A/N: I suck. I don't suck. Hey, at least I'm consistent, right? I told myself I'm going to post whenever I complete a chapter because I don't know how long it'll be in between updates, so...
Just a reminder that none of these chapters are beta'd, edited, preread—any of that. So if there's mistakes, it's because I'm human.
I'll shut up, now.
Footprints in the Sand
Chapter 23
I've never been a great sleeper, but since I've been with Edward—actually, since I've been having sex with Edward—I haven't slept a full eight hours once, and no amount of running mitigates it. A.D.D isn't exactly something that meshes well with my profession in the first place, and that's without having that gorgeous man constantly in my head. I'm on my feet for more than ninety-nine percent of the time as I attempt to squeeze fifty hours into three days on fifteen hours of sleep.
It's going from weeks into months and it's killing me.
Alice's wedding is just over two weeks, and I'm honestly not sure how I'll survive it.
Fridays have become my saving grace; the first day of my break, and the one night of the week Edward and I spend alone together.
Today though, I'm grumpy, unmotivated and absolutely starving. I need to eat. I need to run; I need to get Edward between my thighs...
I make myself a very large breakfast of waffles smeared in butter and maple syrup, and just as I'm sitting down to devour it, my phone rings.
It's not Alice. It's not Edward...
I groan and briefly consider ignoring it, before in a fit of impatience, I snatch it up and bring it to my ear.
"Hello!?" I snap.
"Hello..." a female voice replies, leaving it hanging as if I'm supposed to know who the hell it is.
"And this is?" I ask in full snark-mode. If it's a telemarketer I'm going to scream.
"It's Rose." Her voice is droll and more that a tad patronizing.
"And what can I do for you, Rose?" Sleep deprivation is a sure fire way to bring my father to the surface; it's the only positive to it.
She scoffs out her very blatant amusement at my expense before answering, "Would you like to join me for brunch?"
Brunch? What kind of pretentious asshole even says the word brunch, let alone engages in it?
"Why would I join you for brunch?" I mock her in reply.
"So we can talk." She doesn't react to my sarcasm, so I make the decision to drop it. It's all and act anyway, and I suddenly feel like urine.
"If you can give me a good enough reason why, then sure," I reply, and as the sarcasm exits, it leaves a vacuum that I'm pretty sure is about to be replaced by weariness.
"I think we need to clear the air."
"Am I going to regret it?" I put to her skeptically, and this time, she laughs.
"Probably—of course not, Bella. If you're open, I'll be at The Breakfast Club in twenty minutes. I'll see you there." And without waiting for a response, she hangs up.
I'm absolutely not in the mood for her this morning, and I need to go running. Addie will be waiting for me around eleven. I haven't seen her since Sunday, and there's no way I'm going to miss our girl talk because of Rosalie Hale.
Grumbling a string of obscenities beneath my breath, I slam my palms to the surface of the table and pull myself to my feet.
Dr. Who suddenly blasts from my phone, and despite more than expecting it, I nearly jump out of my skin.
Birth control, idiot—the label I gave my alarm lights up across the screen.
The simple fact is, if I don't set a reminder, I'll forget, and while Edward makes beautiful babies, I don't exactly want to get myself accidentally knocked up and ruin possibly the best relationship I've ever had.
I'm due for my period—for my second period—but I've been deliberately skipping them. It's not exactly advisable, but I tell myself it's just until things with Edward and I calm down. The only thing is, I don't think there'll ever be a time when I don't want him inside me every day of the month.
Taking the tiny pill dry, I hastily brush my teeth, while attempting to untangle my hair, roll deodorant under my arms, and apply mascara simultaneously.
I go for my standard attire of black polo-neck, jeans and knee high boots—Alice thinks I don't own any other clothes. Then, grabbing my purse, I'm out the door with five minutes to arrive.
The Breakfast Club is a hell of a lot more stilted than it sounds. Rich, corporate types dining beneath the array of dimly lit chandeliers all turn to gaze at me curiously as I enter. One man, who looks to be in his eighties, actually winks at me.
I'm late, and I don't even contemplate an apology. As Rosalie leans down to smear my face with her lipstick, I explain myself instead.
"I just came off a fifteen hour shift, I got barely any sleep and I'm exhausted." I sound haughty, which is pretty ironic considering where I am.
"Sounds arduous," Rosalie notes with a dubiously-arched brow, before extending her arm toward the table she was seated at.
A waiter appears out of nowhere and holds out my chair; pushing it back in when I take it. I've seen Edward do the same thing with Addie, and I suddenly feel as old as her.
Rosalie obviously thinks nothing of it, and picking up the menu before her, she browses through. "Wine, Bella?" she asks over it.
"It's ten a.m."
Waving her hand dismissively, she orders one for herself.
"Miss?" The waiter turns to me, his pencil poised expectantly.
"Coffee—black, and..." I quickly scan the menu looking for the first thing that sounds appetizing, "Lemon crepes."
"God," Rosalie reacts unequivocally, "that many calories so early..."
"You've seen what happens when I attempt your liquid diet," I bite back, hating the fact that I'm here already.
Her lips twitch with the barest hint of amusement. "I can see why Edward is so fond of you."
"Are we going to cut to the chase, or...?" I raise my eyebrows for her to get on with it, but I feel absolutely wretched at the idea of leaving Addie to wait for me.
"I want to apologize..." she begins.
"For jumping your boyfriend's brother when he's with another woman?" I anticipate her.
Her smile is broad this time. "So he told you. That surprises me."
"And why is that?"
"He protects himself behind some pretty heavy artillery."
"Can you blame him?" I say sharply and a little too defensively. "His wife was the bride of Satan."
"Seems like he's told you a lot..." she muses to herself, her smirk not waning.
"What he's told me is none of your business."
"It isn't," she agrees simply.
My phone pings.
Tonight, woman, I'm going to drive you out of your mind as well as your body.
I'll look forward to it, I quickly type in reply, grinning hopelessly to myself before returning my attention to Rosalie. Edward's not nearly finished, though.
How'd you sleep?
Terribly.
I'll take care of that for you tonight as well.
You are so forward.
You are so wholesome, potato pie.
"That man..." I murmur to myself as Rosalie abruptly clears her throat.
"Who are you talking to? Alice?"
"Edward."
"Things going well?"
"Pretty well."
"I'm glad," she says without an ounce of sincerity.
"Are you?" I say unconvinced.
"I am. I'm... going to be honest..." She suddenly appears uncertain, and it's enough to pique my immediate interest.
"Okay..."
"I was in love with Edward before Emmett," she says pretty candidly, and unapologetically. "Emmett's always known."
For a moment, I only gaze at her blankly. "...What—"
"I guess I needed to prove it to myself that it's never going to happen. I cannot bear the idea of living in regret, and I refuse to even entertain what ifs. Nevertheless, I got my answer. Edward has zero interest in me, and I'd be a fool to lose Emmett over some ridiculous, twenty-something crush." Her nose wrinkles in disdain that she quickly elaborates on, "I'm thirty now, and I want to settle down."
"Are you able to be faithful?" I ask without a single idea why. Rosalie's love life is none of my business, after all.
"Is that your concern?"
"Not at all."
"Good. I talked Edward out of buying me out," she adds rather nonchalantly after a pause, as my suspicion instantly heightens.
"Are you—"
"He made me sign an affidavit," she cuts me off with an obnoxious snort, "but he's easily the best lawyer in the city—the best on the west coast."
I can't deny that her words instill me with as much cynicism as pride. "And...?"
"And nothing. I gave him my word, which is now legally binding, and Emmett and I are engaged."
"Congratulations," I say coolly, glancing down at her left hand that is decidedly sans a diamond.
"We haven't bought it yet—you're going to make me work for it, aren't you?" She snorts again and folds her arms across her chest.
"Work for what?" I reply matter-of-factly. "I can't imagine we'll ever really be friends. We have nothing in common."
"Neither do you and Edward."
My back immediately straightens, and I all but glare at her. "And what do you know about me and Edward?"
"I've known Edward all my life," she says arching an inconsequential brow as if to challenge me.
"So I heard. You're his cousin, aren't you?"
She chuckles openly this time. "Not technically."
I search subconsciously for the exit, contemplating staging angina if only to spare myself from this misery.
"Believe what you like," I mutter, shrugging a jerky shoulder, and before Rosalie can offer me her retort, the waitress arrives and places a coffee and glass of wine before us.
"Though..." she continues after an uncomfortable several seconds of gauging me, "Edward deciding to date a midwife was the last thing I expected." She draws her breath back through her teeth in some kind of emphasis, and shakes her head slowly to herself.
What's more than obvious is she's being deliberately condescending.
"I'm not a midwife."
"Is there a difference?"
I can only scoff at her ignorance, and picking up my coffee, I sever that arrogant gaze of hers.
"And it doesn't bother you?"
"Doesn't what bother me?—that his wife died after Addie's birth and he's deathly afraid of hospitals?" I demand, struggling to keep my voice hushed, but she really is grating on my last nerve, and I'm already questioning why I'm even here.
"Not after, Bella," she corrects me behind a small, indiscreet smile. "During."
. . .
I stagger out of the restaurant without paying, without barely even acknowledging Rosalie in farewell, but it was either throw up inside or out on the street.
Thankfully, I do neither. The frigid Seattle air quickly sobers me, and with my palm wrapped firmly around my clammy brow, I make my way to my car on unstable legs. I tell myself not to panic, that it doesn't mean anything—that if Edward was so concerned about my profession, he wouldn't be with me, but it gives me no comfort.
It all makes sense though. All of it. Every single comment Edward made in the early days in regards to my job, the way his father reacted when I told him what department I worked in; how Edward rarely, if ever, asks me about my day; and Addie telling me how her father doesn't like babies.
I can only conclude that her birth was so traumatic it traumatized him just as equally, despite his feelings about his wife.
Wife... My thoughts turn caustic. She doesn't deserve to hold that title, but she sure did get the last laugh, it seems.
. . .
I cry the entire way home, despite not being certain I even have cause to cry. I could be completely overreacting, and for me, that wouldn't be unheard of. Regardless though, by the time I pull my car to a stop in the parking lot below my apartment, I've talked myself down from the ledge, and I've made up my mind not to mention a word of it to Edward. He's already been so open and forthright with me; I'm confident he'll tell me the whole story when he's ready.
As I'm heading upstairs, a thought suddenly occurs to me that maybe this is a good thing; Edward wants to be with me despite what my job represents to him.
It's enough for me to almost sigh in relief.
Almost.
Rosalie texts me as I'm reefing my clothes impatiently over my head to get ready for my run.
Don't worry, I won't tell Edward what we talked about today.
Huffing, I toss my phone to my unmade bed without replying. "Bitch."
As soon as I head out onto the street, warming up my arms and legs as I do, I immediately spot Addie. She's hanging over the picket fence, gazing along the sidewalk in the direction I usually come from, with her long hair spilling over her shoulders and fluttering in the slight breeze.
My heart instantly warms and the smile is already broad across my face before I'm aware of it. With a sudden burst of energy, I make my way toward her.
"Excuse me, little girl," I say gently tapping on her shoulder and coming close to scaring the life out of her, "I'm looking for a lost princess with beautiful blonde hair that glows in the moonlight—exactly like Rapunzel's—and who has a very, very handsome daddy. Her name is Adalyn Cullen. Do you know her?"
She stares up at me, her head tilting to the side and her brow quirked as though she thinks I'm completely nuts. "Bella..." she eventually says, using the same tone she does with her father. "You normally come that way." She points in the opposite direction.
"I'm running terribly late today. I was kidnapped by an evil witch who locked me in her dungeon full of ogres and tried to make me eat a poisonous apple," I teasingly exaggerate, making her giggle.
"You're silly—look what Daddy got me. He said I have to share them with you." From her pocket, she pulls out a roll of Love Hearts candy and holds them out to me to see. "Oh, Bella..." her expression suddenly falls, and her huge, clear green eyes widen with concern, "were you crying?"
"I wasn't, sweetie. I just... I have... hayfever," I attempt to put her fears to rest, but this astute little girl is seeing straight through me.
"Wanna come in?" she asks, unlocking the gate and taking my hand before I can open my mouth to reply. She leads me to the single step of the porch, sits down and tugs on my hand to join her.
"We can sit here in case it rains," she suggests.
"'Kay," I agree lightly, sitting myself beside her.
"Bella?"
"Hmm?"
She's gazing at me closely, a frown puckering her brow and reminding me so much of her father I'm in danger of completely falling apart. "You're sad," she concludes.
"I'm not sad—promise," I assure her.
"You know what my daddy does when I'm sad?" she asks undeterred because she's as smart as her father.
"What does your daddy do?" I relent and play along.
"He does this." Placing both her palms to my cheeks—her broken arm now fully healed and cast-free—she smooshes them and quickly kisses my puckered lips with an over accentuated "MWAH". Then pulling back, she knocks on the top of my head. "Ten thousand years will give you SUCH a crick in the neck," she quotes Robin William's genie in imitation of her father's voice as I break into laughter.
I can picture it clearly in my mind; Edward being goofy as he cheers up his little girl, and as my laughter continues enough for Addie to join me, what I really want to do is burst into tears.
I'm in love with them both.
"Do you feel better?" she asks when her giggling dies down.
"Lots better," I reply brightly, helping her out as she attempts to wrangle the candy from its packaging.
"What does it say, Bella?" she asks, holding out the first pink love heart.
"It's says 'be mine'."
"Be mine," Addie repeats. "Do you want this one?"
"You have it," I insist, and taking it from her hand, I place it between her lips. She giggles again and munches on it thoughtfully. "You have this one." She hands me an orange heart with "I love you" written on it. "I know what that says."
"What does it say?"
"It says 'I...love...you'." She sounds it out proudly.
"Very good." I nudge her, impressed, as her giggles return and she clamps her hand over her mouth to muffle them.
For the next few minutes we share the candy, reading out their inscriptions aloud, until Mrs. Cullen comes outside to join us.
"Goodness, I haven't eaten these in years," she exclaims as Addie hands her a love heart that says 'always'.
"Daddy bought them for Bella," Addie announces, and while I contemplate dying of mortification, I'm almost positive I see a faint smile light up on Mrs. Cullen's face.
"Did he?"
"Uh-huh, cause he wants to marry her. You know what he said this morning?"
"What did he say?" Mrs. Cullen asks, her voice hedged with amusement.
"He said, 'listen up, Tiger'"—she lowers her voice and imitates her father again—"'you stop pestering me about marrying Bella. I'll marry her when I'm good and ready'."
Mrs. Cullen turns to me, biting into her bottom lip as her grin threatens to break free, while I rapidly turn beet red.
"I should...head out for my run," I mumble awkwardly, getting to my feet.
Addie instantly follows suit.
"I'll send Edward around with your mail, dear," Mrs. Cullen says, pulling herself alongside me and squeezing my side.
"Are you gonna sleep over again tonight, Bella?" Addie asks innocently, and this time, I consider making a run for it down the street. "Daddy wouldn't let her sleep in my bed," she grumbles to her grandmother.
"I hope you're not bothering them too much, darling."
"I'm going to get going. Bye, sweetie," I break into their conversation, feeling like an interloper in the subject of my own relationship.
Sucking in her breath, Addie wraps both arms around my midsection. "Bye, Bella. Are you really not sad anymore?"
"Are you okay, dear?" Mrs. Cullen suddenly enquires, examining my eyes closely.
"I'm fine—it's just hayfever."
. . .
I run too long and too hard, pushing myself to my limits in a vain attempt to push what Rosalie revealed to me this morning from my thoughts. I'm unsuccessful though, on top of which, I almost do throw up, and as I'm clutching the pole of a set of traffic lights, waiting for the pedestrian light to signal walk, a charcoal grey car pulls alongside me with a honk of its horn.
I turn to see Edward at the wheel, his brow cocked in that tender sort of amusement he reserves for when he looks at me.
It still makes me go weak at the knees.
The window slides down, and leaning over the passenger seat, he asks, "Do you need a ride?"
I'm too breathless to speak, and can barely manage to nod my head.
The door pushes open, and I quickly scurry in.
"Bella..." he speaks more or less to himself after I wrap the seatbelt around me and practically fall unconscious against the leather upholstery. "What are you doing to yourself?"
"I'm... fine," I barely manage to articulate, breaking into a culpable smile when that eyebrow of his rises again.
His hair's as neatly combed as it usually is, and he's dressed in black. Black suit, black vest, black tie, but with a black and white checkered shirt beneath, and mother of god, this man really is the epitome of sex, beauty and masculinity.
"You look green," he points out after a pause, his sharp eyes on the road. "Have you eaten?"
"I..." Shit. I haven't. My breakfast got interrupted by Rosalie this morning, and my crepes by her admission.
"Bella," he says my name in complaint this time, his frown firmly back in place.
"I got distracted," is my feeble excuse, clearing the congestion of my bated breath from my throat.
He sighs heavily. "What were you doing this morning? It's not like you to cut out on me mid-text."
"I was having coffee with Rosalie Hale J.D.," I decide to come clean, and when Edward glances at me, his expression is an amalgamation of surprise and amusement.
"That's funny?" I put to him dubiously.
"I've just never heard your sarcasm first hand. What did she want?"
"She wanted to apologize," I answer cynically.
He scoffs bitterly. "Of course she did."
"And then she told me she and Emmett are engaged," I tack on.
"What?" he utters, his eyes wide before they very deliberately roll. "Oh, geez."
"You don't think it'll last?"
"That's the general consensus," he replies, turning down West Highland Drive.
"I can only imagine the degree of gaudiness Rose's wedding will be," I say wryly, bringing the grin back to Edward's lips.
"Okay," he begins when he pulls to a stop in the visitor's parking lot, "go shower and get dressed. I'll be back in a half-hour to get some food into you."
"Food? Is that what we're calling it now?" I say, being deliberately coy.
He smirks, then grabbing my hand he pulls me to him and plants his warm lips briefly against the coolness of mine. "Half an hour," he echoes against my earlobe, making me practically sway from the intoxicating scent of him.
"Mmkay," I sigh in compliance because I'm pretty sure I'd follow this man into Dante's Inferno if he asked, and as he exits his car and makes his way next door, I return to my apartment.
. . .
Edward is a man of his word, and when he gives me a time, he's never late. I'm still hastily drying my hair in the bathroom, when his familiar knock breaks my distraction.
"Bella, it's Daddy and me!" Addie's chirpy little voice choruses.
"Hello, Daddy and me," I tease her after opening the door to Addie high in her father's arms.
"She insisted," Edward relays ruefully, placing her back on her feet.
"Is this where you live, Bella?" Addie asks, entering the small foyer of my apartment and looking around curiously.
"It is," I say, grabbing my jacket from over the back of my sofa. "You coming, sweetie?" I hold my hand out to her when she ventures further inside.
With a happy grin, she takes it and practically swings from me.
"Daddy, I gave Bella the candy just like you said," she says as the three of us descend the stairs, with Addie positioning herself between me and her father.
"She did," I confirm, smiling slightly to myself from his replying smirk.
"That's good," he says lowly.
As soon as we exit the entrance doors into the fading sunlight, I pull the hair tie from my wrist and tug Addie to a stop beside me. "Hang on a sec. Let me fix her hair."
While Addie's hair is a wildflower, I know how annoying it can be to have it constantly in your eyes. Mine was as long as hers when I was little; my father wouldn't have it any other way.
"Bella, you should teach Daddy how to braid hair too," Addie suggests as I'm tying the front of her hair off her face in a French braid.
"I should," I agree, meeting Edward's gaze as he bows his head and shakes it.
"There are some things I'm not good at, and doing hair is one of them," he admits.
"Daddy can't even do ponytails," Addie outs him in open exasperation that makes me laugh.
"You talk too much, kid," Edward says with obvious affection behind his voice before hauling her off the ground and over his shoulder.
Instead of taking us to a café or restaurant to eat, Edward first stops off at Subway and then heads to Artists at Play; a park that's essentially a child's paradise. It has every play equipment imaginable, from jungle gyms to long cylinder slides, and the instant Addie recognizes it her breath draws in delight.
We find a park bench to sit, and since Addie confesses to already eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and banana at Grandma's for lunch, she eats the cookies that came with our meals before racing toward the very busy park at breakneck speed with her blonde hair flying out behind her.
"You take her here often?" I ask Edward as I watch her, taking a bite from my meatball footlong.
"All the time," he says with an edge of irony. "It's the only place that tires her out."
"Hmm," I hum, smiling along with him. "She's a ball of energy."
"That's a slight understatement." He breaks into a full grin that not only stops my heart short, but the group of mothers' passing by pushing strollers. I can hardly blame them, he's absolutely edible in his business attire today, but it's a very disconcerting thing to have your boyfriend constantly ogled in your presence.
Naturally, he doesn't notice, and chuckling softly, I lean against him for a moment.
"What's going on, Bella?" he asks pointedly after curling his arm around my shoulders.
"Hm?" I turn to him in confusion.
"Addie told me you were crying," he replies, scrutinizing every inch of my face with that shrewd gaze of his.
"I..." I shake my head dismissively, "I'm fine."
"Hey," he practically chides me, his voice turning firm. "Didn't we come to an agreement about that?"
"...What?"
"You promised me you wouldn't tell me you were fine when you weren't," he reminds me.
"Edward..." I say with a jaded breath, "I..." It's futile arguing with this man when he so easily traps me in contradiction.
"Did Rose upset you?" he prompts when I glance away to Addie swinging from a small zip line.
I reluctantly nod, chewing on my bottom lip as my thoughts become plagued. I can't tell him, though. I can't; I promised myself I wouldn't.
"What did she say?" he asks behind a short huff that's as resigned as it is annoyed.
"She was just her typical patronizing self, but I've... I'm sleep deprived and I let her get under my skin." It's not a complete lie, at least.
"Bella..." he begins when I quickly interject before I can prevent it.
"What possible motive could she have by telling me she's in love with you?" And if I'm being honest, that really pissed me off.
Edward laughs completely without humor. "She's not in love with me. It's not possible for Rose to love anyone other than herself. I was a conquest that she was forced to concede defeat on."
"I... I really can't understand women like her," I mumble after a moment of consideration as I glance down at my half-eaten sub.
"That makes two of us," he says just as quietly before he plants his lips gently to my temple. "No concerning yourself with her," he advises, as that intimidating, commanding tone of his pushes through to the surface again.
"Hmm..." I lean my head to his shoulder and release every last molecule of air in my lungs in absolute exhaustion. "I won't."
"Good," he replies in satisfaction, turning his head and resting his lips to the side of my brow. "I'll make you sleep well enough tonight."
"You'd better."
"BELLA! DADDY!" Addie suddenly shouts from her position at the top of the slide. "WATCH ME!"
We both turn in her direction as she disappears inside the giant tube, appearing again at the bottom a few seconds later. She waves in over animation, jumps up and down, clapping her hands in excitement, then immediately makes a beeline for the top again.
Edward groans and shakes his head to himself despite the universally recognizable proud daddy smile monopolizing his face.
"You love her." I nudge him playfully.
"I love you, too," he adds so casually for a moment it doesn't register with me.
"H-huh?" I stammer like a complete idiot, as my mouth falls open.
I mean, are we up to that? How long have we been together? I never thought Edward would say those three words first.
"You heard me," he says, and while his eyes are still asserting their usual intensity, there's something vulnerable behind them as well.
I'm suddenly welling with emotion and struggling to hold it back, then leaning against him, I kiss him repeatedly, before moving my lips to his ear. "I love you too too, Addie's daddy."
A/N: thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. Also, The Breakfast Club does not exist outside of the sims 4. Just a head's up.