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Chapter 145
Souvenirs
Bella
Edward opened the car door for me and looked at me anxiously.
I could have expected that! But I was not angry about it or felt patronized. I was glad that he was there. For one thing, I had missed him, even if it was only one day. For another - I was convinced of this - our baby demanded his closeness. I probably couldn't explain to anyone how that felt. Furthermore, our baby was apparently thirsty again.
"Edward. I think I need ..." I whispered.
"It's already prepared, dearest!" he said softly, kissing me tenderly on the forehead and lifting me up in his arms.
I snuggled up to my cold angel who carried me into the house.
That wasn't really necessary from the state of my health, but hey, I hadn't seen him in twenty-six hours.
In the 'gentlemen's room' - so Edward called this room paneled with dark wood - he sat me down in one of the armchairs.
Carlisle was already waiting for us with a drawn needle, at the sight of which I already made a face.
However, Edward made sure that I didn't notice any of this. He remained sitting on the armrest so that I could lean against him.
Rosalie joined us and the three of them briefly discussed my measured values, to which Rose contributed those from last night and this morning.
David entered the room to greet me. He gave me a fleeting kiss as usual and stroked over my belly. He then also immediately gave a fitting comment on the general topic.
"You definitely caught up with Sonya," he smiled at me.
Yes, we mothers had already noticed that. Only the gentlemen doctors looked a little surprised, which made me chuckle.
"She's in her nineteenth week," Edward promptly called Sonya's week.
"Eighteen plus four," David specified with a smirk.
The doctors deliberated.
"About twenty-five ... Sonya and I guess," I gave our opinion of my condition.
But what did we know? We only carried the little ones around with us and had no idea about medicine.
"Quite possibly," Carlisle admitted, a tiny bit huffily.
Apparently our guess matched with my belly and the values, but not with his original calculations.
They left us alone.
Shortly afterwards, there was such a soft knock that I thought I had misheard.
Jake and Marcus.
I sat up a bit to greet the two of them as well.
"Wow ... I can hear it without focusing on it!" marveled Jake as he petted his soon-to-be little sibling.
With handcuffs on the wrist.
"Were you arrested or what does your jewelry mean?" I asked curiously.
"That was Emmett. He'll do our homework for three months if we can keep that up until after breakfast," Marcus explained.
The mother of school-aged teens in me uttered a very critical "Excuse me?!" but also asked how long they had been chained together while she chuckled.
Edward laughingly said there was a lot of evidence of their bond, which the boys told me a little about.
I winced as it twinged in my belly, but immediately smiled.
"They seems to make a party," Jake remarked about it, looking very fascinated.
His warm hand was still on my belly, but Marcus seemed to avoid touching it, even though he was pretty close because of the handcuffs.
"You may also, Marcus," I said therefore. My aversion to any hands that unabashedly groped me as if I were a public petting zoo - ! - concerned only strangers. Not my family.
He looked at me surprised and I nodded in a friendly prompting manner. Very carefully he put his hand on my belly and as ordered the baby moved a little. An enchanting smile appeared on his face.
At that moment, I was sure that Marcus would one day be a much better father than his own.
After breakfast, we unwrapped our Advent calendar gifts, all of which consisted of delicious cookies that did not leave the room alive.
Leah and Becky had brought Edward something from New York, which they now presented to him. They stayed next to him while he unwrapped it.
I couldn't tell if Edward had already taken it from her thoughts, but if he had, he didn't let on. He held a cup in his hands. Kitschy and overloaded, as it had to be. 'World's Greatest Dad!' was written on it. My angel was touched.
"But we know you don't drink coffee ..." Leah said vaguely, holding out another small packet to him.
He unwrapped a metal photo tree, the base of which fit snugly into the cup.
Photos of us were already hanging on it. Pictures that the two of them had on their cell phones. Esmé and I had also contributed some from our phones, including a picture of our little family of six.
Edward warmly embraced his two princesses and could not take the overwhelmed smile off his face.
The twins were then in a hurry to get away from home.
So Edward and I went to take a shower and every drop of water was kissed off my skin afterwards very stimulating ...
We stayed in bed all day.
I felt great again, but after all the activity yesterday, a lazy day did me a world of good.
Edward carefully creamed me from head to toe, I told him about New York, again and again he got something to eat or drink, turned on or changed music. He showed the many pictures from yesterday on his laptop.
"I want to put that up!" I said.
Jake, Marcus, and Edward in ball paradise. All three of them laughed as if there was no better moment than exactly this one.
I laughed heartily when I unwrapped the chocolate bar. And ate it up completely by the evening.
Of course, only so that so these dreadful names disappeared.
But we really looked on the Internet for names for our Knob. At Edward's request, we even consulted the Book of Books - the Bible! -.
Edward and I quickly agreed that we didn't want just any nice-sounding names. They should have a connection to the family. But that was also the only thing we could agree on.
I showed my very manageable purchases. I had bought only a pair of shoes, an elegant blouse for the holidays, and a few other small things.
My angel was with me, what other wishes could I have? For Edward I had brought a book. 'A manual for expectant fathers. Construction process, scope of delivery, commissioning, maintenance.' There was also a checklist of what should be done before the warranty expires after eighteen years. Build a tree house, teach to ride a bike, comfort in case of lovesickness ...
"I'm going to have to hurry up on that one so I can get it all done with Jake and Leah in time!" smirked Edward.
"You still have two months' time. Besides, you've already handled some of it," I reminded him.
He photographed the list with his cell phone and sent it to our kids, along with the question of when and what they would start with.
Tonight. Build snowman.
Then he pulled a romper suit out of one pocket and spread it over my belly.
"He dresses you excellently, my heart. But that's just one!" he then accused me.
I hid my face in my hands and turned away from him.
"The rest will be delivered," I muttered guiltily.
"Excuse me?" inquired Edward attentively, but the smirk was hard to ignore.
He obviously liked my somewhat more detailed answer.
I just couldn't control myself with all the cute things in the store. I was ashamed of it, even though I knew full well that Edward didn't care how much money I had really spent. Alice had been quite pleased and had only encouraged me the whole time. And had kept happily bringing new things.
"Do you know about 'Hooters'?" he asked sometime later.
"Well, sure," I replied and explained.
Brandon's older brother had taken the boys there, which their father had reported at one of our clique parents' evenings. At just fifteen years old at the time, they were totally overwhelmed by the situation. Or let's say ... with the staff there. I knew 'Hooters' only by name, and we mothers were curious. So we also drove there. To take a closer look at the ambience.
"What would you assume Jake and Marcus were thinking in front of the 'Hooters'," he continued.
I pondered.
Neither Marcus nor Jake could be described as shy, however they did have girlfriends. Jake imprinted and Marcus is seriously in love. So the girls in there were unlikely to be of any weighty interest to either of them. Well. Boys, you know. They just liked to look sometimes. On the other hand, they were not there alone or with other boys of the same age. But with Edward, who knew very well in how firm hands the two were and who came knowingly from a time in which promiscuity was not particularly capitalized.
"They must have been pretty embarrassed to go there with you," I therefore said.
"Mmm ... mmm ... it was. But for different reasons than I assumed yesterday, and what you probably mean. They weren't uncomfortable with us watching them interact with provocative pretty girls where they might not have known quite how to behave appropriately."
"No?"
"No ... Those two know half the staff! That was embarrassing for them! That we inevitably got presented how well they know them!"
Edward explained to me what this 'knowing well' actually looked like. I couldn't help but feel a little bit shocked.
"But don't reveal this to Becky and Leah!" he instructed me conspiratorially.
I nodded.
That gave me some leverage if I ever needed to get my way.
And so the days dabbled away.
I was getting bigger every day!
My back was increasingly painful, as were my knees, but it was bearable. Our baby's kicks also became increasingly violent. However, I could not decide whether the pain or the subsequent feeling of happiness was stronger. I also got blood twice a day so that I didn't feel weak.
Edward drove with me somewhere every day, provided the weather was not a problem for him, where we then went for a walk together. There was a magical historic Christmas market in Sanford, a pancake breakfast in Kennebunk, a beautiful lights show in North Windham. Afterwards, I always slept a lot.
Zoey had visited me one day and almost fainted when she saw my belly. The sparkling wine had just kept her from overturning. I was on the phone with my parents, with Billy, Sam, and the others, or with Peter and Stan. They were all doing great and were already in the Christmas spirit.
And then it was already Friday.
December 20, 2024.
At 4:00 p.m. sharp, Christmas vacation had begun today.
Therefore, all four teenagers were in extremely good spirits.
They were just cleaning up dinner again with Edward while I was lying on my reading couch and receiving my additional supper.
The kids retired to get ready for the usual School's Out Party that was always held at one of the clubs last day of school before vacation. The whole group of friends would meet there.
Meanwhile, Edward relieved me of the transfusion needle, put everything away and sat with me. He was just sitting when he got up again and was on his way to the front door.
To David, the door was opened before he rang the bell. He brought back only one book that Sonya had borrowed and finished reading, and he had instructions to bring the one that followed.
"So when are you picking up Daniel for Christmas?" asked Edward.
Daniel's room would be redecorated somewhat, as Edward had promised the boy. But both the subject and the timing were unknown to him. Not to us adults. His teenage room would be transformed with a skate park theme. With cool graffiti on the walls, small pieces of furniture like shelves or a wall clock made of skateboards, a small skate park for the fingerboard that Alice was already assembling at her place. Edward had made a black and white sketch of Daniel in action, which he would transfer to the wall at Daniel's original size. And other little things. As a Christmas gift from Edward and his family. The only thing left to clarify was when they would actually realize it in the room without Daniel seeing it before Christmas morning.
"Tomorrow we'll first drive to his boarding school for the Christmas party. They really had normal classes today and even took a test. Can you believe it? ... The real farewell to the Christmas vacations will take place tomorrow in a big way. All the parents will be there, different classes will perform something, the school director will give a surely boring speech. Then Daniel will stay over at his grandparents for a few days, but on Tuesday - Christmas Eve - I'll pick him up ..." A delighted smile appeared on his lips. "... He's been wishing to be with us for the holidays," he said.
David's face could not deny how pleased he was with this wish. All his children together.
"So, what's your plan now?" he asked after a moment of fatherly bliss, pointing to my belly.
"We're going to change houses this weekend," Edward began to say.
"Since our Knob doesn't stick to the forty weeks or allow us a glimpse of themself, we can only guess when it's time based on weight and abdominal girth," I said.
"It can't be very long before our baby comes into the world. Carlisle is prepared for all eventualities. At least, all the ones we could think of. That's why we're staying at his house for the time being. Also so that Bella won't be alone for a moment in case the little Knob somehow surprises us when I shouldn't be there right now," Edward added.
"Then we won't see each other again until next year?" asked David.
He sounded a little disappointed, but Edward and I looked at each other conspiratorially and he winked at me. The subject suited us both just fine. We had talked about it.
"What do you think about spending the holidays there with your family, too? ... My family would be very happy. Esmé will be thrilled to have so many people around her whom she can care of. We would have time to prepare Daniel's room without waiting until the last moment. There is enough entertainment for the children, and nothing can happen to them on the premises, even if they romp around alone in the snow. Sonya wouldn't have to take care of anything, so it would be like a little relaxing vacation. For you, too, because you wouldn't have to take over any tasks for Sonya that she's no longer capable of," Edward cheerfully enumerated the arguments we had found together for this.
"You didn't just make all that up now, did you?" asked David. A touch stunned. But smirking.
"No. We've had that idea since it was decided for us that we weren't going to spend Christmas here."
He would suggest it to Sonya and let us know later. He left again, but came back once more.
Edward smugly held the forgotten book out to him.
The children came back down the stairs again.
Partly, at least. The guys were just finished faster.
"You may be on vacation now, but you shouldn't forget to show your face to your parents regularly!" reminded Edward.
I chuckled.
By that he meant not only Marcus, but also Becky, who was still upstairs, and the twins. During the vacations, it was usually the case that I talked more to the other parents of the group than to my children themselves, in order to be informed about their whereabouts.
"You guys let us off curfew!" said Jake with a slight childish hint of defiance.
He was on his way to the kitchen, after all, he hadn't eaten in a whopping sixty-five minutes.
"On the condition that we know where you are!" I reminded him, while Edward helped me stand up.
So ... quite honestly. I really enjoyed my pregnancy basically just as I had intended from the beginning, even though everything happened way too fast, but when I would get out of bed, off the couch or a lounger, I felt like a beached whale. I definitely wouldn't miss that!
The front doorbell rang.
Sonya probably to respond to our invitation.
"I'll get it," Becky fluted good-humoredly, who was just coming down the stairs.
"No!" said Edward almost simultaneously, but a blink of an eye too late.
Becky already had the door in her hand.
One hand laid against my cheek in a flash, one around my - currently not really existing - waist and fading golden eyes looked at me insistently.
He seemed attentive and apologetic in equal measure.
"That's Charlie!" he whispered softly to me.
My gaze went past him towards the hallway, my heart immediately started racing after skipping a beat, I was dizzy with fear and disbelief, my jaw dropped, and I held my breath.
Charlie? My father? Here?
So many thoughts were going through my head at once.
What was he doing here? I had just talked to him on the phone yesterday. He knew Edward. From back then! Could he be hiding? Probably. But then what? And how was I going to explain my belly? How long would Charlie stay? Was it really him?
"Bella. Breathe, please!" my eyes were lifted into a gentle gaze.
I breathed. And relaxed inside. A little.
"Good afternoon ... Can I help you in any way?" asked Becky, who obviously couldn't do anything with the incoming guest.
"And who are YOU, please?!" I recognized my father's voice and he sounded quite irritated.
Marcus didn't like that tone of voice, I guess, and he walked over to Becky.
"The lady asked you a question!" said Marcus a little brusquely.
"Jake ... that's your grandfather!" whispered Edward as Jake returned from the kitchen with a sandwich.
"Billy?" the latter asked in confusion, having made too much noise in the kitchen to notice anything significant so far except the doorbell.
Nor was I surprised that he didn't recognize Charlie's voice. The twins didn't see their grandfather in person that often.
"Charlie."
"I want to see my daughter! Isabella Swan," my father made it quite clear what he wanted here, with a tone of voice that left it equally undisguised that he was not here for fun.
I was shaking.
Edward carefully sat me back on the lounger and knelt in front of me.
"... Oh, no. Black is her name," Charlie corrected himself.
"Charlie?!" exclaimed Jake as he arrived at the front door.
I couldn't tell which predominated. Surprise or horror.
Edward did not let me out of his sight.
He took every single one of my movements, no matter how slight, and controlled them. He whispered soothingly to me. Made sure I didn't have a nervous breakdown. Gently stroked over my cheek and our baby.
The baby about whom my father had no idea.
I didn't know what Edward was saying, my heart was beating too loudly for that, but the gentleness alone worked.
"Jake, my boy!" exclaimed Charlie, seemingly delighted to finally see a familiar face. "You're getting ever bigger and stronger!" he marveled afterward.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell us you were coming? We would have picked you up at the airport!" babbled Jake.
"Where's your mother?" asked Charlie, unequivocally and directly.
With a tone that probably would have scared me a little when I was Jake's age.
"This is Becky, by the way. My girlfriend," Jake said instead.
I guess he was trying to slow his grandfather down some more.
"And this is Marcus. He's together with Leah."
"Marcus!" my father repeated in an intonation that sounded a lot like Chief Swan.
It was as if he was mentally going through all the wanted posters to find Marcus' face among them. What would he say to Edward's face, which hadn't changed since high school - since he picked me up for baseball with his family? The face I looked at helplessly, but that seemed so confident.
"What is Charlie supposed to do?" my angel smiled at me.
Things like heart attack, a shotgun, maybe holy water against the undead I immediately saw before my eyes.
Edward, however, was still smirking.
"What is Charlie going to do to his own daughter? Or to me, which could endanger me?" he added to his rhetorical question.
Charlie now took the few steps from the hallway into the living room and my head immediately flew in his direction.
Charlie Swan. By now he was sixty years old and had considerable gray temples.
I saw the dismay on his face. He swallowed dryly and didn't move as his gaze slid down to my unmissable belly.
"And when were YOU going to tell me I was going to be a grandfather again? And that very soon, too, it seems," Charlie asked after a seemingly endless moment.
Edward knelt with his back to him. So Charlie had not yet been able to notice that it was Edward, on the one hand, and that he had not aged a day, on the other.
I took one deep breath in and out as I gathered courage in his gentle smile and eyes that wouldn't let go of me. I took Edward's face in my hands and gently kissed his lips before he helped me up from the lounger.
Edward got behind me, but Charlie paid no attention to him.
"To be perfectly honest ... not at all," I said.
Only now did Charlie lift his gaze to my eyes again.
He seemed confused, which I could in no way blame him for.
How many grandparents were deliberately left in the dark about this when they generally had a good relationship with each other?
"Charlie ..." Edward began to ask gently. "How do you know Bella is expecting my child ?"
"Edward?" my father now stunned asked as he caught sight of the face of a teenager.
He involuntarily backed away a few steps, and Jake kept his grandfather from staggering backward against the stair railing in the hallway.
"Charlie?!" came Leah just down the stairs.
She hurried to him, and he looked her downright relieved in the eyes.
"Leah!" he whispered, seemingly glad that she looked somewhat like he expected.
The children helped him up to the sofa and Edward handed him a glass of David's whiskey.
The twins sat next to him, me in the armchair - I could still get up from it most easily on my own - Edward on the armrest holding my hand, and Becky and Marcus indecisively on the other side of the sofa.
Charlie took a few minutes to catch himself. He sipped from the glass, looked at each individual face, sipped again.
"Why do you still look like you go to school?" asked Charlie.
"I'm not what I look like at first glance," Edward said quietly. "Neither are my siblings or my parents."
"Carlisle," Charlie muttered, kind of looking off into nothing.
As if he were looking for a face in his memories.
"Yes. He looks exactly as you remember him," Edward confirmed.
Charlie raised his head and looked at Edward.
That Edward saw his thoughts was clear to the rest of us, but it was not necessarily obvious. His murmurings were obvious enough to guess his thoughts.
"And what does that mean exactly?" asked Charlie - again, after a moment had passed.
"You shouldn't worry about that ... We could tell you all about my species now, of course, but you should believe us when we say that you're better off not knowing anything about it," Edward explained.
"He's got a point there, Charlie!" said Jake.
"The less you know, the better it is," Leah confirmed.
"You guys know about this?" asked Charlie.
The children looked to me and Edward.
I didn't know if Edward said something to them or gestured, but I nodded.
"We know everything, but there's a very good reason for that," Leah began to say.
"We're not like him, but we're not normal people either," Jake finished.
"They got some very special genes from Jacob. Billy knows about that, among other things," I admitted.
"Among other things," Charlie mumbled to himself again.
One could see that it hurt him very much that Billy - his best friend for as long as I could remember - knew more about our family than he did.
For a long time he looked into his emptied glass without moving much or saying anything.
"All of these things are very complicated and the knowledge of them alone is dangerous."
Edward said it meekly, but with a certain warning undertone that made Charlie sit up and take notice.
"Dangerous?" scoffed Charlie, however, contemptuously.
"I know, Charlie, it may sound ridiculous to you when we talk about danger. You're a police chief and you've looked danger in the face many a time. Even though Forks isn't exactly the home of felons. But please believe us. There are creatures between heaven and earth that you don't want to meet. Because your service weapon would be absolutely useless!" Edward made clear and the children nodded in confirmation.
"Who else knows about it?"
Charlie has always been a very simple guy. Edward was the clear proof that we were basically telling the truth, even if he didn't actually know the truth. He accepted the statement of not having humans around. For the time being, it was the easiest thing for him to do, until perhaps he would understand it in its entirety.
"I couldn't hide anything from Bella even then. She knows every secret we have. Once she was together with Jacob Black, she found out more secrets there. Jake and Leah have his genes and thus a kind of birthright to know everything. They are not alone in this, but there are or were others like them in La Push. However, the number of people who know about these things is very manageable. Jake is supernaturally bound to Becky, with which she has received the right to be initiated. Marcus became an involuntary witness of some events, with which this world was presented to him. It was impossible to hide the truth from David Mitchell permanently, because I did not want to hide from him. His wife Sonya now knows quite a lot about us, although not everything. Their children and Bella's other friends and acquaintances, as well as the twins' friends, know absolutely nothing," Edward explained when our house phone rang.
"This is all just unbelievable," Charlie whispered to himself, letting himself fall with his back into the sofa.
Jake poured him another sip while Edward went in the hall to the phone.
"Hello ... Yes, he's here ... Don't worry, Sue. We have dispensed with any terms and all details ... Just a moment ... For you. Your wife," Edward said, holding out the phone to Charlie.
"You know my wife?"
"Only from the phone," Edward replied smiling.
He retreated to the kitchen to take the phone call.
"What's he thinking?" asked Jake once Charlie was out of earshot.
I expressed my opinion about it. Although I could not see into his head, I knew him best of all of us.
"That Billy and Sue know probably hits him harder than the fact that I didn't say anything. I'm just his daughter who lives on the other side of the country whom he usually only sees once a year. That's when he just wants to hear that everything is okay."
"That's the way I hear it. I think he's better off knowing that he's not allowed to know everything rather than us continuing to keep him out entirely," Edward opined.
Jake's cell phone rang.
Brandon asked where the four teens were.
"Go ahead and go to your party," I said immediately, before Jake could disagree. "We'll be fine with Charlie, and you guys need to celebrate the start of your vacation in style!"
"Daaad ...!" my little daughter exulted.
I smirked.
This emphasis meant that she wanted something from him.
Edward rolled his eyes, but in truth he loved that tone of voice.
No matter what the children asked him, Edward fulfilled it, as far as it was in his power. However, the requests were quite feasible. Help with homework, a chauffeur, a second cup of coffee before breakfast ...
"This list says: Drive your child to their first prom," Leah read from her cell phone.
The checklist from the book I had brought Edward from New York.
"You're going to a club. And not for the first time!" objected Edward.
"But half the school will be there!" countered Leah.
"And we're going to our prom night without parents!" interjected Jake.
"The parking lot is going to be packed. We'll probably have to park far enough away that we might as well walk from here," Becky reasoned.
"And that' with those uncomfortable shoes," Marcus pointed to the girls' high heels.
"Of course I'll drive you!" said Edward, who would have done it without further argument.
I was sure of that. My angel was always happy when he could do something for our children.
"Are you picking us up, too?" Leah batted her eyes some more.
I chuckled.
"Sure."
Leah and Becky gave him a kiss in return.
He got one from me, too, while the kids were putting on their jackets.
"Mmm ... What was that for?" he asked me with relish.
"Do I need a reason?" I asked, pulling him down to my lips.
So the four real teenagers all gave me a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye until breakfast, waved to Charlie too, and were gone.
I sighed comfortably.
My family!
Then the beached whale tried to stand up.
I felt like ice cream, but the armchair also became more and more of a test of endurance.
I slid forward to the edge and saw two hands in front of me.
"You really weren't going to tell me about this?" my father asked calmly, helping me stand up.
"No," I said apologetically. I placed my hands on my back and took a deep breath. "Even Billy and Sue don't know I'm pregnant. I always told Renée or Angela the same thing I told you. So they don't know about Edward ... nor anything strange about the twins ... nor about this child," I admitted. Somehow I was afraid of what they would say about it in La Push. "But how do you actually know? You seem to have come here just for that!" I just remembered that he hadn't said anything about it yet.
"I got a very curious phone call this morning. From Lauren Mallory ... It was strange. She told me that she met you in New York last weekend. She congratulated me that I was going to be a grandfather and said that I must be very proud of my son-in-law. Dr. Edward Cullen. But somehow her babbling sounded as if she wanted me to confirm that it was really so ... I couldn't really do anything with her name anymore. Whether she was really a friend of yours or not. In the end, however, I just said yes and amen to everything after she mentioned Jessica ... I found it quite unlikely that she had just made it all up out of thin air. She has never called us before, so why would she do it now with such a story. She had to have had a reason for it. But I know that my daughter also doesn't just make up stories like that to spite someone. So there had to be some truth in her words somewhere. You told me that you were with David's wife in New York ... But otherwise YOU have said nothing of the sort. Neither yesterday nor in the last few months!"
Charlie sounded challenging, but in a playful way.
I smirked.
"After the call, I stood in the middle of the kitchen for a moment in complete shock, wondering what to do now. I thought to myself that calling you would be pointless. You didn't say a word about such things yesterday, so you would continue to say nothing on the phone. So I packed my things, left Sue a short message, and went to the airport in Seattle," he explained further.
I bit my lip guiltily.
So I had started the ball rolling myself. I could imagine very well how he had stood in his kitchen, completely perplexed. My father knew nothing of what Lauren had told him. But now there was no reason to withhold anything from my dad.
"Yeah, I met her. You know, she was interested in Edward like pretty much every girl back then. She acted so arrogant; I just couldn't help rubbing it in. Every word of it was the truth," I said.
My father looked critically, as if trying to put the little information from Lauren into context with what he had learned from here so far.
I had armed myself with ice cream, handed Charlie a bottle of beer from the fridge, and we went back into the living room, whereby I put a blanket over my legs.
"Edward and his family showed up here at the beginning of the school year without knowing I lived here. What they are made the twins genes react. That's why I went to La Push with Jake and Leah. So they could learn to deal with it ..."
"What exactly are my grandchildren, please?" he interrupted me.
"You don't really want to know exactly ..." I smiled indeterminately.
I told a little further about how Edward came into my life this time, without giving any supernatural details.
"... we're engaged," I said just as Edward was coming back.
"And you weren't going to tell us that either!" noted Charlie, looking very bitter. "You were going to get married without telling your parents and having them present?"
"Of course, I would prefer you to be there. But how was I supposed to tell you that? I mean, look at him. Edward is seventeen. He hasn't aged a day in the past few years ... If he were human, and therefore my age, I would have told you about it right away. But like this?"
He nodded wistfully.
"But now there is no reason to exclude you. You are cordially invited. With Sue, of course," Edward said and kissed my fingers.
I smiled.
"It would be very nice if you walked me down the aisle," I confirmed.
Charlie peeked a little ...
I really had to think about what that look was for a moment.
Touched. That was rarely seen.
"Very much so, Bells!" he replied.
I let Edward hoist me to my own feet and hugged my father.
On the other hand, he just looked at Edward for the time being, while I let myself fall back onto the couch.
"Seventeen then. Aren't you more interested in going to this party with the others? Surely that's more in line with your age-appropriate interests?" asked Charlie and also sat down again, which caused Edward to also take a seat at my side again.
I smirked.
Age-appropriate interests? With hundred and twenty-three?
"Well, would you rather spend the evening in a club like this?" asked Edward.
"That's not for me. The noise, the weird music that's played these days, the crowds. Nah, nah. I'm too old for that," Charlie waved it off.
"Charlie. I am seventeen, but not just since I met Bella at school ... I'm twice your age!", Edward stated.
Charlie turned pale and downed the rest from his beer bottle.
"For this ... you ... have held ... yourself ... well," my father stammered.
Charlie had an extraordinary talent. He could change the subject when he no longer knew what to say.
So the men chatted about the cars that were here in front of the house.
Charlie had gotten as much information as we could in good conscience justify without him actually knowing anything. He would want to sleep on it for a night first.
We went to bed early.
Better said, we withdrew early.
My father into the guest room, we into the bedroom.
"I think he took it pretty well," I reflected.
My angel chuckled behind me.
I didn't know why at first, but then I saw it in the mirror. I had his pajama top on, like I do every night, and I was buttoning it up. Or ... I tried. The entire button placket crumpled together above my belly because I couldn't pull it over. It had already been pretty tight yesterday.
"And what am I going to wear now?" I asked in a huff as I fumbled the buttons back undone and angrily thundered the fabric onto the floor.
Again a piece that I could no longer wear! I did not have any pregnancy size pajamas. What for, for a few weeks? I did have other things I could wear at night - worn out T-shirts or something - but it just upset me now.
"Nothing?!" the angel answered and carried me naked to bed. "I'll make sure you don't freeze!" he promised me, smiling audaciously.
I was already hot at the thought alone ...
When I opened my eyes the next morning, I became quite angry.
A smirk hung in the air, but it wasn't mine! I saw belly - covered by a bedspread. My gaze slowly went higher. Belly ... belly ... more belly and there, where the belly should finally end, was a cup. ON my belly! Not above my belly. Presented to me. No! ON MY BABY!
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