Chapter 26
Edward
Bella hated taking a step back from a PhD so soon after starting, but as I predicted, her pregnancy nausea and vomiting became worse, and it was agreed that she would have a month off. She didn't go into the labs, but still kept up with the study group remotely so didn't fall behind with the work.
Despite the rest, her sickness was so awful that we came close to cancelling our trip to New York City, but Dr Evans checked her over and gave her some medication. It made her more tired, but it meant she could go a few hours without being sick. She started to feel more like her usual self, and we decided to travel.
"I just got a text from MJ. She's asked if I feel up to meeting for coffee," began Bella, the afternoon before we headed to New York. "It's the fourth time she's asked in ten days."
"Do you want to go?" I asked.
She hesitated before answering which surprised me because I knew she was missing the camaraderie of the study group and feeling a little isolated.
"If I go, I'll have to tell her I'm pregnant. I mean, she probably suspects from those vomiting episodes, but it is obvious now."
She gestured to her rounded tummy and spectacularly huge tits. It was like they grew from Chihuahuas to German Shepherds overnight. She was only twelve weeks pregnant, but with her petite frame, the change in her shape was clear.
"You don't want to tell her?"
"It was a feeling she gave me the last time I saw her. Maybe I was just being overemotional but it felt like she was getting something out of seeing me suffer."
"MJ? Really?"
"I know, I'm being ridiculous."
"Jake and Nessie didn't seem to like her much, but then, you were sick and they were in protection mode."
Jake, dozing under the dining table, whined a little at the sound of his name.
"Yeah ..."
She shuffled around the kitchen and ate a cracker absent-mindedly.
"What is it, Baby?"
I followed her and took her into my arms. She cuddled up to me and I took the opportunity for a grope of her changing, but still breathtaking, body. She sighed and tilted her neck so of course, I paid it some attention with my lips.
I keep thinking about Jenks investigating Aro, and the fact that we still don't know how he found out we were married. And since MJ started asking to meet for coffee this week ..."
"But MJ has no link to Aro. Her alma mater is Duke."
"I realise that, but I can't help but wonder about each and every one of the people around us since we moved here. Not the Cullens, of course, but everyone else."
Her arms tightened around me and her little hands snuck down to my bum, which she then squeezed.
"I don't want to talk about that now, though." Her eyes flashed and then darkened.
"What do you want to do then, my little vixen?"
"Well, I hope you had a good breakfast, sir ..."
"You're bringing out the 'sir'?"
I captured her face with my hands and her lips with her mouth. She moaned and quickly introduced her tongue deep into my mouth.
"Professor Masen, I need your expert help, sir. Please, sir."
"Isabella, I can only help you if you've been a very good girl."
"Oh, I've been very good indeed, sir. In fact, I have a video that will show you exactly how good I've been."
I was hard already, but her reference to the naughty video we made on our last night in England turned my cock into granite.
"Is it loaded?"
"Yes, sir. All you have to do is hit 'play'." She gestured to our laptop on the kitchen counter.
"Fucking hell." I rocked my hips against her.
"I need you to 'help' me as hard as you can Professor. How much more do I have to beg?"
"Beg no more." I turned her around and pulled over the computer.
The video started to play, and as we watched, I jammed my hand between her thighs. She was so wet I could feel her through her clothes.
"I've barely touched you, and you're this wet?"
"Uh-huh. This baby is starting to make me horny as fuck. I'm close, Foxy. Please!"
Another couple of strokes and she fell apart. On the video, we'd barely started.
"That was fast, Isabella. Let's see if you can do it again."
"I promise you I can, and will."
I tilted her face towards me to kiss her and cupped her breasts. As she ground her pelvis against me, however, Nessie suddenly ran to the back door and started barking her furry head off. Jake soon followed, complete with growling.
"Shit."
Nessie's barks started alternating with yelps and she started to paw and scratch at the door. Meanwhile Jake ran over to the front door and began doing the same there.
"Okay guys, Mummy and Daddy are coming ... Rain-check, baby?"
"Hopefully a short one," Bella grumbled, hitting pause on the laptop. "What the hell is going on?"
The doorbell rang a moment later, and Nessie joined Jake at the front door. They were going crazy.
"It's okay, it's okay." I adjusted myself before following them and opening the door. "MJ?"
My petite PhD student stood at the door, holding what looked like a Boston Cream Pie on a plate.
"Hi Professor. I'm sorry to drop round unannounced but I had a free morning. My roommate and I made a ton of these for a bake sale. I thought Bella might like some, if she's feeling better." She paused for a moment and looked up at me with wide, blue eyes. "Please, Professor Masen."
"How did you get out here? You didn't carry that on a bicycle, did you?"
"Oh, no. I got a car." She gestured to a brand-new, black Mini Cooper. "It was a present from my family."
"Right." Generous family. "Err ... come in."
She took a step forward but so did Jake and Nessie, blocking the front door and growling at her.
Guess it wasn't just because Bella was sick.
"It's okay, puppies," called Bella from inside. "Jake, Nessie, let MJ come in!"
The dogs whined and looked at me, but I pointed inside, and reluctantly, they followed my command.
"Bella!" exclaimed MJ, putting the pie on the dining table and ignoring Jake and Nessie, who were still on edge. "It's so good to see you!"
MJ hugged Bella exuberantly, and after hesitating for a moment, Bella tentatively hugged her back.
"Hi, MJ, you too."
MJ stepped back to look at Bella, and her delicate features darkened for a second before she pasted on a smile. In that moment, I saw what Bella meant. MJ wasn't as sweet and cute as she first seemed.
"Bella, you look so ... well! Are you pregnant?"
"Actually, yes I am. We didn't want to say until we were sure, and then I was so ill."
"I thought you were, with the morning sickness and all. But you're better now?"
"I've been getting there these past few days."
"Are you going to be coming back to school?"
"A week on Monday, all being well."
"Awesome. We've missed you."
"Yeah? What's been going on?"
Over the next hour, Bella and MJ caught up over coffee and pie, while I pottered around the house and garden doing odd jobs and talking to Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie over Skype. They filled me in about their work in London and kids, and I told them about Bella's pregnancy, meeting the in-laws and our trip to New York.
Rosalie and Emmett still had their house in Oxford, which was sitting empty, so they invited me and Bella to use it when we eventually got called to Oxford for our disciplinary hearings. After chatting for an hour or so, I headed downstairs where MJ was putting on her jacket.
"See you when you're back in the labs, Bella." She turned to me. "Bye Professor. Enjoy your weekend at the Cape."
"Err, yeah. Bye."
I held Bella by the waist as we watched MJ get into her Mini and drive away, Jake and Nessie by our sides. When she was out of sight, the dogs let out some soft barks and then returned inside.
Bella, however, stayed at the door, watching the now empty road.
"You told her we were going to Cape instead of New York? Why?"
Bella merely shrugged.
"I don't know. I just don't trust her anymore."
"Did she upset you?"
"No. We had a perfectly lovely conversation about all and sundry. The pie was delish. I had two slices."
"So what are you thinking?"
"Connecticut plates."
"Huh?"
"MJ's car has Connecticut plates. That's where she's from. Connecticut."
She shivered in the cool, autumnal breeze.
"A lot of people are from Connecticut though, Baby. It doesn't mean there's a link between her and Alec Brighton."
"I know but it's just this feeling I have. Jake and Nessie didn't take their eyes off her for a second, and she didn't say 'congratulations' about the baby. Not once." She paused. "No, I'm being stupid. It's probably because she interrupted our sexy time, or because of my pregnancy brain."
She shut the door and came inside, but as we cleared up the kitchen she was distracted, stopping several times as she became lost in her thoughts.
"Bella?"
"I can't shake it off. It doesn't make sense. She's blonde, not brunette. She went to Duke, not Cambridge. The only tenuous link is that she's from Connecticut and so is Alec."
"She is a Fulbright Scholar. She did a summer internship at King's College London during her undergrad."
"Alec was a Fulbright, wasn't he? Do we know where?"
"No, but we can have Jenks find out."
"You think I'm being overly paranoid?"
"No, baby. Volturi is dangerous and manipulative, and we have to cover our backs."
Bella
The Fox took the Friday off; we left Jake and Nessie with Sarah and drove into the city.
Tanya and Leah had just bought a beautiful house in the East Village, a stunning brownstone. It had less square footage than our house in Arlington, but by New York standards, it had loads of space and they insisted we stay with them. My parents were staying at The Four Seasons in Midtown, and although it seemed as though my mother was still not speaking to me, my father was very eager to see us after his meeting.
Before we met Charlie or did anything else in New York, however, we had business to deal with. We needed to meet Max, Jenks' Manhattan-based associate.
He was a wiry, twitchy kind of man, but otherwise, utterly non-descript. He was middle-aged, white, and dark-haired, dressed in jeans, plain black jacket and Yankees cap. We met him in a deli a few blocks from Tanya and Leah's house.
"This Bree chick," he rasped in a thick local accent, "she's a real recluse, ya know? But she loves that kid, Robbie; he's the apple of her eye. And he's a good boy. Keeps his head down, has a couple friends he plays ball with. Dropped that Scottish accent real quick. To hear him, you'd think he was native Brooklyn."
"So how do we get to talk to her?" asked Edward.
"You two's in luck. It's the kid's birthday tomorrow and she promised him a trip to Central Park. He wants to go to the zoo. You could pretend to run into her."
"Good idea," I agreed.
"I got more for you. Alec Brighton just got recruited to Oxford by Volturi for a PhD. Jenks managed to intercept some messages. Brighton knew Volturi before he went to Cambridge; he got his place on the Masters course because he was recommended by him. They didn't meet there."
"Do you have any idea how they know each other, and for how long?"
"Still working on that one. We know that Brighton was a Fulbright Scholar, and that may be the connection but we're looking at all possibilities. There can't be many links between Italian neuroscientists and WASP kids from Connecticut."
"No," agreed Edward, his fingers idly dancing on my thigh. "What about Brighton's family?"
"Not much to tell. Mom and Dad both from old money, divorced when he was in kindergarten and both got remarried almost immediately. He has a fourteen year old half-sister; they have the same father. Mom and step-dad are both attorneys who commute to New York daily, and they have an apartment on the Upper West Side where Brighton lived when he was at Columbia."
"What about his father? What does he do?"
"He's a plastic surgeon, in his fifties, and his younger wife- she just turned forty- is a stay-at-home mom. It looks like she also comes from money, and is one of those, country-club, charity luncheon types."
"Right," I murmured, kind of disappointed that his background was rather sedate. "So when is Bree taking her son to the zoo?"
"Tomorrow morning. I heard the uncle make plans to meet his boyfriend after he takes them to the park."
"Then that's where we'll be too."
-cc-
The next morning, The Fox and I were in Central Park early. It was a beautiful autumn day, just a hint of cold wind causing the turning leaves to rustle and dance. Just as we finished our hot chocolate and pastries on a park bench, Max had texted to say that Bree and her family would be arriving imminently. We quickly bought our tickets and went through to the sea lion area.
"That's her, I think," murmured Edward, as a petite woman in her late twenties with short blonde hair walked through the turnstiles. With her was a young boy, around eight years old, beaming and gesturing excitedly, zoo map in his hand. Suddenly he took off his beanie hat, and I gasped.
He was the spitting image of Slimy Volturi, but without the Machiavellian expression.
"Fucking hell," I murmured.
"I know. He looks so much like Aro. It's uncanny." Bree and her son started walking towards the other side of the sea lion display, and Edward took my hand. "Showtime, Baby."
We walked quickly, but as we approached them, slowed our pace. Edward made as if we were going to pass them, and then suddenly stopped, inches from them.
"Bree?" She looked up sharply, and froze. "Bree Tanner! Wow, what a coincidence."
"Professor Masen," she whispered. "W-what are ye doing in New York?" Her voice, heavy with a Scottish accent, was tremulous.
"Visiting friends, and the in-laws are in town too," he replied breezily. "This is my wife, Bella."
"Hi, nice to meet you." I turned to the boy, who was looking at us warily. "Hey there, what's your name?"
"Robbie," he said before curling into his mother's side.
"Wow, you sure have gotten big," said Edward. "I think the last time I saw you was when you were four or five."
"I remember," the boy replied, suddenly seeming eighteen, not eight. "You bought me a teddy bear."
"That's right. Well remembered. You're a smart kid."
"I still have him. His name is Oxford Eddie. Mom said your name was Edward and that you work in Oxford."
"I used to work there, but I work in Boston these days, at Harvard."
"You moved?" asked Bree.
"Yes. I'm Deputy Head of Neurosciences there, and Bella is doing her PhD with Carlisle Cullen."
"I never thought you'd leave Oxford. You seemed so settled there," Bree replied, looking up at both of us with wide, almond-shaped brown eyes.
"We both were," I interjected. "Until a certain Italian professor was appointed as Head of Department."
Bree gasped softly at the reference.
"We really need to talk to you about him, Bree. I've been leaving voicemails and texts and emails ..."
"Professor, I can't." She glanced at Robbie, who seemed to understand exactly what was going on. "We're living here to avoid him."
"The last thing I want is to disrupt your life, but he's trying to destroy ours. Making allegations about my conduct, pursuing Bella ..."
"What do you want from me?"
"A statement about what he did, how he treated you, so we can ..."
"You know I won't do that!" She clutched her son tightly. "You don't understand ... Robbie ..." Bree started to shake.
"Mom, Mom ... it's okay. He can't hurt us. The bad guys aren't gonna take me."
"Bree, what's going on? You know you can trust us," implored Edward. She was clearly terrified.
"I don't know that. The only people I trust are my son, my husband and his uncle."
"Please, Bree. He's making our lives hell, and now we've got a little one on the way," I patted my tummy, "we need to fight back, but we can't do it without your help."
She looked at me properly, up and down, before staring at my face.
"You feel it already, don't you? The protective instinct?" I nodded. "It grows every day, and never stops. Robbie is the only good thing to come out of that whole mess, and I must protect him. I moved us an ocean away, away from Don, because ... because ..."
"My sperm donor found out I looked like him," Robbie piped up. "So, now he wants me."
"Beanie!" Bree exclaimed.
"They're good people, Mom. I can tell. It's gonna be okay." He turned to us. "My sperm donor's a bad man. He and his friend wanted to take me to live with him, so Mom took me away to stay with Uncle Jeff in Brooklyn."
Bree bristled with anger, and her dark eyes blazed.
"He wasn't interested in Robbie when I was pregnant with him, but now ...ugh! He just wants to use us … I can't have him anywhere near us. I can't!"
"When was this?"
"It was the end of April. Don had to stay behind in Glasgow because of work, and everyone thinks that I left him for a teaching position in London."
"Look, we don't want to disrupt your life, but we can't let that slime disrupt ours. Please, Bree." I held her gaze and her expression softened a little.
"All I can promise is that I'll think about it. If you give me your details, I'll get in touch. How long are you in New York for?"
"Just this weekend, but it's no trouble to come up again. And you're more than welcome to come to us in Boston," I told her, as the Fox clutched my hand even more tightly.
"Thanks."
"Robbie," began Edward, "We'll get you a Harvard bear too, okay, kid?"
"Sure." He turned to me and smiled endearingly. "I'll call it Harvard Bella."
-cc-
Bella, how are you? Just finished my last meeting. Could you and Edward could join me for drinks at the hotel, and then dinner somewhere? Your mother should be there for the drink, but probably not dinner. Can't wait to see you, my darling girl, Love Dad
The last time The Fox and I met my parents in a Four Seasons hotel, I was nervous. This time, my nausea suddenly much improved, I strode in confidently on my husband's arm. For the first time in weeks, I felt attractive, dressed in a navy and silver dress with a flared skirt that skimmed the tops of my knees. It fitted me perfectly without showing off my new curves too much; Tanya had bought it originally, but it was too short and tight for her 5' 10" frame, so she gave it to me.
"You are so stunning, Baby," murmured Edward for at least the tenth time, as we walked into the hotel bar. "Every single man is looking at us, wondering how a git like me got so lucky." I leaned up to kiss his cheek. He wasn't looking too shabby himself, in a dark grey jacket and smart white shirt with smart dark jeans I found for him at Burlington Mall.
"Since seeing Bree today, I don't know ... I feel better, more like myself again. It's like my body and the baby have settled down."
"Hopefully both will stay that way."
Edward kissed my forehead as we rounded the corner, such that we didn't see that we were about to collide with someone.
"Oh, sorry!"
"Izvinite!"
"Irina?"
My lab partner looked as shocked to see us as we were to see her. She was dressed impeccably, and expensively, in a strapless, black leather pencil dress, a hot pink blazer, stiletto knee-high black boots, and a quilted, black clutch bag, embossed with the Chanel logo.
"Professor Masen and Bella! What are you doing in New York?"
"Yes, meeting Bella's parents."
Edward nodded towards a corner of the bar where my father and mother were waiting.
"What brings you here, Irina?"
She shuffled from foot-to-foot before looking up at us nervously.
"'Tis Russian business things. I am sorry. I must go. I am late."
"Okay, see you soon."
She nodded before running off as fast as her five-inch heels would let her.
"That was weird," Edward murmured.
"She's an odd girl."
My parents had seen us, so we headed over to their table. My father stood up as we approached, and greeted us warmly, but my mother stiffened in her chair. I didn't expect anything else.
"Bella, you look beautiful, my darling girl." Charlie stepped back from me and looked me up and down. "Radiant."
"Thanks, Dad."
"And Edward, good to see you again."
"A pleasure, Charlie." The Fox turned to my mother. "Mrs Swan, I'm Edward Masen."
After fixing him with an icy stare, Renee slowly got to her feet.
"I'm sorry, I don't know how to greet the man who took my daughter's innocence and covered his indiscretions with an elopement," she hissed.
"Renee, you promised!" exclaimed Charlie. She shrugged indifferently and sat back down. I sat down too, and the men followed suit.
"Like it or not, Edward is my husband. I love him and he isn't going anywhere. We are a family, and I won't chase you to be a part of it. So if you can't accept that, you know how to leave."
For a moment, I thought she was going to get up again and walk out, like she did in Boston, but instead, she leaned forward and took a sip of her martini.
"Bold words, Isabella. Charlie tells me that you have quite the suburban lifestyle. House with a picket fence, his and hers cycles, puppies. How very ... pedestrian."
"And a new car," I retorted. "A Volvo." I couldn't help but smile as Renee shuddered.
"It's wonderful that you're so happy, Bella," interjected my father as he waved a waiter over. "What would you both like to drink?"
"Budvar please," replied Edward."
"Perrier with an orange twist."
"Still with the no drinking, Isabella?" Renee looked at me properly for the first time. "Oh for fuck's sake ... you're pregnant, aren't you?"
"Bella, are you?"
I glanced at The Fox, who took my hand.
"Yes, I'm due in late April. And we're delighted about it."
"This is exactly what I didn't want for you!" cried Renee. "Trapped in marriage with a baby before you've had a chance to see the world or make something of yourself! Just like ... Just like ..." She let out a little sob and held her head in her hands.
"Like who, Mum?"
"Like my mother, my sisters, and every other woman in my family. Married with kids, struggling to make ends meet ... they all ended up poor and desperately unhappy. I worked my arse off to get out of there, and my daughter, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, chooses that life."
My mother never spoke about her family. She had been estranged from them for years before I came along.
"I thought you came from the same background as Dad. Wealthy, landowning, farming."
"Farming yes. Wealthy and landowning, no. Bumbling around the Wiltshire countryside in a tractor with a litter of brats, watching every penny ... no fucking way."
"Mum, it's not the same situation. I'm forging my own path. Academia and motherhood."
"Well, it's a poor path."
"Thanks to my education, and my inheritance from Grandma Swan, I'll never live in poverty. Edward has tenure which means we're settled with a good, regular income, and we'll have two when I eventually qualify. You know I was never comfortable living the life you and Dad lead. It made you both happy, but it never suited me."
"I know," she whispered before downing what was left in her martini glass. "I, uh, have to go. Dinner reservations with an old girlfriend, Gloria, from our time living here. Did Bella tell you we lived here when she was little, Edward?"
The Fox was surprised at being addressed directly.
"Uh, no ..."
"I barely remember. We've lived in so many places, after all."
"Yes, so many wonderful places." Renee sighed as she got up.
Charlie and I relaxed into our chairs while Edward remained on the edge of his, watching her leave.
"That went better than expected," Charlie murmured.
"How can you say that went 'better than expected'? She was barely here for ten minutes," cried The Fox, running his hands through his hair and tugging the ends.
"Firstly, she came. Secondly, she spoke to you, Foxy, and thirdly, she told us more about herself in those ten minutes than she has my entire life."
"I would rather die than show my child that kind of detachment, however old they are."
He was angry. Trembling with it.
"Foxy ..."
"Baby, I need a bit of fresh air." He kissed me softly on the cheek. "Sorry."
-cc-
Edward
So furious with my mother-in-law that I could barely see straight, I strode out of the bar, determined to have it out with her. However, as I stepped out of the hotel's main entrance, she was already departing in a taxi. I was so frustrated I nearly punched a wall, but I thought of my beautiful Bella and our Cub and managed to curb my temper.
It just killed me that Bella accepted her mother's iciness. I couldn't stand the idea that my child might be exposed to it. What happened to the parental instinct of protection and nurture? Bella had it even before she became pregnant. Bree took her son across the bloody Atlantic to protect him from Volturi.
I headed back inside and after finishing our drinks we walked a couple of blocks to a nearby Italian restaurant and had a lovely meal. Bella ate voraciously, eating half my steak and fried zucchini as well as a huge plate of cheese and tomato ravioli.
As we were settling up, Charlie's phone rang.
"Renee." He listened for a moment, grimaced and then glanced at Bella and me. "Yes ... No ... okay, fine, sleep it off at Gloria's and I'll see you in the morning."
"Dad?"
"Your mother's drunk too much."
"Again," Bella murmured, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, well ... what are your plans for tomorrow?" Charlie said, glossing over the elephant in the room.
We made plans for Charlie to join us, Tanya, Leah and Riley for brunch at the house the next morning, and walked back to the hotel to pick up a cab.
As we approached the entrance, we saw a black limo idling outside as the driver hopped out and went around to open the door for his passenger. My stomach lurched and Bella gasped as we saw who it was.
Aro Volturi.
Bella and I automatically took a step back into the shadows as we watched him, and a few equally greasy-looking men in designer suits followed him out of the car and into the hotel.
"Fuck," Bella whispered. "Slimy."
"Why the bad language? Who's that short bloke?"
"Professor Aro Volturi, who we were telling you about. The one Jenks is investigating for us."
"I thought he was supposed to be in Oxford."
"So did we."
A cab with its light on approached, and I decided to flag it down.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Charlie. We can talk more then."
"Bye Dad."
We were silent on the journey back to the East Village, until Bella could bear it no longer.
"So, my dad's in therapy and my mother's a cold-hearted, alcoholic cow with so many issues she should be in therapy."
"So it would seem."
"Sure you still want to have a child with me, having seen what I might turn into?" She laughed without humour.
"Bella, she is not who you will become. You exude love through every single pore. You couldn't possibly turn into her."
"But ..."
I cut her off with a kiss.
"Just think of little Robbie. If genetics were the only thing to shape a child's development, he would already be just like his dad. An evil shit."
"What do you think Slimy's doing in New York City?" she murmured. "I hope to God it's not because he found out Bree is here. Or worse, that something we did has led him to her."
"We'd better phone Jenks when we get in."
I fished out my phone to see a missed call from Max, and a text message.
Call me or Jenks. Stat.
We did just that, the moment we got back to Tanya's. Jenks's tone was one of profuse apology.
"I'm so fucking sorry. We didn't realise until a few hours ago that Volturi was heading to New York. He had flown to Italy to see some family and flew to New York from Rome."
"Damn it. We just made contact with Bree. Do you have any idea why he's come? Is it to do with her?"
"No, we don't think so. It's Eclipse Pharmaceuticals' Annual General Meeting. All the major department heads, all the members of the board and all their key drugs developers are in New York for it."
"What's the risk to Bree?"
"Currently, not too bad. The schedule looks tight and Volturi seems to be doing some major arse-licking so it's unlikely he'll be venturing into Brooklyn."
"Can you get Max to watch him instead to make sure?"
"I'm already on it. I'll update you with his movements tomorrow."
"Thanks Jenks."
-cc-
Tanya's idea of a little brunch was an entire table of breakfast foods, catered by a local restaurant, of course. Bella, with her newly-returned appetite, actually squealed in delight when she saw the plates of pancakes, bacon, sausage, kedgeree, smoked salmon, eggs, breads, pastries and fruit.
Charlie arrived at midday, and immediately succumbed to the charms of Tanya and Leah. I had worried that Riley, with his exuberance, might overwhelm my sedate father-in-law. Charlie warmed to him in much the same way Bella did, however.
After my second glass of Buck's Fizz, I found myself relaxing, until my phone suddenly beeped with a message from an unknown, New York City mobile number.
Are you still in NYC? Can I come meet you + your wife? Bree
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang, but it wasn't Bree being shown in, but a very muscular, Native American guy, around thirty, dressed in tight jeans that would make Riley blush, and an equally tight, grey jumper.
"Hey bitches!" He hugged Leah and Tanya. "There's some tiny, nervous chick with a bad dye-job hovering on the sidewalk by your front door, by the way. New friend of yours?"
"That'll be Bree. I'd better go out there to get her."
"No Edward, give her a minute," murmured Bella. "She'll ring the bell when she's ready."
"Wow, look at all this food," continued the new arrival. "I'm gonna have to double up your cardio on Monday, Tee!"
"Don't you fucking dare, Psycho!"
"Err ... Tanya? Who's this?"
"Ed, this is Embry, otherwise known as the Washington Psycho. He's our personal trainer, and Leah's childhood friend. Embry, this is my best friend Edward Masen, his wife, Bella and her dad, Charlie."
"Hey." Embry's attention was entirely focused behind us, though, on a silent, frozen Riley. "And, uh, who are you, gorgeous?"
"R-Riley. Bella's like my BFF, but I go to school at NYU and she and Edward work at Harvard with my dad and I became friends with Tanya and Leah through them ..."
The doorbell interrupted Riley's uncharacteristically nervous ramble.
"I'll go," I interjected, and then leaving before Tanya or Leah could. Bella followed.
Bree was alone, fidgety, anxious. Pulling at the cuffs of her baggy jumper.
"Thank you so much for coming," Bella murmured. "Where's Robbie?"
"Uncle Jeff's taken him and his friend to a baseball game. They don't know I'm here."
"Come on through. We're having brunch. Would you like something to eat or drink? Coffee, juice, water ...?" I offered.
"Some juice or water would be good, but I can't face a lot of new people, Professor ..."
"It's fine. We won't be disturbed in here," I replied, showing her into Tanya's study.
Bree drank two whole glasses of juice before she started talking.
"He broke me. Seduced me steadily over the course of a year, until I was putty in his hands. Milked me of my best ideas, took my virginity and then cast me aside when he didn't want me anymore. Told me to get rid of our child or lose everything I'd ever worked for." She looked up at us with watery eyes. "You know this already, Professor, don't ye? And the rest."
"I do."
"He didn't know you kept Robbie until recently?"
"No, Mrs Masen."
"Bella, please."
"How did he come to find out?"
"His goon, Alec, tracked me down. Aro finally came to the realisation that my project was on a potentially lucrative drug target. He was trying to resurrect my PhD project with Alec, and he wanted my research books."
"What was your topic?" asked Bella.
"The effect of GABA-B receptor modulation on nociception* ..."
"Following on from McCarson's work in Kansas?" my wife interjected.
"Exactly." Bree suddenly lit up with enthusiasm. "When I got the Wellcome Trust Award, I wrote to Professor McCarson. He gave me the green light to base my PhD on his early work as he had some other projects he wanted to pursue."
"If you could prove that GABA-B was a credible target to treat pain, the possibilities ..." I realised.
"Especially in chronic pain," added Bree. "Aro was far more interested in GABA-A receptors and acute pain at the time, unlike now. He wanted me to work on his project but the Faculty had already accepted it, and the Eclipse guys had pre-approved my funding, so I started the research."
"How far did you get?" Bella was on the edge of her seat, fascinated.
As quickly as she had begun to glow, Bree's face dropped and she hung her head.
"Not very. The project was dogged with protocol issues. While Aro was pursuing me, he never addressed them, and kept making me contribute to his GABA-A work. I can't believe I didn't see it at the time. Then, when I was his, we were ... distracted, so the research took a backseat for a while. I was finally starting to get somewhere when I found out I was pregnant, and everything went to shite."
"So Alec came to see you, and he saw Robbie?"
Bree nodded, and the tears started falling.
"It was the Easter Holidays, so I wasn't teaching. Robbie was supposed to be at a football tournament all day, but he twisted his knee on the pitch and Don brought him home early."
"Alec was still there?"
"Yeah. Took one look at my wee boy, and he knew he was Aro's. I hadn't said much to him, because the guy was so bloody arrogant, but when he saw my Beanie, he told us that if I didn't help him with the GABA-B project, maybe a custody battle would change my mind.
"A few days later, Aro called me himself. He told me to give up the research books immediately, or else he would use my problems as the basis for seeking custody."
"That's when you ran."
"Yes. Robbie's smart. He knew something was up the minute he saw Alec, and even though Don and I tried to have our conversations quietly, Robbie overheard. He was the one that phoned Don's Uncle Jeff ..." she started sobbing. "...He told him, h-he t-told him that we needed to come stay because his bad sperm donor wanted to kidnap him."
"So you and Robbie came to New York, but what about your husband?"
"Don had just started a job in Glasgow; he's an accountant with a big firm. His qualifications are worthless in America, so he couldn't work here. We were hoping that when I disappeared, Alec and Aro would back off, so it would only be a temporary separation, but Aro's a tenacious bugger."
"He pestered you?"
"Aye, but through Alec, so it wouldn't seem like he was involved. Emails, phone calls, letters ... you name it."
"Sounds familiar," murmured Bella.
"I tried to tell him to leave me alone. My research is useless if what he's looking for is a drug target. All I managed to find out was that mice who have GABA-B receptor stimulation removed after a long period of exposure, behave as if they are in severe pain. There were no other consistent findings."
"But Bree, Aro is working with Eclipse on a new medication for chronic pain. I bet it uses GABA-B receptors as a target." said Bella.
"It's very simplistic, but if you extrapolate your early results to humans, then a potential and serious side effect of a GABA-B drug would be rebound hyperalgesia, possibly worse than the original pain," I finished. "No governing body would approve it."
We all sat in silence for a minute, absorbing our conclusions.
"Why did you decide to come see us today, Bree?" asked Bella, eventually,
"I don't want to live my life in the shadow of my relationship with Aro. It's not fair on my family and it's not fair on me. I made a spur of the moment decision and then I sent you that text."
"We can help you, Bree, as much as you can help us. Power in numbers."
"I can't let myself hope too much. Aro has a way of finding things out. He manipulates people, buys them off. You may think I sound paranoid, but he has spies everywhere."
"I don't think you're paranoid, not at all," I mumbled, remembering that we were yet to determine who had told Aro we had gotten married.
"Professor Masen, please don't lead me into regret for standing with you against him."
"Believe me, Bree, that's the last thing we want."
She settled back into her chair for a moment before sitting forward again and gulping down the remainder of her drink.
"He's in New York," she said suddenly. "The Eclipse bigwigs have their AGM in New York every October." She watched us as our faces dropped in surprise, and she smiled for the first time, reminding me of the sweet, funny girl she was when we first met. "Ach, I knew ye knew."
"Bree ..." I began.
"It's okay, Professor. I've known for several months that he would be in New York this weekend. Don's uncle got hold of the AGM's agenda, so we know his movements. Aro's such a sycophant, he won't miss any of it," she said.
"How?"
"I'm not the only one who has a P.I. at their disposal. Uncle Jeff knows a thing or two about covert operations. Securities expert."
"Wait, you know about ours?"
"Uncle Jeff spotted your guy a couple of weeks ago. Traced him back to Jason Jenks in London and worked out that the fee was being paid by Bella's father. Still, I wasn't expecting you to turn up in the zoo like that."
"Wow, I don't know what to say." I whispered contritely.
"Bree, we're so sorry. We didn't want to invade your privacy but we were so desperate to find you, and get Aro once and for all."
"It's okay Bella. I understand that. I'm not angry. Just fucking scared."
She started playing with her necklace, a simple chain with a bronze coin on it. When I looked closer, I realised it was a sobriety chip.
"How long?" I asked, pointing at the glimmering disc of metal.
"One year, two months and sixteen days," Bree replied. "The hardest battle I fight is the one with alcohol, and I do it every day."
"Then Volturi should be a doddle."
"Aye, when you put it like that." She paused and nodded, absorbing my point. "How will we do it? Fight him?"
"Put together a dossier of evidence and hit Oxford with it before they hang us out to dry and make sure his dealings with Eclipse are shown up too. I have a friend of sorts who is a senior officer in the Oxford Personnel department, Tia Castleton." Tanya's distant giggles filtered through the door. "Tanya's ex-girlfriend from her university days," I added, by way of explanation to Bella.
"I can get on with that plan." More laughter came through as people joined in with whatever joke Tanya was telling. "You got a party going on here?"
"Brunch. Our friend's put on quite the spread if you're hungry." She looked nervous, so I added, "we could bring plates in here if you'd prefer." She relaxed immediately and even smiled a little.
"That'd be champion."
-cc-
Hello and thanks again for your patience while I scramble to finish this story. It should be thirty-five chapters and an epilogue.
My technical beta Elodie has been hard at work with me on this chapter, but I've not sent it to the wonderful SunflowerFran because of my keenness to get the story done and dusted, again (sorry Fran!).
Technical speak:
*GABA- A neurotransmitter in the brain which tends to slow processes down. Alcohol and Valium affect GABA. It has two main types of receptor- GABA-A and GABA-B.
*receptor modulation= changing of a receptor's shape with the binding of a substance
*nociception= transmission of pain signals. This will be fast in acute, sharp pain, and slower in chronic pain.
*rebound hyperalgesia= when a patient takes a drug for pain, and feels worse pain when they stop the drug than before they took it in the first place.