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Chapter 155

Surprise

Bella

"Bella," David cleared his throat behind us as we looked at our little angel.

I bristled as we turned to face him.

He seemed nervous somehow.

"There's just one more little thing," he said in a strange voice, and only now did I notice that he was holding a file folder.

Everything was quiet as a mouse while I climbed off the sofa to face him.

Edward stood right behind me and held me by the waist.

A waist that could at least be guessed at again.

I was confused. I had already received a photo album from David and Sonya. Some pictures of my godchildren were already stuck in it, but there was still a lot of space for more photos.

"It's not a Christmas present ... Rather, I've owed you this for many years," he said, holding up the folder in evidence before handing it to me.

"But ... you don't owe me anything!" I replied uncomprehendingly.

"Matter of opinion," was all he said, but he sounded kind of anxious.

I didn't understand a word, so I looked inside the folder.

Maybe then I would understand what David wanted to tell me.

I narrowed my eyes when I saw some documents.

It looked official, even if I didn't understand what it was about right away.

Edward, who was looking over my shoulder at the documents, quickly and jerkily lifted his gaze back in David's direction.

Typical vampire! They always understood everything so quickly.

I was still sorting.

A title deed. David's name was inscribed. David Keith Mitchell. But for what kind of property? Any drawings were there. A section of a city map. Was that our street? I also recognized bills. And I recognized them. I had seen them before. When the respective works were carried out. The painting for my house from a few years ago. The roof renovation. The bathroom in the guest room, which had only been created after I moved in . I had still wondered about my landlord, that he was finally ready to pay the costs for it completely.

Slowly the pieces came together in my head, and I raised my eyes.

"You ... own ... my ... house ...?" I asked emphatically, stressing each word angrily, while Edward's hands tightened a little more against my hips.

That was the height of it! Every month I dutifully paid my rent to a man named Thomas Miller, who came by from Portland every few months to check on things. Before that it had been his father Joseph, but he had passed away about four years ago. I had been to his funeral.

"No. Not mine. Yours ... I was at the notary two days ago," David said quietly, pulling a few stapled sheets of paper out of the folder where I had not yet arrived.

A contract.

I skimmed it.

Quite a lot of lawyer gobbledygook. It was about my house, the ownership of which he transferred to me. All I had to do was sign?

In my head, everything was spinning for a moment.

Somehow that didn't make any sense to me at all.

I felt the safe cool arms around me, reassuring me - a little bit at least.

"You can't do that!" I objected and threw the still open folder at him so that all the papers whirled through the air. That was just crazy!

"You bet I can!" countered David, already considerably more confident, as Edward stopped me from doing anything but standing here.

Sonya stepped next to David, took his hand.

She seemed so calm and serene. Not as if she was somehow surprised.

"And what do you have to say about this?" I asked Sonya.

It sounded rather beastly, as I noted myself, but she smiled.

"That it's the absolute right thing to do," she replied calmly.

"It was even Sonya's idea," David added level-headedly.

Now I was completely exhausted. "Why?" I asked, muttering.

David took my hands in his and looked deep into my eyes.

"Because I owe my entire professional and therefore financial situation to you ... What started as a small tool so many years ago, because you didn't like the evaluation from the program at that time, is now one of the leading laboratory softwares in the country. You are partly responsible for the success of the software to a very significant degree, but I make money from the license fees. That's not fair."

"That's bullshit! I have nothing to do with it. I told you that back then," I tried to say. I had no idea how to write such a program.

"Yes, and you were wrong back then. But you didn't want to hear about it," David explained smugly.

"You developed the program, so you should make money from it!" I opined.

"It's not that simple, Bella. I may have written every single line of code, but only to your specifications. The program, as you know it, only exists exactly the way it does because you told me how you wanted it. And as it turned out over time, a hell of a lot of people want it the same way ... I may have created the programming, but you developed the software. The program is not MY baby ... it's OUR baby!"

"Why do the rights actually lie with you and not with your employer?" Jasper, the in-house lawyer, asked with interest.

David continued to look at me. He smirked.

"Basically, it was luck and chance rolled into one. It started as a harmless gimmick during college. Bella thought that the printout of the lab results from the standard program at the time wasn't nice enough. So I wrote a teeny tiny tool that cut into the output control. It was Saturday night, we were bored, it was written quickly and the rest of the evening ..." David grinned, and I heard a slight growl behind me as I lowered my head embarrassedly.

Yes, I could remember that evening. That the children were quite peaceful in bed early. That we had drunk beer. That Phil and Renée were not there. That we had gotten dressed again just in time before they were back.

"... is history," David ended winking. "Over time, I kept adding to the tool, and since it was still only a small auxiliary tool, my boss said I should register it under my name, even though I was handling sales through the company in the meantime. For him it was too insignificant and not worth the registration. But it became more and more comprehensive according to Bella's specifications. When it was a complete and self-contained program, I asked my boss and Bella's boss for a test run. I wanted to check the functionality. Whether it met professional requirements and held up. His employees quickly declared that they only wanted to work with this software, the basis of which was still the small insignificant tool," David explained further.

"Sure. This was finally a program that could do everything we needed without the evaluation being one big graveyard of numbers. Also, we could finally determine for ourselves which values mattered and simply hide all the others," I confirmed.

"That's the point, Bella! It only became that way because you told me how you needed it," David said and behind me someone cleared their throat a little.

Apparently someone else had understood the ambiguity in his choice of words.

"So what, just think of it as extra allowance! I don't want money you worked for!" I said firmly and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"It's a little beyond the scope of an allowance!" said Sonya smirking, and David stood in front of me just as I was already standing.

"Tell me, how much money are we talking about here?" asked Emmett curiously.

"Sales and maintenance are handled by my employer's company. In that respect, he collects the license fees first. After deducting his costs and a generous profit share, I get two hundred dollars per license per year," David said matter-of-factly.

Okay. Two hundred dollars. Let him buy me dinner for it so we're even!

"That's rather manageable," Emmett waved it off.

"For nine years now, with about 750 licensees," David added, not taking his eyes off me.

I calculated.

135,000 dollars?

"1.35 million," the vampire behind me announced.

Wow ... I thought and noticed how the ground swayed slightly.

I was still standing vertically, but I couldn't tell right now whether that was my own doing or Edward's rather.

I had even neglected to add a zero.

David took a step closer to me and carefully took my face in his hands.

"I've known you long enough to know your opinion. You wouldn't accept a fair split of half and half!" he stated.

I nodded decisively.

"You did all the work with it, and all I really did was make requests," I remarked.

"Nevertheless. Not giving you a cent of it, simply because you didn't want a cent on principle, because you always wanted to manage everything on your own, I couldn't let that sit on me. No matter what I offered you in terms of financial support, you always said no to everything. Not only did you say it, you shouted it. Even when you moved here all alone, you wouldn't accept anything from me. What else could I do but trick you? I'm just giving you back what's rightfully yours!" said David gently.

"Come on, Bella. Give in already!" Sonya urged me.

"If I didn't own the house, Edward would have bought it, as I've been hearing. There must have been a very generous offer that Mr. Miller strongly advised me to accept," David smirked at me.

I looked over my shoulder.

"Of course I tried. It's our home!" confirmed Edward. "And it wasn't the first offer he turned down, as he told me," he added, putting his hands in my back.

I was a little startled.

Someone wanted to buy my home? Our family's home? Which they might have put us out on the street to live in themselves? That would be ... I don't know. Bad, definitely, but I couldn't think of a word to express the magnitude of that. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else with my children.

So I finally nodded, was tightly embraced by David's arms, and I cried.

Today already for the fourth time.

"Uh ... did we miss something?" the kids came back, wondering why I lay crying in David's arms.

Cute faces.

My twins also immediately went to Edward questioningly.

"Bella just got a house as a gift," Charlie was still pretty gobsmacked.

After all, the words sounded unreal.

I retreated to another room with David and the folder. I also took the bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

I needed that now. At least a sip.

He told me that he had bought the house about eight years ago and had collected the rent in a separate account ever since. All repairs and such, property taxes and other charges he had paid from that account, and each year he had added a little of his share of the license fees. At first, when it was really just the little tool, it had really just been an allowance.

I remembered one evening when he had taken me out to a fancy dinner . From that allowance.

But as soon as the complete program was licensed, it made the rounds pretty quickly. Not least thanks to my boss, who unknowingly presented it to our professional colleagues on every business trip.

Mr. Miller - first Senior and then Junior - had been happy to play along with continuing to fool me about ownership. They were required to credibly take over any repair.

Credible in the sense that they did not say yes and amen to everything, but were also to be partially convinced. He had kept to it admirably. With the subsequent bathroom for the guest room David and I had discussed together with him and told him something about increase in value and thereby it had already belonged David.

In the folder were also the statements of this account. It currently had a balance of just under $80,000. It was in my name, which I'm sure his uncle, the bank manager, had arranged. The contract was a copy for my lawyer to review beforehand.

"Edward," he said smirking.

I would have to give my signature in front of the notary.

The appointment was on Friday. The day after tomorrow.

"How could you keep this from me all these years?" I asked as he conclusively filled our glasses a second time.

"It was hard. So many times I wanted to tell you, but I admonished myself each time that you would only kill me," he chuckled and handed me my glass. "But now you have a man in your life who is my best friend. I trusted Edward to make sure you let me live," he said, and we clinked our glasses together and sipped.

I swayed the empty glass back and forth between my hands, lost in thought.

"Are you very angry with me?" inquired David.

"No ... I'm grateful to you ... Just think, I would have had to move if Mr. Miller had accepted one of the other offers to buy, and the twins might have gone to another school because I couldn't find a new cottage in Saco ... I might never have met Edward again," I mused. And what the consequences would have been ...

"The twins wouldn't be wolves," David reasoned.

"Then Jake wouldn't have imprinted on Becky either."

"Ben wouldn't have broken up with Leah and she wouldn't have met Marcus."

"They wouldn't have gotten together in the first place," I corrected.

"I probably wouldn't have moved here."

"I wouldn't have gotten Ced."

"In other words: We wouldn't be standing right here right now. At a point in both of our lives where everything is absolutely perfect!" David summarized.

We hugged each other tightly again and went back to the living room.

When we entered the room, we were told to be quiet and pointed to a spot next to the Christmas tree.

We crept a few steps further.

Emma had fallen asleep. With Cookie. In Cookie's dog basket.

We smiled at the cute sight.

"It's been a busy day for the smooch ball today," Sonya remarked from the sofa.

"And quite long, too!" I added.

By now it was almost nine o'clock in the evening.

David wanted to put her to bed, but instead he grabbed her head with the palm of his hand.

"She's burning up!" he said, looking to the couch for help.

Almost too quickly by human standards, Edward was with us and squatting next to Emma. He also put his hands to Emma's forehead.

"Fever, but not very high," my personal GP noted.

"Perhaps the result of her walk on Saturday," Edward reflected, gently picking her up himself. "Emma?" he addressed her as he did so.

Tired, she opened her eyes.

"Does anything hurt you, Emma? A sore throat? Headache?" Edward continued to ask as he very gently palpated her face. Her sinuses, along the temples, her tonsils.

The little one shook her head heartbreakingly and dropped it right back onto Edward's shoulder.

In the meantime Sonya had arrived with us and stroked over her baby's hair.

David, meanwhile, checked how his boys were doing, who were busy behind the tree with Emmett and Jasper playing with the car racetrack. Daniel, who was sitting at the living room table with Rose and his telescope, also had a hand laid on him. No one else seemed to have a temperature.

"We're not sick!" grumbled Leah, feignedly indignant, as Charlie's hands tried to approach the twins' foreheads.

"Let's put her to bed," Sonya whispered.

Since Edward already had her in his arms, he carried her on. He would certainly want to take her temperature again and look for the right thing in the medicine cabinet.

"Oscar?" asked Emma, mumbling, before they were even through the door.

Your Teddy. A welcome and continuous guest at our breakfast table.

I looked around briefly, but I didn't see him anywhere.

Had I even seen him here before?

"She forgot it at home," sighed David, who of course went with them.

"We're off again for a bit," Jake suddenly said from behind us.

I turned to him in surprise, and he winked at me.

"Taking the cars for a spin and driving them down to the garage," Leah added, and the twins hurriedly walked out the door with Marcus.

Sue smirked a little. She probably already figured that the Spirit Warriors would fetch said Oscar.

I got to my baby. Ced was sleeping peacefully in the bassinet.

Children got sick quickly and usually it passed just as quickly. What kind of childhood illnesses would we experience with our little angel? Chicken pox and colds? I could not really imagine it. Banged-up knees and similar injuries from playing and romping? If he had even a little of his father's dexterity, even that was unlikely for me.

I gave my little vampire a kiss, sat back on the couch and reached for a salmon roll and a jar of tomato mozzarella salad before he would ask for the next baby bottle.

This idea of Esmé's had been fantastic. She had assumed that we wouldn't get even one child to sit quietly at a table today to eat. Instead, all the food had been in the living room all day. Everything was prepared as finger food. The children could help themselves to it as they passed by.

"How did you guys not realize Emma had a fever, anyway?" I asked the remaining doctors in the room curiously.

Carlisle and Rosalie.

They looked at each other, somewhat embarrassed, before answering.

"The three of them were so hurried all day, running around the rooms with heated heads. I mistook it for Christmas excitement," Carlisle explained himself, but you could tell it was gnawing at his sense of duty.

"This afternoon, everything was still fine with Emma. I had put the cap on her when they were outside with Cookie," Rose defended herself.

"With kids, sometimes it can happen pretty quickly," Sue - a nurse and mother - reassures them both.

I went to the bathroom for a moment, came back, and just as I was sitting again, Ced uttered the first sound.

Of course.

So, smiling, I forced myself back up from the sofa.

I was able to move better than yesterday, but getting up from the deep sofa was still not that easy.

My little son was already giggling enthusiastically at me when I appeared in his field of vision. He also stretched his little arms towards me.

He was so sweet. And I was so happy to have him.

Carlisle understood me with a single glance and accompanied me to the passing little room.

I today did not trust myself to take care of Ced all by myself.

"Is everything okay with you, Bella?" he also asked promptly as I placed Ced on the baby changer and took a few deep breaths.

The short distance I had carried Ced here from the living room made me feel my abdomen.

Well. I had been noticing it all day, after all my baby had been in there yesterday, but by now I could definitely call it a slight pain.

Carlisle stepped closer to me, and I smirked.

My little son grumpily screwed up his face and tried to turn away from him.

Carlisle saw it and backed away. Smiling, shaking his head. The harmless little slap would stick to him for a while longer.

I leaned down to Ced, took his help-seeking little hands and kissed them. While my son just very insistently kept showing me that blow, I remembered what a good-natured and trusting man Carlisle was.

I was apparently not convincing and straightened up again smirking. My head was spinning. I held on to the dresser and Carlisle was immediately at my side.

"It's okay," I said immediately, as Edward also entered the room. "I was just dizzy for a moment," I placated both men. It didn't work. "How's Emma?" I asked Edward, who eyed me suspiciously.

"Asleep," he said curtly.

"I suppose I should too," I admitted.

I had no intention of keeping Edward in the dark about my well-being. These two vampires had sufficiently inoculated me in advance about how important it was that they knew about any changes in my condition. Also that it was no less important with the birth. Puerperal fever was one reason. I had had that after the twins were born. In this respect, I really knew it and also kindly stated how I felt. Overall exhausted, which I attributed to little sleep and the effort of the previous night and that it pressed in my abdomen. Not violently, but I noticed it.

So Edward and I cared for our son together, leaving him to Rose for a short time, and followed Carlisle into the treatment room. My blood was drawn, he carefully felt over my abdomen and did an ultrasound.

There was no acute cause for concern. That's what I had already assumed.

"... Nevertheless, I would like to give you this medicine. It stimulates the healing process by producing the hormone that is responsible for the regression of the organs. This would make it go a little more quickly than if we wait for nature to take its course. I don't think that Ced did much more damage in you than a human baby, though, you in particular would have noticed that by now, but we should keep an eye on your progress," Carlisle explained.

I nodded and took the tablet.

Then he held out a little bottle to me.

"A purely herbal remedy for sleep. Only if you want it. You should get a good night's sleep tonight so your mind and body can properly recover," he smiled teasingly.

I also took this.

The four hours of the previous night plus the rather small naps spread over the day had probably not been enough.

I was very soon in the cozy bed after wishing everyone a good night. With Edward, of course, and our little angel lay between us. He was still quite lively, but I fell into a deep sleep after the drops from Carlisle.

I dreamed a lot. Pretty confusing incoherent stuff about my family. More funny than worrying.

I felt completely recovered when I woke up.

I stretched with pleasure, yawned unrestrainedly, and got a hand patched in the face. Startled, I tore open my eyes and two bright greens giggled at me, so I immediately chuckled along. I pulled Ced to me and kissed across his face, turning with him on his back so that he was lying on my chest. He giggled merrily and I now felt a cool arm under the back of the neck. And looked into a jealous face.

"Good morning, dearest!" he said formally.

"Good morning, Edward. How did you sleep?" I wished back in a good mood.

"Will you greet me only second every morning from now on?" he asked attentively.

"Maybe," I shrugged indeterminately. "If you have a problem with that, you shouldn't have given me our son!" I stated played snippily, but ran my fingers over Edward's face. "Besides, you're greeted very differently," I opined, shifting my hand to the back of his neck and pulling him down to my lips.

"I guess I can live with that!" the angel assured me with a satisfied smile.

Our son, on the other hand, looked very skeptical.

"He doesn't understand yet why everyone is kissing here and thinks it's pretty weird," Edward gave me to understand.

We gave him a kiss on the cheek at the same time. This, in turn, seemed to please him.

"What time is it anyway?" I inquired.

Outside the window it was already quite bright.

"About twenty minutes before breakfast."

"Did you wake your other children up nicely?"

"Of course."

I rewarded him with a light kiss and made my first attempts to stand up.

I had been asleep for almost twelve hours, so I felt a little shaky. Worked quite well, though.

While we were in the bathroom, Edward took Ced to Jazz, who was sitting across the hall in the library.

We could have taken him lying in the bassinet, but since Ced's memories were extensive and detailed, and he was previously unfamiliar with anything like privacy, Edward insisted that we shower without witnesses.

I probably wouldn't have thought of it.

Afterwards, I was again very carefully rubbed with the fragrant oil. I continued to reach for the maternity fashion. Even if my belly without child in it was much smaller, the elastic waistband was currently still very pleasant.

Jazz had already taken Ced downstairs, so we strolled holding hands to the dining room where, as of today, we were dining again. In the hallway, we stopped briefly.

"Jake. You don't have to be in Boston until five hours from now!" declared Edward emphatically. "Even if you were driving in first gear, you'd still have plenty of time to eat breakfast!" he further determined, pointing his upraised index finger in the direction of the breakfast table.

"Okay," Jake mumbled to himself and trotted in the direction pointed.

My angel shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"Cut him some slack. He would just like to get to his star," I said.

"I know. I wouldn't be any less impatient."

The table was as usual very richly set and, except for Emma, all were present and in a good mood.

Except Jake. He seemed rather restless.

After the meal we prepared a corner of the sofa in the living room for Emma. She still had a fever and was coughing by now. Two thick pillows, a blanket, her teddy, cough syrup. We didn't want her to lay all alone on the third floor, so she didn't feel left out. Jake sat at her feet after putting down the teapot and looked at his watch.

"Go on. Get out of here!" I murmured to him.

Immediately he smiled. He hugged me and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Please drive carefully!" I still asked him. Mother's instincts. Couldn't be helped.

"You know me!" he chuckled.

"Precisely!" I admonished, however.

"See you tonight, little brother," he also gave Ced another kiss goodbye, as well as Emma.

"Three and a half more hours. Not that you're late," Edward teased him in the doorway, but equally sounded a note of caution.

However, he had better arguments than I did. The streets had certainly not all been cleared of snow because of the holidays. But then Jake was gone very quickly.

In his new Mercedes. What the hell had gotten into me!? The problem was clear. Each twin needed their own car. Or to put it better that it simplified their lives than that it was really vital. Only the Golf had broken down again some time ago. It was shortly after Edward had convinced me about Dartmouth, where he already wanted to talk to me about cars. Only two days later! To this day, I still wasn't sure if it was Edward's doing or actually coincidence. I was convinced of the former, Edward swore by the latter. Either way, those few days with only the Audi available to the kids had been hell. Rosie's opinion of the Golf was also clear. She would expect to see the car regularly. He was just at an age when a visit to the workshop was almost part of filling up the tank. I was not convinced that this statement was true either. Edward was sure, however, that just ONE new car would not end the quarrels. The twins would continue to bicker over the better car. And since I had little idea about cars ... That's what I got out of it now!

It was a quiet day. One busied himself with the Christmas presents, played with each other, played with Cookie, but also paid attention to Emma.

Ced got to know snow.

It was enchanting.

He crushed the icy slush Edward held out to him and threw it off him.

It was amazing what coordinated movements our baby was capable of after just one day.

Ced also learned how fast his father could run while sitting in the carry sweatshirt and neither Charlie, nor any child could see him.

I quietly doubted if I was related to Ced when I saw the excitement on his little face.

We went for a walk around the grounds with Charlie and Sue, at which time I wore the carry sweatshirt under my jacket. I felt much better than yesterday.

As Marcus read a story to the sick smooch ball, Sonya and I fell asleep right along with her, while Edward tried to get to like the theremin at the other end of the house.

Finally, Becky wanted to hear about it this evening!

I played a game of backgammon with Jazz on his Christmas present.

Daniel tried to help me so I wouldn't go down quite so shatteringly.

All the women of the house, including me, prepared dinner. We chatted about God and the world and chased all the men out of the kitchen again and again.

This quickly degenerated into a competition.

Which man managed to be tolerated in the kitchen the longest?

Marcus tried being a kitchen helper. David, who couldn't watch his pregnant wife work in the kitchen. Emmett reported with Deacon and Luces to set the table. Edward believed himself victorious as he entered the kitchen with Ced. I gave both men a kiss and threw them out again. Jazz tried seduction. Carlisle imperiously acted as the master of the house. Charlie pretended ignorance. It was Daniel who won in the end. He had collected dishes and cutlery from the living room and put them in the dishwasher, refilled our drink glasses, cleaned up a bit here and there at our place and finally sat on the kitchen counter and yakked with us.

The meal was almost ready when I once again retreated to the little room with Edward and Ced. I was diapering our little prince. Edward stood right behind me and handed me the things while he hummed our song and ran with his lips along the side of my neck.

Yes, you could say that Edward was definitely in a good mood.

Afterwards, we sat together again in the rocking chair and gave Ced the two baby bottles, whereby he touched both of us and bestowed his gift upon us. He kept sorting and recapping his experiences again and again, but Edward and I also took advantage of these moments of his gift.

I got migraines when I tried to hear as much as possible from Edward's head. In this respect, I limited myself to the essentials and tried to block out everything else. In the meantime, I understood what Edward always said. That a human would not be able to feel as strongly as a vampire, precisely because I was only human. The love I perceived through Ced's gift was almost too much for my mind to handle. Pretty much every time Ced gave us moments like that, we sank into incredibly intense kisses.

Suddenly I had an image of Jake in my head.

Casually with one hand in his pants pocket, the other stroking Ced, as he looked down at us smirking, and shaking his head at the fact that we didn't respond when approached.

Immediately, our gaze went to the side.

Yes, there stood our older son. Just as Ced saw him and had shown him to us.

"Well, back from the Matrix?" he asked, grinning mischievously.

I noticed myself blushing, which further exhilarated Jake. And I was sure that Edward would blush too, if he could.

"You can't wait to finally experience this with Becky!" my angel countered glibly, however, as we got up from the rocking chair.

"You got it," Jake admitted.

"Well, go get her," I prompted him cheerfully.

He made a droll confused face.

"She's in the kitchen, with the others ..." he began to say.

"And do you want to explain to Charlie and the kids beforehand what's about to happen between you and your girlfriend, or afterward?" mused Edward casually as he placed Ced in the crib.

"I'll get her," Jake said promptly and was gone, but two minutes later brought with him not only a happily laughing Becky, but also Leah and Marcus, who were certainly curious to see how it would go with the two of them and Ced.

"Merry Christmas, Becky!" I wished her and first clasped her in my arms while she wished me the same.

Edward also hugged her warmly.

Now our family was complete again.

"So you're little Ced," she said smiling at the delighted little face after we led her to the cradle.

Jake, of course, had told her everything important on the long drive here. Ced had also heard one or two thoughts about Becky and could apparently do something with her face.

"Charles Edward David Swan," Becky continued, and Ced's face contorted without understanding.

We laughed.

His full name had rarely come up before.

Ced passed over this information, which he obviously couldn't do anything with, and held his hands out to Becky. She took a deep breath before handing him her fingers. She knew what was going to happen - theoretically. Practically, she wavered a little.

"Wow ..." she muttered after she had regained her composure rather briskly.

"He's showing her the same thing he showed all of us. How he lay on your belly after the birth and looked at us," Edward whispered, and he seemed to watch it again in awe. "What he has already seen of us about Becky. He recognizes her," Edward continued.

"And if he touches both of us, can we hear each other?" asked Becky then in our direction, as if she hadn't quite wanted to believe Jake. Or could.

We nodded affirmatively.

"Yes. He creates some kind of mental connection, but don't ask me how he does it. He can establish it even with Bella, who I've never been able to hear, " Edward explained.

Becky's gaze went both invitingly and curiously in Jake's direction, who immediately answered the silent call. He took one of Becky's hands, which still held Ced's, and held out his own to him instead, without letting go of Becky's. They looked lovingly into each other's eyes.

It had to be strange for the two of them. They were expecting something wonderful. Something Jake had already witnessed several times and got to see again and again briefly with us. Something Becky had certainly been told about in an exciting way. They both wanted to experience it now ...

Jake's eyes began to glow, but Becky made a move to back away after a few seconds.

She looked anxious as she shook off Ced's finger and Jake's hand.

"Becky?" asked Jake, confused.

There was concern in his voice, but also a hint of dismay.

I couldn't tell why. Was it Becky's thoughts? Or her retreating posture?

She backed up. One step, another, eyes wide open, and bumped into Edward.

Ced began to cry, so I immediately stood by the cradle myself and soothingly cuddled his belly.

"Jake! Get out!", Edward commanded him at the same time and additionally nodded orderingly in the direction of the door.

Confused, I looked after my son, who left the room without a word of objection.

Thank you for reading!