Thanks to everyone for the reviews and favorites/alerts.
I apologize for my being absent, and not updating, but school can be very time-consuming, even for someone just in high school still. I hope everyone will accept my apologies.
I hope everyone is pleased with this chapter; or, well, find it good enough at least.
Disclaimer: All characters in this story and the Twilight Saga itself belong to Stephenie Meyer. I do not own any songs in this story. I merely own the plot of the story.
Chapter 19: Birthday Gifts
Two Months Later…
"Happy birthday!" the Cullen, minus Alice, family, and Tanya – much to my dismay - yelled out loudly as Alice and I walked through the door of our house, orange juice from the grocery store in hand. I smiled at them a little, not really enjoying surprises, especially not from seven people.
I looked over at Alice from the corner of my eye, raising my eyebrow as she smirked; I knew she had something to do with this. We went to the grocery store for orange juice – orange juice of all things! We came back, and this is what we come home to. I should have expected this; after all, it is my birthday, September thirteenth.
I had an ultrasound last month, my fifth month of pregnancy, and found out that the baby girl in my womb is perfectly healthy still. Tanya was so excited when she found out that the baby was a girl, along with the rest of the family. She was even more thrilled to buy a whole bunch of baby clothes, a crib, a changing table, among other things for the baby girl.
Tanya had a big smile on her face as Alice and I walked into the living room to where everyone was standing. There was a sugar-free cake in the middle of the dining room table, with nine sets of forks and plates.
"Thanks, everyone. This means a lot…" I smiled at Edward as he smiled his crooked, beautiful smile over at me, before averting my gaze over to the rest of the Cullens, nodding my head at each of them. I realized that I still had the orange juice in my hand, and left for a moment, walking into the kitchen and putting away the juice; the Cullens chatting away, grabbing gifts – pretty large gifts, at that – from the couch. My hand went down to the bulge that was my stomach, rubbing it softly and slowly as I walked back to the living room, noticing lots of food on the kitchen counter while I walked by.
"Is it dinner time, or gift-opening time?" My stomach growled as I blushed, grinning at everyone, secretly wanting it to be dinner time.
Alice chimed in first, "Dinner time." She smiled at me, pushing me lightly toward the dining room table. I sat down in the first chair, on the end of the rectangular table, watching as everyone else sat down except for Tanya and Edward. The two walked into the kitchen, grabbing all of the food from the kitchen counter, and setting it around the sugar-free cake in the middle of the table. I smelled in the delicious food, all of my favorites, which they all knew I would love.
One thing I did not love, was how perfect Edward and Tanya appeared as they set the food on the table together, moving around each other perfectly, as if they really were meant to be together until they were elderly and had grand children. I frowned a bit, thinking about it, my hand still rubbing my big stomach, which was a good amount of space away from the table thankfully.
"Well," Esme said to me, "birthday-girl, dig in. You can have the first bite. I hope it's good; I made it all by myself, no thanks to Carlisle." She glared playfully over at Carlisle, who smiled sheepishly at his wife. The two were obviously still in love and happily married.
"Yes, ma'am." I joked, smiling at Esme widely as I reached forward, grabbing the fettucini alfredo bowl, and placing some on my plate before grabbing a bread stick that Esme had made from scratch. I took a bite of the bread stick, licking my lips, beaming at Esme. I nodded my head in agreement with her earlier statement; all of the food she made was delicious, and there was no doubt about it.
The rest of the dinner went by smoothly luckily. Everyone loved Esme's dinner, and everyone got along perfectly fine. No one was hurt, and thankfully, Tanya didn't kill me.
Thirty or so minutes later, the dinner was gone – mostly thanks to Emmett and his endless pit of a stomach. We had moved into the living room, where all the gifts were on the coffee table. There was a gift from everyone that I saw, besides Edward. I peered over at Edward, looking a little confused, knowing that he hadn't forgotten it was my birthday. I wondered why he had not gotten me a gift, though I didn't really mind; him just being here was good enough gift for me.
I opened Rosalie's gift first, a necklace that said "PSF: Pregnant Sisters Forever." I laughed at that, giving my "pregnant sister forever" a hug, before moving onto the next gift from Alice. Alice and Jasper had gotten me multiple gifts: a shirt that said "I'm not pregnant. I'm just fat," a GPS system for my truck – a rather expensive one, I could tell -, and a bracelet with my birthstone on it. Carlisle and Esme had gotten me one huge gift that was resting in the corner of the living room in a big box, which I could see was a workout station made for pregnant women. Tanya and Emmett bought me an enormous stereo system for my truck.
I thanked all of them, taking my time to hug each of them, even Edward, though he didn't seem to get me anything at all. I put Rosalie's necklace around my neck before putting on Alice's birthstone bracelet. I remained seated on the black, leather couch as everyone began leaving. Alice and Jasper started to clean up all of the paper left behind from the wrapped gifts, and afterwards put the plates in the sink, leaving them in the kitchen for Edward and Tanya to clean. They had offered to help clean up, and Alice and Jasper accepted the help.
I felt sort of like a bum, just sitting here on the couch while other people clean up my birthday mess. I grimaced at the thought, leaning down from the couch, and picking up a piece of wrapping paper that Alice and Jasper had forgotten. I hissed lightly in pain, frowning, seeing the tiny paper cut on my finger as I picked up the paper. I got a bit dizzy, avoiding looking at the blood building on my index finger, as I tried to remember where the first-aid kit was.
The kitchen, right… I reminded myself, carefully standing up from the couch, and waddling over to the kitchen entrance gradually. I halted all my movements, and peeked over the entrance sideways, my ear right next to the wall as I heard Edward and Tanya talking in the kitchen. I forgot all about the paper cut on my finger, and these next few moments seemed to have passed so slowly.
"…have a kiss?" Tanya questioned Edward cheerfully for only that moment.
I saw Tanya sitting on the granite counter. Her blue, sparkling eyes stayed on Edward as he finished loading the dishes into the dish-washer. He sighed, walking over in front of her; he laid his hands on the counter on either side of her, trapping her there. She smirked at him, shaking her head slowly; although, she did smirk like she had just won an argument, her eyes had tears of pain in them, and her head shaking looked as if it were out of fear.
"So, this is your gift to her then?" She laughed pathetically, her voice breaking half way through the question. I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion, her words putting me on edge. She smirked even wider as she looked behind Edward, at me, with her devilish, sky-blue eyes, as she asked that final question before Edward closed the gap between them. Tanya wrapped her perfectly-formed legs around Edward's waist as his hands went to her waist, her hands sliding from his strong back to his copper-colored hair. I didn't have to be right in there, having a fantastic view, to know that their lips were together, working as one, moving together wonderfully; just like their bodies had done earlier when they were setting the food on the table.
"You do know we'll be together forever, Edward. We both do, and so does Bella."
I tried my hardest to choke back the falling tears, my hand covering my mouth, the blood on my index finger was dried up as the tears began to fall on it, dripping into my hand quickly. I sobbed loudly, and it was loud enough for them to hear. Edward ripped from Tanya's grasp, chasing after me as I began grabbing my things; my purse and my jacket, were all I needed right now. I didn't need this house, and I didn't need Tanya and her drama. I did not need Edward and his bullshit lies.
With my things in hand, I walked past Tanya on my way out the door, Edward trailing me still. She just smiled at me, waving her hand before pouting her bottom lip out. I stopped in front of her for five seconds, bringing my hand down across her slightly-tanned cheek, leaving a bright red mark. Her wide eyes teared up again as she brought her hand up to her red, probably stinging cheek. My hand stung, but I smiled through the sorrow and pain, wanting to have done that for a while now.
I proceeded out the door in anger as quick as I could, keeping a hand underneath my belly.
"Bella! Bella, where are you going? Bella, please, stop, don't go. Let me explain. Please!" Edward pleaded with me, catching up with me, and grabbing my other hand. I stopped moving, letting my hand be held by him for this moment. I only let him hold onto my hand, because this was probably the last time I would ever touch him again.
I looked straight in front of me, with dead set eyes on my red truck, speaking to him firmly, "Edward, we all know I've always loved you. From the very moment we became friends, everyone knew it would happen…besides you. I was willing to be there for you; I was willing to be your rebound whenever a girl broke your heart, or whenever you needed a friend to hang out with. It always broke my heart. You always broke my heart. But…I'm done now. I won't let you anymore."
"Where are you going?" Edward asked quietly, squeezing my hand softly before dropping it.
"Florida. I'm going to live with Renee for a bit. I think it'll be good for me, and the baby…" I responded emotionless. The tears were threatening to spill over again, and some of them did. Thankfully, Edward was behind me, and couldn't see how much it hurt me to say goodbye to him.
"I'm sorry, Bella."
"I know, Edward." I sighed, walking over and getting in my truck, setting my things in the passenger seat. I looked over at Edward through the window one last time.
He was crying. The fourth time I saw Edward Anthony Cullen cry, was now when I broke his heart. Tear after tear rolled down his cheek as something fell from his hand. My eyes widened in shock.
The little black velvet box opened as it fell, breaking apart into two pieces. The top piece had a name engraved in the fabric, "Isabella Marie Swan." The bottom piece of the box had an engagement ring; full of little, sparkling diamonds with a greenish-brown stone in the middle. It was the color of our eyes. This engagement ring was for me.
So, there ya go. Sorry it took so long, once again. I thought it was fairly long, or longer than usual.
Please,
Review!
-J.
