Pressure...

~(~)~

She barely has time to put his coffee, black with two sugars, and her latte down on the counter before he takes her in his arms. She blinks in surprise at his enthusiasm and laughs, even as she rises to her toes to make the most of his embrace.

"Welcome to Rainy Day Books," he whispers. "Can I help you find anything?"

She hums, squeezing her arms tighter around his neck. "I think I found it."

He sways her back and forth. "Glad I could help."

She giggles. The moment he lets her down he looks left, then right, then kisses her. It's soft and sweet, but quick.

"Worried we'll get caught?" she says when he stands back.

"More worried I'll get carried away."

Laughing, she reaches for the hem of his sweater. It's a little stretched out from this morning, and like this morning she uses it to pull him to her. "How 'bout one more? Before you get busy."

He grins when the phone on near the register starts ringing. "Too late."

But he kisses her anyway.

Her cheeks are warm and rosy when he steps away to pick up the phone. She takes a moment to press her hands to them and tries to catch her breath while he answers some question or another.

Looking around, she notes the Christmas decorations and can immediately see her former mother-in-law in the designer colors and handmade embellishments. The tree in the window is decorated with miniature books, old-fashioned reading spectacles, and little packages wrapped with book pages and topped with black satin bows. On either side of the main tree are two smaller "trees" made from circular stacks of books and topped with stars. White twinkle lights dangle everywhere.

"Is it too much?"

She turns and smiles. "No, I don't think so. It's pretty clear your mother loves this place, though. She made most of this, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

"It's beautiful."

His eyes seem sad. "I'll her you said so when we're speaking again."

"Uh-oh," she says, automatically reaching for his hand. "What happened?"

He shrugs, reaching for the zipper on her coat with his free hand and avoiding her gaze. "She showed up here on the pretense of opening the store because she 'wasn't sure I would make it.' Which was a load of you-know-what."

"Wow. That was a low blow. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'll deal with her later."

"Do you want to talk to me about it first?" she asks, though she can guess the answer.

"Not right now, I've talked it to death already this morning. I've been on the phone with Al and Emmett since Mom and Dad left."

That brings her up short. "Your Dad was here, too?"

He sighs, looking tired. "Yeah. He came to get her, which is a whole other story."

She steps closer to him, wrapping their clasped hands behind her back. "So can I assume she was upset you stayed over, then?"

Wrapping his other arm around her, he shrugs. "I think the more important question is whether I care if she was upset I stayed over, and I don't. I'm a grown man."

"And what about your dad, did he care?"

"Are you kidding? He wants details from me later."

Her eyes widen as a giggle bursts out of her. "What?"

He smirks. "It's his way of letting me know he approves."

"Oh, really." She laughs. "Well, what are you going to tell him?"

"That Charlie's pullout sofa is uncomfortable. And that I love and respect you, so that's all he's getting."

"Ooo, good answer," she says smiling and lifting her chin.

He grins down at her, pulling her tight to him. She reaches for his hair, fingering the short strands toward the bottom as he lowers his face to hers and kisses her. Her stomach flutters and dips as he coaxes her lips open with his. His warm breath washes over her and his hands flex against her waist. She can feel some of the tension melt away as she grips his neck and shoulders.

A truck lumbers by outside, the chains on the tires clanking while the slats of the flatbed knock together as it bumps along the main road in town. Edward lifts her up, holding her closer and kissing her deeper for just a moment before letting her go.

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asks as they stand forehead to forehead, catching their breaths.

He smiles. "I am. Especially after that."

She laughs softly hugs him. She wants to know more about this confrontation with Esme, but can guess that he's been pushed enough today. Besides, they have weeks of e-mail and phone conversations ahead of them. There will be plenty of time to talk then.

Letting him go and putting some distance between them, she asks, "So, will you show me where I can put my coat?"

"Of course," he says, kissing her nose. "You can hang it in the back with mine."

He checks the sidewalk outside for any sign of customers and then grabs their coffee cups before leading her to the back room. She spots his coat hung on a rack attached to the wall near what she assumes is the office. There are five wooden pegs altogether, and below them, a cabinet of corresponding cubbies with baskets inside for personal belongings. It all looks like it came from Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware, and is clearly Esme Cullen's doing.

Bella presses her lips together as she removes her coat, feeling a wave of pity and frustration toward the woman she once strived to love as her own mother. Appearances clearly still meant a lot to her. This was just a storage room for crying out loud.

"Here you go," Edward says, handing her latte over. "We better get back up front, just in case."

She nods and takes her coffee, putting aside her thoughts of Esme. "Lead the way."

Edward spends the next few minutes showing her around the store and making small talk about various books while they sip their coffee. She waits until they've made the rounds to ask him how long she can stay. When he doesn't answer right away, it surprises her.

"Edward?" she prompts him, her stomach fluttering.

He looks at her with wide, worried eyes. "Sorry. I should have mentioned this sooner."

She frowns. "Mentioned what?"

He sighs. "Well, I'm going to have some visitors this afternoon. Alice and Emmett are coming into the store."

"Oh." She lets out a breath. For a second she'd been worried it was something horrible. She had no idea what, but her mind had been racing, unable to make sense of his words.

"It's just for a little while," he continues. "They want to get out of the house for a few hours and the kids specifically asked to come here."

She blinks. "The kids?"

"Um . . . yeah. Mom had other plans for everyone today, but Alice and Emmett, along with their spouses, are refusing to participate until she apologizes to me. Or something like that. All I know is that my siblings vacated the main house so the kids wouldn't see their grandparents disagreeing or overhear any raised voices. But there's not much for them to do in my apartment, so…"

"So they want to come here," Bella finishes for him, trying to hide her sudden anxiety. The thought of seeing all of them, all at once sends her heart flying.

"Well, they're going to lunch first, but yeah."

She nods, wondering what exactly went down this morning to cause Alice, Emmett and their families to avoid Esme. To be honest, it sounds a lot like old times, which makes Bella uncomfortable.

Edward lifts a hand to her cheek. "Look, there's no pressure for you to see them today, okay? I mean . . . you can head out whenever you want."

She scoffs. "I can't do that, E. Leave just to avoid them."

"It wouldn't be like that. You weren't planning on staying all day anyway, were you?"

She looks down, shrugging. "I don't know. I didn't think I'd be rushed out the door, though."

"You aren't being rushed out the door," he says, putting his coffee down on the counter behind her and taking her face between both hands. "I don't want you to go. I want you to stay for as long as you're able."

She takes a deep breath, trying hard not to be over emotional about this. Trying not to be a coward, and trying not to feel pressured when she knows that wasn't his intention. This isn't a trap, or a ploy. Although, she highly suspects that his sister is hoping she'll feel exactly like she does now and decide just to bite the bullet and see her long-lost friend before she flies all the way back to Texas.

Edward strokes her flushed skin with his thumbs. "Look, if you want me to tell Alice to hold off until tomorrow and find something else to do, I will. I didn't think it would upset you this much."

"Don't be silly, E. It's just a lot to deal with all at once. And with very little notice."

"I'm sorry. Maybe I wasn't thinking. They'll be a little while still, so we can just call Ali—"

"No," she says, taking a deep breath and coming to a decision. "No, you dealt with my dad overnight. And I know for a fact he gave you some sort of 'you-touch-my-daughter-under-my-roof-and-I'll-shoot-you' threat when he laid out his 'house rules.' Probably even showed you the gun."

"Well, yeah, he took it to bed with him as a matter of fact. But I expected that and more. You weren't expecting this."

She smiles and then blinks, trying to imagine the store full of kids she's never met and people she hasn't seen in five years. People she'd last seen in a hospital waiting room, with the exception of Alice, who had sat with her at Edward's bedside with her when she'd said her final goodbyes.

Her heart aches and thrills at the picture in her head. She'd had to leave them behind too, had to run and never look back for her own sanity, and now, she could have them back. All of them.

The family she gave up to save herself.

His voice is a low rumble as he bends down to her meet her gaze. "Isabella? If it's this hard for you—"

"Stop," she says, grabbing his wrists. "I want to see them. I do. It's just… it's been a long time. And the kids… I don't know what to say to them."

He pulls her to his chest, tucking her head under his chin. "We'll figure it out. But only if it's what you really want."

"I want to see them." Her voice is barely a whisper.

He leans back to search her eyes. "Are you sure? This was not my intention. I told you they were coming because I didn't want you to end up cornered and forced into a reunion you weren't ready for."

She swallows, her throat thick as she tries not to cry. "I'm sure." She smiles for him. "Do they know we're back together?"

"No, I didn't say anything yet," he says, looking unconvinced. "They know we're trying to get to know each other again. Although, I think they're aware things are a little farther along than that now." His smile is sheepish. "I'm not very good at lying to Alice, you know, and she asked if we'd kissed last night."

Bella laughs, causing the tears she'd been fighting to spill over a little. "Of course she did."

"I didn't answer her, but I guess that was an answer in and of itself."

"Did she…" Bella takes a deep breath and looks at him hopefully while he wipes away the moisture beneath her eyes. "Did she sound like she minded?"

He chuckles. "What do you think? She's over the moon, even though she's trying really, really hard not to show it."

"What about Emmett? And Rosalie?"

"Emmett has always loved you, and will always love you. You heard how he was on the phone last night." She nods. "And Rosalie. Well, Rosalie is going to hold off on approving of anything until we've proven ourselves to her first. But that's just her."

"Well, I guess we'll find out."

"Are you staying then?"

She tightens her hold on him. "I'm not going to cut my time with you short or run away from your family, Edward. I need to face these things if we're going to continue down this road. I may need time to myself process it all later, but time is definitely something we have. After tomorrow anyway."

He sighs, looking over her head briefly before lowering his mouth to hers. "I love you," he says, pressing his lips to hers. "Let's not think about that now, okay? Or about my family, at least not until they get here and we have to."

She nods and slides one arm up his chest to his heart. "Okay."

He kisses her again and covers her hand with his. "Okay."

Thank you for reading. As always, I don't own anything, but you guys and your reviews own me. ~Ginnie