I didn't get a chance to send this to my lovely beta SunflowerFran, so all mistakes are mine alone.
Chapter 23
Bella
If I was honest, mingling with a bunch of people I didn't know, in a busy students' bar, was not my idea of a good time. However, it was a means to an end. I was going to be studying and working alongside these people for a number of years and I wanted to get to know them socially.
"Bella!" MJ ran up to me as I walked in and thrust a pink cocktail into my hand. "It's a Sea Breeze. Two for the price of one. Cool, right?"
"Thanks. How long have you been here?"
"This is my second," she replied, holding up her own pink cocktail before taking a long drag. "Oh, look, it's Nahuel!" She bounced past me to greet her lab partner. "Hey!"
"Hi, doll." He pecked her on the cheek. "What's happening?"
"Bella's just got here, and there are a couple of guys from the Bioengineering department over by the bar. Sam from Dr Cullen's lab and a couple of his friends are playing pool. I haven't met the rest of these guys yet."
"No sign of Irina?" I asked.
"I am here."
My lab partner walked in, dressed in a short, black, flared skirt, white shirt tied at the midriff and high, white stilettos. When she saw us in our jeans, trainers and hoodies, her face fell.
"Oh no. It is not party event? I thought this was big night out."
"No, doll, but nobody's gonna mind you wearing that. You look hot!" replied Nahuel. MJ hit him on the shoulder. "Ouch."
"I mind. Nobody will take me serious," she replied sadly.
"It's not that bad," I told her. She looked at me sceptically before folding her arms over her bare tummy. "Maybe you could untie your shirt so it covers up more." I also took my hoodie off and handed it to her. "And put this on."
"Da, good idea." She did as I suggested and although her outfit now looked a little odd, she didn't look like she was about to start dancing on the bar anymore.
"What can I get you to drink?" asked Nahuel.
"Club soda please. I do not drink the alcohol."
Irina was becoming more intriguing by the minute.
We walked into the main seating area of the bar, where there were quite a few faces I recognised from my internship the previous summer. Over the course of the next couple of hours I caught up with most of them, and met quite a few new first year doctoral students.
The news that I was married to The Fox had already reached most of them, but only a few asked me about it, a couple of the braver ones making subtle references to Edward's age and position. Whatever their private opinions may have been, they were all polite to my face, and I could cope with that.
I also spent more time with MJ, Nahuel and Irina. After I approached MJ to join our study group, she had insisted that we bring Nahuel in too. She spoke of his enthusiasm and how organised he seemed, and pointed out that it would be far easier if the four of us, all working in close proximity, studied together. Our first sessions were successful and we decided that we would keep our group to a quartet. Edward wasn't happy when he found out, but Nahuel behaved like a gentleman; although he was a natural flirt, he reined it in around me.
When I left the bar, Nahuel was chatting up the pretty barmaid. Irina was surrounded by a group of geeky-looking guys hanging off her every word, most definitely taking her seriously. MJ was chatting animatedly to three girls and showing them pictures on her phone of her pets back home in Connecticut. They seemed like such nice people and as I cycled home, I reflected that so far, it seemed that I had lucked out when it came to colleagues.
It was just after eight when I returned home. I parked my bike in the garage, next to Edward's, and walked into the kitchen.
"Foxy, I'm home. How was tennis?"
"Hi Baby. Um, I didn't go. Wasn't in the mood."
Edward was sitting on the sofa, cradling a tumbler. As I got closer, I saw that he was drinking Scotch. Neat.
"The last time you drank Scotch like that, it was when Slimy got appointed ..."
He nodded and patted the sofa next to him. I curled up next to him and tucked myself into his side.
"My meeting with the VC of Public Affairs didn't go so well, Bella," he mumbled, lifting me into his lap and pressing his lips against my hair.
"What happened?"
He held me tighter.
"I didn't even get to tell him about Aro before he was telling us about accusations he's made about me! He found out about our relationship, Baby, and I have no idea how. From what Carlisle and I can ascertain, none of the students or staff in the department has any links to Oxford apart from you and me."
"Shit." My stomach churned.
"He effectively told the VC that I'm a predator of young women and that I can't be trusted around students. That I seduced you and I could do it again."
"How dare he say that when he's the predator!" I was fuming, but unsurprised. "Who do I have to speak to? If anything I pursued you!"
"Baby, I'm sure the VC will want to talk to you in due course, but when no other students come forward to support his allegations, that one will die down fairly quickly."
"But ...?"
"But ... I am fairly sure that he will have told Banner and the rest on the Oxford Faculty Board, and if they refer it to the Proctors, they have the power to take your degree away. And if they take your degree away, you won't be eligible for your doctoral place here at Harvard."
"Only if a disciplinary hearing finds that I've done something wrong, and I haven't. I earned that degree. I worked my ass off for it, and Professor Banner knows it." I tugged on the floppy hair that half-covered his forehead so he looked up at me, his green eyes wide and serious. "Don't succumb to your natural pessimism, Foxy."
"I'm trying, Bella, but his allegations alone will leave us open to questions about our character, our research ethic ... You know that Neuroscience is a small world, and Aro and his supporters shout very loudly."
"I realise that. I'm fully aware that we have a battle on our hands. But just because he's making noise, doesn't mean we have to sit back and take it. We have a plan to get to him, and we have to follow through with it."
"We have to," he echoed. I wrapped myself around him, relishing the way my body melted into his. "I love you, Mrs Masen."
"I love you right back, Professor Masen."
He picked me up in his arms and carried me upstairs. When he gently placed me on our bed, I grabbed the lapels of his shirt and tugged him down. He yanked my cobalt-blue top over my head as I practically ripped his clothing off.
"You're right, Bella," he panted, in between covering my décolletage with kisses.
"About what?"
"Taking an offensive line." He pulled down the cups of my bra and began to feast on my left tit, squeezing it as he rolled my nipple around in his mouth. "What we have is definitely worth fighting for."
"It is, Foxy, it is."
The rest of our clothes were soon lost, and thanks to his expert touch, I was wet and ready for him. He hovered over me for a moment before nudging my legs open wider and placing his tip at my entrance. My body drew him inside, filling me completely. It was familiar and yet, still exhilarating. Making love to Edward was never a chore, never an obligation, and never run-of-the-mill. It just got better with time.
"So good, Baby," he moaned, thrusting harder and pushing my legs up in an effort to go deeper.
"Uh-huh."
I was losing the ability to speak as pleasure threatened to overtake me, bubbling up from the depths of my body, places only he could reach. His fingers encircled my clit, which throbbed with need. He teased it over and over again while pounding me good and proper until I threw my head back and screamed his name with my release.
While I was still coming down off my high, Edward suddenly flipped me over and re-entered me, kissing my shoulders as he cupped my tits.
"Always and forever, my darling vixen," he mumbled, over and over again, until he finished with a roar, climaxing so far inside me, I almost felt him in my chest.
"Always and forever," I repeated, rolling onto my back underneath him and pulling him down onto me.
-cc-
Edward
Bella and I awoke the morning after the night before with a new kind of energy.
Whatever happened with Aro Volturi and his poisonous aspersions, my wife and I had each other, and there was nothing more important.
Having succumbed to a post-coital pizza the previous night, Bella and I jumped on the bikes for a morning cycle from Spy Pond up to Upper Mystic Lake, and back again. I needed to lose my burgeoning belly, and Bella claimed she was developing love handles. She did seem a little rounder but she was still just as beautiful, and I was happy to have her motivate me. On the way back home, we stopped at the supermarket for a few things, and as we were unpacking the groceries I realised that I hadn't told her about our weekend visitors.
"Bella?"
"Yes, Foxy?"
"Are you serious about having a dog?"
She turned around, a packet of rice in her hand, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Absolutely. Why?"
"I've been thinking about it too." I put down the cauliflower I was holding and reached for her. She slid into my embrace, grinning from ear to ear. "Actually, I've done a bit more than think about it. Seeing as it's your birthday coming soon and a dog's the only thing you want ..."
"What have you done, Edward?"
I could hear the anticipation in her voice.
"I don't want you to get too excited now, but this afternoon, a lady with two dogs to re-home is coming to visit us. If the visit goes well ..."
Bella squealed, in a very un-Bella fashion, and covered my face with kisses.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Don't thank me yet, Baby. You haven't seen the dogs ... What if you don't like them?" I replied, grinning; she was going to be ecstatic when she saw Jake and Nessie.
"Remember how I told you about my old dog Wesley, the smelly, fat, bulldog?"
"Yep."
"I adored him, so I am capable of loving even the ugliest and grumpiest of mutts."
"Well, that's true. You love me, after all!"
"Yes, you are so very grumpy and ugly," she retorted, giggling, before nuzzling my jaw and flicking her tongue against it. "So terribly ..." She ran her fingers into my hair. "Disgustingly ..." She sucked my earlobe into her mouth as I cupped her bottom. "Ugly."
"God, how do you stand me?"
She thrust her hips against mine, and my crotch instantly hardened. She did it again, the second time lingering her contact, rubbing against me seductively,
"I have no idea."
It was a good thing we bought disinfectant in our weekly shop. Kitchen counter sex was fast becoming a favourite.
Three hours later, and Bella was bristling with excitement. The house was still a bit of a work-in-progress, but was starting to look lived in and homely. We definitely had the space for Jake and Nessie, and I had already been in the back garden, securing all the holes in the fence and tightening up the bolts on the gate.
"Can't you at least tell me what breed of dog they are, or the owner's background? Anything?" Bella asked pleadingly.
"They're crossbreed dogs and that's all I'm telling you." I checked my watch. "They will be here any minute." The sound of a car door shutting pricked at my ears. "In fact ..." I got up and went to the door. Lucy was walking up our front garden path with Jake and Nessie; Jake was tugging at his lead, while Nessie pranced at Lucy's side.
"Hi Edward."
"Hi Lucy, thank you for coming."
"Oh. My. God." Bella had come up behind me and the joyful, surprised look on her face was absolutely priceless. "Jake and Nessie!"
When the dogs spotted her, they started barking with delight, almost pulling Lucy over with their exuberance. Lucy let go of their leads and the dogs ran straight for Bella, covering her with puppy kisses.
"Wow, they adore her." Lucy watched as Bella got to her knees and hugged both of them. "And she loves them. You weren't kidding."
"Good pups, now sit!" Bella had complete control. Jake and Nessie had their eyes completely fixed on her. She was most definitely their pack leader. "Well done! Now, let's get you both some water."
Bella poured water from our filter jug into two cereal bowls and placed them on the floor. While the dogs lapped thirstily, she came out of the kitchen and back into the living area
"Bella, you remember Lucy, Nettie's daughter?"
"Of course." Bella shook Lucy's hand warmly. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but thank you so much for coming. How is Nettie?"
"She's stable, but she's not going to be able to go back home. We're looking for a nursing facility."
"I'm so sorry to hear that."
"It's a blessing in some ways. At least now I know that Mom will be looked after. But I need to think about what she would want for Jake and Nessie ..." Lucy paused and blinked back tears before looking around at our living room. Her eyes zeroed in on our wedding photos, which took pride of place on our mantelpiece. "I understand from Carlisle that you're newlyweds, but you seem very settled."
"We are," replied Bella, covering my hand with hers. As if on cue, Jake and Nessie came up to us. Nessie nudged my side and placed her cute white nose on my thigh, while Jake started to climb the sofa to sit next to Bella.
"Off, Jake!" With a whine, he sat back down on his haunches and nudged her leg. "Good boy." She patted his head and stroked his ear lovingly.
"Wow," said Lucy, softly. "He's usually so naughty. Mom spoilt them rotten. But you seem to have the magic touch."
Over the next hour or so, we showed Lucy the house and garden, gave her copious amounts of tea and cake, and tried to show her that we could be responsible, loving dog owners.
"Well, I'm glad I came," she stated as she lifted a grumbling pair of dogs into the car. They didn't want to leave. "It's helped me make a decision."
Next to me, Bella grasped my hand like a vice.
"And ...?"
"I would be honoured if you would take care of Jake and Nessie."
Bella stepped forward and hugged Lucy with all her might.
"I promise that we will love them the way your mother loves them ... With all our hearts."
"I can tell. I'd like to keep them this week. Would you be able to take them next Saturday?"
"Saturday's my birthday," Bella commented, still grinning with joy. "And it would be the perfect way to celebrate."
"We can come and get them," I told Lucy, "to save you having to drive back into the city."
"That would be very helpful."
After we waved Lucy and the dogs off, Bella turned to me and braced her hands on my shoulders.
"Did I do well?" I asked, slightly unnerved by the way Bella was just staring at me.
She nodded, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.
"Very well indeed, Foxy."
With that, she jumped into my arms, wrapping her long legs around my waist and buried her face in my neck. I carried her inside and sat down with her on the sofa, cradling her as she cried.
"We're getting Jake and Nessie, I can't believe it. I can't believe you did that for me."
"Don't you know by now, Mrs Masen, that there's nothing I wouldn't do for you? Jake and Nessie belong with us. I knew it the moment I saw you with them."
She continued to sob against me, curling her arms around my neck, her warm tears dampening the collar of my t-shirt.
"Why are you crying so hard, Bella?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I've never known this feeling before. It's kind of overwhelming," she managed to tell me.
"What feeling? Happiness?"
She giggled amidst her tears.
"No ... Yes ..." She took a deep breath to compose herself. "Edward, with Jake and Nessie, we're starting to become a family, a proper family. And I've never truly had that before."
-cc-
Bella
"Happy birthday!"
I walked into the lab coffee room with Irina half way through our morning's trials to find it full of people; a pretty lemon-yellow cake was sitting on the coffee table. I felt my cheeks start to burn with embarrassment and anxiety from all the attention, but I spotted The Fox in the corner, leaning against the wall, and relaxed. I should have expected it; cake at morning coffee break was a lab tradition for birthdays and they had done it for me the previous year.
"Thank you, guys. This is so sweet of you, although technically, it's tomorrow."
"Blow out your candles and make a wish!" cried MJ, clapping her hands in excitement.
I had everything I wanted in life at that moment, so I wished for all the bad things to go away instead as I pursed my lips together.
Slimy Volturi. The fact that we still had no idea who told him we were together.
The enquiry into my conduct, and Edward's, that he had instigated at Oxford.
The cold message left on my voicemail this morning by my mother, demanding I call her. No 'hello.' No 'bye.' No reference to my upcoming birthday or Harvard.
"Well done!"
Edward came up next to me and kissed my cheek as he passed me a steaming cup of coffee. He didn't say anything and he didn't linger, as there were several people who wanted to chat to me, but the fact that he knew I'd want him there spoke volumes.
Riley suddenly sashayed in, carrying an ostentatious, electric blue, glittery gift box.
"Happy birthday, honey!"
"Thank you, Riles. What are you doing here? Why aren't you in New York?"
"I don't have any classes on a Friday, so I thought I'd come home and see my best girlfriend."
"That's so sweet of you, but Edward and I are spending the weekend in Cape Cod, remember? We're going to get Jake and Nessie. We're driving down this evening. Your parents are letting us borrow the beach house."
"Aww ... I forgot about that!" He put his hands on his hips. He was wearing ridiculously tight, blue tartan trousers and a black, silk shirt, but it was the new, pristine, white lab coat with his name embroidered over the left pocket that he seemed most keen to show off.
"Sorry."
"Aww, don't worry about it. I shoulda told you I was coming. Now, open this!"
He thrust the gift box in my direction.
"Riley ..."
"Quit whining, honey, and open it!"
With a sigh, I pulled the ribbon and lifted off the lid. Inside, nestled in tissue paper were two leather dog collars with silver tags, and matching leads. There was a thick, navy blue one for Jake, and a more delicate, lilac one for Nessie. The tags had the dogs' names on one side, and our address and phone numbers on the other.
"Oh, wow." I felt my eyes mist up. "They're beautiful."
"I thought you'd like them. Look under the tissue paper. There's just one more thing for the new mommy. I had a little help from Teeny and Lee on that one."
I lifted the paper carefully to see a large bar of imported Dairy Milk, my favourite chocolate from home. I had been craving it for weeks and the American version just wasn't the same. In that moment, I could have kissed my bubbly GBF. In fact, I did.
On Fridays, Carlisle liked to have lunch with all his doctoral students and today was no different, except that we were being joined by Edward, MJ, Nahuel and Riley. This was partly because of my birthday but also because Harvard was going to be hosting the International Symposium on Clinical Neurotransmitter Research in May, and Carlisle wanted everyone to contribute to the organisation and planning.
We sat around a large table in the cafeteria, talking about our various ideas. Everyone was enthusiastic, and I became so engrossed in the conversation that I didn't pay any attention to the various people coming and going until Edward, who was sitting between me and MJ, suddenly stiffened and gripped my hand under the table.
"James."
Sure enough, our former neighbour was standing in the line to pay for his food, looking especially greasy in a tight, black t-shirt, tucked into high-waist black trousers a la Simon Cowell.
"I hope he doesn't spot us," I mumbled, shuffling down a little in my seat.
"What's going on?" MJ enquired.
"Eww ... dirty dude who tried to grab Bella's ass," observed Riley.
"Yeah." I felt a shiver go down my spine. "Our rather creepy ex-neighbour," I added by way of explanation. "He works in IT support for Bio-engineering."
James suddenly looked in our direction and I decided to ignore him and restart our conversation.
"Anyway, where were we?"
Thankfully he didn't come over, but I was still unnerved by the sight of him.
Later that afternoon, unable to shake the feeling of unease, I excused myself and nipped over to Edward's lab.
"Bella, everything okay?" He pulled off his gloves and strode towards me.
"Yeah, I was just passing ..."
He turned back to MJ, Nahuel and his technicians.
"I'm going to take five minutes, okay?"
He took my hand and led me out to the reading room next door.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you, Foxy, but I'm just a bit freaked out by the sight of James, and all the other crap is getting to me and ..."
He silenced me with a swift kiss and pulled me into a comforting hug.
"I know, Baby. It's been a shit week, but it's going to get better."
"Tomorrow we're getting our dogs, and spending the weekend at the beach. It's going to be wonderful."
"Exactly."
I surprised myself at my own optimism, but in his arms, I did feel it. After another quick kiss and hug, I returned to my lab, much more able to focus. Things started to get better almost immediately, as if something in the air around us had shifted.
My first research trial for the new project went impeccably, with spectacular results.
Shelly smiled at me for the first time and said 'bye' when The Fox and I left his office hand-in-hand.
When we got to the car rental place, they had given us a free upgrade to a luxurious, spacious, Volvo estate car. The Fox was particularly enamoured of it, and I made a mental note to look into buying one for us.
The moment we stepped onto the sand on Cape Cod, I felt the stress leave my body. I loved the tumbling waves and the acres of hazy sky. The wind was cooler than on our last visit, and I shivered a little as it swirled around me, but I didn't care. I just absorbed the peace while Edward sorted out food.
"Pizza, Baby."
I turned to see him coming down the deck, two bottles of Coke balanced precariously on a pizza box in one hand, and a thick, fleecy blanket in the other. "I figured you'd want to eat out here."
"Definitely."
He sat down on one of the Cullens' sun loungers, and instead of sitting in the one next to him, I crawled over him and sat between his legs. He placed the blanket over us, and then put the pizza on my lap and the Coke bottles in the sand next to us. We ate without saying much to each other, just listening to the crashing waters and watching the stars emerge, until we'd had our fill.
"It's easy to forget our problems when we're somewhere so beautiful."
"I know, but ..." he paused for a moment. "Speaking of your parents ..."
"We weren't," I interjected abruptly, reluctant to think about them when I was so comfortable. Edward leaned forward and kissed the back of my neck.
"But we ought to, Baby. I know your mother called this week. You've been dodging the subject for ages."
"Do we have to do it now?"
"No, but ..."
I put the empty pizza box on the sand and turned over so that I was lying on top of him.
"On Sunday, when we get back to Arlington, I'll tell them that I'm with someone and that I'd like to see them. When they give me a date, we can go drop the bomb in person."
"Okay."
He kissed my nose and I snuggled up against him.
One of the million, gazillion things I loved about The Fox was that he always seemed to know when to push and when to back off.
Edward
Bella was fast asleep, dead to the world as had become her norm since we married, but I couldn't relax. I kept reliving the phone call from Doug Banner earlier in the week.
"She's twenty-one, Edward! Twenty-one! How could you be so stupid?"
"Doug, I love her more than my own life. She loves me. We developed a mature, consensual, loving relationship. She's an adult. I'm an adult. Neither of us have done anything wrong."
"You're in a sexual relationship with a student who you supervised as an undergraduate. In my book, that's wrong. If I had known it was going on when you were at Oxford, I'd, I'd ..."
"You'd what? What would you have done, Doug? All you could have done was to alter her supervision arrangements and give the both of us a stern talk, and then referred us to the Proctors, which is what I imagine you're going to do now."
"Damn right, I am!"
"Relationships between students and faculty are frowned upon, I acknowledge that, but they're only a dismissible offence if academic integrity has been compromised, and I can assure you that it wasn't in our case."
"Aro Volturi is concerned that you seduced Isabella, Edward, that you have an appetite for young girls ..."
"You know that's complete bullshit, Doug, and extremely hypocritical on Volturi's part. If you'd bothered to ask around the neuroscience community beyond the references he gave you, you'd have found out his proclivity for female undergraduates, especially petite brunettes. Aro has had his sights set on Bella since the moment he laid eyes on her, and now he's pissed because she loves me and he has no chance of ever being with her."
"Edward, that's quite an accusation."
"As is his with regards to me. You've known me since I was twenty-two, Doug, since my first day as a doctoral student in John Gerandy's lab, far longer than you've known Aro Volturi personally. In that time, have you ever heard about me dating undergraduates or women considerably younger than me, before Isabella?"
"Well, no, but that doesn't mean you haven't had an interest."
"Before Isabella, my last relationship was around five years ago, and it was with a slightly older woman who worked at the Law Library. She came to the lab Christmas party with me that year and we split up a couple of months later. The whole lab met her, and can vouch for the fact that I'm not interested in the age of my partner, only the romantic and intellectual connection. Isabella and I have a connection, the depth of which is beyond words. Her age is irrelevant. Her student status is irrelevant."
"Look, I don't have a choice. I'm going to have to refer it to the Proctors."
"You do have a choice. You can believe me and Isabella over Aro Volturi, who has seen me as a rival since I was an undergrad myself, and who still has an unhealthy interest in my wife."
"I'm sorry, Edward."
"So am I, Doug. I respected your judgement as Faculty Head and as a scientist before, and so did Bella, but that's lost now. Goodbye."
I put the phone down on him and sure enough, an email came through from the Proctors' Office, stating that both Bella and I were to be subject to investigations into our conduct and for Bella, into whether her First Class Honours Degree was still valid. Bella and I forwarded the emails Aro Volturi had sent her, and a copy of the card he sent me, to Amun El-Samir. He sent them on to Oxford, but Banner did not acknowledge them.
Bella was typically stoic, but as the week progressed, I could see the stress build up within her, and it was only made worse by her parents; they had made contact with her this week. I heard the voicemail. Her mother's voice was clipped, cold and detached, and I could understand Bella's reticence at calling them. Therefore, when Carlisle suggested we have the beach house for the weekend, I jumped at the offer.
I eventually did fall asleep, but it was fitful. I was plagued by bad dreams, the content of which eluded my mind when I returned to consciousness, opening my eyes to the sight of my beautiful wife, her delicate fingers stroking my unruly hair.
"Morning." My voice was croaky and tiredness weighted down my eyelids.
"Morning, Foxy. You didn't sleep much, did you?"
I shook my head as she ran her thumb under my right eye. I held out my arms and she curled up against me, dotting a few small kisses against my bare chest.
"All this worry isn't good for either of us. I don't want Jake and Nessie to come into a stressed household."
"I'm trying to shake it off, Baby, but last night, I couldn't get that last conversation with Doug out of my mind."
"You feel betrayed and let down."
"I do."
"Me too. He knows how hard I worked. First one in the lecture theatre ..."
"And the lab."
"And the lab," she repeated. "Last one to leave. Weekends and evenings in the library, even when the others were partying and drinking themselves stupid. He knew all of this, and still he believes that I might not have deserved those grades."
"But you don't want us to dwell on it."
"No. Fuck them all." She sat up and straddled me with her knees, and then grabbed my wrists to haul me up. "Let's go for a run and a dip in the sea."
"A naked dip in the sea, Mrs Masen?" I waggled my eyebrows at her and she laughed.
After a gentle run, a swim in the sea, sadly without clothing being removed, and a bracing but healthy breakfast, we headed to Nettie's cottage.
"Welcome," greeted Lucy, who looked pale and tired. "Come in."
"Thank you. How are you?" Bella asked.
"Not so great. Mom took a turn for the worse last night. She caught pneumonia in the hospital."
"I'm so sorry. Is there anything we can do to help you out?"
"No, thank you for asking. All of Mom's friends from church and my cousins have been helping. We have more food than you can believe. Jake got into a tuna noodle casserole yesterday and I didn't tell him off because all I could think about was how pleased I was to be able to get rid of it."
"Is now a convenient time to take Jake and Nessie? We can come back later."
"No, now's great. They're ready and their stuff is all packed."
She led us through the pretty cottage, to an enclosed garden, which backed onto the side of the Cullens' house. The cottage also had a patio which led directly onto the boardwalk, and the impressive seafront.
Jake and Nessie were running around, playing a game known only to them, but when they spotted us, they bounded over with their usual enthusiasm. They headed for Bella first, but I was pleasantly surprised when they also came to me.
After a couple of minutes of watching them with us, Lucy crouched down and beckoned them. They trotted over happily.
"Now, Jake and Nessie, I want you guys to be real good for Bella and Edward. They're gonna be your new family. Me and Mom, we're gonna miss you, but you need more than we can give you," she told them tearfully.
Jake and Nessie whined a little, and licked her already damp cheeks, before returning to me and Bella, as if they had understood every word she said.
After more goodbyes, we took them to the Cullens' beach house. We spent the rest of Saturday with them, bonding, playing and getting to know them. That evening, they slept at the foot of the bed. We managed to stop them climbing in with us, but they whined pitifully when we tried to keep them out of the bedroom.
The next morning, just as we were loading the dogs and their things into the back of the car, Bella's mobile phone rang.
"It says 'unknown caller' ... Oh, God, I hope it's not ..." she answered the call and her face dropped. "Mum."
She listened intently, biting her lip deeper and deeper until I intervened, running my thumb across it. She rested her head against me and curled her arm around my waist as she listened and talked.
"No, I'm in Cape Cod ... around one o'clock, why?" She suddenly gripped me tighter. "That's a surprise. Last year I got money and a Mulberry handbag from you for my birthday, not a visit ..." There was a pause as she listened to her mother. "Oh . Who?" There was a loaded pause. "Some Italian chap? What did he say?" She looked up at me, her dark eyes suddenly dull. "Right. Hang on a second, Mum."
"What is it, Baby?" I whispered.
"They're not visiting for my birthday. They're visiting because someone from Oxford called them to say that I was being taken advantage of by my professor at Harvard."
A distant squawking from Bella's phone alerted us to the fact that her mother was still on the line. Bella rolled her eyes and picked up the phone again.
"Mum, sorry about that. Look, I don't know what you've been told but I'm absolutely fine and very happy. There is someone special that I would like you to meet, however, so we will meet you in the bar the Four Seasons at four o'clock ... yes, we."
We were good people. We didn't deserve this crap and we had played fair long enough. All Aro Volturi did was pillage, not caring about whom or what got destroyed in the way. Calling Bella's parents was a step too far.
Bella hung up the call and then wrapped her other arm around me.
"Bella," I murmured into her hair.
"Mmm?" She didn't look up, which meant she was on the verge of tears.
"I'm done with Volturi and all this bullshit. I've made a decision. After we see your parents, I'm going to talk to Bree Tanner. She's the key to bringing him down."
-cc-
Thank you for your reviews and messages. Once again, life is getting in the way of writing and posting, but I'm making progress and feeling inspired.
I'm aiming for the next chapter to be ready in 2-3 weeks.
CC xxx