[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome to a new update, my dear readers. Thank you for taking the time to read my little story here, especially to those of you that took the time to leave a comment. I love reading your thoughts. They make me smile big and help me a lot when times are stressful in real life.

Today's chapter is dedicated to my reader Lynail. I hope you'll enjoy.

**18**

Mary Alice Brandon was a good girl who had turned into a bad one. Until she had started College two years ago, she had been a dreamy little virgin waiting for her own personal knight in shining armor to show up. Yes, maybe Alice had a tendency to being naïve. But some people tend to be that way before real life kicks them hard.

On her third week at College Alice had bumped into the future love of her life. He was everything she had ever wanted and more. The boys back home had been silly kids, who had chewed bubblegum while they had asked her out to movie theatres and Fast Food places. How different J. was from them. He knew which French wine to order for their romantic dinner. He knew how to make Alice feel like a princess even when in truth she was little more than his whore.

Sleeping with a married man was a bad thing to do. But how can you say no to real love when it sweeps you off your feet.

Now though the situation had changed. The unplanned pregnancy had made things between them more complicated. Alice still hadn't brought up the courage to tell him she was pregnant. He would be mad at her. That much she was sure of.

With a sigh, she pulled out the envelope from her handbag. It didn't even look the tiniest bit like a human baby. All she could see in the ultrasound pic was some greyish shadow.

The feeling of loneliness overwhelmed her. She wished that she could simply call J. and tell him about the baby. But of course, Alice knew this was impossible. He was always the one to call. J. made all the choices in their relationship. When he had told her to cut off her hair, she had done it. When he had told her, she'd look better wearing 6 inch heels all the time, she had done so, even when her feet were hurting.

Alice swallowed back tears. The pregnancy hormones were making her too emotional and she didn't like that. She reached for her phone and dialed Zafrina's number.

"Hey, my little dove." The woman greeted her cheerfully. "So, you finally remembered calling home again."

"I'm sorry, Mammy. I was kind of busy in the last time."

Zafrina chuckled. "I hope you're busy with studying and not partying all the time."

"Am I not allowed to have some fun while I'm at College?" Alice snapped, while she pulled a blanket on her lap.

"Your father isn't paying for your entertainment but for your education."

"I know." Alice cleared her throat nervously before she spoke up again. "Mammy, there is something I need to tell you."

"Has my little dove found herself a nice young gentleman?"

Yes! Alice yelled in her head. But I'm pretty sure you wouldn't approve of it too much.

"Alice?"

"I…promise me not to tell Dad, okay? I was in a little accident."

"Did you get hurt?" Zafrina asked, her voice getting a bit shrill. "You're not hurt are you?"

"No, it's just the car. I hit a woman's Volvo at a parking lot."

"You need to drive a bit more carefully, young lady. Your father would be upset if something happened to you."

Alice snuggled against the soft fabric of her blanket. "Is he home?"

"He's upstairs. Right now he's getting dressed for meeting these awful people from Texas. The one with the slimy black hair is a complete weirdo if you ask me."

"You better make sure Dad doesn't hear you talking about one of his most important business partner like this. Mr. Volturi is a perfect gentleman. Why don't you like him?"

"I don't have enough time to sum up all my reasons for disliking that man."

Alice felt her mouth twitch into something that would come pretty close to a smile. "I miss you. What are you doing there without me?"

"I'm keeping the house clean and your father healthy. The doctors have given him a new diet plan for him to lower his cholesterol."

"Dad is never going to eat healthy food."

"I know. That's why I've been filling low fat milk into the cartoon of full fat milk and replacing his regular coffee with a caffeine free brand."

"Isn't he going to notice the difference?"

Another chuckle left Zafrina's mouth. "Your father is a guy. Noticing small changes isn't their strength."

"Maybe I'll come home for the next weekend. Would that be okay?"

"Oh, little dove. Are you homesick? I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm not homesick." Alice lied, sniffing into the receiver. "It was just an idea. I don't have money for the flight now anyway since I have to pay the repair on two cars."

"I can tell your father to send you some more money."

"No, don't do that. Look, I'm going to hang up now. There's this essay I need to get finished."

"Don't work too hard, my little dove. Good bye. I love you."

"I love you too." Alice whispered, disconnecting the call. She crumbled the ultrasound pic between her fingers and tossed it over the table. Her life was fucked up and she had no clue how to get things right again. She pulled out her phone to check it for new texts. He hadn't sent any. God, how tired she was of always waiting for him. For over a year now, she was waiting for him to leave his red-haired witch of a wife for her. J. had promised to do so, hadn't he? Maybe if Alice would tell him about the baby, that would be the kick in the butt her secret lover needed?

Alice decided that she was going to tell him tomorrow after class. This baby was as much his as it was hers. Their love had created this child. For the first time, since she had made the pregnancy test, Alice felt like she could actually love the baby.

She flipped through the old messages in her phone. Some of them made her blush. "Don't wear any panties to class tomorrow." One of them read. "God, J., you are such a naughty professor. I love you." Alice whispered hoarsely.

Another message popped up on the little screen. Oh right, Bella had sent her the picture of some old pearl earring. She had taken one look at them to find out they were fake. A good fake though. You could always sell stuff like this to people who knew shit about jewelry.

"Hi Bella, I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been kind of busy. Anyway; the pearl on the earring is a fake one." Alice typed into the phone. "But I understand why you thought it was real. There are two places I know where you can get to buy stuff like this. One is called Romanian Treasures and the other one is called Volturi Jewelry. I hope this helps you. Take care, Alice"

xxxx

At the other side of the country, in a beautiful chestnut-wooden kitchen Zafrina shook her head. The girl had sounded so upset. When you raise a child all her life you can sense when she is sad, even when the girl doesn't admit it openly.

"Red or blue tie?" Alice's father asked, startling Zafrina as he walked down the stairs. "Which one looks better on me?"

"Blue, Mr. Brandon. Blue is your color. Always was, always will be. Do you want some coffee before you leave?"

"Yes, that would be nice." He stated, wrapping the blue tie around his neck. "And stop calling me Mr. Brandon when nobody can hear us. It's not necessary."

"Let me do this for you." Zafrina mumbled, standing up from her chair. "You're going to strangle yourself with your clumsy hands."

"Thanks." he murmured, brushing his fingertips gently over hers. "What would I do without your help?"

"You could always hire a new maid." she suggested.

"I don't want anybody here but you. You know that. Don't you?

She smiled. "I do. Here's your coffee."

He sipped on the drink. The taste was weird, but he didn't mention anything about it. That would only make Zafrina furious again. Coffee was always coffee wasn't it?

"Alice has called." Zafrina told him. "Don't freak out. She was in an accident."

"Is the car alright? Damn it, the thing was almost new."

"Is that all your concern? If the stupid car has been damaged? Alice could have been injured."

"Yes, of course. She's alright. Is she?"

"She said she is. But she sounded so sad. Maybe you should fly to Seattle sometime soon and check on her."

He nodded his head and took another sip from the strange tasting coffee. "We could both fly there and surprise Alice. How does that sound like?"

"Like your first good idea in months." Zafrina giggled. Then she leaned over the table and pressed her lips against his. "I wish you could stay home tonight, George."

"You don't cancel meetings with the Volturi." He stated, standing up again. "Don't stay up all night waiting for me again. It's going to get late."

xxxx

Back home in Forks, Bella had spent the entire night tossing around in her bed. Now, that her decision to ruin Rosalie's wedding had been made, the woman couldn't find any rest.

She loved Rose and ruining the wedding would upset Rosalie. Yes, it would upset her but in the long run, Rosalie would be glad about it. Bella was sure about this.

Through tired eyes Bella blinked at the alarm clock on her nightstand. It was just five a.m. now. Enough time for two more hours of precious sleep.

The problem was that she was too agitated to find any rest. If only she could have Rosalie here with her. Oh, all the things she wanted to do to her best friends. The things Bella wanted to do with her.

Bella groaned. She needed to figure out a plan. She needed to set up a plan on how to sabotage the wedding.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, Bella went downstairs to the kitchen and started some coffee.

"You're up early." Charlie greeted her as he entered the house a few minutes later. "Is something wrong?"

"I couldn't sleep any longer." Bella told him. "How was your shift?"

"Quiet like I like it to be. Why can't you sleep?"

Because I have too much on my mind, Bella thought. "All the nightshifts you put me on have ruined my sleeping rhythm."

"You'll get used to it. I'll go and crash now. Have a good day, Bells."

He kissed her cheek and went upstairs.

Bella filled a cup with steaming hot coffee and sipped on it. "Get used to something. Maybe Rose was too used to having me for sure."

She reached for the phone and dialed Rosalie's number. She knew that her friend always had the phone on silent mode at night time, so she wouldn't pick up the call.

"Good Morning, Beautiful. Call me back when you hear this, right? I miss you."

It took exactly five minutes until Rosalie returned the call. "Is something wrong?"

"Why are you up this early?" Bella asked.

"Set my alarm an hour early. I want to go for a run before I head to work. Nothing burns off more calories than running before breakfast."

"You hate running."

"I hate the fact that I haven't managed to lose a single pound yet. There is no way in hell I'm going to fit into Mom's dress."

Bella coughed. "How about getting another dress instead? I could help you find one."

"I can't do that to my mother."

"Oh honey, of course you can. Do you really want to spend the next weeks nibbling on carrot sticks? Your figure is lovely the way it is."

"Thanks for saying that." Rosalie sighed. "I'm not sure how I feel about another dress. What are you going to wear to the wedding?"

"My black dress, what else?"

"Really? I love you in that one. It makes you look so sexy."

"Well, sexy is good. Aren't wedding a good possibility to hook up with someone?"

Bella nipped on her coffee and waited patiently for Rosalie to respond.

"I don't want you to hook up with some drunken moron. You are too good for that."

"Your brother asked me to be his date. You wouldn't refer to your own brother as a moron, would you?"

"Emmett asked you out? Please, tell me you said no."

"I have, but I could still change my mind, you know."

"If Emmett fucks you, I will have to kill him. That would upset Mom. So, please don't do it."

Bella laughed. "Your brother isn't my type. Don't worry."

"I will still tell him to stay the fuck away from you."

Oh my Rose, how much I love you when you are jealous. The smile on Bella's face widened. "Have a good day, Beautiful. No one loves you like I do."

Rosalie sighed deeply. "No one loves you like I do. If you ever find a boyfriend who isn't a complete jerk, I'm going to be so fucking jealous of him."