After almost eight hours of being on the airplane, we finally arrived at Heathrow Airport, London.
It felt a little nostalgic being in London since the last time I had been here was to visit my grandparents. Now I was here because I was forced to move here so everything was anything but pleasant.
There was a Mercedes that waited for us outside, and the driver placed our bags into the boot. I entered the car and it started to move. The skies were as per normal for the city— a little dark with the possibility of rain.
I didn't dare to turn on my cellphone. It was probably bombarded with texts from everyone back in New York, including Edward. My heart clenched tightly as I thought about him. I didn't want to think about how everyone was reacting to my calling off the whole trips to Monaco and breaking up with him. I was too busy staring out of the window and not even realizing that we just arrived in Oxshott, Surrey after an hour until I heard my mother.
"These houses are gorgeous, Bella! Don't you think so?" She asked, patting my hand as she smiled widely at the mansions we passed by. "How I've missed living in the suburbs. You know, your grandfather used to bring me to the country club up when we lived in Weybridge before I went to recruit school at thirteen. Maybe we'll take a trip up there when we have the time."
"What else is there here in Oxshott?" I asked just to keep her busy.
"A lot of things, darling. Maybe we'll get a couple of cars for driving around the area this week. Any cars that you have in mind, sweetheart?"
"I don't know." I responded, not wanting her to buy me anything. This was a pastime of hers when she was away on missions— she loved buying my and Alice's affections.
"Alright. When you have a car in mind, tell me immediately, alright?" She smiled at me and looked out of the window again when the car was turning. "Oh, we're here!"
A couple of black iron gates opened automatically, with a round gravel driveway and a circular water fountain in the center of the driveway. The mansion house was painted over, but left with the color of the orange bricks. It had a black roof and there were white pillars that reminded me of Greece. The car stopped once we were in front of the porch.
I stepped out and continued studying the mansion while my bags were being carried to the porch. My mother just opened the door to the house and I entered after her.
"Welcome to the Clifton House. So how do you like it?" Renée asked, eyeing my expression.
"It's nice." I replied. "Where's my bedroom?"
"I was thinking that you'd like a tour around the place before—"
"Mom, I want to sleep. I'm jet-lagged." I snapped.
She sighed. "It's upstairs. I'll lead you to it." She walked up the grand staircase and I followed right behind her. She led me down a hallway to the right and opened one of the only two doors.
It looked exactly like my bedroom back in the penthouse in New York, evoking memories of the nights I spent with Edward. I shut my eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
"Looks like your things came in sooner than I thought. Seems like they've already unpacked for you, so you don't have anything else to do now." Renée said, wrapping her arms around me for the first time ever since the night we all had dinner at Crystal. She gave me a kiss on my forehead and let me go. "Have a nice nap."
She left and I closed the door softly behind me, removing my heels as I walked to my bed to curl up on the bed.
Four Months Later
"So we went on our way, too in love to think straight and all alone or so it seemed but there were strangers watching and whispers turned to talking and talking turned to screams..." The song played as I rode on my bicycle as I took my normal route around the suburban town. The ground was wet due to the rain last night and I stayed on the walking path. I didn't dare to cycle down the road. I now had something else to take care of other than myself, so I couldn't take the risk.
"We found Wonderland, you & I got lost in it and we pretended it could last forever. We found Wonderland, you & I got lost in it and life was never worse but never better," Taylor Swift continued singing in my ears.
I hadn't been on a single mission ever since I moved here, and I couldn't. This place was starting to grow on me and it kind of reminded me of the Hamptons, with the sports cars around the suburban area and mansions all over the place. The only thing that wasn't like the Hamptons was the weather, since the rainfall here was much more than over there. It was still pretty decent if you could compare it to London's.
"I reached for you but you were gone. I knew I had to go back home. You searched the world for something else to make you feel like what we had and in the end in Wonderland, we both went mad—" I changed the song, unpleasant memories from back in New York emerging from the lyrics that somehow felt familiar to what I had gone through with Edward. I wanted to remember him, but at the same time, I didn't. Our relationship didn't end on a pleasant note and what we had was unfinished business that now I had to carry, but carrying it had been a beautiful but tough thing to do. I only wished that Edward was here to see what we had made.
I played with my promise ring whenever I thought about him, wondering if he had already moved on from us or if he was still wearing this ring, thinking of his memories of me. All that I knew was that memories couldn't do justice since it was all just imprinted in the mind. I couldn't relive my memories of Edward since he wasn't here.
I couldn't remember what exactly happened, but everything just happened in a flash and then I had hit the ground hard. I cried out in pain and my arms immediately went to my stomach. A few passers-by ran to me and my vision had so much black holes that I almost blacked out.
"Miss, are you okay?" An elderly lady asked.
"Call an ambulance," I groaned out in pain.
"Did you break a bone?" A male's voice asked.
"No! I didn't...," I felt nauseous and didn't bother to complete my sentence. "I'm just... pregnant..."
"Oh Jesus, did she just say she's pregnant?!" The elderly lady said. "Hurry up and call the ambulance!"
I blacked out at that very moment and couldn't remember what else that had happened. I woke up to blinding lights and I groaned, closing my eyes since the lights were too bright.
"Miss Swan?" I heard a gentle female voice start.
"Where am I?" I asked, my eyes adjusting to the light as I sat up. I was on a hospital bed but still in my gray maxi dress. There was a female doctor standing by the bed, looking at me. She had long blond hair and blue eyes, looking about around her early thirties.
"You're at the hospital, ma'am. You're lucky since you aren't hurt that much— just a little scratch at your elbow," she said, glancing at my arm. "Your baby's alright, which is quite a relief there. Your mother is coming to pick you up, although I do have a question to ask you." She sounded hesitant.
I nodded slowly. "What is it?"
"Does... your mother know about your pregnancy—"
"No, she doesn't. She doesn't need to know." I replied abruptly.
"Someday, she's going to know." She told me. "Once your mother arrives, you'll be discharged from here."
She left the hospital ward and I leaned my head against the metal bed frame, sighing. She was right. In the end, Renée was bound to know that I was pregnant and her reaction would be anything but calm.
Once Renée arrived, she was walking briskly towards me and hugged me tightly. I tried to get out of her grasp and she let me go with her eyes wide.
"You fell down from your bicycle and ended up here?" She asked. "It must be serious, isn't it?"
"No, it wasn't but I wanted to check something just in case." I replied.
"Check what, sweetheart?" She placed her hand on the back of my head, looking at me with a curious look on her face.
I waved it off. "No, it's nothing. Let's just... get out of here."
She didn't seem like she was going to let this go. "Isabella Marie, you will tell me what it is. Did you know that the doctor didn't give me the full report of what happened? I want to hear it from you." She folded her arms, a stern look on her face as if I was a six-year-old stealing cookies.
"It's nothing."
"We're not leaving the hospital until you tell me what happened."
"Then I'll just discharge myself from here." I sighed in exasperation, getting off the hospital bed and out of the ward.
Renée followed me from behind. "Bella, come back here!"
I ignored her, on my way to the elevator.
"Isabella Marie Swan, you will come back here this instant or I will have to kick you out from the house!"
I stopped in my tracks and turned around. "Isn't that good for me, then? I can finally go back to New York without any interference from you?" I glared at her as she caught up to me.
"Bella, tell me what is going on now."
"I'm pregnant."
She inhaled sharply and glared at me. "And you didn't bother to tell me once you found out?! How long have you've known?!"
"Thirteen weeks now. I just started showing this week." I looked at her dead in the eye in a monotonous voice.
"You've been pregnant for four months and you didn't tell me?" She fiercely whispered, glancing around the crowded hallway for any intrigued eyes. "Please don't tell me Edward Cullen is the father."
"Seems like something finally isn't going your way ever since we moved here, because the father is Edward." I told her.
"I thought you were on birth control."
"I thought that it was clear to you that birth control pills don't always work."
She glared at me. "Why don't you want to abort it?"
"I don't plan to, because I'm not like you." I said. "I will be there for this child whenever he or she needs me and I won't ever be absent from his or her life like you did when Alice & I needed you. I won't ever treat him or her as an outsider unlike how you didn't tell me that you & Dad were getting a divorce when Alice got the news first."
"But you're just sixteen and you don't know anything about raising a child. By the time you're in your thirties, your kid will be a full-grown adult. You should be learning to enjoy your years before adulthood and not be pulled down with a kid to take care of." She hissed.
"Mom, if you haven't realized, I have never had a childhood, so this shouldn't be any of your business. You've been trying to buy your way into forgiveness and now that doesn't really seem to work, does it?" I said before walking away.
So it's either you guys were expecting a pregnant Bella or not. I know that I kinda said Bella won't get knocked up (well, look what happened now), but I changed my mind. So LOL.
Anyways, does anyone have a suggestion for baby names for the kid? I kind of have an idea, but I wanna hear your thoughts.
xx