Thanks to SusanQ, Nicffwhisperer, Kikki7, Julie, KittyVuitton, Stephanie, Jaime, Nolebucgrl, and Sydney Alice for all of their help pre-reading/betaing/supporting me. I'm always tinkering until right before posting and any mistakes are mine.

Confessions Part II

"You could lose everything. You started your company with your trust fund. A trust fund I established. If Eleazar exposes me, it could ruin you."

A thousand thoughts and questions swirled in my head.

How could Carlisle do this? Was it really possible for Edward to lose everything? What would that mean for us?

The money meant nothing to me, as long as I had Edward.

Did he feel the same? Was I selfish to want him to pick me over everything else in his life? Could I do that to him?

I was angry, anxious, nervous to the point of being sick as the seconds ticked away. Somebody needed to say something—anything—just to end the awful silence which had fallen over the table.

Edward snapped out of it first, lifting his head and staring at his father. "Quit being so fucking melodramatic. You're scaring her."

Was he talking about me or Esme? Could he feel my anxiety through our linked hands?

Before I could wonder any longer, he turned to face me, letting go of my hand and placing both of his on my cheeks. He leaned in close, almost touching noses. I sighed and closed my eyes when his familiar, warm breath washed over my face.

"Baby, before we go any further, I want you to listen to me. Are you listening?"

I nodded and opened my eyes, finding his watching me. The anger on his face from minutes earlier had been replaced with concern.

"Everything is going to be okay. I promise you."

I wanted to believe him.

"How do you know? I don't want you to lose everything you've worked for all your life."

"I'm not going to lose anything. I'll hire a ton of lawyers if I have to, but I know enough to be sure the most that could happen to me now is a fine and penalties from the trust. I promise you everything will work out. Do you believe me?"

His thumbs brushed under my eyes until I nodded, and he kissed me lightly on the lips.

"Good. Remember your promise from before when we talked about Kate and Black? The only thing you need to worry about is taking care of yourself and our baby. I'll fix the rest. Right?"

"Okay."

I tried to put as much strength in my voice as possible, but I wasn't sure he completely believed me.

I didn't really believe me.

"Black?" Carlisle asked, interrupting us, his face scrunched up in thought.

Hmm.

Why did Jake's name trigger that reaction?

Edward took my hand again, turning to face his father. "Yes. That was something else we were going to talk to you about tonight, before your big revelation. You should have told me about this a long time ago." He glanced over at his mother. "And I can't believe you kept it from me."

Esme cringed and Carlisle put his hand on her shoulder.

"Stop. You want to be angry with anyone, be angry with me," Carlisle said. "She didn't know about what I did until recently."

He didn't tell Esme either?

"Why have you waited so long to tell me?"

Carlisle let out a long, frustrated breath, and I wanted to scream at him. This was his fault, and Edward had every right to demand all the answers.

"At first it was shame. I tried to forget about it, kept telling myself nobody would ever know. I almost convinced myself it hadn't really happened. Then you took the money and started your company. I still told myself it was nothing. No big deal. But then your company took off. It exploded. The more successful you became, the more vigilant I had to be in keeping what I did a secret. I couldn't be the reason you lost anything."

"But there was never any threat of criminal charges against you after a certain amount of time, it all came down to money. Why didn't you talk to a lawyer or something? Why did you believe everything Eleazar threatened you with?"

"I did speak to a lawyer. It was early on, but the gist I got was that any money tied to what I did could hurt you."

Edward shook his head. "Let me guess, this lawyer knew Eleazar too?"

Carlisle didn't say anything, but the look on his face showed he was beginning to realize exactly how much he'd been duped by Eleazar.

"You're so smart about most things. I always admired that about you. But I can't believe you fell for this. I can't believe you let him manipulate you all this time into thinking he could touch me." Edward let out a short laugh. "I have to admit though, the fact that you did all this for so long, because you thought you were protecting me is kind of a relief. Even if it was monumentally stupid."

My eyes widened at the hint of hope in Edward's voice. It was the last thing I expected to hear. He had every right to feel hurt, betrayed again, angry at his father for the years of misunderstandings, yet he was looking past all that and seeing the meaning behind it. I watched him, my admiration deepening for this man who held my heart in his hands.

"I did want to protect you. That's always what I wanted." Carlisle's voice was soft, full of apologies, and Esme scooted closer to him, rubbing his arm. "And I want you to know, there's never been a day when I wasn't proud of you, even if I couldn't show it."

Couldn't or wouldn't?

I tried to keep my temper in check, not wanting to hinder the possible resolution between father and son. This was Edward's life they were discussing, and if he was showing the strength to understand his father's motivations, then I was going to bite my tongue.

Even if I was still angry enough at Carlisle to breathe fire.

Edward's eyes were focused on the table, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. Every so often he would squeeze my hand, and it assured me he was still here with me, thinking of me while taking in his father's words.

Carlisle's admission of pride couldn't possibly wipe away the years of Edward believing he was unworthy. But maybe it could soothe the pain a little. Perhaps it could be the first step in fixing what had been broken so long ago.

Whatever Edward decided, in regards to his father, I would stand beside him.

"Thank you," Edward finally said, a determined expression on his face when he lifted his head again. "I think I needed to hear that, no matter how inconsequential it may be right now."

The whole table seemed to take a deep breath in relief.

"The question is what do we do now?" he added.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "It's obvious I don't fully understand the consequences, but at this point, I'll do whatever is best. Whatever you need me to do. If it will make your life easier for me to admit to the SEC or whoever what I did, then I'll do it."

Edward's hand squeezed mine as he shook his head. "No. Don't do that. You were right about one thing, the scandal itself would be enormous. I head a top media company in the U.S., and if the truth came out, I would be linked to it, regardless of my innocence in terms of legality." He took a deep breath. "For now, it would be best if you could continue playing your part with Eleazar. Let him believe I have no idea, even throw him a bone or two that you are working to end my marriage."

My stomach twisted, but I tried to put on a brave face, despite the tears welling in my eyes. Edward pulled my chair closer to his, letting go of my hand and hugging me tight.

"This will be resolved with Eleazar soon, one way or the other, but for now just keep up appearances." Edward continued addressing his father, while crushing me to his chest. "Don't tell anyone about Bella being pregnant. We likely have a couple months before it will be obvious, and hopefully, all this will be over at that point. I'll figure out a way to deal with Eleazar."

His hands rubbed up and down my back, and I concentrated on his steady heartbeat next to my ear. Although it was comforting to know Carlisle would only be pretending, it was still nerve-wracking that someone was out there gunning for me to be gone from Edward's life.

A sob from Esme pulled me out of my haze, and I sat up to find her crying into some tissues.

"It's so unfair to you both. This should be such a happy time." She met my eyes, hers streaming with tears. "I just want you to know, I'm so very sorry you have to deal with this now. And no matter what, there will come a day very soon where I'm going to shout to everyone listening how excited I am you're pregnant and you're my daughter-in-law. I'll throw you the most beautiful baby shower ever."

I laughed a little, getting out of my chair to walk over and give her a hug. She meant well, even if I didn't give a flip about any shower. In fact, she was the only one—aside from our friends—who had been on our side from the start.

"You put the reception together despite all this," I said, watching her eyes.

She lifted her chin. "Yes. The fight I got from wanting to celebrate your marriage was the reason I ended up forcing Carlisle to tell me what was going on. I'm only sorry any of the Forresters were there at all." She blew out an angry breath, seething in her chair. "It took me awhile after that before I could even look at Carlisle, but I love him. He made a terrible mistake, but he takes up too much space in my heart not to forgive him."

I nodded. "I understand."

She placed her hands around mine. "We'll get this fixed. Edward will know what to do."

After getting her calmed down and taking my seat again, I decided to ask what had been in the back of mind for awhile.

"Before, when Edward was talking to me, you seemed surprised when he mentioned the name Black. Why was that?"

Carlisle rubbed his face with his hand and nodded. "Yes, it's the oddest thing. Of course I was aware Kate married him and divorced him...both rather quickly, but I hadn't heard that name in a long time. Back then, Eleazar would refer to him as 'The Maggot' or some other equally derogatory term. But Edward mentioning his name triggered a memory from just a couple months ago."

He drummed his fingers on the tablecloth, a behavior I'd seen Edward do from time to time when he was thinking.

"I was at Eleazar's house, walking to his office, and heard him talking to someone on the phone. His voice was raised, and I had no idea who it was he was angry with, but I hovered outside until he finished. I don't think he had any idea I was out there." He waved his hand. "Anyway, he said something to the effect of you owe me, Black...see that it's done and you'll get paid."

Edward was frowning, and I imagined the wheels turning in his head.

I squeezed his hand until he turned toward me. "Do you think it's possible? Did Eleazar put him up to it?"

"Up to what?" Carlisle asked.

Edward stared at me, anger flickering in his eyes as he told them what we both suspected. "Eleazar paid Jake to follow Bella. That son-of-a-bitch was behind it all."

He went on to tell his parents everything that had happened with Jake. The stalking, the pictures, the confrontation. He even mentioned the therapist, which segued right into Kate.

"I haven't told your mother," Carlisle interrupted. "She doesn't know what Bella informed me Kate did to you in L.A."

Edward sighed, and I felt the same exhaustion that was written over his face. Even though it was better everything was out in the open now, it was still tiring and mentally draining to pour it all out at once.

I rubbed his leg, and turned toward Carlisle. "I think it's best if you two discuss that later. In private. While Kate did some horrendous things back then to hurt Edward, she's now become another player in trying to come between us. Another thing we wanted to talk about tonight was her current behavior."

I filled them in on Kate sending me threatening mail, her confronting me at my reception, and her trying to finagle information about me and Edward through his secretary and lawyer.

"Like father, like daughter," Esme said.

Carlisle looked almost ill, sitting there in silence. He didn't say a word, but I hoped he felt awful about all his attempts to push Kate and Edward together.

"I feel like I have enough dirt on both Eleazar and Kate to force them both to back off and leave us all alone," Edward said, before looking at his father. "What do you think?"

"I just don't know. He's ruthless, but he's also secretive. Maybe he could be persuaded to back off if we told him we were willing to go public with everything." He took a deep breath. "But we'd have to really be willing to. He'll try and call our bluff."

Edward nodded. "Here's what we're going to do. You keep on acting as normal with him. In the meantime, I want you to send me every single bit of information you can remember back when this first started. Who were the people he introduced you to? I need names, dates, amounts, anything you can remember. I'm going to end this once and for all."

I hoped he was right.

~~~*~~~NOP~~~*~~~

As soon as we got home that night, Edward and I were too tired to do much more than strip down to our underwear and fall into bed. He wrapped his arms around me, and I fell asleep soon after.

We saved our talking for the next morning.

I'd never been happier for a Sunday morning, not having anywhere to be except with each other. It was thundering and stormy outside, a perfect day for snuggling.

"Good morning, beautiful."

I smiled, hearing my favorite voice rumbling in my ear, and hugged him tighter, nuzzling my face in his neck. "Morning."

His hand brushed through my hair, then down my back. "How are you feeling?"

"Babywise or about last night?"

He chuckled, his chest vibrating against mine as I lay on top of him. "Either. Both."

I propped myself up a little on my elbow so I could see him. "Babywise, fine. I think I must have lucked out on the whole morning sickness bit." I trailed my fingers over his lips. "About last night, I guess I'm just happy it's all out there now."

"Me, too."

"You know what else?"

He kissed my finger and smiled. "What?"

"You amaze me. You had every right to lash out and be angry at your father when he told you what he did, but you didn't do that. I sat there watching you, the way you accepted and looked beyond the actions to the reasons behind them...I don't know. It seems silly to say I was proud of you. It's more than that. I admire you. You took another blow, but were so strong." I leaned in, kissing him. "I just love you."

He closed his eyes, but his smile got bigger. "It's because of you really."

"What do you mean?"

"Your birthday...when I lost it and did that to you." He swallowed and looked at me again. "It scared me. I know I get crazy sometimes, but after I pushed you away like that...it changed me. You had every right to hate me, to leave me. I don't know what I would have done if you'd left."

The thunder crashed outside and the lights flickered.

I let out a nervous giggle and burrowed my face in his neck again. "I think that was a sign we wouldn't be the only ones upset if I ever left."

He laughed and rolled us over, pressing me down into the mattress. I loved the warmth and feel of his body covering mine. He peppered kisses along my neck, shoulders, chest, working his way down to my stomach. It tickled when his lips brushed over my skin, slowly trailing around my belly button.

He stilled, resting his head and watching his hand rub over my stomach. "Do you know how much I love you? Do you know how much I love your mommy?"

My heart skipped a beat when I realized he was talking to our baby. I brushed my fingers through his hair, loving him more than I thought possible. It was the sweetest sight, even though we both knew it was too early for our baby to actually hear us.

"I may not be the best dad in the world, but I'm going to try. I promise to always be there for you, no matter what. I promise to make sure you know I love you. That you always come first in my life."

Tears fell from my eyes as I listened to him, saying the things to our child I knew he wished he'd heard from his father for so long.

"You are the best thing I've ever done."

I sobbed at that, and Edward made his way back up, kissing my tears away. I wrapped my arms around his neck, keeping him as close as possible.

"Don't cry."

I laughed. "They're good tears. I promise." I squeezed him as hard as I could. "And you are going to be the best dad in the world. I have no doubt."

He held me and kissed me, until my eyes were dry again.

"Edward?"

"Hmm?"

"I know you said it couldn't happen, but if they were somehow able to take your company away because of what your father did, I'd let you go."

He pulled back, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at me. "What do you mean?"

"I would never want to be the reason you lost everything. I'd let you go to Kate to keep Eleazar quiet, until we could figure out what to do."

He shook his head. "I'd rather have you and nothing else than have all of this without you."

And with that one sentence, it no longer mattered to me about Jake or Kate or Eleazar. It didn't matter what else happened, because I knew for sure Edward placed me above money and power. He loved me as much as I loved him.

I kissed him with everything I had. Until he was groaning in my mouth and tugging my panties down. We made love with the sound of the pounding rain accompanying our murmured words. Confessing our love, each in our own way.

We eventually did make our way into the shower and downstairs for some food, but the remainder of the day was spent cuddling and comforting in our own little bubble for two.

I was happy, content, almost able to forget that Monday meant the real world would be crashing around us again.

Or maybe it was coming sooner than I thought.

Edward's phone buzzed with a text, and I glanced at his frowning face as he held me on the couch. I paused the movie we were watching.

"What is it?"

He sighed. "I told you I was going to take care of this. You're not supposed to worry, right?"

"That's impossible. I'll be more worried if you keep me in the dark."

He set his phone on the table, bringing his arms around me again. It made me more nervous because he was hesitating so long to tell me.

The last thing I expected were the words that eventually came out of his mouth.

"I'm going to see Jacob tomorrow."

AN: Have your feelings about Carlisle changed? Why is Edward going to see Jake?

I hoped this answered more of the questions left from the last chapter. A note: I am taking some creative liberties with the insider trading/money/penalties. Just remember this is fic, and while I researched through articles and information until my eyes crossed, there is a reason I never went into business.

Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, and letting me know your thoughts. I appreciate you all very much!

Find me on facebook at Twilover Seven-six – I try to put up pictures and a teaser for coming chapters in the NOP group.

Find me on twitter at twilover76

Fic Recs:

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Elemental by TallulahBelle

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