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Chapter 90
Discussions
Edward
"No way, Jake!" I objected vigorously when we were in the dining room after the restaurant.
"Why not?" he stood defiantly in front of me.
"Not biology!" I insisted and confronted him.
I took a deep breath, forced myself to inner down and placed my hands placatingly on my son's shoulders.
We had already been arguing about this issue for a few minutes.
"Jake. You can't opt out of biology. This is about your future. The college won't care, I agree. But what about after that? After graduation, how do you explain that no natural sciences from your senior year stand on your transcript? ... One will consider that you were overwhelmed by the course content or that you had more important things to do. That doesn't speak well for you," I explained.
"Mooom ...?" he turned to Bella, but she was already on my side.
"No, Jake. Edward is right," she said calmly.
"Besides, Becky is not alone. Bran and Lisa have sociology together with her," Leah also contributed.
"And if it makes you feel better, I'll change to that subject," I added still.
"You would do that?" Jake looked at me incredulously.
"Of course, Jake. I understand what you want, and I will support you," I explained.
Jake finally relented, but he passed on my offer. For the time being, as he emphasized.
Soon we went to bed.
"Does Jake realize what he's putting himself through?" Bella asked me, as we were already in bed talking some more.
She was alluding to the seven weeks of class material he would have to make up. In addition, Becky had taken some advanced courses. His school performance would suffer greatly.
"Yes, he knows. And I will help him as much as I can," I said.
Bella calmed down by my promise and she soon fell asleep.
I tried to focus entirely on Bella and thus not listen to Jake's tense thoughts.
As soon as his cell phone rang, this attempt finally failed and I stood up again. My angel was unfortunately awake, although I crawled very carefully out of bed.
"Go back to sleep, dearest. I'm just taking Jake to Becky's. Eliza called him. She's restless," I whispered softly.
She nodded, threw off the covers from herself, and I smirked.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, Eliza," I said to Becky's mother afterwards. "The two of them have been together non-stop for the last few days. They'll have to get used to being alone again."
"Both of them?" she asked, a little taken aback.
I nodded.
"Jake couldn't get to sleep. He felt lonely," I explained.
We smiled understandingly.
I eavesdropped on her thoughts for a moment before really heading back home.
She had doubts about how long this would last. She had nothing against Jake and also nothing against these - for the age of the children - actually much too deep feelings for each other, but they could badly spend the rest of their lives together every day. Practically, that simply could not be implemented permanently. Maybe now, as long as they went to the same school. But what would happen after that? She also wondered how she was going to explain this to her husband.
I said goodbye.
"The Beauty and the Beast," I said just a minute later in the forest.
It was the answer to the question of what Emmett was trying to portray a moment ago.
Rose and Em played 'charades'.
Jake had tried to talk my siblings out of keeping watch at Becky's, but he was mercilessly overheard by them.
I would stand here and take turns with them myself, but Jake was unfortunately right about Bella, and restless was an understatement. I had caught her in a late-night monologue one night when I returned from hunting, as she sank into her hole wondering why I was promising her heaven on earth and my hand in marriage, if I was going to leave her again. But it had only been that bad the one time, whereby I had basically been gone the entire night. Moreover, Bella - at least according to her - had not remembered such a dream. Since Bella had said that the animals in the area were tagged with transmitters, we no longer hunted in the immediate area.
"How was I supposed to recognize?" complained Rose in response.
They had already seen that Jake was there and were just waiting for me.
Em felt that they should still keep watch, even if the two were together. After all, tonight would be the first night alone and by tomorrow word might have gotten back to Mike that Becky was back in town, since she would be going back to school tomorrow.
I thanked them both profusely and gave Rose the next movie title for her game: 'Underworld'.
At home, I quickly packed the necessary things for Jake when Leah stood in the doorway wondering what I was doing in Jake's room, where he was, and if anything had happened.
Quickly I calmed her down.
"I hope you're not mad at me, but I've already left the Audi at Becky's ... I'll fill up the Golf for you," I apologized.
That had nothing to do with Jake's complaint. I was just faster on foot and would also be back in bed with Bella faster.
She indeed smiled, but was mortally offended in her thoughts. Jake had already had the Audi for the last few days, and she thought Jake was getting pretty preferential treatment.
"You know that's not it," I took Leah into my arms. "We love you both and neither of you more or less than the other," I added.
'Sure. Jake doesn't have it easy at the moment. I just forget that sometimes,' she was still thinking. "Good night, Dad," she gave me a kiss on the cheek and disappeared back into her bed.
Then, while I drove the Golf quickly to the gas station and then walked to Jake's, I thought about Leah's thoughts.
We had certainly neglected Leah a bit in the last few days. We would probably have to undo that.
I put the school bag in the trunk and then jumped up to Becky through the thankfully unlocked window to put the backpack with Jake's stuff in it as well as the car keys there.
The two looked cute. And they slept peacefully.
I smirked.
When Brandon slept over with us, Jake snored almost inhumanly loud. With Becky in his arms, however, I had never heard anything like that from him. But I had to agree with Elizabeth. This could not become a permanent state. I certainly granted them spending so much time together, even if asleep, but Becky really needed to learn how to be on her own again. She had handled the rape well, for the short time that had passed since then. Not least thanks to Jake, whom she trusted unconditionally, and thanks to Jazz, with whom she spoke about it. But the fear of loneliness should not dominate them in the long term. But not today.
On the way home, I was still mentally making fun of Em.
He had not yet figured out what Rose was trying to show him very vividly. He had quickly recognized vampires and werewolves, but didn't come up with 'Underworld', although it was one of his favorite movies.
The next morning, I was still sitting at the breakfast table with Bella after Leah had already left early. She had to pick up Lisa and Jason before school, because their car was in the shop.
I told Bella about Leah and she wanted to think something for her. Some kind of compensation for our negligence of the last few days.
A car would be overdoing it, wouldn't it?
"And what are you doing all alone today?" I asked her curiously.
She had insisted that I go to school even though she was on forced leave, whereby I would have loved to stay with her. Last week she had taken on all the closets in the house and cleaned them out, but she was done with that. She didn't know it for sure yet, but getting dressed stood as the first thing on her plan. It was the only item on the to-do list for today so far.
I took a gaze at the clock.
I still had a little time ...
At some point Bella had sent me a message, so I was still standing in the supermarket after school.
I was getting better at shopping and no longer had to search the entire store for every new item on the list.
Then when I came home, Henry and Eliza Young were sitting on the sofa with Bella.
"Hi, sweetheart!" Bella greeted me stormily and threw herself into my arms while still in the front door.
"My heart. You must have missed me!" I whispered between our kisses.
"You have no idea how much! Nine hours can be long," she murmured still, but immediately took the bag with the purchases from my hand and turned back into the living room.
I greeted the unexpected guests in a friendly manner while Bella disappeared into the kitchen. I should have brought something from the frozen food section.
Henry then told me that he was personally fired by the head of his company - in the presence of Arnold Hanks.
I found it truly amazing how extraordinary this man's relationships were. Henry had already grappled with this thought before and had been far less surprised by it than his employer seemed to have liked. But he would not be intimidated by it.
I asked him what his profession was anyway.
He was a graduate economist.
"So, you studied business administration," I noted. We had arrived at the first name on Friday. He still thought my relationship with Bella was very strange, but after we had a very long talk about everything on Friday, he was overlooking my age by now.
He nodded in affirmation.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Carlisle.
"Tell me, Carlisle, you said yesterday, that you could use some help at the hospital. Someone who can take care of the business administration so you can still have time to actually be a doctor," I dug deeper.
He had not said it, but merely thought about it. There seemed to be so many administrative decisions to make that he could no longer exercise his actual vocation to the extent he wished. And most of these decisions didn't even require a medical professional, but someone who was familiar with the numbers and available resources of the hospital. Rosters, room occupancy, financial resources, purchases and the like.
I passed the phone to Henry and the two of them planned to talk about it in more detail later. When Carlisle would stop by Becky's house on the way home to change her bandage.
Henry was determined to turn down any professional offer from Carlisle. This was a matter of pride for him. He was a grown man, had an excellent college degree and some professional and life experience. He didn't want to have a job offered to him based solely on the fact that he was the father of the doctor's grandson's girlfriend.
Carlisle would already convince him.
"What smells so good?" I then asked in the kitchen when Henry and Elizabeth had left.
"Leah's favorite food. Chocolate muffins. Fries and burgers in a DIY kit."
"Luckily our pets have such a terrific metabolism. Otherwise, we could soon roll them through the house!" I said and immediately helped her with the dough for the muffins.
Today we didn't fool around with it like we did on her birthday.
It was very unfortunate, but I had to talk with her about something. Talk was probably the wrong word. It was going to be a life and death discussion! But let's start with the easy part ...
"... Becky was immediately relaxed and calm when Jake was with her," I now told her a little more about last night.
For a detailed report I had not yet had the opportunity, but I would make up for that now.
"Do I have the wrong opinion if I find that ... troubling?" asked Bella cautiously.
I asked her to explain her opinion to me. She had the same concerns as Eliza and me.
"Of course, on the one hand, it's very nice that they have the same love for each other and don't want to miss the other for a minute. On the other hand, however, it stands that Becky could develop a fear of being alone, which she may never lose. That in the fear, she clings too tightly to Jake, developing an emotional dependency whereby the smallest change in Jake's behavior could create an additional fear of loss," I agreed with her.
"Is there anything we can do about it?"
"I have an idea, yes," I began. "Becky should stay overnight here for the time being. But not with Jake, but in the guest room. And he should also not bring her right after school, but pick her up later. She needs to go back to her usual life, spend time with her family, meet her friends, study for school, pursue her own interests and so on. And the same for Jake. He only thinks about Becky at the moment and forgets about everyone else. That's not good in the long run. For both of them. At night, she would be here in the house, close to Jake, which might already be enough not to be subconsciously scared. If not, at least he wouldn't have to drive all over town ... We should gradually increase the distance between the two, depending on how well they cope with the situation," I explained my reasoning and Bella considered it for some time.
She thought that would at least be worth a try and I immediately phoned Becky's parents to make this suggestion to them. They had also just considered what tonight would be like and agreed.
"Hopefully they don't see the separate rooms as punishment," I was still hoping when I had already hung up.
"Your proposal! So, you will discuss this with them!" my angel indicated to me.
I slumped my shoulders in offense.
The muffins were in the oven and we could take our time with the rest until the kids would be here. That could take another hour. The practice should already be over, but Jake was still at Becky's and Leah wanted to stop by a friend's house before dinner.
We sat down on the couch, kissed each other stunningly, and at one point Bella lay on top of me.
Perfect conditions for confrontations. Well then, let's go into the fight for survival ...
"So, what's the current status of the college desires of the two? Leah certainly doesn't want to go to Berkeley anymore," I asked casually.
"I haven't thought about it at all," Bella let her head sink onto my chest.
I chuckled.
How could one forget such a thing in the last year of high school? But I had already chosen a university for my children and all the arguments just spoke for me. Really. ALL! ... Okay. The small matter of funding may not have exactly stood on my side, but who cared about such trivialities right now.
"Do you want me to tell you where Becky is going to study?" I sweet-talked as best I could.
Bella lifted her head and looked at me curiously.
I kissed her greedily.
Not that this wasn't already one of my favorite things to do anyway, I also needed to distract Bella somehow.
"Dartmouth," I whispered kissing her ear. Didn't work. That was clear.
Immediately she sat up.
"What?" asked Bella in amazement and an octave higher than normal.
I think I looked no differently, as I had heard that from Eliza's and Henry's thoughts earlier. As talented as Becky was, I had expected more of a musical study. That really showed what conversations Jake had been avoiding over and over again. He didn't want to know that they would soon have to separate for the duration of their studies and didn't even want to imagine that time.
"And she's already accepted," I purred in the most delightful voice possible to me and sensuously kissed the side of her neck. How much Bella intoxicated me! Her sweet skin. Her flowery scent ...
"How can that be? Except for Berkeley and maybe a handful of other universities, the application deadlines haven't even passed yet," Bella objected vehemently.
Had she even noticed that I was busy elsewhere? Apparently not.
I was a bit offended by that.
So, I sat down decently and continued more matter-of-factly.
"She interned with an influential person earlier this year who gave her a very impressive letter of recommendation, to which Dartmouth responded directly with an early commitment. The former Secretary of the Treasury of the USA. Becky will study economics," I said dryly and waited for a reaction.
It took a while.
"Economics?"
It almost sounded like a swear word.
I chuckled.
"With an emphasis in accounting tax law and business administration," I added, and Bella repeated it scornfully. "Yes, that's also a generally accepted college degree ... And just because you have no idea how to move numbers from left to right on a balance sheet and prefer to play with expensive lab equipment doesn't mean that everyone enjoys it!" I clarified.
She looked enchantingly miffed at me.
If she had not just ignored my attempts at seduction, I would kiss her immediately. But not like that! I also had to be strong! It happened seldom enough.
"Dartmouth," she then said tonelessly.
Time to make my arguments.
"One of the best universities in the world. An excellent natural sciences department. Not on the other side of the country. Only two and a half hours away by car. On foot, our predators only need an hour. They would certainly be home every weekend. Jake and Becky wouldn't have to suffer through a breakup. And I'm sure Leah would be happy to be persuaded to study there, too."
Bella was apparently mulling over my arguments. There was a sparkle behind her eyes.
"Persuade? You can't force Leah to go there!" she grumbled at me.
A tone of despair. For sure.
I leaned toward her, slid a hand down the back of her neck, gave her lips a fleeting kiss, and looked into her big almond eyes.
"Could I force Leah to do anything?" I whispered and slowly started kissing her properly.
A few minutes passed until Bella was lying with her back on the sofa, I kept caressing her lips until she pushed me a little away from her and looked me in the eyes.
"That must be quite expensive, however!" she fought back.
"I don't think you'll ever have to bother about money again! Even if you send me to hell!" I persisted against it and continued kissing.
"That I never will!" she promised.
"There we go!" I stated victoriously and let myself fall all over her.
But she destroyed my little triumph.
"Send you away, I merely meant!" she corrected.
Well, I rejoiced too soon.
"The fact that you gave them the credit cards I think was already way too much. After all, they are my children. I'm responsible for them ..." Bella spoke, but I interrupted her when I felt a stab in my cold heart.
"Don't ever say that again!" I threatened, looking her seriously in the eyes.
"What?" inquired Bella, uncomprehending.
She had truly hurt me, but didn't seem to have noticed it at all. She was undoubtedly mentally elsewhere, whereby I already suspected what she wanted to get at.
"That Jake and Leah are YOUR children!" I answered first of all.
"Forgive me," she said immediately, looking at me apologetically and breathing a soulful kiss on my lips. "I know how much you love those two ... That's not what I wanted to say. I just mean that I raised them to it ...," she then began to explain, but I interrupted her again.
I pulled her over to the dining room table where one of our laptops stood. I sat down and lifted Bella onto my lap, so she couldn't leave. I quickly entered an address in the browser.
"What are you going to show me now?" complained Bella as the page from 'American Express' popped up.
I logged in and clicked around until I got to the right page.
"That's a strange account number. Quite long and even with two decimal places after the comma," Bella mocked as she glanced fleetingly at the screen.
"That's not the account number," I corrected. I waited a moment until my angel breathed again. "That's why I don't really care what the three of you actually do with the cards," I added further.
Bella knew that I had a lot of money. Already back in the past. But seeing it expressed in numbers made the dimensions of my fortune clear to her. What can I say? Alice was good at playing the stock market, and with my parents' inheritance and what Carlisle had accumulated over two and a half centuries, Alice had been in a very good starting position.
"But that's not what I wanted to show you," I said, clicking on the children's accounts. "You've raised the kids in an exemplary way. They know that money is not a privilege," I whispered in awe.
She had taught the children values. Among other things, that money didn't just happen to you and that one had to work for it. And if it did stand at one's disposal, in this case almost indefinitely, it did not inevitably for Jake and Leah also mean making unlimited use of it.
"Is that all?" my angel asked incredulously.
"No. That's all," I chuckled. Jake had used the card to pay for a romantic dinner with Becky, and Leah had filled the car up with gas. A whopping two debits in over three weeks.
I took another closer look.
There had been one added. A chocolate store in Wells. But I smiled. Even if the statements showed hundreds of transactions, I wouldn't mind.
I turned Bella on my lap so she was sitting sideways on me.
"You see, OUR children are aware of how to handle money. So please don't ever tell me it was too much when I gave OUR children those cards." I gave my touched angel a kiss and logged off again. "So, do you want to deny our children the best education possible just because you're too proud to take my money? Money that legally will belong to you after our wedding anyway?" I now asked honey-sweetly.
"That was quite a thing you thought up!" pouted Bella heartbreakingly.
"Mmm ... mmm ..." I confirmed and kissed my angel devotedly.
"So, Dartmouth!" Bella completely gave up after a few more minutes of kissing.
"Since you're being so reasonable right now ... I have one more topic," I strained my luck a little further.
"What?" she already contorted her face contemptuously.
I chuckled.
"Let's talk about cars!"
Thank you for reading!
