Bella & Edward, Life Continues sequel

by vickisan

What if Edward finally realized his mistake and came back for Bella . . . only to find she had run away with her best friend, Jacob! This is the story of his searching for and finding the love of his life. Follows the story Bella & Edward, A Love Story

95. Chapter 95 Delusions

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

Chapter 95 Delusional

I wanted her to know her grandchild, and for him to know her . . .

I just wasn't sure how I was going to make that happen.

Renee POV

"No, don't be silly, Phill! My daughter has a two week old baby, she must be exhausted by now what with feeding him round the clock every four hours or less and the house to tend to as well," I scoffed as I continued to pack my suitcase.

"I just think that you should wait till she asks for you to help, Renee, that's all. You know how independent they're trying to be and I think we should let them. Your daughter is very smart and that Edward has quite a head on his shoulders, not to mention that they're both very responsible," I said as I sat on the bed watching her, trying to reason with my wife. "Besides, if Bella was the least bit in need of anything, Edward would have called." She laughed at that statement, of course. She knew as well as I did that the boy would never let Bella overdo or want for anything.

"Well, you're right, of course," I agreed with a laugh, "but there's also the fact that I want to see my grandson!"

"Of course you do, baby, and I just want you to realize that's the real reason for this trip," he insisted, putting his arms around my waist as I came to stand in front of him. "I'm just saying that they probably have everything handled and I don't want you to feel hurt by that. Just go and see Masen and enjoy him, that's all."

"You're right. I guess I do sort of want to feel like they need me . . . like she needs me," I admitted as he stood and took my suitcase to the car.

"Have fun taking our Christmas present back up those winding roads, but be careful," my husband told me as he eyed our new car fondly. It really was such a pleasure to drive, I almost felt guilty taking it and leaving him with the older car . . . almost.

The drive from Jacksonville to Highlands wasn't particularly long, it was just interstate till you got within an hour of the cabin and that was always boring. The first two hours were the worst, straight across interstate 10 to 75 North. It was just pine tree forest and not much else to see. Going north on 75 was more interesting, small towns and such to look at and then the Atlanta skyline was just beautiful as I wove through the curves and tunnels under the city. Once I was an hour or so past Atlanta, on the road for about seven hours, I called my daughter. Even though we had these fancy high tech phones, service in the mountains could be sketchy and I didn't want her to worry.

"Mom, hi!" I heard my daughter's voice over the speakers in the car, "are you almost here?"

"Just passing into Clayton, sweetheart. I just wanted to let you know I should be there within the hour."

"Great, mom, I can't want to see you! I have the best news to share with you!" she exclaimed.

"News? Bella, you can't possibly be pregnant again, right? And everything is alright between you and Edward?" I asked.

"Mom," she immediately admonished me, "Everything to do with Edward is wonderful and I don't think it's possible to be pregnant this soon."

She laughed along with me but she wouldn't tell me her news, insisting that she and Edward would tell me in person when I got there. I pulled into their driveway and they were both waiting on the porch for me. Edward startled me a bit by having my car door open for me, I guess I hadn't seen him walk over.

"Renee, glad you could come," he said as he hugged me. My, that boy was firm, he must workout a lot, I thought to myself.

"Bella," I squealed as she hugged me as well. Edward had my bag out of the back seat and we were up the stairs and into the house before my daughter ever took her arm from around me.

"You look amazing, sweetheart," I told her, holding both of her hands out to get a good look at her. She word tight fitting skinny jeans and a cute little sweater, nothing at all like I expected to see after just having had a baby. "You look so wonderful, Bella. You're hips are a little wider and you're nursing, of course, so your figure is just amazing."

"I think so," Edward chimed in, coming to stand behind her and clasp his arms in front of her, kissing her neck.

"Oh, you always think that," I scoffed, reaching over to ruffle his hair as his head was tucked into her shoulder. "Where is my grandson?"

"He's asleep in his room, mom," Bella said as we headed up the stairs. Edward took my suitcase to my room while my daughter opened the door to the nursery and I tip toed over to the crib. My grandson was asleep, swaddled tightly in baby blankets, his lips slightly flinching as babies will do as they sleep and dream. His hair was curlier than Bella's, and it had more red in it than hers did but there was certainly a headful of it, and it was covering his ears it was so long. Other than the hair, that baby looked just like his father, right down to the extremely long eyelashes and even something of a jawline. Babies never had strong chins and jaws till after they quit nursing anyway. Huh.

"He's just beautiful! He really is just beautiful, Bella and he's so big!"

"I know! He's growing so fast it's already hard to even remember how small he was when he was born," she admitted.

We slipped out of his room, pulling the door almost closed as we left and we walked towards the room Edward had put my suitcase in. I opened the case and started unpacking while my daughter sat on the bed and talked to me. She apologized again for not calling me when she had the baby, but reiterated that both she and Edward really didn't want to disturb Phil and I while we were on our first ever cruise. I got the feeling there was a lot more to it than that, but I was willing to wait, letting her tell me in her own way.

"I kept dinner on the stove for you, mom, in case you were hungry when you got here. Would you like some?" Bella asked.

"Have both of you already eaten, dear?" I asked. It really wasn't that late in the day, six or so I guessed.

"We were both starving, but I wouldn't mind snacking with you while you eat," she offered.

I sat at the counter watching my daughter serve our plates and it looked delicious, as always. She really was a good cook. "Are you sure you don't want to join us?" I asked Edward as he walked in from the office.

"I'm fine, Renee. I ate too much just a little while ago. I was so hungry, I don't think I realized just how much food I was eating!" I told her, rubbing my belly as I had seen humans do so often.

"Masen looks just like you, Edward. If his hair didn't take after his mother just a little, I would have thought you had him all by yourself!" I laughed, teasing him. "What color are his eyes?"

"Well, so far they are just really really dark. We can't decide what color they are yet," he explained.

"Will he be up soon? I just can't wait to see him," I almost giggled with excitement.

"He should be wanting to nurse in a couple of hours, then he's up for a few hours. Edward and I usually go to bed after I nurse him and one of the Cullen's take turns playing with him till Edward comes down and brings him to me for the two o'clock feeding. He sleeps pretty much from then till morning and we actually put him in his room the last couple of nights," Bella explained.

Alice flitted in about that time with Jasper in tow. I hadn't realized that the rest of the family had been out of town for the weekend and had not yet returned. It kind of surprised me that they left with the baby so little and all, but Bella really did seem to be doing remarkable well. Better than I had ever seen a new mother, in fact.

"Renee, so glad to see you! Have you seen him yet?" she almost squealed. I should have known that Alice would be this way over the baby, but she always surprised and somewhat overwhelmed me with her enthusiasm.

"So we came over to take the evening shift with Masen, we thought you might be tired after driving all day," Alice offered.

"That's very nice of you, Alice, but I'm sure . . ."

"Don't let her fool you, mom. She's dying to know that she gets to play with him tonight as well."

"That's true, Renee. Just make it easy on yourself and give in to the annoying little pixie, I do," Edward said as he nudged his sister with his shoulder.

"Really, Edward, after all I do for you," Alice chided him with a smile on her face. "Renee, can you believe how good Bella looks! Just one size larger than she was wearing before she got pregnant."

"Well, I'm glad she needs a size larger now, Alice. She had lost way too much in those months before the baby . . . and before the accident," I told them, cutting my eyes at Edward, though I tried not to.

"As far as I am concerned," Edward said, hugging Bella to him with his arms around her from behind, his hands rubbing circles over her belly and hips, "my wife is perfect. She looks amazing just like she is now. The only way she could be more beautiful is when she is carrying my child."

"Edward, stop! How could you possible think I look good when I'm as big as a house?" Bella remarked, loosening his hold on her and moving to clear away our dishes.

We settled in to see what was on the television while Edward went upstairs to check on the baby. Jasper had started to get out the controllers for his video games, but Alice stopped him suggesting a movie instead. Bella started it without waiting for Edward, he was apparently doing something other than just checking on Masen, but we settled in and were enjoying ourselves. The movie was about halfway over when Edward appeared, handing the baby to Bella. She pulled up her shirt and was feeding him before I could get the words out of my mouth that I wanted to hold him. I peered over her shoulder, watching his little face as he sucked noisily.

"Bella, darlin', you must make a fine home brew. He sounds like he's really enjoying his meal," Jasper chuckled. Edward smirked as Alice, Bella and I laughed at Jasper's assessment of the situation.

Masen finished one side and Bella held him over her shoulder to burp. Though she supported his head, I would have sworn that he was controlling it on his own, looking around to see me. He was the cutest little thing I had ever laid eyes on! The cherub face stared back at me, returning my gaze with all the intensity of someone far beyond his years. His eyes, well, his eyes were the darkest color I could imagine, bordering on black. They were huge and shaped just like Bella's, though they seemed to be on Edward's face. There was no mistaking that this was their baby, that was for sure.

"Can I hold him?" I asked.

"Sure, mom, just let him finish nursing first, okay?"

"I guess I can wait that long - maybe," I laughed.

The feeling of that baby in my arms brought back an instant flood of memories. Bella had him wrapped tightly, but I was able to play with one of his little hands, and he felt a little cold to me. Bella said that was why she had wrapped him because there was a little chill in the air but honestly, I was a little warm if anything.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

Are you sure you remember everything I told you, son? That's right, you need to not smile at grandma Renee. It's important that she not know you have teeth or that you can sit up on your own. Yes, of course you can smile and play sitting up when she isn't in the room. Remember, she is human like mom and grandpa and you have to be careful with her, she doesn't need to know about all the special things you can do, son. I know you don't need to be wrapped up like this and it's too confining, but just humor me, son.

I communicated more and more with Masen without speaking. It was just natural and easier for us since we could both read the others thoughts. I changed him and swaddled him tightly to try and remind him not to act like he could hold his head up well and even sit by himself. Renee would probably require CPR if she saw that.

"Well, son, here goes nothing," I told him as I headed down the stairs to take him to his mom, and to meet Renee.

I handed him to Bella first, of course, using the excuse that he needed to feed. Masen did his usual loud smacking while he nursed and Renee laughed at how noisy an eater he was. Bella burped him and insisted on him finishing his meal before she would give him to her mom . . . probably a wise move for Masen to be as full as possible while she held him . . . just in case.

I think Bella and I both held our breath when Renee took Masen in her arms for the first time. I read her thoughts. Damn. She already noticed that he seemed to be stronger than normal, able to hold his head up himself and that his skin seemed cold to he touch.

Damn damn damn.

This was never going to work, she was already picking up on things. She had confidence in Carlisle as a doctor, but this was her grandchild and she had wanted not only to see him, but to come up here and make sure that Bella and the baby were both doing well. Bella was, after all, only nineteen years old and it was natural for her mom to worry. Natural, but inconvenient right now. My wife wanted to keep her mom in her life and to let her know her grandchild, and I wanted that for her. We would just have to see what conclusions Renee came to on her own . . . and if they were ones we could live with.

We finished watching the movie, Masen lying in Renee's arms and seeming to look around the room. He was doing an excellent job of impersonating a human baby. I sat beside Bella on the sofa, Masen continuing to catch my eye, mentally asking me if he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. I kept telling him that he was doing great and that I was sorry it was so boring just lying there but he was watching the movie and picking up on some words, so he didn't really mind. After the movie was over, Bella and I said goodnight, asking Renee if she needed anything and thanking Alice and Jasper for coming over to help. Renee was determined that she was going to care for Masen and Alice went with her up to the nursery to change his diaper.

"You think she believes he's a premature baby?" Jasper asked, smirking though he tried not to.

"She seems alright. Edward, is she?" Bella asked looking at me expectantly.

"Sweetheart, she knows something isn't quite right. She thinks he's too cool to the touch and that worries her that maybe he isn't able to control his body temperature, like a preemie, but she noticed him raising his head to look around and that made her wonder. I'm not sure she buys that he was in any way premature. I don't know what you want to tell her but maybe it would be best to let her think we made love before we really did," I told her.

"Edward, even if we had, even if we were together right when I left the hospital I would have only carried him for barely seven months. There must be something I can tell her, someway of disguising the timing or something," she mused.

"Just let her come to her own conclusions, love. I'll keep up with what she's thinking and we'll go from there. Your mom is way more intuitive than the average human and this one is kind of a no brainer to figure out that something isn't quite the way we're trying to present it."

We headed up to bed, undressed and held each other close under the covers. Bella kissed my neck and traced kisses up my jaw, nuzzling to find my lips like she always did. Nothing deterred my wife from our morning and bedtime routines and I had to admit that I loved it as well. I continued to monitor Renee's thoughts, grateful that my vampire brain was able to compartmentalize things and preform several tasks at once. Any conscious thought I possessed was completely occupied by my wife and our lovemaking.

"What's my mom thinking now?" Bella asked just as she was sshe was just starting to drift off to sleep.

"She's putting her things away in her room, Masen is in his crib and Alice and Jasper are downstairs. She's trying to decide if she's loosing her mind or if there is any way that baby could actually have been carried only four months. It's absurd . . . and she knows it, she just isn't sure how to explain him otherwise," I told her quietly. The next thoughts in Renee's mind were so far fetched that i could hardly contain myself long enough to tell my wife. "Bella, I didn't know your Mom believed in life on other planets!" Bella covered her mouth to keep the giggles from being heard throughout the house. I was laughing as well, though it really wasn't funny.

"Is that really something she's thinking?" my wife finally managed to say through the laughter.

"Well, yes. That and trying to remember the specifics of the Lebensborn or 'Fountain of Life' program, the one where they genetically engineered babies, going for a superior race and all. She keeps going back to the more obvious things, like thinking that I found you before the race, we had sex, and we just had not told anyone. That seems more acceptable to her, and really, we could live with that couldn't we love?

"I suppose that would be the easiest. Well, I guess the best idea really is for her to figure out what she thinks on her own and see if we can live with it. I'm dreading telling her that we're leaving this weekend, but I have some time before we have to discuss that. First things first, tomorrow I'll just answer her questions and see where her mind goes with it. I just would really like her to have her grandson in her life and at the rate he's growing, we have to come up with some outlandish genetically altered answer because in a year's time he's probably going to be walking and talking like a six year old!"

"Right. You're so right. I think he'll be standing before the month is over. At least Charlie knows and we don't have to hide the truth from him to protect him, his relationship with Sue makes him privy to our world," I all but whispered as I lay with my head on her chest holding her.

"Hasn't Alice seen anything? Has she no idea if mom will be okay with all of this or what theory she will come up with to explain it?" Bella asked.

"She's blocking me, love. Whatever she sees, she just keeps telling me that everything will be alright, just go with it. She did this when she knew I would be furious with your dad after your birthday party as well, something about needing me to react honestly. I guess we just have to wait and see, love," I shared, "and hope for the best. I never bet against Alice, after all."

~oooOooo~

Renee POV

"Yes, honey. Everything is fine, the drive was uneventful. How was training?" I asked my husband. I was glad that he enjoyed his first day of camp, they would be staying at the field at the camp's facilities for the next two weeks, so he really wouldn't be missing me. I would have just been sitting home alone and I would much rather be here with Bella and her new family.

New family. I wasn't sure I liked that, though I was happy that my daughter was happy. It's just hard to give her up and know that someone else is the most important person in the world to her, though you'd think I got that through my head after the way she was wasting way to nothing after he left her last year. Hard to believe it was only last year, so much had changed since Edward was back in her life. He was an amazing young man and by sharing stock tips with us and teaching Phil about the market, he had certainly changed our lives forever.

Phill now played ball totally because he wanted to, not because he needed to to support us and that was completely due to Edward. He was such a mature young man and so caring with my daughter. He seemed tireless when it came to anything to do with her or her needs, and he seemed to worry over her well being more than most husbands would. It was as though he was on the look out all the time for anything that would hurt her, ready to step I front of a train or take a bullet to prevent it getting to her. I laughed even just to myself at the thought, but he really did seem to be that protective.

"Do you think there is any way that Bella could have been pregnant before the accident, Phil?" I asked, speaking quietly into the receiver of the phone, "No. I know, It just doesn't make any sense. Masen looks like he's three months old already and I could have sworn he raised his head and looked around while Bella was holding him. I know, I know . . . just enjoy my grandson., I will. Goodnight sweetie . . . I love you too."

I put the phone down and my suitcase in the closet. I just couldn't figure out what it was they weren't telling me. Something . . . I just had no idea what. Perhaps if Edward's dad had been one of the babies from the Lebensborn program, genetically altered to be brilliant and superior to others. That would explain Edward's being a multimillionaire at age 19, as well as how alert the baby seemed. There had to be more to it than that, though. Humans just didn't produce healthy babies capable of existing on their own having only been pregnant for four months. She must have lied to me, they all must have. Still, it was obvious that Edward was the babies father and Bella his mother. It was their child all right. She had to have been pregnant even before the wreck for any of this to be possible . . . I just didn't see how the wreck hadn't caused her to miscarry, and why we weren't told she was pregnant in all the weeks we spent at the hospital. There had to be an explanation. I wasn't one for believing in aliens from outer space, but I wasn't beyond considering it either.

~oooOooo~

Jacob POV

"Well, Chief, another day or so and we'll be home, back to Forks," I said as I continued to drive us out of the Little Big Horn Range in central Wyoming. We had taken this route because Charlie wanted to try some fly fishing, and I thought that now was as good a time as any. With it just us two, a break from driving could easily be a couple of hours on a stream instead of hours with coffee at McDonalds or somewhere like that to rest. The boat launched easily and we had tried it out on a couple of lakes so far. He had the right idea anyway, fishing was restful and I could see why my dad liked to fish all the time. Charlie was quiet and it just gave you time to be still in your mind and let things settle naturally, not worry about finding solutions and such, answers just seemed to sort themselves out on their own.

"So, Chief," Charlie teased me, "are you looking forward at all to being back in La Push?"

"No, not really. I left cause I couldn't face loosing my dad, especially after having lost mom a few years back. It just kind of makes me relive both their deaths I think," I told him. "I really just want to resolve this thing with Sam and the Cullens and get back to Bree. There is so much I need to do to get Black Swan Racing off the ground, especially if I want a bike entered on the circuit next year," I explained.

"So, Jake, how is it that you'll be Chief of the tribe, but you want your business to be in Highlands, North Carolina? that;s putting a couple of thousand miles in between the two, you know. Are you going to split your time between them, or how will that work?" Charlie asked. I knew he was concerned for me and he knew about the werewolf side of me as well as the imprinting.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I have no idea how I'm going to do both either, but I have to try," I sighed, "and Bree I have no choice about. I have to be with her and I know she has two more years at Clemson, even if she would move back to the res with me after that, its still years away. Right now I just have to deal with the tribe, if they don't throw me out for leaving." I chuckled, trying to make light of it, but it was a distinct possibility.

"I'm sure it'll all work out, Jake. Billy always had faith in you son and so do I. You'll step up and take charge, just like you were meant to. You'll find a way," Charlie said as though it were fact.

"I need to be there for my tribe, Charlie, I know that, but I also can never leave Bree. I just need to settle things with the tribe and whatever consequences Sam's actions will have on the treaty. The Cullen's are willing to let it go, but I want the tribe to make a concession, in view of what's happened. I need to make sure that I get them to amend the treaty so that Edward can change Bella without it affecting the treaty."