Bella passed out not long after and when she awoke, her mother was sitting beside her, holding her hand. Besides Edward, who was napping, it was just her mom.
"I don't regret having you, not for one moment." Renee said as soon as she noticed Bella was awake. "But it wasn't easy. You know your dad and I couldn't cut it."
"I'm not you and we're not the same as you and dad."
"Are you even together?"
"Yes. Did you know he was going to the University of Tampa?"
"Esme might have mentioned it."
"We have everything working in our favor, you know. We both start school in Tampa next month." She watched her mom's face drop.
"I'm sorry, but since both of you were declared dead, you were pulled from the registrar. They already gave away your spots." She frowned, but it wasn't the worse news she'd gotten recently.
"If he wants to, we can both work. Hopefully, they'll let us back in for the spring semester. I, um, was actually planning on trying to get into UT. I decided on a major."
"That's great honey. What'd you decide?"
"Marine Biology." She admitted proudly, a big smile in place, but after a moment, her mom's matching smile dimmed.
"Isn't that what Edward's studying?" Bella nodded as she bit her lip. "You can't just follow his dreams. You need dreams of your own."
"Mom, it isn't just him."
"Then what is it?"
"Passion." She surprised herself with the answer. "I feel passionately about the oceans."
"This passion expands beyond the bed?" She blushed at her mother's insinuation.
"There is a whole world out there, just under the water. Far beyond the bedroom. I may not have thought of it as much before, but now my eyes have been opened to it. Like the sea urchin, when it feels threatened, it attacks. It got me here" She pointed to her back and then her shoulder. "and here, but when handled gently provided us the food we needed to survive." She implored her mother to understand, but for being close, they had always been quite different. It was startling obvious now.
"You sound just like Phil does when he gets heated about the climate." Renee squeezed her hand and smiled. It was the closest to an apology she'd receive.
Four days later, they were finally released. After much argument, it was decided Bella and Edward would head to Chicago so visit his home for a few weeks, then drive to Forks to see her Dad and pick up the items she wanted in Florida. Last but not least, they'd head down to Tampa, Florida, and stay with her mom until they got settled in an apartment.
Chicago was huge. Edward's family lived in a suburb called Skokie. The first full day there, Edward's Aunt Kate and Uncle Garret came over with his cousins, Alice and Emmett. She'd heard quite a bit about them over the past two months.
"I knew you'd be ok, but nobody listens to me." She nodded, confused, before remembering Edward telling her that Alice considered herself a bit of a clairvoyant. "Congratulations on the baby."
Bella didn't even wait to hear or see what happened next. She ran to the room she was staying in and promptly burst into tears. She hadn't lost the baby yet, but as the Brazilian doctors reminded her before she left, it was only a matter of time.
"I'm so sorry baby" She felt Edward's warm arms as he embraced her.
"Please don't use that word."
"How about sweetheart? Or sugar?"
"Darling…love…sweetie."
"Boo…pookie…squishy"
"Squishy, like from the movie?" She couldn't stop laughing as she thought of 'Finding Nemo'. He reached out and wiped her last tears away. "You can call me squishy if you want."
"I'm sorry, squishy."
"Who told her?" She was hurt someone had betrayed their trust. She was just getting to know them, but she already trusted the Cullens.
"No one, she said she just knew. It's one of her things I told you about."
"Does she see me having the baby?" It was silly to put faith in some girl she didn't even really know and her visions, but she was so desperate for it to be true. Edward nodded. Bella just prayed she was right.