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Chapter 136

Edward

I ran unceasingly and yet I had the impression that I was not fast enough. Sheer panic was bubbling inside me. Actually, I had no good reason to assume that something bad might have happened. Just this strange feeling. Like back then. Considering the circumstances of a few weeks ago, I should nevertheless take the feeling seriously. Bella had fallen into her abyss, while Carlisle lightly prompted me to ignore the rising trepidation. Why had I had to run all the way to this cliff, of all places, to think?

From the woods, I finally arrived at the house almost an hour later and saw from afar Jake and Leah's clothes lying on the patio.

Disorderly. As if carelessly torn away from themselves. Their cell phones and keys were also lying there. That must have been a very hectic departure.

I stormed further through the door and was startled.

The dining table stood out of place, various chairs were overturned, some things were lying on the floor. Blood stuck to the side on the dark wooden floorboards, one of Bella's engagement rings lay on the carpet. The blue sapphire that the children had chosen. I didn't see the other one, but this one already made me extremely nervous. Had I taken too long to make my decision? Even the living room was in chaos. The low table lay almost in the doorway on its side. Everything that had lain on it was scattered over the floor. Remote controls, magazines, a candle, books, a bowl of candy. David's cell phone lay in a crack in the couch and the smell of his blood hung in the air as unmistakably as wolfish adrenaline. What had happened here? A fight? A scuffle that caused the furniture to be moved and knocked over? And Bella in the middle of it? I had not forgotten Jake's thoughts, which stemmed from the argument with his mother. He had resolved to keep David away from Bella by force if necessary.

I hurriedly ran to Sonya.

Maybe Bella was sitting with her safe and sound while Jake and David had crossed paths in the living room.

The doorbell had not quite stopped ringing when Sonya already opened the door for me. She was holding her coat in her hand. Apparently she had just come home and was therefore standing directly behind the front door.

"Do you know where Bella or David are? Or the twins?" I asked immediately. There was none of them here, I could already smell that.

"No. David was earlier ..." she started to say, but her thoughts were faster, so I quickly went back.

Using David's cell phone, I called the hospital in the meantime.

After all, my battery was dead.

I asked for Carlisle, but he was not there. Someone was still waiting for him.

I was not surprised. He must have landed in Boston some time ago, but he couldn't revert to my speed. Moreover, he would first run home and then drive up in his Mercedes.

I let myself be connected to Henry Young, Becky's father, while I looked for the key to the Audi.

No one else would give me any more information.

I asked him about Bella or David, if either of them had arrived at the ER.

There was a long-winded period of time, during which the music of the waiting loop stretched my nerves unbearably, until I got an answer.

No. Calling Carlisle would be a waste of time. If he was on his way to the hospital, he wouldn't know what was going on with David or Bella. After all, no one knew he was coming back today.

I threw the key to the Audi back into the bowl - with which I had wanted to leave immediately for the hospital, provided Bella was there - and immediately ran back into the forest.

I wanted to go to my house. Perhaps the argument with David had escalated and the twins had fled to me as a result. Just like on Wednesday.

I ran and ran, and yet the all-too-familiar forest felt as if it were infinite.

I jumped effortlessly over the fence, near the boulders prepared for the twins, but I changed direction again.

Leah and Jake were not here on the premises. Otherwise, I should have smelled them by now at the latest, even if they had taken a different route here. Since the keys of the two lay at home, they could not have come through the main gate.

So I passed Carlisle's house, recognized David's car, and now charged purposefully toward the house.

David's blood showed me the way up.

The examination room was empty, but one room away I heard heartbeats, but no thoughts. Quietly, I opened the door, bracing myself for anything.

For almost everything. I was not prepared for THAT. The shards of my heart that I had pieced together over the course of the past few hours broke in two once again. Bella was lying on the bed and David across at her side, with a pillow under him. Face each other. One of Bella's hands was on his neck, while one of David's rested on Bella's body under the covers. A harmonious picture. A family. An above all complete family that would now have a baby. That was probably the point of contention with the twins, whereby they had made a mess of the living room, injured David, and then fled in a rage. David and Bella had made a decision. A decision that excluded me.

So now I met my own.

I would stand by Sonya until the birth of her baby, help her get over the loss of her love as best I could, help her with a very likely desired move, and then disappear once Sonya was able to manage on her own. Forever! I would not ask the Volturi for help in this regard. Aro's ability not only put those people in danger, but my family as well. I would have to find another way when the time came.

Sadly, I let my head hang and quietly pulled the door into the lock.

My existence was now meaningless.

"Edward," I thought I heard Bella mutter.

Why was she actually lying on the bed like a patient and not David, if it was him Carlisle was supposed to have doctored after all? Why would David have gone to Sonya first, as I had seen in her thoughts, and only then to Bella? He had begged her on his knees for forgiveness! That made no sense if he wanted to leave her now.

I began - cautiously and a little indecisively - to sort through the shards inside me and entered the room anew.

"Edward," Bella mumbled again, whereby her free hand slipped off the cushion.

Her fingers twitched in my direction and the rest of her body followed the movement to my side.

She was the patient! She was unhealthily pale. Her cheeks were sunken. The slightly curling lips - as if they were trying to form words - had lost fullness. She smelled strange. She had foreign blood in her!

"Bella!" I whispered and immediately sat on the floor by her side.

I took her hand carefully in mine.

Her heart commented on it. Could she have made a decision without telling it to her heart? Some of the shards were coming together.

"You're ... finally here!" noted Bella, opening her eyelids a little.

An implied smile settled reassuringly over her mouth.

There was the chocolate that I had missed so much.

She pulled her other hand from David, but powerless, she let the arm fall on her.

On her hand sparkled my mother's ring. If she had decided to spend the rest of her life with David, she would not be wearing my engagement ring! My heart was almost whole again.

"You will ... leave ... me ... alone anymore!" she demanded sternly and crossly.

So my angel tried it at least.

I pulled the blue ring out of my pocket and slid it gingerly over one finger of the hand I was holding.

At the same time, I put the last fragment inside me back where it belonged. The ring sat loosely. Whatever had happened now, it had probably just slipped off her finger. A little mishap - with a big effect.

"As long as you want me, I will be here!" I whispered lovingly and kissed her delicate fingers.

"Forever!" she replied weakly, trying to squeeze my hands.

"Forever, my love! Even if you have someone else's child, I don't care as long as I have you! I love you, Bella!", I spoke.

"But ... the baby ..." she wanted to say something, but I interrupted her.

She was so powerless that it tore my heart apart.

"Shh ... Rest, my heart. Whatever you want to say will have to wait until tomorrow. I won't run away," I promised, breathing a kiss on her lips and gently caressed over her head.

She nodded barely noticeably, and her eyes fell shut again.

After I was sure Bella was asleep, I pulled out David's cell phone.

I finally had to know what had happened.

I didn't get around to actually calling Carlisle, though. David woke up.

I had hardly thought about him in the past two days, his guilt aside, but I noticed my attitude towards him by myself, while vehemently ignoring him. I stubbornly paid attention to the two heartbeats pulsing under Bella's skin so I wouldn't have to listen to his thoughts. He had slept with Bella. A fact I had to live with. And I had to live with Bella, not with him.

"You're here!" stated David, kind of surprised.

I nodded.

"Did Jake and Leah find you?" he inquired.

"No," I answered evasively, not taking my eyes off Bella.

"Have you talked to Carlisle?" he asked further.

"No."

"So you don't even know yet?" he asked, having a slightly amused tone to it.

A sound that annoyed me.

Angrily, I turned my head in his direction.

He looked like shit, if I may say so, which however deeply satisfied me inside.

"What do I not know?" however, I hooked up.

"One thing at a time!" he fluted with a grin, folding himself off the bed.

His nose, which was undoubtedly broken, did not seem to be his only wound. A groan, probably caused by pain, accompanied his movements. Was I allowed to reward Jake for that? Or perhaps rather punish him, because David could still move so much, and he felt like laughing?

"Why are you here? And I don't mean here in the house. Why are you with Bella? Have you forgiven her for going to bed with me?"

"I can't exist without Bella!" I answered truthfully. "She continues to want me. Nothing else matters."

"In other words, you forgave her?" he wanted to know exactly.

He stood behind me.

I saw in a reflection that he was looking arrogantly down at me with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Her yes ... you no!" I replied truthfully again.

He squatted down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

Angrily I looked at the hand.

"But you have nothing to forgive us ... It's your child! YOU are becoming a father, Edward!" he said calmly.

I rose wrathfully and pulled him to his feet with me.

"You're just shirking responsibility. Like you did with Daniel for so long. But that can only be fine with me. Get out and stay away from us!" I said clearly, with a threatening growl in my voice and pushed him away from me.

He stumbled backwards onto the floor, writhing in pain that was obviously coming from his ribs.

I didn't feel sorry for him, but rather watched him with amusement as he braced himself against the torment and pulled himself together. I wanted to sit down again with my angel and despise David, but his attitude made me curious.

"I swear on my family's life that I have never touched Bella since we met!" he stated firmly.

His determination made me wonder, so I listened to his thoughts.

He discussed the wording with himself. Since he knew me? Since he knew Sonya? Should that make a difference to me? It wouldn't matter, though. Both would be true!

"Stop feigning innocence!", I demanded bitingly. "The fact that you don't remember anything about it doesn't mean it didn't happen!"

He approached me, again with a determination in his gaze that almost impressed me.

"On the life of my smooch ball!" he swore, and for the life of me I couldn't see a lie in his demeanor.

But it could not be!

"Bella is pregnant!" I made the fact clear again. Loudly. I was tired of this! Hadn't we already discussed that topic enough? Why did he now begin to lie openly to my face? Such audacity! Moreover, I had accepted this fact, even if I did not like it by far.

"But not from me!" he equally snapped back.

I ran my fingers through my hair indecisively.

He did the same to me, somehow held his upper body, and came the last step towards me. Inviting and pleading at the same time, he looked me in the eyes and put his hands in my back neck, so that I could not avoid his gaze.

"Edward. Concentrate! ... You are a doctor!We would have had only one night together. Last you have already heard the baby's heart. After only a few days! That's impossible! ..." he tried to explain to me.

He brought up further arguments, but I could only follow him slowly, because I was analyzing the images in his head at the same time.

How he had found Bella earlier. I was dismayed, how Bella looked thereby. More dead than alive. Not only pale, but her skin seemed almost translucent. She had seemed so fragile and was cold according to David's memories. He had had to strain to understand her.

So I hung a little bit behind the words that were actually spoken.

Bella was of the opinion that the baby drank her blood. From the inside. She had cut her finger, but no blood came out. And Carlisle had confirmed this assumption, since it explained her physical weakness. The ultrasound machine showed no usable images. Overall, the temporal sequence did not fit a normal pregnancy. Even if Bella and David had slept together and a child had resulted, this did not explain the signs that were already appearing now. Even the test that Bella had done would not be possible at this point. She had to have been pregnant for longer than just six days! And this in turn meant that David could hardly be the father. I would have heard it – in his thoughts – because so far, despite more or less alcohol, he had always been able to recapitulate the hours he was alone with Bella. Without gaps! If this fact was clear, how likely was it that they had slept together at all? I had not believed it of the two of them because of their character traits. Additionally, neither of them remembered it. I had not found them naked, but in their underwear. That they had sex while fully drunk, but then put something on again, I now – looking back – also thought that it was very far-fetched. I should have seen this at least even fuzzily in David's memories. But yes. It was clear. There were too many aspects that spoke for a supernatural father. It was MY baby. There was no other possibility.

I felt dizzy. I put my hands to my head and closed my eyes, but this feeling would not go away.

All the frustration, the anger, the brooding, the reproaches, the tears, the bad words. All of it hit me bundled up as if in fast motion. The ugliest words, the worst tears, the most vicious thoughts. Bella, David, Sonya, Leah, Jake, me. Cut down to just a few split seconds. My head wanted to explode.

"Edward!" I heard somewhere, a little more indistinct than the numerous flashbacks of the last days, but nevertheless closer.

All at once it was quiet in my head. And black. A peaceful silence in which I saw only Bella's face with an enchanting expression before me. A smile came to my mouth and my heart seemed to rejoice with my soul to the bet.

A cry of pain made me open my eyes again and I saw ...

On the ceiling paneling? Which rotated a little on itself?

"I'm going to be a father!" I stated, still quite confused by this reality.

The floorboards on the ceiling had stopped spinning.

"Yes, yes. Congratulations! Now get off me!" complained David, coughing, trying to push me off him and free himself from under me.

I rolled off him, with David immediately using the freedom of movement to turn a bit on his side. He was breathing heavily and tensed up slightly in doing so.

"Since when can vampires pass out?" he complained, scowling at me playfully.

Fainted? Was that what I had done? All the words and images that had come crashing down on me had knocked me out. Would I be able to find a better term than necessarily 'fainted'? Probably not. If Emmett found out about this, I was screwed!

"Since they can have children!" I mused and immediately helped him up from the floor.

"You're not having a child!" he teased me, trying for shallower breathing that didn't hurt so he succeeded to some extent, while I looked at him confused because of this remark, he turned me to Bella. "That she does ... You were probably more involved in the part that was just fun!"

I knelt down next to my goddess, took her hands and kissed them gently.

Bella! She made me the happiest creature on this earth. She loved me. She had not betrayed me. The desperate act I had suspected when David was senseless with her had never happened. She had never lied to me. Well. She still had a secret, but that was completely irrelevant at this moment. She gave me the greatest gift there could be. Bella gave me our baby!

David knelt beside me, pulled the covers off Bella a bit and took my hand.

He put it on her abdomen, and I actually felt the movement in her. Also the heartbeat and it was now a little faster than Bella's. That was normal and should increase even more.

My baby. A pretty lively little fellow. How was that possible? I thought and let my head fall against Bella's side.

Her delicate fingers sought a way into my hair.

I was so sorry. I felt abominable at the thought of what I had accused my angel of. How could I have even considered that? On Wednesday, everything had seemed so plausible to me. But Bella was not the only one I had done wrong.

"I'm sorry," I said humbly to David, looking at him. "That I insinuated you ..."

"Don't apologize to me!" he interrupted me. "We all believed it, and we all thought about how to deal with it ...But that would also have become a rarely stupid constellation ... But in the end, everything is different, and no one was really convinced. Just forget it ... I am happy for you! For both of you!"

"Thank you," was all I said, and amidst the silence of the room, I sank into the wonderful heartbeats I felt under Bella's skin. It fascinated me. It was like a new drug for me.

"You will protect this child with your life!" murmured David after a few moments.

The serious tone of voice, even though David seemed lost in thought, made me listen up.

"Of course!" I answered without thinking about it. But in the same unnecessary breath I was no longer sure of it. Bella looked bad and she was still at the beginning of this pregnancy. What would this half-creature be able to do inside my beloved in the coming months?

"Even against your own people?" he looked at me.

I ran my fingers through my hair irritably when I saw in his mind that Carlisle had already prepared the termination of the pregnancy earlier on his own authority. If necessary by surgical measures.

I growled inevitably.

"You need to talk to Carlisle!"

"But the blood she got is good for her. She looks nowhere near as lifeless as she did the moment you found her!" I stated what I had taken from his memories.

Carlisle must have seen that, too. Now I heard that David came to have one or two fundamental doubts as well. But he had given Bella his word. Not entirely without ulterior motives, as I now saw. He stalled for time and lulled Bella into a sense of security. He doubted that a few hours more or less would decide Bella's life. Precisely because the transfusions had already helped her. That would buy the time I needed to show up here, realize it was my baby, and decide about the life or non-life of Bella and/or the baby. He felt overwhelmed by this.

Before I could voice my opinion, he was already speaking my own doubts.

"And if the blood thirst is not all it has of you? You can produce sand from stones. What if your kid can do that soon, too? What if it starts practicing that with Bella's bones? ... And I mean, you know Bella!" David reflected.

"She's not going to tell us she's in pain!" I continued his thoughts. "I'll talk to also with Bella ... I am not ready to see her die just to have a child by her! ...If she wants a baby, she will have one. Even if you nevertheless will be the biological father!" I said calmly and accepted thus his tacit offer to make himself available as a sperm donor. Without sex, of course!

He nodded smirking.

"But I'm willing, as long as it's safe enough for Bella, to give it a try. Because it seems we've already cleared the first needs blood. Who knows if we would have figured it out if Bella hadn't cut herself? After all, the possibility that it's mine hasn't really been up for debate."

"Bella even figured out on her own that her blood was missing," he recalled what Bella had vaguely whispered to him earlier at us as an explanation.

Her fingers and toes would tingle. As if they had 'fallen asleep', as humans called it, when the blood circulation was interrupted.

Gently I kissed my angel's fingers, but I felt the blood flowing through her fine veins.

"Are your people going to stick to that, too, or are you going to have to guard Bella around the clock to make sure no one messes with your offspring?" David then asked seriously.

I considered, but not for very long.

"Too many will side with the baby as long as it doesn't endanger Bella. Bella and this we have two children who will defend their parents. Rosalie, too, will certainly take sides in this miracle and thus inevitably draw Emmett to our side ...And a neighbor who will protect his godchild!" I enumerated and looked directly at him at the last sentence. A decision I had made over Bella's head, but rarely had I been so sure of a decision.

"Oh, what? Mr. Smith is going to be godfather?" David teased me.

The said one lived between us and took note of the constant back and forth between our houses with abundant skepticism, continually muttered how restless it had become in the street, tried to incite the other surrounding neighbors against us, but bit on unyielding got along pretty well with everyone, even though only the young couple right across from us knew about our relationship. They had seen us sitting on the porch in front of the house a few times and one evening they had come had only become aware of the age difference between Bella and me after the fact. They simply didn't the other neighbors thought I was Bella's nephew or a friend of the twins who, for some family reason, didn't live with his own parents. There was probably a troublemaker like Mr. Smith on every street.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" said David, however, then as our quiet chuckles over Mr. Smith died out.

We stayed kneeling together with Bella for a while when a question manifested in David.

I didn't want to interfere with his thinking - temporarily - but the question found its way past his lips.

"Do you really think I'm that irresponsible? Because of Daniel, I mean," he asked cautiously.

"No. I'm sorry. I only said that because I was angry. You are the in relation to Daniel. You gave your child away because you admitted to yourself that you couldn't care for him well enough, not because you didn't want acted responsibly, not emotionally ... Not telling Sonya all these years, that's another story was moronic!" I began begging forgiveness and ended played reproving, but he knew the latter himself.

He nodded his thanks for this encouragement.

Bella's heart became stronger and stronger, and the blood also showed its effect on the outside. She slept quietly and peacefully.

"Then I'll explain to Sonya that I've been good after all!" David straightened up, groaning lamentably by doing so."I am curious to see her face when I tell her!", he grinned and considered whether he would be allowed back in their marriage bed with the news.

"You shouldn't be driving in your condition."

"But you should stay with Bella!" he stated.

I nodded.

David walked around me and said goodbye to Bella with a gentle kiss on her forehead.

I didn't want to leave Bella's side, but letting David take the wheel with broken ribs was also something I shouldn't allow. In addition, I had the desire to confirm the new circumstances to Sonya. David was gone for a long time, plus my fleeting appearance at her place, where I found neither him nor Bella. I did not even want to imagine what evil thoughts Sonya might possibly be thinking in the meantime ,. I was looking for a way out of this little dilemma when, fortunately, I heard very familiar thoughts. Troubled thoughts that were marked by fear. But also of feelings of guilt. And the taste of failure was on their tongues. Because they had not found me, meanwhile had given up and by now were desperately looking for their mother.

I still held Bella's hand tightly and blew a kiss to the fingers before rising.

"I'll drive you!" I stopped David, holding out to him his cell phone, which I still had in my back pocket.

He shook his head dismissively at my offer.

I should not leave Bella alone.

"But ..." he began, but he didn't get any further than that, as my children were already rushing through the door.

In the doorway, they remained for a moment to process the picture that presented itself.

"Dad?" muttered Leah indecisively and Jake questioningly.

They weren't sure what to make of it.

Only a moment passed before they went to Bella and knelt on the floor in front of her. They chattered away to spoke to her without any significant response from her. Asked me what was wrong with her, how she was, where Carlisle was and what he had done, where I was all the time.

The most important question, which was just booming in their heads, they did not ask. For fear of the answer. The question of how it would go on with Bella and me and whether they would lose their father. David's statement that it was my child had not come through to them at that moment with its full implications. On the way as wolves, however, many thoughts had come to them. David could have said it only to save his own skin. Out of fear for his life, the way Jake had already beat him up. He could also just want to shift the responsibility onto me by claiming not to be the father himself. Another point was that they should look for me so that Bella would have the opportunity to say goodbye to me before she died. That's why the fear was so present by now and they had given up looking for me unsuccessfully to see their mother one more time. Now they were completely confused. I was here. In a good mood. David was here. No less in good spirits - except for his wounds. Their mother seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but was awakened by the flurry of activity that had arisen in the room.

Immediately, I grabbed the hand she held out when she called me, and the children made some room for me.

"I'm here, dearest," I whispered, answering my children's question as well.

Jake and Leah noted their mother's pet name with delight, smiling reassuringly at each other, but their anxiety was persistent.

Bella sighed contentedly and pulled my hand to her lips.

She already seemed much more stable than an hour ago. The blood was visibly helping.

"Please rest, my heart. I need to drive David home and want to explain the new situation to Sonya. But I'll be back with you as quickly as I can!" I promised.

Bella nodded with tired eyelids.

I slid a hand to her stomach and corrected my statement, "With both of you!"

I kissed her lips, which were already getting some color.

"Yes. It's my baby!" I said to Jake and Leah after standing up and turning to face them.So slowly I had understood that myself. My eyes burned as they took me in their arms. "She's doing better already. Carlisle put blood in her so your sibling wouldn't die of thirst," I explained to them both.

With that, I had now finally answered her important question.

I would remain their father and our family even got reinforcements.

"So what did you do?" I asked Jake after a few moments after we broke away from each other.

He let his head hang overloaded with guilt. There was a lot going through his head right now.

He yelled at his mother and downright insulted her. Disrespected her. Cheated at school. He took out his frustration on David, who - as it now seemed - wasn't to blame. Looking for his dad, but he was probably too stupid for that.

I took his hand.

The one about which I asked.

"You're bleeding!" I concretized my question worryingly.

"Just walked through broken glass," he admitted rather sullenly, pulling his hand away in a huff.

I smiled.

"We'll talk about everything else later!", but I led him to understand and also looked at Leah reprovingly.

Since they could not adequately apologize to their mother at that moment, they made do with me and hugged me anew.

"Whatever happens, you're not letting Carlisle see Bella until I get back!" I urged them both as I then started to set off with David.

I explained this clear announcement in more detail and further indicated that I would hurry.

They would protect their mother if it was really necessary.

While David nodded off in the passenger seat, I stopped at a flower store that was about to close. I ensnared the owner a bit so that she served me after all.

David had reflected with amusement, before his eyes had fallen shut, that he had brought Sonya only one pathetic little flower. In the eleven and a half years of their relationship, nothing so ridiculous had ever happened. He hadn't been sure how Sonya would react to the usual bouquet after a business trip - considering their quarrel. The topic would not have been exactly without and he in addition also still absolutely guilt. She should not think that he wanted to skip it by simply continuing as before.

Only in his driveway did I gently shake him awake.

"Uh ... thank you?" he looked at me in irritation as I pressed the bouquet into his hand.

His mind was still occupied with the nap.

"For Sonya! ... From you! ... Not from me," I explained indulgently, but thoroughly amused at his first thought. Why should I also give him flowers?

He pulled down the tissue paper.

"Wow ...! I should always take you with me when I want to give my wife a bouquet of flowers," he meant in surprise.

"Do you know the meaning?" I asked cautiously. Sonya loved flowers, especially roses, and knew the secret language of flowers, which was also known to me during my lifetime.

He shook his head, somewhat intimidated.

"Ninety-nine pieces. With this, you promise to love her as long as you live. And it's all the colors you get roses in. This symbolizes that she means everything to you."

"As I said, wow ...!" he looked at the huge bouquet. "Thank you!" he added and got out.

Sonya was just putting the boys to bed while Emma was supposed to be asleep.

She was not, but no one noticed.

Sonya looked at me first surprised and then frightened when I came through Luce's room door.

"David is downstairs waiting for you ... But don't be scared when you see looks worse than it actually is," I communicated to her, swapping places on the edge of the bed with her.

And I reminded her in a whisper that he could not lie to her. If he did, I would hear it and tell her.

She nodded conspiratorially before walking to her husband.

With a fluttering heart.

I read to Luces the story to the end, constantly interrupted by any questions, what was with his parents. Why his daddy didn't put him to bed, as had been announced for today, and where he was anyway.

I answered diplomatically until the story was over and Luces was asleep.

At Deacon's, I turned off the bedside lamp and immediately went to Emma's.

In the meantime, the little smooch ball was also asleep. Basically, she deceived herself every evening. So that no one noticed that she was still awake, she had to be there was not much left with which she could keep herself awake for a long time. Today she lay under her bed - wrapped in her blanket - with a flashlight and a picture book. So that no one discovered the light of the lamp.

Carefully I pulled her out and put her to bed.

Would my child also come up with such tricks to delay going to bed? Would they have to sleep at all?

"Um ... I'll be going then!" I called down the hall towards the living room.

I grinned and tried not to look Sonya and David in the head.

"Okay," I heard David chokingly reply.

"Your children are asleep, by the way!" I added.

"Than ..." Sonya was interrupted in the middle of the word.

Smiling, I left the house and briskly went to our own.

I had seen light as I pulled up the driveway at David's, but also had a pretty good idea of who would be there. In addition, the cell phones and keys of Jake, Leah, and also Bella were lying here. Something I learned pretty quickly in that house was that teenagers were pretty lost without their smartphones.

I was not disappointed when I stepped through the front door.

Marcus and Becky came running towards me as soon as they heard the door.

Wow ... They looked dapper. Elegant. Becky in a tight black dress, the jewelry from the wedding, an elaborate hairstyle and subtle makeup. Marcus wore dark cloth pants, leather shoes, a light blue shirt with a sporty jacket and the three-day beard that Leah thought was so great. And as soon as I saw them, I remembered what day it was and that Esmé had initiated it. On this occasion that today was St. Nicholas Day, in the Advent calendars of the four was a table reservation in a very dignified restaurant on the coast, where you could view the sea with excellent food.

"Edward? What happened here?" asked Becky nervously.

"Where is everyone?", Marcus also wanted to know. "What are you doing here anyway?" he then bristled.

"Have you forgiven Bella?" Becky followed his reflection.

I took a cursory glance around the living room.

Marcus and Becky had started moving the furniture back into place. They had also found my family's valuables. They lay neatly and waiting on the living room table.

"I had nothing to forgive. I'm going to be a father!" I summed up the essence.

Becky put her hands over her mouth at first, couldn't believe what I was saying, and then jumped joyfully into my arms. Marcus also congratulated me, while we hugged each other briefly.

"But how ...?" he asked, still irritated.

Yes, the facts had also been made known to him in their entirety, as I now saw. So let's say - the facts we had assumed so far.

"I don't know, but I couldn't care less right now!" I stated happily.

To find answers to such questions and more, we still had time.

I apologized to both of them that because of the unusual situation the date had now been broken off.

It was almost nine o'clock, the restaurant was reserved for eight, so there was no chance that they would get their reserved table tonight.

I took the keys and phones off the table, helped Becky into her long coat, and drove back with the two of them in the the way, of course, they grilled me and wanted to know everything that had happened this afternoon. By the time I arrived in front of the house, I had reported everything worth knowing.

Jake and Leah were sitting on the floor next to the bed.

Between half the kitchen, I would say. They had held a veritable picnic.

"Wolves!" I muttered, amused.

At the same time with Becky and Marcus, who shook their heads as I did. Said wolves grinned in a caught way.

At least they had put on some clothes in the meantime and were no longer sitting there in their bathrobes.

"Mom woke up once and wanted something to drink," Leah said.

"And then when I was in the kitchen, I noticed we hadn't eaten yet," Jake explained.

The youngsters meandered past me, and an expression of amazement settled on my children.

Wow ... went through their heads at the same time, while they got up from the floor and they turned to their loved ones in admiration. The restaurant! again echoed in them simultaneously.

"Twins!" I rolled my eyes, walked past the four of them and knelt down next to Bella.

She looked good and her vitals were steady.

The baby was surprisingly quiet. Well, as far as movement was concerned, because I could hear the heartbeat. It seemed to be asleep?

The children continued their picnic.

I lay down to Bella with a pillow under my head so I could see the kids.

My angel snuggled up to me while the rest of us talked quietly.

Jake and Leah were not yet in the picture as Marcus and Becky were. I made up for that now.

In the end, the four of them lay on the bed with us. Bella of course cuddled up to had fallen asleep leaning against the headboard, with Leah resting between his legs against his 's head was on my belly while his legs were tangled with Marcus' and Leah's and hanging over the edge and Becky, in turn, lay snuggled up to Jake.

Yes, it was a little tight, but that didn't matter. Nor did it matter that Leah's hand regularly slapped my face or Becky kicked my legs. I enjoyed having my entire family around me.

I closed my eyes and daydreamed.

Of course, I was not really asleep, but that's how I imagined it. I let my thoughts run completely free and enriched them still by wishes and hopes.

What time lay ahead of us now, I suppressed wisely. I didn't know how dangerous the baby could become for Bella and didn't want to think about it. Not today.

Thanks for reading!