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Chapter 153
Distribution of Presents 1
Edward
We were handed towels, when I entered the house again with my twins, soaking wet, but laughing happily. Someone had also already fetched us dry clothes and we quickly changed in an adjoining room.
Luckily, my twins were not in danger of catching a cold, or I would have ordered them straight into a hot bath.
What was my baby's immune system like?
When we returned to the living room, I immediately noticed three rather nervous children - Emma, Luces, and Deacon. The three older ones - the twins and Daniel - were more relaxed.
They knew that the many gifts would not run away and rather enjoyed the family get-together. It was clear to them that Santa Claus was not responsible for the gifts. Luces, on the other hand, was undecided whether he should believe this whole thing about a Santa Claus or not. The opinions of his school class were very contrary.
Emmett was also with us in the meantime and had left the little Cookie alone for the time being. Thus, at half past seven in the morning all were gathered.
"Here's to the most wonderful Christmas we've all had so far! In the midst of the people we love! Merry Christmas!" Carlisle held up a cup.
We did the same, also equipped with cups, even if the vampires only pretended to drink.
"Well!" knelt David in front of his three antsy children, blocking their path. "Christmas is all day and the presents won't disappear again. You don't have to have everything unpacked in five minutes, but you can take your time and you are also very welcome to eat something in between," he commanded them.
They nodded, had hardly listened to him - as he already suspected - but he moved away.
Everyone else spread out comfortably across the expansive sofa area, grabbing the various food items and watching the kids pore over the gifts.
It was wonderful to see how they rejoiced.
I already had my Christmas present, and Jake and Leah seemed to think alike. They did not rush to the many packages, but sat with us. I had one arm around Bella, who had our baby on a pillow on her lap, and the twins were sitting on the floor in front of us.
My family! I have never been so happy as I am today!
"Tell me, Edward. Whatever happened to your many virtues and moral concepts?" Emmett leaned on the back of the sofa between Bella and me, grinning.
"What about it?" I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me.
The many exquisitely cheerful voices of thought were a pleasant background noise, so I paid no special attention to any thoughts.
"Well. Your soul has finally failed in the face of God's now!" he grinned further. "You are living with a woman you are not married. Acting like a father to two children who are not yours. Skipping school for weeks. And now you have an illegitimate child! ... Can you even sleep peacefully with the multitude of sins you commit?"
"Oh yes. Better than ever!" I replied and gave the unmarried beautiful laughing woman next to me a rather indecent kiss.
Fortunately, the younger minors were busy.
I hadn't thought about it specifically before, but Em was undoubtedly right. Nothing in my life had anything left to do with piousness or very simple twentieth-century moral values, which I had otherwise placed so much emphasis on. And yet I had never been more content. An exhilarating thought.
Ced began to chortle approvingly as he looked up at his amorous parents. He had woken up and I welcomed the giggle on his happy face.
"Oh my God!" Sonya muttered to herself, sitting next to Bella and now seeing my son's bright eyes for the first time. "David!?" she said firmly, looking suspiciously toward her husband.
She studied David's eyes, which looked almost exactly like Ced's. Only not quite as innocently luminous.
"I swear to you, I had nothing to do with this!" said David emphatically as he understood what was getting Sonya so excited.
"Sonya. They are my eyes. When I was still human!" I explained to her quietly.
She looked at me for a long moment, trying to imagine Ced's or David's eyes on me.
She succeeded quite quickly and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry," she murmured to David, guiltily letting herself fall a little into his arms.
She also just became embarrassingly aware that - if it really were David's baby - we wouldn't already be holding it.
David had long forgotten this little mistrust and kissed his wife.
"Don't newborns usually have blue eyes that only get their final color over the course of a few months?" she asked, however.
"Not all of them, just most of them. And they're not really blue, they just look that way," I rectified.
"Oh, really? I thought they were really blue, because that's how it stays with some people," Sonya wondered, pointing at the smooch ball, whose eyes were a beautiful sky blue.
"My Leah's eyes were brown right away, but Seth's were blue first, too," Sue contributed to our conversation, while wrapping paper was already spreading on the floor.
"The iris consists of two layers, the lower of which is enriched with melanin pigments. When light hits the eye, it is absorbed by the pigments and thus protects the eye from too much light. Because the pigment layer is still missing in newborns, absorption cannot take place. The light exits the iris unfiltered, so to speak, and this is precisely what makes the eyes appear blue. Incidentally, this is also the reason why newborns are still very sensitive to light. In the course of time, the eye continuously forms pigments, which is why the color of the baby's eyes can change every now and then within the first year of life ... Ced could already have this changeable phase behind him, or rather the melanin could already have fully developed," I explained and smiled at my son quite delightedly.
Surely I had been mistaken or it was a coincidence, but he had looked me right in the eye when I had spoken his name.
"Emmett is on his way," I whispered, and Sonya and David sat up a little straighter to watch their children's reaction.
Emmett, after questioning my virtue, had retreated unnoticed, had been outside again with Cookie, had attached the freshly made pendant to his collar as well as a small bow, and now came in with the little puppy. Jazz grabbed my camera precautionary, which changed hands constantly today.
Emma was playing hide and seek under a Disney princess blanket and wrapping paper, which was already spread out over a large area. Luces and Deacon were busy with the construction of a car racetrack. In the meantime, Daniel had also unpacked one of his packages. A logic puzzle made of wood, the individual parts of which should be able to be assembled into a square cube. He liked such shenanigans and could spend hours trying to figure out the solution. In a small fit of desperation, he looked up just as Emmett was standing in the doorway.
"How cool is that!" he just exclaimed joyfully.
Em set the puppy down at Emma's feet, who was immediately prompted by the rustling of the paper to sniff it more closely. Clumsily it mounted Emma, who was just giggling and suspected one of her brothers under the tickling paws. Then Daniel pulled a piece of paper from her face and Emma was startled.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God," she kept repeating and immediately cuddled the tail-wagging dog.
The car racetrack thus also became uninteresting, and all four children sat around the puppy, which apparently did not know exactly whom to lick first.
"Cookie!" read Luces as the little one arrived at him, and he looked at the tag on the collar.
This one Emmett and Jasper had made in Rose's workshop in the wee hours of the morning today.
A metal badge, about the size of a half dollar, that looked like a chocolate cookie. Only in silver. And bitten into. On the back, Jasper had carved the name.
The dog was almost cuddled to death by all four.
But a thought came to Emma. A very important one.
She ran up to her parents and crawled onto David's lap.
"Can we keep Cookie?" she asked with the sweetest smile possible for the little angel.
With that face, she could probably ask for anything, no one would be able to say no.
"If Santa brought him to us do we have a choice?" replied David, and Sonya nodded affirmatively.
The two of them got covered in kisses. By all their children.
I took Ced in my arms. I saved him, so to speak. The kids were pretty rambunctious and jostled Bella a few times, which I also pulled a little closer to me.
"Little Ced is already getting presents, too," Alice noted as she 'happened' to walk past the many packages.
That surprised me a bit, although - I could have expected that.
Bella unwrapped it and held it out to our son.
A grasping toy where he could discover different kinds of surfaces.
Ced grasped it spiritedly and seemed to concentrate as he did so.
I wasn't sure who was more excited. Ced, who seemed to find it really interesting. Or me, who was tirelessly watching him do it.
"Bella?" said Daniel then at some point, holding a gift whose tag identified it as Bella's.
Leah took the toy from her hand and held it out herself for her brother to continue reaching for it while Bella accepted the package.
She snorted contemptuously in advance, but I knew the contents. It was the gift from the twins and I asked Esmé for tissues as a precaution.
It was the old music box Jake had been given by the Abagnales a few weeks ago, before they had moved to California and David's family had moved here.
Gently, Bella unwrapped the box and from the looks of her, she liked it already.
"A jewelry box!" noted Bella delightedly. "That's really pretty," she added.
It was indeed. A small work of art. An old wooden box with beautifully inlaid wood and ornate carvings, which Leah had polished to a high gloss with a special substance. She had sat on that for a long time until every square millimeter of the wood looked beautiful again. Bella had always had a fondness for 'old things', especially if they could tell a story. Historical novels. Her handbag, which she had owned since her college days and was not ready to trade in for a new modern one. The neon-colored armchair in the bedroom where she had spent her first night in her house with the twins. The rings she wore - except the blue engagement ring, of course. One hundred and twenty-three-year-old men. Such a jewelry box, which obviously already had antique features, was therefore exactly in line with Bella's taste.
"Well, open it!" urged Jake, smiling mischievously at her.
My angel held her breath, moved.
The graceful ballerina who had once danced inside no longer existed. Instead, two wolves danced. One white, one rusty brown. Jake had carved them. With very little help from me. Actually, I had only reworked the faces of the wolves a little bit so that they resembled the originals. Jake had truly inherited his father's talent in this regard. They danced to a fluid melody that no longer hooked awkwardly and offended the ears. In the process, 'Für Elise' no longer sounded, but 'Bella's Lullaby'. I had transferred the melody to the little cylinder, of course, but Leah and Jake had put the music box together, with me just standing by. And as expected, tears stood in my angel's touched eyes.
A regretful sound made me look down at my son. He stretched out an arm toward Bella and I handed him my fingers, which he immediately grasped.
I sensed the anxious question of why his mother was crying and Ced almost joined in at the sight of her. I tried to tell him that she wasn't sad, she was just so happy that she was shedding tears of joy. He didn't seem to believe me, probably just didn't understand me, and looked sorrowfully at his mother.
"We need to reorder something from Santa Claus," Leah smirked.
Jake nodded and pointedly took Ced's other small hand.
"There's a little vampire missing among the wolves," he whispered, already thinking about how he imagined another small figure.
That would be very pretty, and Bella finally began to sob. She hugged the children profusely, but the tears wouldn't stop. She took Ced out of my arms after he just wouldn't stop looking at her worriedly.
"Don't you have two great siblings?" she asked our child enthusiastically, but Ced still laughed a little indecisively.
They snuggled together sideways in my arms, both listening to the melody and watching the wolves do their dance. Until they both fell asleep, which had not taken very long.
Bella would certainly close her eyes more often today, as little as she had rested last night. At some point, the human body demanded its rights and simply took the rest it wanted.
But Ced soon perked up and whined again. Jake freed me from his mother and gently put her back on the sofa. And I went about fatherly duties.
Something I had been looking forward to for days, even though I had not believed until the last moment that it would really happen. Now the time had come.
"Can you manage on your own at all?" David asked me, smirking.
I shrugged my shoulders ignorantly.
I had watched Esmé and Rose very closely as they took care of my son last night, just as I had studied the manual for expectant fathers in great detail, but I had not yet done it myself.
So David went after me.
Esmé had provisionally arranged a little room down here, so that no one had to run upstairs with the baby again and again. Of course, it would be no difficulty for us vampires , but it was also about Bella, which no one wanted to burden unnecessarily. A changing table, a rocking chair, and a baby cradle with wheels on it, so that Bella could also push our sleeping child around.
They were Alice's idea.
Rose and Esmé, who were mainly concerned about the baby's personal needs, would have simply carried the little one and held him in their arms. Alternately and continuously.
David gave me some useful tips for dressing and undressing and changing diapers on my son. The latter was not so pleasant, but David said that a little smile was enough compensation for it. My son immediately confirmed this. David also opined that I was sometimes too timid and cautious.
"I don't want to hurt him!" I said in horror, but he chuckled.
"Your son isn't made of porcelain!" he countered, amused, and Ced seemed to find that pretty funny, too.
I felt laughed at!
But then I had to laugh myself.
Aside from the fact that David was probably right - well, he'd accompanied marginally more children through infancy than I had - the two of them had conspiratorially reached out their hands to each other, or rather a finger. David swayed a bit and had to hold onto the changing table as my son once again shared his memories and reflections. The question of who David was in the first place came through a little more emphatically.
"Go on. Show your godchild who you are and what you have to do with him and us," I urged David.
"How then?" he asked, confused.
I explained to him that Ced also saw his thoughts, as long as David in turn recorded his. So David tried it and thought remembering some situations.
How he had met Bella and the twins - only without the fact that they had ended up in bed. How he had taken care of the twins all these years and tried to replace their missing father a little. How he showed up here unexpectedly and learned that I was dating Bella. How the friendship between the two of us developed since he had moved here with his own family.
Ced was presentable again. Fresh diapers and fully dressed. So, like David, I leaned against the changing table, offered a finger to my son, and supplemented David's memories.
How he had set me straight about Marcus, or our conversation when we knelt together in front of my pregnant Bella, and I promised him the godparenthood of my baby. About that day among boys when the ladies were in New York, we thought of a few little things that Ced commented on with a happy chortle.
"And he understands all this?" asked David doubtfully.
"I think he's grasping it better than we've guessed so far," I said, seeing an outright demand through my son's mind. Hunger. The constant image of a baby bottle, which he had already seen three times in the nine or so hours of his life. Had pleased him each time very much.
So I went to the kitchen to comply with the request and prepared a baby bottle for the first time.
I had read the label in just a second and a quarter, and I had watched Esmé and Rose do it this night. In this respect, the preparation of the baby milk was no problem, and I needed no instruction in this regard. However, I fetched the second bottle of blood needed for the selection from upstairs in the treatment room.
When I returned to the little room, David was sitting in the rocking chair with my son, and they seemed to be having a pleasant 'conversation'. I didn't want to get in the way and held out a bottle to him.
"Oh no, Edward. This is your first time!" he gave me to understand and immediately stood up.
So we switched places, and he gave me my son.
I had noticed that Bella had fed him milk earlier when I woke our twins, so now I took the blood in hand.
That was obviously the right choice. My son sucked enthusiastically and literally adored me. His little hands laid against mine, which held the bottle, and he showed me everything he had experienced so far.
He began to mentally sort out the events and people. I was fascinated.
The bottle was quickly empty, and my son looked disappointed. The second with the milk stood there, but I was undecided.
A rule of thumb said that an infant should get one hundred and fifty milliliters of food per kilogram daily. Ced weighed 3450 grams, so about 517.5 milliliters. However, Ced had already drunk three hundred milliliters so far, and the day was far from over. However, I did not know to what extent blood should be included in this rough rule.
"Give it to him," David interjected into my musings.
The way I looked at the second bottle, my thoughts were certainly not hard to guess.
"Better too much than too little. If Ced ever gets sick and refuses any food, you'll be glad for every ounce he already has. Besides, he can get rid of any excess weight later."
There spoke the experienced father who had once gone to the hospital with one of his sons because he did not drink anything during a cold and normally ate little.
So I gave Ced the second bottle. This one was also drunk quickly. I put Ced on my shoulder, gently patted his back and waited patiently for the burp, so that no painful colic developed.
"Isn't it amazing how parents can suddenly be pleased with an unrefined burp?" David joined in my enthusiastic smile.
Ced yawned heartily and with him in our arms we went back to the living room.
Emma ran towards us. David picked her up so she could have a better look at Ced.
"Sleep tight, baby!" she said softly, and the smooch ball actually gave him another careful kiss on the cheek.
I asked Charlie if he wanted to take his grandchild. Of course he wanted to, as did everyone else. That's why we had come back without the baby cradle, although Ced would certainly sleep for now.
This was also the reason why I offered he to Charlie without hesitation. I had had one of my son's hands in mine for almost the entire short night, but he really seemed to be able to control his gift himself and not do it unconsciously while sleeping.
I walked towards the other end of the sofa where my angel was resting. Carefully I pulled the blanket over her legs, where she had slipped away a little, but she opened her eyes lazily.
"Go back to sleep, dearest," I whispered, gently stroking over her cheek, but my angel just shook her head and sat up.
It was too warm, and she was thirsty. We had very effective remedies for both. While she drank a glass of juice and snuggled against my side, she looked at Charlie.
How his eyes shone as he looked at his grandchild.
"What would Renée say to our son?" I asked her in a whisper.
"It's a shame that we can't tell her about him. That I can't even tell her about you. But I really think it's better this way ... Renée is different from Charlie. We might be able to keep him in check with the fact that he knows about a secret, but doesn't really know it in detail. That wouldn't work with Renée," Bella reflected.
"That's right," Leah agreed, turning to us with a breakfast muffin. "Renée always wanted to know everything in great detail and wouldn't let up until she knew it all."
"Regardless of the secrets themselves, I'm also sure Renée would show up here at every available opportunity to see Ced," Jake also pointed out, chewing. "Which I'm also not sure what she'd do with the truth if she found out sooner or later."
"So we continue to leave your grandmother out of it?" I summarized, and my three angels nodded in confirmation.
They were sorry that they had to keep a secret from what should have been a close and trusted family member, but at least with my children I heard that it was better that way.
"Jake," Deacon read another tag aloud.
Jake immediately raised his head in interest and forgot further thoughts concerning his grandmother.
Bella and I smirked together at this.
"You might want to wait until tomorrow to open that ... It's from Becky!" I indicated. She would certainly love to be there when he unwrapped it. Since all the gifts officially came from Santa Claus, all the gifts were also here. Also those from and for Marcus were under the tree, but as a precaution they were further back.
My son's eyes grew wistful, and he held the package reverently in his hands. Jake ran with one hand over the carton, but set it aside. Jake grew increasingly quiet as he thoughtfully leafed through one of his other gifts, not really paying attention. A book by Jazz.
'One hundred things a man should have done once in his life.'
The counterpart for Leah was still wrapped somewhere under the Christmas tree.
My son missed his star.
"Why don't you call her," I suggested. After all, there was nothing to be said against it. He somehow hadn't thought of it at all, but immediately grabbed his phone and left the room. Joyfully excited smiling.
"Edward," another pendant was read out.
"Looks like I've been good after all," I stated, turning to Emmett, and Emma brought me my present. Or rather, she pushed the cardboard box, which was too unwieldy for the little girl, across the floor towards me.
She sat down next to me on the sofa's armrest.
I tore off the wrapping paper a little impatiently - I was really curious and Emma helped. What emerged was a very classy-looking black cardboard box. At the bottom right was a company logo.
Greenburry. The name definitely said something to me. I had come across this company on the Internet some time ago. Leather goods. Qualitatively very upscale. Visually very appealing.
Carefully, I lifted the top and pushed the tissue paper aside.
Wow ... A shoulder bag made of genuine leather in antique brown with a vintage look.
"It's beautiful!" remarked Emma, and I nodded in agreement.
I already liked the way how it looked in the box. Exactly my taste. A bit old-fashioned. Like me.
I gruffly threw the box behind the sofa to take a closer look at the bag.
The material felt wonderful, the workmanship was excellent, and their were small pockets and zippers logical and practically thought out. The size was enough to comfortably accommodate a laptop.
Then I read a dedication on the inside and was taken aback.
I had assumed that I owed Alice this gift. Especially since I still remembered the prices. She had given me a detailed lecture in the summer about the fact that my current school bag firstly showed more than just harmless signs of use and secondly - which seemed much worse - was so out of fashion. But I was attached to the bag, because my imaginary Bella had once chosen it. But this dedication changed my attitude to my already very battered bag.
To (our) Infinity and Beyond! With love, your Bella!
I smirked and was moved at the same time.
The smirk was due to the quote from an animated cartoon that Bella had watched many times in her childhood. (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command) She had added the second bracketed 'our', which made sense for our unusual circumstances and why the dedication was hidden a bit as a precaution. One bite and Bella would experience infinity. At my side.
Emma had examined everything carefully and toddled back to Cookie and her new toys.
And I drew my angel into my arms.
"Thank you so much, Bella. It is beautiful," I said sincerely and kissed my angel.
"You like it?" she asked again.
"Very much so," I confirmed.
In the meantime, everyone had already unwrapped something, but the pile of presents didn't really get any smaller.
But before anyone accuses us here of disproportionate hedonism, exaggerated satisfaction of material needs or the like: Most of the gifts were books, Blu-rays, CDs or similar small items. Only for the children it looked a little different, but for that they were just children.
"Whoa ...!" Daniel exclaimed directly on this thought as evidence.
He had just unpacked a new laptop. His was getting on in years and had been a discarded one of David anyway. But now he got one up to date, which also gave him access to current games that required a certain technical requirement. Mainly, though, he really needed it for school, as the boarding school emphasized understanding and using modern communication devices. Both in terms of the application and the technical know-how beneath the surface. This, in turn, was entirely in David's interest, even if it was already foreseeable that Daniel would not follow in his father's professional footsteps. Somewhere under the Christmas tree there was a high-quality telescope for Daniel, who showed an increased interest in astronomy.
Carlisle had received leave as a gift from Esmé, which she had secretly requested from Henry Young.
Two weeks on Isle Esmé. Two weeks without the hospital. If Carlisle were human, we would truly have to fear a stress-related nervous breakdown or even a burnout. The service as a doctor in additional to the administration of the clinic engrossed him very much. Even if he liked doing it, he saw it as his destiny, and Esmé understood her husband's extended working hours, Carlisle also deserved a vacation. For Esmé, Carlisle had something very similar. Four weeks in Europe, but not until next spring. Esmé loved Paris and London, and they hadn't been there in about thirteen years.
"Jake and Leah," Emmett chuckled as he held the two significant boxes.
He knew what was inside, he had wrapped them himself, which is why he was chuckling so much.
"Oh ..." escaped me, and I ran with my fingers through my hair.
That would become something!
Bella also sighed already once.
Leah looked up in cute surprise from her little brother, who had arrived happily chortling at her after constantly being passed back and forth. She immediately passed him to Sonya to pick up her Christmas present.
David looked curiously at me and mentally asked if these were THE gifts.
I nodded and he chuckled.
The wolves sat down on the floor with the unwieldy packages.
This was going to be a real test of patience. Emmett had been extraordinarily careful in his wrapping. Between many different layers of wrapping paper, there were just as many layers of ribbon, shoelaces, kitchen paper, and the like. Even duct tape.
The increasingly grumpy wolves took a little break from eating in the meantime, as we forbade them to use scissors or anything similar. Finally, they had made it to the shoeboxes. They wheezed in relief, opened the lids, and found confetti that completely filled the boxes.
"Are you fucking kidding us?" cursed Jake under his breath.
"Jake! Please!" Esmé admonished, pointing at the smaller children.
"Of course not!" chuckled Emmett.
"That would never occur to us!" confirmed Jazz.
"That was Santa Claus, wasn't it!" laughed Emma happily, throwing a handful of confetti over the twins.
They rolled their eyes, took the boxes, and let the entire confetti content trickle over Emma.
I heard Esmé gasp once, but immediately change into an exhilarated laugh. As did pretty much everyone in the room.
"Ouch ..." Emma bristled, however, when she was hit on the head by two little boxes.
It couldn't really hurt; they were actually too light for that. Rather, she just hadn't expected it, laughed again, and kept throwing new confetti into the air.
The twins, on the other hand, picked up the little boxes.
Indefinitely, they looked at each other briefly and swapped. One was pink, the other blue. As they quickly held their contents in their hands, they looked as if they felt rather fooled.
Gently put.
"Uh ..." Jake began.
"What ..." Leah tried, but got nowhere either.
I got up from the sofa with Bella who was wrapped in a nice warming blanket with sleeves.
A gift from Renée that got here in the mail on Monday and that I hid from Bella.
We took our truly silent children by the hand and walked with them to the front door. I opened it, but the twins just stood there with their mouths open, looking outside in disbelief.
There were two black Mercedes C Coupés in front of the house.
"We were tired of the bickering between you!" I explained, which finally made them both move again.
However, they turned to us instead of walking toward their new cars.
"It's not true!" Leah wanted to state.
"You guys really are morons!" said Jake, running a questioning hand through his hair.
He seriously expected - actually both of them - that we would take the keys from their boxes again and that this was just a very bad joke.
"Hey!" Bella complained about our son's somewhat unbecoming remark, but she smiled.
She knew that he was quite far from really meaning it.
"'scuse me," Jake said rather mechanically.
His gaze kept going back and forth between the car in the snow and the key in his hand. He recognized which one was meant for him.
Both Mercedes were black and equipped with the same elegant sporty alloy wheels, but they had little color accents that differentiated them in addition to the license plate - LEAHBLK and JAKEBLK. There were stickers on both the driver's side fender and the opposite rear. For Jake in sapphire blue - Becky's eye color. His favorite color. A decent tribal with stars. For Leah, it was a not-so-subtle arrangement of a vine with flowers and butterflies, but overall very tasteful. In pink, of course.
"Merry Christmas!" said Bella emphatically after the children had again not stirred.
But then.
Jake fell around my neck and Leah Bella's. Then they swapped, and I had to save my angel from our impetuous son before they finally ran towards the cars.
I stood behind Bella and hugged her as we watched our children explored the cars.
In the meantime, the others came out of the living room, who had held back to watch. Cookie, too, plodded through the snow, which was higher than he was.
Pretty much everyone had known, of course, that I had been able to convince Bella in a rather weak moment that the twins desperately needed new roadworthy and safe vehicles. Each! Of course.
"Drive carefully!" I shouted after them.
I guess they overheard me, but my concern was pretty unfounded. Rose and Em had had a fast paced safe driver course with them - with every vehicle our underground garage had to offer - but even aside from that, my kids were very good drivers. Leah only had little parking difficulties and Jake was a little lazy when shifting gears. In addition, Jazz and Alice got in with Leah and Rose and Emmett with Jake.
We watched them leave, while the others went back to the much warmer living room.
I smirked to myself as I heard Charlie's thoughts.
He had resolved to have a serious word with me, despite all the harmonious circumstances. The occasion was the financial possibilities of an eternally seventeen-year-old, who was in a relationship with his hitherto single daughter, whose liquid assets were inevitably limited. He refrained from this plan now.
"What kind of car is that? There on the side?" asked Bella.
I did not need to look. I humbly knelt down and gently held her hands.
And searched for words. I knew so many, but none seemed adequate. Or remotely sufficient.
"Edward?" my angel became a little more ... challenging.
She withdrew her hands from me, braced them at her sides, and looked down at me reprovingly.
I could not withstand her gaze and looked at the floor.
"Bella, my heart," I said, but that was as far as I got. I still didn't know what to say.
"You have a new car?" she thus stated very clearly herself due to my subservient demeanor.
I squinted my eyes.
An enraged angel ... Silence ... I really didn't know how to explain this. Whatever scenario I was mentally concocting, I couldn't find an argument that was acceptable to Bella.
"Then show me your new toy!" she said suddenly, already much calmer and put her hands on my cheeks. She smiled and kissed me tenderly on the lips. "But only because it's Christmas!" she gave me a stern face and raised an index finger to understand.
I gratefully took Bella into my arms.
This would have been a huge tongue-lashing if she wasn't so lenient with me today.
"SHE'll please you," I promised and lifted her up in my arms.
She had no shoes on.
"Don't get too excited," she reminded me. "Um ... SHE?"
"SHE's a beautiful lady!" I replied, already more confident.
Bella laughed adorably.
Namely, she laughed at me!
I put her in the passenger seat and had hurriedly arrived at the driver's side. In my fingers there was a tingling sensation.
I had not yet driven this beauty of a sedan. Jazz had picked it up with Carlisle. As I had done at the dealership, I let my hands gently run over the steering wheel. It had been less than two weeks. I had been very surprised when the call came. Normally, the delivery time for such luxury cars was at least twelve weeks. I had simply been lucky. Another subsidiary had ordered exactly this configuration as an exhibit, and I had casually mentioned that I would pay almost any price for a speedier delivery.
"Would you rather I leave you two alone?" Bella forced herself not to laugh next to me.
She did not succeed very convincingly.
I gave her an arrogant look, turned the key, let the captivating sound of the engine roar, and drove off.
Quickly.
Bella held her breath and frantically searched for the seatbelt.
Our property was known to be quite extensive terrain, so I also took advantage of every square meter to present my angel my toy. However, since there was not an insignificant amount of snow, I drove demurely for my fiancée's vital functions. I only left my house aside . Bella didn't want to see it until the remodeling work was completed. Since she had allowed me to do the remodeling at my own discretion - yes, that was an equally weak moment on her part - I naturally adhered precisely to her wishes. Who knows when I will get up to the next - financial - nonsense?!
However, I didn't take Bella for a long drive around the grounds, where we kept running into our children, but soon headed for the underground parking garage. It was approaching noon and our son would certainly soon be hungry again.
"Four cars!?" stated Bella with a raised eyebrow, looking disapprovingly at at least three of them now parked here evidencingly side by side.
And this evidence was clearly against me. However, I needed all four. Really!
I put on my most charming smile.
"Riding in the Maserati with the top down really pleased you," I began to say, taking one of her hands gently in mine and blowing a kiss on her back.
The corners of Bella's mouth twitched a little. Against her own will.
We had been standing on a rocky outcrop by the sea, in the blazing sun, and had literally made out in the back seat until the sun had set. Then we found out that despite the lack of legroom, the backseat still offered enough space for other non-youthful pursuits.
"The BMW is the only one that offers enough storage space when we go shopping on Saturdays. Besides, you liked him from the first moment!" I continued, remembering the day when I first brought my family to this house. How Bella's delicate fingers stroked the pretty paint and she found it very comfortable to get into this taller SUV. "And the Audi is the only one you dare to drive," I finished, meanwhile leaning against the hood of the Jaguar and having Bella in my arms.
"And HER?" Bella nodded her chin snidely in the latter's direction.
"You don't like HER?" I asked back.
"I find the color interesting. Black, but somehow not," she evasively answered and began to play with my hair in my neck.
I had won, but my angel was not ready to admit that so easily.
"Black Berry."
"The seats are comfortable."
"Business comfort seats. So that even long distances are no problem."
"And nice and cozy."
"Heated seats."
"When you sit inside, you feel like you're in a battleship. But from the outside, it doesn't seem that huge."
"Jaguar focuses on simple elegance without sacrificing sportiness," I said matter-of-factly, looking her curiously in the eye. She eyed the sedan. "Admit it. SHE pleases you," I noted from the delicate glow in them.
She didn't give me an answer, but put her arms around me.
"One can't even be let you out of the house alone!" she murmured, endeavoring to rebuke me.
"So you're supervising me permanently from now on?" I asked interestedly. By the way, I had hung up the avoidance of 'emotional dependence' in the meantime as hopeless on the proverbial nail. The attempt had actually been doomed to failure from the start and, incidentally, about twenty years too late.
Thank you for reading!
