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Chapter 6
Bella cursed inwardly.
"I mean the recording studio, because I spend so much time in there that it feels like a house too, you know?" Edward said with what Bella had come to recognize as his trademark half-smile.
Bella cursed outwardly.
Her mother's narrowed eyes shifted from Edward to herself. "I thought you said he was an engineer?"
Scrambling for an answer she said the first thing that popped into her head. "He's a sound engineer. He remixes, equalizes, records. That kind of thing, he has a studio. Oh, he scored the music for Midnight Sun! You remember that movie, the one with the vampires?"
Her mother looked confused.
"The one where they go to the meadow, remember?" That scene was a favorite of Bella's in both the book and the movie because that was when the main couple confessed their feelings for one another. Whenever she felt like she needed to believe in love again she would re-read the chapter and re-watch the scene.
She led them out of the nursery and toward the dinner table. Tour was over, she was starving.
Like Bella, Renée had loved that movie. She all but forgot about her initial distrust as she barraged Edward with all sorts of questions about his line of work. She was disappointed to learn he couldn't introduce her to any movie stars or even give her any numbers of some just to say hi.
"You know, you'd do very well in England, they shoot a lot over there. Do you have a British passport?"
"I don't," he answered. Then looked toward Bella to verify, he didn't but what if Jacob did? "Do I?" he whispered.
"You don't." she confirmed.
"I don't."
"You love what you do, Jacob?"
"I do; it gets challenging sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything" Edward answered honestly. When he was able to get inspired, he absolutely loved what he did.
"That's great, you should love what you do." Renée smiled.
Before she knew what she was saying Bella spoke, "you never said that to me."
"Because you always did what you wanted."
"That's not true, mom. You know that's not true." Bella's life had always been regimented; she did what her parents expected her to. Her sister Kate was a "free spirit", she had stopped her studies after graduating high school and chose instead to travel the world with a backpack. Bella often wished she could be as adventurous as her older sister but had never quite found enough courage.
She was terrified of failure.
"Darling, you always reached your goals. Always. You always achieved what you put your mind to, daddy and I never had any worries with you like we did with your sister." Renée rolled her eyes and looked at Edward. "Bella's sister was always so stubborn, never ever listened to her dad or me. She had an issue with authority. That's why we were so surprised when she decided to get married, and to a barrister of all things! Never would've thought so, he's been great to her. We thought for sure she would never settle down. Bella, on the other hand, always listened to us. We knew what was best for her."
"Mom, stop please." Bella could not continue listening to her mother, she had always felt trapped in her own body. She always listened to her parents because she had never found a voice of her own.
"Fine," she acquiesced. "What time is your flight tomorrow?" she asked Edward.
"At… um, 4 o'clock" he said, picking a time at random.
"Perfect! So, you can come!"
"Where?"
"To the doctor's, Bella has an ultrasound tomorrow. You didn't know?" Renée's voice was no longer friendly.
"Of course he knew, mom. But he can't go." Bella said as she began clearing the table.
"Yeah, I have to work." Edward offered as explanation. He much preferred the Renée from a few minutes ago that liked him. This Renée scared him a bit.
"I think you should go," she stated
"Don't tell him what to do, mom." Bella's voice was strained.
"I'm doing it for you, darling."
"I can handle it myself."
"I just want what's best for you, darling."
"Well, you don't always know what's best, mom. Trust me on that." Bella spat. "Excuse me," she said as she made her way to her room. She was not in the mood to argue with her mother or put up with either her endless criticism or her impossibly high standards.
Edward and Renée looked at each other, one shell-shocked, the other annoyed.
"Hormones," he offered as explanation.
-PH-
"I just don't understand her; all I want is for her to be happy. Her father and I, we're so proud of her, always have been," she could not make heads or tails of her daughter's behavior at dinner.
Edward and Renée were doing the dishes. After an uncomfortable silence when Bella stormed off, they decided they may as well finish clearing everything. She was wearing the dishwashing rubber gloves she had bought Bella from Tesco because she knew the younger woman wouldn't have any and it was high time she started using them. Skin care was vital.
"Have you ever thought of telling her that?" he inquired as he dried.
"I have!"
"Have you ever thought of telling her only that?" Edward hoped Renée understood what he meant, that maybe all Bella needed to hear right now was that she was loved, and things would be okay and not any of the myriads of things her mother thought she should improve on.
Renée stopped to consider his words. "You know, you're a good lad. When I first met you, I thought my daughter banked a proper tosser, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders."
"Uh... thanks?" There was a compliment in there somewhere.
"So have you thought about names?" Renée asked.
"Names?"
"For the baby."
"Oh uh…" shit, what was Bella having again? "Irina?" Edward guessed.
"But it's a boy," she said dismayed.
"No, I meant my cousin Irina suggested Laurent as a name."
"Hmm, no I don't like it."
"Yeah, no me neither," he agreed. "Edward?" He tried again.
"Ugh, no. Sounds like an old man's"
"I like it," he whispered.
The intercom rang out. "Are you waiting on anyone?" Renée asked before picking it up. Edward shook his head. "Hello? No, it's not here. No there's no one here by that name. No worries, have a good night." She hung up. "It was Uber, they said they had a package for a Mr. Cullen."
Edward suppressed a groan; he had completely forgotten he had provided them with Bella's address.
"Ugh, U.S. currier services," Renée added "they leave a lot to be desired".
In that moment, Edward's desire was to bang his head against the wall.
-PH-
Bella was breathing in and out like they had taught her in Lamaze class. She wasn't sure what took over her at dinner, maybe it was the stress of dealing with her mother, the fact that she was due to become a mother herself so soon or the fact that things with Edward had gotten so messed up and turned around.
In through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
She had gone to her room and changed into the pair of most comfortable PJs she owned that still fit, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed and was trying and failing to calm her nerves and her baby, he had begun moving so much it was actually painful and it scared her.
A knock on the door took her mind away from the pain for just a second. Edward's head peeked into her room, his disheveled hair looking like it wanted to escape his scalp. "You okay?" he asked.
Any other time Bella would've lied and said she was fine, this time she couldn't. After shaking her head, he came in, she was still desperately trying to soothe her child, her breathing was labored. "He's moving a lot, I don't know what to do, he's never moved this much before." Edward walked into the room and picked up his Beats and iPod from her nightstand. He stretched the headphones around her belly and searched for the song that always helped to calm his nerves.
Bella was kind of fascinated by Edward and how calm and collected he seemed while she was freaking the fuck out. His long deft fingers were fiddling with his iPod, and he sat down on her bed as the music began to play. It wasn't something she recognized but she instantly felt more at ease. She closed her eyes.
"This is such a lovely piece, is it yours?"
"No. It's Debussy, it's called Clair de Lune."
After the disaster that was dinner and witnessing her mother's incessant nagging, Edward started feeling almost protective of Bella. There was something about her that just drew him to her. With her long mahogany hair, a heart shaped face and full lips there was no denying she was attractive. Edward had been quite taken by Ms. Swan upon first meeting her.
And then things hand gone to Hell in a handbasket.
Edward was sitting on Bella's bed trying not to be too obvious in his gawking, her breathing had evened out, her hands had stopped rubbing frantically on her stomach and were now just cradling her bump. He was fighting the urge to reach out and add his hand to the mix.
"He's calming down," Bella said quietly, slowly opening her eyes a few minutes later.
"Good," he said "is he still moving?"
"A little," there was clear adoration in her voice, despite everything, the one thing Bella would never regret was going through with her pregnancy "he's kicking."
"He is?" Edward asked a bit too eagerly.
Bella looked at him. "Do you want to feel?" He nodded and scooted closer to her, she took off the headphones from around her belly and put them on the nightstand. Then reached for his hand and placed it where she was feeling her little guy kick. For as little as they knew about each other Bella and Edward were beginning to feel quite comfortable around one another, the feeling of his hand on her no longer felt foreign, instead it made her feel safe and protected. And he was enjoying touching her more than he would care to admit.
They didn't really want to focus on the why behind that.
Edward felt the baby kick for a few minutes until he eventually stopped. "He probably fell asleep." Bella offered as explanation when she saw his confused face. "Oh," he said as he took his hand from her belly.
Their eyes met.
"You forgot the pictures," she smiled.
"You forgot to tell me I was an engineer," he smiled back.
A giggle escaped her.
"Your mother said she thought I was a proper tosser when she first met me, what's that mean?"
Bella rolled her eyes "My mother likes to pretend she was born and raised in London; she's always using British slang."
"What's it mean, though?"
She blushed and looked down, part of her hair fell over her face, effectively hiding her from Edward.
Curious as to what could cause this reaction Edward tucked her hair behind her ear, her blush deepened as their eyes met again. "Is it that bad?" he persisted. He slowly traced his hand down the apple of her cheek and his eyes had found her lips.
"It doesn't apply to you," she answered breathlessly.
"Good," he said, whatever the word meant he was glad that Bella wouldn't use it to describe him. He moved ever closer to her, his intentions clear. He saw her eyes close.
They moved closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Just before their lips could touch a knock on the door made them jerk back, effectively killing the moment and putting a stop to whatever may have happened.
Renée walked into the room. "Bella, darling I'm leaving. We put everything away, so you don't have to worry about cleaning up. I'm taking a set of keys with me."
Bella was sure she looked a fright. "They can just let you in downstairs, mom."
"I'm taking it anyway, it's faster like this," she said as she came into the room to give her daughter a hug and bid her goodbyes.
Once they heard the door close Edward stood up to leave, he still had work to do and even less time to do it in. He agreed to meet her at her office in the morning so he could use her phone.
"Edward," Bella called just as he was about to leave her room.
He turned.
"Thank you," she said sincerely.
"You're welcome," he smiled before wishing her goodnight.
-PH-
Bella was lying awake in her bed, tonight had not gone how she expected. She could not stop wondering what would've happened if her mom hadn't interrupted them.
She wished she hadn't.
Deciding she needed something to help her sleep Bella took out her phone and went on YouTube, after finding what she was looking for she relaxed back into her bed.
The music from Midnight Sun began to play.
She had absolutely loved the movie, but she had a newfound appreciation for its soundtrack.
Well, well, well... Things are happening now. Lemme know what you thought if you can :)
Tosser = Douchebag