better word for such magnificence. I dropped my hands to his cheeks and my face to his to kiss him, his breath ragged now as though he were having the same thoughts and feelings, taking in all of me as I was him.
He rolled us again and I lost it. He collapsed by my side, his eyes closed, stroking my hair and back, pulling me to him. He appeared to nod off to sleep, a loud purr emanating from his chest. I held him close and drifted off to sleep, knowing we had only a short time before we had to be up and get the car packed to leave.
EPOV
I opened my eyes to stare straight into the sparkling eyes of my wife. She greeted me with a kiss and nuzzled my face to hers. I felt unbelievably refreshed, new really. Apparently I had a nap with her. I was really going to have to speak with Carlisle about this sleeping. Surely other vampires had experienced some of this, I couldn't be only me! There didn't seem to be any effects, really, other than being unaware while I was asleep and slightly disoriented when I woke. It seemed . . . refreshing!
I hugged her to me, noticing that our bodies had remained connected, her leg still draped over my hips. I moved in her as I kissed her, our passion growing to a frenzy. How had I ever existed without her. I was made just to be with this woman.
~oooOooo~
That was the last of it, snacks were in a small container with drinks in the front floorboard at her feet, luggage and items to take home with us were in the trunk. Charlie was talking to Alice and Jasper, admiring the Jaguar. It really was a pretty car, smoky grey and sleek, it suited Esme well.
I walked over and put my arms around my wife's waist and rested my chin on her shoulder.
"You ready to go?", I asked her.
"Yea, ready as ever!", she answered me, fighting back tears. Leaving was hard for her, I had known it would be.
"We'll see you then for Christmas, right Charlie?", I said turning to her father.
"Wouldn't miss it! Sue and I are looking forward to it! You take care of my girl, Edward", he said as he fidgeted and put his hands in his jacket pockets, "and um . . . take care of yourself as well."
I was floored. Charlie was coming around to accepting that I was with Bella and was not evil incarnate as he had first suspected. Huh.
I climbed into the drivers seat of the R8, Bella by my side. We weren't staying for Jessica's funeral, we hadn't visited Mike to see if he was better and I had heard no more from Sam about the new scent we had found.
We were headed home and that was what mattered. This was going to be an adventure!