Happy new year!
I must say I loved the reviews for the last chapter, lots of good questions and theories. While some of you are spot on in your guesses I also noticed that some of you are quite confused. Therefore I've put together a list of questions and answers that I hope will help. No real update this time in other words… sorry… you'll have new chapter in a few days (hope that is okay with everyone). There is also another treat for you at the bottom of this page in the form of a timeline.
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Is this a Bella & Edward story? Will there be a happily ever after ending?
Yes, E&B all the way. It will take a while before we get any E & B interaction, but they will get there eventually. *hint* the M rating is not for bad language or violence…
Is Bella pregnant with Edward's baby?
Well, this story 'A toxic lullaby' is a continuation to my previous story 'A twisted tale'. The last sentence in that first story was "You're pregnant". So, yeah, it certainly looks that way, but you won't hear Bella talk about it (or read about her talking about it ;) just yet. And when she's ready to talk about it, I would imagine the father of her baby would be the first one she will tell. This could be a problem seeing as her and Edward isn't exactly on speaking terms at this point in the story…
Is Edward Anthony's father? How long are we going to have to wait for the result of the DNA test?
The child is indeed connected to Edward, the question is how… If Edward has to wait 3-5 business days for the result of the paternity test. I think it's only fair to keep the suspense up for 3-5 chapter (closer to 3 would be my guess).
Did Angela get to Edward while he was drugged (and photographed in his birthday suit)? Is that how Anthony was conceived?
No, that was her brother James messing with Edward for his own perverse pleasures. Edward wasn'tthe first or the only one James lured into the studio under false pretences. Take Angela for example… James didn't invite his sister to hang with him that summer just to be nice to her, he had other plans for her and as a result of that, young Angela ended up witnessing to more nudity and sexual aversion that summer than any young girl should ever have to deal with. This was the summer of 2003, though, and Antony wasn't conceived until 2007.
Are Angela and the dead stalker the same person, or is there another stalker on the loose? Is Angela really dead? Is Angela really Anthony's mother?
Yes, Angela is really dead, but before she died she managed to squeeze out a baby, Anthony. The last year of her life was spent stalking and harassing poor Edward. There is no other stalker in this story.
The journal entries are obviously old ones from when Angela was still alive. So far there have been two entries; one dated back 15 months and the other one 14 months.
So, what do we know about the stalker/baby situation:
-When the first few journal entries were written Angela was still in Seattle taking care of her baby and working multiple jobs to keep up with her rent. Have you noticed how she never mentions Anthony by his name? This is an indication that the girl never really bonded with her child.
-We know that she eventually left Seattle to go to New York and find (and stalk) Edward. You'll read more about this in future journal entries.
-We know she didn't bring her child along when she left Seattle (there was no mention of a child in 'A twisted tale' and also Edwards said in the previous chapter that he believed the stalker was childless).
-Someone else must have cared for the child while Angela was busy stalking Edward.
-Someone else must have left the child (and the letter) at that church, because the stalker/Angela was already dead at that point.
Conclusion: I wasn't planning on giving you this little clue just yet …. but here we go… Kebi and Angela is not the same person. The person that wrote the letter that was found with the child was not the child's mother. Look at how the letter is worded, "I can't take proper care of him. I love Anthony. I love him as much as I possibly can, but I can not be a mother to him". This Kebi person must have panicked when she realized that Angela was dead and that no one was coming to retrieve the child.
So that leaves us with: who is Kebi and why didn't someone come for the child? Angela had quite a few living relatives after all….
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Timeline
I've taken the time to write up a timeline for you all. It's quite long (no wonder you're having trouble to keep up ;). It's only the bolded parts that are important for this story though, the rest is just backstory…
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-*High school years*-
Single mom Renee meets Phil Dwyer, a retired major league baseball player campaigning for higher office.
Bella escapes to her estranged biological father in Forks, after some rather embarrassing footage of her mom and new step dad is leaked to the press.
Bella meets Edward at the police station in Forks where he is awaiting his punishment for having pulled off a sloppy high speed parallel parking job that involved an illegal U-turn and two wheels on the sidewalk (not the first, nor the last, run in he had with chief Swan)
Bella and Edward start dating… in secret… because Chief Swan wouldn't let his darling daughter date anyone, let alone go anywhere near one of the Cullen boys.
Chief Swan catches his daughter and her boyfriend going at it hot and heavyin the passenger seat of Edward's Volvo.
Bella spends the remaining weeks of the school year in house arrest and is later sent of to Renee to cool off for a few weeks.
Edward takes off for Europe and a summer music scholarship at the Horack institute in Vienna (read: music boot camp), courtesy of daddy Carlisle.
Bella comes back home to Forks only to find out that Chief Swan has a bit of a mental break down. Long time friend Jacob is there to help her deal with the situation.
Edward comes back to Forks only to find Bella, his Bella, in the arms of a certain biker boy from the La Push reservation.
Edward refuses to listen to Bella and chooses to believe the rumours without checking the facts.
The final nail in the coffin comes when Edward beats Jake to a bloody pulp after having caught him in a lip lock with some skanky blonde cheerleader, behind Bella's back.
Bella refuses to listen to Edward and chooses team Jacob… or team Suzuki as it turns out… Because biker boy's dedication and hard work on the race tracks eventually lands him a lucrative contract with Paul Denning's well-known and hugely successful Rizla Suzuki Team.
Bella and Edward graduate high school.
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-*College years*-
Edward heads for New York and Columbia University to study classical music composition.
Chief Swan steps down from his post as Chief of police because of medical issues (Alzheimer). Bella turns down her Colombia scholarship to take care of her father.
While in college Edward dabbles in modeling for a short period of time. It all comes to an end when he meets shady photographer Jamie (James) T Wilson. Drugged to unconsciousness, Edward wakes up on the floor naked with James hovering over him with his camera.
Jacob Black becomes the youngest driver to ever claim a MotoGP World Championship point.
Charlie retires to a nursing home in Florida in the hopes of convincing his daughter to resume her college plans. Bella surprises both her parents by deciding to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Jamie T Wilson is sued for sexual harassment. His sister's testimony gets him convicted, something brother dearest isn't too happy about. Death threats follows.
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-*Adulthood*-
Edward stays in New York after college where he starts making a name for himself as a writer/composer of music for advertising.
Edwards spends time at the Warwick Seattle Hotel in Seattle, while recording some instrumental pieces for a TV documentary.
Police officer Isabella Swan, from the Phoenix Police district, marries childhood friend and long time financial supporter Jacob Black in a beach ceremony at First Beach in La Push.
Bella completes her FBI training in Quantico while her hubby is off tearing up tracks and winning races both in the States and across the Atlantics.
A baby boy, who goes by the name Anthony, is born. The exact location for his birth is still unknown, but somewhere in Seattle would be a good guess.
Two-time World Grand Prix Champion andRoad Racing Legend Jacob Black dies in hospital as a result of a serious head injury sustained during the Indianapolis Grand Prix.
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-*The Stalker Era*-
Angela Weber relocates from Seattle to New York where she starts working as a cashier, a flower delivery person, and a nanny for, none other than, Elliott McCarty Cullen (Edward's nephew and godson).
A 28-year-old male (aka Judge Harridan's nephew) is found dead, lying naked, face down on a parking lot outside a night club in Rochelle. The boyfriend, Jamie T Wilson, is wanted for the murder.
Bella is transferred to the Protective Services Unit (PSU) in New York around the same time as Edward receives the first of many notes deliver in a blood red envelope.
Five months, 101 notes and 256 phone calls later and Edward's 'friendly' stalker has turned into an obsessive psychopath watching his every move.
The first of Jamie's perverse nudie pictures resurfaces in Edward's bedroom (no signs of breaking and entering, mind you). Edward realizes that the police are unable to ensure his safety.
Alice gets the brilliant idea of calling an old high school friend for help. Special agent Bella Bla-… er Swan gets assigned the case.
Bella goes under cover and takes on the identity of Arizona Bell Hawkins. Ms. Hawkins lands herself a part time job at Emmett's gym as well as a one room apartment in the building where the most of the Cullen siblings residence.
After a few months of cat-and-mouse game (or perhaps snake-and-rat game is more fitting) the identity of the stalker is reviled and Angela Weber is take into custody.
Ms. Weber makes certain admissions before she takes matters into her own hands and hangs herself inside her holding cell.
Edward and Bella part ways on not so friendly terms.
Bella learns that she's pregnant.
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-*The Anthony Era*-
A boy is found abandoned on the steps of a church in Seattle. A letter signed with the name 'Kebi' names Edward Cullen as the father of the child.
Edward heads for Seattle to take a paternity test, when more of Jamie T Wilson's (shady photographer and murder suspect) perverse nudie pictures resurface.