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Chapter 94
Edward
"Get out!" cursed Bella in a shaky and choked voice from the kitchen as I gave the front door behind me a gentle shove to make it fall into the lock.
Involuntarily, I clenched my eyes and jaw together.
It smelled of alcohol. And it smelled of Bella's glorious blood. No! was all I could think. Don't let her lie in her desperate abyss again! Please don't!
Bracing myself for the worst, I walked briskly on through the house ... and leaned into the kitchen door, chuckling.
Bella sat on the floor, green and yellow in the face. She was holding her hand; on whose little finger a tiny droplet of blood could be seen. A cat sat in front of her, casting a very interested gaze at the large pot on the stove, and about to jump up to it at any moment. She had probably come in through the wide-open patio door, attracted by the smell of tonight's dinner.
In mid-jump, I stopped the cat and set it back down on the patio.
She hissed at me. I hissed back. She disappeared. I grinned.
"Sweetheart! If you keep this up, I'll tie you to the bed in the morning before I leave!" I threatened Bella absolutely seriously as I sat down next to her and pulled her sideways onto my lap.
I took her hand, sucked away the drop of blood, and enjoyed another small sip from her before closing the wound with a minimal nuance of my venom.
Her blood sang for me, nothing had changed about that, but it no longer dominated me. It was like a forbidden candy that I was allowed to snack on now and then.
And as for being tied up … This was now the fourth day in a row that Bella scared me to death. Yesterday she had been lying motionless on the floor in front of the sofa because something had slipped under it. The day before yesterday I thought she was having a nervous breakdown, but she had only chased a stray bird around the house. On Tuesday she had cried, but only because she was cutting onions.
"And then what are you going to do with me when I'm so helplessly at your mercy?"
"Probably be late for school!" I kissed my seductive angel and rolled onto the kitchen floor with her.
There were just days when I could hardly control myself when I was near Bella. Today was such a day. But it remained with only glowing kisses.
"Why are you cooking already? Leah and Jake won't be here for at least an hour, " I asked after far too short minutes, when we were standing again.
She took a glass, poured herself red wine from the open bottle and put the rest in the huge pot, which contained some little pieces of meat.
She explained to me, while I caressed the back of her neck and sucked in her scent, that this would have to stew for at least two more hours. After all, she would not know when our little daughter would come back from her date.
I rolled my eyes.
I didn't really know this Marcus, but something didn't sit right with me about the boy. That it was simply the fact that he wanted my daughter, of all people, I vehemently denied.
"By the way, Rose is coming over in a minute. You don't trust my mechanic skills," I stated in a huff.
Her Honda was making a strange noise and I already knew what it was.
"You'd only intentionally break it more just so I wouldn't drive my motorcycle anymore!" she accused me.
I also vehemently denied that and moreover was deeply offended, but she was probably right.
Jake came home soon, and I was studying with him until Em and Rose got here.
However, not only did he have to study more than usual for school, but he also had to slowly practice a little more than usual. The week after next was his first game.
So, we played basketball with Em in front of the garage until dinner was ready.
Em corrected his opinion. He had once said that basketball was not Jake's sport, but now he saw that he had been wrong. One wolf against two vampires - was an appropriate challenge for Jake right now.
Rose, on the other hand, went to Bella at first.
Unfortunately, after the meal Rose made, a complete, but to my relief, a very thorough general overhaul. The bike subsequently purred like new again.
She would also have loved to get to work on Jake's Harley right away, but I stopped her from doing so. It wasn't about getting the Harley running as fast as possible, it was about me working on it together with Jake. It was important to me, and I enjoyed it.
Jake had also noticed Rosalie's eagerness and also forbade her to lay a hand on it.
"Are there any more concrete plans in the meantime regarding the date of our wedding?" Bella asked at some point, played angrily.
No one had said anything about it yet, no matter who we asked. And since I lived too far away to read minds, I also had no idea what Alice was planning. At school or when she was here or we/I was with her, she didn't think about it. Sometimes also compulsively. I could strangle her!
"No, not so far. You know what Alice is like, however. Everything has to be perfect and that takes time," Rose answered placatingly.
"No coronation ceremony!" I reminded really angrily. After all, I knew my favorite sister. I wouldn't mind if everything was full of pomp and splendor, it would be the appropriate setting for my goddess. But anything superfluous would only prolong the time until that day. I was already against it on principle.
"But it can't be too much longer!" Em winked at Bella.
He was the least in control of his thoughts and I recognized at any rate the reason for this procrastination. David and his family. Alice wanted it perfect, that included Bella's best friend being present.
"And all the tasks have already been assigned," Rose added.
She herself would apparently be responsible for Bella's hairstyle on our day and she went through several creations. All of them terrible! In one of them, she toyed with the thought of cutting off Bella's long hair.
She saw my shocked gaze.
'Do you seriously think I'm going to reveal to you what I'm going to do with Bella's beautiful hair!' she thought bitingly.
That calmed me down. I was offended, but it calmed me down.
Then as Jake and Leah headed off for their usual run, Rose and Emmett also said farewell. Em still asked when we were meeting tonight.
"Since you're so slow ... at 4:00 a.m.," I bragged with a grin.
We would run to Philadelphia tonight so that the last moving truck, the entire fleet, and David's complete family would be here tomorrow. Punctually for Stan and Peter's wedding. Jazz would also come along. All the vampires had gotten to know David's family and after initial reservations, got along excellently. Rose was at first as dismissive as she had been back with Bella, but both her persistence and her reasons had changed. She had been willing to give these strangers a chance in the first place and was extremely polite. She had quickly understood why David knew the full truth about all of us and Sonya knew the necessary part of immortality. Rose was downright enraptured with the expectant mother. For one thing, Sonya was a lovely person, and for another, she was also pregnant, something Rose had never been able to witness so closely since she had been in this life. However, Rose had significant concerns about the children. If they all lived here now, however, they had to notice that we didn't change. And children tended to be careless. What if the children said something that could make others mistrustful. But now that Emma was wrapped around Rosalie's finger, she had forgotten her concern again.
"Are you going to tie me to the bed tonight already?" asked Bella shortly after, as we stood in the kitchen putting away the empty bottles and glasses.
Lightning fast, I pushed her against the refrigerator, holding her hands together behind her back and glaring at her.
"Maybe I'll tie you up already now!" I meant, growling ... Never did my fiancée get spooked by me! Sometimes it was really maddening. I had once been so good at scaring people ... But Bella also drove me crazy in a completely different way and so I was already kissing my way over the side of her neck after her flowery scent hit me full force. We were alone. The kids just left. We had some time ...
I lifted Bella onto the kitchen counter and kissed her eagerly.
My angel scared me a little. She did that many a time. Sometimes it was as if SHE could hear thoughts. Namely mine. Instead of reprimanding me in any way, she was already tugging at my shirt with her hands, which were now free again, and mumbling something about the kids being gone for a while. But I only thought about it for a fraction of a second.
I buried my hands in Bella's silky curls as she caressed her way across my bare chest, her warm hands moving over my back.
I threw my head back neck and closed my eyes.
No matter how she touched me, it blew my mind.
'DAD!' it suddenly screamed in my head.
Confused, I wrenched my eyes open and looked around as I pushed Bella off me a little.
Were the kids already back? How much time had already passed now without us noticing? ... Had I imagined it?
We were still alone in the house and only a few minutes had passed also.
"What is it?" my angel asked immediately.
"I heard Leah," was all I said, looking out the window behind Bella.
There Leah just appeared as a wolf and waited growling for me to react to her.
How many times has she already called for me?
Immediately I eavesdropped on her thoughts.
Jake had encountered Mike all on his own in the woods, ignoring Leah and imagining the most brutal methods to kill Mike. Oh no!
"Jake needs a little help!" I said as casually as I could. If I told Bella that Jake was just picturing his deadly revenge very vividly, she would lose her cool.
"With what?" she asked, naturally mistrustful.
What did a huge wolf need help with?
I explained that he had been a bit inattentive and was surrounded by people who hadn't spotted him yet. Leah and I would distract the nocturnal wanderers a bit.
The gaze of my angel left no doubt that she did not believe me.
I gave Bella another quick kiss, picked up my shirt, and as soon as we were out of sight, ran with Leah as fast as we could.
We talked at him, since of course he could hear both of us. He merely ignored us.
Then Mike finished his phone call and Jake got ready, but I was already standing behind him.
Ready to stop my son.
"Jake! What will you say Becky when you kill a defenseless person?" I urgently asked Jake.
He knew the answer and his plan vanished into thin air.
Then it got really funny.
He chased Mike through the woods, being careful to keep him away from any humans. At one point I ran in front of Jake so I could take his clothes off his ankle.
It doesn't bear thinking about if later, when Mike remembered that evening, he could actually identify these as Jake's clothes. Especially because of the bracelet with which the clothes were fastened.
With Leah I looked for a secluded spot, and then through her thoughts we watched the spectacle with amusement.
After that, Leah finished her patrol while Jake headed straight for Becky, and I at home.
For a long time we sat together in the dining room and played cards. Jake, Becky, Leah, Bella, and me. It was very cozy and fun, even if I was accused of cheating.
Based on Leah's thoughts, we both were thinking of the same thing. Except that we disagreed! Marcus.
Leah imagined him taking part in our cozy game night. Wondered if he would enjoy such an evening as well. Whether he would have as much fun as we do. Just to be together with the whole family. Whether he would be embarrassed to touch or even kiss her in front of us.
I, on the other hand, imagined how I could break all the bones of the smug and precocious brat.
At some point, Leah yawned heartily and infected the rest of the people with it.
It was already past midnight by now.
Bella and I again cleared glasses, bottles, and also snack bowls into the kitchen while the kids went upstairs. Jake and Becky stood in the hall upstairs - in front of the guest room. Becky had stayed overnight with us the whole week, nicely well-behaved separately from Jake.
"It's the weekend!" I whispered to Jake as I walked past them with Bella holding my hand. We had already arranged it that way, as they had both bravely persevered. Becky seemed to get better every night. We wanted to know what it would be like after a weekend together. Whether we would have to start all over again.
Jake looked after us skeptically at first, but then quickly disappeared into his room.
With Becky, of course.
Bella immediately went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and I also got undressed and put on my pajama pants. I lay down on my stomach and set my cell phone alarm clock, so that I did not forget from the intoxicating closeness to Bella to get up much earlier today.
Bella soon came out of the bathroom.
I had expected her to lie down with me. Instead, she kissed her way tingly up my spine and climbed on top of me. And I noticed something else.
Or didn't notice it.
"I think you forgot something!" I stated tonelessly and looked at her over my shoulder. I didn't feel the smallest bit of fabric covering her gorgeous body.
"Okay," she said cheekily and rose from me.
With a lightning quick movement, I pulled her back.
"You stay just as you are!" I threatened, burying her under me.
Enough words! said her eyes, sparkling with anticipation.
There was not enough time in this world to get enough of Bella and however I savored every second she was so close to me, down to the last fiber of my soul. Not for a moment did I let my fingers slip from her skin. Not a moment more than necessary my lips from her. Her playful hands made my insides boil. Her sweet lips blissfully revived my dead heart to new life.
The bed became much too small so we rolled off the mattress, but nothing was capable of restraining our lust.
Not even my brief inattention when I nibbled a little too hard on her lips and tasted her blood. That happened to me every now and then. The first time I had backed away from Bella in panic, but I was too caught up in my physical desire in those moments to pay any special attention to her divine blood. It even increased my lust for everything else about my goddess.
The hours passed wildly and passionately ... and far too quickly.
When my cell phone buzzed softly, Bella was lying in my arms on the floor leaning against the bed, half wrapped in a blanket.
"You already have to go?" Bella asked in amazement.
Well, shocked somehow hit it better.
I chuckled as she gave an offended gaze at the alarm clock.
"Will you miss me?"
"Not a bit!" she teased me and stood up. "I'll probably still be in bed when you get back here!"
"Tempting thought!" I replied, holding out my pajama top to her. "That will make me rush!"
I put on comfortable jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.
After all, I would be driving for half the day.
Bella climbed into bed and watched me, whereby her eyes quickly grew smaller and smaller.
"And don't forget: You are everything to me and in this house live the most important creatures of my existence. I'll come back to you and nothing on this earth can stop me!" I whispered as Bella's head visibly grew heavier. I hoped to be able to soothe her sleep a bit in advance. It was repugnant to me to leave her alone at night, but provided Emmett didn't force me to go on any extended hunting trips, today would perhaps be the last time. At least I would never have to pick up David or his family in the middle of the night again. At least not from Philadelphia!
Quietly, I entered Leah's room.
She had been thinking about what both we and Jake and Becky were doing and had successfully distracted herself with the TV, which was still running.
I took the remote control from her hand, turned off the device, covered her properly and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Jake had wanted to prevent anyone from listening closely to them. With him, the music system was on.
I turned it off and then saw that the little wolf had fallen out of bed. I laid him carefully above the two on the pillow.
Becky was naked, but lying belly-down, half on top of Jake, whereby the bedspread just barely covered her bottom.
Since room temperatures were quite inconsequential to the twins, the heaters were also not turned on in either room yet, even though it was getting autumnal. It was clearly too chilly at night for a human to be uncovered, even if that human had a personal hot water bottle. Trying not to touch Becky, I pulled the blanket up over her back. Unfortunately, this woke Becky up.
A teeny moment of shock until she recognized me in the darkness.
"I just turned off the music and put the wolf back with you," I whispered immediately.
She mumbled a soft "Thank you!" and snuggled back against Jake, who had just growled very menacingly, "My wife!" and pulled her closer to him.
I smirked and left.
The trip to Philly was fun.
I had completely forgotten how much fun it was to be out in the forest at night with my brothers. We hunted competitively, wrestling with each other to defend our prey, teasing each other.
Despite everything, we arrived in Boston pretty much on time. From there, we had booked a direct flight to Philadelphia, so I didn't have to leave Bella quite so early.
I knocked on the front door while Em and Jazz waited at the moving truck.
The door was only ajar, but no one was there.
I took out my cell phone and found out from David that they were at a neighbor's for breakfast. They had nothing in their own kitchen.
I heard a little exchange of words and immediately learned that Emma was on her way.
I heard them chuckling happily in front of the house and got jealous. Emmett was already cuddling her. He was as fond of Emma as I was. In fact, like everyone! Emma knew excellently how to keep seven vampires on their toes at the same time.
I stepped out the front door, whistled a little tune, Emma lifted her head and ran bouncy towards me. I pressed her against me, and I got another smack on the cheek.
Jealousy gone!
Soon the rest came out of the neighbor's house. The boys Luces and Deacon rushed up to Jazz and Em and David and Sonya were visibly amazed.
Only I was expected, not my brothers.
"What are you doing here?" asked Sonya immediately, stepping up to the two and extending a hand to each in greeting.
She looked good. She was glowing from the inside out, no doubt due to the good hope that by now drew a small but however distinct bump on her belly.
"Your motorcycle also has to go to Saco somehow. It's supposed to be a fancy little machine!" Emmett explained and gave David a prompting gaze.
The latter was laughing, because I hadn't told Em what kind of machine it was.
With Emma on my arm, tousling wildly in my hair, I walked over to them and greeted everyone.
During David's few visits with us, we had already become good friends.
Sonya even greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, which surprised me at first, but I warmly reciprocated.
"Anything else need packing?" Jazz then asked enthusiastically.
Sonya explained that the boys' furniture stayed here. They had gotten completely new rooms. Only Emma's crib would have to go in the moving van that sat in the driveway, a sofa - on which Sonya and David had slept last night - and a few last boxes and bags were still scattered around the first floor.
"And where's the motorcycle?" Emmett asked again, getting a sharp slap in the back neck from me and Jazz at the same time.
Emma, whom I still had on my arm, giggled sugar-sweetly.
With our vampiric help, which we didn't let the kids see, everything was quickly wrapped up and David finally held up the key Em had been longing for.
We went to the garage; David had the gate raised and Em would have been drooling if he was physically able.
He recognized not only the model, but also what was so special about it. A Ducati X Diavel. A special model, with a very low quantity, which was issued due to an unexpected victory in a motorcycle race. Em had tried to get one back then. Without luck. Not everything could be bought with money. Sometimes one needed connections, and David had had them in this case. The winner of that time's race was the brother-in-law of his wife's sister's husband. Make sense?
Actually, the machine should only have been driven into the moving truck, which had an appropriate mounting device, but Em had completely different plans.
He would drive it to the first planned rest stop. That was clear, wasn't it?
We retired for a bit while the family said goodbye to their old house.
The children did not know any other home and so it was hard for them to think that they would never see it again. Sonya shed a few tears, although she was looking forward to her new home. While the kids were already standing with us again, the parents went through all the rooms again sentimentally.
Each child had a backpack with them, containing munchies, drinks, and various toys to survive this never-ending drive of about six to eight hours. In addition, everyone had a pillow under their arm and Emma had her teddy bear. Emma was already getting impatient again.
Soon the people were distributed among the vehicles.
As originally planned, I would drive the truck, except that Emma insisted on riding in it. Sonya objected, however, because the child seat could not be properly secured there.
Em took the motorcycle.
Logical.
David got into his Mercedes station wagon and had Deacon and a deeply offended Emma in the back seat. Sonya and Luces made themselves comfortable in the big VW Sharan that Jasper was driving.
The time to the rest area passed sluggishly on the crowded roads.
We refueled the vehicles, stowed the Ducati in the moving van to Em's immeasurable disappointment, the humans ate something, and the children romped around the playground.
"If I have to listen to 'The Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot' one more time, this CD will only arrive in Saco in dust form!" complained Jasper.
Sonya and David laughed. They had told Luces to take more than one episode along for the ride. Meanwhile, this episode itself was already getting on his nerves.
Via Bluetooth connection I transferred all episodes of the radio series from my cell phone to his.
Jake also listened to them. Still to this day.
The little angel threw a heartbreaking tantrum and was finally allowed to ride with me. Emma had pulled a CD out of her pink backpack, which was running in an endless loop.
Children's songs.
After some games like 'I spy', 'Counting Crows!' and similar we sang along with her songs together.
When we finally reached the new house in the early afternoon, Emma was leaning against me with her pillow and her teddy in her arms, asleep.
All the humans were asleep. That had more or less been the plan. They were not supposed to come out of this drive completely exhausted, so that they would have enough stamina to celebrate at the wedding this evening.
Jake and Leah were already waiting for us. I had called them from the road.
"Where's Bella?" I asked in amazement. Actually, she wanted to welcome the new neighbors.
"Asleep!" murmured Jake to me, mentally wondering what on earth we had done last night.
I smiled at the thought of it.
He really didn't want to know that!
I gently pulled Emma into my arms and then laid her gently in her crib, which Em carried after me. Jake and Leah took Luces and Deacon and also brought them each to their new rooms while Em and Jazz distributed the bags and boxes from the truck.
Then I woke David up.
"We're here," he mumbled in confusion as he opened his eyes.
He had to unfold himself out of the seat and stretched first. He gently woke his wife, who, unlike him, was immediately wide awake. She jumped out of the car, paid no attention to him and ran towards the house. Only at the front door did he catch up with Sonya.
"Stop!" he put himself in Sonya's way. He lifted her up in his arms. "My wife needs to be carried over the threshold into her new home!" he stated, walking her through the door and kissing her profusely on the other side.
The rest of us waited outside. We wanted to leave them to discover the house on their own, but we were still curious.
There were some little things that David didn't know about either.
For the most part, the furniture was from their old house, but there were also some new ones. This house was already a bit bigger than the previous one and therefore also claimed more inventory so as not to appear empty. Esmé had arranged and decorated everything enchantingly.
David knew of four child rooms, now there were five. This was a secret order from Sonya. She wanted a room of her own for Daniel. Whether he would just visit or live here with them was yet to be shown, but the immediate possibility of a move-in was thus given.
Sonya also had her own room, which neither of them knew about. Sonya painted, if she had time for it. Now she would no longer have to consider whether her time for packing and unpacking the various supplies was sufficient at all, but could start immediately.
Between the children's rooms there was a gallery, which now comprised a small library of only children's and young adult books, where very comfortable reading chairs and reading couches were available.
In David's study hung a large family portrait that I had painted and that I could add two more children to. One was not yet born, the other I had not yet seen in person.
There was also now a kind of gentlemen's room, as one called it in my day. In that room, I truly felt like I was seventeen again. At the most! It was perhaps a bit old-fashioned, but Esmé had not had a better idea for the small winding room on the first floor. It had already been completely paneled with high-quality wood by the previous owners, and Esmé had found matching pieces of furniture. A very old chess set was enthroned on a small table, and two oversized armchairs stood awe-inspiringly opposite each other.
In thoughts, I saw myself sitting in this room with my father, as he explained to me in a commanding tone that as the son of an 'aristocrat' - as he thought of himself since he was a lawyer - I should not think about the army, but rather choose a bride. Befitting our social status, of course.
Finally, Emmett and I had built a small adventure playground in the huge backyard. Probably the safest playground in the world!
Contrary to my hopes, Emmett had gotten his hands on the video of Emma and me on the playground.
After I had destroyed in painstaking detail the warning signs that he had put here just for me, Em had now varnished the warnings for me on the respective posts. So that I could not simply paint over it, it was additionally also deeply carved into the material.
Attention, Eddie. Thirty-six inches high.
Careful, Eddie. Wobbly.
Eddie, danger of slipping.
Attention. Eddie may only high here with Emma.
Just a small selection of his ideas.
We each headed home so the family could arrive in peace and get to know the house.
I asked Jake what the situation was with Becky today. She was invited to the wedding, but so far was not here.
He would pick her up right away. Her dress and jewelry were with us.
Then I put an arm around Leah's shoulders and said quick prayers to heaven that my princess was still mine.
"So how was your date?" I inquired sounding bored.
Thank you for reading!
