Dear readers!

I was not there this week, but was with my husband in Rome. Beautiful city! But six days are just too little to really get to know this city. Although I have been there twice, it is always an experience.

But enough talking. Here is the next chapter!

Verena

Chapter 157

Edward

"Jake! Get out!" I commanded my son as I realized what was going on inside Becky. His continued presence would only make her more uncomfortable.

Gently, I placed Becky in the rocking chair, squatted next to it, and placed a cool hand on the back of her neck. While Bella took care of our youngest son's anxious tears, I said nothing.

Becky wanted to hear absolutely nothing. Becky was afraid! Of Jake! Of the extent of his love! She had known that Jake's imprinting was something irrevocable and final. Now she had perceived it in its entirety. It was too much for her.

She was completely agitated. She hyperventilated.

From a drawer of the dresser I pulled out a paper bag and told her to breathe into it. By inhaling and exhaling her own carbon dioxide-containing breath several times, the CO2 concentration in the blood rises and the previously constricted brain vessels dilate.

Slowly she calmed down.

My youngest son had also become quiet, lying in my angel's arms, and looking anxiously at Becky.

I didn't need to hear his thoughts to realize that he probably felt guilty in some way for Becky's condition.

"How ... is that ... possible ...?" Becky looked at Bella and me alternately, but her gaze stayed on me.

"Magic!" I smiled.

The corners of her mouth twitched, but she let herself fall somewhat exhausted against the back of the rocking chair. Of course, I took care that she could not be startled again by the possibly surprising rocking. She closed her eyes and let this moment pass in review.

"How can Jake stand it? I was in physical pain, that's how violent his thoughts were," Becky asked.

"For one thing, he's not human. Pain has other relations with him than with you. For another, he only feels this pain when you are not with him," I explained.

"He loves me so much it hurts!" stated Becky rather dryly.

She was not yet sure what to do with this fact.

I nodded.

"I'm scared!" she then murmured.

I nodded again and put a hand to her cheek.

"I know this situation has scared you, Becky. But you don't have to be scared. You're intimidated by the intensity you didn't expect," I said, and Becky nodded.

"I love Jake. But not like that!" she nevertheless rumbled excitedly in between.

"No one expects you to. We know how much Jake means to you and that your feelings are honest. You don't have to give an account of it. Not even to him," I assured her.

She considered my words.

Contradictory. I would certainly be right with my words. Why one loves a person was not logically comprehensible to another person. On the other hand, this moment with Ced as a mental link was something that Jake could hardly have expected. It seemed to her a little bit as if he had expected the proof of her feelings with that.

"But how can I keep up?" asked Becky managed.

"Love is not a competition," Bella answered her, stepping closer with Ced to us.

Ced stretched out his arms to Becky and she immediately did the same, which is why Bella put him in her arms.

Becky wasn't afraid of the little one or his gift. He had only made a connection. Becky was aware of that.

Ced smiled tentatively, as if still weighing whether he had upset Becky. As he touched her hand, he apologized.

If you could call it that. He replayed through his gift the moment when Becky's expression had noticeably changed. He didn't know what he had done, but he felt responsible for it. He didn't want that she looked so frightened.

But Becky quickly smiled back at him, which my son then did as well.

"If it was a competition, I would have lost against Edward," Bella smiled, though Becky only looked towards her questioningly.

Bella placed one of her freed hands on the back of my neck in an inviting manner. This is how I answered her.

"This imprinting of the wolves is an exceptional state. It is comparable to what our kind feel for our soulmate. You have now experienced firsthand how much Jake adores you. It's so much that it's hard for a human to comprehend. You just can't process this flood of emotion. You're a human being. And Jake is well aware of that," I replied gently.

"That means he'll settle for the little I can reciprocate?" Becky drolly contorted her face.

I chuckled because of this.

"No. It's not like that. He knows you can't return his love with the same intensity, and he doesn't draw any comparisons. Jake delights in every single spark he gets from you. Starting with a smile. A look in your eyes. A tender touch. A loving kiss. Even when you tease and annoy each other, he enjoys every single one of your gestures. The strength doesn't matter to him, it's the sum that matters to him. That you are happy at all times!"

"I'm happy with Jake!" smiled Becky firmly.

I smiled as well.

I saw in her mind that she had already emphasized this several times today.

"And nothing else matters to Jake," Bella affirmed.

Becky paid attention to our baby. Smiled at it and Ced looked back incredibly charming, so Becky lost her composure for a moment.

My son's facial expressions were truly extraordinary for his second day of life.

"Quite the Daddy!", Bella commented on the look on our son's face, and I felt a tiny bit of pride inside me.

"Don't let Jake see that. Your big brother tends for jealousy!", I warned Ced, but he just kept laughing.

While our youngest son flirted with our eldest son's girlfriend - yes, you could definitely call it that - Bella's fingers nuzzled through the back of my neck and I looked up at my angel.

That moment, when I first heard her thoughts, had been indescribable. Her way of thinking fascinated me. Always, even if I did not hear her usually in the process. To have really followed her thoughts now, almost drove me out of my mind with excitement. How quickly she drew the right conclusions when she heard me. How she tried to orient herself in my head. How her love for me was reflected in all her reflections. She had become giddy as she absorbed my affection. Much like Becky. But Bella was a grown woman, solidified in her whole being by her life experience. And then that kiss afterwards, when Ced withdrew his gift from us because he was getting tired! It was so inexplicably intense. Penetrating and insistent. Every couple that Ced made with his gift reacted in the same way.

"I have to admit, we've been a very bad influence on Jake," I therefore reflected. "Jake witnessed the couples here all meeting under Ced's gift, which brought to light an extraordinary emotional union. Everyone was caught off guard by this exchange of ideas, but Jake has had time to imagine this mental contact with you since yesterday morning. He will certainly have told you about it very extensively and at great length. Accordingly, your expectations of this moment have been high."

Becky nodded - a little embarrassed.

I saw how Jake had raved about it to her, excited and jittery, so that she became so herself. But now those expectations had been dashed by what was actually happening. Their tempers were sobered.

"Maybe you should just try again!" I therefore suggested.

"You must not try to understand or question the flood of feelings. Just let them work on you. Just as they are ... otherwise you'll get a headache," Bella gave her another piece of advice.

Becky swallowed dryly and looked at us as if we had cheerfully invited her to a coffee party with the devil - figuratively speaking. But she thought it over briefly and took a few conscious deep breaths.

"Okay!" Becky then said unequivocally, and Bella headed for the door.

I, of course, had not let Jake out of my mental sight during his expulsion.

I had been worried about him because his world came crashing down a bit the moment Becky's eyes flashed open in panic. He hadn't known exactly what was going on with Becky. He had only sensed her fear. Her fear of him. Otherwise, he would hardly have been able to leave the room either. Everyone stood around him and tried to calm him down. But it was only Leah to whom he paid attention. She didn't say anymore in the meantime, but just hugged her twin. She had a guess as to what might have frightened Becky, but she hadn't said it in case she was wrong after all. But she was right. Leah had her own feelings for comparison. What she felt for Marcus was undoubtedly genuine and strong, but nothing compared to her brother's imprint. And she was the only one besides Jake who knew that power in absolute entirety. For as wolves, they shared everything with each other.

As the door opened, Jake's head flew in its direction. He moved slowly and hesitantly toward his mother. He instinctively pulled Leah with him. As an emotional hold, whatever awaited him now. As he stepped through the door, he smiled sensitively.

The picture appealed to him very much. His star with a baby in her arms. Most important for him was the fact that Becky smiled at him.

Bella pushed him along rather than him walking toward the rocking chair on his own, with Leah and Marcus pushing the door shut behind them but stopping against the wall.

Jake knelt down immediately in front of the chair.

He would so much like to take her free hand. The one that wasn't around Ced's body, but he didn't dare. He remembered too much her face from a few minutes ago. The fear in her eyes.

"You can do no wrong," I reminded my son in a whisper.

This was a fact, which I got hold of very fast. The reason for this was his wolfish imprinting. Jake always knew what Becky needed. Whether it was a word, funny, encouraging or serious - or a touch, holding, loving or casual.

So he took her hand and their fingers gently played with each other. He breathed a kiss on her fingers and looked at his star reassured.

I smirked.

Jake was relieved that Becky apparently continued to be his girlfriend. As if anything could ever change that?!

Mindlessly, they lowered their playing hands as they simply smiled at each other.

Without consciously arranging it that way, Ced was able to reach their hands. He placed his little fingers on them, and Becky and Jake finally experienced their wonderful moment.

Becky blinked a little as she became aware of Ced's gift, but she caught herself immediately.

She looked Jake in the eyes and heeded Bella's advice to just let it sink in and not think about it. Jake's reaction strengthened her and made her finally forget what she had been afraid of earlier. She sank into a real unreality, created out of love.

A single tear rolled down Jake's cheek.

Knowing that he had started earlier with the wrong expectation - with impatience - he now listened liberated to Becky's thoughts and how she in turn received his enthusiastically. It was even more beautiful and even stronger than he had seriously imagined. Even more overwhelming. It ended as it should have. With a kiss that made the whole world around them sink into nothingness.

Carefully, I took Ced out of Becky's arms and we tactfully pulled away.

It took a little while for the two of them to show up at the dinner table for supper, but they seemed happy and carefree as usual.

This is how I wanted to see my children at all times.

Since the vampires among us had rather little to do during the meal, Ced was entertained by all. For David's children, who were sitting at the opposite end of the table, the multitude of plates, bowls, and platters that also passed through our hands made us lose sight of the fact that we were actually eating nothing.

Ced had all his little teeth. So Emmett couldn't resist putting a piece of herb baguette in his hand. Ced looked it over thoroughly and then, crushed and plucked apart, offered it back to Emmett with a smile. Esmé met with far more interest in this regard with the caramel pudding.

Carlisle had Emma sit on his lap, wrapped in a blanket, so that she, too, would eat something. Her appetite, however, was limited to a manageable number of peas and a little mashed potato. She also devoted herself to dessert with considerably more eagerness. Her fever was little more than a slightly elevated temperature, to that extent she was feeling better. Nevertheless, Carlisle ordered another day on the sofa. And even her cute begging googly eyes didn't change that.

The ladies had expelled us men from the kitchen while cooking, so we were now all determinedly on our way back to the living room. The ladies apparently had other plans in this regard. No sooner were we sitting together than they sent us back with angry glances to clean up and clear away, while they made themselves comfortable with red wine.

Bella wanted to take Ced off my hands, but that would suit her. After all, he was a man, too, even if only a very small one. Besides, I was very reluctant to give up my son. Not so much out of concern or anything like that, but rather because I was simply still too overwhelmed by the fact that I had a son in the flesh.

He actively helped to return the kitchen to its original state. In other words, he lay in a baby seat and hid under the dishtowel when I wasn't drying anything. We quickly finished the job and then made our wives happy with our presence.

Emma was all jittery again. Becky still had to open her Christmas presents, as well as some of us of those from her.

A yo-yo - she surprised us all with it and Emmett stood at the side with his mouth open for some time. She mastered the handling of the toy almost perfectly.

Emmett, meanwhile, considered postponing the planned competition for at least a week. To have more time to practice.

From Alice and Rose she got the same as Leah. A 'full service' shopping trip, to a city of her choice. The choices were Montreal, Boston, New York, or London.

Alice had not been able to refrain from the latter. The full service referred to the fact that my sisters took care of the arrival and departure as well as the accommodations, handed suitable and above all ample wardrobe along with accessories to choose from, provided them with food and beverages and cared for their well-being in any other way. For the final bill of the clothes, my credit card would be charged afterwards, but we didn't tell them that for the time being. We would also send Jake and Marcus along. Someone would have to carry the bags.

Everyone had to laugh at Jazz's guidebook.

Except for David's kids and Charlie.

'A flat share with werewolves and vampires - Here's what you should watch out for!' The book was published due to the very entertaining success of a sitcom. ('Being Human')

From Bella and me, Becky got a new cell phone.

When she picked hers out before, she had overestimated the available memory space, and unfortunately a separate memory card could not be inserted into this model. Now she got the same one she already had, only in a new version so her father wouldn't notice immediately. I had sold him the trip to New York as Becky's Christmas present. In addition to Jake's entire radio play series, all of my songs were already stored on the phone. The song I had composed for Jake and her, however, was a version that Becky had played herself and was already set as the ringtone.

Then Jake unwrapped a very small box he had received from Becky. Delighted, he kissed his star and attached a pretty little wooden star to his bracelet. She had found it by chance while strolling in Boston on Tuesday. Jake then handed her a little bag first.

A gift from Billy Black, though Jake knew the contents.

Becky was touched by the approval this gave her from Billy, of whom she had overheard what a formidable character he was. It was a bracelet with a small rusty brown wolf on it. Just like one Jake and Leah wore. Marcus had also gotten one from Billy. He had hidden his from Becky under his sleeve so that she would not suspect anything of this attention. Only now did he pull the sweatshirt up a bit, revealing with it his arm ornament. Becky was thrilled and the four teens briefly embraced. Now they wore a sign that they belonged together.

Jake had tickets to a music festival for Becky. The most different music styles met there for three days. Rock, rap, a little classical, pop, punk, electronic music, everything. Even Irish folk and country were there. It took place only in the summer on a huge area with several small halls. Jake had also already reserved one of the very few, but very expensive rooms there.

I smiled at the memory of how he had stammeringly asked my permission to use the credit card for this. The festival tickets had not been cheap and had taken a toll on his savings. That I really didn't care what my angels did with the cards had obviously not yet fully penetrated with them. Leah had stood in front of me almost exactly the same way and with exactly the same request. They had scared me again with that. Leah had not known what Jake had gotten for Becky as a Christmas present. Jake had had the idea for quite a while, but the tickets had only been on sale for a week. And he had been careful not to let his sister know, lest she prattle away in front of Becky. Now they would go there as a group of six. Jake and Brandon had come up with this idea together.

Jake then unwrapped his gift - new sneakers for basketball. The special thing about them was that they were personalized. Apart from the orthopedic features for a center player like Jake, which protected against ankle injuries much better, Becky had chosen the entire design. They were sapphire blue, of course. On the side, a delicate yellow shooting star curled up the ankle as if it would jump up. Jake's signature was emblazoned on the back cap.

Those I had delivered to her. By now I had mastered my children's handwriting just as perfectly as I had Bella's. Or my own.

A custom dedication was on the inside of the shoe tongue. A small wolf, a heart, a star, Becky's name, and the classic 'I love you!' She had intentionally had it put on the inside so that Jake wouldn't possibly be embarrassed in front of his team.

Carlisle and Esmé thanked Becky profusely for the theater tickets. It was only an amateur play, but probably very worth seeing.

For us, Becky had a funny novel. A young couple of parents described curious situations they experienced with their children that no one had prepared them for or forewarned them about. Starting with the question of what this screaming 'something' wanted in the middle of the night when it had been both diapered and fed. The consideration of what to do with the toddler when he stormed into the parents' bedroom due to a nightmare while they were in the midst of intimate tenderness. The question of whether Santa Claus also shopped on Amazon. All the way to puberty, when parents sweepingly did everything wrong. At least that was the child's definition.

She even had something for Ced.

From what I heard, she had wisely procured this, since it didn't look like our baby was going to be quite so long in coming. A colorful rattle.

Ced then smiled at her again so stunningly.

"Hey!" Jake noticed this look this time, however, and raised his threatening index finger. "That's MY girlfriend!" he stated warningly.

Ced grabbed his finger, chuckling, and announced a mentally, yet very emphatic, 'Mine too!'

I still gave the desired concert with the theremin. It was rather a small taste. Everyone covered their ears and squinted their eyes - expecting unpleasant and almost violent sounds - but they relaxed quite quickly. It worked out quite well, even though I really hadn't dealt with the instrument very much before. I played the 'Star Trek' melody, which was even recognized. It had once been created on this instrument. I wasn't ready for anything else yet, but I promised Becky to play her song on it no later than New Year's Eve.

After that, the evening quickly came to an end, and everyone retired to their bedrooms.

For the quiet conditions of the last two holidays, we had quite a lot planned today, Friday.

Christmas had passed.

Actually, the Mitchell family wanted to go home today - Daniel still had to discover his 'skate' room - but since Emma was supposed to rest on the sofa today, they all stayed an extra day.

With David, however, Bella had the appointment with the notary. In addition, he needed his laptop, since he had only one more week until the new program had to work properly.

The teens wanted to spend time with the three boys, coddling Emma on the side, and had a date later in the afternoon.

"Which vehicle can it be for the angel today?" I asked Bella formally when we arrived at the underground garage after breakfast.

"Audi?" asked Bella innocently.

I contorted my face.

That was not exactly the answer I wanted to hear.

Bella chuckled unabashedly at the sight of me, but walked toward the jaguar.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, I had hardly used my own Christmas present so far and I was eager to drive it out a little. Civilized, of course. After all, I had two of the most precious things in my world with me.

The attachment of a child seat was not very familiar to me so far, but it was quite simple if you had studied the instructions in detail. I was already pleasantly surprised from the device. Ced was lying comfortably, but securely, half upright in a baby seat that could be attached to the child seat and removed again independently of it. He had already lain in it yesterday in the kitchen. So we could carry him around in it when we were out and about like today. There was also a matching stroller that I put in the trunk as well. It was practical.

I found it most fascinating how much thought had been given to its construction.

Bella, by the way, laughed at me incessantly regarding such statements. This would be far from a new invention but had been around for decades.

I smiled winningly.

The Jaguar even had a mirror in the back. For safety reasons, a baby seat was fitted so that the baby rode backwards. So you usually couldn't really see the child. But with this mirror, you had your offspring in a safe view.

"Are you going to tell me you bought the car just because of this?" asked Bella skeptically.

"No, but it's a nice little feature that the BMW doesn't have," I admitted.

So off we went.

Ced probably didn't appreciate not seeing either of us during the ride. So Bella sat off to the side to at least give our son one hand. That was apparently better, and I saw via the mirror that Ced was continuing to look wide-eyed at the world that was passing him by.

We needed a good half hour to get to Saco, because I drove quite carefully for my standards because of the snow.

We had to go a little further, to the opposite outskirts of town.

When we arrived at our destination, Ced was peacefully sleeping.

Gently I released the baby seat, and we went to the front door. A housekeeper opened and led us into a festively decorated living room, with people of different ages inside.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Black!" Bella's boss immediately approached, and she kindly replied.

I had only seen Mr. Prescott in person once before. A polite and gallant man, he had left the impression in my mind that he never spent a day without a tailored suit. It was not a mistake, even if today it was quite a casual variant.

"Excuse me, please. I'm afraid I've forgotten your name," he held out his hand and smiled apologetically.

"Edward Stone," I reminded him. He had such impossible names in his head as Edwin or Edmund. "I trust you spent the holidays pleasantly, Mr. Prescott?" I immediately started an innocuous conversation to give Bella some time to collect herself.

"Oh, yes. It was very pleasant," he immediately rambled into memories and introduced us to his family.

His parents and parents-in-law, a sister and her family, children and grandchildren. Even the housekeeper sat in. Apparently, she was virtually part of the family.

We chatted a bit.

Until Ced began to scream.

"Who have you brought us?" asked Mr. Prescott after a few minutes, looking curiously in the direction of the car seat, which I had set down on a chair beside me, facing away from those present.

As a human, that was going to be too hard at some point, plus I wanted to keep Ced's peace as long as possible.

"That's the reason I wanted to talk to you," Bella explained.

I squatted in front of my son, who immediately held out one hand to me. I took it, which already made him calmer.

'Where are we?' I realized between his agitated tears.

'With friends with whom you are not allowed to talk like that!', I thought in reply, drawing the comparison to Charlie and David's children by way of explanation.

Ced had understood - or let's say approved - of it after the rest of us kept intervening whenever Ced reached out his hands to them.

Whether he really grasped the reason behind these avoidances, however, I was not able to say.

I loosened the straps, picked up my son and he was now peering shyly around.

Through the crowd murmured happy remarks, such as "Oh, a baby!", "That's cute!" or even just a simple, enthusiastic "Oh ..." or "Ah ...".

Ced didn't know the many faces and he wanted to hide himself in my arms.

My son seemed a little shy. That would be quite a new characteristic.

"I already suspect where this is going," Mr. Prescott sighed.

It was the employer in him that made him sigh.

He would lose his best lab assistant. After all.

Some time ago, Bella had already sought a conversation with him in order to obtain her actual dismissal.

Bella did not think it was right that she continued to be paid even though she was not working. Moreover, even without my intervention, she had sufficient savings to temporarily not depend on the monthly salary. The savings for the childrens' college , to which she actually did not want to go on principle. However, since I would love to see my children go to Dartmouth, Bella's attitude on that point at least had changed.

"Let's go to the study," he pointed us in the right direction. "You'll excuse us," he nodded to his family.

He walked ahead, across the hall, turned a corner, opened a heavy door, and offered us a seat. On a small inviting settee, not on the stiff-looking chairs in front of the sprawling desk.

With a subtle smile, he regarded our son for a moment while offering us something to drink.

Bella took a glass of water.

So that she could hold on to something and her mouth wouldn't be so dry from lying.

"Since I placed you on leave just two months ago, and I am not aware of any employee in an interesting condition, I am not assuming that this is your child," Mr. Prescott began to say.

I smiled.

He tried to avoid the inevitable after all.

"Well. Yes and no," Bella answered indeterminately. She took a deep breath, drank a sip, and told what we had come up with. "A lot has happened in the last few days. As it turns out, I had a half-sister that even my father didn't know existed."

"Had?" interjected Mr. Prescott attentively.

"Yes, had," Bella nodded.

"She and her husband died in an accident a few days ago ... They left behind this little sweet boy," I said.

"I'm very sorry about that," he replied sympathetically, underscoring his sincerity by placing a hand on Bella's. For a polite moment.

"Thank you, but it's not necessary. I didn't know her or my brother-in-law ... My parents divorced when I was a toddler. As my father has now told me, there was a woman some time after that. The relationship did not last very long, the lady went her way and my father never heard from her again. As it has now turned out, she was pregnant at the time. With a girl. Her name was Julia," Bella said quietly and paused.

Well. It looked to Mr. Prescott like she needed a little break.

"Bella's father was the only relative the police and authorities found. There are no other grandparents left or uncles or aunts where the little one could go. But Charlie is too old to take care of an infant," I added.

"And that's why you're going to take care of the little man," Mr. Prescott stated approvingly, finding this very magnanimous.

He knew Bella's own family circumstances. That her children were almost grown up. A baby would certainly shake things up in their orderly lives.

Bella nodded.

"What else was I supposed to do?" asked Bella rhetorically meekly, whereby she looked at our son and placed a hand on his belly.

"And that's why you want to quit," Mr. Prescott sighed.

He had nothing that he could say against it.

"I don't really want to. You know how much I like to work. But I think it's very important for a baby to have personal and unrestricted contact with its mother in the first few years ..."

Mr. Prescott nodded in agreement.

"... I may not be his own mother, but I will be for him. I owe it to my sister to take care of Ced as best I can, so he doesn't want for anything," Bella clarified and I had to literally force myself to keep a serious face.

Bella lied here constantly, and I noticed it, of course. Her heart was beating out with every single lie, her hands were sweating, her voice was a little too high, she was clearing her throat and swallowing a little too much. But Mr. Prescott didn't notice any of that.

"Ced?" he asked in amazement. A strange name, although not unattractive sounding.

"Yes. That's what friends of theirs told us. His full name is Charles Edward David, but they just called him Ced. The first ones come from the grandfathers and David was his father's name," Bella now had to make a real effort to keep up the facade.

David was his father's name!

At this I even had to almost chuckle in view of the misunderstanding at that time.

"That's a charming name. And how old is little Ced?" he smiled at our son and tickled his belly so that Ced started to giggle.

I inconspicuously stopped him from touching the friendly man with his hands, because we had no explanation ready for Ced's gift.

"Three weeks. He was born on December 5," I replied. That was entirely believable in Carlisle's opinion, from the way Ced's facial expressions and gestures presented themselves. In terms of body balance and coordination, Ced was even further ahead of his age, but you didn't necessarily notice that as long as he was just in my arms. He was reaching for things purposefully and his attention was more pronounced than that of a normal baby.

"May I ask what you think about that, Edward? You are still quite young and certainly did not expect to take care of a baby so soon," he asked attentively.

He wondered in general whether babies had been an issue between Bella and me because of the age difference. I was young and had very probably not yet thought about a family of my own, while Bella would have already almost finished with family planning.

"To be honest, I never expected this ... I had an accident years ago, after which the doctors told me I would not be able to bring children of my own into the world. Unfortunately, surgery is not ready enough to repair this. For Bella, on the other hand, this was actually no longer an issue. After all, the twins are almost grown up," I picked up on his own reflection. My further answer, however, was sincere with every word and I took Bella's hand in mine: "But to have this baby in our arms now, that we care for his well-being, how he smiles at us even if we have to get up in the middle of the night - that's incredible! I love this little innocent creature!"

"I can tell," he smiled meekly at me.

We talked some more.

What my parents said about it and how the twins felt about it. Whether Bella also had enough room for another family member. How the wedding preparations would go, reminding us to expect an invitation.

Ced fell asleep again during what he considered to be boring chatter, and then we went on our way again.

He would be hungry when he woke up.

We still had some time until the next appointment, so we drove to our house.

We hadn't been here since Sunday, and it was a feeling of 'coming home'.

We diapered and fed our son - we had everything we needed in a bag - I cooked for my angel, and then we took him on a tour of the house. When we arrived in the wolves' chambers, Ced's little nose curled up cutely.

"Apparently he got my sense of smell!" I stated a little proudly and rewarded him with a gentle kiss on the forehead.

His mother also got one. After all, she had given me my son.

"Is that smell still bothering you?" asked Bella, chuckling.

"Actually, I don't even notice it anymore. But our kids haven't been here for a few days either. The aroma has faded a lot as a result, but the wolf odor is tenacious. And unpleasant ... Think of it like a pub you enter in the early morning. No more warmth, the alcohol has evaporated into a tasteless mass, stale cold smoke."

"Sounds disgusting!" Bella contorted her pretty face.

"It is!" I confirmed and closed the door very quickly.

In the bedroom, Bella gingerly gasped for air.

Esmé and my sisters had been here. Since it was still unclear to what extent we could live here inconspicuously with our little half-vampire, we also did not have a separate room for Ced. Instead, an area had been prepared for him in a spacious corner of the bedroom. The big neon colored armchair had been moved to this corner. It was behind the cute little baby bed, which even had a canopy.

Over the edge hung the patchwork quilt that Bella had once received from Renée.

Jake and Leah had once lain in that blanket, too.

Actually, it had been safely tucked away in Bella's closet to prevent further damage, but Alice had refurbished it in places.

On one side next to the armchair was a closet. Well filled, of course. On the other, a changing table, also well stocked. Next to it was a narrow shelf with picture books, stuffed animals, toys and the like. The whole corner was colorful.

With Ced in our arms, we explored his little kingdom and ended up sitting together in the armchair while Ced slept probationally in his crib.

I took the opportunity to thank the angel of my existence for my son.

Very detailed and persistent.

Until my cell phone rang.

"Could it be that you've forgotten something?" taunted David through the small speaker, whereby his grin was hard to miss.

Actually, we were supposed to pick him up at his home.

Well, we were only separated by three houses, but we had an appointment ... I glanced at the alarm clock ... ten minutes ago.

"Um ... we ... were busy?" I stammered evasively.

"Well, sure. I can also think with what!" David stated.

I could almost hear the rolling eyes!

"I'll drive up then. We don't want the notary to think we don't want to make the appointment."

I agreed.

It would take us another moment to pack Ced up in a roadworthy manner without him possibly waking up.

"But don't take too long. I want to finally get rid of this dilapidated ruin!" he commanded us with a laugh.

"Hey, don't talk about my house like that!" complained Bella.

"YOUR house, my ass! It still belongs to ME!" he made clear.

We promised to hurry.

I gave my angel a concluding kiss before we turned to our little angel. He was still asleep. Gently Bella took him out of bed, we went downstairs, put him back in the baby carrier and set off again.

"You look like we're driving to your execution!" I stated on the way.

Bella was grumbling to herself.

"That's how it feels a little bit. Accepting the house as a gift from him just like that goes against all my principles!" Bella answered stubbornly.

"It's not a gift, Bella," I tried to say. "Far be it from David to give you the house, simply because you have been very good friends for a very long time. David is a man of honor in some ways. He is paying you your share of his success with the house. A share that you have earned. It's irrelevant that you disagree, but it's very important to him. And in my humble opinion, he's even right about that."

"But I didn't do anything!" objected Bella flippantly.

I smiled and returned to her a small part of what I had more accurately discerned in David's mind.

"You know, what happens with most inventions is that one person has an idea, and that person then seeks out another to be able to implement that idea. Whether it's through support with financial resources ... with the skills that are required to make something ... some experience with disseminating a new product ... and so on. It takes a few prerequisites and certainly a certain amount of luck to turn an idea into a monetary success ... You provided David with that idea. An idea that may have started out as a small gimmick at one time. You worked together to elevate that gimmick to a serious and competitive level, even though you didn't classify it as work. Your casual remarks had been enough for David to perfect the software and make no small amount of money as a result ... It's not just the license fees. Through the success of the program, David has secured a very permanent place in the company, which has led to steady salary increases, allowed his professional freedom, and brought with it the delegation of the management of important projects. His professional foundation and his entire lifestyle ... he owes to your wishes and ideas. Without you, he would be just one employee among many."

My angel was silent the rest of the way and just looked thoughtfully at her hands.

I wish I could hear her thoughts ... Would it be very naughty to wake Ced up for that?

But I was already pulling into the parking lot and Bella was smiling.

"So I earned the house?" she asked cautiously nonetheless as I turned off the engine and she turned slightly in her seat toward me.

I did the same and turned to her.

"Yes, you did!" I confirmed and kissed my angel.

The notary appointment dragged on a bit.

At least that's how it seemed to us.

It was the duty of the notary to read the contract in its entirety to the persons involved.

I had skimmed it last night, but as expected had nothing to complain about. Except for three spelling mistakes and two misplaced commas.

David transferred the house along with real estate for a symbolic fee of one hundred dollars. This was for tax reasons, so that Bella would not have to pay tax on the acquired benefit. In addition, he assumed all ancillary costs arising from the transfer.

Inwardly, I shook my head about myself.

Yes, I had wanted to buy our little home so that no one could drive us out of it. But I hadn't thought it necessary to take a look at the land register. Then I would have seen that David was registered as the owner. But I also had no reason to assume that Mr. Miller was not our landlord. I knew the monthly posting of the rent from Bella's account and had met him in person when he came by in October to ask if everything was okay with our cottage. Even though I had been toying with the idea of buying it at the time, his thoughts had not given me any clue about it during that brief visit, which lasted only for the duration of a cup of coffee. I only listened casually to the words of the gaunt bored man.

With that, however, I was more alert than David and Bella combined, who were watching the waking Ced.

How exciting he found the situation was unmistakable. He listened intently for a moment to the monotonous chatter, realized that nothing would change and immediately demanded entertainment.

Fortunately, we were prepared for this, and I held out his grasping toy that he could possibly spend hours with.

Just like me, and I just watched him.

Thank you for reading!