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Chapter 38

Surprising Morning

Edward

"I love you, Edward!" she interrupted my declaration of love and threw herself into my arms.

I fell back on the bed with her out of sheer surprise and immediately landed in seventh heaven.

My Bella, my angel, my goddess! She loved me! We were united again! This time forever! I would never leave again. Fulfill her every wish.

But immediately she held her head again.

I had eavesdropped on many thoughts after a night of drinking, so I had a rather accurate idea of how she must be feeling. I felt so sorry for her, but I just couldn't do anything about this condition. There was no panacea for the morning after extreme alcohol excesses.

I put my hand against her forehead again and her face relaxed a bit.

"Are you going to be done laughing at me soon?" she complained.

But I couldn't help it.

"I'm not laughing at you, dearest. I'm laughing because I'm happy!" I immediately explained.

I gently laid her back on the bed in my arms and leaned over her. If possible, without moving her head. I sank into her brown eyes that were only a few inches away from mine. Her small warm hands stroked over my cheeks.

"I love you, Bella!" I whispered again and just looked into her gorgeous face.

"And I love you," Bella breathed towards me, and it sounded like the most beautiful symphony I had ever heard.

Her hand slid to my neck and pulled me towards her sweet lips.

How fantastic it felt to receive this warmth. I soaked up her hot breath as if my life depended on it. Caressed her lips, stroked her soft tongue with mine, nibbled gently on her lips. How her small delicate but warm fingers slid through my hair, drove me crazy. Her full sweet lips clouded my senses. Her body pressed against mine. I felt her much too fast heartbeat on my chest. Mine wouldn't be any less confused if it was still beating. The only thing I was really concentrated on - other than how I was consciously experiencing it all and didn't want to miss a split second of it - was the small matter of Bella not getting too close to my razor-sharp teeth. And that was easier than I had previously thought possible.

Ponderously I detached myself from Bella and looked into her large chocolate-colored almond eyes.

"Say it again," I begged.

"I love you, Edward!" she whispered, and her eyes seemed to light up.

I was just about to say something back, something along the lines that she meant my life, when she growled loudly at me from deep inside her.

I smirked.

"When was the last time you ate something?", I asked nonetheless, concerned. I had completely forgotten. I had to think more conscientiously of it that she regularly took something in to eat. Above all, she had certainly gone to bed - or rather been put to bed - without dinner.

"Yesterday afternoon ... When Zoey was there ... The leftovers from the cake," she admitted.

"Then I guess I should make you some breakfast," I stated thus.

"You? Who hasn't eaten a bite in over a hundred years can hardly provide my breakfast. After all, I don't want a grizzly bear or moose for breakfast," she taunted me.

"Want to bet?", I asked challengingly.

She nodded hesitantly but decisively and asked about the bet.

I could have easily offered the kids' tuition now, but I wanted to save that tantrum for later. When she didn't have a headache. Her motorcycle would have been just as appealing to me. I would not like to see Bella driving a motorcycle. Such a vehicle had far too few safety precautions when it came to my reason for living.

I thought about it, but then she had a suggestion.

"If you lose, you clean my bike," she suggested.

That was a reason to lose on purpose. I would disassemble it - for cleanliness reasons only, of course - and then take quite some time to reassemble it afterwards. Maybe I would forget some not so unimportant parts in the process, so it would never start up again.

"What if I win?", however, I asked.

"Can you make a wish," she declared in a very confident tone.

"Are there any restrictions on that?" I asked to be sure.

"No."

"Agreed." I would not lose. "Where would Madame like her breakfast served? In the dining room or in bed?" I continued to ask with a smile.

"Downstairs. And while you're burning my kitchen down, I'm going to try to take a shower," she announced victoriously.

Carefully, I sat her upright and loosened her bandage. She looked clueless, but then she looked at me, startled. She had raised her pretty head too quickly and scrunched up her face heartbreakingly again. But the pain seemed to subside. Her expression had already looked far worse today.

"Did you just remember that I drank your blood?" I inquired, smirking as Bella just nodded, intimidated.

She looked down at herself as if briefly checking to see if she was still human.

I chuckled at this thought.

She could get as drunk as she wanted, such a change could not go unnoticed! As if I would do that to her!

I carefully examined the palm of her hand. The scraped were still clearly visible, but the ointment had done a good job.

"I was just cleaning the wounds. You had reached into shards of glass and splinters had pressed into the wounds," I explained and breathed a light kiss on the injuries. "Your blood still excites me," I whispered with a relished smile on my lips, sucking in her aroma that still emanated all too clearly from the cuts. "But your life is more important to me!" I ended and put her hand down again.

The sight of her was to kneel down. Confused and shocked at the same time, but she had held her breath in fright.

"Bella, breathe!" I advised her with a laugh and gave her a kiss on the tip of her nose. I wonder if I'd ever have to stop reminding her of that every now and then?

I helped Bella stand up.

She was still staggering a bit, which was not surprising considering the high alcohol level. Her circulation had to get going first. But maybe this time it was also down to me.

I ran down to the kitchen.

Not only had I been paying close attention for the past two days when the kids were preparing breakfast, but I had watched a few cooking shows in the past so I could prepare something for Bella that time. She would be very hungry and eat more than I had seen so far in the morning. So, I prepared pancakes, an omelet with cheese and ham and some cereal with fresh fruit. The coffee was already ready. In addition, I provided a large glass of orange juice. I lovingly set the table for Bella, plucked another red climbing rose from the garden and placed it next to her plate. I briefly examined the table ...

If someone put me now a small cage with a cougar, even I would get hungry. Thirsty I mean, of course.

I considered whether I should clean up the corner where I had found her. Yesterday I had hidden the photos in the drawer of her nightstand, so that Bella did not see them again immediately. Now I held them indecisively in my hands and considered.

People would often go back to a painful scene to say farewell to it and then have closure.

I put them in my back pocket and decided to put away only the bottles and broken glass.

I had not yet picked up all the shards when I heard Bella upstairs in the hallway. Immediately I was at her side and led her when she reached the stairs, so that she did not tumble down them. Barefoot and dressed only in her bathrobe, she entered the living room.

"Be careful. I haven't removed all the broken glass yet," I explained, and Bella looked towards me in a played reproachful manner. "Would you rather I get the vacuum cleaner out?" I teased her.

"No way!" she quickly retorted, already holding her head at the thought of the droning.

I smirked.

Cautiously, Bella walked toward yesterday's scene.

I kept considerately a step distance.

This battle she had to fight with herself. If it would be a fight.

She squatted down and picked up the two bracelets. For a long time she viewed them and looked for the letter from Billy Black to it, which I had already read yesterday.

Jacob Black had made the small elaborate wolves for his sisters' children, in case they would join the pack. But that had not happened before. Now that Jake and Leah had phased, Billy felt it righter that his grandchildren would wear them. As a reminder of their father. I felt it was not only appropriate, but equally a very heartfelt idea. The two would wear the bracelets with reverence.

Bella wiped a tear from her eye.

Surely the memory of her Jacob came over her and I saw the image in my mind of him passing away after his last words.

"Bella? Is everything all right?" I asked anxiously and crouched down next to her.

Bella nodded hesitantly as she stood back up and leaned against the sofa. I leaned next to it, one arm protectively around her waist, and was surprised at her expression. I had actually expected that the memory would knock her over and that I would have to catch her. But she smiled and handed me the letter, which I already knew.

"Jake and Leah are intimidated. They doubt themselves because they were only ever told what an outstanding wolf their father was. But no one told them what kind of person Jacob was. A young man with as much nonsense in his head as his children have now," she explained to me sentimentally.

"I saw him through Jake's memories. He seemed very nice. How old was he?" I asked with honest interest. Age was hard to guess with wolves. By now I knew what the reason was. On this unnatural aging process that accelerated when they began to phase and stopped once they were fully grown.

"That's not easy to say, is it? You see it yourself with Jake and Leah. They don't look seventeen anymore ..." she began and I nodded in agreement.

Two weeks ago, they might have been teenagers, yet today they were already well on their way to being considered adults.

"When he died, he was sixteen," she looked directly at me now, probably to see my reaction to that.

I was surprised.

The pictures I knew of him made me estimate him to be already in his early twenties and I suspected his nature to be just as little childish and pubescent as it was usual at sixteen. Only because of this would Bella have confided in Jake, because he was just not as goofy as the other boys. A Mike Newton or Tyler Crowley would not stand comparison to a Jacob Black.

"Today those memories don't seem to be upsetting to you like they did yesterday," I noted in amazement, because she was still smiling.

"They haven't really been doing that for a long time. Not to that extent anymore. I like to remember back to Jacob. Every once in a while it makes me cry, but it doesn't eat me up anymore. The times when I gave up on myself are already a very long time behind me ... Only yesterday the ground was pulled out from under my feet. There was just too much coming together ... Starting with your music," she said, and I let my head hang.

My music had conjured up her condition!

"I'm sorry that you ..." I wanted to apologize, but Bella placed herself directly in front of me, put a hand gently on my cheek and looked into my eyes, while my arms wrapped around her waist as if by themselves.

"I was looking forward to hearing your music again. Really. It's been so long since I've heard it and I couldn't remember at it anymore ... Yesterday, unfortunately, she only turned herself on at the completely wrong moment," she comforted me now, although it should be the other way around. "But something is still missing here," she looked down at the floor again, searching for something.

I knew what she was looking for.

I put my arms around her a little more energetically.

"Please sit down ... I feel better if you can't fall down and you have something in your stomach," I summoned her beggingly.

"You would allow that I come down on the floor?" she teased me.

"Of course not, but you don't have to challenge it. As I said before ... there are more pleasant ways to make me that I take you in my arms," I teased her as well, putting my arms around her and ledding her to the set table.

Her eyes grew wide and above all incredulous when she caught sight of breakfast. Her stomach was already growling again, this time probably with enthusiasm. But she rebuked my look of victory, after all our bet depended not only on how good it looked. She sat down and began to eat. She ate it all and even asked for two more pancakes! It apparently tasted better than she had expected. And as she would admit.

"I'd say I won the bet!" I stated as she played with the rose with her sensual fingers. I actually had to talk this out with her!

But I won when we finally sat together on the sofa and I spread a blanket over her. She leaned against me and I put my arms around her.

Hesitantly, I now held out the two photos to her.

"You didn't let them go until after you fell asleep," I said softly.

With trembling fingers, she took them and stroked over the faces of Jacob and me.

"I had them hidden in the book," she said, pointing to 'Wuthering Heights'.

"Why hidden?"

"Whenever I saw them, they threatened to shake up my world. Yesterday was no exception. When I moved in here, I put them in the book and relegated them to the far corner of the shelf. Yesterday it flew towards me ... I never wanted to throw them away. They were too precious for that ... The only pictures of the only men I have ever loved. The pictures reminded me of what I lost," she explained softly, without taking her eyes off of the pictures.

It glistened on the side of her eye and her breathing became a little shallower. Gently, I turned her head in my direction and kissed the tear away.

"Jacob Black lives on in your children. And me you have back," I whispered.

She nodded and hid her face against my shoulder.

I held her tightly and stroked over her hair. She took a moment to regain her composure, but she didn't cry.

She must have really loved this Jacob a lot. As far as I had gathered from her children's thoughts, they hadn't been a couple for very long, if you didn't count the time, he had brought Bella back to life. He had been patient with her and never left her alone. Unlike me. He would have been a better man for Bella. Above all, he was human. Inevitably, I wondered how Bella would have chosen if we rivaled each other for Bella. Would I have a chance with Bella if Jacob Black were still alive? I did not believe it and forbade myself further considerations of this kind. There was no point in thinking about it, except that it was affected my mood.

"Why didn't I find the picture that time?" I then asked curiously after Bella calmed down and smiled at me again after a long kiss.

"It was in my school bag. Angela had asked me for a picture of us. As a memento. But I forgot to give it to her," she chuckled happily, as if she had outsmarted me.

She told me that she had never lost contact with Angela and talked to her more or less regularly on the phone. She and Ben were married, had two children and had been here for a visit or two.

That pleased me. Angela was such a pleasant and honest person.

We reminisced a bit together about the two of them, with Bella realizing that she should probably call Angela some time again.

"What did you actually do with the rest of the pictures?" she then asked out of nowhere.

"Do you really want to hear this from me now?" I asked for safety's sake. The answer would seem like a slap in her face.

But she nodded resolutely.

"They're hidden in your room under one of the floorboards," I said carefully, almost hearing the imaginary hand clapping in her face. At least that's what Bella looked like. "Together with everything else that would have reminded you of me," I added, ducking inwardly.

"You ..." she began to curse, and her eyes twinkled angrily at me.

She jumped onto my lap and her cute little clenched fists pounded onto me. Before she could seriously hurt herself, I held her by the wrists.

"You'll pay for this!" she still threatened.

She was not really angry. She was just teasing me and waiting for a moment of carelessness from me. And that moment would not be long in coming if she continued on like this. For she raged above me. Directly above me. Due to her violent movements, the knot of her bathrobe had loosened. Underneath she was apparently naked!

What a sight!

I forced myself to look into her eyes. And nowhere else! Moreover, she sat right on my manhood and stimulated it with every movement. She massaged my center whether she noticed it or not. The excitement under Bella was growing, without me being able to stop it ...

Did I want to stop it?

She kept trying to free herself from my grip and just wouldn't stop writhing above me.

"Bella!" I thundered much louder than necessary.

Startled, she looked at me and froze.

"Please ... stop ... yourself ... from ... moving ...", I emphasized each word, but now considerably calmer.

"Why?" she asked hesitantly, probably afraid she had done something completely wrong.

She had stretched up during the attempts to hit me, but now she slumped a little. Again, right on my middle.

Aroused, my head fell back and I closed my eyes briefly as I let go of her wrists and put them to her hips.

Wow ... How warm and soft she was! And I was just a man. A very normal man, the excitement was clearly visible to him. Or in Bella's case ... was clearly felt. Just under her center.

This time Bella had noticed what exactly was going on with me right now. Our eyes met for an endless moment.

"If you go on like this, I'll forget my good upbringing!" I muttered as a completely unnecessary explanation.

Instead of behaving herself and possibly sitting down again next to me in shame, she resumed her movements. Rhythmically and demanding.

Her hands slid into my neck and drew me towards her eager lips.

A fire blazed up in me. A fire of desire! I wanted more of that. I pushed my hands further and slid my fingertips up her spine. At the same time Bella threw her head with pleasure into the neck and thus stretched her upper body towards me, whereby I eagerly and persistently began to slowly wander along her neck with my lips. I slipped the bathrobe over her shoulders and for a fleeting moment my eyes were fixed on her naked body.

Thirty-seven stumbling years of life and pregnancy with twins had been able to take absolutely nothing of this body's perfection.

I immediately covered the exposed skin with my lips while Bella tugged at my T-shirt and pulled it over my head. Her warm hands on my chest, pushed me down onto the seating surface. It felt like my heart was about to start beating again. My last bit of sanity tore through my desire and made me take her face in my hands just as she was about to caress her heated core over my torso.

"Bella?" I asked in a raspy voice and unsteady unnecessary breath, directing her gaze into mine.

She apparently understood the urgency of my interruption and held completely still for a moment. Her eyes glowed with excitement and her cheeks were coated with an excited pink color, while she seemed to force herself to breathe calmly. In vain.

"Do you really want this?", I asked seriously, ready to withdraw from her immediately if I heard or saw even the slightest doubt ... at least that's what I told myself.

"I have waited twenty years for you! I want you. Now!" she gasped with as much conviction as stood in her power, and my lips immediately returned to hers again.

I sucked in her scent like a drug, stroking over the skin of her entire body that pulsed everywhere and was hot as fire, kissing every square inch to extinguish the flames to no avail.

Like the wings of a hummingbird, Bella covered my cold skin with her fingers, kissing her way over the hard stone that flared in response. Her playful lips drove me out of my mind.

Our bodies, so opposite, merged together. Time left us. There was only us! Bella on me, me above her, and back again. My heart was racing, though it had been dead for so long. I lost myself in these sensations, immersed completely in them, eavesdropping only on Bella's heartbeat, which played the most enchanting and irregular melody in the world. An ecstasy seized me that made everything in me quiver. Bella also trembled all over and we screamed out our climaxes together. The world seemed to turn for a moment and come apart at the seams.

As it had begun, it had also ended concerning the position. She sat on my lap, only now we sat on the floor in front of the sofa.

Bella let herself fall exhausted against me, her small hands caressing my neck. I stroked over her back, her thighs, her arms and kissed over her shoulder.

Slowly, Bella's vitals calmed down to what was normal for her.

Normal in my presence.

I gently pushed a hand to her face as I heard a soft, happy laugh, stroked a few strands of hair over her shoulder, and lifted her gaze to me.

I was blissful and wanted to say how much I loved her, however Bella looked at me, scared ...

Thank you for reading!