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Chapter 61

Jealousy 2

Edward

I snuck out the patio door again as David settled on the stairs after playing basketball with the twins - on the verge of a heart attack.

The doctor in me shook his head. Men of that age often overdid it and regularly ended up in the hospital with Carlisle, even though they were actually in very healthy. Their ego blinded them to their body's warning signals. If he were in mortal danger, I would take care of him - probably for Bella's sake! - but he would undoubtedly survive.

But his thoughts earlier gave me an idea. They differed today almost without exception from what I had heard only yesterday. Yesterday I had heard no sign of a family, today I listened to the heartfelt thoughts of a family man who seemed to just come alive in the midst of his loved ones.

I had never played basketball myself. My family had more of a love for baseball, Emmett also for football and he even played on the high school or college teams from time to time when he felt like it.

I decided to give it a try.

Jake and Leah made fun of me for a while before accusing me of being unfair. It took me a moment to get a feel for the ball and adjust my movements to normal human conditions. But then we played very 'harmoniously' against each other. I neither made it too difficult for them, nor did I let them get points on purpose. I really enjoyed playing with the both from the bottom of my heart, and so slowly I began to get a glimpse of the happiness that David had thought of earlier.

"Point one, Sonya doesn't know I'm here!" I then heard from David.

That Bella cried out, all three of us had heard the same and were supernaturally fast in the house.

David ignored us, concentrated only on Bella, and on keeping her from smelling her blood.

He seemed to have routine for it, I thought jealously. At his thought of the birth of the twins, however, I smirked arrogantly. I knew something about Bella that he didn't seem to know. She had weathered childbirth without faltering. She had told me that on Monday, when Brandon found out the secret of our wolves.

But then Bella started screaming. As if out of nowhere.

I was actually a bit startled, while David seemed to have expected it. I had lost his thoughts for a moment as I looked at Bella, who only looked magically dismayed the blood on her finger that now could not be smelled.

The fact that David had not told his spouse where he was did not speak well for him. His attempt to hold Bella made me quiver with anger and the children noticed it. When he finally sat on my angel to restrain her, I almost lost all restraint. If it weren't for Jake and Leah getting in my way - I would have ruthlessly tossed everyone else aside.

"Stay calm!" whispered Leah to me imploringly.

The children's hands were tightly around my arms, but then Bella quiet abruptly became herself.

I carefully freed myself from the children, who in turn were now also looking for their mother.

David did not give the impression that he would emerge from his averted posture yet again.

So, I sidled to her and helped her up from the floor, whereby sliding one arm around her and her hand held my waist.

I kept a close gaze on David's thoughts in case he turned around.

Bella showed me the image and let her head rest against my shoulder for a moment.

The ultrasound image of a fetus, according to the data in the margin was of the sixth week of pregnancy. I was confused. Having a child was a joyful event. Why was no one here happy about this? If I were David, I would probably jump up and down and embrace the whole world. But there was more of a mourning mood here. It was not an illegitimate child, where he would be embarrassed to have to confess it to his wife. Her name was also listed in the margin. It was also too early to make any health diagnoses or even guesses. A fault in this picture, as he himself thought, I could not see.

Bella sent Jake and Leah out in a voice I hadn't heard from her yet.

They both flinched and followed the command. There was no other way to call it.

"Please go, too," Bella asked me in a whisper.

I gave her a kiss on the forehead and went to the porch in front of the house.

Bella nodded at me.

She had apparently only sent me out because of David, not because she didn't want me there.

I listened while it looked like I was watching Jake and Leah play.

With every further thought I understood better and better the depressed and desperate mood of the two.

I looked through the windows.

David was sitting on a chair and Bella was sitting on one of his legs. He was holding on to his friend and he needed that support; I could no longer feel jealousy at this image. I really felt sorry for David.

I saw his memory how he had almost lost his wife. And I saw how this fear had consumed him from the inside. But also, the unbridled joy when it was clear that Sonya would survive. The first gaze into his daughter's eyes when he cradled her in his arms for the first time in days was indescribable. He adored his wife, loved his children more than anything, and Bella meant a lot to him, but there was no comparing them.

My jealousy rose again on its own when he thought of her time during college. About the fact that he had definitely slept with my angel. Bella was apparently not looking for a man at the time. The way she told David back then, the way I heard it in his head now, she wanted to concentrate fully on her studies so she could stand on her own two feet as quickly as possible. She saw herself and the children as a burden to Renée, depriving her of her own freedom. Still, Bella longed now and then for physical closeness that the twins could not give her. And David was on the search. Most of the girls he got to know were very nice, but not what he wanted. He was looking for a woman with whom he wanted to share his life, not a bed partner. Probably the biggest disappointment for him was apparently a lady named Vanessa. But he choked off the thought of this woman by himself, so I didn't see the reason. So, Bella and David had seemingly got together mostly out of loneliness or disappointment.

"Ever thought to tell her the truth?" Bella then asked, after she had drained her second glass of whiskey.

"Thought many times. But never put into practice," David admitted sullenly. "What do you want me to tell her, Bella? ... That I've been lying to her ever since I met her?" he grumbled, but he knew Bella was absolutely right.

David and Bella were silent for some time while I listened to David's thoughts.

Vanessa appeared in them again. Together with another child. Daniel. He was still in college, had already been friends with Bella for a long time, and she had talked him out of terminating the pregnancy. That had apparently been the desire of the child's mother. As it turned out afterwards, this Vanessa had set out to get pregnant in order to become financially supported by David. He had created application software for smartphones as a hobby during his studies and sold it for a relatively large amount of money. Mainly small games, but also more or less useful tools, one of which I had on my phone. It had been very rewarding for Vanessa and she was still receiving child support today. Even if he was not obliged to do so, either for legal or moral reasons - since the child did not live with her and they were not married, and he had nothing but contempt for this woman in the meantime - she still remained the mother of his son.

His own parents were very strict and had thrown him out of the house when they found out about the pregnancy. They did not talk to each other to this today. Because of this, Bella and David had moved in together. With Renée and Phil. Actually, he had wanted to find his own apartment as soon as possible, which was not an insurmountable problem for him from a financial point of view, but Renée, Phil, and Bella had talked him into it. It would be to everyone's advantage if he stayed with them. Renée was able to drive with Phil to the away games, since Bella wasn't going to stay home alone with the kids. This in and of itself was one of the arguments. David also knew that his professional future did not lie in Jacksonville. The companies he wanted to/could work for were located in Boston, New York, Washington, Los Angeles or Philadelphia. In this respect, Bella had thought it was stupid to set up a complete apartment for the foreseeable future. Finally, he gave in and settled into a small room that had accumulated all sorts of junk - Renée's abandoned hobbies.

Vanessa had wanted to know little about the child other than the child support payments and had cared just as little about its welfare. So, with the help of Child Protective Services, the child was finally with him - and Bella and Renée had helped him. His own friends turned away from him. The fact that it was more important for David to take care of Daniel, that he could no longer just leave in the evenings, and bring the baby along during the day, got on his friends' nerves, who were looking for fun in life in addition to their studies. Parties, spontaneous outings, or just hanging out together ... David could no longer agree to hang out without hesitation. On the other hand, these were also no longer the things that were important to David. Smart advice, stupid sayings, insults, lectures about lack of responsibility ... he had heard that from all kinds of people. Besides Bella, he had only one friend left from college. That's why he hadn't told anyone else about his son.

After college, it became clear pretty quickly that David could not adequately care for his child without outside help. Professionally, he did not have the freedom he has today and had to work a lot. He earned enough to pay for a childminder. He got Daniel ready in the morning, 'handed him over' to the babysitter, and if he was lucky, he caught Daniel in the evening before he went to bed.

I saw one evening when Bella and David were standing in front of a crib watching three small children sleep. The twins only would have been three or four years old and Daniel maybe one or two. They talked quietly. David was unhappy about the situation. The child meant everything to him, but such a life, in which he was always passed off to someone else, could not be the right one. A happy childhood could not look like this. He also did not know how this would develop professionally. Whether anything could change in the foreseeable future with his long and unpredictable work schedule. He was the rookie, fresh out of college, and the really good positions had to be earned. He had yet to prove himself, but for how long, he didn't know. By the time Daniel was four years old, at the latest, things would be better. Because then he would be able to take him to the company's pre-school, which would bring about a regular daily routine.

In the intermediately David, with his son in his arms, had visited his parents. After all, he was their grandson. His father shut the door in his face. Whereas he spoke to his mother on the phone from time to time. Secretly, when his father was not there. But since the child also had grandparents from his mother's side, who certainly wanted to get to know their grandson, David and Bella had tracked down their address together and visited them with Daniel. Vanessa's parents were immediately enthusiastic about the child and disappointed in their own daughter. She hadn't mentioned a word about Daniel so far - if she was ever with her parents. The two of them were very nice. They lived with their son and his family in a beautiful house in the countryside. In the course of the afternoon, it came out that David thought that he did not care enough for Daniel. That's why he hadn't driven to them, but they had asked so many questions that David had eventually given up refusing to give them honest answers. In the end, they offered to take the child in.

When Vanessa's brother came home with his wife, he understood why this idea had come to them so easily. They already had two children and the next one was on the way. Vanessa's mother didn't work so she could help her daughter-in-law. And one child more or less didn't matter in terms of education.

He had talked with Bella about this possibility for a long time. He didn't really want to give his child away, but he also couldn't deny himself the thought that Daniel would grow up much better there than with him. A family environment where he would be lovingly cared for and with kids around him almost the same age. Upon consultation with his boss that he was given client care around Portland, he ultimately agreed.

When his acquaintance with Sonya began, he didn't yet know where it would really lead and kept that little detail about his son to himself. Always with the thought, should it really become serious, he would tell it of course. He had already lost one girlfriend or another due to this fact, as he was accused of only looking for a substitute mother for the child.

In the process, I saw at least two situations where he tried to tell Sonya about Daniel, but they were apparently far from the only attempts.

One Friday afternoon they sat together in his apartment and talked about mistakes they had both made at some point in the past and regretted since. More like funny little things that they laughed heartily about. David saw it as a fitting moment, because he was unable to imagine a life without Sonya, even though they had only been together for a few weeks. He didn't see the child himself as such a misstep by any means, just the fact of not having told Sonya by now. However, the moment of truth was interrupted at the last moment. By Bella. She was in town with her boss for business reasons. While Mr. Prescott spent the rest of the day cultivating his business contacts, she had wanted to surprise David.

Sonya and Bella got to know each other personally for the first time on that day, after both ladies had only ever been told about the other. They hit it off right away. The two gabbed about everything, mainly about David, drank some red wine and finally fell asleep on the sofa. The two then woke up in bed with a proper hangover. David, after falling asleep under the chatter and waking up sometime during the night, had put them both in his bed, half undressed them, and made himself 'comfortable' on the sofa. Jealousy had never been an issue between the two women.

On another evening, David had prepared a romantic dinner.

I smirked.

He had cooked under Bella's skyped instructions so that nothing would go wrong. He wanted to ask Sonya to officially move in with him and had already had a key made. But before that, of course, he wanted to tell her about Daniel. Candlelight, nicely decorated table, a glass of champagne to welcome her, soft background music, photos of Daniel within reach. Everything was perfect! Yet during the aperitif, a call came in. Sonya's parents had been in a fatal accident. He had missed the moment to be able to tell Sonya without a guilty conscience and then simply no longer mustered the courage to do so. He had screwed up thoroughly. He was ashamed of it and angry with himself. He knew he ought to have said it, should have said it, but by then he just didn't know how.

"You really don't do things by halves. Even when you're in trouble, you go all out!" complained Bella.

"You know me!" David stated dryly and emptied his glass.

They looked at each other, lost in thought, while Bella played with the baptismal rings on his necklace.

In the process, I saw yesterday's dispute between Sonya and David, which he had downplayed quite a bit to Bella with his few words.

When Sonya said she was pregnant, the world seemed to stand still for David for a moment. That's how happy he had been. He lifted her up and twirled her enthusiastically through the air. Already thought about what room would still be space, a name for the child, girl or boy, how they would tell the other children, or her sister.

But then, like a slap in the face, the image of Sonya lying in the hospital surrounded by many beeping and whirring devices was in front of his eyes. His despair at that time was immediately back. Carefully, in a choked voice, he asked if she remembered the last time.

Thereupon she flipped out. Sonya raged and hardly let David get a word in edgewise. David had not even been able to fully articulate the suggestion that they drive to the doctor's office together to hear his opinion. The possibility of an abortion had been the first thought, but he actually did not want that. He could not kill his child! But he wanted to lose his wife even less. He first wanted to discuss with the doctor whether there was anything they could do in advance to prevent it from ending like it did with Emma. He thought of things like acupuncture, yoga, homeopathy, a change in diet, or what would he know? After all, he was not a doctor.

But Sonya raged hysterically, twisting the few words he could even say around in his mouth. Sonya doubted his love, called him callous, he would let her down, finally even insinuated an affair, called the whole marriage a farce, accused Bella of betrayal. No matter what David said, Sonya refused to listen to him and she completely downplayed her health condition at that time. She passed over the fact that she was in intensive care, that she had received blood transfusions, that she was on artificial respiration at times, that her heart had actually stopped beating during those days. It was the worst two minutes of his life. The distant sound of the flat line of the ECG thundered painfully in his ears. Today, like yesterday, like in the past!

With the words 'I want the divorce!' the arguing ended abruptly. Sonya stood inexorably in front of him and for David the world collapsed in on itself. He could not breathe. His heart contracted. The flat-line wanted to burst his head. He believed he was trapped in a nightmare. A nightmare from which he had to break out. Immediately! And there was only one place in this world where he could seek refuge. With his best friend. With Bella.

He called her sister so Sonya wouldn't be alone, informed his boss that he was moving up the update tour, packed his things and drove off. He deliberately didn't call Bella. She would only give him hell, too. He had enough of that for the day. He deliberately didn't think about his family for the rest of the day. He didn't want to think about the fact that Sonya might not have just said her words in rash anger, but actually meant them. The thought frightened him.

My jealousy had completely dissolved in the meantime and now actually seemed ridiculous to me, next to what David had just experienced.

I was on the phone with Carlisle after David's thoughts relaxed.

I continued to eavesdrop, but all I could hear was David's mental self-reproach.

For his son. For yesterday's dispute. Simply for everything! I felt sorry for him. Sorry from the bottom of my heart. He didn't know what would happen next. He expected nothing from Bella. He himself was to blame for everything, he knew that only too well. He had needed her only to calm him down, to find some distance from the quarrel and not to lose hope. He found himself again, only through her presence. Through her kindness.

"Edward. What can I do for you?" asked Carlisle helpfully, as always, and I explained the few medical details I had heard through David's thoughts.

Indeed, I had studied medicine, but I had no practical experience whatsoever. In addition, almost seventy years had passed since my studies and there were completely different treatments today than back then. There seemed to be some methods to secretly administer the appropriate medicines to induce an abortion. However, I was looking for the opposite solution. David didn't want this child only because he might lose Sonya. He was not prepared to take the risk. But we simply didn't have enough medical background information for that. Why it was harder for Sonya with each child had to have a reason.

Carlisle needed more information and he would be coming in later in the evening.

I heard Rosie swearing in the background. She vociferously complained that Carlisle had been downright invited to come over, while I had asked her more or less without explanation to refrain from a visit for today.

Carlisle handed her the phone and Rose seemed reluctant to speak to me.

I sincerely apologized to her and assured her that this had nothing to do with her personally.

I hadn't mentioned a word about David in school. I didn't want to be bombarded with questions about what other man there was in Bella's life. I couldn't have answered them, which would have aroused their mistrust. They might all have come here then.

So now I just said that Bella had received visitors unexpectedly.

I was hanging up when a car drove into the driveway.

I could neither believe my gift nor my eyes. The children also finished their game in disbelief.

Andrew. Was today the day of my fiancée's ex-lovers?

I went into the house to give Bella a heads up.

"Mrs. Black?" I asked cautiously. After all, David thought I was a classmate of Jake and Leah. They wouldn't call Bella by her first name.

Bella looked at me puzzled at first, but then suppressed a smile at my calling her that.

"Your Andrew is driving up the driveway right now!" I smirked at her.

Bella's laughter, however, died away.

"Who is that?" asked David curiously and overly pleasantly.

He suspected he was her boyfriend, whom Bella hid from him until now.

"Her ex!" I clarified.

Andrew was still gathering himself in the car and speaking encouragement to himself. As I already thought: different caliber.

"You have an ex I don't know about?" David continued to ask.

Bella nodded in displeasure, but said emphatically that it wasn't really her ex-boyfriend, they had only dated twice.

"And he's coming right now?" he looked at me.

I nodded, smiling.

"And you want to get rid of him?" he looked at Bella again.

She nodded - with her eyes narrowed angrily.

"Well, I'm dressed just right for it," David noted, straightening up with a mischievous smile.

He still had no T-shirt on and stood there with a naked, muscular upper body. He took the glass from Bella, set it aside with his, and pulled her off the sofa directly into his arms.

My expression darkened immediately.

An instinctive reaction that didn't necessarily have anything to do with David. The fact that I had recently come to the conclusion that jealousy because of the two of them was not appropriate did not change the fact that it did not suit me that he - or anyone else - simply took Bella into his arms like that.

David noticed the expression on my face and searched in thoughts for the reason for this.

He feared he had found it and was partly right, but pitied me. In his opinion, Bella needed a man and not a boy. That Bella might have chosen me was not even worth considering for him.

My opinion about him, which had grown better and better within the past hour, just sank considerably again.

If he knew that I could practically be his great-grandfather! Injured pride, however, I recognized myself. And my pride just went through in great detail some methods of getting rid of David after all. Purely hypothetically, of course.

"Well, then, be in love nicely!" he urged Bella as I opened the front door.

The courage thing had apparently worked.

Andrew pushed me aside with persuaded self-assurance and strutted straight into the living room. In the doorway he then stood still as if rooted to the spot.

Jake and Leah had also come in to watch the recent tragedy. And Becky had also come in the meantime.

David blew a kiss on Bella's lips just at the moment when Andrew appeared in the doorway. The latter's jaw dropped and he gasped for air, upset.

Played surprised, Bella and David turned in his direction, Bella's hands resting against David's chest.

"Andrew?" Bella asked, much too exaggerated.

The blood had already risen adorably in her cheeks again. As always, when she wanted/should/must lie. She just couldn't do it and once again looked delightful when trying. Fortunately, her blush matched the spectacle.

"WHO?"

David had better acting skills and played the indignant husband. Raging, he went back and forth between Bella and Andrew, accusing both of them fiercely.

Bella, meanwhile, was sitting again on the sofa, hiding her face in her hands as if she were crying. In truth, she was trying not to laugh too loudly.

Andrew was getting smaller and smaller, had completely forgotten that Bella wasn't married at all, and finally ran away.

This one wouldn't come back.

The children applauded and Bella let herself fall sideways onto the sofa, laughing.

She looked so ravishing.

I wanted to walk up to her and kiss her, but Jake held me by my shirt.

'Have you already been officially introduced?' he merely asked in thoughts.

I shook my head.

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