Bella's POV
My heart, even though no longer beating, felt like it jump-started in my chest as I watched Edward—the man who'd turned my world upside down—hold my tiny baby girl to his chest, playing quietly to lull her to sleep. He had to know I was there, watching, but his attention was all on my daughter. If she whimpered or made any of the other normal baby noises, he soothed her with a murmur or soft caress to her cheek before turning back to the piano.
When the final notes of my lullaby began to fade away, he transitioned smoothly into something I hadn't heard before. After only a moment, I knew it was one of his. My heart couldn't take any more, and without conscious thought, my feet led me directly to him. I sat down beside him on the bench, leaning my head gently on his shoulder and brushing a finger over Lizzie's head as she finally closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep.
"This is beautiful," I said quietly, turning my gaze to his face. My breath caught when I realized he was watching me.
"It came to me when you put her in my arms," Edward said, his voice low so as not to disturb her. "It's Lizzie's song."
My heart swelled with love, and I sighed softly. "We're gonna be okay, aren't we?" I asked, not feeling any of the worry I'd felt, even after the decisions the day before. Seeing Edward with Lizzie was better than I'd ever dreamed. The love I felt whenever he looked at me radiated from him every time his eyes dropped to the baby strapped to his front. I knew no matter what we faced, he was right, we would face it together, and because of that, we would be all right.
Edward leaned over, his hands still moving lightly over the keys in front of him, and kissed me tenderly in answer.
~*~FC~*~
"Yes, Renee, Bella got home earlier today," Charlie said, running a hand through his hair, which was badly in need of a trim.
"Where was she?" my mother asked, her voice sounding tinny.
Edward and I were sitting with Lizzie on the couch, watching my father pace. This was the third phone call he'd had since we'd arrived. He'd had to leave a message for Renee, since she was apparently on a cruise to Mexico that she and Phil had decided to take at the last minute after he'd gotten a week off from traveling for baseball. Jasper and Emmett had brought over the Xbox and hooked it up to Charlie's TV, and they were currently engaged in a heated, yet quiet, battle of something or other with Seth. Sue wasn't home yet from helping out at the school on the rez, but she was due home later and was planning on bringing Emily with her. Jake would be here anytime as well, and then he and Seth would take Emily home with them when they returned to the reservation in time for their patrol.
I turned my attention back to the phone when Charlie started explaining my absence.
"Unbeknownst to me, Bella applied and was accepted to the University of Wisconsin. She went up there to look around the campus and find out about housing and child care when she decided she needed a few more days away," he said, not stumbling once over the story we'd concocted.
"Why didn't she say something before?"
Charlie huffed, running his hand through his hair again. "She said she didn't want me—us—to be disappointed if it didn't work out, so she kept her trip a secret. Apparently, she'd been in contact with Edward and Alice Cullen, who—"
"Oh!" Renee interrupted. "How are they?"
Charlie ignored her question and continued, "—are also going to school there. They apparently spent some time together while she was up there and caught up on everything. Anyway, the whole family lives there, and now that Edward and Bella have...reconciled, Bella's going to move up early so she can get settled in and spend some time with them before finding a job and taking some classes this summer, instead of waiting until September."
"That's great," Renee said enthusiastically, before I heard a rustling, like she'd placed her hand over the phone. With my newly heightened hearing, I heard her speaking to Phil as clear as if she was right in front of me. "I'm almost done, honey. Charlie's taking forever to tell me that Bella's home, safe and sound." When she came back on the phone, she asked, "Is that everything?"
Charlie shook his head in exasperation and said, "Yes, Renee. If you want to speak to Bella before she and Lizzie move, just call back the next time you're on dry land."
Renee sucked in a quick breath. "Bella's not leaving...her...there with you? Do Edward and his family know?"
Emmett and Jasper whipped around to glare at the phone, their anger showing in their faces and in their grips on the controllers, which cracked under the strain. Edward was half out of his seat when I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down beside me.
"That's just Renee," I said just loud and quick enough for supernatural ears, shaking my head. "She doesn't mean it like it sounds. Just let it go."
"Bella," Edward said, nearly shaking with anger.
"Don't," I huffed, looking from him to his brothers. "I know. But let Charlie handle it, okay?"
With tight nods, they all stayed where they were.
Charlie had frozen in place, his grip on the phone almost as tight as the boys' had been on the game controllers. "Renee Martha Dwyer," he barked. "You know as well as I do that Lizzie"—stressing her nickname—"is our daughter's child, and that's the only thing that matters. If anything else mattered to Edward, I'd be the first one to tell him to get the hell away from my daughter. He loves Bella. How Lizzie came to be doesn't make a difference in his feelings...as it shouldn't for anyone," he growled softly in warning.
Edward settled down beside me, and the way he, Emmett, and Jasper were looking at Charlie nearly made me giggle. They definitely seemed impressed with the way Charlie had handled her. Seth and I just looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't the first time we'd heard a similar conversation regarding my future.
"No, of course not," Renee said finally, sounding tired and apologetic, but sincere. "Well, that's good. I hope she's happy in Minnesota. I've gotta run. Phil and I are going to see a show in a few minutes. Tell Bella hello!" She hung up before Charlie could get a word in edgewise.
Even after Charlie hung up the phone, I could feel Edward's tension. Emmett and Jasper still looked like they were ready for a fight. I knew I needed to say something to calm everyone.
"She didn't mean to come across as a bi—" I stopped before I could complete the nasty word. "Like I said the other day, Renee feels guilty about what happened to me on spring break. I was in Florida, so she feels like she should've done more to protect me."
Charlie grumbled, "As she should," under his breath before fixing his stare on me, as if daring me to disagree.
With a sigh, I continued, "Rather than bring it all up again, she just doesn't mention Lizzie or anything to do with that time. She also knows some of the reactions I got from people when everything came to light. There were people who blamed me, which I could handle, since I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. But then there were the people who I thought were friends who just suddenly quit calling or coming around—most of those believed I'd either made it up to get attention or so I didn't have to admit to sleeping around. Other nasty things were said about me and about Lizzie, and Renee just...couldn't handle it. She doesn't like being reminded of what she believes to be a failing on her part—that she didn't protect me when she should have."
Everyone was quiet as they processed what I'd said. When Lizzie began to stir, it broke the silence in the room, taking most of the tension with it.
"Minnesota?" Edward asked, looking at Charlie curiously.
Charlie just rolled his eyes. "The woman hears what she wants to hear. Always has." He settled into his recliner and smiled. "Now, enough talk of Renee. Give me my girl," he said, holding his arms out in my direction for Lizzie.
~*~FC~*~
"Take that!" I crowed as I knocked Emmett's character off the screen with a karate move, laughing as he shoved at my shoulder.
Emmett, Jake, and I were at Charlie's house with Lizzie. Edward and Jasper had gone hunting, and Charlie was at work. Sue was home, since she hadn't been needed at the school, but she was in the kitchen, fixing dinner for herself, Charlie, and any of the wolves who stopped by.
When we heard a car pull up to the house, Emmett casually reached over and put his hand on my shoulder, looking over at Jake. "See who that is?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head to the front window.
Jake glanced at me and then nodded. When he peeked out the curtains, he drew back quickly. "It's Angela. Get Bella upstairs."
Emmett was suddenly all business as he tossed his controller toward the television, grabbing mine from me and adding it to the pile with his before standing and pulling me to my feet. "Come on, Bells. Don't wanna eat the human."
I rolled my eyes, clearly not amused, but let him shove me gently toward the stairs. "Lizzie?" I asked, looking back at the swing my daughter was currently sleeping in.
"Jake'll take care of her," Emmett assured me.
With a frustrated nod, I raced silently up the stairs, avoiding the fourth from the top—the one that always squeaked, no matter how you stepped on it.
Quietly, Emmett shut my door, standing guard in front of it, while I flopped down on my bed, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. Sighing, I leaned my head down, resting it on my knees as I waited.
We heard Jake just before he opened my door, slipping in and closing it quietly behind him. He came to sit down beside me, pulling me against his side as Emmett resumed sentry duty in front of the door.
"Sue's keeping an eye on Lizzie," he explained, and then we were still as we listened.
As Angela got out of the car, she was quiet. When she made it to the door, she knocked gently.
Sue's sneakers squeaked on the floor as she walked from the kitchen to the living room to answer the knock. When she opened the door, it creaked, seeming to echo in the stillness of my room.
"Hello, Angela," Sue said, sounding friendly, but not inviting.
"Hi, Mrs. Swan," Angela said quietly. "Is Bella here? I just got into town, and my mom said Bella had been missing, but she was back now?"
Her heart was fluttering nervously, and I really wished Edward were here to tell me what she was thinking.
Sue sighed, and after a moment, she stood aside. "Come in out of the rain, sweetie."
"Thanks," Angela said gratefully.
There was some shuffling and squeaking as her wet shoes came into contact with the floor.
"Bella's out right now, I'm sorry. As for her being missing... It was all a misunderstanding between Bella and her dad," Sue explained. She told Angela the story Charlie had been giving out, ending with the news that I would be leaving the next day for Wisconsin.
"Wow," Angela said, her heart finally beating normally as she exhaled a shaky breath. "I'm glad she wasn't really missing. She's been through enough."
Lizzie let out a cry then, and I heard Angela's feet moving across the floor. "Ohh, look how big she is!" Angela had visited shortly after I'd had Lizzie, but she hadn't seen her since. When Lizzie began crying in earnest, I heard Angela ask Sue, "May I?"
Sue must have nodded, because I didn't hear an answer, but then there were a few clicks as Angela released the buckles holding Lizzie in place" and her voice softened as she spoke to my daughter.
"Hush, sweetheart," Angela cooed. "You're all right."
Lizzie's cries quieted, and Sue said, "Here, I'll take her. She probably needs to be changed and fed."
"Will you have Bella call me? I'd like to see her before she goes, if she has time."
Sue's voice sounded sad to my ears as she answered, "I'll tell her you stopped by."
"Thanks," Angela replied before the front door shut, leaving the house quiet once more.
Jake held me as venomous tears stung my eyes.
~*~FC~*~
The rest of the week passed quickly. There were a few tense moments, but Angela's unexpected visit had been the worst. It had hit me hard that she was another person I was not only leaving behind, but who I couldn't see anymore, even just to say goodbye. I'd cried on Jake's shoulder for a few minutes, until Lizzie's cry broke through and grabbed my attention. When Edward and Jasper had gotten home a few hours later, I'd decided that no matter how much it hurt, I wasn't going to call her. I knew I'd have had a hard time coming up with an excuse as to why I couldn't see her before I left, so Sue had said if Angela asked at some later point in time, she would apologize and say she'd forgotten to tell me about Angela's visit. It wasn't an easy thing, leaving Angela and my other friends, but I knew that was the way it had to be.
"What's wrong?" Edward asked quietly, looking up from the book he was reading.
Charlie and Sue were sleeping, Emmett and Jasper were playing video games with the volume down low, and I'd been reading along with Edward until Lizzie woke up, needing a bottle.
I turned my head to look at him, raising an eyebrow in question.
"You sighed," he explained, frowning.
"Oh..." I hadn't even realized. "Sorry. I was just thinking of Angela."
He pulled me onto his lap, careful not to jostle the baby, who was almost finished with her middle of the night snack. Knowing I didn't want to talk about it again, he just held me, his fingers brushing lightly across the skin of my stomach where his arm was wrapped around me.
I couldn't control my shiver at his touch. It'd been almost a week since we'd had any good quality time alone. One of us was almost always with Lizzie. It wasn't that I didn't trust the others with her—far from it, in fact. But I was still coming down from the huge fear and worry I'd had about having to leave her, and Edward had clearly fallen in love with her. He was already her father. I think he trusted his brothers with her less than I did. It was a sight to behold.
"I can smell you, love," he murmured so softly in my ear, even Emmett and Jasper didn't hear him—or if they did, they gave no outward indication.
I felt another shiver rack my frame, the low, sexy tenor of his voice going straight from my ear to my clit, making it throb. Squeezing my legs together did nothing to alleviate the pressure I was feeling below. All it did was move me just enough that Edward's erection pressed against my ass in the most delicious of ways.
"Guys," Jasper grumbled without looking back at us.
I couldn't help but laugh at his exasperated tone. "Sorry, Jasper," I said with a grin, shaking my head at Edward's silent laughter behind me. "Blame him."
"I'm not a bit sorry," Edward said, brushing aside my hair to place a suckling kiss to the spot right under my ear that seemed extra sensitive—or maybe it was just that my whole body was thrumming. He did dial it back a notch, though, keeping to light touches and kisses as I finished feeding Lizzie.
Once she was finished eating, I laid her down in the bassinet beside the couch, moving back to Edward's lap.
For a few minutes, everything was quiet as the guys played their game and Edward and I just sat with one another, hands ghosting over skin, soft kisses exchanged. But when I shifted a bit, I came in contact with his still-hard erection, making us both draw in a quick breath of air. On the next sweep down my arm, Edward laced our fingers together, tangling and massaging. I moved our hands to my thigh and then pulled my hand away, arching back to tangle my hand in his hair, pulling his lips to mine. He took the hint and began to rub up and down the length of my leg, from my knee to my hip and back again, slowly moving farther and farther to the inside, until his fingers brushed the seam between my legs, making me bite my lip to hold in my moan.
Edward let out his own soft moan when I nipped at his lower lip, laving it with my tongue, and then moved my outer leg over so the next pass up, his hand cupped me through my jeans.
The noise I made surprised even me.
Jasper groaned again. "Dude, so not cool," he said, his face in his hands.
I could only imagine the amount of lust Edward and I were putting out to make him that overwhelmed.
Still, I was surprised when Edward suddenly moved me to my feet, grabbed my hand, and dragged me to the stairs.
"Watch Lizzie," I squeaked out, giggling quietly as I was pulled up the stairs and the door shut firmly, but silently, behind us.
