I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of my story.
The scent of coffee fills Bella's senses as she opens the door of the coffee shop. A bell above her alerts its occupants of her entrance. She looks around the coffee shop and feels her skin prickle when her eyes cross Edward's. She came here 30 minutes early to get acquainted with the space before he comes, but to no avail as he probably had the same idea.
She takes a step toward him, and then another, and another until she finds herself standing in front of him. He stands up and opens his mouth to speak then shuts it. He opens it another time to speak but then frowns and sighs before he quickly pulls the chair for Bella to sit.
Her knee-jerk reaction is to shove him away and pull her chair herself, but she realizes that it would be rude of her to do, and the last thing she should do is to come off on the offense. She tries to smile at him in thanks but it comes off more as a grimace.
"Edward,", "Bella," both of them say at the same time.
Bella giggles while Edward snorts before he tells her, "You go first."
She nods her head but realizes that looking at his attentive face will only fuel the butterflies in her stomach, so she looks at her hands as she asks him, "What do you want Edward?"
"I want to be a part of Cece's life," he answers her honestly.
"That's it?" she asks skeptically, "You aren't doing this to get back at me for leaving for Italy?"
"Bella I am too old for this shit," he replies, but at the look, she gives him he tells her, "Okay, I may have done a lot of immature shit when I was younger but I am no longer that person."
Bella turns to look out of the window as she thinks of what he said. She knew coming here that he would say something along those lines. Edward isn't stupid. He knows that going straight to court would be in bad faith.
She also knows that if he goes to court, he will at least get visitation. If he didn't think he could argue his case in front of a lawyer, the lawyer she knows wouldn't have even approached her.
Her gut feeling tells her that he is being honest. There is something different about Edward that she can't put her finger on. She hasn't figured out what it is yet. That said, she also knows that her gut loses its compass when it involves Edward so she isn't about to trust it.
"Listen, I know that you don't trust me but I will prove to you that I am to be trusted with Cece. I have changed. I have been attending therapy since you last saw me. I go to AA meetings. I volunteer as a lawyer in a woman's shelter, and I have attended many anger management classes over the years."
Bella is extremely surprised. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it. She was prepared for him to tell her he has changed. She was prepared for him to try to sweet-talk her. She was prepared to hear him wax poetry all about how he is a changed man. What she wasn't prepared for is to have him tell her exactly what he has done over the years to change.
"I know it is coming as a surprise. I know that I have always said that I don't need help. I can count on one hand the number of times I have accepted help from anyone when we were dating, but things are different. I wouldn't be here in front of you if I wasn't sure that I could never harm Cece. I am no longer blind to the consequences of my actions. I love her and I would never put her in harm's way including being in her life if I didn't think I can be good for her."
Bella nods her head in understanding and thinks carefully over her next words. "In theory, I can understand everything you are saying, but in practice, I am not sure if I will ever trust you with Cece."
There, she said it. Now he will get angry at her. The mask will fall off. The passive-aggressive behavior will appear in front of her. Edward sighs before he pulls his briefcase to the table and takes a folder out of it. She knows she is right. He is about to show her the custody papers he is about to serve her. He silently hands her a folder and she slowly takes it from him and takes the paper out of it thinking that she knows exactly what is in it. She does a double-take at the paper in her hand.
Placing the paper gently on the table, she asks him, "What is this?" she doesn't understand. Why is he giving her those? This makes zero sense. Is this a joke to him? Does he think it's a joke to her? This is her daughter for god's sake. What's in the actual fuck?
"Those are papers I personally drew that I already signed. I am signing over my parental rights. All you need to do is file them whenever you want," he tells her patiently.
Surprise colors her face as she opens her mouth and then shuts it for a minute not sure what to say before she finally states, "I don't understand."
Edward rubs the back of his neck nervously before he settles for honesty. "Over the last two years, I have thought long and hard over how to prove my good intentions to you. I know that in the past I have proven to you that I am not trustworthy, but I want that to change. This is the best insurance I can give you. I trust you. I trust that you will always have Cece's best interest at heart, and that if you choose to file those then it's because you want to protect her not get back at me."
Bella looks at her hands not sure what to say or even think. When she walked into the coffee shop fifteen minutes ago, it would have never crossed her mind, not even in her wildest dreams that Edward would do this. She was prepared for his anger, passive-aggressive behavior, and much more, but not this. She was worried that he would threaten to sue her for custody even. She wasn't prepared for him to give her a paper that will make it impossible for that to happen.
"I don't know what to say," she finally tells him.
"Don't say anything, Bella. Think this over and once you decide let me know," he tells her and then gets up and leaves.
She spends five minutes staring into space, not sure what to do, or think. Finally, she notices the time and gets up to leave but not before trying to pay only to find out that her tab was paid before she even arrived.
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