17 Building Castles
Edward spent a good part of the next day making phone calls and preparing paperwork. The problem was that, for all the aid that was included in the package, it wasn't enough. It would improve Charlie and Billy's living conditions and let them drive again, but that wasn't what had made Bella cry the night before. Her concern had been about money. She and Charlie were having a hard time making the payments they already had. Funding a new remodel wouldn't solve that problem.
So he did some investigating—which meant he called his law firm and had a lawyer do some investigating. After a quick search of public records, the lawyer reported that a significant amount of money had been borrowed against Charlie's house a couple of years prior, and again a couple of years before that. The total had been in the range of $65,000, and amortization schedules being what they were, Edward suspected that the principal hadn't decreased much in the last few years.
It made sense. The police department was probably supposed to cover the bulk of the medical bills Charlie had incurred, but insurance didn't pay for all of the expenses that came along with a major injury. Like whatever remodeling had already been done to the house to put a bathroom on the ground floor. Like physical therapy that some insurance adjuster might have decided was unnecessary. And Edward suspected that the pay situation for an officer on leave could get dicey. He figured there was a good chance that Charlie wasn't bringing home as much money right now as he had been before his accident.
So, yeah, borrowing against the house was pretty much inevitable. Edward was actually a little surprised that there didn't seem to be an existing mortgage prior to the recent borrowings. The house must have been paid off before Charlie's accident. All of that was convenient for Edward, because it made it really easy just to have his lawyer draw up a little agreement that included permission for Edward to pay off the loan that had already been used to pay medical expenses. He could just slip that into the packet, and he suspected nobody would even notice the addition.
While he was on the phone, he kept his hands busy with other tasks. He changed diapers, fed Alice breakfast, washed the dishes, did a load of laundry, convinced Alice to take her drum outside, and fit in a good chunk of time churning out pages for the graphic novel. And Edward finally, finally, found his groove.
He had never been a big multitasker before, especially when it came to his art. He'd always insisted on being alone, turning on C-SPAN in the background, and getting totally engrossed in the work. He'd tried so very hard to recreate his preferred working conditions in the Forks house, but of course, it never worked. He wasn't alone and Alice constantly needed something. But that morning, Edward sat down with Alice at the breakfast table and managed to get two pages done while he micromanaged her bites of food. He did another with the phone propped on his shoulder while he talked mortgages and contract language with his lawyer. When Alice tripped and fell in the mud, Edward scrubbed her down and let her play in the bathtub for a while, and several more panels got completed while he sat with her.
For the first time in a long time, he felt productive. And what was even better was that he didn't have to be a bad parent to produce. All of this could happen with Alice right there beside him, as long as he was willing to use whatever minutes were available to him while Alice's attention was engaged elsewhere.
He'd intended to complete a few more pages while Alice was down for her nap, but his new car was delivered just after he got her to sleep, and it needed to be admired. He spent a few minutes fiddling with the features, and then he decided to get Alice's car seat transferred into the SUV. Which he hadn't expected to be an epic clusterfuck of a chore, but it turned out that it was. It took an hour and four YouTube videos before he had the car seat belted solidly into place with no wobble. Who knew the things were so damn hard to install properly? There were pre-existing buckles built right into the car, and it was still fucking rocket science to get everything fastened in accordance with recommended safety standards. Edward remembered Bella driving Jacob's kids around in her truck, and he felt truly sorry for her for having to transfer those things from one car to another.
Thankfully, he managed to get the seat installed before Alice was done with her nap. So as soon as she woke up, he started getting her ready to leave the house.
"Remember that new SUV we bought?" Edward asked her.
"Potoey wun," Alice said, pointing to the tiara she wanted him to braid into her hair.
"Sparkly one. you got it. Anyway, the new SUV is here. We have a new car."
"New taw?"
"Yep. It's that big black one. Remember?"
"Hassum weentine?"
"I mean, yeah. The new car has video screens too, so you can still watch your shows in the car. Only we can stream them now. We don't need DVDs."
"Deebeedees?"
"We don't need them anymore. We can watch Netflix."
"Nepfwips? Afia?"
"Yeah, we can totally watch Sofia in the car now."
"Oh, yes!"
"That's the spirit. You want to try it out? I need to go visit Charlie and Bella."
"Boa?"
"Yep. You want to go see her?"
"Iss Wunzay? So-wee tine?"
"No, it's not Wednesday. We're going to Bella's house."
"Boa house?"
They chattered away about their plans for the day until Edward had Alice's hair fixed the way she wanted it. She loaded up her pendy puss with coloring books and her new sparkly gel pens, and at the last minute she ran back to her toy basket and dug out her plastic microphone. That got tucked into the bag as well, and then she was ready to get in the car. Edward had to take a minute to convince her that she didn't need to get a DVD from the entertainment unit, but he could tell that she was ready to pitch a fit as soon as he tried to drive her anywhere without putting on a movie for her. She was allowing him a chance to show her the new car features, at least, for which he was grateful.
"This way," Edward said, directing Alice to the front door instead of the garage. "The new car is out front."
Alice changed direction and followed him out the door.
"A-diss?" she asked as they approached the black SUV.
"This is our new car."
Alice looked confused. She looked toward the garage, and then back at the SUV.
"Do you like it?"
"Iss bid."
Edward laughed. "It is big. Enough that I won't have to stoop over to buckle you into your car seat. You want to try it out?"
"Um. Tay."
Alice clearly wasn't as excited about the car as Edward was, but that changed as soon as he started playing Sofia for her. Alice cheered when the theme song came on, and he handed her the remote so that she could control the play as she chose.
"Habba yawa!" she told him as he drove to Bella's house. "Yite Afia!"
"Oh, yeah? Does Sofia have a tiara too?"
"Uh-huh! So pity!"
She told him all about the show she was watching as they drove, and by the time they reached Bella's, Alice had decided that the new car was acceptable.
Edward packed her up to the porch and knocked on the door, and when Bella answered she looked exhausted. Instead of letting them in, she stepped out onto the porch with them.
"Do you mind if we work out here?" Bella asked. "Charlie's having a bad pain day and I want him to rest."
Edward nodded. Bad pain day? Possibly. But it was also possible that this was all really embarrassing for Charlie and that Bella wanted to spare him the worst of it.
Bella led him to a wicker chair that she had placed near the porch swing with what looked like an old, rickety night stand placed between them. Not exactly a luxury office, but it was out of the rain, and the weather was warm enough. Bella perched on the edge of the porch swing, so Edward settled himself into the chair.
"A-diss?" Alice asked as Edward flipped open his folder.
"Boring grown-up stuff," he told her. "You want to color?"
"Um. Yes."
Edward helped her lay out a coloring book and her pens, and then he returned to his file.
"Most of this is going to need Charlie's signature," Edward said. "Unless your name is on the deed to the property?"
Bella shook her head. "Just go through it all with me, and if I'm happy with it I'll tell him to sign."
So he did. Edward reviewed the inspections that would be required, the permits they would have to file for, the contracts that would need to be signed, and the purchases that were involved. And after all of that, he flipped to the page that requested the details of the standing mortgages.
"Wait," Bella said. "This wasn't here before."
He considered pretending that it had been, that she had just missed it, but it felt too gaslighty. So instead he tried to shrug it off. "It's just investment protection."
She arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"We don't want to put all this time and effort into a house that might get foreclosed on. It's best to take care of any outstanding claims."
"Why would it get foreclosed on?" Bella demanded.
And, shit. He'd offended her.
"It probably won't. But what if you got injured tomorrow? With the house being used as collateral against your loans, that would put you all in a really scary situation."
Bella pressed her lips together. "How about this? If that happens, you have standing permission to bail us out and pay off the loans. But if it doesn't, we just handle it ourselves."
"Easy to say now, but what if it happens after I've left Forks?"
"There are telephones," she said drily.
Edward set his pen down. "Bella," he said gently, "if we're going to do this, let's really do it. Let's not cut corners. I want to see this house become a safe and usable space, not a burden that's stressing you all out."
"We've got this worked out. Jacob and Grace are helping with the loans."
"Yeah, I hear they've been putting in a lot of overtime. Don't you think they'd rather spend that time with their kids?" He smiled, thinking of Grace cleaning Colin's urine off the kitchen floor. "Frustrating as those kids may be."
Bella swallowed. That, at least, had hit home.
"This is good for everyone. Let's do it. All the way."
She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back on the swing. She looked like she was going to dig in her heels, but she didn't. In fact, it seemed like she was actually considering it. For a long time. It was almost a full minute before she spoke again.
"I know your secret."
He felt his eyebrows draw together. "What?"
"You keep trying to pass this off as your dad's thing, but I know the truth. You're a generous person."
She'd said it like an accusation, so he reacted in kind. He gasped dramatically and drew back, his hand pressed to his chest. "How dare you?"
She allowed a laugh.
"You'd better not spread that around," he said, because he definitely wanted more laughter from her. "I'll sue for defamation of character."
She shook her head and covered her eyes. He was pretty sure that she was laughing . . . and then he was pretty sure she wasn't. No, that definitely wasn't laughing anymore. She was crying.
"Hey. Whoa." He moved to sit beside her on the swing and put an arm around her. "What did I fuck up now?"
Okay, that was a laugh, even if there were tears falling along with it.
"Nothing. You're fine. I'm sorry I keep crying on you."
"It's cool. I'm absorbent." And he really didn't mind having an excuse to hold her close.
She laughed again. "I guess I'm going to be able to afford that new alternator now."
"Oh, yeah, your truck. What's happening with that?"
She wiped at her eyes and sat back, though not far enough that he had to remove the arm that he'd put around her shoulders. "Jacob had a friend tow the car back to his house. He was going to go to a junkyard after work this morning and see if he could find a replacement part."
Edward's expression must have been dubious, because Bella nodded.
"I know, it's an old truck. Chances of finding a replacement aren't great. He wanted to try, though, before we ordered a new one."
"Welp. This is what the whole house thing is all about, right? Getting you—all of you—to a place where you can handle these extra expenses when they come up."
She was shaking her head again. "You just have no idea how much this means. There's no way I'll ever be able to thank you properly."
"It's all Dad," he said with a grin, knowing full well that they'd already covered this ground and blatantly ignoring it. "And you don't have to thank him, circumstances being what they are."
"Still. If there's ever anything I can do for you."
"Careful what you promise, there, Swan. I'll hold you to it."
"Good. I hope you do." But she was looking past him. "Does she want juice?"
Edward glanced back. At some point Alice had gotten tired of coloring and was wandering around the porch singing into her microphone.
"Bayma onna joose!" she was singing, and her voice went all high-pitched on the final word. "Bayma onna joose!"
Edward grinned. He'd seen Leah and Alice singing this one together, so he knew this song. "Hey, Alice!" He rose and strode over to her scooping her up into his arms. He started dancing around with her as he tilted her microphone to his own mouth. "It ain't my fault that I'm out here getting loose!"
Alice pulled the microphone back. "Bayma onna joose! Bayma onna joose!" She poked the microphone back at him.
"It ain't my fault that I'm out here making news!"
"Bayma onna joose! Bayma onna joose!"
Alice dissolved into giggles and Bella started clapping. "We've got a couple of divas here!"
"Deebas!" Alice agreed.
Edward kissed Alice's cheek and set her down again. He returned to the table and picked up the page they'd been talking about. "So we're doing this?"
"Yeah . . . but only because I'm dazzled by your showmanship. Hang on while I go get the mortgage paperwork."
She came back a few minutes later with the information Edward needed to work with the bank. Then, with that out of the way, the final project to go over was the van.
"We need to choose a couple of wheelchairs for them," Edward said, sliding a page over to her.
"What do you mean? They have chairs."
"Yeah, but the lifts on the van only work with a few particular models. The idea is that they drive onto the lift and dock, and then the lift raises them into the van. There aren't even any seats in the front of the van because the wheelchairs go there."
"What about when Charlie starts walking again? He won't be able to drive the van?"
"He can if he keeps that chair stashed in the garage. He'd just use it exclusively for driving."
Bella looked over the page of options. "They're all motorized."
Edward shrugged, holding back a smile. "What can you do? The van works the way it works."
Bella rolled her eyes, almost as though she knew that the manual wheelchairs would work fine and he was just pushing more bells and whistles on them. She seemed to be done offering protests, though, because she stood up. "Give me a few minutes and I'll talk all this over with them."
Edward spent the next twenty minutes or so playing with Alice. He worried in the back of his mind that Charlie and Billy were resisting the choice of wheelchairs. But then, maybe the time Bella was gone was a good thing. Maybe they were seriously weighing the pros and cons of each chair.
However the conversation went, eventually she came back outside with two wheelchairs circled and signatures in all the right places. Edward went on the manufacturer websites right then and placed the order for the van and the chairs. The rest of the paperwork would need to wait for regular business hours, but online orders were always available.
"Okay," he said when he was finished. "The van should be here in a couple of weeks, and I'll talk to Paul about the remodel tomorrow."
"Holy shit." Bella covered her mouth with both hands. "Holy shit. Did we really just do this?"
"Yep, but don't get too excited. The hard part is still coming. I'm sure the construction will be loud and annoying."
Bella nodded. "Jacob and I were talking about that. We were thinking Billy and Charlie might be able to go stay at his house on the days that it gets really noisy."
"Sure," Edward said, "or they can go pretty much anywhere else they want, because they won't need anyone to drive them."
A relieved smile spread across her face. "That's going to mean the world to them. You have no idea how frustrating it's been for both of them to have to wait for other people to have time to take them out on errands."
"I can only imagine." Edward flipped the folder closed. "So. With that all done . . ." He grinned. "Wanna come see my new toy?"
Bella glanced up at the SUV parked at the curb. "Is that it?"
"Yep! Come on." He grabbed her hand in his eagerness and tugged her across the lawn. It was excellent luck that the rain that had been coming down all day had dwindled to a sprinkle.
"Dit inna taw?" Alice asked, trailing behind.
"Nah, we're just looking at it."
"It's nice," Bella said. "I like black."
"It's got a 300-mile range, a full entertainment package for Alice, in-car Wi-Fi, leather seats, all the bells and whistles . . . this is a great car."
Bella was walking around the SUV as he spoke, giving it a careful examination. She stopped at the back and cocked her head to the side.
"I can't help but notice that it's still a Volv—"
"Shut up."
She couldn't suppress her smile, and Edward wandered over to stand by her, putting his chagrin on display.
"This one had the biggest screens in the seats and the best battery capacity."
"Uh-huh. And plenty of cargo space in the back in case Alice ever decides to take up, I don't know, some sort of team sport?"
He forced himself to maintain a straight face. "Well, you know. Gotta have room for the chainsaw."
"Right. But to be very clear about this, when you decided to upgrade from the soccer mom car, the thing you came back with was . . ."
He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "A bigger soccer mom car."
"Yeah."
"Yeah." He shot Bella a side-eyed glance, and the two of them cracked up. "It has Wi-Fi," he said defensively.
She gave him a thumbs-up that was definitely sarcastic. "In all seriousness," she said, chuckling, "it's a really nice car. I'm happy you got something that you and Alice both like."
"Me too. And—hey. Now I have this other car that I need to unload. Maybe you should take it."
Bella shook her head. "It's a nice thought, but I really need my truck."
"For what? Hauling wheelchairs? You're not going to have to do that much longer."
"Sure, unless Billy has the van and Charlie needs to go somewhere. Plus, those chairs aren't all I haul."
"Carry around a lot of books, do you?"
She grinned. "Yes. But I've also moved a lot of furniture in this thing, and I deliver firewood to some of the elders in La Push every winter. A good truck is precious."
"Okay, fair enough, I won't try to replace your truck. You want to borrow the hatchback until you get that new alternator, though?"
"Um. Yeah, actually, that would be really helpful."
"Let's go pick it up," he said with a grin. "And just know that this is in no way a ploy to get you to take a ride with me in my really cool new car."
Bella laughed. "Give me a minute. I'm going to let Charlie and Billy know that I'm leaving."
Edward got Alice strapped into her seat and started her "Afia" playing while Bella was inside. She returned after a moment and climbed into the passenger seat, running an appreciative hand over the leather seats.
"Nice, right?" Edward said as he started it up. "They have heating and cooling too."
"Ooh, and individual climate controls," Bella said, examining the dash. "I love that. I'm always colder than everyone else."
Edward entered his house into the GPS entirely for the pleasure of playing with it and then headed back home. Bella was sufficiently impressed with the 360-degree cameras, the heads-up display, and even the generous number of cubbies and cup holders. Edward suspected that she was humoring him a little, but he appreciated it. He liked being humored.
"You know who might be interested in buying your car?" Bella said after she had exhausted gadgets to show interest in. "Grace. She and Jacob just have the one car between them right now, and it's hard with both of them working."
"Have they been looking for another one?"
"Not really. They've been putting all their money into the house. But since they won't have to do that anymore . . ." She shot him a grateful smile.
"Yeah, okay. I'll ask them tonight if they're interested."
When they got back to his house, Edward passed Bella the keys to the old Volvo. He suddenly wished that the car had some odd quirk that he needed to warn her about, or that he could come up with literally any other reason to keep her around. He just liked her, and even doing paperwork with her had been pleasant. He didn't want her to leave yet.
He also wished that he'd vacuumed out the car, given the collection of crumbs that he'd discovered beneath Alice's car seat. He offered, but Bella waved him away.
"I'll do that when I get home. It's the least I can do."
So that wasn't going to keep her around.
"Think you'll be able to fit both wheelchairs in the back? Maybe if you lay the rear seat down?"
She eyed the space dubiously. "Probably not both. It'll take two trips to get them to dinner at Carlisle's tonight."
"You want me to help? I could come pick one of them up."
Bella just laughed and shook her head. "I love that you want to solve every problem—I really do—but I can manage this one."
A loud spluttering sound interrupted their conversation, and they both looked over at where Alice was crouched beside the stairs by the door, filling her diaper. She looked at Bella, the picture of innocence, and then slid her gaze to Edward.
"Teenty."
He suppressed a laugh. "Yeah? You need a diaper change?"
"Yes."
He couldn't hold in the laugh when his eyes met Bella's and they both snickered.
"Looks like you've got a job to do," Bella said.
"I guess so. I'll see you at dinner?"
"Definitely. And thanks again for letting me borrow the car."
"No worries. Later, Bella." He turned to Alice and headed toward her. "Let's go change your pants. Come on, sputterbutt."
"Mon, buddoo-butt."
Edward headed next door to Carlisle's house a little early that evening so he could offer his help with set-up. In the last couple of hours, the weather had turned from intermittent drizzling rain to an aggressive downpour, so dinner on the deck was out. They set up chairs and little trays around the living room and started laying the table with plates and garlic potatoes that would be served alongside the roasted tomato galette that was baking in the oven and making the house smell incredible.
"So you'll never guess what I did today," Edward said as they worked.
"Oh? Interesting day?"
"Yeah. I popped by the Swans and got signatures on the forms we need to start the remodel."
Carlisle nearly dropped the bundle of forks he was holding. "You're kidding."
"Nope." He grinned. "You were right. As soon as Bella was the one asking for it, Charlie caved."
"Fantastic," Carlisle breathed. "They agreed to everything?"
"Yep. And I even convinced them to let me pay off their existing mortgages."
Carlisle blinked in surprise. "How?"
He smirked. "What can I say? I'm very charming."
"This is wonderful!" Carlisle put the forks on the table and started pacing slowly toward the living room. "Let's see . . . what are our next steps? We'll have to have the architect meet with Charlie and Billy to see what adjustments they'd like to make to the plans. And, of course, we'll need to figure out when Paul's crew is available. We'll have to place the order for the van . . ."
"Did that. And for a couple of new wheelchairs."
"You convinced them to get new wheelchairs?"
"Sure, they come with the van," he said with a grin.
"Incredible," Carlisle said, and Edward absolutely fucking preened under his approval.
"I know. I'm amazing."
Carlisle strode over to him and hugged him hard. "Thank you," he breathed. "So much."
Edward hugged him back, grinning with unchecked smugness . . . right up until Carlisle started to sob—and why did this keep happening?
"Um," Edward muttered. "Jesus." It was awkward. It was so fucking awkward. It was one thing to comfort the hot chick that he was developing a crush on, but this was the neighbor who was in love with his dad, and it was just so awkward.
But it was Carlisle. This particular neighbor had supported Edward more times than he deserved, and he'd always done it with patience and generosity. Edward owed him a few minutes of understanding, so he eased Carlisle over to the sofa and sat with him, keeping an arm around him and letting him cry into one increasingly soggy shoulder. Had his shirt even fully dried from the last rain of tears? He wasn't sure it had. But it didn't seem to be bothering Carlisle, so Edward just rubbed his back and let him cry and felt very, very awkward.
"I'm sorry," Carlisle said, swiping ineffectively at his eyes.
This was why Ted had always carried a handkerchief. Edward got it now. If he had one, he'd have something to offer that wasn't completely useless. Instead, he just said, "Don't worry about it. What . . . what are you thinking about?"
"I was supposed to do this with him," Carlisle said, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees. "We had so many plans. We had a whole future laid out, and now it's just . . . gone. He's gone. There were all these things we were supposed to do, and it all ended without any warning."
"Yeah," Edward said with a sigh. "I know what you mean."
"There was no closure," he went on. "No goodbye. No decision to stop. I don't know how to move on when there was never even a conversation."
"I hear you. I was thinking about renewing my passport the other day, and I wondered if I should call him and have him check his expiration date so we wouldn't run into any trouble when we take our trip this Christmas."
Carlisle nodded miserably. "There were so many things I never told him. Some of them I kept to myself because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but now . . . now I regret that I never said them out loud."
Maybe he still needed to. Maybe Edward could help him have the conversations he wished he'd had. Edward was practically a replacement part for his father around here anyway. He was living in his house, raising his kid, fulfilling his community responsibilities, hanging out with his friends. The last Masen broke, so pull it out and replace it with a new one . . . But if it gave him an opportunity to do something for Carlisle, maybe he would go ahead and use it. Maybe it would help Carlisle if he could say what he needed to say to someone who looked and sounded like the man who had meant so much to him.
"What would you say?" he asked. "If you had it to do over."
Carlisle drew in a slow breath. "I'd tell him he deserved to be loved. Really loved. Not temporarily, not one of his little affairs, but fully, permanently, with devotion. I'd tell him . . ." His head drooped. "I'd tell him that he already was. That I'd love him for the rest of my life."
Edward rubbed his back again, encouraging him to continue.
"He didn't want to hear that from me, but he should have heard it from someone. Someone should have told him that he was worth so much more than he believed he was. He should have let himself be loved."
It was strange for Edward to hear these things about his dad. He supposed it usually was for kids to consider their parents' romantic lives. He hadn't spent much time thinking about why his dad's relationships had always been short and relatively free from investment. He hadn't thought much about why he'd never married again. But Morgan had alluded to the same thing that Carlisle was talking about now. His dad had had romantic insecurities that Edward had been oblivious to.
"I wish he had, too," Edward said. "And I'm so glad to know that you saw him for who he was. It means a lot to me, at least, to know that you were here for him."
Carlisle straightened and hugged him again, and this time it felt a little less awkward. Edward focused on Carlisle, on helping him feel whatever comfort he could offer.
"He was such a beautiful man," Carlisle whispered.
Edward nodded and rubbed his back some more.
A minute later, Carlisle pulled away.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "It was kind of you to let me unload on you like that."
"Any time. I mean it. It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."
Carlisle gave him a sad smile, but any reply was precluded by a knock on the door. Carlisle stood to let Billy in, and he waved at Bella, who was pulling away from the house in Edward's hatchback.
"Is she not staying?" he asked Billy.
"She'll be back with Charlie," he said. "Car's too small. You okay?"
He nodded and shot a grateful glance in Edward's direction. "I'm okay. Care for an appetizer? I've got fig and goat cheese crostini."
Edward left them to their food and headed home to collect Alice and Esme. He persuaded Alice to take her allergy medicine, and then he helped Esme pack up the avocado salad she'd made. It was still pouring rain outside, so for the sake of being able to hold an umbrella, Esme opted to use her wheelchair.
"Onnoo yap!" Alice cried, reaching for Esme, and with her consent, Edward placed Alice on her lap.
"You want to drive?" Esme asked her.
"Oh, yes! Awiss jwive!"
Esme showed Alice how to use the joystick on the arm of the chair, and then she laughed and encouraged her good-naturedly as Alice did a terrible job of driving them down the ramp and over to the ramp next door. It was taking much longer than it needed to, but Alice was having a great time and Esme was indulging her, so Edward figured it was a win. He took the food into the house and sat down to chat with Billy and Carlisle for a while.
People started to trickle in. Alice kept Esme playing with her on the porch until Jacob and Grace arrived with Circe, and then she scrambled off of Esme's lap and joyfully received the dog instead. Esme headed inside with Jacob and Grace, and Edward intercepted them inside the door. He snatched the glass bowl that Grace was carrying and peeked beneath the foil cover.
"Beoseot gangjeong!" He wrapped around her and pulled her into an enthusiastic hug. "I love you! When are you going to run away with me?"
"Maybe after the kids are grown." She patted his cheek and pulled away, reclaiming the bowl to take it to the table.
Once everyone had arrived, they all headed for the table to dish up their food. Edward made Alice a plate and then perched himself near the window with his own so he could keep an eye on her while she ignored her food and chased Circe around the porch. Jacob settled beside him so he could watch his own kids.
"Bella tells me you're selling your car," he said.
"Yeah, it seems practical. Are you interested?"
"Maybe. It would be nice to have, but I don't have much to put down on it right away. Maybe if we arranged payments?"
"That could work."
"How much are you thinking?"
Edward hadn't actually considered a price. He was pulling out his phone to look up the Blue Book value of the car when a different idea occurred to him. He smirked down at his crispy mushrooms and then cut a glance at Grace, who was chatting with Harry and Sue.
"One meal a week," he said. "Korean, obviously, and vegetarian, for Esme, Alice and me. For . . . let's say . . . two months?"
Jacob arched an eyebrow. "Come on. Seriously."
"I'm so serious."
"That's not exactly a fair trade for a car."
"No, it's not. I can buy a hundred cars and have them delivered right to my door. You know what I can't buy? Bibimbap." He leaned forward to convey his earnestness. "I need food, Jacob. My soul is starving."
"Fine, maybe we could pay part of it with Grace's cooking. But not all of it."
Edward nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. There actually is something else I need—a lot more than money. Are you handy with a drill?"
Jacob's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Pretty handy. What do you need?"
Edward tapped at his phone to show him what he'd been looking at. "I'm working on this project right now that I have to keep private. Signed a nondisclosure agreement and everything. But the office doesn't have a doorway; it's just open to the dining room. Which I like, because I can usually hear what Alice is getting up to while I work at my desk, but if someone drops in unannounced, we have this mad scramble to put away all our work and turn off the computer monitors I have mounted on the walls. So I was looking at getting something like this." He showed him the sliding panels that would hang at one side of the office when he didn't need them, but would then stretch out to create a makeshift wall that he could lock in place. "They slide along a track in the ceiling, though, and installing that is a little beyond me. I can't get someone out to do it for me for eight weeks, and we'll be nearly done by then."
Jacob examined the pictures and nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I could manage this." He looked up at Edward. "You know I'd do this for you even if you weren't offering me a car, right?"
"You know I'd give you the car if you weren't promising me food and construction skills, right?"
Jacob smirked. "Fair enough. That's really all you want?"
"It would help me so much."
"Okay. Deal." He stood up. "I need to go tell Grace that I signed her up for a bunch of extra work."
Edward grinned as he walked away and turned his attention back to Alice. He knocked on the glass until she looked his way and then pointed at her plate. "Eat your food," he said.
"Tay!" She didn't even glance at her plate, though, because Circe rolled over just then and Alice found herself duty-bound to provide belly rubs.
Edward let it go. He was managing to get her to eat decent meals most of the time lately, so he figured she could stand to have one distracted dinner. He watched her for a minute, grinning about how utterly fucking cute she was, until a pair of thin arms wrapped around him from behind and hugged him hard.
"Thank you," Grace murmured. "You're too sweet."
"I'm excited," he said, turning and grinning at her as she stepped back. "I can't wait to see what you make."
"Any requests?"
He shook his head. "Anything. Whatever you want."
"Anything you don't like?"
"Um . . . fake meat. Just let it be vegetarian, you know? It doesn't have to pretend there's meat in it."
"How do you feel about tofu?"
"Love tofu."
"Eggs?"
"Yeah, Esme eats eggs."
"Okay." She smiled at him. "This is going to be fun."
"Agreed." She and Jacob sat with him, and then Grace flagged Bella's attention and beckoned her over. Bella obliged, dropping onto the floor in front of the sofa.
"Looking forward to the date with your computer guy next weekend?"
Bella took a delicate sip of her water. "I canceled it."
Grace laughed in delight. "Why?"
"He accused me of being a Rules girl."
"What's a Rules girl?" Edward asked.
"It's like . . . pick-up artistry for women," Grace said. "You make yourself more interesting by being unavailable. Don't accept a date for this weekend, don't call him and don't be too eager to pick up the phone. Stuff like that."
"I made him wait a long time for a date," Bella said. "So he assumed that I was playing games and not that I'm actually busy. And I guess he was okay with that until I mentioned that I went to book club last week, but then he got all pissy because I didn't skip it and go out with him instead."
Edward scoffed. "As though he could be half as interesting as that book club was."
"Right? And why should I be expected to cancel plans to go out with someone? The things I want to do matter."
"You made the right choice," Edward said. "Fuck that guy."
She sighed. "Yeah. We've got the Historical Society lunch next week anyway. Maybe I'll bid on a basket and call that my date."
That seemed like a brilliant idea to Edward. Really brilliant. And he knew exactly how to get her to bid on his basket, because she'd already told him what food she missed most from New York. "Absolutely," Edward said. "You should go with it. It seems like it's going to be a good time."
A wail arose from outside, and Edward looked out the window. Alice was sprawled on her stomach, and he suspected that she'd fallen down. He abandoned the conversation with reluctance and hurried out to the porch to provide kisses and bandaids as needed. He wasn't out there alone for long, though. Jacob came out to mess around with his kids for a little while, and Bella followed with a picture book in hand. After Alice was coddled enough to feel a little better, Bella asked her if she wanted to read a story. The two of them sat together on the porch floor and looked through the book, and soon Bella had Alice laughing and chattering with her. Alice twisted around on Bella's lap so they were facing each other and the two of them engaged in a lively conversation.
Edward couldn't take his eyes off of them. He always appreciated it when people indulged Alice, and it affected him deeply to see Bella so engaged with her. He grinned as Bella puffed out her cheeks and then made a sputtering sound with her lips when Alice clapped her hands on either side of Bella's face and squeezed the air out. Alice laughed like it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen, and then filled her own cheeks and spit out all the air when Bella squeezed them. She thought it was great fun, and Edward thought that Alice's laugh was the most joyful sound he'd ever heard.
He hardly noticed when Carlisle took a seat next to him.
"They make quite the picture," he said.
Edward glanced at him and grinned. "Yeah. Hot chick being sweet to my kid. It's really doing it for me."
"I know just what you mean. Did you see Esme out here letting her drive the chair around the porch earlier? It was precious."
"Yeah?" Edward turned to focus on him, and he wondered if his own expression had looked anything like the one Carlisle was wearing now. He debated a moment about whether he should say what he was thinking, but . . . what the hell? "You know, it's possible to love two people at once."
Carlisle sobered and dropped his gaze. He nodded, staring somewhere past the porch. "Yes."
"I don't want to push you into anything you're not ready for, but . . . maybe you have an opportunity not to let things go unsaid."
Carlisle raised his eyes, met his gaze, but said nothing.
"I mean, I don't know what will come of it. You know Esme's plans. But maybe you just go ahead and say what you want to say and let her decide what to do with it. At least then you don't have to regret your silence."
He nodded slowly. "I see your point," he said quietly. "I'll . . . I'll think about it."
Edward figured that was the end of it, but then Carlisle spoke again.
"Will you do the same, do you think?"
He turned back to Carlisle with raised eyebrows.
"Will you tell Bella how you feel?"
"Maybe?" He leaned in close. "Her attention isn't the easiest thing to hold, you know? But I was thinking of making a basket with her favorite food next week for the auction. If I can get her to buy it, maybe I can actually spend some time with her."
"That's a great idea," he said thoughtfully. "Yes . . . that could work."
"You think?"
"I do," Carlisle said with an affirming nod.
Dinner stretched extra late that night. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, though Edward suddenly found himself dodging several difficult conversations. He'd been handing out favors to Charlie, Billy, Bella, Jacob, and Grace, and he was valiantly trying to avoid talking about any of it. He was starting to see what Carlisle meant when he said it was difficult to give money to friends. Edward didn't want any gratitude, and he was hyperconscious of every word that crossed his lips lest he sounded like he was fishing for thank-yous. But would he be overly obvious if he avoided the subjects? It seemed easier to just not talk to any of them, but that wasn't any better. Besides, who else was there to talk to? Harry? He was still a little annoyed over Harry expecting him to move to Forks.
Thank god for Alice. She provided the perfect distraction for him. When the temperature outside cooled and Circe had to be exiled to the garage, Alice's disconsolate wails gave Edward an excuse to dodge a vague reference to the remodel. A butterscotch from Charlie's pocket cheered her up again, and then she was a delightful little point of conversation, scrambling around from one lap to another, charming everyone and generally claiming a lot of attention. And then Colin desperately needed someone to play Checkers with him, and Edward grasped that excuse and engaged in a rule-bending duel to the death that he never had a chance at winning. But it kept him busy with a conversation that didn't have anything to do with money, so it worked out.
It was dark when Edward carried Alice back home, accompanied by Esme. There was a box on the porch when they arrived, and Edward grinned.
"Oh, I was hoping this would come today!"
"A-diss?" Alice asked.
"You'll find out. Let's get your teeth brushed and then I'll show you."
As the guest bathroom had been arranged to suit Esme's shower needs, Edward had moved all of Alice's bath toys and hygiene tools to the master bathroom. He took her there now and got her all set up with her musical toothbrush.
"Okay, you stay here," he said. "I'll be right back." And since he knew that wouldn't last long, he hurried to her bedroom and closed the door. He opened the box and unfolded the mess of fabric and plastic that quickly turned into a pop-up bed tent in the shape of a castle. He secured it to the bed frame with the ties at each corner and then went back to his bathroom to help Alice rinse and spit.
"Okay, are you ready?" he asked her. "Come see what I got you."
Alice hurried after him and he pushed open her bedroom door.
"Oh!" she said, running in to look at the tent. "A-diss?"
"It's a castle for your bed."
She gasped. "A tasso?"
"Yep. Do you like it?"
"Oh, yes!" She gave a little baby jump, throwing her hands in the air. "Yite-a pincess!"
"Exactly," Edward said. "Don't you want to sleep in a castle just like a princess does?"
She started dancing from foot to foot in her eagerness.
"Let's get your pajamas on and then you can try it out."
It was a hurried affair. Her dress and tights were tossed aside as quickly as she could manage, and Edward helped her into her floofiest nightgown to properly christen her new castle. Then he showed her how to pull away the velcro on the "drawbridge" so she could climb through onto her bed. Alice giggled with delight, and she had a great time peeking out the windows and waving to Edward from inside her new castle. Once she had become familiar with it, he sat on the floor by the drawbridge and read a princess-themed book to her. They sang the bedtime song twice through and Edward tucked her under her blankets.
"Good night, my perfect little princess," he told her, leaving her with a kiss on her forehead.
"Nigh-nigh, Uh-wud."
Edward was feeling triumphant. He was finally, finally going to get to sleep alone in his bed. He velcroed the drawbridge closed and then headed out the door. He had just gotten into the hallway when he heard the scratch of the velcro. He glanced back to see Alice climbing back out of her castle.
"What are you doing?" he asked her.
"Seepishoo."
"With me? What about your castle?"
"No. Seepishoo."
"But I thought you were a princess."
"Uh-huh. Awiss pincess."
"Princesses sleep in castles, right? Come on." He led her back to her bed and tucked her in again. "Here you go. Just like Sofia."
"No." Alice climbed out from under her blankets as soon as he stood up. "Seepishoo."
"Why do you want to sleep in my boring old peasant bed? This is the cool bed."
Alice simply took his hand and began pulling him toward his bedroom.
"Alice, I mean it. You need to start sleeping in your own bed."
She must have realized that he was serious, because she looked back at him with wounded eyes. "No," she whimpered. "Uh-wud. Seepishoo."
"Child, I love you beyond reason, but you can't sleep with me anymore. You have to stay here."
The utter betrayal in her expression would have broken him even if she hadn't dissolved into tears. How the hell was he supposed to stand against that? The kid made him feel like such a monster.
"Fine," he muttered. "Fine. The castle was a giant failure, apparently." He gave in and let Alice pull him back to his bed, where she proceeded to squish herself right up against him.
He sighed in the direction of the ceiling. "This has really got to stop."
