[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Two updates on the same day – clear proof that I'm way too obsessed with writing this story.

This chapter here is dedicated to aquarius127 and Silva86. Hope you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 89**

Ali's POV

"Oh my god!" she called out cheerfully, her light voice raising two octaves.

"How many different kinds of candy do they sell here? This is so incredible! Benjamin, can we buy some more of those?"

He chuckled and crossed his arms in front of his chest before he took one of the boxes she was holding and put them back into the shelf.

"Try to calm down a bit, Irina. You don't have to try all of it on the same day."

She responded something in Romanian and put the box with the cookies back into the shopping card.

Benjamin leaned over and whispered into my ear.

"I bet she'll double her weight in the time she's going to spend here."

I shook my head and sighed deeply.

"I don't think so. The twins will keep her pretty busy. She won't have too much time to eat."

Irina pulled a camera out of her handbag and took several pictures of everything around her.

"Stop doing that. You're embarrassing us."

"But no one is going to believe me if I don't have any proof."

"You can send our family a picture from you behind bars if you go on with the photo stuff. The manager of the supermarket is probably going to call the cops because he's thinking that you might be a spy for another company."

"Really?"

"Oh Irina, please don't be so terribly naïve. Jeez, how old are you?"

"Seventeen…but I'm going to turn eighteen in a week."

"But you behave like a twelve year old who has never been away from home."

"You are so mean. Just for the record; technically this is the first time that I'm away from my family. My father didn't want to let me go at all but…,"

"My father talked him into sending you here - halleluja. Do me a favor and calm down a bit, because if anything goes wrong with you, sure as hell Vlad is going to blame us for it."

"Hmm, probably,"

When we returned to the car, I pulled out my cell to type a new text.

Miss the two of you. What R U doing?

A few seconds later her response landed on the tiny screen in front of me.

Waiting for you to come home, what else? Is your cousin nice?

"Alicija?"

"Hmm?"

"She's going to be nice to me, isn't she? I'm really worried about that."

"Who? Oh, you mean Rosie. Well, she's a bit superficial and bitchy from the outside but deep inside she has a heart of gold."

"As long as you don't make any comments about the hot ass of her husband you and Barbie-Girl will get along just fine."

"Why would I do such a thing? You know that I have a boyfriend back home."

"And you honestly think that he's going to wait for you for an entire year? God, you're really naïve, Irina."

"No, I'm not. I just believe in love and that it can overcome everything…just everything."

XXXX

"How could you hire an au-pair girl without asking me beforehand, McCarthy? Have you completely lost your mind now?"

"Babe, please calm down. You really need some help with the twins no matter how much you keep telling everybody that you don't."

Irina cleared her throat nervously and started twisting one of her light brown curls around her fingers.

"Please let me stay. I promise not to cause you any trouble and I'm really good with kids."

"Hmm,"

Rosalie sipped on the tea in front of her and took a bite from the stick of celery on her plate. No wonder that her mood was always so terribly low when she didn't eat properly.

"You don't look old enough to have any experience with little kids."

"I have three younger siblings. Trust me, that is almost too much experience for my taste."

"Hmm, I see. Did you come here to get some time away from them?"

"No, I didn't." she mumbled, her cheeks turning into a bright pinkish color.

"Be honest. I can't stand being lied to. Especially when someone is such a terrible poor liar like you seem to be."

"Okay, that was part of my decision, but not the only one. I really do love my brothers and sister but sometimes I really wished I could be an only child. Does that sound weird?"

Rosalie chuckled and handed her the plate with the celery. Irina took one of the sticks and started nibbling on it halfheartedly.

"No, I can understand that. It's not that easy being the oldest."

Irina nodded her head and sat down on the edge of the couch again.

"Benjamin?"

"Yes, Barbie-Girl?"

"Your cousin can stay here…for let's say a month or something like that. And if you dare to call me Barbie-Girl for just one more time I'm going to kick that ass of yours so hard you won't be able to sit down for a few days."

XXXX

"You're back, finally." She greeted me when I sat down next to her on the bed and planted a tender kiss on her soft lips.

"Sorry, it took me so long. We had to convince my sister to try the au-pair thing. But now I have a certain feeling that Irina and she are going to get along quite well."

I put a wisp of her chestnut hair behind her ear and wrapped my hand around her wrist to check her pulse again.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired but that comes probably from me spending my entire time here in bed."

"Did you have any more cramps?"

"No not since the first time. I'm really glad about that."

"Me too, Bella," I whispered and leaned over to pull her shirt up so that I could plant several kisses underneath the soft skin of her belly button.

"Hi, little baby. You're going to do fine, aren't you? We really don't want to have to worry about you all the time."

Bella giggled and pulled me up again, twisting her hands into the spikey curls of my hair.

"It's so cute when you talk to the baby. It's almost as if he's already here."

I raised one eyebrow and grabbed the ultrasonic picture from the night table.

"Dr. O'Hara didn't mention anything about the sex when he was here the last time. Or did I miss that part?"

She cupped my face between her hands and kissed the tip of my nose so lightly that her sweet breathe tickled my skin.

"I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. But I hope it's a boy."

"Really? Because I really want the baby to be a little daughter,"

"Boys are easier to handle than girls. I'm already scared of the day Lilly reaches puberty. That'll be hell on earth, I guess."

"But little girls are so cute. Just think of all the pretty dresses I could make for her."

Bella nodded her head and placed my right hand on her slightly rounded belly. The pregnancy was starting to show…well at least a tiny little bit and that filled me with so much pride that it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't wait for the baby to be born.

Tenderly I caressed the skin on her abdomen in small circles. Then I grabbed some of the massage oil and started rubbing it gently into her pearly-white skin.

"That feels nice." she whispered, closing her beautiful chocolate eyes for a moment.

"I love you…so very much."

I kissed her mouth and swirled my tongue over her velvety bottom lip until she gasped for air and I used the opportunity to nudge the tip of my tongue against hers.

"Do you have a name yet?" she asked me when I pulled back a few moments later.

"Have you?" I whispered, resting my head against her shoulder. God, how did she manage to smell this incredibly good all the time? I wanted to crawl underneath her skin and never come out again.

"I haven't really thought about it much. It's not that easy to choose one."

"Do you want to hear the one that I want her to have?"

"Please tell me that you don't want to name her Coco after that designer you fancy so much."

I quickly shook my head and took her hand in mine to plant kisses all over her knuckles.

"Lexie-Ann, that's how I want to name her."

"How did you come up with that?"

"Don't you like it?" I asked her, rubbing my fingertips over the metal of her wedding ring. Were her fingers swollen or was that just the light inside her?

"I thought that it would be nice naming her after my mothers. Alexandra after my birth mother and Ann because of Esme's middle name."

"Esme's middle name is Anne?"

Somehow her voice sounded horrified. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Her middle name is Anne?" she repeated sitting up so quickly that she almost spilled the content of her orange juice all over the bed.

"Sweetheart, are you okay? Look, if you don't like the name, we can find another one."

"Her middle name is Anne?" she whispered so low that it was barely audible.

"Yes, that's her middle name. Her full name is Esme Anne Platt Cullen."

"That's not true." Her voice cracked like a broken record in a gramophone before she started trembling next to me.

"Bella? Are you feeling sick again? Do you want me to call Dr. O'Hara or my father?"

She burst out into tears and I wrapped my arms around her to let her sob against my shoulder until the fabric of my shirt was completely soaked through.

"Honey, please, tell me what's wrong. You're scaring me."

Hesitantly she sniffed and raised her head again, desperately trying to avoid any eye contact with me. What in heaven's name was wrong with her? Was she so overly emotional because of all the pregnancy hormones in her blood?

"She killed him," she stumbled out hoarsely fumbling for the phone on the other side of the bed.

"I can't believe she killed him. Oh god, how could she do something like that? She didn't even know Charlie, well at least not much…"

"Bella, please try to calm down again. Breathe and give me the phone. Who on earth were you going to call now?"

"Mike,"

"What for? Please, Bella, tell me why you are so scared now."

"She killed him. Oh god, she really killed him and then she sat next to me during his funeral and held my hand. How can someone be so two-faced?"