Chapter 8.

EPOV.

I had always known that working as a doctor involves not the most stable work schedule. When my exes had complained about me sometimes missing our dates or meeting with friends, I had never understood their resentment. Being a doctor was a noble profession and I had always been busy helping people. But that evening when I was at the receiving end, I realized their displeasure. I wasn't mad at Bella; I was angry at the situation. Why did her patient decide to give birth on the very day I planned to introduce Bella to my parents?

Our Sunday dinner started as usual. My parents had always been very serious about family traditions, family was their first priority. So, after I got back from Chicago, my mom decided to return to our tradition of gathering at their house every Sunday. Guests as usual were Rosalie and her fiancé Emmet, Jasper and his wife Alice, and my Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte, Rosalie and Jasper's parents. It was the first night I was supposed to come not alone, but fate had other plans.

"Edward, we're tired of waiting for you. What's so special about your phone that you've been looking at it for an hour?" My mom's soft voice got me out of my brooding.

"I'm sorry, I was just waiting for the important message, but I guess not anymore. You can start without me. I'll be down in a few minutes."

Esme sent me a suspicious look but decided not to comment. I took one last glance at the phone, hoping to see that the labor was over and Bella could still make it, but I didn't get any new messages. I knew that my hopes were irrational, I was a doctor myself, and I knew that childbirth was an unpredictable process and could last more than 24 hours, but I was still checking my messages every ten minutes. Pathetic, I knew.

Everyone was sitting at the table when I finally came down. Mom looked at me again with genuine interest. Since I found out this morning that Bella couldn't make it to the dinner, I decided not to tell my parents about my new relationship just yet. It was better like that, less embarrassing talk about me.

"Finally! We've all been waiting here. Did something important happen?"

Rosalie laughed in her wine glass, she was the only other person who knew about my failed plan.

"Edward still hasn't told you?"

Mom looked at me curiously again, starting to suspect something, but kept talking to Rosalie.

"I don't think I know what you mean. What exactly was my son supposed to tell me?"

Rosalie looked at me eloquently, giving me a chance to tell it myself. How nice of her. Do you feel my sarcasm? I'm almost 35 years old, for God's sake.

"Mom, Dad, I have a girlfriend. Today I wanted to introduce you to her, but she can't be here today due to some work difficulties." Esme joyfully jumped in her chair at first, but then suddenly became serious.

"Please tell me that's not another Tanya?"

"What? No! You know me better than that."

"Esme, this time he really made a great choice. You even heard about her a few times before. Remember when Alice and I went on vacation together with our mutual friend?"

"Is that the Bella you've been friends with since college?"

"Yeah, that's her! I always knew I should introduce them. But they did it on their own. I think it's fate."

"Hello, I'm still here!" They were talking like I wasn't here, and I was starting to get annoyed.

"Edward, why haven't you told me anything about her before? I felt like you were hiding something these days, but I naively thought you were just excited to be back."

"Ohh, Mrs. C, he is excited enough, believe me." From the width of Emmett's smile, it was clear that the evening did not bode well. I figured maybe if I just ignored him, he'd lose his interest.

"I'm sorry, Mom. It's still fresh. I didn't want to rush things."

"It's just that after Tanya, I was worried that you were gonna stop dating. It's a good thing this gold-digging whore showed her true colors fast enough. God forbid if you proposed to her."

"Mom!"

"Esme!"

"Mrs. С!"

All three voices were heard simultaneously, but with different intonations. My father and I were shocked to hear Esme swear, Emmett sounded thrilled and kind of respectful.

"Emmett, darling, for you it's just Esme, we're almost family! And I don't know what you're all so surprised about, this girl has always brought out all the negative emotions in me."

It was true, Tanya for mom was like a red rag to a bull, because Esme immediately saw her pretense. And no one reads people like Esme Callen, but I was naive and I didn't take her advice.

"I know, mom. I can assure you that Bella is the complete opposite of Tanya. And I didn't even think about the possibility that you'd heard about Bella before."

"Yeah, I've heard some stories from Rosalie, all very positive. Your father and I would love to meet her. Maybe you can come over sometime next week?"

"I'll be sure to ask her. But she was so worried that she couldn't come today, one of her patients has gone into premature labor. I don't want her to feel guilty again." Mom smiled at my obvious concern for Bella.

"She has absolutely no need to worry about that, we understand that better than others, there is more than one doctor in this family. Maybe she can come to the next family dinner?"

The word "family" made me want to smile, but I managed to resist. I was thrilled to finally meet the girl who I wasn't afraid to introduce to my family.

"I'll be sure to ask her. I think you'll all like her. Even Rose loves her, and that says something!"

"Damn straight it does!" Emmet smiled again and then leaned over to kiss Rosalie.

Alice couldn't ignore the cute couple in front of her and sang the letter "о".

"So did you decide on the wedding date?"

"Yeah, I want a June wedding, and Emmett says he doesn't care. We even hired a wedding planner, she promised to help us with the location and other details. Emmett is thrilled because she's already arranged for us to have a tasting of the wedding menu. I think that's all he cares about." Rosalie rolled her eyes without looking at her fiancé.

"Baby, the most important thing at our wedding is you. Food is just a nice addition."

"Yeah, I believe you. I'm sure as soon as it comes to cake, you'll forget about everything. Can you believe this, he hasn't picked a tuxedo or even the ring yet, but he knows our menu almost by heart."

"Rose, don't worry, your father was the same way. But he ended up crying half the wedding and constantly trying to kiss me, and it was so sweet!" Aunt Charlotte looked at Uncle Peter with love in her eyes, Uncle Peter turned a little red and tried to hide it behind a cool glass.

"Rosie baby, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna cry, you know I'm a brutal man."

My father and Uncle Peter shared a knowing look but decided not to disappoint Emmett ahead of time.

"I can help him with his tuxedo, but I'm not a men's clothes specialist. By the way, the design for the bridesmaids' dresses is almost done. I'll e-mail it to you next week. I'll only have to measure Bella and I'll be able to get started."

Alice became our personal fashion designer after Jasper introduced her to the family. She owned a small brand of clothes, and she had been even lucky enough to dress a few celebrities for a red carpet. About four years ago, after her dress had been in the top three of the best looks of the season, she had been invited to an interview for a fashion magazine where Jasper worked as a photographer. After that, they had become almost inseparable.

"Thank you, Alice, I'm sure they're perfect."

After that the familiar light atmosphere resumed, all the girls started talking about the wedding, Dad and Uncle Peter started discussing financial matters, and Emmett, Jasper, and I discussed plans for the upcoming holidays. At some point, my mom interrupted our conversation.

"Edward, do you remember about our annual charity ball? Make sure you invite Bella."

"Of course, I think she'd love to be there. Bella likes charity."

"Wonderful! If she wants to, she can help us with the organization."

"I will pass the invitations, but I'm not sure she has that much of free time with her schedule."

"That's fine, as long as you can come to the event. There will be many acquaintances and colleagues of your father, I think they will want to meet his successor. So get ready for extra attention and warn Bella about it. The first time can be a little overwhelming." I just nodded in silence, picturing this chaos.

Around midnight everyone started to leave. First Peter and Charlotte, then Jasper and Alice, I volunteered and decided to give a ride to Emmett and Rosalie since I was the last designated driver. After a lot of hugs and a promise to call when I get home, we finally got in the car.

"Rose, would you mind telling me a little more about Bella and Jacob's relationship?" I wanted to talk to Rosalee about it as soon as I found out about this moron, but there wasn't a right time for this.

"Did she finally tell you about that idiot?"

"Yeah" My hands squeezed the steering wheel. "But I'm afraid to ask her for details. I can see she's still not comfortable talking about it. I know what it's like to be cheated on, thanks to my ex, but apparently, Bella had deeper feelings for this Jacob guy than I did for Tanya."

"Are you afraid she still loves him?" Rosalie voiced one of my greatest fears.

"Yes." The emotions in my voice surprised even me. It was an unpleasant mixture of fear, anxiety, and a little jealousy.

"I don't think it's about love, Edward. You have to understand that you haven't been friends with Tanya in years before you started dating. She also didn't sleep with your "kind of best friend" who happened to tolerate you just to help your ex control your life. And given what a skilled manipulator Jacob was, he did everything he could to make himself look like the perfect boyfriend who had to put up with such ungrateful Bella. What she's emotionally been through you won't wish on anyone."

A new wave of anger struck me, but before I could react, Emmett interrupted me.

"Rosie's right. When we first started dating, Rose introduced me to this Jacob and Bella, I didn't like him immediately, but we haven't been that close, and I couldn't be that open about what I thought."

"I think anyone would feel pain remembering their most depressing moment of life. She was in a bad place. So I'll tell you one thing, if you do anything to bring her back to her old-depressing self again, I'll kill you myself, Callen. It doesn't matter that we're related."

In the rearview mirror, I saw how Emmett nodded his head in agreement and looked at me seriously. I guess I should have been offended that my family was obviously on Bella's side, and not on my, but I was actually happy for her, after that Leah and Jacob she was worthy of having the best people around her, and my family was exactly that.

"I'll probably want to kill myself if I hurt her, so don't worry." And it was pure truth.

"Just don't hide anything from her, and I think you'll be fine. Bella's not stupid, she knows the difference between you and Jacob. Perhaps she feels some shame for her past, and that's where those emotions come from."

"Shame!? For what? She's not the one who cheated with a best friend while controlling every move of her ex."

"Because she was blind and fall into this kind of situation. No one would want to share the details. Besides, Jacob and Leah told her it was all her fault."

I wanted to go back in time and kill this two before they could hurt Bella.

"Is it okay for me to plan the murder of two complete strangers? I'm a doctor after all!" Emotionally, I hit the steering wheel, almost honking.

"You can get in line. You're not the only one with that desire."

After saying goodbye, I drove straight to my house. All the emotions after our conversation with Rosalie were exhausting me, I wanted to talk to Bella urgently, or just hear her voice, to remind myself that she was perfectly fine. But I couldn't do it because Bella promised to call me when she was done at work.

About half an hour later I got the desirable phone call.

"Bella! How are you?"

"Hey, I'm fine. I'm sorry I couldn't make it tonight. I hope your parents weren't offended."

"Bella, I've told you so many times today, they understand that better than anyone. Everything's fine. How was the delivery?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. A healthy girl. Her parents wanted her middle name to be Isabella, after me."

"Isabella's a beautiful name. With character. And how often does that happen?"

"Luckily not so often, I kind of feel responsible every time. What if the poor girl doesn't like her name in the future, and It's indirectly my fault?"

"I highly doubt that will ever happen."

I had an image in my head of a little girl who looked like Bella, and I couldn't help but smile. It was too early to talk about children, but the fact that I saw it in our future said it all. I was hoping Bella would want kids, too. With me.

"How was the family dinner?"

"As usual. Lots of wedding talk and discussions of other events. By the way, my family's throwing our annual charity ball soon. My mom's inviting both of us. I hope you can keep me company?"

"Sure, I'd love to. Rose has told me about it several times."

"Great! Mom also invites you to participate in the organization, but don't be fooled by it. She's got a whole staff of people in charge of these things, it's just an excuse to get to know you." Bella laughed at my words. " She knows you don't have a lot of free time, so don't be afraid to say no. You'll have plenty of opportunities to get to know each other better. Mom will take care of it."

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"She also suggested that we come over for dinner this week. As you may have noticed, she really wants to meet you."

If I were Bella, I'd be a little scared of my mom. Not everyone is used to people like Esme Cullen.

"I want to meet your mom too; I've heard a lot about her from Rosalie. And I want to talk with the woman who raised such a wonderful son."

"Say that to her when you meet her, and you'll win her heart."

After that, we laughed together, imagining our future meeting with my family.