DISCLAIMER: The story doesn't belong to me; the characters are property of S. Meyer, and the plot belongs to Annalau Thank you so much for letting me share your story in English!
Gracias Laura, por darme esta oportunidad!
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Chapter 26
"This is Edward," Isabella holds my hand and urges me to approach her father, "my boyfriend," she introduces me with a big smile.
"The boy is Pat," she continues as my teenager peers behind me and waves his hand in the direction of the man with the bushy mustache, "his son."
The tall, gangly man standing under the threshold scans us. His annoyance is evident because his brow furrows. To be honest he looks a little funny looking intimidating.
"What's this all about, daughter," he asks, "What about Tyler?"
Isabella gets nervous and starts rubbing her forehead looking up at me trying to keep her smile. I give her hand a light squeeze, letting her know that everything is okay.
"Dad, my thing with Ty is over. I'm with Edward now, we've been together for a few months."
"Oh, I see," he mumbles. Welcome," his face shows his displeasure, yet he greets me with a handshake, his eyes showing that there is a pending conversation. "I am Charlie Swan."
I'm not good at introducing myself to parents, in fact, I think this is the first time I've ever been introduced to the parents.
It's a bit strange and awkward at the same time. I am grateful that after the introductions and questions of all kinds to me we are sharing dinner time. Not that sharing the table with four strangers is any better, especially when Isabella's younger siblings are trying to be funny by bothering her at every second. My grumpiness has a limit and clearly, they are overstepping the line.
The stepmother may have the upper hand, though. A haughty and manipulative woman living with a gentle man with a lack of initiative, an unhealthy combination and very prone to Isabella having grown up in hell with a father who is unable to put two stupid teenagers in their place when he sees how they offend his eldest daughter.
"We're leaving," I announce, dragging the chair back and reluctantly tossing the napkin on the table.
"Why don't you stay with us?" Swan asks. The man is in the chair across from me, just watching his daughter and me. "You could sleep in Seth's room."
The unruly teenager grumbles and makes my gaze go straight to him, warning that I'm not at all tolerant. The boy soon averts his eyes from me and concentrates on his cell phone.
"Darling," the woman interjects, resting her hand on Charlie's arm. "Maybe the Cullens have other plans, don't they?" She looks at me in such a way that I can only react in the same way. "Maybe Bella wants to go with them too, right?"
"I'll stay," Isabella replies, her father leans over the table and takes his daughter's hand smiling tenderly. At least his affection for her is noticeable and this time he doesn't seem to give in to Sue's manipulation.
At this point Leah protests and grumbles in her chair. The girl is an obnoxious teenager for her fifteen years. Containing all my lousy temper I rest my hand on Isabella's thigh and start rubbing my fingers on her soft skin taking advantage of her wearing a skirt, she squeezes my hand and moves it absent-mindedly.
"Stay," she whispers to me, I smile at her as I now slide my fingers down her cheek, and she rests her face in the palm of my hand. "I don't want you to leave," she says.
It worries me to realize that Isabella can ask for anything from me and I am able to give it to her because I can't bear to give her a negative. Resigned we stay at the Swans' house accepting a tiny bed where I prefer Pat to sleep while I choose the floor.
I hear my son's first snores. Pat hadn't stopped moving in several hours, I don't blame him because I haven't been able to fall asleep either, angrily I kick the blankets off me. I need some fresh air. Only first I need to see Isabella.
I give a few soft knocks on the door, she comes out in a short nightgown and barefoot and looks nervously into the next room where her father sleeps.
"What are you doing here?" she whispers.
I circle her waist and lean in to kiss her, feeling each of her soft curves pressed against me.
"I wanted to kiss you," With one hand wrapped around her waist and the other on the back of her neck I kiss her again moving my lips fiercely over hers until we both can't breathe. "Why don't we sleep together?"
"Not here. Leah sleeps in the bedroom," she mumbles as she continues to watch the door.
"Then let's go to the van, we can sleep there."
She nibbles her lower lip and after a brief silence accepts.
"Wait for me in the van, I'll bring some blankets," she closes the door behind her.
I go downstairs in a better mood knowing I won't be sleeping alone. In the small living room Seth, the annoying brother, sleeps with light snoring on the couch.
I barely make it outside and relax as I feel the icy wind on my skin. I rub my arms and make my way to the van sitting in the back.
The night is different despite the coolness, there are stars, and the sky looks clear.
"Are we sleeping outdoors?" Isabella's soft voice makes me turn around, she comes closer sitting next to me, she is freezing, immediately my arm wraps around her leaving a kiss on her forehead and sticking her body to my side.
"No, I just wanted to be out here for a few minutes." As I get off, I hold her waist and put her on her feet, "Let's go inside the cabin."
The double cab provides enough space to lie in the back, tangled in the blankets I try to cover Isabella's petite body while she lies on top of me.
She sighs.
"I can't imagine our life together. You're not going to forbid me anything, are you?"
"Love..." I lift her chin and her eyes narrow with extreme curiosity "We will be life partners, not your master. We both have our occupations, and we are not going to change it by living together. I mean, I still have to go to the office, and I rarely have to travel for work, there's also Pat and his school" I snort. "Lately he doesn't like his classes and I have to go to meetings with the teachers. And you know well that I like to get up early to go running and in the afternoons I can spend hours training box" I shrug my shoulders. "Maybe some weekends I'll ask you to get lost somewhere to camp or just go hiking."
"Well, my life is simpler," she says, "My classes are Monday through Thursday, and my afternoons are spent doing homework, sometimes I will need to work in a team with my classmates. I'm looking for a job and I won't give up until I find one. I am a very sleepy person and on weekends I don't want to get out of bed. I'm also a bit messy. Oh, and on Wednesdays I go out to lunch with Jess."
I hug her tighter when she hides a yawn in my chest.
"Sleep. I don't want you to stay awake."
She snuggles into me, and I know she's falling asleep because she's stopped moving.
"Edward?" he murmurs after a few minutes, "Are you jealous?"
"I guess so, why?"
"Because I'm very jealous. I don't want to hear about any lizards hanging around you because I'll want to drag them all over town."
I stifle a laugh and it doesn't come out because I start coughing, I'm laughing at her nonsense.
"Sleep now, my love. Yours is pure sleep," I start rubbing her back and she raises her face looking at me angrily.
"I'm not playing, Edward. I don't want to know you're dating anyone behind my back," she warns, her face twitching.
Isabella is adorable despite her angry moments.
I begin to run my fingers over her scalp in a soft, soothing massage until my eyes begin to close...
"Edward, my love, we fell asleep" Isabella's soft voice makes me blink, I barely open my eyes and the clarity makes me close them again. My body is completely stiff. "I have to get dressed," she says, "I'm in my nightgown and God, they're already awake!"
I hear a door slam and I'm about to look for a better position to continue sleeping when Isabella's altered voice reaches my ears.
"I'm not a child!"
I sit up, sitting up and observing more clearly that she is arguing heatedly with someone, without thinking I come down and approach her.
Sue and Charlie are in the room with their arms crossed when they see me, Swan's face seems to tense up, he walks by me and asks me to talk. With a sigh, I follow him onto the porch.
"What are your intentions with my daughter? Because I don't like your relationship. You're older than her and with a son," the man exhales, messes his hair and flexes his leg for perhaps the most threatening position there is. "You're not the guy I want for my Bella."
"If I could pick my girlfriend's family I'd have to say I don't like you guys in the slightest either."
Charlie's brown eyes meet mine warily.
"Look, Swan, let's not complicate our lives because we won't get anywhere. We both love Isabella and she's all that matters, at least to me she does."
"What do you mean? I love my daughter and I will never allow her to be hurt."
I rub my temples. Charlie reaches for his highest timbre and even then he can't sound voracious and threatening. It's... desperate to deal with a weak man.
"What do you know about her, Swan?"
"She's my daughter. I've known her since she was born."
I exhale noisily. At this point, I don't want to be disrespectful to him. Charlie's not bad, just maybe his submissive nature dragged him into being the complete puppet of a manipulative woman who makes him always ignore his eldest daughter. Actually, he still annoys me, but I can't do anything to make him change his weak way of being.
"I will take care of your daughter with my life. Isabella is also my responsibility now and I will not allow anyone to dare to disrespect her, not even her siblings. I don't like the way they treat her, and I will not let them touch a single hair on her head."
Charlie's face reddens as he looks down at his feet.
"Who are you to come into my house and threaten my children?" Sue thinks as she arrives next to us.
"Educate them if you don't want me to criticize them," I warn her, "I will not tolerate their stupid jokes or bullying Isabella. No one will ever make her feel less."
The woman is about to throw herself at me. Isabella intervenes by hugging me, I know she is calming me down. I breathe in the delicious scent of her hair; I need to control my bad mood because I am capable of telling their truths without measuring consequences.
"Are you listening, Charlie?" Sue articulates, her voice infused with venom. "They're disrespecting our family; won't you do anything?"
"You want to make him choose between your children and Isabella?" I sentence. "Because that's what you have done all this time, you have put him to choose and have made him forget about his eldest daughter."
"Edward..." Isabella whispers "Please."
"Charlie," I turn to the frightened man behind his wife, "I will take care of your daughter as you never could, and the doors of my house are open to you as long as you give Isabella her rightful place. We have nothing to do here" I intertwine my fingers with Isabella's. "We'll go to a hotel, I'll let you know in case you want to visit your daughter."
Charlie visited us the two days we were staying in a small hotel in town. The few minutes he spent with his daughter were enough to make her happy. Although he promised to visit very soon, it was obvious that he wanted to keep in touch with her, he just lacked the courage to face Sue and make it happen.
.
.
.
Inside.
The room has another, less sober feel to it, it is now vibrant and full of color. In the corner there is a white dressing table with a mirror full of lights around it with a small stool where Isabella can sit and make up without any hurry. On the right side of the bed, the giant bear seems to welcome us.
There is a vase with red roses on the bureau on Isabella's side, her laptop is open in the middle of the bed next to her headphones, and her backpack is on the floor with some books scattered around.
My closet has also changed; it is now decorated by several lines of lights on the wall, my clothes are still in the same place, although now there are dresses, skirts, and blouses of various colors in one corner. Where my boots usually are, there are also high heels and Converse sneakers in different colors, not to mention the different bags hanging there. Also, the bathroom now has all kinds of creams and scented candles everywhere.
I smile.
I won't be alone anymore.
"Love, you're finally here," Isabella throws herself into my arms and I hold her as she wraps her legs around me. "How do you like our room?"
She spreads her arms out showing the little changes that happened.
"It's perfect," I reply with a smile and walk with her leaving her on the bed. "How was your day?"
She gets down on her knees to kiss me, bites my lower lip with her teeth and tugs on it making me hiss.
"You forgot to kiss me," she pouts.
On her knees in the middle of the bed, my hands go to her waist, I squeeze her skin a little with my fingers and attract her to my body until she is on top of me, one of my hands on the back of her neck I bring her close enough stealing a strong, long, and wild kiss that leaves us breathless for a few moments.
Isabella touches her still agitated lips and smiles at me.
"Do you know your kisses make me wet?"
I laugh at her sincerity.
"I mustn't get distracted, Edward," she becomes serious, "I have a lot of homework today. But tell me, how was your day at the office?"
She gets off me, kneels down and turns her attention back to the laptop.
I lie on my back, letting my head lay back on the pillow.
"Carlisle is back in the office."
Isabella looks up from the screen with no surprise in her eyes.
"He came in imposing orders, and we argued."
"What did he say?"
"He proposed to work in another city, and I didn't accept. He won't impose his will on me, if he could never do it when I was a teenager I won't let him now."
Isabella puts her laptop aside and approaches me; first, she bites her lip to the point of pressing it so hard with her teeth, then she twists her fingers without fixing her eyes on me.
"I don't want you to leave me alone," she takes a deep breath as if trying to fill up with air. "Don't go, Edward."
She leaps into my arms, snuggling into my chest.
"Hey..." I hold her face in my hands. "I'm not going anywhere unless it's with you and Pat."
She nods hesitantly.
"I need to tell you something," her voice turns to a whisper, "Do you think my information on the Internet platform can be misused? You know, the ad thing. I don't know how to remove my name from that place."
I sit up immediately, understanding the direction of the conversation.
"I have a friend who is into hacking. I'll ask him for help if it makes you feel better."
Her beautiful brown eyes seem to fill with happiness as she nods again.
"Yes," she assures him, "I need my information gone, I don't want anyone to be able to blackmail me with it."
"Then so be it."
Her arms wrap around my neck, pulling me down on the mattress and making me laugh.
"Dad," my son knocks on the door, "what are we having for dinner?"
Isabella jumps up and arranges her dress and her hair.
"I'll take over," she says, "I'm going to feed my boys from now on."
I lean my elbows on the bed and watch her.
No, Isabella can't be serious. She cooks dreadfully, I still don't understand how Jessica survived her culinary attempts. I watch her leave to meet Pat, then I drop back onto the bed.
"Oh, God! My stomach won't hold out."
One more chapter, I'd love to read your opinions on Charlie, Edward, Sue or whatever you wanna write about the characters ; )
Thank you for reading!